Arizona Republic endorses a Democrat - Clinton!

[stevek64]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

Arizona Republic is about as hard-right a newspaper as it gets in the U.S. They usually criticize Republican candidates for not being nearly conservative enough.

If they're "left wing liberal" I hate to think what you think is "right wing".

Complete nonsense and it shows you have a complete lack of understanding on what the paper is about, its history of ownership, and beyond.

I think this article explains it all very well to get you up to speed on the reality of many of the details/history of the AZ republic and how it turned into something not at all conservative.

News Flash: 'Conservative Arizona Republic' Makes for a Catchy Headline

You can read all the details on how they reach this conclusion but to summarize for you:

"But the answer to the title of Bethea's New Yorker article, "How a Conservative Paper Ended Up Endorsing Hillary Clinton," can be summed in fewer words than he used:

It's not conservative."

[Delahanty]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

For the first time in its 120 year history The Arizona Republic (Phoenix) has endorsed a democrat for President. This is the Republican country of the state. Nevertheless, the editors make the case in a thoughtful editorial that Trump is unfit to be President and that there is but one choice this November. While newspaper endorsements don't carry the weight they might have once, a change like this after 120 years is indicative of a much broader dissatisfaction among moderate Republicans in Arizona. Arizona is close and this endorsement is evidence that it might flip this year.

Endorsement: Hillary Clinton is the only choice to move America ahead

Lol this is a newspaper (what's that?) editorial board.

[Arizona Mike]

Originally Posted by calipoppy

Umm the Arizona Republic is about as CONSERVATIVE as you can get


It is breaking a 126 years long tradition of backing Republicans....this is nothing to ***sniffle*** at

The Arizona Republic stopped being conservative in 2000 when it was purchased by the Gannett Corporation, which also owns USA Today, and which is about as actively pro-Clinton as you can get.

What's interesting is that the Democratic National Committee seems to be under the impression that the AZR is owned by the Washington Post, at least according to the latest WikiLeaks info dump.

From a 4/22/2016 email by Deshundra Jackson that was just released:

From: Jefferson, Deshundra
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2016 12:20 PM
To: Miranda, Luis
Subject: Updated Voting Rights Plan
Importance: High
Arizona Lawsuit - Communications Plan Launch - Thursday April 14, 2016

Working with the DSCC, we placed a story in The Washington Post announcing the lawsuit on April 14, and published a Medium post from DNC CEO Amy Dacey on why we were filing suit. The initial roll out generated well over 100 earned media mentions.

Among our most prominent placements: CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Politico, AP, Reuters, The Guardian, and The Nation.

National Surrogates: Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Graham Wilson and/or Bob Bauer, Donna Brazile, Barbara Arnwine, Pratt Wiley, Luis Miranda. We also need a strong, national Hispanic surrogate.

Arizona Surrogates: Rep. Ruben Gallego, Rep. Raul Grijalva, and Arizona Democratic Party Executive Director Sheila Healy. Reverend Benjamin Thomas, Sr., Chairman of the Arizona Commission of African-American Affairs and Cloves Campbell, the Executive Director of the Arizona Commission of African-American Affairs are possible surrogates.

Native American Surrogates: Stephen Lewis (Gila River), President Russell Begaye (Navajo), Lisa Blackhorse (AZ Native American Caucus), Peterson Za (Navajo), Delia Carlyle (Ak-Chin), Chairman Terry Rambler (San Carlos)

Week of April 25

The DGA may decide to sign on to the lawsuit; if so, we will issue a press release and pitch to the story to national and Arizona reporters

Place the Chair's op-ed in The Arizona Republic

Work with Donna Brazile on writing an op-ed for CNN.com

Pitch an investigate piece on the modern fight for voting rights to Ebony, the largest African-American magazine

Week of May 2

Contact The Arizona Republic to set up an editorial board meeting with Sheila Healy

Contact USA Today and The Washington Post (which owns The Arizona Republic) to set up editorial board meetings

Week of May 9

Editorial board meetings with USA Today and The Washington Post

Set up legal briefings with key allies and reporters who cover voting rights: Jesse Wegman from The New York Times, Patrick Caldwell from Mother Jones, Ari Berman from The Nation, Michael Waldman from the Brennan Center, Tierney Sneed from TPM, Alice Ollstein from ThinkProgress

You can read the original email here: https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/3913

A few thoughts occur to me: 1) I would be uncomfortable as all hell if the DNC labeled me as one of their local "surrogates" and 2) Sheila Healy of the Arizona Republic's Editorial Board seems pretty chummy with the Democratic National Committee and 3) DOES the Washington Post own the Arizona Republic?

Why did the endorsements by the AZR surprise anyone?