Mankind has witnessed a number of horrors in recent decades—the Rwandan genocide… the ongoing tragedy in Darfur… DOE’s stormwater regulations—but none, according to Seattle Times editorialist Kate Riley a few weeks back, matched that of a state Democratic Party press release criticizing Dino Rossi for deliberately attempting to hide his Republican affiliation:
Oh, horrors! Stop the presses. Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is trying to “rebrand” himself as a member of the Grand Old Party. How sinister.
The real horror here is the state Democratic party’s attempt, in a press release today, to invent a scandal out of nothing — and, worse, the premise for their argument is founded on an apparent belief that voters are too ignorant to know that “GOP” and “Republican” are the same thing….
Really, Kate? Well, I hate to say “I told you so”… so I’ll just let Postman say it for me:
Dino Rossi’s rebranding effort may pay off with voters who say they don’t know what it means when a candidate declares himself a member of the “GOP Party.” […] A recent poll by Stuart Elway says that about 25 percent of respondents didn’t know what GOP meant.
Elway asked respondents which party they thought a candidate who “prefers GOP Party” is associated with. 15% didn’t know, 7% said Democratic and 3% other. And of that 25% who didn’t know or got it wrong, 27% identified themselves as Independents and 26% as Democrats. Only 18% of Republicans were confused.
This came as no surprise to Postman, who adds:
That’s where the greatest benefit of rebranding could come for a Republican trying to buck a 24-year gubernatorial losing streak for the party.
And you can trust Postman on this, because he’s one of those credible corporate media bloggers.
Anybody who knows anything about initiatives knows that a good ballot title can mean a couple extra points at the polls, and no doubt Rossi took advantage of the new top-two primary to jigger the ballot to his advantage. You can’t really blame Rossi, I guess, for this calculated deception—he is a politician after all—but neither can you blame the Democrats for their efforts to educate voters by pointing it out.
It is at the very least ironic then, that Riley, a member of an editorial board that has argued persuasively for government openness, should so vehemently defend Rossi’s deliberate obfuscation, while hyperbolically attacking a Democratic press release on the subject. But as I wrote at the time…
[T]hat’s the sort of “I’m rubber, you’re glue” partisanship we’ve come to expect from an amen editorialist who applauded Dave Reichert’s sexist dismissal of Harvard grad Darcy Burner as a ditzy blond, while condemning Burner as the reincarnation of Karl Rove.
No doubt I can be just as much a partisan propagandist as Riley and her colleagues on the Times ed board. The difference is, I admit it.
Wow, just wow. How the fuck could you not know what GOP means? And if for some reason you didn’t know what it means wouldn’t you look it up before voting? Maybe people really are stupid after all.
Voters are used to Democrat and REPUBLICAN…asshole…what “civilian”, regular voter, knows from “G.O.P.”
But I suppose that’s the kind of “honesty” we should expect from the Dino-Sore and the WSRP.
Their “brand” is so fucked up that even THEY have to run away from it. A fine kettle of fish, indeed. So sux to be you “michael”.
Reading this, I was trying to think back to the moment that I learned what GOP (Grunting Old People) means. Some time in elementary school, I think.
re 1: The GOP Party has been counting on that voter stupidity since 1980. Stupid people who resent anyone with common sense is the GOP ‘base’.
You can’t confuse the ‘base’ with misinformation, because they are incapable of understanding either the original information or the subsequent misinformation — not to mention the disinformation — which is where the GOP Party resides.
No. The GOP base makes decisions based on their gut reactions:
“It’s hard work!” GW Bush
Like…reading a book.
Well said.
Some would suggest that “G.O.P.” stands for “Graveyard Of Progress”, and perhaps that’s how that 25% should understand it to mean.
I personally prefer to just use “gop”. A few of those and you start to sound like fowl: “gop, gop, gop, gop!”
Daniel K–
You “Progressives” seem to view progress as higher taxes, inept delivery of services and overspending.
Very noble.
Oh………..and you “Progressives” are also quite the magicians.
I mean Gregoire managed to pull a $2.7 BILLION Deficit out of the tailpipe of a huge surplus by her inadvisable adding of 8000+ new State Employees and countless new spending initiatives. And the underfunded Pension Fund Liability ought to be around $7 BILLION.
But everything is great!!!!!
How you KLOWNS going to eliminate the Deficit?
Cut Expenses? Which ones?
Raise Taxes? Which Ones?
The chickens have come home to roost!
“Graveyard Of Progress” LOL. Classic.
Hey, we need a list of ways to expand G.O.P. so that people don’t get confused about what it really means!
re 6: You are accusing Democrats of “…inept delivery of services and overspending.”
From what Bizzarro-World alternate universe do you deliver these humorous pronunciamentos.
(Sorry about the purple verbiage. I miss the Piper.)
@8 “From what Bizzarro-World alternate universe do you deliver these humorous pronunciamentos.”
My guess is that he simply pulls these humorous pronunciamentos from his ass.
6 Cyn
Are you going to ask Dino Rossi these questions? Do you realize that the entirety of his election strategy is not to answer these specific questions?
Heck, he couldn’t even come up with an answer on the viaduct.
re 10: Like Reichert, Rossi intends to do and say what his handlers tell him to.
I wonder if Rossi has read anything more weighty than something by Zig Ziglar?
Mr. Cynical @6 – Obviously you haven’t yet taken your meds today.
“G.O.P.” party is redundant.
Just sayin’…..
If Kate Riley can read her own drivel, she’s more literate than 9 of 10 Republicans.
Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican! Dino Rossi is a Republican!
If he won’t say it than it can’t be said enough.
Dino you can run but you can’t hide..
YOU ARE A REPUBLICAN!
And WE ALL know what that means!
@15 “And WE ALL know what that means!”
That Dino’s an incessant whiner as well as the lackey of the commie-fascists at the BIAW?
Kate Riley, I thinketh thou protesteth too much. Dino Rossi is an act, an act that far too many Washingtonians believe is real. He mesmerizes and hypnotizes people to believe he actually has something to offer to a liberal, green, progressive state. And, Kate, you don’t recognize his act.
16 – Very true, but REPUBLICAN also means corrupt, inept, knee-jerk, bellicose, belligerent, war-mongering.
More important than what kate Riley said is what Dino said about the idea that some voters doen’t know what GOP means.
He basically said that people who said those types of things were insulting voters.
Who is Dino Rossi insulting now?
I am quite sure that awareness that GOP means Republican will be enhanced by November. Maybe, by then, we can quit insulting voters.
@18
Then it is also true that DEMOCRAT means self-righteous, psuedo-intellectual, empty-headed, arrogant, and petty.
LIBERTARIAN, otoh, means intelligent, attractive, self-reliant, tolerent, and just all around nice people.
To be a republican means you simply lie, cheat and steal every chance you get. To be a republican means you have perverted sexual fantasies (often involving wide stances in men’s rooms at airports). To be a republican means you are in favor of smaller government – unless republicans control the government. To be a republican means you find someone else to go fight your wars for you. To be a republican means you don’t mind killing innocent babies in war but freak out when someone has an abortion. To be a republican means to be pro-life unless there’s a chance to kill a prison inmate, or an “enemy combatant” or a Mexican. To be a republican is to be a racist and sexist coward.
@21 I used to be a Republican. And nobody fought any wars for me sonny, so stick it! You’d be a lot more tolerant if you’d ever put your own ass on the line.
Rossi’s campaign strategy:
Among the wingnut base, keep repeating the lie that Rossi really won the last election, but it was “stolen” from him.
For the media, keep saying he is a Native-American, successful businessman, and a “moderate”.
Avoid ANYTHING more specific than that. He departed from that advise with respect to his “transportation package”, which was nonsense from the start and he was called on it. I don’t expect him to make that mistake again.
Actually rhp, all that needs to be done is to ask Gregoire about her excessive spending and adding 8000+ new State Employees leading us from a huge surplus to a $2.7 BILLION Deficit.
Is she going to cut expenses & programs? Which ones?
Is she going to RAISE TAXES??
Which ones & how much.
You hope Rossi continues to focus on the past.
Not likely.
Gregoire has a record to defend….and it ain’t pretty.