Of course, the headline is joking. But in 2009, when Susan Hutchison ran for office in Democratic King County, she did it claiming to be a nonpartisan. Now, not so much.
The Seattle Times (http://is.gd/6EHqfL ) reports Hutchinson defeated the interim GOP chair, Luanne Van Werven, in a run-off vote after two other candidates were eliminated at the party’s meeting in Spokane on Saturday.
Hutchison ran unsuccessfully for King County Executive in 2009, downplaying her Republican ties.
On Saturday, she pledged to breathe new life into a state Republican Party that has suffered stinging election defeats.
I don’t know if her election puts the lie to her claims to being anything but a Republican, or if that was already so obvious that nothing can put the lie to it. In any event, we can now be pretty confident that the GOP never bought her claims of nonpartisanship.
But I would like to take the occasion of her election to hope sincerely that she actually tries to attract moderates to her party. Their hateful wing is so far out there, that even though they can’t be elected to a majority in the legislature they’re hurting people. When she ran, her record was sitting on the board of the Discovery Institute and supporting candidates like Mike Huckabee. But her rhetoric was moderate and conciliatory. We’ll have to see what one emerges with her party leadership.
I wonder if she’ll call in sick when she wants to go rafting in Oregon, like she did on her previous job?
Sadly, Washington State Repulicans aren’t moderate. They have just gotten pretty good at disguising their true beliefs, while waiting for a chance to screw over unions, teachers, low-wage workers, etc. Fortunately, we’ve gotten pretty good at calling them out since the days of Spellman.
She reminds me a great deal of Jennifer Dunn. A Good-looking, seamingly harmless leader.
Dunn had considerably more class than Hutchison has displayed at various points in her career…from storming out of KIRO with a hearty “Fuck you!” to her boss not once but twice, to getting her panties all wet over Jeb Bush (Jeb Bush????) on video at one of the Washington Policy Institute’s gatherings of the faithful.
The WA state GOP certainly needs someone to lead it out of crazytown, but there’s nothing in Hutchison’s resume that’s shown she is capable of leading much of anything and there’s little evidence of any Republicans capable of being led.
Damn! Suzie will serve up boatloads of entertaiment for us over the coming years..
May she long serve the WSRP!
The only way to lead the GOPtards out of crazytown…. Uh, there is no way. The GOPtards need to go the way of the dinosaurs and perhaps a sane conservative party will rise from its ashes. The Party of Lincoln is devolving into a terrorist organization.