The Houston Chronicle editorial page ventured into personal-diary territory again today, as opinion page editor James Howard Gibbons carried on about the Houston auto show and purchasing a car.
Here are some excerpts:
Every 12 years I buy another car, whether I need one or not. Last fall the time came due, and so I exchanged a 15-year-old Japanese sedan for a 3-year-old German one. I wish I had waited until I had attended the Houston Auto Show at Reliant Center. My choice might have been different.
Judging by the number of people climbing in and out of the pickup trucks and SUVs on display, Texans have not lost their love affair with vehicles able to hold more than one family or homestead. The latest models offer slightly better gas mileage than their predecessors, and if I belonged to a large tribe I might have bought one.
[snip]
Half of my cars have been red convertibles, and there were several in the auto show that tempted me again, including the Mazda Miata and the new Pontiac Solstice.
[snip]
My wife has a hankering for a Toyota RAV4 small SUV. Unfortunately, the redesigned RAV4 is elongated and not as cute as the original — a lesson that some things are not easily improved.
General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner told the Chronicle’s editorial board Friday that GM’s most difficult task was fixing its product line.
[snip]
I have never owned an American car, and have not studied one closely since the birth of the Mustang, Camaro and GTO during the ’60s.
Shouldn’t these big boosters of light rail be using the public transportation? And shouldn’t they be considering a vehicle other than an SUV, even if it is a small SUV?
But here’s a better question — is this really fodder for the editorial page of a serious newspaper?
No, it is not.
For those who are new to blogHOUSTON and wonder why we call the Chronicle editorial board the “Editorial LiveJournalists,” it’s because they continue to publish these personal diaries on the editorial page, when there is a much better forum for such diaries. It’s really hard to take this editorial page seriously for that reason.
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