Not Helping the Public Debate

This weekend I discovered Reason Magazine. Their tag line is "Free Minds and Free Markets," so, with my strong libertarian streak, I thought I'd found something I might enjoy. After all, I love QandO who's tag line is quite similar: "Free Markets, Free People."

Count me disappointed. The first two articles I found drastically turned me off:

First, "Romney, Torture, and Teens". The article tries to slam Mitt Romney because one of his supporters has ties to a "school" which is accused of having used coercive techniques to change the behavior of troubled teens.

If the accusations about the school are true, that's a valid story. But trying to smear Romney as being pro-torture-of-kids using it is shameful.

And - second, "Wait, Who's Got a Crush on Obama?." Same crappy smear-"reasoning" (it's a shame this place is called Reason Magazine) but this time the smear is against Barack Obama. The context being used is his, admittedly strange and awkward, clarification about Joe Biden's comments that he took an AIDS test. "Reason" Magazine twists his clarifying into Obama either being homophobic or a philanderer. What nonsense.

How do either of these stories push the public discourse forward? They don't. Reason Magazine should pick some stories that actually do this and stop trying to smear candidates over petty, frivolously, nonsense.