The Reflector

Opinion writer Hannah Kaase contributed an op-ed piece on Friday arguing against my claim that I have never endorsed a political candidate. She argued that, while I never used the word "endorse," I obviously supported Barack Obama in my articles and had an overall more liberal stance. Her argument, which examined eight of my articles from this year, often misconstrued my message and was patently illogical.

"Watson claims he couldn't endorse a candidate because he was still undecided, so why do his articles show such partiality?" Kaase interrogated.

This premise, that any partiality I may possess might as well be the same as an endorsement, is Kaase's weakest point of all. I write opinion articles, and I happen to have several criticisms of the Republican Party, George W. Bush, John McCain and especially Sarah Palin. This still does not mean I endorsed anyone for public office. Period.

Furthermore, Kaase cited many of my articles that were critical of McCain or slanted toward Obama to prove a point that my writings "all but name the candidates Watson likely voted for."

She cited, for instance, my Oct. 14 article with the headline "Obama wins both debates before finale," although she happened not to recognize that in my non-endorsement article she criticized, I expressed that Obama performed poorly in the third debate.

Furthermore, in the Oct. 14 article about Obama's victory in the first two debates, I wrote, "McCain is probably going to lose [the third debate]. I say this not because I am particularly against McCain. McCain has tackled some worthy causes I support. However, he has failed in two areas of the debates."

Kaase also cited my article predicting a defeat of Palin in her debate against Joe Biden. (As a side note, I was surprised at Biden's inability to destroy Palin absolutely.)

While these two articles still do not mean I ever endorsed a candidate, Kaase's point about my slant holds some water. However, she did not research my career with The Reflector thoroughly enough.

At one point, Kaase used my blatant opposition to Hillary Clinton in the primaries to show that I'm biased toward Obama. She failed to mention another one of my articles supporting John McCain in the primaries.

In my Jan. 15 article, "Image-building highlights style of primary hopefuls," I argued that most of the Republican and Democratic primary hopefuls were too obsessed with negative politics and polishing their own images.

I said: "Often, presidential campaigns center around who looks good, who looks bad, who's credible and who's a flip-flop. McCain (my No. 1 pick for a Republican nomination) has done well to avoid talking too much about the other candidates, or himself."

Ironically, this is the nearest I have ever come to endorsing a candidate, although my statement was simply talking about a party nomination and not an actual political office. Kaase's point about there being an "obvious penchant in the paper" has very little foundation and seems only to represent the feelings of a disgruntled Republican.

Kaase concluded her article by asserting readers could "infer" who I would endorse "if stated," whatever that means. She seems to assume I voted for Obama, which I didn't. I didn't vote for McCain either. That was the point of my Oct. 31 non-endorsement of the two. And that is the reason Kaase's article really surprises me. How can she claim I somehow secretly endorsed Obama even though I clearly non-endorsed both candidates? I said, "Neither McCain nor Obama represents a true change in Washington."

I consider myself fairly politically moderate, and I feel I have displayed this in my articles, especially my most recent ones. Over the course of this year, I have learned of pathologies in both parties in regard to the economy and American intervention. My complaints have largely been the result of our corrupt two-party system. Kaase's frustration with my criticisms of Republicans shows she is more biased toward one side of the political spectrum than I am and has not looked at my articles very fairly or the issues they discuss very critically.

Matt Watson is the opinion editor of The Reflector. He can be contacted at opinion@reflector.msstate.edu.

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