Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris, paper reports

[underpants]

“The decision not to publish was made by The Post’s owner — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos,” The Post reported, citing two sources briefed on the events.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/25/jeff-bezos-killed-washington-post-endorsement-of-kamala-harris-.html

The newspaper also Friday published an article by two staff reporters saying that editorial page staffers had drafted an endorsement of Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the election.

The Washington Post Guild, the union that represents the newspaper’s staff, in a statement posted on the social media site X said it was “deeply concerned that The Washington Post — an American news institution in the nation’s capital — would make a decision to no longer endorse presidential candidates, especially a mere 11 days ahead of an immensely consequential election.”

“The message from our chief executive, Will Lewis — not from the Editorial Board itself — makes us concerned that management interfered with the work of our members in Editorial,” the Guild said in the statement, which noted the paper’s reporting about Bezos’s role in the decision.

[joshcryer]

1. Coward.

[Cirsium]

7. He is an accomplice

Not a coward, an accomplice.

[Orrex]

27. This

But he's also a coward.

[ShazzieB]

49. Right.

Those things are NOT mutually exclusive.

[Cirsium]

69. Yep

True. It is cowardly.

[BattleRow]

29. In times of universal deceit,telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

Attributed to George Orwell.

(Ain't it the truth?)

[ouija]

51. Attempted hostile takeover of the country by the wealthy

[rubbersole]

60. Not attempted.

Progressing nicely.

[madaboutharry]

2. I cancelled my subscription a while ago.

There are still a few months left on the subscription.

I cancelled it because of the sanewashing and cover they kept giving to Trump and because of the opinion pieces of the horrid Marc Thiessen, who is one of the biggest right wing hacks and disingenuous phony lying bullshit artists around.

[leftieNanner]

50. I plan to do the same. Nt

Edit to add:

Isn't their motto "Democracy dies in Darkness"???

[calimary]

64. Sounds like darkness has the last word.

[lame54]

3. Harris is for the dignity of workers...

Bezo's got super rich by exploiting and discarding workers

[NameAlreadyTaken]

4. But of course we do have Grey Poupon

[Coventina]

5. Well, there goes my Prime subscription.

Fuck you, Bezos!!!

We need to tax these fuckers out of existence!!!!!

[Prairie_Seagull]

47. Didn't he know this would cost him.

Huge money is screwing us. The real gods of America.

"Fuck you Bezos"

[Maeve]

6. Afraid TSF will target him

Cancelled as soon as I saw the decision

[Cirsium]

9. Complicit

Not afraid, complicit.

[PeaceWave]

8. Bezos' Amazon Prime Day Gift to America - Fascism on a Silver Platter.

[NCDem47]

39. Bezos won't like it when Trump's economic policies kick in and nobody can afford anything. Especially delivered by Prime

Hyperbole, I know.

And Harris will win and be inaugurated so this is all bullshit.

[chouchou]

10. Of course he did. Not surprised. Jeff and other billionaires (not all) do not like..

...the idea that they might have to pay an increase of taxes. THAT would leave them of only $999,994.000 to have money to spend.
Come on...we can't have that.

[Wednesdays]

20. Add around five zeros to that amount

And you'd be spot on.

[rockbluff botanist]

11. Newspapers are zombies

Newspapers are zombies and they don't know it. But they soon will.

I don't know a single young or middle aged person who reads a newspaper. It does not matter whether they go to print that day. Other than lost jobs and old Jeffie losing money, nothing will change. The printed
word has become obsolete, like so many other things. They had their time and that is now gone.

[questionseverything]

62. The problem is, it's still newspapers that pay journalists to investigate

[Iris]

12. God I hate that asshole. WP was the newspaper my grandpa read. It's going to kill me to cancel my subscription

Last edited Fri Oct 25, 2024, 04:08 PM - Edit history (1)

[Hekate]

13. I feel that way about the Los Angeles Times, which was my parents' paper...

I can truthfully say I’ve been reading it for 70 years, considering how early I could read the comics pages and the headlines.

They have been a great regional newspaper, and they still have a collection of outstanding columnists. Since Dr. Soon-Shiong bought it, I have been interested to see more Asian names among them — in this large and diverse state, we need to see as many different intelligent perspectives as possible.

I have resisted giving up my daily LA Times — but I don’t know how much longer I can hang on.

[Joinfortmill]

41. Take heart. It's the paper your grandpa read in name only now.

Last edited Fri Oct 25, 2024, 07:49 PM - Edit history (1)

[Iris]

72. Yes. And I need to shift my mindset to see the values that instilled

vs the medium. Thanks for the reminder!!

[Kid Berwyn]

14. Money.

"We deliver a lot of packages to Red States, Mr. Bezos."

[Maeve]

15. Democracy dies with cowards

[Wednesdays]

23. They're not cowards, they're complicit. nt

[Kingofalldems]

16. Canceled an hour ago.

[Sogo]

17. That just killed my Prime membership....

[Deminpenn]

18. Only hurts the WaPo unionized employees

A few people cancelling subscriptions that are probably less than 1k each, is like a fly bothering an elephant.

Hit Bezos where it hurts, Amazon.

If you shop there, stop, find any alternative retailer.

If you subscribe to Audible, cancel.

If you subscribe to Amazon Fire/ TV, cancel.

[StarryNite]

28. And let them know why you are cancelling.

[PortTack]

32. This is true, but one cannot stop progress. 1k here 1k there it will add up. Newspapers are not the future

[Deminpenn]

36. This is because Google et al

have a monopoly on ad revenue.

Years ago Josh Marshall wrote about this when explaining why TPM was going to a subscription model. Worth the read if it's still available.

[yliza]

40. I stopped shopping at Amazon over 10 years ago

I loved it when it was new, especially since it was just books at first and I love books. I consider myself one of the millions of people who helped make Amazon what it is today. The more I learned about Bezos the more that shamed me. I gave up the convenience for my conscience and because I’m adamantly pro-union, and I haven’t shopped there since about 2013.

[LisaM]

65. I have never spent a nickel on Amazon.

I hated what they did to bookstores, and then it just got worse.

I was given a rather hefty ($1500) Amazon gift card. I use it from time to time so Amazon won't just pocket the money, but mostly to order out of print books from individuals.

But aside from that, I don't use them and won't when the gift card balance is gone, and do not understand why others do.

[UTUSN]

19. K&R

[DSandra]

21. WAPO Staff should be resigning in protest...

This is unconscionable!

[jaxexpat]

22. Is it not obvious enough already that billionaires are the worst people?

[dchill]

24. Good to know.

[Dave Bowman]

25. Another greedy asshole with no conscience.

[onecaliberal]

26. We all need to stop buying anything from big stores.

We need to bankrupt the fuckers.

[Easterncedar]

30. He may have killed the Washington Post. period.

[rzemanfl]

31. It is going to be hard to wean myself from Amazon and Whole Foods.

Time to start.

[Bev54]

67. I am in Canada and we don't have near the options as the US

But I managed to wean myself off Amazon about a year ago when I noticed their prices had risen far too much. I actually have been able to find many other sites where I am finding items at much lower prices and they are not coming from 3rd parties. I even found some of the local stores within our city will deliver at no cost. I bet you will find the same, it is just adjusting our thinking.

[rzemanfl]

68. Thanks. The one thing I can't shake is my Kindle. I use it primarily for library books.

Bezos won't get much richer off of that.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

33. Did the

Washington Post endorse Slobby?

Will this change anyone's vote?

Seems to me VP Harris is getting loads of attention from the outrage of non-endorsements.

What do I know anyway?

[Skittles]

42. it is the point that is being made

democracy is on the line and Bezos has more say than journalists

[spanone]

34. I'm done with them.

Democracy Dies in the Washington Post. Just cancelled my subscription. Fuck it.

[underpants]

48. NPR soft pedaled this

Their reporter who broke it started with the original excuse. He mentioned Bezos in passing. They did mention all the government contracts Amazon has.

[spanone]

59. This is how a dictator controls and kills journalism.

You have cancelled your subscription. Your access will end on November 8, 2024.

[global1]

37. Cancelled All My Ties To Anythiing Amazon......

I'm not going to contribute to Bezo's wealth another cent. If I had a subcription to the Washington Post I'd cancel that too.

I hope others in the country follow my lead and cancel their ties to Amazon and Bezo's too.

What kind of American is he?

[GusBob]

43. This is the appropriate course of action

TY

[Initech]

58. Looks like I made my last purchase from Amazon too.

[Joinfortmill]

38. Billionaires are going to turn us in Russia if we don't find a way to stop them.

[Frank D. Lincoln]

66. I think it's even worse than that.

They'll turn us into Nazi Germany if we don't stop them.

It becomes increasingly clear that JD Vance was right when he once referred to Trump as "America's Hitler."

And those internment camps wouldn't be just for undocumented immigrants.

But unlike Hitler, Trump would have control over nuclear weapons.

But I think we at DU too often get lost in political ideology.

What this is really about is the super rich against the rest of us. They're not going to stop until they have all of our wealth and all of our collective power. Trump is just their main tool to achieve those objectives.

[3825-87867]

44. Tramp grabbed Bezos by the "Paper!"

From the Post's Sportless Section:
Three strikes and no Balls.

[Mr. Evil]

45. Read Jeff Bezos' account of how he built Amazon by himself.

It's literally a story of absolute bullshit from a guy that sent his girlfriend dick pix while married. Just another fortunate opportunist. He isn't a special intellect. He's lucky.

[alarimer]

46. Billionaires should not exist.

They should be millionaires AT BEST. And they definitely need to butt out of politics.

[johnnyfins]

52. I love Amazon

Shopping and prime video streaming. I love it, but I don't NEED it. Bye Bye.

[Easterncedar]

53. Does Putin have something on him?

A threat of novichok or defenestration is the only excuse, and it’s still not anything but craven.

[CalArkLiberal]

54. I just canceled my Amazon Prime subscription!

I just canceled my Amazon Prime subscription, because I’m sick of these rich assholes silencing their editorial boards. Amazon might not feel my loss, but I will definitely be saving LOTS of money.

[Docreed2003]

55. We shouldn't be surprised!

Billionaires are not our friends and they do not have our interests at heart. Bezos may be a lesser evil compared to Musk, but he's no friend to the working class. What does it trouble him if Trump is president? He can go anywhere in the world for respite!

[Initech]

56. Hey Jeff Bezos, go fuck yourself to the hottest of hells!

And take your stupid precious billions with you!

[Ocelot II]

57. I hope somebody leaks the draft endorsement.

[bucolic_frolic]

61. Oligarchs are testing to see what the public will tolerate when they try to steal the election

They are all in.

[timvrip]

63. Cancelled my subscription

Will sell my Amazon stock come Monday.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

70. He contributed a lot more to Harris than Trump. So he's just chicken shit.

$3,720,915 77.38% Harris
$1,087,577 22.62%. Trump

[California Kid]

71. No wonder folks have started calling Amazon Scamazon...

I canceled my Prime subscription a couple months ago and I haven't seen any difference in the delivery time...

Haven't been able to watch any of their crap movies though...dang..

[Clouds Passing]

73. No surprise. McGreedy Bezos.