Trump, world's richest racist, brings out worst in media

A Honda Accord with an "OP ED" license plate was parked in a reserved space at an upscale residence for seniors in Teaneck on Tuesday. In The Record today, you'll find the op-ed page on A-11, opposite the editorial page, filled as it always is with commentary on the news.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Is U.S. Sen. John McCain's Vietnam War record an issue in the 2016 presidential race?

Of course not, but that doesn't stop The Record of Woodland Park from putting Donald Trump's irrelevant and outrageous comments all over Page 1 today and Sunday.

The Borgs are actually wasting a ton of money on sending Staff Writer Charles Stile to South Carolina to assess Trump's impact on Governor Christie's long-shot campaign for the GOP nomination (A-1).

Political Stile is a column only politicians read; North Jersey readers are bored to tears with it, and their eyes roll every time Editor Martin Gottlieb puts it on the front page.

Failed reporters

Stile is a weak reporter because he completely missed the signs that Christie's White House bid was doomed to failure after all the years the GOP bully mismanaged New Jersey.

Instead of a serious discussion on immigration, Trump denounced Mexicans who come to the United States as rapists, drug dealers and criminals.

What I am sure followed were Mexican-American cooks and other Latino workers in expensive restaurants spitting in Trump's food every chance they got. 

Garrett v. Jackson

Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson is another incompetent reporter.

For years, he's been relaying one "no comment" after another from Rep. Scott Garrett, the Tea Party idol and conservative crackpot who is so completely out of step with his Bergen County constituency.

Today, he reports the Wantage Republican cast two votes in Washington, "but ... continued to avoid public comment about his own controversial opposition to financing gay Republican candidates" (A-1).

Garrett "has not responded in any way to numerous requests to his office for comment," the exasperated reporter says on Page 1 today, as he has done in so many previous stories.

Yet, every time Garrett runs for another term, Jackson seems to forget what a cowardly politician he is and heaps praise on his fund-raising ability, completely ignoring his stance on issues or on making himself accessible to the media and by extension the public.

Doesn't The Record's editorial board have any leverage with Garrett's stone-walling staff in D.C.?

Jackson certainly doesn't.

No horse race

The Record and other media are bored with the issues that engage many voters.

Yet, they are desperate for a horse race in the 2016 presidential race, and if it doesn't materialize, they will manufacture one, as they are trying to do now.

When the Republicans put up Mitt Romney against incumbent Barack Obama in 2012, the media were reporting one poll after another that showed the elitist clown was a serious threat.

But the president won a second term by wide margins in both the popular vote and in the Electoral College.

It was, as they say, no contest. The irresponsible media let us down once again.