Editorial of the Year

I've posted a series of tweets about this editorial from Bangor Daily News, and the last paragraph in particular:

Both senators have broken ranks on occasion, and being independent minded, they can be expected to do so in the future. Who is a better judge than our senators themselves on where to break ranks? If you like them, why not leave the decision to them? They probably know better than anyone else when to go along with their party and when to resist. The choices depend not only on rights and wrongs, but also what it takes to get re-elected. And in our system, re-election can be a lot better than going down fighting.

The message is clear: Voters should avoid judging their senators, and instead just trust Snowe and Collins to do what they think is right. They have their reasons.

Because of the clunky phrasing and facile reasoning, at first I figured the text was surely an improperly labelled letter to the editor. But that seems not to be the case.

Like their counterparts in the North Korean press, the editors of Bangor Daily News really do seem to believe that some powerful officials ought to be considered beyond reproach and immune to scrutiny.

At this writing, a Wednesday e-mail to Editorial Page Editor Susan L. Young asking for clarification had not received a reply.