May 10, 2009 07:36 PM UTC

David Harsanyi - The Un-Conservative

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• by: Gilpin Guy

Below the fold is an email exchange I had with the Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi in regards to his column about the GOP and Arlen Specter.

Change the GOP should believe in

http://www.denverpost.com/hars…

The Denver Post editorial section has gotten decidedly more conservative with the additions of Mike Rosen and Vincent Carroll and my comments to Mr. Harsanyi touched on the lack of local liberal columnists in the Post.  Mr Harsanyi was quick to make the issue about him and let me know that he is not a conservative.

So is Mr. Harsanyi the most left leaning columnist writing for the post or just another right wing hack in an already full stable?  Also should the Denver Post look to add a local liberal columnist or do they already represent the full spectrum of opinions with their current crop?

Mr. Harsanyi

I don’t know if it is because you now have to compete daily with your fellow conservative columnists at the Post but your tenor and tone have gotten decidedly more extreme since Mike Rosen and Vincent Carroll completed the take over of the Denver Post editorial pages.  I guess when you are just one of many extremists you really have to push the envelope to get your conservative screeds noticed.  Your current effort to downplay extremism in the Republican Party by comparing it to Joe Lieberman’s switch in 2006 is a good example of lying to make your point.  Mr. Lieberman was defeated in a free and fair primary election and then switched parties.  There was no purge for a “traitorous” position.  Mr. Lamont appealed to Democratic voters who were looking for a Democrat who would work to end the occupation of Iraq.  Mr. Lieberman won the general election because of Republican support.  There was talk about retribution against Mr. Lieberman after the 2008 election but President Obama made a specific effort to allow Mr. Lieberman to keep his committee assignments.

I know you are under a lot of stress to keep up with the mindless extremism of your cohorts and their conservative bias in the media but I would ask that you at least try to present the facts accurately.  You radical conservative columnists may own the editorial pages of the Denver Post but your audience still lives in the real world and we know a lie when we read one.

Wes

From: DHarsanyi@Denverpost.com

I’m not a conservative; so I’m not sure how that could be. Nor have I ever been a Republican in my life. Nor do I push the envelope to be read — I’m doing fine in that regard. Since Vincent came over I’ve written columns supporting stem-cell research, against torture, for gay marriage, for the legalizing of pot, for more immigration. I must be a real conservative radical.

Neither is there any lie in the column. Democrats purged Lieberman, as the far-left Dem establishment supported an ideologue over him to satisfy the “progressive” wing of the party. Though I would agree that Specter doesn’t even have the stones to go to a primary.

David

I thought you were one of those people who condemned Clinton for parsing words.  When is a conservative not a conservative?  You would do Clinton proud with your careful clarification.  You know you have fallen short on your opinion diversification goals when David Harsanyi is the most left leaning local columnist at your paper.  You rarely stray off the reservation and are just kidding yourself if you think you’re not part of the right-wing noise machine.

If you write that successful businessmen like Ted Lamont and Jared Polis are ideologues while someone dedicated to protecting Israel like Joe Lieberman isn’t then you truly are a part of the Republican propaganda.  It was a free and fair election with establishment politicians like Salazar campaigning for Lieberman.  After he won the general, he didn’t lose any of his chairmanships.  You are exagerating to your readers when you claim that there was a “purge”.  If there was a purge then where are your followup comments about the current reconciliation because Lieberman and the Dems. seem to be getting along just fine?  Lieberman isn’t anywhere near the piraha that your mediocre skills try to invoke to compare to him to Specter.

Jim Spencer always was better writer than you but his liberal background made it easy for him to be terminated and to allow you to continue to write your standard right-wing material.  The Post editorial pages have eliminated all but the most right-wing writers.  So much for democracy and the competition of ideas.  It is a lesser paper because of this deliberate suppression of local liberal columnists for the likes of you.

Wes

“Right-wing noise machine” … is there any cliché you would glom onto? In the very column you’re writing about I had this to say: “What were the future apparatchiks up to as Republicans were busy breaking every promise, crime and piggy bank they could get their paws on?” I sound like a real partisan, don’t I?

What words to I parse? I’m a libertarian, not a conservative. I’ve never been a Republican a day of my life. My nationally syndicated column is picked up libertarian publications. My book is libertarian, taking Republicans to task as much as Democrats. I am for drug legalization and nearly unlimited immigration. I am pro-choice and pro gay marriage. I am generally anti-war (though I did support Iraq initially: a mistake). I am for unlimited free speech. I guess you think I’m a conservative because I believe in the free markets. I would argue that my views are consistent; I am for limited government and individual freedom in all areas.

Where, I wonder, do you differ with Democrats? Oh wait, you’re a low-level functionary in the Democratic Party.

I never wrote that Jared Polis was an ideologue that I can remember. I actually think Polis’ views are rather interesting and diverse. I like Jared.

Jim Spencer is a fine writer, but he was never on the opinion page. And your opinion about our writing prowess is just that, an opinion. I know many people who disagree with you, obviously. But the editorial page is evenly divided between right and left. That is a fact.

Anyway, good luck. I’m going to stop our correspondence, because though I enjoy debate, you offer little in the way of substance and much in the way of insult. You can’t even concede the most basic and obvious points, so it’s not surprising.