The Call & Post ends its silence on Aunt Je-Nina-gate. In another unsigned editorial, the paper is talking tough and calling bluffs:
This newspaper stands by the front-page editorial and all of its ramifications.Brian Hall, the president of Industrial Transport, has called for a boycott of this newspaper by asking all churches and public institutions to pull ads and notices from the Call & Post until a front-page apology is made. We searched our records and found that Mr. Hall and his company have never advertised with us, nor does he subscribe to the Call & Post.
And while we welcome disagreements and the discussion that this issue has created we won’t be bullied by any institution, corporate interest, elected official and to be certain, a fellow newspaper.
Since The Plain Dealer has decided to put itself in The Call & Post’s “business,” we are now forced to issue the following “call out…”:
We want The Plain Dealer to immediately and without reservation give its editorial backing to State Sen. Nina Turner as its choice to become Cuyahoga County’s first chief executive officer under the new county restructuring plan.
We also call upon the area’s influential Issue 6 supporters to embrace Nina Turner as “their” candidate.
When these things are done, then The Call & Post will run a front-page editorial giving our support to Sen. Turner and a heartfelt apology for our editorial cartoon.
This seems to be a response to the PD's predictable editorial on the matter — and a cunning response it is. Making an apology conditional on an outrageous demand may seem cynical and, frankly, nutty, but my guess is that the paper's not really sorry anyway — though it might regret that the cartoon completely eclipsed the message of the accompanying editorial: Issue 6 was a scam, and in supporting it Turner revealed herself to be either a sell-out or a fool. Or both.
That editorial didn't mention the PD, but it could have; the paper openly fawned over Issue 6. And now that the PD "has decided to put itself in The Call & Post’s 'business,'" the Post can return the favor by essentially daring the paper to endorse a white guy over Turner, and steer the discussion away from that regrettable cartoon.
Well played. PD, anything? — Frank Lewis
