HorizonWatch: more unfair and unbalanced journalism

Last night on Horizon, the chorus of left-wing journalists discussed various election races. There was also a discussion on the passing of former Governor Evan Mecham. Carl Kunasek was interviewed about Mecham, and it was refreshing to see he had a picture of Jesus behind him on the mantle - there's someone who hasn't caved into political correctness.

The left wingers discussed the CD-1 race up north, and whether Renzi will resign now, which would require an immediate special election to replace him. If so, the two Republican candidates in the race would be talk show host Sidney Hay and Corporation Commissioner Kris Mayes. Mary Jo Pitzl said that such an election would favor Mayes, because she has more name recognition. That's doubtful. Mayes is part of the Republicans for Janet crowd, even worked for Napolitano in her cabinet. Mayes is pro-choice and considered one of the biggest RINOs in the state, and her record on the Corp. Comm. has been pretty disappointing. Republicans know this about her, and won't vote for her.

Mark Brodie from KJZZ (Horizon still identifies NPR reporters as "KJZZ" reporters instead of NPR, hiding their liberal association) said that Renzi is radioactive which is hurting Republicans. This is a bit of a stretch, because what Renzi allegedly did has nothing to do with Republicans generally, it was his own business dealings.

Next the journalists discussed Shadegg changing his mind on running for re-election, noting that he must be getting something out of it. Shadegg had ran for leadership and Whip and lost both. Brodie commented that Steve May is going to stay in the race regardless, and would provide a tough challenge having $1 million of his own to spend and planning on raising another million. The left wing journalists failed to point out that incumbent Congressmen have something over a 90% rate of re-election, and that Steve May is primarily known for his criticism of the Don't Ask Don't Tell military policy, coming out of the closet while a state legislator to protest it. Considering Shadegg has a 98% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, and was begged by his fellow Congressman to stay in Congress, it's pretty clear CD-3 is a very conservative district and that's why they prefer Shadegg. Someone like May who is known primarily for his promotion of a gay issue won't stand a chance against Shadegg.

Paul Giblin claimed that this year people are dumping ultraconservatives, using McCain's rise as an example. Problem with this analysis is that Shadegg's 98% ACU rating puts him in the ultraconservative camp, and he is doing quite well - otherwise his fellow Congressmen would not have begged him to stay. Also, McCain is getting the GOP presidential nomination by default. The conservative vote ended up being split between Romney and Huckabee, leaving the moderate vote - less than 40% of Republicans - for McCain. The majority of Republicans would have preferred a more conservative candidate. McCain was an accident.

There was some discussion of whether the New York Times hit piece on McCain helps or hurts him. Right now it probably helps him, because it was obviously sleazy journalism based on anonymous innuendos. However, if the NYT can ever come up with hard evidence that McCain did have an affair, he could be in hot water having gone on television and denied it.

Note to Arizona Political Heat - Capitol Times reporter Jim Small presented an impressively fair discussion of illegal immigration bills at the legislature last week on Horizon. Maybe Small should be a regular guest on Horizon's Journalists' Roundtable, he certainly sounded more balanced than the leftists usually on there.