Spitball Army

The Birmingham News’ John Archibald writes a thrice-weekly column of opinion, most often about the happenings at Birmingham’s City Hall and the Jefferson County Commission. His writing is usually pointed, insightful and well-reasoned if, at times, a melodramatic match for the political histrionics he’s observing.

Today’s “Archiblog,” as his column is called, veered unpredictably toward the illogical. In “The reasons I won’t vote today,” he attempted to explain why he intends to sit out today’s election. At first, I thought he might be shooting high, with a spirited homage to Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” What thinking person, after all, would refuse to exercise his sacred right to vote? (If you have been reading Spitball Army lately, you have a pretty good idea of my thoughts on this matter.) Archibald’s seemingly winless argument against voting evaporated any Swiftian comparisons I may have wanted to make, however. The text is a loopy, poorly-reasoned rationalization defending the need for a reporter’s privacy and impartiality. It is a stunning rare moment of muddled logic and defensive posturing.

You can read John’s column here, at the Birmingham News’ al.com website.

Meanwhile, the Birmingham News decided to re-arrange the list of U.S. Presidential candidates on its printable sample ballot on Sunday. Instead of an alphabetical list of choices – they list five – there is a list beginning with Republican nominee John McCain, followed by the other four in alphabetical order (you know, “those ones”). This should come as no surprise to readers of the newspaper; the News gave their tepid endorsement to McCain almost two weeks ago. It was an almost apologetic recommendation based squarely on the shoulders of the paper’s long-held self-perception as a pro-life organization.

Somewhere in the middle of these extremes, between the editorial board’s insistent urge to announce their loyalty to a religio-political platform and a writer’s stubborn reluctance to have a political opinion at all (as if any of his readers truly believe that!), there might be a journalistic enterprise comfortable with its choices and its voice.  I guess we’ll just have to keep reading the newly 75-cent daily to find that out.