He just makes stuff up now

Under a silky-sweet headline this morning confusing the acquisitive drive with the ideal of hope, Tennessean reporter Michael Cass Becca Andrews repeats one of the Mayor's myths verbatim without doing much fact-checking himself herself:

Due to the overwhelming support from the Metro Council and our citizens, we are ready now more than ever for conventions and groups to experience our great city,” said Mayor Karl Dean.

Hooray for Karleewood!

I am aware of only two independent, scientific polls conducted on local opinion on financing and building the new convention center and hotel:

• WSMV's 2010 poll which found that only 26% of Nashvillians supported construction and 72% wanted to hold a referendum on a new convention center.
• SurveyUSA's 2007 poll which found that only 37% of Nashvillians supported construction.

 Epic adventure & you're not invited

Not only did citizens not overwhelmingly support construction of the Music City Center and hotel, but as time went along support actually slipped and an overwhelming majority polled that they wanted more control over the project via a referendum. And I distinctly remember that when the question of a referendum came up, Dean supporters like CM Erik Cole dismissed the popular will on huge capital projects garnering trickle-down returns for the populace. So, to appeal to popular will now is--for lack of a better word--dishonest.

The Dean Team knew that there was little popular support for their pet project. To say otherwise now is a sinister form of re-write.

Naturally, the promotion hounds at the Tennessean never conducted a scientific poll, probably because they had already stuck their collective finger up in the air, saw which way the wind was blowing, and knew it hurt their editorial mission. Gannett reporters along with just about every other local beat journo ignored the WSMV poll. For his her part, Michael Cass Andrews certainly failed to bring the question of polling up after the Mayor gushed falsely yesterday about popular tide being on his side. Will there be a day when reporters stop acting like stenographers or are they just so hypnotized by this "key to music city" movie-poster crap that they are unwilling to cut through the pomp, circumstance, and snake oil?


SAME DAY CORRECTION: Michael Cass points out that it was Becca Andrews who was the reporter on this story. Corrections noted above.

UPDATE: Cass or Andrews or whoever has yet to take up the question of the Dean Administration's misleading comments on Music City Center's popularity.