I've been asking myself for quite a while now why it is that Joe Muench has the Sunday political column in the El Paso Times. Aside from demonstrating themselves to be out of touch more often than not, Muench seems to almost be on another planet.
I mean think about it, last week he alleged State Rep Norma Chavez doesn't live in her district and said we basically only needed County Commissioners Gandara and Haggerty.
I guess my biggest problem with Muench isn't the fact that his column is so painfully out of touch, but it’s that the parts that are somewhat accurate and relevant to the El Paso political discussion lately seem to have been stuff I've written about in the recent past.
This week seems to be the most blatant. Here's what he wrote in his column yesterday:
“Strange: Congressman Silvestre Reyes is hanging around state Rep. Norma Chavez, all of a sudden. Aren't they political enemies anymore? Could it be that two of El Paso's multiple Democratic political camps are joining forces to do battle with the state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh-led camp in the 2010 election?”
Now here's where I wrote something with a little more substance and explained the answer to Muench's first question (http://newspapertree.com/politics/4330-the-lion-s-den-a-new-alliance). Funny thing about this is that I wrote it weeks ago!
This is why the Times is suffering. It's not that they miss the point as much as they take forever to get off their duff to make an observation that is now stale.
Wait a minute, this just in – Joe Muench is reporting that Barack Obama won last November's Presidential Election!
To underscore his sharp political mind, Muench also declares that County Judge Anthony Cobos, and District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez have no chance for re-election in 2010. Well thank you very much Captain Obvious.
I agree that Cobos doesn't have a shot at re-election, but then again everyone knows that. The only one in El Paso County that hasn't reached that conclusion is Cobos himself. Hell, even his henchman, Jaime O. Perez realized his days of a cushy salary are numbered and has decided to take a stab at running for Congress.
Here's where Joe Muench shows why ex-sports writers should stick to interviewing athletes and stay away from political analysis. In the very same column that he mentions “Reyes' political might” and comes to a conclusion I wrote about weeks ago regarding the relationship between Congressman Reyes and State Rep Chavez, he then adds Chavez's name to the list of locals who have no chance if she chose to run for State Senate.
If the Congressman possesses the “political might” he mentions in his column, then his alliance with Chavez would make her at least a viable candidate for the Senate seat. But then again, at some point in 2010, Joe Muench might come to the conclusion that all the other political writers in town have come to, that State Rep Norma Chavez is going to run for re-election.
Now a lot of the problems with Muench are things that can be fixed. I'm reasonably sure that when Muench was covering sports, he actually attended games, press conferences, weigh-ins, etc. Covering politics is pretty similar. Problem is, Muench never goes to anything. It looks like all he does is read his own paper and watch television news and that's how he reaches his conclusions. Maybe he should actually attend the occasional political event. Or better yet, pick up the phone and talk to the people he writes about. He might avoid embarrassing mistakes like not knowing what district candidates live in and writing that they are running against people that they aren't running against.
In fact, picking up a phone might have helped him realize that Beto O'Rourke isn't interested in running for Mayor of El Paso right now, much less Congress. Sure, he'd probably like to be a Congressman some day, but it will be a while yet before voters in El Paso forget about the Cheech and Chong resolution.
At this point, Muench's Sunday political column is becoming a bad Visa commercial.
Muech's political insight...zero
Muench's political analysis...zero
Muench's political inside info...zero
Muench's Sunday political column in the El Paso Times...worthless!
I know what you're thinking right now. It’s pretty incestuous for me to be writing a column about another columnist that writes stuff that I think comes from my column. Well, you're right, it is incestuous. In fact, it’s so incestuous, I am considering applying for jobs in the El Paso County Court House.
Jaime Abeytia is a Newspaper Tree contributor and the host of “Lionstar Live” that airs on weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on KHRO 1150 AM.
