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I Don’t Usually Editorialize Here on HA, but…

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It was hard to read this article in the Sunday NYT, particularly this passage

…Democrats, who are within reach of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster in the Senate, would also face high expectations, especially from the party’s more liberal quarters, that could be difficult to meet even with enhanced numbers in the Senate as well as the House. And they would be at risk of overreaching, a tendency that has deeply damaged both parties in similar situations in the past…

and not get nervous that a President “Purple America” Barack Obama might pull a Rep. Frank “One Washington” Chopp and freak out about “overreach.”

And this, dear believers, means the popular Democratic agenda that will likely have swept Obama and a super majority of Democrats into office—universal health care, ending the war in Iraq, repealing the Bush tax cuts, restoring civil liberties,  cap and trade, stem cell research, massive investment in infrastructure, and mandating accurate sex ed—will be sidelined for loads of bipartisan bills. 

And while I’m talking about Democratic underreach, may I suggest one piece of legislation for Rep. Chopp and our local Democrats (and if Chris Gregoire wins, she should get in on this too): Reform the state’s Public Disclosure Commission. And by reform, I mean: Clean house, appoint watch dogs, and rewrite the rules so they’re actually rules instead of murky pseudo rules. 

I actually suggested this prior to last session in the wake of Dino Rossi’s Forward Washington shenanigans, but it didn’t take. So, now that Rossi has laughed off ethics rules again by apparently coordinating fundraising with the  BIAW (illegal), not to mention that the BIAW’s fundraising scheme itself was illegal … and now that Rossi, GOP Attorney General Rob McKenna, and GOP Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland may have gotten illegal campaign loans (and we all know how the PDC is going to rule on that), can the Democrats please prioritize an overhaul of our state’s campaign finance laws next session so that Republicans can’t drive SUVs through them?

Comments

  1. 1

    I think one of the first priorities of a Democratic Congress would be meaningful election reform. We need to protect the electoral process to make sure the vote count is open and auditable, that voter intimidation is punished, that campaign finance laws are enforceable in a realistic manner, that the registration roles are made accurate in a RESPONSIBLE manner, and mail-in ballots aren’t subject to manipulation (family members or care-givers voting using the balllots of their deceased or disabled family members). It needs to be a fair effort, addressing the legitimate concerns of both parties, in order to restore faith in the U.S. electoral system.

    If we can’t tell for sure who did, and who did not, win an election, than what good is the current system? It needs to be a priority.

  2. 2

    Oh shut the fuck up Josh, you Sloggin’ pud wacking Dan Savage ass kissing asshole. There now your Slog ass should feel right at home.

  3. 3

    as usual…the cynishit is full of…well, shit. that is a meme that is widely discredited…except by the knuckle-draggers.

    all I can say is I hope the apoplexy he’s gonna enjoy for the next 16 years doesn’t give him a heart attack.

  4. 4

    Cynical has his goats to turn to for solace.

  6. 6

    re 2: Jews and our own ‘homeland’ Japanese received reparations. Why not African Americans?

    The problem is not a philosophical one, but one of reality. There are too many people in the US with sub-Saharan African blood. A study done in the 1940’s in the Cincinnatti area found that a full 20% of the white population had a primary black relative within the last 3 generations.

    If there’s money in it, many whites will rediscover their black heritage.

  7. 7

    Josh, get you sorry ass back back to Slog and post something snarky. There are dead children to ridicule. Human suffering to exploit. And new wars to promote.

    I understand why Goldy wants you to write for his blog. it’s like NPR having Fox news Juan Williams and Maura Liason and ABC Cokie Roberts on their shows. He thinks it helps his blog look professional. But your job is here!

  8. 8

    Redistributing wealth?

    The Republicans have been distributing it UPWARDS since 1980!

    Nothing wrong with that.. Oh no..

  9. 9

    If one wants to see meaningful election reform, I am not saying move to B.C, but watch their provincial elections in May. They are going to try again on going from First Past the Post(like we use) for electing legislators, to Irish-Style Single Transferable Vote. The Liberals shillacked the NDP in 2001, with just over 58% provincewide, they won 77 of 79 seats in the provincial legislature. The Liberals won everywhere, except just 2 of the districts in Vancouver.

    http://stvforbc.com/index.php?.....;Itemid=93

    http://www.stv.ca/join

    Australia has had interesting bouts with electoral reform. Adopting Ranked Voting for the House of Representatives, Proportional Representation for the Senate(after one party won most of the seats), and compulsory voting(after turnout dropped below 60%). Although on the last one, they don’t throw people in jail, it usually is only a $20 fine, if you do not have an excuse, although their turnout is only 95%.

    Even though we have a seperate elected Executive(the President), this system might work for Congress, by having a great side effect, reduced negative campaigning. Heard it dropped in San Francisco when Ranked Choice Voting was implemented. Not sure if San Francisco has partisan city/county offices(remember, SF is a combined City-County), but Pierce County is using IRV this November for partisan county offices, but is not getting much press.

  10. 10

    Hah! I like how this piece ends:

    Obama spokesman Bill Burton had to shrug and point out the obvious: “In the interview, Obama went into extensive detail to explain why the courts should not get into that business of ‘redistributing’ wealth. Obama’s point — and what he called a tragedy — was that legal victories in the Civil Rights led too many people to rely on the courts to change society for the better.”

    Obama legal adviser Cass Sunstein also defended Obama’s radio remarks:

    “What the critics are missing is that the term ‘redistribution’ didn’t mean in the Constitutional context equalized wealth or anything like that. It meant some positive rights, most prominently the right to education, and also the right to a lawyer…What he’s saying – this is the irony of it – he’s basically taking the side of the conservatives then and now against the liberals.”

    In other words, Obama, at some point in the past, used the word “redistribution,” which to the McCain campaign is always a code word for Marxist terror-abortions performed by the ghost of Lenin. The end.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....38157.html

    Typical right wing – always pushing the fear buttons.

  11. 11

    11 – Is that really you Cynical?

    Poor guy. Reduced to scraping the bottom of the barrel like that.

  12. 12

    Here’s the real Obama quote from 2001:

    “You know if you look at the victories and the failures of the Civil Rights movement and its litigation strategy in the Court, I think where it succeeded was to invest formal rights in previously dispossessed peoples so that I would now have the right to vote, I would now be able to sit at the lunch counter and order as long as I could pay for it I would be okay.
    But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society. And to that extent as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical, it didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and the Warren Court interpreted it in the same way that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties says what the states can’t do to you, says what the federal government can’t do to you, but it doesn’t say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf and that hasn’t shifted.

    And one of the I think the tragedies of the Civil Rights movement was because the Civil Rights movement became so court focused I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change and in some ways we still suffer from that.”

    Courtesy of Talking Points Memo… http://tpmelectioncentral.talk.....on-quo.php

  15. 15

    Cyniclown has left the reservation.

    He believes he is better off than he was 4 and 8 years ago. He now believes a woman who is preaching only to the mouth breathin’, teeth missin’, beer drinkin’, gun totin’, NASCAR watchin’, bible thumpin’, lyin’, racist, sexist, undereducated and over medicated moe-rons and fools….

    Oh shit, what am I saying…he fits right in.

  16. 16

    The Mat-Su Barbie is more of an embarrassment than Dan Quayle. Hard to believe but its true. Palin was actually allowed to be in charge of things unlike Quayle.

  17. 17

    With reference to Rujax!’s post.

    Interesting quote, and a fascinating interpretation of it from the right.

    Senator Obama made the point that the way to redistribute the patterns of wealth was not to rely on the courts, but to get out and work hard and support folks trying to make a better life for themselves.

    Works for me, even though it is a very traditional conservative (small “c”) position to take.

    I wonder what the Conservatives (large “C”) have against that idea? Perhaps, despite their rhetoric, their real goal isn’t to “enlarge the pie” but to make sure that they have the largest slice of it.

    It has been said that beyond a certain point, the accumulation of wealth is simply a way of keeping score. Their objections to Senator Obama’s position seems to reflect that thinking.

  18. 18

    Y’know, re-reading that post at 11…

    …doen’t it sound just a leeeetle bit like the Bush Administration?

    …just sayin’…

  20. 20

    22:

    cyniclown,

    I see you are out of arguments. How could it possibly be more corrupt than the last 8 years of rightwing rule? In case it escapes your limited mental acuity, cyniclown, that is why your party is about to be shown the door.

    Palin will NEVER be elected president. She lacks the necessary abilities. She is not intellectually curious because she believes she knows it all already.

    Enjoy the next 8 years and beyond.

  21. 21

    22:

    By the way, believing in God is not prerequisite to vote in this country.

    We have separation of Church and State here in America. Don’t you just love it?

  22. 22

    I’m thinking that the “Mr. Cynical” that we’re seeing here is actually an imposter. Mr. Cynical is a right-wing tool, but he’s usually a more interesting tool than the person posting here as “Mr. Cynical”.

    Otherwise, I would have to say that it’s a bit early to be that drunk.

  23. 23

    @25 Hmm, I see what you mean. There’s too many posts without calling us KLOWNS and the usual overwhelming sense of inadequacy he displays is also missing. Then again, perhaps his head finally exploded. If the latter is the case then, well, I guess I’ll be a little sad to have missed it.

  24. 24

    Mr. Cynical, if that was you who really posted that nonsense about an Obama administration, the irony is is that that is a pretty good description of the Bush administration.

    I challenge you to point out one thing in your recounting of the Palin screed that is not already done in the Bush administration.

  25. 25

    Yeah that bottle of Jack spilling on his keyboard while he day trades probably wouldn’t make him much money

    @23 Don’t say NEVER.. Us knuckleheads voted for Bush twice.. (well you know what I mean)

  26. 26

    Besides, I’d have to see the video. I’m pretty confident she doesn’t know who Arthur Koestler is… Even if she said any of this stuff, it will be rich entertainment in 2012. I kinda think time will show she’s gotten it all wrong just like the .. oh nevermind…

  27. 27

    Cynical and his fellow ‘wingers don’t seem to mind “redistribution of wealth” at all as long as it’s all in the direction of Wall Street. At least they didn’t, until it became apparent that a lot of it is evaporating once it gets there.

  28. 28

    Chopp really needs to face a serious primary challenge from a real fighting liberal in 2010.

    Surely he’s pissed enough people off that somebody serious can be found to run against him. I mean this is the 43rd district one of the most liberal in the state. No reason we should have a “blue dog” who votes with the BIAW representing it.

  30. 30

    Obama never made any secret as to who he is and what he’s about, agenda-wise … he simply persuaded you not to believe him when he speaks, and to believe in him instead.

    Is there any hope for a progressive Obama Administration? Here are some plausible scenarios, in decreasing likelihood.

    1. Like W, his policy apparatus gets hijacked by subordinates … in this case with more progressive members winning some of the infighting touraments.

    2. Systemic meltdowns and other crises impel him to re-examine his Republican core beliefs, and his relatively amorphous political character undergoes a transformative conversion.

    3. Congress at long last finds a spine — and coincidentally discovers a progressive consensus to go with it.

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