Besos in trying to explain why no endorsement this go-round:
“Reality is an undefeated champion. It would be easy to blame others for our long and continuing fall in credibility (and, therefore, decline in impact), but a victim mentality will not help. Complaining is not a strategy. We must work harder to control what we can control to increase our credibility.
Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election. No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, “I’m going with Newspaper A’s endorsement.” None. What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one. Eugene Meyer, publisher of The Washington Post from 1933 to 1946, thought the same, and he was right.”
That’s an interesting little dance you’ve got going there, jeff.
(Shrug)
As Besos says, reality is the champion… But the thing is, he can only allow himself to internally acknowledge somewhat less than half of it.
The problem is not the perception of liberal bias in the supposed mainstream media, including the Washington Post, but the existence of it.
Unfortunately that’s a point that Besos hasn’t brought himself to recognize yet. If he ever will… And there’s serious doubt on that point. Indeed, one wonders what Besos believes he can control to alter that perception.
Us, it’s easy enough to suppose. Is every American having free speech part of his problem in his perception? That would certainly be of a piece with people like Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton seeking to control what they consider to be “disinformation”.
If nothing else this editorial of his is an indication that he recognizes that the mainstream media has lost control of the narrative.
This move does give us a clue as to what’s going on in his mind, however, on at least two points:
The first being, he knows the chances are that the horrible candidate that is Harris, is on a losing path electorally speaking. Give him credit for an accurate finger gauge in the breeze, at least.
The second is she will perform poorly in the office, assuming that she ever manages to attain it. In either event or both, as Bezos sees it, the credibility of the Washington Post gets besmirched thereby. Simply put, the non-endorsement is the owner protecting his investment.
What he refuses to allow himself to believe however, is that ship has already sailed, even before he took possession of it.
By the way the comment section on his editorial is amusing at least. Some 9,000 comments at my last viewing.