Seattle Times editorial columnist Bruce Ramsey takes issue with my running scoreboard of his ed board’s candidate endorsements (Republicans 9, Democrats 5 at last count… 11-5 if you count the Times’ endorsement of I-26), and since nobody has bothered to post a comment in his thread, I thought I’d add my own comment here:
Oh… boo-hoo.
Of course, my scoreboard is tongue-in-cheek, and my determination of who is and who is not a real Democrat somewhat arbitrary, but however you score it there’s a larger point to made about the Times’ tendency to be out of step with their own readers, a tendency not easily explained away by Ramsey:
Is the Times Editorial Board Republican? In 2000 we endorsed George Bush—and Gary Locke. In 2004 we endorsed Dino Rossi—and John Kerry. Maybe we are conflicted, but party-line we are not.
Conflicted, no doubt, and I’ve never implied that the Times endorsements are party-line Republican, but I think that an ed board that inexplicably endorsed Mike McGavick’s self-immolating campaign while agreeing with Maria Cantwell on every issue but one, and that viciously smeared Darcy Burner in lieu of any reasonable defense of her mediocre opponent… well, I think they have a bit of ‘splainin’ to do. I suppose Ramsey might consider a Rossi/Kerry endorsement split a proud sign of bipartisanship or nonpartisanship, but to me this bi/non crap is just the last refuge of Republicanism in a region where the Republican brand isn’t worth the bumper sticker it’s printed on.
Oh… and as for Ramsey’s description of HA as “howling-left”… as long as he’s railing against labels, I’d love for him to give me a definition of exactly what that means. On which issues exactly are we so extreme? Unless, of course, he’s merely referring to our rhetorical style, in which we promote rather center-left policies but in an occasionally “howling” manner.
No doubt HA’s choice of language isn’t you’re average “family newspaper” fare, so I was curious to see a reference on Slog to a Blog Readability Test, which rates Slog’s prose at a “High School” level. Unscientific as it may be, HA scores at a “College (Postgrad)” level, while Postman on Politics and Ramsey’s own Ed cetera blog join Slog at the “High School” level, and the tediously non-profane scribes at (un)Sound Politics are apparently writing toward a “Junior High School” audience. Figures.
As a post-grad level blogger, I think I can eloquently say: nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah-nyah.
Howling left? We really should pin the man down and get a better definition from him on that one.
Ignoring everything that makes a democrat look bad.
Or as Lee so eloquently spewed-
Because this is a partisan blog that takes on Republicans. He would be disgusted by the Democrat and what he did, but he wouldn’t write about it here.
http://www.horsesass.org/?p=5675#comment-847043
Center-left??!!
Since when??!! Goldy, you’re not “center” anything. You slobber all over Darcy and her best pal PLC (Private Low Class) Wes Clark (a coward that was accused of war crimes by your own Lefty pals). You defend Gregoire’s tax-and-tax-and-tax-and-spend-like-mad policies designed to do nothing but enrich her political supporters (unions, tribes, etc.). You are intellectually dishonest when you refuse to cover ANY negative news about Democrats, but you go so far as to dig up irrelevant, but incendiary crap about Republicans.
“Center-Left?” That is as stupid as you, MorOn.org and Kos saying that you’re the heart of the Dem party and that you represent “mainstream” Democrats. You pick a few popular issues and declare that you’re the flag-bearers. Nice try.
Goldy, admitting the truth is the first step to recovery. You’re a fringe Lefty. In general, you’re out of touch with the mainstream of America. The only reason you have any political influence in the Dem party is that they can use you right now. When they’re done, they’ll toss you aside as usual. But don’t worry, Goldy, many will still be here for you — mocking you as you bark at shadows and wallow in your new-found irrelevance.
3 – Surreal Mark, an angry, illogical, name-calling, hard-right winger.
On the other hand call Surreal Mark on exactly what he is doing:
defining the opposition.
And then you can understand him and better combat him.
But in general he’s just another right-wing loon – hardly anything original.
And junior high? Like (un)SP? Most def.
and the tediously non-profane scribes at (un)Sound Politics are apparently writing toward a “Junior High School” audience.
Maybe us trolls should pay a visit to SP and raise their level like we’ve done here.
I love how Republican corruption and hypocrisy is “irrelevant”.
At least Surreal Mark is calling it “Republican”.
Maybe that’s the intent – it’s the REPUBLICANS who do that stuff.
Not the “conservative” GOP!! I get it!
Everyone else uses “litmus tests,” so it’s fair that I use one, too. By my litmus test, the Times is a Republican newspaper. Why? Because its editorial position on the inheritance tax is as unfair to working Americans as it’s possible for a tax policy to get.
Repealing the inheritance tax would benefit only the very rich.
Workers pay taxes on their income; what’s the justification for never taxing the capital gains that comprise the bulk of virtually all estates large enough to be subject to inheritance taxes?
The propagandists for inheritance tax repeal want you to believe inheritance taxes are double taxation. That’s bullshit. Repealing the inheritance tax means no taxation.
Let’s say a guy buys a fledgling newspaper in 1896 for $1,000 or so. Several generations of his descendants inherit the newspaper as market appreciation raises the value of their holdings to, let’s say, $450 million. Since the newspaper was never sold, no taxable event ever occurred, and each time another generation inherited the newspaper they received a step-up of tax basis to current value. No income taxes, no capital gains taxes, have ever been paid or ever will be paid on that increase in value. Now let’s say we repeal the inheritance tax and the next generation of that family gets $450 million of income, tax free.
The working stiff in the mail room, the janitor emptying wastebaskets, and call center worker taking classified ads over the phone, doesn’t get a tax exemption like that.
Why should the rich? Only Republicans think only the little people should pay taxes. Therefore, the Times is a Republican paper.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a fan of the inheritance tax. I think we should repeal the inheritance tax and treat inheritances as ordinary income of the heirs, same as wages.
@3 “You defend Gregoire’s tax-and-tax-and-tax”
What taxes has Gregoire raised?
And don’t say “gas tax” because, adjusted for inflation, the gas tax is no higher than it was 20 years ago.
I’ll tell you what tax the GOP has raised: The Inflation Tax. You are paying big for their borrow-borrow-borrow-borrow-borrow-borrow-spend-spend-spend policies. But instead of sending your money to the IRS, you give it to the grocer, Arab governments, and China. It’s a tax all the same.
Inflation is what you pay for government spending when you don’t pay taxes for government spending.
@4 “But in general he’s just another right-wing loon”
That’s a slander on loons, a gorgeous bird with a wonderfully musical warble.
I don’t know, I read the Seattle Times, and I like both Dino and Obama (I’m one of those infamous Dinocrats I guess :) They don’t seem too out of touch for me.
Plus they keep a great subscription rate. If people were annoyed with them so much, why wouldn’t they just switch to the PI?
There is some logic in the scenario you describe.
How many situations are there like this in the country? And as a lawyer I’m sure you understand how a “trust” can pass wealth down without taxation like the kennedy family has been enjoying.
The inheritance tax hurts the worker much more than it hurts the rich. The ruling class has already made provisions for their rich friends.
So the price goes up which means you are paying more tax for the same gallon of gas. And because of inflation the tax % should go up to pay even more of a tax?
@3
Yep! Sorry Mark, but you missed the boat on that one.
What policy does Darcy have that’s so far to the left? Ending the war in Iraq? 60-65% of American’s are with her on that one.
Same Goes with Goldy.
That’s a slander on loons, a gorgeous bird with a wonderfully musical warble.
Ooops. Apologies to all the birders out there.
Frankly I think that Gov. Gregoire is much more a Repugnican given her position on drugs especially medical marijuana.
TLG
I just rechecked the readability of HA. It is now up to “genius” level. Congrats. Unfortunately, for readability, a higher grade level is actually a bad thing. Some organizations (like the one I work for) mandate that written materials for the general public aim for 4th grade level or lower. On the other hand, Goldy isn’t aiming for the general public and he can always just say, “It’s my blog and I’ll produce watery secretions of the lacrimal gland if I want to”.