Roundup slips into lamb costume

Whatever are we to make of the Roundup's page full of letters defending the Democratic Party - this in the paper that only recently denied a Democrat's letter because it was "too long" while publishing a Republican's that was even longer.

Lord knows what goes on in the button-down minds of John Naughton and Pistol Pete, but here is a little fuel for the fire:

1. If it was "retired" editor Tom Brossart who kept the Dems out of the Roundup, it would belie Pistol Pete's recent praise of Brossart as a fairminded and great guy.  But it would certainly be more in keeping with our firsthand impression of Brossart - as a meanspirited bully.

2. We firmly believe, however, that Naughton told Brossart and also tells Pistol Pete what to print, so here's a better theory - perhaps Kansas (home of parent WorldWest) told the Roundup to broaden its base to bolster its badly sagging readership.  (If 45 percent of your potential readers feel unrepresented, chances are they're not buying your paper, especially now that the price has been inflated to 75 cents.  And that trickles down to advertising revenue.  Etc, etc., etc.)

It will be interesting to see how the Roundup responds when its right wing base goes ballistic over the paper's newfound sense of fairness.

All we can do is set back and chuckle - while advising our Democratic friends to be wary - a wolf in sheep's clothing is much more dangerous than a barenaked wolf.  And we also remind them that the number of Rim Country residents that bothers to buy the Roundup anymore isn't that great anyway.

As an old mentor of mine used to say - "Sigh!"