The old cliche among editorial writers was that if you didn't have the nerve to write something critical of the governor, the mayor or the school board -- or if they hadn't given you cause to write something critical of them -- you could always write about Afghanistan.
Probably, nobody in your circulation area would care very much, so they wouldn't get mad at whatever you wrote. Almost certainly, nobody in your readership would know enough to call you on it if you were wrong. We called it "Afghanistanism" and it was often a way to call another newspaper, or your own, cowardly.
Not any more.
- Listen to the generals - The Buffalo News
This cannot be a political decision. It must be a strategic one, based wholly on strategic -- not political -- considerations. The decisions to be made must be taken with an eye toward wise policy, not the politics of the moment.
- The president fiddles, Afghanistan burns - The Washington Times
- Obama is playing Emily Litella on Afghanistan - The Kansas City Star
- What's next in Afghanistan - The Dallas Morning News
- Be sure we know our goal in Afghanistan - The Gazette-Times of Corvallis, Ore.
- The Taliban Threat - The Washington Post
- Obama's Afghanistan options: no easy outs - The Orange County Register
- No good options in Afghanistan - The Wichita Eagle
- Not Good Enough - Thomas Friedman/The New York Times
Actually, the trend in these editorials is to punt, basically admitting we don't know the best course of action, or even the least worst one, setting some goals and hoping out loud that the president gets it right.
Welcome to Afghanistanism, The Next Generation.
Meanwhile, for some reason, no one else seems to care about Erie Community College. But, then, that's the problem.
- ECC needs repair funding
ECC is the county’s second-largest post-secondary school after the University at Buffalo. It is not an educational afterthought for an ever-growing student population that relies on it for an education. It must not be a political or economic afterthought for county leaders.
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News










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