Yesterday San Diego CityBeat’s John Lamb posted this on Twitter:
“(johnrlamb) X’s fingers @TonyKrvaric continues his meatball/beer/mashed-potato/beer/boiled-egg/beer/boiled-potato/aquavit-chaser diet. #strokeofgenius”
In essence, Lamb was noting he was keeping his fingers crossed for Tony Krvaric (pictured below) to have a stroke.
While he will no doubt say that he was joking, and may at some point feign an apology, this provides an illuminating insight as to the mindset of San Diego CityBeat.
CityBeat is nothing short of a Democratic and labor union press release machine intent on pushing a liberal agenda and slamming conservatives. The effort to remain objective has long ago been abandoned and goes well beyond simply leaning left. Lamb’s latest public comment with a death wish to the chair of the Republican Party is just a string of attacks and biased reporting that Republican candidates and officials have had to endure.
The response of CityBeat Editor Dave Rolland left much to be desired and provides further insight in to how far up the food chain the wink and a nod liberal bias at CityBeat goes, while masquerading as journalism. Rolland tweeted, “No, he said his real hope was that Krvaric would eat more veggies,” followed by, “Oh, and don’t confuse alt-weekly writers with politicians. We don’t apologize every time panties are twisted.”
No, Mr. Rolland. We thought that even “alt-weekly writers” would abide by some journalistic standards, which would presumably not include a death wish for the the local Republican Party chairman.
It shouldn’t be at all surprising that when Lamb was called out on his poor taste in his comment, none other than labor’s top guns Lorena Gonzalez and Brian Marvel came to Lamb’s rescue. This shows how important they consider CityBeat’s reputation to be as it consistently and shamelessly advocates their agenda.
While pushing the liberal agenda is acceptable in the course of political dialogue, to do it under the flag of an objective news service — or even basic journalism — is disingenuous and should be called out for what it is.
Active GOP candidates and elected officials would be wise to simply ignore this organization and its “reporters.” Engaging in interviews and comments is as absurd as commenting to Lorena Gonzalez herself before she puts out a press release trashing you.
All fair minded San Diegans should ignore this publication, or at least treat it for what it is; a mouthpiece for liberal activists masquerading as journalism. Republican candidates and elected officials should ignore them altogether — as some already do.
Comments 18
This is precious. Simply precious. I’m going to print it out and put it in my scrapbook.
Kelly Davis
Associate Editor
San Diego CityBeat
Here is the link to that startling statement:
http://twitter.com/johnrlamb/status/85491943563464704
To take another angle… the food items listed are ethnic STEREOTYPES about Swedes & Swedish-Americans. Mr. Krvaric grew up in the fine nation of Sweden.
Suppose someone on THIS Side of the House wrote about a Latino political figure’s diet and mentioned Tacos, or an Asian-American and listed sushi, or an African-American and itemized [fill in the blank].
That hypothetical person of the Right would (I believe) be branded a Racist by the Left and condemned in strongest possible terms. There would be demands
that person suffer consequences.
So what we have here now is A Double Standard that would span the Grand Canyon with plenty of room to spare…
Lamb should have kept his unfunny death-wish “joke” to himself. Rolland’s (lack of) response was disappointing and erodes CityBeat’s credibility. And I say this as someone who’s defended Lamb’s reporting on Kvaric.
But there’s nothing wrong with CityBeat openly pursuing a left-leaning agenda, because it’s not being deceptive. What’s wrong is advocacy journalism hiding under the false flag of “objective” reporting. Moreover, SD CityBeat has provided good, public-service journalism.
CityBeat can be a pain in the ass. But pain is often a warning sign something’s wrong. Conservatives and others would be ill-advised to ignore that pain just because they don’t share the publication’s left-leaning politics.
“Republican candidates and elected officials should ignore them altogether — as some already do.”
Makes sense. Now I also understand why some Democrats avoid going on Fox News.
Brad:
George Orwell wrote that, “The survival of Freedom largely depends upon the ability of ordinary men and women to make distinctions.”
We making a distinction between vocal advocacy and debate on one hand, and wishing someone physical harm on the other.
When Democratic Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords was shot by that lunatic in Arizona last January, SD Rostrafarians were full of sincere good wishes and prayers for her survival and speedy convalesence.
http://sdrostra.com/?p=11497
http://sdrostra.com/?p=11535
One Rostra poster wrote, “First, prayers for recovery of the Congresswoman and others wounded today are very much in order.”
We said that and meant it. Politics is important, but not so important as to wish someone else grievous harm.
Hi Jim,
You are precisely right.This recalls certain elements of the left that get off on such sadistic snuff fantasies.
Of course, the left can point out instances where people on the right have engaged in the same deplorable conduct. It’s wrong in all instances.
Who’s James Behan? And why is he so anti-veggie?
To Jim Sills — You’re just mad because I called you out on your double standard re: Filner’s Burbank donation mailing address and your convenient forgetfulness to mention that Dumanis is using a Long Beach address. Re: your gastronomic racism claim, nice try — but it was Krvaric who tweeted pictures of the food/alcohol I mentioned and even called himself “slightly overweight.” Yes, I suggested he add more veggies to his diet, but he is more than welcome to ignore my advice.
What’s funny here is this joke has generated such feigned outrage at the same time Krvaric is losing in court, is having to pay back rent for a GOP HQ lease he skipped out on, and is employing his cohorts to “interfere” — not my word, but that of a top official in the City Attorney’s office — with the difficult work of the San Diego Redistricting Commission, which is comprised of dedicated private citizens who don’t deserve his constant attacks and threats of stalking.
Here’s some advice you’re more than welcome to ignore — if you can throw a punch but can’t take one, get out of the kitchen. I for one intend to keep on cooking. And yes, if you revere Krvaric as some sort of false idol, by all means DON’T read today’s edition of CityBeat. You’ll just get depressed.
Btw, next year marks my 30th year covering San Diego as a reporter. If you think your flea bites of criticism affect me, best to move on to something more productive. Your intimidation efforts aimed at me and CityBeat, which may work on other local media outlets, are futile.
To your health, mental and otherwise!
John R. Lamb
Spin Cycle Columnist
San Diego CityBeat
John,
30 years as a reporter in San Diego and this is the first I’ve heard of you? Maybe you should look into a different profession…
Your lame response of diverting attention away from your irresponsible action instead of taking responsibility and apologizing just shows your lack of character in addition to your lack of writing skills.
Twitter comment from yours truly…
“Agree w/this or not, question remains: Would a heart attack joke about hoping Obama continues smoking get a reaction?”
I, for one, am outraged! Official CityBeat spokesman John R. Lamb clearly has a sadistic death wish, loves to watch snuff films, and hates white Swedes. His remark discredits CityBeat as a whole!
They’ve clearly fallen into the Grand Canyon of Basic Journalism and Proper Nouns!??!!
Because of Lamb’s remark, some nut is probably going to track Tony Krvaric down and give him a stroke.
It’s so sad that the innocent, diplomatic, victimized public servant Tony Krvaric and his fellow Republicans have had to endure such shameless remarks. They’ve never antagonized anyone!
I can only assume that any time a Republican tells a Democrat to go to Hell or uses any number of similarly offensive phrases, they mean it literally and sincerely.
Thank you for taking Lamb to the slaughter.
*Disclaimer, I hope you don’t do that literally! I only meant it as a joke!
Dear Typical Response — Wow, you read my mind! I was actually thinking about getting into the hide-behind-an-anonymous-moniker business, but you’ve clearly already cornered the market! Sometime when you venture out of your safe womb of unknownness, head down to the library and peruse old editions of the San Diego Daily Transcript, San Diego Tribune, and San Diego Metropolitan and you’ll find me. By name, btw. If you look real close, you’ll even find one story in the LA Times when it had an edition here. Btw, what’s your profession? I hear Krvaric has an opening for official shoe shiner. You’d be perfect!
Actually the Swedes live pretty long on that diet, and have a lower incident of heart problems or stroke than most other nations. If he wanted to really wish Tony ill he should have put him on my diet of American/English food.
Tony, can I have some of your aquavit?
Ironic, or not?…
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-9228-durfees-a-thug.html
And here I thought Krvaric was “Croatian by blood….” For the record, I have a bottle of Aquavit in the cupboard. But also loads of veggies in the fridge.
To Greg — Gotta admit, CityBeat will flip you on your head sometimes, eh? ;?)
To the person who believes jokes about someone having a stroke are inappropriate, but somehow thinks it is okay to post cutting comments about someone’s physical characteristics… your comment was rejected. Thank you for trying.
The U-T comments section is not monitored if it’s insults you want to toss about. Here, although we do get toxic about policy differences and even engage in criticisms over writing style and perceived agendas, we don’t tolerate personal name calling.
As we have long said, yes, it is much easier to resort to name calling than it is to pose an intelligent argument. But, please try.