The “Voting Guide for the 2004 Election” was anything but unbiased!
This Wespeak is a response to the March 2, “Vote for good activism” Argus editorial, which stated that the pamphlet was “unbiased” and “Careful to represent all candidates [including Bush] and recognizing that not every voter is liberal.”
I would like to point out that the pamphlet was published by Students for Access to Health Care and included a piece written by Students Advocating for Reproductive Choice and an education article which was “From the Democratic Party Website with interjections”. Many of the issue topics didn’t even address Bush.
This pamphlet should have been titled, “Democratic Voting Guide for the 2004 Election,” making its political agenda clear from the start. Whenever Bush was mentioned, it was as a foil to make the Democratic Party seem better and the Republican Party worse. One need not look farther than the first page, Health Care Issues in 2004, to find such a tactic. (There are three instances). This page does more than support the Democrats; it throws its weight behind the moderate ones. The voter who reads this pamphlet will not see both sides of the issues.
What we need is a second publication written by Republican supporters if we are to become informed in our political decisions.
It is my hope that the editor(s) will be more discerning next time. Though the title of the pamphlet is misleading, this is no excuse. We all must carefully examine political literature, so mistakes, such as these, can be avoided.
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