By Dennis Brent Melby

The major cutbacks at The Washington Post caught everyone by surprise with a wide range of emotions. If you’re a subscriber like me, you checked out yesterday’s paper with curiosity and courage, no major changes yet. As a local Washingtonian, it was the only hometown paper left, but as a Republican, virtually every word, every page reeked of bias and hatred. Is this any way to run a major news outlet?

Some folks responded with glee, some folks responded with doom, and others with hatred toward Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – many of those haters were The Washington Post's own employees! They felt they were owed a job. Even if people didn’t buy the paper they wanted the owners to continue paying them high wages with heavy staffing because their philosophy was more important than the fact that the outlet hemorrhaged cash year after year.

As Republicans all we wanted was a news outlet with straight reporting. No comments to the side, no I Hate Trump All The Time. Heck, even middle of the road – some criticism, some praise and mostly just common sense reporting is what we wanted. Rarely seen…and never admitted. Folks tell me that a moderate newspaper was not what folks wanted (it’s what I wanted) and that they have a few, a very few conservative voices (Marc Thiessen yes, George Will no…)

It wasn’t just Trump, they hated any Republican. They made their bones hating Nixon, and Dole, and Romney, and Reagan, Bush, Cheney, and loved…then hated…then loved McCain. You get the drift. Haters Gonna Hate – but not admit it. I’m a moderate Republican, with many Democrat friends and relatives – an area native. Yet I’ve never seen the Post reflect my viewpoint, and it’s the same for most Republicans, conservatives and moderate Democrats I know.

We’ll see what the future holds for Democracy Dies in Darkness. I want my local paper, I want it to give the news, and sports, and local matters of the city and surrounding areas. I want it to discuss and represent all sides of an issue – and I’d pay for that. Do you think that will happen?

I’m a Republican, optimistic by nature, and I sure hope so.

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