A reader takes issue with a misleading characterization in a recent article in the Washington Post (slogan: "Democracy Dies In Darkness" -- well, democracy also dies in timid false equivalence):
I must take issue with how the Dec. 14 Politics & the Nation article “Biden signs bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriages” characterized the recent congressional votes for the Respect for Marriage Act. It reported that 12 Republican senators (out of 50) and 39 Republican House members (out of 213) voted for the bill and called this “strong bipartisan support.” It is not. Simple arithmetic shows that a significant majority of Republican members of Congress opposed this legislation, despite the Gallup survey of 2022 the article cited showing that 55 percent of Republicans supported same-sex marriage. These Republican members of Congress don’t represent their own voters, just their own prejudices and the prejudices of those who fund and bolster their primary electoral campaigns.
In the future, The Post should avoid such strained attempts at equivalence. When it comes to issues such as LGBTQ rights, abortion rights, civil rights and voting rights, the two parties are still very far apart, with Democrats in support and Republicans in opposition.
Bob Dardano, Washington
We keep seeing this type of nonsense from the Post, which seems incapable of self-correction. Corporate media masquerading as truth tellers will be the death of us.
