Yahoo Report of Iowa Republican is a Case of Half-News

There’s some buzz going around that a Republican State Congressman from Iowa recently left the Party and is resigning his seat in the Iowa Congress. That’s true, and the left has picked it up and gleefully run with it. 

As I have a Yahoo email address, I get their newsfeed automatically. Yahoo is decidedly leftist, which is why I’ve retained it and read it regularly, as I do CNN, the HuffPo, ThinkProgress, VOX, and others. It’s good to stay abreast of what the enemies of liberty are thinking, both abroad and within our own borders. 

The July 18th Yahoo article is entitled, “Republican politician quits party over Trump's 'erratic and misguided leadership' following Putin summit.” I thought it interesting, so I read on. 

“Ken Rizer, a retired Air Force Pilot, took to Facebook to announce his decision after the US leader met with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki and suggested that he did not believe that Russia had meddled in the 2016 presidential election.” 

"As for me, I can no longer call myself a Republican given the erratic and misguided leadership of the president. I will always be a (Ronald) Reagan conservative, but find no place for such views in Trump’s world. Until the Republican Party recovers its values, my party affiliation will be ‘No party,’” wrote Rizer. 

I get it, and Rizer, as a veteran, earns added respect from me personally - more than I might otherwise afford your run-of-the-mill politician. I don’t happen to agree, but I respect his differing opinion. 

Heck, I had serious misgivings during the “moderation” of George W. Bush during his second term. Since then, I’ve called myself a Constitutionalist, not a Republican. So as I said – I get it. 

However, the coverage Mr. Rizer has received makes the reader of a number of leftist journals, including the Yahoo piece, believe that Rizer just decided to resign his seat and renounce his “membership” in the Republican Party shortly after the Trump/Putin joint press conference. 

However, there is one outlet who actually did some digging and follow up. Fancy that. Actual curious investigating reporting. 

The site is called Bleeding Heartland, and it’s original July 17th article entitled, “Ken Rizer already deleted Facebook post about leaving GOP,” has been updated not once, but twice. That’s real reporting folks. 

Rizer announced in January 2018 that he would not seek another term. Although Rizer is sure no fan of Trump, he is not seeking another term in the Iowa House, not due to Trump, but to take a private sector job as a pilot. 

He did say he changed his registration from Republican to Independent, “purely based on Trump and national politics.” 

However, he did not, as it was reported by leftist outlets, resign his seat and change his party affiliation based solely on the Trump press conference gaff. He did so back in May, according to Heartland. 

This may sound like nitpicking and sour grapes, but it’s not. Rizer sounds like a stand-up guy, who believes what he believes, regardless of which way the political wind is blowing. I respect that. 

But I am a political commentator – not a vaunted journalist. These “news” outlets are supposed to report the unvarnished news and their supposed journalists are supposed to do more than just parrot leftist talking points and 'gotcha' pieces opposing Trump. 

Unlike the left and many Never-Trumpers on the right, Rizer doesn’t appear to suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome. He just has a differing point of view. But if you ingest news bits from just Yahoo or CNN or even Fox News, you will rarely get the whole the story. This is a classic case of maybe not Fake News, but Half News.