Lone voice in Bush's home town makes editor a star

[kskiska]

AS EDITOR of the Lone Star Iconoclast, the one local newspaper in President Bush’s home town of Crawford, Texas, W. Leon Smith thought that he might get the odd angry letter when he endorsed John Kerry before the election last year.

What happened instead was rather more ferocious. Today you won’t find a single copy of the Iconoclast in Crawford. Mr Smith, 51, has been run out of town. But in Europe, and across much of the world, he has a fan club of thousands, with a circulation to match. In a matter of months the Iconoclast has been transformed from a local to an international paper.

“We didn’t think the reaction would be anything like it was,” Mr Smith, a softly spoken man with a penchant for understatement, said as he opened a box of more than 2,000 letters written since his explosive editorial made him persona non grata in rural Texas, but a hero in Paris. In the deeply Republican farming community of Crawford — a town that lionises its President — the Iconoclast’s Kerry endorsement was, to say the least, a brave move for a newspaper dependent on local advertisers.

(snip)

“Within 30 minutes that morning we had all pulled it from our racks. His paper is no longer sold in Crawford. We were shocked and angry.” Overnight Mr Smith lost nearly all of his local advertisers — plumbing companies, souvenir shops, restaurants and undertakers.

Circulation locally dropped from 920 to under 100. Angry residents screamed insults down the phone. The coach of the local high school football team, the Crawford Pirates, barred Mr Smith’s reporters from covering their matches. Two of them quit after being threatened at a local festival. “In the Old West they hung people for being traitors,” one of the milder letters of complaint read. Valerie Duty, owner of Western White House Gifts, called the Iconoclast a “rag of a newspaper not worthy of the bottom of a birdcage”.

more…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1559364,00.html

[WI_DEM]

1. I see where Crawford stands on Freedom of the Press

[Daphne08]

2. I'm a subscriber of the paper and I'd recommend it to everyone.

:)

[flordehinojos]

3. it seems like crawford is good breeding ground for bush goons against a

free press!

[Misunderestimator]

4. I have a subscription! Got it right after his endorsement of Kerry.

I absolutely love this!! :thumbsup: to the Lone Star Iconoclast. Get your subscription here:

http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/subs.htm

[tnlefty]

9. Thanks for this link!!!

Bookmarked and on my to do list for tomorrow.

[Misunderestimator]

10. You're welcome. It was a great feeling to subscribe.

And... it's a great paper.

[xchrom]

5. crawford, the home of the nationalist state.

what a bunch of barbarians.

but i'm so glad that paris has given this intelligent gentleman the attention he deserves.

[bluestateguy]

6. In rural Texas you don't criticize Bush

You just don't without suffering some real social and economic consequences.

[amber dog democrat]

8. I am a 5th generation Texian

and I have very little in common with the political sentiments of the rural folk.
Many of them would still be in the Confederacy if it were possible

[tavalon]

18. Which is why

when I'm in Texas (as I am all too frequently) I stay in Austin. I mean literally, I do everything in my power never to leave the city limits. Austin is a cool town in the middle of an abysmal, evil, backwards state.

I have a friend I casually date in Austin but we never, ever, ever leave the city while together. Wanna know why? Because I'm a white woman and he's a black man and he might just get killed. I kid you not. That state is barbaric, racist, homophobic, fundie insane.

[CTyankee]

7. In the spirit of my Texas forebears (forbears? sp.?)

This is the greatest news ever! I am a second generation Texan and I feel regenerated today in the true spirit of independence and liberty that those who went before me in my family believed and lived.

Ornery is the word I would use to describe this dear Mr. Smith's attitude. Thank you so much for your courage in a very dark place in our time!

[Mend]

11. I am a FL subscriber and it goes into

my waiting room after I've read it....it is an honor to receive this newspaper.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. kick

[Lisa]

13. interesting that there are still some Crawford holdouts!

Note that he lost "nearly all" (not "all") of his local advertisers. And there are still local subscribers, even if they're less than a hundred in total. I guess that some people might still not like Bush, even with what must be unbearable peer pressure ... and perhaps others simply can't abide pushiness and feel it's right to stick up for "the little guy". Kudos to them, whoever they are.

I can just imagine * at those photo-up BBQs he likes to throw -- ensconced among adoring sycophantic crowds, putting on his "cowpoke" act -- and meanwhile there are a few people who see right through it.

[Moderator]

14. kick to combine

[emad]

Lone voice in Bush's home town makes editor a star

April 08, 2005

Times
From Tim Reid in Crawford, Texas


AS EDITOR of the Lone Star Iconoclast, the one local newspaper in President Bush’s home town of Crawford, Texas, W. Leon Smith thought that he might get the odd angry letter when he endorsed John Kerry before the election last year.

What happened instead was rather more ferocious. Today you won’t find a single copy of the Iconoclast in Crawford. Mr Smith, 51, has been run out of town. But in Europe, and across much of the world, he has a fan club of thousands, with a circulation to match. In a matter of months the Iconoclast has been transformed from a local to an international paper.

“We didn’t think the reaction would be anything like it was,” Mr Smith, a softly spoken man with a penchant for understatement, said as he opened a box of more than 2,000 letters written since his explosive editorial made him persona non grata in rural Texas, but a hero in Paris. In the deeply Republican farming community of Crawford — a town that lionises its President — the Iconoclast’s Kerry endorsement was, to say the least, a brave move for a newspaper dependent on local advertisers.

When the 705 inhabitants opened the Iconoclast on the morning of Wednesday, September 29, 2004, the headline “Kerry Will Restore American Dignity” was about as welcome a sight as Jacques Chirac strolling up Main Street.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1559364,00.html

[onehandle]

15. Textbook fascist brownshirt thuggery.

Everyone should read the whole article.

[Robbien]

16. I remember this, many here on DU sent this paper

donations and subscriptions to keep the paper alive.

[tavalon]

19. Yeah, I subscribed but I've never actually received the paper

I guess I'll just go git m'self resubscribed. I love that man's spirit and I do not want the Crawford bigots to win.

[anarchy1999]

17. I still subscribe and have sent to many friends.

It is a breath of fresh air.

Come and Join us all in Crawford on Sunday and Monday to welcome Ariel Sharon to the "ranch/pig farm". Lots of fun for everyone.

www.crawfordpeacehouse.org

[CBHagman]

20. So much for the heartland!

Read this portion of the article:

"Circulation locally dropped from 920 to under 100. Angry residents screamed insults down the phone. The coach of the local high school football team, the Crawford Pirates, barred Mr Smith’s reporters from covering their matches. Two of them quit after being threatened at a local festival. 'In the Old West they hung people for being traitors,' one of the milder letters of complaint read. Valerie Duty, owner of Western White House Gifts, called the Iconoclast a 'rag of a newspaper not worthy of the bottom of a birdcage.'"

Cancelling your subscription is one thing, but barring reporters, threatening people, and calling someone a "traitor" for daring to criticize Bush? Such Crawfordians (or whatever they're called) are using the Constitution for toilet paper. Such LOVELY heartland values. :sarcasm:

[Kber]

21. Let's send Mr. Smith to Washington!

Bravo!