The New York Times: Publicist In Chief For Republican Governors So They Do Not Need Fox News

As Economist Brad DeLong Frequently Says – Why Can’t We Have a Better Press Corp?

The current edition of the New York Times has three, count em, three stories on Republican Governors

This headline leads into a highly favorable story on South Carolina’s Nikke Haley

South Carolina’s Young Governor Has a High Profile and Higher Hopes

Stephen Morton/Bloomberg News

Ms. Haley testified at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on a complaint made against Boeing Co. by the National Labor Relations Board.

and this one leads into a highly favorable story on Ohio’s John Kasich

In Ohio, a New Governor Is Off to a Smooth Start

And this one leads into a highly favorable story on New Jersey's Chris Christie His Aggressiveness Unabated, Christie Keeps His Momentum

Why all the praise?  Well Mr. Kasich, a Republican, got the budget he wanted passed by, and get this, a Republican legislature.  Truly an amazing accomplishment.

In his five months in office, Mr. Kasich, a former congressman and Lehman Brothers executive, has established himself as a get-things-done governor who has expansive powers and is not afraid to use them.

“Inning after inning, the guy scored every round,” said Gene Beaupre, a political science professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati. “I don’t see where he lost anything in the budget game.”

And how did he do this?  Well, how do Republicans do anything at the state level, they do it through cuts to vital services and tax cuts for the wealthy.

But his opponents argue that it accomplished that through deep cuts in spending on schools and local governments, which will be hard pressed to make up the difference. It also repeals the estate tax in 2013, which applies to the most affluent Ohioans and is another important revenue source for local governments.

“There are clear winners and losers in this budget,” said Wendy Patton, senior associate at Policy Matters Ohio, a liberal economic research group in Columbus. “Wealthy families and businesses benefit. School kids and communities don’t.”

In South Carolina there is a similar story gushing with praise for a Republican Governor

She has built a governorship on aggressive budget cutting, a relentless pursuit of job growth and a cheerleader’s enthusiasm for a state that often finishes toward the back of the pack in education, economics and health.

Some of her budget cuts were even too much for a conservative Republican state legislature which vetoed some of her cuts.

Ms. Haley wanted to eliminate spending for the South Carolina Arts Commission and its public educational television system, money to pay for the state Republican presidential primary and some financing for education, economic development and tourism.

With Mr. Christie, well this here says it all.

This week, he signed a bill that greatly increases government workers’ payments for benefits, freezes pension payments, raises some retirement ages and restricts union bargaining power. Then he stripped $1.3 billion out of spending bills approved by the Legislature’s Democratic majorities, and vetoed a so-called millionaire’s tax.

Is there a pattern here?  Cut education and other needed programs  and cut taxes for the wealthy.  Will that help a state like South Carolina that is near the bottom in education, economics and health care and states like Ohio and New Jersey that are struggling economically?  Probably not, but that is no reason for a prestigious paper like the New York Times to withhold its praise.  Hopefully the paper will be successful in its apparent policy to woo readers from Fox News.

And when the promised benefits don’t occur, don’t worry.  The Times will then run a story in which these Governors blame President Obama.

Finally, Memo to the Times:  This will not work.  The next time you run a story even mildly critical of Conservatives they will blast you as liberal, biased news.  Of course, that second term is becoming more and more correct.