The state of the editorial page is not good
In 1975, then-President Gerald Ford declared that "the state of the union is not good."
Since then, politicians at all levels of government have figured out that it's much better to extol the brilliance of their leadership, exaggerate their accomplishments, and ignore their failures in various "state of" addresses.
For that reason, we didn't see much reason to comment on the most recent "state of the city" address by Houston's mayor, since it followed the post-Ford "state of" formula very well.
As exaggerations go, however, Mr. White had nothing on the Editorial LiveJournalists (aka Mrs. White), whose own "state of the city" editorial contained the following whopper:
Somehow, that spirit and compassion must find a way to elevate the two-fifths of Houston households that live in abject poverty.
As Matt Bramanti points out, the Census Bureau estimates that roughly 20% of Houston households live below the poverty line (as of 2005). That's one-fifth of Houston households, not two-fifths (completely leaving aside the "abject" characterization).
We expect "state of" addresses to be full of exaggeration, but it's a real shame that the editorial page of Houston's only newspaper is even more out touch with reality.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/25/07 11:00 PM | Print |
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