{"id":4926,"date":"2021-11-09T07:57:39","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T15:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4926"},"modified":"2021-11-09T09:38:40","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T17:38:40","slug":"even-the-washington-post-gets-it-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4926","title":{"rendered":"Even the Washington Post Gets It, Sort Of"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Washington Post is a predictably liberal newspaper very slightly to the right of the New York Times (in other words, not Maoist).\u00a0 It woodenly goes along with whatever the liberal position du jour is, including opposition to the death penalty and an unfriendly skepticism toward the police and policing.<\/p>\n<p>A week ago today, however, there was an election.\u00a0 As has widely been reported, more liberal candidates took a pasting, running from 12 to 16 percentage points behind what Joe Biden won in 2020.\u00a0 Crime and policing were issues across the country, including although not limited to Northern Virginia, just across the Potomac from the WaPo\u00a0 &#8212;\u00a0 which dutifully took note.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>There appeared the following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2021\/11\/05\/electoral-demise-defund-police\/?utm_campaign=wp_the_5_minute_fix&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;wpisrc=nl_fix&amp;carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3535448%2F618593d89d2fda9d41371e54%2F5fe92a9eade4e21670c7e443%2F30%2F46%2F618593d89d2fda9d41371e54\">article<\/a>, titled, <em>&#8220;The electoral demise of &#8216;defund the police&#8217;.&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0 I&#8217;m quite sure the WaPo&#8217;s usual readership was\u00a0 not happy.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s a sample:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Because the defund movement took off in mid-2020, it was largely too late for the issue to be truly reflected on that year\u2019s ballot. But versions of it were very much before voters in Tuesday\u2019s election and in the 2021 primaries. The lesson: Voters are open to police overhauls and new oversight, but they strongly rejected some of the more drastic ideas \u2014 including in some very blue areas. And amid rising crime nationwide, pro-policing messages won the day.<\/p>\n<p>In Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed by a police officer, voters\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2021\/11\/02\/minneapolis-mayor-police-vote\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rejected by double digits<\/a>\u00a0a proposal to turn the Minneapolis Police Department into a somewhat-nebulous Department of Public Safety that would have been overseen by the city council. Two city council members who had supported the proposal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.minnpost.com\/metro\/2021\/11\/two-minneapolis-city-council-incumbents-defeated-in-election-defined-by-debate-over-policing-public-safety\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">also lost their seats by wide margins<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"\">\n<div data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\">\n<blockquote><p>In Buffalo, democratic socialist India Walton had defeated incumbent Mayor Byron Brown in a primary earlier in the year but lost to Brown\u2019s write-in campaign Tuesday. Walton had said at one point that she would\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/buffalonews.com\/news\/local\/government-and-politics\/prominent-protester-against-police-brutality-vows-run-for-buffalo-mayor\/article_aced071c-29bd-11eb-8f6a-833c81756a88.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cabsolutely\u201d run on a defund platform<\/a>, though she later\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/buffalonews.com\/news\/local\/crime-and-courts\/how-india-walton-would-revamp-policing-in-buffalo\/article_b1eb959a-d4e8-11eb-af3c-bf7e45f00719.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sought to moderate that stance<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p>Results on Long Island in New York also appeared to demonstrate uneasiness with going too far on criminal justice change. Republicans flipped district attorneys\u2019 races in Nassau and Suffolk counties while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/28\/nyregion\/nassau-da-kaminsky-donnelly.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">focusing their campaigns on the state legislature\u2019s move to limit judges\u2019 ability to set cash bail<\/a>\u00a0for more-minor charges \u2014 an effort that had pitted moderate Democrats against liberals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<div data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\">\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\" data-el=\"text\">Police issues also were front and center in Seattle, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/seattle-news\/politics\/bruce-harrell-has-won-race-for-seattle-mayor-defeating-m-lorena-gonzalez-as-vote-counting-continues-in-local-contests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">moderate Democrat Bruce Harrell defeated<\/a>\u00a0M. Lorena Gonzalez. Gonzalez had supported\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/seattle-news\/politics\/majority-of-seattle-council-pledges-to-support-police-department-defunding-plan-laid-out-by-advocates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cutting police funding by 50 percent<\/a>\u00a0and transferring the money to other community efforts, somewhat similar to the Minneapolis amendment. Harrell\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattlemet.com\/news-and-city-life\/2021\/11\/the-defund-the-police-debate-became-the-major-issue-in-seattle-s-mayoral-race-gonzalez-harrell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">made opposing defunding the police central to his campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<div data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\">\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\" data-el=\"text\">Perhaps the splashier result in that city came in the city attorney\u2019s race. There, Republican Ann Davison won in a deep-blue city \u2014 a result <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AaronBlake\/status\/1456213534195474432\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hailed by some Republicans<\/a>\u00a0as proof that their party can compete anywhere.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-el=\"text\">Now don&#8217;t get me wrong.\u00a0 The Post understands the results\u00a0 but doesn&#8217;t really accept them.\u00a0 The remainder of the article is largely devoted to the theme that &#8220;people understand that the cops need a slap in the face, but we on the Left need to be more circumspect and clever in our messaging.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-el=\"text\">That reaction comes as no surprise to those who&#8217;ve spent years following this issue.\u00a0 The pro-criminal side never really changes.\u00a0 When it takes a drubbing, it&#8217;s never that it was out of step with public opinion (much less reality).\u00a0 So don&#8217;t expect any real shifts in behavior.\u00a0 Expect, at best, some hunkering down on the issue and a prettier package next time.<\/p>\n<p data-el=\"text\">Still, we need to take what we can get.\u00a0 At least the WaPo acknowledges that it has a problem, which is more than I&#8217;ve seen on some of the criminal justice sites that normally think elections are a big deal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<div data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\">\n<p data-el=\"text\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Washington Post is a predictably liberal newspaper very slightly to the right of the New York Times (in other words, not Maoist).\u00a0 It woodenly goes along with whatever the liberal position du jour is, including opposition to the death penalty and an unfriendly skepticism toward the police and policing. A week ago today, however, there was an election.\u00a0 As has widely been reported, more liberal candidates took a pasting, running from 12 to 16 percentage points behind what Joe Biden won in 2020.\u00a0 Crime and policing were issues across the country, including although not limited to Northern Virginia, just across the Potomac from the WaPo\u00a0 &#8212;\u00a0 which dutifully took note.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policing","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Even the Washington Post Gets It, Sort Of - Crime &amp; Consequences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4926\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Even the Washington Post Gets It, Sort Of - Crime &amp; Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Washington Post is a predictably liberal newspaper very slightly to the right of the New York Times (in other words, not Maoist).\u00a0 It woodenly goes along with whatever the liberal position du jour is, including opposition to the death penalty and an unfriendly skepticism toward the police and policing. A week ago today, however, there was an election.\u00a0 As has widely been reported, more liberal candidates took a pasting, running from 12 to 16 percentage points behind what Joe Biden won in 2020.\u00a0 Crime and policing were issues across the country, including although not limited to Northern Virginia, just across the Potomac from the WaPo\u00a0 &#8212;\u00a0 which dutifully took note.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4926\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Crime &amp; Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CriminalJusticeLegalFoundation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-09T15:57:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-09T17:38:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/FB_DefaultLJ.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bill Otis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bill Otis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4926\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4926\",\"name\":\"Even the Washington Post Gets It, Sort Of - Crime &amp; Consequences\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-09T15:57:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-09T17:38:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d089f7e65aa652190318c44070da5e6e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4926#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4926\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4926#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Even the Washington Post Gets It, Sort Of\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/\",\"name\":\"Crime &amp; Consequences\",\"description\":\"Crime and criminal law\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d089f7e65aa652190318c44070da5e6e\",\"name\":\"Bill Otis\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Even the Washington Post Gets It, Sort Of - Crime &amp; Consequences","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4926","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Even the Washington Post Gets It, Sort Of - Crime &amp; Consequences","og_description":"The Washington Post is a predictably liberal newspaper very slightly to the right of the New York Times (in other words, not Maoist).\u00a0 It woodenly goes along with whatever the liberal position du jour is, including opposition to the death penalty and an unfriendly skepticism toward the police and policing. 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