WashPost Interviewer Gives SUV Owners Little Respect

Photo of Ken Shepherd.
By Ken Shepherd (Bio | Archive)
July 23, 2007 - 12:20 ET

In the July 22 Washington Post, writer Monica Hesse interviewed Ron DeFore of the SUV Owners of America (SUVOA), for her Style section front-pager, "A Man Who Wants SUVs to Get More R-E-S-P-E-C-T."

But far from respect, Hesse's interview at turns shifted from an almost "Daily Show"-like mockery to an unqualified parroting of liberal talking points. You can find her interview here, but I found these three questions particularly to be cheap shots:

  • Ever have any trouble sleeping at night?
  • So the SUV owners you are trying to help don't realize that they need your help?
  • Well, on your Web site,www.suvoa.com, some SUV owners seem a little self-absorbed. One person writes that he isgrateful for his SUV because when he fell asleep at the wheel and hit four other cars, he was able to walk away without a scratch. C'mon now.

First of all,can you imagine the first two questions being asked of someone from a left-wing environmental or "consumers" group, particularly groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the food police that have told us everything from two percent milk to movie theater popcorn butter is a medical nightmare waiting to happen.

Secondly, Hesse cleary cherry-picked her "self-absorbed" SUV owner example from a section of SUVOA's Web site entitled "Tell Us Your Story." But on that page, Web site visitors are invited to describe how driving an SUV helped them survive an auto accident.


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And we're surprised why?

July 23, 2007 - 12:21 ET by AtillaKahuna

Are we really surprised that the Washington Post came out with a skewed article about SUV owners?

Not me.

There are persons...who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy...will be merciful.

Thomas Paine, Dec. 23, 1776

Attila: I'm not surprised at

July 23, 2007 - 12:43 ET by Ken Shepherd

Attila:

I'm not surprised at all, I'm just putting it out there.

My mother uses a SUV partly

July 23, 2007 - 12:48 ET by nnptcgrad

My mother uses a SUV partly because of the work she does in dog rescue. She had a little RAV-4 with great gas mileage, but it became too small. When you're taking 5 or 6 15-35lb dogs plus cages, plus signs, plus brochures, leashes, water bowls, x-pen, etc. you need the space of a large SUV. She has a Rainier my dad sold her (it's great having family in the car business) and loves it.

I got the RAV, and right now it's fine for what I need it for. Doesn't mean I won't sometime in the future need a bigger car.

 

Mother nature is a bitch - Ninth Corollary of Murphy's Law

Those evil SUVs.

July 23, 2007 - 13:05 ET by Dave R

Ron DeFore, spokesman for SUV Owners of America. "It should not be the
position of the government to decide what we can or cannot drive," he
says..

Nor should it be up to a bunch of sniveling liberal MSM types, either.

I wonder how many people in Monica Hesse's family drive SUVs?

Also, I noted at the bottom of the Wapo web page in the Ads by Google section the following:

2007 Ford Official Site
Visit the Official Ford Site Now for the Latest Ford SUV Info.
fordvehicles.com/suv

All New SUVs
Looking for SUV information? Browse listings for SUVs here.
www.all-suvs.info

Apparently, Ms. Hesse's employer doesn't mind taking money from the producers of SUVs. Hmm.

Help Fred defeat everybody.

Oh darn that Daily Show

July 23, 2007 - 13:49 ET by balboa

Oh darn that Daily Show mockery! They're mocking the fine American institution of mockery! Thumbing their nose at the very nose-thumbing that made this great country what it is today!

 I am sure that Monica

July 23, 2007 - 14:28 ET by Maverick313

 I am sure that Monica Hesse would choose a SUV over any hybrid car to cart her children around in.  But that is the way of libs and dems anyway. 

If you don't stand behind our troops; please feel free to stand in front of them!

Where have I heard Hesse before

July 23, 2007 - 16:57 ET by Lame Cherry

Wasn't there another Hesse a few years back who worked for another information group who would single out people in far reaching propaganda for a cause?

His name was Rudolph Hesse of the Nazi party.

It would seem socialist diatribe and smear runs in the name of Hesse.

I guess it is fortunate that the Washington Post does not employ the family name Stalin or the SUV owners would all be in a gulag in Siberia now freezing to death "to re educate them".

 

 

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