I like the Washington Post. The reporting is great and the writing is often brilliant. It is one of the handful of American newspapers that still has reporters based around the world and the nation even as they cover the local area with depth and detail. Reporters regularly break important stories and add needed context to the issues of the day.
Still, the paper can also–fairly–be called one of the worst papers in America. Why? It is the Editorials and the Opinion section of the paper.
If you judge the WaPo just on its editorials and the predictable circle of limited minds that the Opinion Page Editors allow to be printed–then you would have to judge the WaPo as one of the worst (and laziest) newspapers in America. And while there are some bright spots every now and then, most of the time reading the editorials and opinions is descending into a swamp of faulty logic, magical thinking, false equivalences and a bias in favor of even the silliest chit-chat from the latest Georgetown cocktail party.
Today’s lead editorial, “The birthright debate” is a perfect example. It is a classic Fred Hiatt era embarrassment.