Haaaa, Michelle Malkin is reporting that a group of legislators is proposing help for Connecticut newspapers, which like every other newspaper, are having hard times.

Whatever happened to LETTING PEOPLE AND COMPANIES FAIL? It’s part of life. You fail at something, and you dust yourself off and start over. And like the auto companies, the newspapers (and television news) have done it to themselves. What’s next, a federal department of bailouts for failing companies? The Bailout Czar?

We’re home visiting (my) family for the holidays, and the other day, I was at a relative’s house by myself. Everyone else was out messing around and shopping. The doorbell rings, I answer it, and a nice man with a fabric sling bag of newspapers hands me a paper and says “St. Louis Post Dispatch?”

I said, sure I’ll take a free paper. I didn’t bother to say I’m not the lady of the house.

But he doesn’t let go, so we’re both holding on to the paper. Not quite a tug of war, but I knew the pitch was coming. He said he had a special offer and I said no thanks. He pulled back a little on the paper and ramped it up. Started another speech about the special deal and great savings.

I pulled on the paper a little, but it was obvious I wasn’t getting a free paper unless I took the deal.

So I decided to be honest. haaaaaaa!

I said “You know, I don’t like the Post Dispatch. It’s not a very good paper.”

I actually felt sorry for the guy. He yanked his paper out of my hand, but gave me this look, as if I’d said Yo Mama! He was hurt.

There was nothing he could say past that, so he did a u-turn and walked on to the next house. Stomp!

I’m not sure why I did it, because it’s not like he’s reporting back to the editor “Hey, here’s one that thinks you suck. What’s the tally now? Eight people said you suck? Maybe you’d better straighten up and behave.”

This was just some guy, and the Post Dispatch is gonna keep on suckin until they go under. And like nearly every other paper, they’re having layoffs and not doing very well.

I told my relatives the story later, and they laughed. They have at times subscribed to the paper, but they don’t care for it either, and now just buy the Sunday paper after church. And if they want to resubscribe, they’ll call the paper directly and not buy from a guy on the porch. That’s just how they are. So I didn’t feel guilty at all for turning down the special deal. I knew they would approve.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 2:59 pm and is filed under A Nutter's Prattle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.