In yesterday’s editorial endorsement of Patty Murray, the Everett Herald does its best to say nice things about Dino Rossi, but just can’t get past the doctrinaire Republican campaign he’s been running:
Rossi’s uncompromising approaches on taxes, immigration and health-care reform strike us as too rigid to be effective.
What the Herald describes as “rigid” others have ascribed to a veer to the right, presumably in response to Clint Didier and the overhyped Tea Party fad, but that’s a meme I just don’t buy. For one, it’s hard to veer to a position you already hold, and Rossi has always been a far-right-wing candidate on many major issues. But more significantly, a veer to the right just doesn’t make sense as an electoral strategy in a state that, let’s face it, is solidly Democratic, even if by somewhat modest margins.
Some GOPers may not have noticed, but Washington state voters haven’t gone for the Republican candidate in a U.S. Senate race since 1994, in a presidential contest since 1984, and in a gubernatorial race since 1980. The margins aren’t always huge, but the outcome is clear: Washington is a solidly Democratic state.
And the logical conclusion from these results? In order to win in Washington, statewide Republican candidates need to win a significant portion of Democratic voters. And therein lies Rossi’s major weakness: Democratic voters just don’t like him.
Of course, Rossi almost won in 2004, running an all-things-to-all-people tabula rossi campaign against an overconfident Chris Gregoire who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) pull the trigger on the barrage of last-minute attack ads that would have propelled her to a (relatively) comfortable victory. But the same swing Democrats who almost carried him into the governors mansion in 2004, knew Rossi better by 2008, and Gov. Gregoire went on to win reelection by a more typical Democratic margin.
And in 2010, Democrats know Rossi even better, a prejudice that would take a substantial GOP turnout advantage, and/or a near sweep of true independents, to overcome. And while Rossi’s certainly right that he stands a better chance of election in a non-presidential year, when Democratic turnout is inevitably lighter, he’d be foolish to think he could win this race without any Democratic support at all.
And it’s hard to see many Democratic voters — self-identified or not — casting their ballots for such a “rigid” Republican.
I guess losing 30,000 jobs under Murrays watch is not enough for the Everett Hearold.
@1) What has Murray done to cost jobs? The Senate minority has been fighting everything that could create jobs, because they actually want the economy and unemployment to be as bad as they can make it so they can blame it all on the Democrats.
It’s not “Murray’s watch”, if everything she supports to create jobs is filibustered, or put on “secret hold”, by the Senate Republicans.
@1
Ah yes, Dino is the man to bring job growth back to Washington State. I’m sure his life’s work of flipping foreclosures gives him all the experience he needs.
I’m not sure it would be possible to actually find someone less qualified to be a Senator than Dino. I recall that Dino actually touts his experience as a janitor in high school in one of his ads because it is honestly better than anything he has done since then.
Remember what I taught you people. When Goldy is pointing at something, he’s pointing away from something else. You must constantly ask yourself when it comes to Goldy, what is he trying to distract you from? What does he want to take your attention away from?
Well I have to commend Dino Rossi on one thing.
He’s created more jobs than his Republican colleague Carly Fiorina.
He created Mary Lane Strow’s job and the odd interns, consultants or administrative assistants that worked for him on his campaigns or that phoney-baloney non-profit that was a front for 3 year plus campaign for Governor in 2008. And maybe he’s put some contractors to work on his various real estate deals.
All made in the usa jobs employing americans (snicker…).
Yes, Dino’s ambition has created a few jobs.
But Carly! Oh my! Imagine running on sending 30,000 jobs offshore.
@3: Speaking of foreclosures, I note that foreclosures have been halted in 23 states that have a judicial requirement, i.e., a judge is required to sign off on a foreclosure before it proceeds.
Basically — as I understand it (IANAL or economist) — the drive to securitization of mortgages led to mortgage boiler rooms and murky if not non-existent title determination, sloppy or no paperwork. Lawyers are challenging (successfully) banks who when pressed can’t come up with original mortgage and can’t show title. A significant number of the original’s they can find never had notarized signature — meaning some schmuck in the back office of a fly-by-night mortgage company signed off, title confirmation didn’t occur, etc., etc.
This seems a huge deal to me and I suspect we haven’t seen anything yet with regard to the financial and mortgage mess. I’d say the banksters and Rossi and his foreclosure predator ilk are well and truly fucked because, if my read is accurate, no one can effectively establish ownership / title.
So, a question For the lawyers here (Roger, Proud Leftist, etc., please):
@4: Goldy is evidently quite effective at distracting you.
I’ve got about 500 phone calls to make over the next few days.
Im not worried about Patty, but the state and local folks outside Seattle and environs can sure use our help to get out the vote.
GOTV!
blah blah blah Rasmussen Poll blah blah Jews blacks gays…blah blah Acorn…blah blah Zionists…blah blah Goldy stupid…blah blah libtards…blah blah Obamao…blah blah (insert name here) is like Hitler…blah blah socialism.
There, got that out of the way.
I can’t imagine Rossi being party to any sort of foreclosure criminal enterprise with big banks and loan companies (GMAC–don’t we, the citizens, own part of that). That would just be so wrong. Then again, he does do this work in a big hurry for big bucks.
@6: I can’t speak for Washington state, but apparently someone in Florida has decided to make it so…
Certain people are ensuring that they get paid, Constitution and due process be damned.
Fair warning…if it’s allowed there, someone is going to try to make it happen here.
And now, back to GOTV….
Rossi…
Obama has soured me on the Democratic party to a high degree, but the chance to vote against this bastard Dino Rossi bridges my enthusiasm gap!!!
Having Rossi running may save Democratic candidates who otherwise would have suffered from Democratic voter appathy.
Anyone notice what the republicans just voted AGAINST in the US Senate?
Yup , the party of NO….jobs except that they want to ship them overseas.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/2...../index.htm
Republicans are liars and they vote for the corporate line every time….Where are Klynical and Puddy and Lost to support sending jobs overseas….instead of keeping them here for Americans?
@1: Glenno – explain why you support republican hypocrites who want to ship jobs overseas?
You can’t justify what you wrote….and this is just another example of republican hypocrisy that Dino would support.
@6
No Washington is not one of the judicial review states. But, there is a similar standing for Washington homeowners in that a lot of Mortgage companies hold the securitized mortgages. They’ve been paid to pool the deeds. And when they try to foreclose, they use a third party as trustee to make the sale. People are very successfully delaying foreclosure sales by filing cease and desist against the trustee. If the original lender sold the deed to a secutitization firm and cannot produce the original deed, then they can’t designate a trustee and the trustee has no standing to sell. It’s a paperwork shuffle that all but the most incompetent of mortgage companies can eventually sort out.
IANAL either but of the people I know who are undergoing this process, they don’t expect to win, just buy time. The backlog of cases buys them about a year, during which time they keep pestering they’re lender’s Loss Mitigation departments about re-negotiating on their upside-down mortgages. (“Well Countrywide, we can go through another year or so of you earning zero on my loan and then we’ll walk away OR you can do a modification and start getting paid. Your choice.”)
Lenders are learning the hard way that securitzing physical assets was a spectacularly dumb idea.
Goldy–
Since you believe and have believed Murray has this in the bag, why are you spending so much time & energy on this…and throwing shitballs?
Do you really think some independent will read HorsesAss.org and think…wow, that Goldy is an objective thinker and has a good point??
Perhaps you are trying to fire up the tens of readers you call your base.
I do think Murray is slightly ahead….perhaps 2 points. But certainly not as much as these KLOWNS dream–
Heh. Tears of the KLOWN…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....inionsbox1
Zotz @ 6: Under a traditional morgtage, the lendor has to go to court to get a Writ of Foreclosure. The sheriff then sells the property on the courtyard steps, and the proceeds pay off the loan. If there isn’t enough money, the lender can go after the borrower for a deficiency judgement representing the balance owed (including attorney fees, etc.). But the down-side for the lender is that the borrow has the traditional right of redemption – they have a set period of time (one or two years – I forget the details) to go back in and tender the money owed, and get the property back. This isn’t a very attractive offer for the lender, because he creally can’t offer marketable title to sell the property during the pendency of that redemption period.
So Washington is one of the states that also uses the Deed of Trust process, where the property is technically in the hands of a third-party trustee. The lender submits the affidavit to him detailing the terms of the default, and the trustee sells the property using the forms and notice periods prescribed by statute. The trade-off for this proceedure is it’s a bit cheaper and more efficient for the lender (no court hearing required), and there is no redemption period where the borrower can get the property back. But in return the lendor cannot get a deficiency judgement against the borrower, if the property sells for less than the amount owed.
If the borrower feels that there is something wrong with the foreclosure (debt is not owed, proceedures were improper), the debtor has the burden of going to court and convincing a judge to issue a temporary restraining order stopping the sale until a hearing could be held. In order to get a TRO, he needs to prove that irreperable harm would be done without the TRO (easy in a foreclosure action), and that he is likely to prevail on the merits (a much more difficult burden).
Washington allows both types of foreclosure methods.
This endorsement is a real surprise. I’ve been reading the Everett Herald for the past few months and they have had pro-Rossi articles on the front page almost every day. MAybe the Herald’s editorial board has some actual independence. See Blethen, Frank.
I want to invite everyone to come to Mountlake Terrace to see the ONLY Dino Rossi sign in South Snohomish County. We still have plenty of Clit Diddler signs around but this Rossi sign (in a private yard) is one of a kind!