Deborah Lipp

The ever-astute Hendrik Hertzberg:

For five days last week, the White House and its Capitol Hill allies did urgent battle against what they perceive, or say they perceive, as an attack on the institution of marriage. It’s a strange sort of attack, to be sure: a wonderfully pacific attack, a supportive attack, an attack without the slightest intention or capacity to cause harm, consisting, as it does, of the earnest wish of certain loving couples to join themselves to that very institution and thus to feel themselves, and be accepted as, full members of the American (and human) family.

[Cross-posted at If I Ran the Zoo]

Yesterday’s Chronicle ran a story on an unique immigration protest: five motorcyclists who call themselves the Paul Revere Riders, crossing the country to sound the alarm about illegal immigrants. Here’s a representative sample:

“One if by land, two if by sea, three if from Mexico,” declares their Web site — comparing illegal migrants from Mexico to British redcoats of two centuries ago.

“The idea is to get enough people enough excited about their country to take action,” said leader Frosty Wooldridge when the group arrived in Los Gatos Tuesday evening. “Paul Revere in April of 1775 was the great communicator. He rode and spread the word and actually beat the British. We’re trying to spread the word through our neighbors and through the Internet.

“We’ve seen people march for anarchy, march for Mexico, march for illegality,” said Wooldridge, who hopes legal immigration will be reduced dramatically and illegal entries stopped altogether. “It’s time we as Americans stand up.”

The story quotes exactly five people: the leader, and four of the anti-immigration protestors. All had positive things to say about the ride, and about the anti-immigration cause. Nobody was quoted with anything critical to say. A story on a politically charged protest ends up coming off as a human interest story.

Just to be clear, I don’t think the reporter, Tyche Hendricks, has an agenda here. » Read more..