I will start off saying that I do feel that the main page has a place for editorials. I will also start off by saying that I don't care about the opinions in the piece, but rather the content. I also preface that I've seen this before and it has indeed caused a bit of controversy.
Despite being a fan of the park, had I first come to the site and read that piece, I would leave the site never to return after the first paragraph. We live in a media environment where 24 hour news networks and political commercials have made a lot of people disenfranchised with the political process. To the point where I've started walking away from most conversations regarding politics. I've even started to hesitate watching 'The Daily Show' and 'The Colbert Report', two of my favorite shows for this reason. The first paragraph does just that, it talks about a huge controversy a lot of people are sick of. To be blunt, while political conversations have a place, they do not have a place on a theme park web site. This piece would be suited better for the forums, where people understand that these are individual views and not one supported by the site.
What I tried to do when I read that article is view it as somebody who had first found the site, this was because I knew this was a test editorial as part of the site's expansion. Part of an expansion is being able to attract new people and not turn them away. When I read it in that manner my thought was, "This is Pro-Romney and will make the site come off as Pro-Romney." I understand editorials are not supposed to reflect on the beliefs of those who run it. However, that is simply not the case today. Executives dictate what views should be expressed, what news to ignore, what view to spin, ect. This skewing has blurred the line between news and opinion which is why such a hook is wrong for this site.
I felt the article would have been fine without mentioning the politics, but first paragraph made me want to close the window. I fully understand that it's supposed to be a hook but the infusion of politics into it on a theme park site was very distracting and off-putting. I feel that any new person coming to the site will be alienated due to that content as well, which is why I feel it is wrong for the park in it's current form. If the polarizing content were to be removed from it (i.e. names, actual events, ect) to make it sound generic, I would be fine with it. However, I feel that it is unacceptable in it's current form as something to be on the main page of the site.
Editorials would be a great addition to the site. They don't all have to be something that deliberately tries to stir up controversy though. This "balls to the wall" approach of writing opinions is a poor way to start off something new. I think the site should be doing more to indicate that these are opinions of the individuals and not of the site.
