The Seattle Times editorial board lauds WA’s confusing new top-two primary today, assuring us that…
Voters are smart. They will figure this primary out.
Um… are they referring to the same “smart voters” who just three days ago the Times claimed “were misled” by Initiative 297? And are these the same well-informed voters who Joni Balter says will get caught up in Obamania, to the detriment of Dino Rossi, because…
… voters who don’t know or care much about either Rossi or Gregoire will break in favor of the governor.
So… um… according to the Times, WA voters are smart enough to “figure this primary out,” but too stupid, uninformed, or uninterested to actually cast their ballots the right way. Huh.
Perhaps the Times really does think “voters are smart.” But they certainly don’t have much respect for the intelligence of their readers.
you mean “too stupid”
well at least the p-i had a cutting edge story on cell phone camera “art” on its front page today.
do the ceos who fire employees for profanity know that the ceo preznit failed to fire his employee for telling a senator to “go fuck yourself” on the u.s. senate floor? musta been the compassionate conservatism what saved him.
@1 Yeah, slow news day today. I guess Scotty McClellan’s confessions and the fact oil is back up over $130 today (after dropping $7 from last week’s high) aren’t newsworthy.
Voters are sheep. They can be manipulated into casting really really stupid votes.
Hitler was elected into office. What’s that say about voters?
The Seattle Popular Monorail Authority was voted into power (several times). That was a complete loss – those voters cost themselves and their neighbors about $150,000,000,000 in completely wasted tax dollars.
The Times has its head up its ass. Whether or not voters are “smart,” they always can be manipulated to cast their votes in ways that in retrospect are shown to be stunningly stupid.
. . . oops, three too many zeros in the post above.
Goldy,
Why are you so enamored of the current two party system?
IF the effin parties are good, then it is THEIR responsibility to pick and sponsor competitive candidates. If not .. well the Canadians and Israelis seem to do well with a melange of parties.
Look at the local scene. As youy know I think McD is wasting his seat. I may be wrong, bit suppose a few excellent folks wanted to run for that seat. In our current system the only way to do this would be to compete in the primary. BUT, under this system the party would be forced to choose sides and would support Jim. In the new system, there would, in effect, be a run off. How would that hurt?
@4 SMP was an expensive fiasco, but not to the tune of $150 billion. To waste that kind of money, you need Sound Transit.*
* Just kidding! Dino Rossi joke.
@6 You may feel McDermott is wasting a seat, but he happens to be one of Congress’s top experts on health care. That’s well worth spending 1 of 435 seats on, in my opinion.
I would be a lot more sympathetic to the 2 party system if there were two parties with rational programs.
For now the Reps are hopeless. BUT, their are individuals republicans who sre worthwhile.
The Dem party for now is more rationalat least at the federal level. At these state level any agenda the party has is pretty mysterious at least to me.
Bottom line, after Clark Co., I can not vote for Rossi. Gregoire is an accrptible alternative … not because she wears blue but because she is a competent administrator. The only reason I care about her party is that the Dems are in control so perhaps she will show the guts to get something done.
Homer was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called ‘pullets,’ and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs. He kept records, and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced.
This took a lot of time, so he bought some tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone, so he could tell from a distance which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report by just listening to the bells.
Homer’s favorite rooster, old Butch, was a very fine specimen, but this morning he noticed old Butch’s bell hadn’t rung at all! When he went to investigate, he saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the roosters coming, could run for cover.
To Homer’s amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn’t ring. He’d sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. Homer was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.
The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well. Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making.
Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren’t paying attention.
Vote carefully this year…the bells are not always audible.
Nothing confusing about the primary. Top 2 get in to the final. Simple. It was far more confusing before. Each major party had it’s own primary. You had to make sure you didn’t vote in both. Each major party went on to the general. But also each qualified minor party sent someone to the general, but they didn’t appear on the primary ballot.
But then, I’m not a partisan hack.