We’re all teabaggers now.

As you probably know, today the Washington state Supreme Court ruled to allow state Attorney General Rob McKenna to continue his humiliation of Washingtonians. The Court ruled that McKenna has the right to thwart the will of the legislature, the Governor, and the people, and participate in the Florida et al. lawsuit against the health care reform law.

Since McKenna is running for Governor in 2012, a natural question to ask is, “What will McKenna’s replacement do?”

The 2012 general election match-up for AG is likely to be between King County Council members Reagan Dunn (R) and Bob Ferguson (D). Where do the candidates stand?

Publicola’s Erica C. Barnett gives Ferguson’s unambiguous statement:

“I have been clear that on my first day in office, I will withdraw Washington State from that lawsuit. Instead, the Attorney General should focus on protecting Washington consumers, our environment and ensuring public safety.”

And Washington State Wire’s Erik Smith lays out Dunn’s position:

Dunn says he supports McKenna’s most controversial decision – to join the national lawsuit filed by Republican governors and attorneys general in 26 states against the Obama Administration’s health care reform initiative. And just in case that one hasn’t been resolved by 2014, Dunn says he’ll keep right on pressing the case.

So…there you have it: A sharp, unambiguous difference between Ferguson and Dunn for our next Attorney General.

Pretty fucking bad!.

The law:

The attorney general shall also represent the state and all officials, departments, boards, commissions and agencies of the state in the courts, and before all administrative tribunals or bodies of any nature, in all legal or quasi legal matters, hearings, or proceedings

Rob McKenna’s own argument why he doesn’t really have to follow the law (my emphasis throughout):

“The Constitution, state law and case law interpreting the powers and duties of the Attorney General affirm that the AG is more than just a passive observer of state agency action and grant this office authority to determine whether or not to appeal cases of interest to the state,” McKenna said.

Goldy’s assessment:

Huh. Really? […] Because the Constitution affirms absolutely nothing except that “The attorney general shall be the legal adviser of the state officers, and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law.” There is no other mention in the Constitution about the AG’s powers and duties.

As for state law, we’ve already gone over that exhaustively, and I don’t see anything in there explicitly giving the AG’s office the authority to determine whether or not to appeal cases against the wishes of his client. I see RCW 43.12.075 defining a traditional attorney-client relationship between the AG and the Commissioner of Public Lands, mandating that it shall be the AG’s duty to defend the Commissioner when requested so to do, and explicitly stating that it is the Commissioner who represents the state in any proceedings relating to public land. But I see nothing in state law granting McKenna the broad powers he claims.

As for case law, well, I’ve already admitted that there is some case law on both sides of this argument, although absolutely nothing […] in Washington state…. I believe the case law I’ve previously discussed is pretty damn persuasive that the AG does not have the authority McKenna claims….

The court’s decision:

None of the case law cited confers on the attorney general the discretion he seeks to refuse to pursue an appeal despite his client’s directive that he do so. Nor does the attorney general’s constitutional role counsel otherwise. Given the mandatory language of the statute and the prohibition of hiring outside counsel, no discretion is involved, and representation is required. Therefore, we grant the writ.

So bad, in fact, that McKenna was out-lawyered by a fucking blogger!

Now, that Goldy…. He should have gone to law school…if only for his mother’s sake.

Today the Washington state Supreme Court denied Seattle’s petition that would require Attorney General Rob McKenna to withdraw from the Teabagger-inspired multistate lawsuit against the health care reform law. From the decision:

The people of the state of Washington have, by statute, vested the attorney general with broad authority, and Attorney General McKenna’s decision to sue to enjoin the enforcement of the (health care law) falls within that broad authority. As such, Attorney General McKenna has no mandatory duty to withdraw the State from the multistate litigation. The city of Seattle’s petition for a writ of mandamus must, accordingly, be denied.

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes responded:

I respectfully disagree with the Supreme Court’s decision. Attorney General McKenna dragged Washington state into a Tea-Party-inspired lawsuit that will, if successful, prevent millions of Americans from obtaining the health care…. He did this against the express wishes of and without first consulting the Governor, the Insurance Commissioner, the House Speaker, and the Senate Majority Leader.

By any rational measure, Washington is a blue state. Of late we’ve elected Democrats for Governor, Democratic Senators; Democratic presidential nominees win our popular vote. As a people we are strong on the environment, pro-labor, pro-choice, pro-science, pro-safety, pro-health.

And now we have an Attorney General who defies the Governor and the people and unilaterally decides to join the teabaggery. McKenna has, singlehandedly, made us red-faced by painting us as a pack of pitchfork-wielding Teabaggers.

So please join me in offering Rob McKenna a great big FUCK YOU for fucking humiliating the fuck out of us before the nation…fuckwad!

Unbelievable:

The Pima County Republican Party is raffling off a Glock 23 handgun to raise money for get out the vote efforts in the district where a Glock was used last winter to kill six people and wound Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

Really? Republican GOTV efforts?!?

The Podcast returns from a long vacation hibernation incarceration a coma the dead to tackle the big political issues of the day last many months. And freshen the sidebar.

The discussion starts with bold analyses of the recent election: the panel re-litigates The Tunnel (long after the topic is hip, relevant, or even interesting), and contemplates the meaning of the pro-tunnel vote for Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. The discussion meanders into a referendum on Seattle itself (whereupon, Goldy briefly attempts to re-litigate the Chihuly Museum, long after the topic is hip, relevant, or even interesting).

Circling back to the election, the panel ponders the piss-poor performance of King County Councilmember Jane “37.9%” Hague, and the remarkable candidacy of challenger Richard Mitchell. Catalyzed by another lame-ass Seattle Times editorial, the Podcast closes on the topic of public employees, education and (of course) Seattle schools.

Goldy (The Stranger) was joined by Seattlepi.com’s Joel Connelly, and Horsesass’ Carl Ballard and me.

The show is 30:15, and is available here as an MP3.

[audio:http://www.podcastingliberally.com/podcasts/podcasting_liberally_aug_30_2011.mp3]

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for hosting the Podcasting Liberally site.]

Please join us tonight for drinks, conversation, and dinner at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but a few folks show up earlier for dinner.

Can’t make it tonight? The Tri-Cities chapter of Drinking liberally meets every Tuesday night as well. And Drinking Liberally Tacoma meets this Thursday at the Hub Restaurant at 7:00pm.

With 232 chapters of Living Liberally, including thirteen in Washington state and six more in Oregon, chances are excellent there’s one near you.

For the third consecutive month, Politico has ranked the 2012 Washington gubernatorial race as the most competitive gubernatorial race in the country.

The PI‘s Chris Grygiel comments:

Between them, McKenna and Inslee are expected to raise more than $20 million. And that’s not counting the many millions more outside interest groups will pour into the Evergreen State race.

Many millions in out-of-state money pouring into the state? Huh.

Chris must be assuming that Sen. Cantwell will face some serious competition….

By all accounts Reagan Dunn is a very pleasant guy. Apparently, he hasn’t been jaded by the trappings of a man whose wardrobe requires a closet the size of a modest haberdasher’s shop.

I’ve also heard—from sources beyond Goldy—that Reagan Dunn is lazy.

So I wasn’t completely surprised to learn that Dunn’s ideal strategy to get elected Attorney General is to hope Democrats don’t notice there’s an election. He is hoping for a quiet election in which Democrats don’t feel threatened.

(It kind of reminds me of Luke Esser’s “Democrats are lazy” voter suppression strategy. Except that Esser was writing humor for a college newspaper.)

Dunn “big idea” is to give Cantwell a free ride to reelection, so that he doesn’t have to worry about parties dumping money into her race, causing voters to notice his:

Dunn’s remembering what happened in last year’s hard fought contest between U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Republican Dino Rossi. A late multi-million dollar push for voters funded by Democrats secured Murray’s victory while boosting vote totals of Democratic candidates farther down the ballot.

“That really hurt Republicans,” Dunn said. “So on (this Senate) race my belief is we don’t put anybody up. Make it a nominal challenge. Keep the national Democratic fundraising apparatus out of the state and don’t give them another reason to bring (President) Barack Obama here to further drive up turnout.”

Shorter Dunn: “I can, maybe, win if we keep the election low profile enough.” Goddamn, is that lazy!

It’s also sloppy thinking. It’s intellectual laziness to presume similar voter motivation for the 2010 and the 2012 elections. Twenty-ten was an off-year election with a senatorial race at the top of the ballot. The 2012 ballot will have a presidential election as well as a high-profile gubernatorial race in addition to the senatorial race. In other words, it’s going to be an election with a big turnout—with or without a strong challenger for Cantwell.

And pinning Rossi’s loss on out-of-state money seems simplistic (and lazy). In 2010 Murray did have a big advantage in out-of-state donors, as you would expect for an 18 year (at the time) Senate incumbent. But Rossi “took in” more money via independent groups:

Between them, Murray and Rossi raised more than $22 million. Murray, a three-term incumbent, brought in $15.3 million and Rossi – who got a late fund raising start – amassed $7.3 million, according to OpenSecrets.org. Outside groups, recognizing the Washington Senate seat was key to which party controlled upper chamber, also spent big. Total spending by independent groups topped $19 million, third-most in the country, according to campaign-finance watchdogs. Almost 60 percent of that money went to help Rossi.

A less lazy analysis would recognize that the big difference was between the candidates: a popular, proactive incumbent who had risen to the 4th most powerful position in the Senate compared to an angry real estate salesman who entered the race late and reluctantly, and never really had his heart into it. Oh…and there was that “D” next to Murray’s name. That helped, too.

Even his own party Chairman, Kirby Wilbur, doesn’t buy Dunn’s analysis:

Given the anti-incumbent fervor, an aggressive challenge of Cantwell by an energetic candidate could produce a Scott Brown-like upset. Even a loss delivers the benefit of making Cantwell spend her political dough on getting re-elected and not other campaigns like Democratic candidate for governor, Jay Inslee.

Enrollees in this school theorize turnout will be huge in 2012 regardless because of the presidential election. Plus battles for congressional seats — including a new one — mean Democrats and Republicans and an array of independent groups will be slugging it out whether the Senate race is in play or not.

Except for the “Scott Brown-like upset,” which is utter fantasy, Wilbur’s analysis is spot on.

So, if you ask me, prospects are looking good for Dunn’s opponent, Democrat Bob Ferguson. Again, the race will be determined by the candidates.

Reagan Dunn can’t just click his heals three times to give Cantwell a free pass in exchange for an easy race. The 2012 election is going to be huge no matter what happens in the Cantwell race. Whoever wins the AG race is going to do so by working his ass off doing retail politics, non-stop fundraising, and, dare I say it, baby kissing. We’re talking hard work.

Call me a skeptic, but I don’t see a work-shy Reagan Dunn “getting into” any of these tasks.

Tool Time: Gays cause earthquake claims a nutcase Rabbi.

Dave Letterman does Rachel Maddow.

Frank McCourt (Los Angeles Dodgers owner) is Worst Person in the World.

Ed with more Psychotalk from The Donald.

Thom: Why 60% of Congress is not holding Town Hall meetings.

Stop the environment:

Young Turks: Gabrielle Giffords insane challenger.

Darth Cheney Re-emerges:

• He’s baaaaaack…Darth Cheney.
• Olbermann & John Dean on Dick Cheney memoir
• Ed and Pap with Lizz Winstead: The ugly life of Dick Cheney
• Young Turks: Cheney book will make “heads explode”.
• Sharpton: Cheney’s “no apology” tour
• Maddow: Very, very, very…..much wants Dick Cheney…

Ann Telnaes: D.C.’s version of “Duck and Cover”.

Thom with some Good, some Bad, and some Very, Very Ugly.

Tool Time: The donkey whisperer.

Young Turks: Pat Robertson’s on the earthquake.

Dave Letterman on Rachel Maddow’s reporting on him.

Libya Leaves Republicans Red-faced:

• Ed and Pap: Republicans are red-faced over Libya.
• Sam Seder: A senile John McCain BASHES Obama on Libya success.
• Sharpton: GOP hypocrites should apologize to Obama over Libya!

Olbermann: Has the partnership between the NYPD and CIA going too far?.

Ron Reagan: Turd-blossom vs. Moose-dung—The Palin-Rove 2012 smackdown continues.

White House: West Wing Week.

The Daily Show Explains:

• The Daily Show explains the two party system
• Daily Show explains the Democratic Party.
• Daily Show explains The Republican Party.
• The Daily Shows explains The Tea Party.
• The Daily Show Explains: The Socialist Party.

Ed: FAUX and friends tackle the big issues—hair.

ONN: Law gives all mistreated Americans right to open casinos.

Restoring Insanity: ‘Blubbering baboon’ Glenn Beck takes his act to Jerusalem: .

Unrequited Love:

• Ron Reagan: Somebody has a crush.
• Happy Hour: Qaddafi loves Condi.
• Buzz 60: Does Moammar Gadhafi have a crush?
• Young Turks: Gadhafi loves Condi.

Maddow: Tea Party is just re-branding of religious conservative Republicans.

Sam Seder and the Wingnut “50% of Americans Don’t Pay Taxes” LIE.

Seattle under siege by pod of California Orcas.

Thom debunks the “Jobs Creators” myth.

NPR “It’s All Politics”: Disaster edition.

Rep. Eric Cantor contradicts his way to Worst Person in the World.

Thom: Why is Paul Ryan using the Police to hide from constitutients.

The G.O.P. Primary Asylum:

• Republican candidates say the darnedest things!
• Buzz 60Looking for Mr. (or Mrs.) Goodbar.
• Mark Fiore: Dogged Daze.
• Liberal Viewer: Worst FAUX News softball question of Republican primary for Rick Santorum.
• Sam Seder: Rick Perry disavows himself.
• Ron Reagan: Hang-man-in-chief.
• Tool Time: Rich Perry channels Obama.
• Rick Perry gets a call from Jesus.:
• Pap: Bush without the “intelligence”
• Rick Perry saying some crazy shit!
• Sam Seder: Perry’s dysfunctional sex ed.
• Young Turks: Can Rick Perry win the Presidency?
• Sharpton: Rick Perry will not attend MLK Memorial unveiling, but will mingle with anti civil-rights racists.
• Ed: The Mittster’s Lockerbie somersault Psychotalk
• Mitt: flips on trying terrorists in the U.S.
• Mitt loses his cool at town hall.
• Sharpton: Mitt’s crazy right turn.
• Olbermann: Mitt Romney gets a little flustered on the campaign trail.
• Ron Reagan: Mitt Flips
• Sam Seder: Mitt-flops
• Maddow: Romney casts away pretense, goes full Thurston Howell, III
• Ed: Drunk with gasoline, Bachmann thinks she can drop gas prices below $2 a gallon.
• Ode to Michele:
• Mitt’s 11,000+ square foot house.
• Is Mitt out of touch with average Americans?
• Does Mitt have a “house issue”?
• Mitt’s ocean front house expansion.
• Ann Telnaes: Huntsman’s Challenge.
• Huntsman points out just how out of touch Republicans are.

Thom with The Good, the Bad and the Very, Very Ugly.

Ed: Republicans hate Obama more than they hate taxes.

Sam Seder: The decline of American journalism.

Alyona: The funding of Islamophobia.

Tea Party chair Sherry Lanford Smith crazies her way to Worst Person in the World.

Hayes and Greenwald: “War criminal” Dick Cheney.

Happy Hour: Glenn Beck’s Israel #FAIL.

Thom with John Deans: How the Koch Brothers are endangering Americans.

Olbermann: Eric Cantor and his Scrooge-like response to natural disasters.

Maddow: New anti-abortion laws.

Alyona: Unions have “Stockholm syndrome”.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Ron Paul shows just how totally in tune he is with the real world:

After a lunch speech today, Ron Paul slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, and said that no national response to Hurricane Irene is necessary.

“We should be like 1900; we should be like 1940, 1950, 1960,” Paul said.

Ahhh, yes…those were the good ol’ days. Babies were healthy…

…if they were healthy enough to survive.

Children had the strongest of mothers…

…if their mother was strong enough to make it.

And we ate natural disasters for breakfast…

…when they didn’t have us for a snack.

Life was fabulous…

…while we had it.

Gooooooood times!

If you’re afflicted by bunched panties syndrome from “dirty” language, the sanitized question and answers are here.

The not-safe-for-those-susceptible-to-BPS question and answers are here.

(h/t Dan Savage [oh nos!])

Once again, Republicans demonstrate that they are The Party of Fiscal Responsibility (via Publicola):

The State elections commission has fined the Washington State Republican Party $6,700 for campaign violations during the 2010 state senate elections.

…Republicans were late to report a $60,000 contribution to state senate candidate Sen. Steve Litzow (R-41, Mercer Island) […] and late to report a nearly $10,000 contribution to state senate Republican candidate Marty McClendon.

The GOP also was late to report a batch of contributions it received from its campaign committees totaling $378,000 as well as contributions from companies including Microsoft and Premera Blue Cross totaling over $100,000.

Frankly, I’m happy Republicans have a reputation for something positive. I mean, if they lost that cred, today’s Republicans would just look like a pitchfork- and torch-wielding angry mob on some kind of teabag-infused witch hunt for Jebus.

It’s Tuesday!

So please join us for another evening of politics under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but a few folks will show up early for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? The Bellingham Chapter also meets at 7:00pm tonight. Tomorrow the Burien chapter meets at 7:00pm. There are 234 chapters of Living Liberally, including thirteen in Washington state and six more in Oregon.

Rep. Dave Reichert is, perhaps, best known for compulsively talking about his bravery. He has, after all, stared down the business end of a loaded gun…or some such thing.

When it comes to politics…not so much.

Yesterday The Atlantic took up the apparent decline in town hall style meetings on the heels of the 2009 teabagger-infused raucous town hall season.

During this year’s recess many congresscritters are replacing town hall meetings with other forms of constituent contact like individual meetings, themed meetings, and small venues. These alternatives tend to make constituent contact more difficult, but…

Congressional aides insisted that their events are well publicized through e-mail, website announcements, or alerts in local newspapers. They cited scheduling issues as the top reason for announcing an event on short notice.

There are notable exceptions (emphasis added):

But not all members make their schedules public. The office of Rep. Dave Reichert, (R-Wash.) declined to release his schedule of events.

“Aside from various other tours and visits in the community, we are currently planning his tele-town hall schedule,” spokesman Charles McCray wrote in an e-mail. More than 200 protesters gathered outside Reichert’s office on Thursday, the third such incident this month.

Oh, great. Reichert is afraid of his constituents and the national press has picked up on it.

Thanks for embarrassing us…fucking coward.

Dear God…Goldy is back to his infernal begging again.

Just because gubernatorial candidate and current state Attorney General Rob McKenna gets a car as a form of political contribution, doesn’t mean Goldy is entitled.

Simply put, Goldy isn’t influential enough. I mean, even as a journalist for a prestigious regional newspaper, Goldy doesn’t quite make the cut as an…

…overseer of business practices by the state’s automobile dealerships.

or as the state’s top dog consumer advocate who

…receives complaints against dealers for deceptive advertising practices, dishonest promotions or hidden costs.

or as the Washington consumer’s investigator, prosecutor, judge and executioner, who

…investigates, determines penalties, negotiates settlement agreements and — on occasion — takes miscreants to court.

It’s not like Goldy is ever going to be in a position to craft…

…settlements with car dealers over advertisements that allegedly violated the state’s consumer protection laws.

Nope…Goldy just doesn’t have the clout of an Attorney General.

But since he is something of a sports writer—namely, author of The Stranger’s Sports Blotter column—maybe the UW Huskey Football team should be donating season tickets to Goldy…