Eric Bearse, communications director for Governor Rick Perry (R), engages in some textual analysis of recent Clay Robison columns in a letter the Chronicle published earlier this week:
Though it is not unusual for Chronicle columnist Clay Robison to take issue with Gov. Rick Perry’s approach to governing — after all, Robison’s Oct. 17 column, “Texas’ vulnerable pay the price of limited government,” was the 22nd time this year he has mentioned our governor in a negative light — I take great exception to the way in which he ignored the full context of the governor’s remarks.
Gov. Perry’s speech to a conservative audience hosted by the National Center for Policy Analysis included a challenge to conservatives to see the importance of protecting abused and neglected children, as well as adults unable to care for themselves.
The governor’s comment that there is “not only a limited role for government, but a legitimate role for government” was a strong acknowledgment of the need for a strong safety net to protect the most vulnerable among us.
He also advocated for more spending at Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services to hire more caseworkers, which is consistent with his record of supporting past funding increases at CPS.
Robison’s negative column amounts to “drive-by journalism,” where a member of the media doesn’t stop to explore the facts, but instead finds a few words to nitpick in order to continue a drumbeat of criticism.
Hopefully your many readers will see it for what it is: a reflexive ideological reaction, not a reflective look at Gov. Perry’s policies.
As we frequently point out, the Chronicle is welcome to whatever partisan stance it chooses to adopt for its editorial pages, however out of tune it may be with a majority of Texans (and Harris County readers).
The problem with Robison is not so much his extreme ideological leanings, but that he engages in partisan flamethrowing every Sunday, even as he serves as the newspaper’s Austin news bureau chief. It boggles the mind that Jeff Cohen expects readers to believe Robison will confine his partisan flamethrowing to Sundays and cover state politics objectively the rest of the week. A quality newspaper would have more of a firewall between its news and editorial coverage.
