Headline and story on primary were crude, biased

I read the online version of The Herald, so I couldn’t be sure if Jerry Cornfield’s report on the Republicans’ poor showing in the primary elections was supposed to fit in (“After this primary thrashing, GOP could be SOL in Olympia,” The Herald, Aug. 8). Was it in the opinion page of the print edition? Because it is apparent the author had some bias in the matter. The bias belonged on the opinion page. The crudity belonged nowhere.

The opening line of the story is “The Grand Old Party endured a good old-fashioned butt-whupping on primary night.” The closing line is “That’s the price they pay for the whupping they took.”

“Butt-whupping?” “SOL?” Is “SOL” something you would spell out in the text?

Being crude does not attract readers to a forum where issues of serious import to the public are to be reported seriously. Crudity diminishes the newspaper’s credibility to serious people.

Is the newspaper of record for Snohomish County still that, or is it now just another off-color online blog? Elections come and go, but hard-won credibility is easy to lose. Get serious again, Herald.

Karl Schweizer

Lake Stevens