WKVT 1490's Steve West Weighs In

Steve West of the Steve & Gorty morning program on Brattleboro's WKVT has posted this on his blog about his observations arising from he and Gorty's interviews of John Odum and then, days later, Second Vermont Republic's Thomas Naylor.

"In the opinion of this writer…………..Dr. Naylor’s press release/rant is paranoiac and mean-spirited, and does not indicate a person who is confident in his position. Someone who feels comfortable in their own skin can weather any kind of criticism, especially anything as “outlandish” or “presposterous” as the things Odum posted, and respond with a measure of cool and comparative aplomb."

[snip]

"Instead, I’m reading a vitriolic screed by a man defending his own anti-racism credentials (which have not been questioned), slamming the character of Mr. Odum (who he does not know), and implying that Mr. Odum’s employer should put a tighter leash on him."

"No matter what the details of this discussion……….that’s just not cool."

"Any hope of keeping the “moral high ground” that SVR and Mr. Naylor had prior to this phenomenon is gone. He has displayed some fairly childish “schoolyard bully” behaviors, and has entirely alienated at least one potential comrade to the SVR cause……….meaning me."

"Even if Odum’s posting was wildly off base and without merit……………the response was, dare I say, nasty and personal, and only tangentially addressed the issue."

[snip]

"And to Professor Naylor and others of like mind at SVR, I say……….right or wrong, I’ll stick by John Odum on this one. He has shown himself to be, in my experience, intellectually honest and well-intended. I cannot say the same of the responses I’ve read from SVR."

My guess would be that this posting and art from Steve's blog will join the growing list of media reports that SVR has stopped posting on its website.