Michael Collins at "Scoop" Independent News makes much of Bill Clinton using the adjective "persuasive" to describe Robert Kennedy Jr.'s Rolling Stone article on fraud in the 2004 election. Clinton addressed the subject during the question-and-answer session following his keynote speech at the AAN Convention on Saturday, June 17. "Clinton’s response might have gained front page status or at least editorial page controversy if the United States had a function [sic] media. It does not," Collins writes. He notes that Clinton would have set off a "fire storm by endorsing the argument that 2004 was stolen," but he argues that "regardless of what was not said, Clinton said enough to cause a major controversy."

Continue ReadingOpinion: Clinton’s Remarks on 2004 Election Deserved More Coverage

Jon Gaskell and Cityview have had a turbulent past: He first edited the paper from 2000 to 2002, then left and started his own alt-weekly, Pointblank, which was admitted to AAN membership in 2003. Cityview was sold to some of Pointblank's investors in April 2005, and the two newspapers merged into one alt-weekly that was still called Cityview, with Gaskell as editor. He tells The Des Moines Register that "there was no drama" in his resignation this time around; his departure was announced in a publisher's note in the current edition of Cityview.

Continue ReadingGaskell Leaves Cityview, Again, With ‘No Drama’

Boise Weekly writer Bill Cope addressed his June 28 column to his former boss Andy Hedden-Nicely, who founded the "United Party" in Idaho and is running as its candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cope praised Hedden-Nicely as an individual, but suggested that his third-party candidacy was a mistake in judgment. Hedden-Nicely's response in the paper's July 5 issue apes Cope's column structure. "I know you as a man of intelligence and integrity, and I'm confident that when you finally come to your senses and realize that the train has left the station -- that the Democrats are still hiding in the shadows trying to come up with a politically correct response -- you can jump on the United Party train," Hedden-Nicely writes.

Continue ReadingBoise Weekly Founder Takes Issue With Opinion Column