The News Virginian: Another Example of Unhinged Media

I have been trying to make myself write about this weird bit of yellow journalism published in The News Virginian concerning the insulting remarks a Webb Campaign worker made about LCpl. Jason Redifer USMC (deceased) at last week's Augusta Co. Fair.

It is on the Opinion page, written without a byline (a blessing for the author I'm sure) and yet purports to "ferret" out what really went down between the Republicans and Democrats at the County Fair. What makes it so hard to write about is all the pertinent information that was left out and the inclusion of Cindy Sheehan for cryin' out loud.

Please read the entire editorial for yourselves. Meanwhile I would like to point out that in the process of "ferreting", The Virginia News editor did not contact or interview Mrs. Rhonda Winfield or Mr. Steve Kijak. I have personally spoken with and taped an interview with Mrs. Winfield and it is at variance with what the TNV editor reports.

TNV Editor:
Ferreting out a local political feud

Here’s what we have determined happened: Democratic volunteer Bob Tichenor, of Waynesboro, was passing out literature Thursday night on behalf of U.S. Senate candidate Jim Webb.

He wandered over to the Republican booth and was quickly rebuffed by GOP activists touting incumbent Sen. George Allen.

(f mcdonald: Tichenor remembers this part it seems. I guess you would be rebuffed when you insult dead Marines)

Tichenor says he left immediately, but Republicans say he disrespected the mother of fallen Marine Jason Redifer, a Stuarts Draft native who was killed in Iraq.

(f mcdonald: According to Mrs. Winfield, Mr. Tichenor insulted her son."Jim Webb is more of a patriot than this man was." (tapping finger on picture of LCpl. Redifer's flag draped coffin) and "Jim Webb is more of a man than this man ever was." (once again tapping finger on picture of LCpl. Redifer's flag draped coffin))

Redifer’s mother, Rhonda Winfield, was at the Republican booth signing copies of her new book, which is about her son. Tichenor allegedly pointed to the book cover and said “that man” [Redifer] wasn’t the hero that Webb was. Webb was Navy secretary under President Reagan and crossed party lines to run against Allen.

(f mcdonald: That's LCpl. Jason Redifer, USMC to you, sir)

Republican activists who were there, notably Steve Kijak, of Stuarts Draft, were incensed and walked over the Democratic fair booth and berated several women volunteers there. A sheriff’s deputy was called over to break up the verbal barrage.

(f mcdonald: No mention here that Mrs. Winfield, mother of the fallen Marine, walked over to the Democrat booth to tell them one of their workers was out of line)

(f mcdonald: OK, now we get to the unhinged part)

If Tichenor said what he is alleged to have said, then it was very wrong. However, Republicans have no compunction about attacking another mother who also lost her son in Iraq.

The difference is Cindy Sheehan has joined the antiwar movement. That should not make her a target of neoconservative wrath.

A mother is a mother, whether she’s a Democrat or Republican. Winfield is as far right as Sheehan is left. Both should be off limits to criticism.

(f mcdonald: I would say Mrs. Winfield is a normal, all-American Mom based on my interview with her. Mr. Editor did not interview her but labels her "far right". I believe Cindy Sheehan did not attend the Augusta Co. Fair and has no dog in this fight. BTW If Mother Teresa misbehaves she is open for criticism.)

Local Republicans ought to understand, too, that Tichenor will be 88 years old on Sept. 1. The retired DuPont chief chemist is a Ph.D. and Rhodes Scholar. On Thursday night, he was clearly confused.

(f mcdonald: Ah, he remembers he was confused or is that assumption editorial license?)

“I’m not sure I knew that,” Tichenor said Tuesday, upon being told he had wandered over to the GOP fair booth.

(f mcdonald: He forgets he visited the Gop booth. But wait, a few paragraphs ago he remembered the visit and says he left the booth immediately.)

Tichenor said he didn’t learn about the hullabaloo until he returned to the Democratic booth after the Kijak confrontation.

(f mcdonald: Still no mention that Mrs. Winfield was there also)

“I missed it all,” he said. “The women in the booth were so agitated, they couldn’t sit down.”

(f mcdonald: Oh good, he remembers the agitated women. Mrs. Winfield tells me their agitation amounted to a gleeful celebration)

Clearly, Tichenor was confused. Clearly, the Republican activists overreacted. Clearly, those activists deserve praise for standing up for the mother of a fallen soldier. But those same activists should be standing up for Sheehan, too.

(f mcdonald: No, Mr. Editor. Nothing in this contradictory hodge podge is clear at all)

There comes a time when political divisiveness must give way to right and wrong.

(f mcdonald: And there you have it. The News Virginian speaks... with forked tongue)