Obama, you’re better than this:

Speaking at a Bay Area fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee, the president said Harris is “brilliant,” “dedicated” and “tough.” Then he added, “She also happens to be, by far, the best-looking attorney general.”

According to reports from the fundraiser, the crowd laughed and Obama said, “It’s true! C’mon.”

Some cringed at the remarks, given the historic hurdles women have faced to be recognized for their accomplishments rather than their looks.

Ugh. No. I mean, I get it: you were trying to pay her a compliment, and it didn’t work. It ended up saying we should judge her on her looks on top of her brilliance, toughness and dedication. It happens, and now is the time to apologize.

– Who could have predicted the GOP budget would be a clusterfuck?

– the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Fortnight for would-be Pacific Northwest coal exporters

– Washington’s tax code is so full of holes it’s a doily

– The religious right are supporting Mark Sanford. Because of course they are.

– Thank God they protected us from Sharia Law!

– Hockey would be more interesting if they had hypersonic gas guns.

Rob McKenna had an editorial in The Seattle Times over the weekend about how the Republican party can come back. I guess I’m doing metacommentary on it.

Op-ed: How Republicans need to change in Washington state

Spoiler, it’s not how they can adjust their policies to be decent, it’s about branding. Now, I won’t say branding is totally bad, but you can only make a bad product look good for so long.

DEFEATS like those suffered by many of my Republican colleagues and me last November are cause for sober reflection, as opposed to finger pointing. Rather than focus on blaming others for our defeats, party leaders and activists should instead consider how changing demographics, rapid technological change and relatively swift shifts in public attitudes have contributed to the Democrats’ recent successes in our state and nationally.

Also, how Democrats’ policy positions have been good for those groups of people. There has been a long move over the last century from the Democrats being the whites only party to being the party of everybody deserves a spot at the table. The GOP has let itself become the party of white male identity politics, and they can’t shake that off without changing policy.

The challenge and opportunity for Republicans is in offering bold solutions that encourage more voters to support GOP candidates.

Fortunately, I’ve seen that constructive approach offered in recent weeks by leaders such as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, among others. All have championed forward-looking policies that will benefit all Americans, not just those in battleground states or among narrow constituencies.

Policies that I will say exist, but won’t say what they are.

I heard the same approach last month when I hosted a roundtable with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and two dozen of our state’s most active campaigners. I came out of that meeting impressed that Northwest Republicans, despite our losses, remain motivated to build the party and offer real alternatives to Olympia’s stale political culture.

What same approach? You didn’t say what the approach was, only that you think it exists. Name some policy that you think will help move people rather than some people.

If we want to be trusted to improve our public schools, grow our economy and govern more effectively, then as Northwest Republicans we must build stronger governing coalitions — and we need to welcome new people inside our party’s tent to do so. As Priebus said, we will win through addition and multiplication in our ranks, not through subtraction and division.

I’m not inherently opposed to what he’s trying to say. But again, it’s the GOP policy that isn’t inclusive. It’s the policy that’s cruel. It’s the policy that people don’t want. And even here, he says schools and the economy are important but doesn’t mention any actual policy for improving them. Anyway, blah blah blah, the national party. I’m skipping that.

In the ethnic and minority communities I visited while running for governor, I invariably received a warm welcome and much encouragement.

So I hired someone with a history of making fun of Asians on Twitter. Also, I didn’t mention policy.

And to be clear, if you want to reach out to minority communities, you have to actually reach out to minority communities. The Democrats were once the party of white supremacy and were worse for minorities than the Republicans are now. But the Democrats took the long, difficult, sometimes painful road to inclusion. It cost us the solid South (LBJ said for a generation, but he seems to have underestimated it), and probably more than a few elections in the North. But the party transformed itself by listening, and by actually changing policies. As Darryl’s post this afternoon demonstrates, that’s not something the GOP seems to be willing to do right now.

In the Sikh temples, at Latino and Asian-American community events, in meetings with African-American education reformers, and on the Indian reservations I revisited during my campaign — in all these communities and places, people expressed their appreciation for my presence. But they also asked, “Where are the other Republicans”?

Maybe this would be a good time to mention a policy change that happened when you went to those communities and listened to what they had to say.

They would go on to say, we have seen you many times outside of campaign season, but often our elected officials (in both parties) wait until election year to come around. That must change. In the deepest sense, Republicans “must be present to win,” as in winning over more support in these communities.

Mention policy.

Our candidates must improve their connection to our state’s many diverse communities. Before we can win their votes, we have to spend time in their communities, and not just in the few months before Election Day, to learn how their personal priorities align with Republican principles.

(a) Mention policy. (b) I love how this paragraph reads like like Rob McKenna knows that none of the GOP candidates might actually be from those communities he’s trying to get votes from. What we’re done with the part about trying to recruit minorities without mentioning policy? OK. I’m going to skip over most of the rest of it, and in fairness he will mention vague outlines of policy in his section on getting younger voters. I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this paragraph though:

Fortunately, we are starting from a competitive position in Washington state. In the governor’s race, I won majorities in five of 10 congressional districts, in 31 of the state’s 39 counties and collectively in the 47 legislative districts that were not located entirely within Seattle city limits. To put it in perspective, had fewer than 48,000 of the more than 3 million voters who cast ballots chosen differently, this would be a very different guest column.

TOO BAD WE LET SEATTLE VOTE. It’s always a great way to expand your votes by literally saying if we ignore a segment of the population, we’d have won.

– Potential routes at risk for reduction or elimination if Metro doesn’t get the funding it needs.

– State employees are being demonized in Oregon too.

– How to Get a Black Woman Fired

– I worry that my tweets about strawberries and soup may have driven Nick off the Twitter.

– The New York Times has the best obits, but this is clearly a huge fuck up.

– It’s a sign that the right wing are losing the culture war every time they freak out about a Google Doodle.

– Bicycle Sunday is coming up soon, Seattle (h/t).

– The good news is that they had the good sense not superimpose crosshairs on the picture of the president. Baby steps.

– If I Admit That ‘Hating Men’ Is a Thing, Will You Stop Turning It Into a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

– True Facts About the Naked Mole Rat

– It’s opening day, everybody. Let’s imagine how lovely the Mariners will be this year.

The person who gets to decide if the Senate Higher Ed Committee will vote on the Washington DREAM Act is writing editorials against the act.

Republican Sen. Barbara Bailey, chairwoman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, wrote in a pro-business website that the state makes too many promises it can’t afford to keep, and that the measure, if enacted, would likely amount to another.

“(T)he state’s financial assistance program needs to be looked at more closely before eligibility is extended to a new group,” according to the post on Washington Focus. “In order to set good policy, we need to spend more time studying the issue and evaluating the future financial impact.”

I could have sworn that was the point of her committee having hearings on the bill. Of literally all of the people in the entire Washington State Senate, it’s her job more than anyone else to give the Senate the chance to look closely and spend time studying the issue. If you’d like to let her — or anyone else on the committee — know what you think of the DREAM Act, it’s firstname.lastname@leg.wa.gov

Now that The Seattle Times has a hard firewall that they’re going to try to keep people out of, I’m going to oblige, and send fewer people there as well as reading it less. So while there are some stories that are important and that I’m glad they’re covering, I’ve been much less inclined to link to them recently than I have been before. Why waste people’s limited number of click throughs on an AP story or something ephemeral and silly?

You can put your mouse over the text before it comes up, so if you care you can see, but most people don’t think that hard. I’ve become somewhat annoyed by people on Twitter who still use link shorteners. Just paste the link so we can see before clicking through.

What I’m more concerned about is that it means that there are fewer places to get local news, and a lot of people will simply stop bothering. I hope blogs and other newspapers — and TV, etc. — websites can fill the hole The Seattle Times are leaving online. Maybe with Twitter and Facebook people are getting their news from a wider variety of sources now anyway. But it has to originate somewhere. You probably can tell from the open threads what I use as sources for the news, but are there any places you’ve been reading more or plan on reading more for local news?

That’s my executive summary of every GOP press release on Inslee’s proposal to close tax loopholes and not let temporary taxes expire. Take for instance this blog’s favorite legislator, Senator John Braun (R-Hates Workers, Especially Women).

Sen. Braun unimpressed by governor’s tax-increase proposal

If a terrible state Senator is impressed or not should be the main quality we should look for when we judge a proposal. If only I knew Pam Roach and Rodney Tom’s level of impressitude we could really figure this out.

Sen. John Braun’s reaction to the governor’s proposed new taxes totaling $1.4 billion in the next two years, including tax increases on businesses, oil refineries, beer and bottled-water drinkers and out-of-state shoppers, is simple:

I sort of get that this is press-releasees, and he wants to separate the quote out from the build up. But it reads strange to not just have it in the same paragraph.

“What happened to the promise you made six months ago to avoid tax increases?”

I haven’t studied the plan enough, or gone through the transcripts of the debates, etc. to see if that’s a fair assessment. But, that’s a political debate, not a policy one. If Inslee’s pledge was violated, then I’m sure there are campaign ads to be made and Kirby Wilbur will complain on all the TV and radio that will have him. That’s fair. But if a legislator wants to do it, he should maybe stick to the policy.

Braun is also concerned about the increases for state employees while increasing in state tuition by as much as 5 percent.

“The governor’s proposal is a slap in the face of college students everywhere,” said Braun, R-Centralia. “We outline a plan that reduces tuition by 3 percent across the board, and he intends to increase rates for students enrolled in our two biggest schools by 5 percent per year?”

Argh press-releasees. Having a paragraph just to lead up to a quote and then a completely unnecessary “said Braun” in the middle. That’s terrible. Although this is actually on the merits, of the policy. I guess those merits are we can’t pay public workers unless there’s no tuition hike? I’m against any tuition hike, but that seems like silly logic.

“This is about a promise to working families and our unemployed friends, family and neighbors,” Braun said. “How are we going to promote private-sector job growth when the state budget calls for additional taxes on state businesses, computer software, phone service and new taxes on automobile purchases?”

Now we’ve broken the next paragraph up with “Braun said.” I literally hate his legislative aid, and I don’t even know who they are.

Sorry, I went off on a tangent there. Here’s the answer: By being able to afford to educate children who’ll be able to start the next business and who’ll make better employees. By not further dismantling the safety net so people are willing to take risks to start businesses. By contributing to the infrastructure that makes Washington attractive to businesses. Oh, that was a rhetorical question.

Also, for the trillionth time, while private sector job growth is important, a job is a job is a job. If that job is one of the state jobs that were bemoaned pay increases in the previous paragraph, or in the private sector, it still is important for the person who has it.

There’s more, but it’s basically more of the same, so I’ll leave it here. No actual proposals of its own, but plenty of bashing state workers and whining about taxes.

– “I would expect someone who is supposed to run elections to read a bill about elections before launching into testimony,” Rep. Hunt wrote, “Your opposition would at least have had a ring of truth to it.”

– Shock of Shocks, Megan McArdle’s arguments are not very good.

– “We believe the decisions to continue and expand coal leasing from federal lands and authorize the export of that coal are likely to lead to long-term investments in coal generation in Asia, with air quality and climate impacts in the United States that dwarf almost any other action the federal government could take in the foreseeable future,” they wrote.

– Seattle City Hall open house is April 6.

– CNN runs a good story under a horrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible headline.

– I love Eurovision.

Bell Street between 1st and 2nd Ave is closed off to car traffic as they build a park. It’s going to be magnificent, or at least a nice improvement. Some people I’ve talked to are worried about drug dealing there. While that’s not unreasonable, I think it’ll be a nice place. And anyway, it’s not like there isn’t drug dealing around 2nd and Bell now.

Now the work has begun on the park. The road is being torn up and the trees have been cut down. Right now it’s more construction than park. But I’m excited about what it’ll be shortly.

Still, those trees. It’s sad to see stumps up and down the block on both sides. I can’t wait for the park, but those stumps are tough.

– But if punching down at the less-wealthy women in his congregation is the price of indulging in smug self-congratulation, that’s a price Rick Warren is happy to pay.

– Comfortable Shoes and the Gender Gap

– Money is speech unless it’s used against the NRA.

– How Sea‑Tac Airport’s substandard working conditions hurt our region and how other major airports changed course toward growth and prosperity. (PDF)

– Bidness owners who want increased revenue from the state. (point 2)

– I’m sure most of you who care already know, but PZ Myers is coming to town this week.

I’m super provincial and I don’t care. I love that Washington was mentioned as a point of hope in this otherwise dispiriting roundup of reproductive rights at the state level.*

Finally, a bit of good news! From the state of Washington, legislators are seriously considering mandating that insurance companies must pay for abortion services just as they are required to pay for maternity services:

The Reproductive Parity Act, as supporters call it, would require insurers in Washington state who cover maternity care — which all insurers must do — to also pay for abortions.

The bill passed the state House earlier this month by a vote of 53-43, though it faces an uncertain future in the Senate. […]

“It’s not expanding abortion coverage,” said Democratic Rep. Eileen Cody of West Seattle, the bill’s primary sponsor. “It’s ensuring the rights of women to get what they’re paying for now and to continue their freedom of choice.”

The bill is scheduled for a public hearing in the Public Health Care Committee on April 1st.

So while, as we’ve discussed earlier, this bill got to the Health Care Committee as a way to stop it from getting to the floor, well it’s still being heard in committee. And since it will get a hearing, here are the members of the Health Care Committee. If they’re your Senator, great! Let them know you support this common sense piece of legislation. If not, you can still email them at first.last@leg.wa.gov.

[Read more…]

– This Danny Westneat piece is fine as far as it goes, but I think he forgot the part where he takes on the Seattle Times’ governing philosophy.

– Ross Hunter has never been my favorite legislator, but he’s making a lot of sense here.

– NPI’s Spring Fundraiser.

– The Daily Caller is so, so gross.

– Most of the Iraq war boosters are still around 10 years later.

– The Pundit Who’s Always Wrong

In his I-502 update, Lee mentioned Mark Kleiman is going to be the main consultant for implementing the initiative. He hadn’t been on my radar before the hire, but I trust Lee’s judgement on this. So I was pleased to see this clip of him being dismissive of stupid questions on CNN.

A decent interview would have been interesting and enlightening. This was not that interview. A combination of anti-marijuana assumptions and attempted snark when it wasn’t called for sunk the interview from the start. But at least he didn’t take the stupid questions seriously.

I actually think whether people on our team have used cannabis at one time or another or what they think about cannabis legalization is irrelevant to the job they’ve been chosen to do.

That’s me transcribing it since I couldn’t find the transcript on CNN’s page, and any errors are mine. Anyway, I’m glad someone in the interview was serious. I only wish it was both sides.

Good on President Obama for creating a San Juan Islands National Monument.

President Obama on Monday will create a 955-acre national monument in Washington’s scenic San Juan Islands, using his authority under the same 1906 law deployed by President Theodore Roosevelt to begin preservation of this state’s Olympic Mountains and the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

The monument was championed by Western Washington lawmakers after legislation to create a National Conservation Area stalled in the Republican-controlled House Natural Resources Committee. Its chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., has not even bothered to hold a hearing on the proposal.

[…]

Both federal, state and local officials have backed the monument not just to protect unspoiled places in the San Juan archipelago, but for economic reasons. Preservation is no longer “locking up” land, but rather welcoming visitors. “A national monument increases recreation dramatically,” Ranker said.

It’s quite amazing, and a testament not just to the administration and the legislators who made it happen, but the activists as well.