San Jose Inside has entered the ranks of the mega-whopper with their endorsement of Sam Liccardo. The designation comes not from their decision to back Sam; one expects sycophants to endorse the man they adulate. Rather, it results from their consistent use of grotesque forms of distortion as they make their case.
Let’s review a few specific examples:
Sam’s opponent, Dave Cortese, is soundly criticized for “serving alongside” George Shirakawa Jr. Even Joe McCarthy would have been embarrassed by that level of guilt by association. What was Cortese supposed to do – resign to distance himself from George’s lawful presence on the Board of Supervisors prior to his guilty plea?
Next Cortese is hammered for endorsing Xavier Campos after “evidence” of election-stealing and laundered contributions had surfaced. But in the American system of due process, evidence doesn’t prove guilt unless it has been subjected to cross-examination by the accused. That never happened in the Campos case because he was never even charged much less convicted. What the Inside really means is that Cortese refused to kowtow to trial by newspaper. He didn’t – to his credit.
There’s more. Cortese is attacked for having supported Measure A, the 1/8th cent county sales tax increase. Measure A was allegedly a “tainted” effort that was “questionably” funded. This is one the Inside’s classic ploys. Who says the measure was tainted and questionable? The San Jose Inside crowd. In other words, they make an accusation that is never proven to be true and forever cite the existence of the accusation to claim their target is under a cloud. Some types of distortion are merely unethical; this kind is sickening.
Finally, San Jose Inside lambasts Cortese for failing to sit down, go on record, and lay out his vision to the public. Anyone even remotely observing the San Jose’s Mayoral campaign is fully aware that Cortese has been vigorously doing just that for months. The real issue is that Cortese hasn’t granted an interview to The Metro. Here’s the problem with that grievance. A mayoral candidate should have standards about who they meet with. Cortese obviously shouldn’t sit down to be interviewed by the KKK or by the Association of Downtown Pimps. Now, the Metro certainly isn’t exactly the same as those nefarious groups. However, their chronic reliance on political venom and their connection to ads in which partially undressed young women offer “services” to customers makes Cortese’s avoidance of their proposed meeting at least reasonable and probably praiseworthy.
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San Jose Inside is the Fox news of Silicon Valley, why would anybody do an interview with them. Just like Fox news, I look to them for who NOT to vote for.