Having never made an effort to either listen to or read Michael Smerconish, I foolishly tossed him aside with all the other Right-Wing Radio flunkies. After reading his inaugural Inquirer column, I came away suprisingly indifferent. He comes across as someone I largely agree with on a majority of issues, but I suspect if pushed for clarification, the differences would be more apparent.
In his "Suburban Manifesto" column in this Sunday's Inky (amusingly filed under Philly Women), he starts off predictably, stating that the editorial page is "[too] liberal too often", and that he is in not a "Kool-Aid drinker".
Karl reports the following at PhillyFuture:
Dan Rubin, the Inquirer's first blogger to engage the local blogosphere, announced the Inky was promoting him into a columnist position, and shutting down Blinq.
Congrats to Dan Rubin for the move, but as I said in his comments thread, Blinq should live – either with a new blogger keeping it on, or with Dan using it as a tool for his new column. The shuttering of the URL, of the community that rose around Dan's engagement at Blinq, is self-inflicted wound.
To which I say Inky management is STUPID STUPID STUPID!
I've noticed that the "Currents" section of the Philadelphia Inquirer has moved to the right lately, and frankly, I don't think it's a bad thing. The remaining readers of the Inquirer are likely "learned" enough to separate the wheat from the chaff, and if CEO Brian Tierney squelches his promise to not interfere with editorial content (other than changing the editors and staff), there would likely be a further exodus of readers and a loss of profits. No, I expect the Inky and many "moderate" conservatives to follow the Lou Dobbs script of xenophobia and protectionism, targeting the middle-class.
Furthermore, Attytood reports that Michael Smerconish is now writing weekly columns for both the Daily News and the Inquirer. I don't think that's necessarily a bad idea. I commented the following on his post:
Good. There needs to be conversation and debate over conservative ideas (and ideals). I suspect that once we get past the sloganeering and into the guts of what it means to me a modern Republican, who it helps, and who it hurts, and what is the cost of their policies are to the nation, the American people will choose the right thing. We have to stop spoon-feeding people, give them facts, and let them decide, and let them (and us) live with the consequences.
To be clear, I'm a "fiscal conservative, social liberal" – I don't believe the government should be in your bedroom at all, and in your wallet as little as possible, and more importantly, government should add value to your life when it takes away income, and there is nothing in the Republican Party plank for me.
