Joel Connelly, who’s no fan of Rep. Jim McDermott, lays out the blueprint for McD’s exit from congress:
A possible arrangement: McDermott’s legal bills are paid off. Something gets named after him. And a new posting, possibly meaningful, allows the globetrotting congressman to pursue his interests in HIV/AIDS and South Asia.
Discretion is vital. McDermott’s “amen corner” will entertain no criticism of our quixotic man of principle in Congress. And Seattle needs re-education on potential benefits of having an effective liberal doing its business in Washington, D.C.
I’m pretty much done with Rep. McDermott, and wouldn’t mind seeing him go sooner rather than later. As long as he was on the block for the whole “tape” thing, I didn’t feel it was right to do a hatchet job on him. Now that he’s going to have to pay the 800k, things change somewhat.
But still! Dump McDermott? No. Why not demand Richard McIver’s resignation?
The night Seattle City Councilman Richard McIver was arrested for allegedly grabbing his wife by the neck in a drunken tirade, he yelled at her about not keeping the house clean and opened the door to officers in his bathrobe, wobbling, reeking of alcohol, slurring his words, and acting confused and slightly belligerent.
McIver likely will not stand trial for these alleged actions. Still, why tolerate this? I know I know, the two aren’t mutually exclusive. But for me, it’s not even close.
Well, of course whistleblowing is not morally equivalent to assault…so what’s your point?
No wonder the city is in such a mess, we have drug addicts running the show. How many of them drink, and how much? Switch the can of beer or glass of wine with a line of cocaine or a joint and we have a major problem. We have a major problem.
Only in a place like Seattle can someone like Baghdad Jim McDermott exist. And by the way, Mr. Congressman……Merry Christmas!
As long as Rep. McDermott stands up to folks like Dick Cheney (people who are busy destroying our nation and our freedoms), he has both my support and my vote. He is better than most Democratic Congressmembers who seem to think that it is ok to let Bush and Cheney get away with high crimes and misdemeanors — just because they will be gone soon. It is not. This is a horrible precedent. The President should be held accountable for his or her actions. The constitution and the seperation of powers are more important than one administration.
Oh and I’d rather have my Representative try to tackle AIDS in Africa than have him merely deliver pork to our district, like so many other Congressmembers. With our national debt approaching 10 Trillion dollars, we cannot afford bloated pork barelled budgets anymore.
Good job Rep McDermott. Keep up the good fight.
Wait…we have a representative in the 7th District? No one told me. Does he do anything for the region?
McDermott is a patriot and a statesman. Why should he pay $800,000 for exposing a Republican criminal conspiracy? This shows how low Republican judges are.
@5 Does the GOP do anything for the nation? Or for anyone except their own pocketbook?
Joel’s column echoes what I have said at SJ for months. McDermitt is pleasurable to this District. He DOES speak for it. That is not the question.
What he does not do is the issue. A congressman is nt simply a spokesperson. Compare JM with Patty Murry! She was not a fave of mine but I am a convert. Her success in Cingress is good for liberalism and good for the sate. Moreover when Senator Murry talks out on issues, here worlds have a lot more impact than those of McDermitt.
Finally, as Joel and I have both said before, there is the huge need in the Dems for LEADERSHIP. McD is great at takinbg on publicity issues, but he does not weigh in on the decision making process we ned to make commitments at the level of the District he leads.
Even the Court issue strikes me as less than effective LIKE OTHERS HERE, I see the outing of the tapes as a noble act. BUT, the effort spent on a losing legal battle seems to me to be more of a personal grudge match than an effective strategic effort to change things.
Thge on pplace I do NOT agree with Joel, is on the choices of candidates. His list is too narrow. I would expand it to ic lude Mike Lowery, Peter Steinbrueck, and Goldy!
Why not Goldy? If Darcy wins, David will deserve a huge amount of the credit. He has increasing name recognition and in a campaign against any Republican trying for this District, Goldy would easily win.
Ideally, whoever replaced McD would be SUPPORTED by McD himself.
As one who agrees with most of Rep. McDermott’s positions, I still think we’d be better off replacing him. Why? Because he’s not effective in persuading other Rep’s, and despite his tenure in Congress, he’s not given leadership positions by his peers. So why keep electing him? To make a point about how idealogically pure we are here in Seattle? Effective governance is about being able to horse trade, make deals and advance your policies to serve the constituents who elected you.
As for McIver, well the voters of Seattle have a very hard time holding all elected officials to the same standard. The bar has been set much lower for McIver, but if you point that out you risk being labeled a racist. It’s too bad that we harbor so much collective guilt that we’re afraid to ask the same of an African American elected official that we would ask of a caucasian. Seattle voters seem to like, or at least don’t question the social engineering of our City Council.
Since McDermott is unbeatable as long as he runs, and since he has to pay that asshole Boehner all that money, it would be foolish of him to hang it up right now. How would he raise the payoff money without a Congressional campaign committee from which to divert it? Doing so, by the way, is absolutely and completely legal.
He should make a great big reelection fundraising push for 2008. Add that to his separate legal defense fund (which permits larger contributions than a campaign committee is allowed to take), and he can probably retire the debt next year. After settling up with Boehner, he could graciously retire in 2010, perhaps to take an ambassadorship in Africa.
People in the 7th have to rally around Jim McDermott and help him retire that awful debt. In fact, progressives nationwide owe him.
Jim took action against the right wing when it needed to be done.
Let’s make it a package deal — we help McDermott retire his debt if he agrees to retire. I like Jim and his politics, but he is utterly useless in doing anything for the district because he has zero clout or credibility with other members of Congress. In the 20 years I’ve lived in Seattle, I am not aware of a single project or issue that McDermott has successfully championed for the benefit of the region. We need federal help to fund transportation, education, cleanup of the Duwamish… the list goes on and on. But where’s McDermott?
You can be a voice for progressive issues AND still be effective at moving policy. Look at what an openly gay politician like Ed Murray has been able to do in the state legislature for civil rights — at the same time he’s built a power base and provided effective leadership on transportation issues. McDermott, for all his good intentions, is just a voice in the wilderness.
9 & 10 – Translation: McDermott, while he is an ideological soulmate with the insane extreme left in Seattle…..this same insanity is not shared by people outside Seattle and thus, he is completely ineffective for actually doing anything except idiotic publicity stunts to make his Tomfoolery stand out for ridicule by the rest of the country. While you identify with the kook fringe ideology that the rest of the nation shakes its collective head at, you feel its time for a serious politician to represent Seattle and actually do something for this city other than bring ridicule and scorn to its Representative for the publicity stunts that you otherwise agree with. In a nutshell, that’s what you are trying to say.
@12:
so the mark of a “good” congresscritter is one who “brings home the bacon” – because you are not aware of anything good that McDermott has done.
Well – move to Alaska – you can get the criminals don Young and Ted Stevens to earmark your way into heaven.
sorry – taking principled stands against the war in Iraq actually is something important. Maybe, if enough congresscritters had done that we would not have wasted trillions of dollars and how many lives on this useless war.
bush has said of Iraq “We will win it as long as we don’t withdraw” – this kind of pathetic logic needs to be challenged every day. What are we going to “win” in Iraq? If we declare victory and leave – what happens?
The surge is a bust – because Iraq is no more stable today politically than when it started and the Iraqis are still not ready to stand up so we can “stand down”.
A woman in Iraq has no rights – we have created a Islamic, factional Shia entity that will ally with Iran and kill sunnis and Kurds. What a mess!
The fact that Jim McDermott is considered by so many people to be “insane” merely shows the level of depravity to which our once great nation has fallen.
Roger Rabbit says:
McDermott is a patriot and a statesman. Why should he pay $800,000 for exposing a Republican criminal conspiracy? This shows how low Republican judges are.
12/20/2007 at 9:34 am
You sometimes are too much like the cartoon character….
Sooo judges only rule towards the party with which they’re affiliated? Or only Republican Judges? Be careful there, remember Chelan County 2004?
I wouldn’t expect a lawyer to denegrate their chosen profession so….
Unless this really is just a cartoon character..
MS Tlazolteotl says: Well, of course whistleblowing…
You need to correct this statement: Using illegally acquired taped conversations which are illegal per various laws Jim McDimWitt knowingly decided to leak a conversation between… .
Illegal because:
1) John and Alice Martin, overheard a conversation between Reps. Gingrich and Boehler on their police scanner inside their car. Illegal per Florida Statute
2) The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) prohibits the interception of electronic communications, as well as the use or disclosure of intercepted electronic communications.
But per YLB – The Clueless One ™ AKA
Yelling Libby Blatherer – The Clueless One ™ AKA
Yelling Loser Bozo – The Clueless One ™ AKA
M2I2 Malleable Minded Ignorant Idiot ™
that’s immaterial because the illegal needs of the liberals outweigh the legal needs of the few.
17 – Yeah, and I just love how the Martins were described by the mainstream press at the time as just a couple of concerned citizens who thought the right thing to do would be to turn it over to McDermott. The reality is the Martins are Democratic activists who make (at least they were back in the mid 90’s) several trips a year to Washington, DC to engage in partisan politics.
That’ll be $800k Mr. Congressman, NOW FORK IT OVER!!!!
ewp: Have you been reading the Puddy missives here on HorsesASSHoles?
You would have noticed Puddy was again as always ahead on the issues.
“The bar has been set much lower for McIver, but if you point that out you risk being labeled a racist. It’s too bad that we harbor so much collective guilt that we’re afraid to ask the same of an African American elected official that we would ask of a caucasian. Seattle voters seem to like, or at least don’t question the social engineering of our City Council.”
Remember it was Puddy who was the first black who said McIver must go. You don’t go wailing on your wife unless you are an ideologically pure Seattle Council MoonBat!
Remember it was Puddy who asked on this thread http://www.horsesass.org/?p=3940
Hey y’all wait a minute. Goldy post sumtin interesting but as always he stops where the going gets rough. It is political. BIGTIME
Who votes these Seattle Council clowns in year after year? You do
Who complains they don’t listen to you? You do
When the polls open in 2008 and their names are on the ballot who will vote for them? You do
I remember a thread on the Seattle Sonics and how the city complained Clay Bennet didn’t negotiate in good faith. Well who votes for the people who decides the negotiators? You do
Who brags FUWA is a blue state? You do
Who brags you own King County? You do
Who brags you own Seattle? You do
Who cares less about their constituents because they know they are rubber-stamp elected? Seattle City Council
What will you lefties do about it? Vote for the same clowns in 2008
Sorry but no matter how y’all lefties spin it, this is a lefty issue! It’s your political toilet, and you won’t flush it.
Have a great day!
PStupid @ 19: you’re right! (wing that is).
It’s our business who we put in office.
If you don’t like it tough! You could move here but you’d be a fish out of water.
Isn’t this Baghdad Jim who said Saddam could be trusted?
Poor Puddy:
A lonely right winger in a blue county – turning bluer by the day (not puddy, the county).
If the national and state level republicans weren’t so corrupt and inept – there might even be some republicans that would get elected in Washington state.
The problem the republican party has in this state is that even in their stronger areas on the east side of the mountains they are saddled with candidates who are on the far right fringe.
On the west side, they might as well give up given the strong opposition to the Iraq war and the increasingly democratic east side of the Lake.
I hear parents saying that their kids are going in to ROTC – so vote democratic – so we are out of Iraq in 4 years.
These are military parents telling me to vote democratic – and I haven’t said anything political!
The republicans are losing their base and Bush (with all the corruption and incompetence) has shown what republicans do in office – screw things up, make huge deficits, lie incessantly and cover up and ignore basic constitutional guidleines. the republicans in congress ahve aided and abetted the bush administration and will be saddled with the legacy of this collosal failure of a presidency.
Puddy:
Who was more right about WMD’s – Bush or Sadaam?
who thinks toture is OK?
who destroys evidence?
who puts in politcal cronies?
who invades nations that are not a threat?
Gee – bush is looking a lot like Sadaam.
Notcorrectstillnotright: This is a McDimwitt thread.
Look above. Where is it an open thread?