HorsesAss.Org

Last week’s contest was won by Darryl. It was on Whidbey Island.

This week’s contest is related to something in the news from July, good luck!

1 Kings 1:1-4
King David was now an old man, and he always felt cold, even under a lot of blankets. His officials said, “Your Majesty, we will look for a young woman to take care of you. She can lie down beside you and keep you warm.” They looked everywhere in Israel until they found a very beautiful young woman named Abishag, who lived in the town of Shunem. They brought her to David, and she took care of him.

Discuss.

Thom: Some Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

Sam Seder: Rush Limbaugh’s Batman The Dark Knight Rises Villain is a Liberal conspiracy!!!!!

Lawrence: Anti-tax lobbyist Grover Norquist’s worst nightmare….

Young Turks: Darcy Burner–the aggressive progressive.

Kimmel: This week in unnecessary censorship.

Sam Seder: Nutcase IA Republican appoints herself Senator of Alt. USA.

Thom: How to marry a corporation.

ONN: Week in review.

Susie Sampson does The Young Turks.

Sam Seder: Shrub on his time as President: “8 years was awesome!”.

Thom and Pap: Bain connection to death squads.

Jon on Egyptian tomato throwers.

Mitt’s World:

• Ed: Desperate Romney camp to unleash kitchen sink attacks at Obama.
• Mitt dancing around the issues, Volume I.
• Mitt dancing around the issues, Volume II.
• Ann Telnaes: Caught on kiss-off cam.
• Olbermann: Ann Romney defends decision to not release more tax returns.
• Roy Zimmerman: Vote Republican, the New Hampshire verse:
• Alyona: Mitt’s refusal to give tax returns.
• Young Turks: Tricky Mitt…you’re not a crook, right?
• Mark Fiore: Myttlympics.
• Maddow: Burden of tax return question exceeds Romney’s political skill.
• CNN: Romney’s charges of “cronyism” are false.
• SlateTV: Mitt fails to invite Sarah Palin!
• Even Republicans think Mitt is hiding something.
• Sam Seder: What is the secret behind Mitt’s Magical IRA?
• Obama campaign apologizes to Mitt Romney:
• Maddow: Romney campaign in distress.
• Vetting Mitt’s Veeps: Marco Rubio.
• Young Turks: Mitt Romney’s new Latino ad starring Craig Romney
• Maddow: Racism and the “Southern Strategy” is Mitt Romney’s new political tactic!
• Lawrence’s Day in News: Romney’s campaign desperation.
• Ann Telnaes: Romney will only release two years of tax returns.
• What does retroactively retired mean?
• Roy Zimmerman: Vote Republican, Arizona edition:

Thom: Why would anyone proudly call themselves a Conservative?

Sam Seder with Matt Taibbi: You should be freaking out over LIBOR scandal!.

ONN: This week in history.

Thom: Justice Scalia tells America to, “Get over it”.

Michele Bachmann Investigates:

• SlateTV: Michele Bachmann still pushing Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy despite GOP disaproval.
• Sam Seder: Michele Bachmann suggests Huma Abedin, is a secret undercover Muslim agent!
• Jon: Michele Bachmann and Huma Abedin’s Muslim brotherhood membership.
• Young Turks: John McCain defends Huma Abedin from Senate floor.

Young Turks: Oregon man strip for TSA.

Alyona: Texas Voter ID IS like a poll tax.

Ed and Pap: Gov. Rick Scott’s criminal history will doom voter purge.

White House: West Wing Week.

FAUX Lies:

• Young Turks: FAUX News latest attack on Obama.
• Sam Seder: The FAUX News / GOP lie & the perfect truth behind Obama’s “You didn’t build that”.
• Mitt Romney will say anything to get elected.
• Newsy: Bachmann claims Muslim group is infiltrating U.S. government.
• Alyona’s Tool Time Award: Bill-O Calls Obama A “social justice anti-capitalist”.

Newsy: Nutcase Sheriff Arpaio claims Obama’s birth certificate is fake.

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

Maddow: House GOP targets defenseless D.C. with anti-abortion agenda.

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

This morning, The Stranger’s Dominic Holden wrote (my emphasis):

As Attorney General Rob McKenna explains this morning, “The national political debate sometimes oversimplifies and narrowly defines ‘women’s issues.'” That’s according to a press release that he didn’t send to The Stranger (but he did send to other media outlets) as part of his campaign to be Washington’s Republican governor.

So…McKenna is still singling out at least one media source and being an asshole to them.

But, since other media got the press release, The Stranger’s Cienna Madrid showed up as press. After all, it is in the public’s interest to understand the “nuance” of McKenna’s position on “women’s issues” like the Reproductive Parity Act. (Explaining his positions was the purpose of the event.) Here’s what happened:

And I’m sure I stood out in my Pretty-Woman-business-casual attire. Nevertheless, his staff greeted me with polite acceptance when I identified myself as press, so I’d bet other reporters were allowed in the Statewide Women’s Leadership Luncheon, where McKenna was enthusiastically unveiling the “key role” women would play in implementing his “New Direction for Washington State,” should he become our next governor.

But his staff became politely unhelpful as soon as I identified myself as a Stranger reporter.

“This is private event and not for press,” one staffer told me. “You’ll have to move elsewhere.”

Holy fuck! McKenna is either astonishingly petty, bizarrely paranoid, or is just fucking frightened of The Stranger!

That’s just Not Very Gubernatorial.

What would he do as Governor? How would a cowering, frightened Rob McKenna be able to hold a press conference where Cienna, or Eli, or Dominic, or (OH MY GAWD!) GOLDY was present.

He might just pee his pants. And in front of all the “good” press, too!

Mark my words. If Rob McKenna is elected Governor, he will institute a new press credentialing process that will exclude any and all access to his office by sources on his media enemies list. This is why all the media should be outraged and all over McKenna for selectively excluding the press.

For the rest of us, here is some homework: Go to twitter and make the #NotGubernatorial a local trending hash tag. Other tags you might include: #wagov #waelex @robmckenna

Update: In which they “forget” to invite The Stranger again, but Goldy goes anyway.

My questions in bold, Jessyn Farrell’s answers as they were sent.

1) The state’s paramount duty is education. Do you feel the state is living up to that duty? If not, what needs to happen to live up to it?

I am the mother of two small children. I went to public schools (in Lake Forest Park and the Shoreline District) and so will they. I want to reinvigorate our state commitment to public schools. I believe we need to provide adequate resources for all our schools and ensure that every child is healthy, safe, and prepared when he or she comes to school. The good news is that with the State Supreme Court McCleary decision there is a mandate in place to develop solutions. But a significant question is how do we build the political will to fully fund our paramount duty to our students without gutting the social safety net that helps our most vulnerable kids?

We will do this by building broad coalitions that support child-centered education and social safety-net policies, organizing community members across the state, and talking to voters about what their tax dollars pay for. My experience at the forefront of the transportation debate for nearly a decade, as an advocate at WashPIRG and as the Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition, gives me optimism that we can forge a path forward to comprehensive changes to how we fund education. A decade ago, the transportation discussion was characterized by big, seemingly intractable problems, but a decade later, we have made great progress, and are now doing things like building a light rail system across the region. We did this by working in coalition, organizing, and winning with the voters and I want to apply these same skills to the challenge of making sure we provide all kids in the state with a great education.

2) Washington State voters recently rejected an income tax. Most of the revenue that the legislature might be able to pass is quite regressive. Will you push for revenue, and if so, how will you make sure the burdens don’t fall on the poorest Washingtonians?

I have worked for almost a decade to reform transportation funding, which is regressive and constrains much of our investments to car-centric policies. In the last several years we have had some successes in finding more revenue sources to support transit and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure but the majority of transit funding still comes from local sales tax, which is volatile and regressive.

Similarly, the state sales tax is unfairly regressive, and we must find alternative ways to fund public services. I want to participate in that discussion and am willing to pursue alternatives, such as closing tax loopholes. What I am NOT open to is the status quo. In my experience with passing eight transportation initiatives across the state is that voters do support taxes when they know what they are paying for and believe that government is accountable, transparent, and efficient in the delivery of programs.

3) There is a good chance that the State Senate and/or the Governor’s Mansion will be controlled by Republicans after the next election, and certainly most legislators will be more conservative than people who would be elected in a Seattle district. Given that how will you get your agenda passed?

Part of being able to win on behalf of King County and Seattle is being able to build strong relationships with legislators across the state. If elected, I would like to develop an “Urban Caucus” with colleagues from Spokane, Tacoma, Bellevue, and Vancouver to develop a joint agenda around education, transportation and social services. We simply need to make the pie bigger and end the zero-sum game that funding for important programs has become. We can do that by building broad coalitions, developing compelling messages for voters, and organizing communities across the state.

4) You’re running in a race with many Democrats who share similar positions. What separates you from the rest of the field?

There are three qualities that make me different: perseverance, the ability to build consensus, and optimism. I know that social change, especially in the legislative framework, can be agonizingly slow. It takes time to build and sustain coalitions, community support, and political will. The effectiveness of these characteristics is proven in my track record of getting things done.

As the Executive Director of the Transportation Choices Coalition and an advocate at WashPIRG, I led efforts to build broad coalitions of business, labor, public health and environmental leaders to advocate for major policy and funding victories including:
– over $25 billion in new funding for bus and rail transit, trip reduction incentives, and walking and bicycle infrastructure.
– Reforming state transportation goals to be people-focused instead of car-focused

5) Seattle and King County give more to the state than they get back. Part of this is reasonable things like the cost of providing education and social services in rural and suburban areas, but part of it is a lack of respect for Seattle and King County with the legislature that treats us as an ATM. How will you make sure your district gets its fair share of revenue without harming education or social services throughout the state?

As mentioned above, the key thing Seattle legislators can do is build relationships with other urban legislators across the state to build a consensus agenda for the unique needs of urban areas.

Two polls in one day! And another one supposedly on the way.

The second WA-1 poll today comes from PPP on behalf of Democracy For America, a group that backs Darcy Burner, but is “independent”. Take that as you wish.

The poll surveyed 521 likely primary voters (about a 4.3% MOE) on the 16th and 17th of July.

Results:

• Koster (R) 48%
• Burner (D) 17%
• DelBene (D) 13%
• Hobbs (D) 5%
• Ruderman (D) 4%
• Rauniyar (D) 1%
• Ishmael (I) 1%
• Undecided 11%

This poll is consistent with the previous poll in showing Darcy Burner with a small lead over Susan DelBene. It also shows Rudderman in 4th place among the Democrats. It is pretty clear that, of the Democrats, Hobbs, Ruderman, and Rauniyar are not much of a factor.

This poll differs from the previous one in showing a more difficult general election for Democrats, since Republican John Koster is at 48% with 11% undecided. While Republicans are more likely to be be decided in this particular race, it doesn’t take many to push Koster over 50%.

Given this poll and the previous on, I’d say the general election is a dead heat.

Update: More poll details here.

Here are some notes:

The survey found 34% Democrats, 39% Republicans and 28% Independent/Other. A weighted average of the earlier Strategies 360 poll and this poll gives:

• Democrats 38.4%
• Republicans 39.0%
• Other 22.6%

Close, huh?

Interestingly, in this poll Darcy Burner gets the lion’s share of Democratic voters at 40% compared to 23% for DelBene. But DelBene gets 14% of the Independent/Other vote compared to Burner’s 9%.

Koster has 88% of Republicans locked-up; only 5% are undecided. Some 15% of Democrats and 16% of Independent/Others are undecided.

The oddest finding is that Koster received 50% of the (~68) non-White “votes”, but only 48% of the White “vote”. Huh?!? This is likely just sampling “error.”

Strategies 360 has released a new poll for the new Washington first congressional district. The poll of 500 likely voters (4.4 MOE) was conducted from 15 to 17 July.

Here are the results (with “leaners”):

• Koster (R) 36%
• Burner (D) 12%
• DelBene (D) 11%
• Hobbs (D) 7%
• Ruderman (D) 3%
• Rauniyar (D) 1%
• Ishmael (I) 2%
• Other candidate 2%
• DK/NA/Refused 26%

A couple of points. Susan DelBene has certainly moved up since the previous poll, but Darcy Burner still maintains a small edge.

Laura Ruderman, who seems to generate as much “buzz”—even before MotherGate—as Burner and DelBene, is surprisingly weak at 3%.

John Koster has dropped 10% since the previous poll.

With the ballots in the mail this week and voting starting, it sure looks like a November contest between Koster and Burner or Koster and DelBene.

But we should have some more evidence soon…at Drinking Liberally this Tuesday, Goldy mentioned two other (non-candidate) polls that were in the field.

What does this poll say about the general election? The above table shows that Hobbs has a very slight edge over the sum of votes for Democratic voters. Furthermore, Larry Ishmael, the independent, is a past Republican challenger to Rep. Jay Inslee in the first, so we can probably “re-purpose” his 2% to the Koster column. (This isn’t quite true…the the crosstabs show Ishmael has about twice as many progressive supporters as conservative supporters!) These numbers make the new 1st CD a split district with a slight Republican lean.

On the other hand, the self-reported partisan make-up in the sample favors Democrats by 43% to 39%:

• Democrat 27%
• Leans D 16%
• Republican 26%
• Leans R 13%
• Independent 13%
• Other/DK/NA/Refused 5%

The evidence in the crosstabs looks somewhat favorable for a future Democratic Representative in the 1st CD. Of that 26% who didn’t know or didn’t answer who they support, the numbers split almost identically between conservative and progressive (about 6.6% of the total sample for each group). Moderates who didn’t offer a preference make up just under 8% of the total sample, whereas moderates who did have a preference, prefer a Democrat to a Republican 3 to 1.

So…until we have more evidence, this general election looks like a tight race with a slight edge for the Democratic candidate.

– The Stranger’s primary endorsements.

– According to a Colorlines report, there are at least 5,100 kids in the U.S. foster care system right now due to their parents being detained or deported. In the meantime, Colorlines also points to legislation to keep an eye out for, the “Help Separated Families Act of 2012” introduced by Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) earlier this month, which would help avoid tragedies like the Romero family’s.

– The Joe Paterno statue has to go.

– McKenna’s Aide resigns over those godawful tweets.

– Only 53% of people think Romney’s policies favor the wealthy?

– It’s over a year later and having my abortion was the best thing I did.

– Superhero Pub Run

– We say opportunity

– Tomorrow is a good day to volunteer at parks in Seattle.

With Obama continuing to press Romney to release his tax returns, the speculation about what’s in them is running rampant. Maybe it’s something that’s basically reasonable if you’re a business person but tough to explain when we hold you to a higher standard trying to become leader of the free world. Maybe it’s more tax shelters. Maybe there’s evidence of fraud, or something else horrible.

Obviously, my speculation is as much as anyone else’s just speculation. But I think it probably leans to the worse side of the equation. In fact, think of the worst thing you can that might be in those taxes he refuses to release. Mitt Romney would rather you have that in your mind than the knowable, actual truth. Seems like if everything was fine, or if it was just a bit tough to explain, he’d rather have you know the truth.

There were some “legs” on the story of McKenna’s young staffer who made some unfortunate Tweets.

That’s the “big story” in the region’s media this week, but I think the media has missed the real story.

Kathlyn Ehl, who recently graduated from the UW, was hired by the McKenna campaign. But while she was a student, she created these cringe-worthy tweets:

Kathlyn Ehl @KathlynEhl
shut up and speak english #asians

and

Kathlyn Ehl @KathlynEhl
If it takes you an entire green light to walk in front of my car, GET A WHEELCHAIR #toooldtowalk

The tweets were brought to light on Slog.

Given how the press initially ignored stories like a County Executive candidate who punched his mother, and a Lands Commissioner engaging in sexual harassment, I figured the press would completely ignore this story…at least for a few days. In the mean time, the McKenna campaign would “disappear” the offending tweets and, perhaps, the staffer, without comment.

But the media has been over it. KUOW put it in their top-o-the-hour newscasts. Other media sources carried the KOMO story or the AP release. Even the Seattle Times had a story up by Monday evening.

Monday afternoon, the McKenna campaign did its own press release:

The tweets sent by a member of my campaign staff, Kathlyn Ehl, which were reported today were offensive and inappropriate. I am glad to see that she has apologized for her actions,” the statement reads. “The fact that she made the comments before joining my campaign does not make them any less hurtful to Asian Americans and the elderly. They were insensitive and wrong regardless of their context. She has done the right thing by apologizing. I am hopeful that she has learned a humbling lesson that will give her greater perspective about having charity in her heart when considering the challenges faced by others.

And by this morning, the offending policy assistant was gone, as was revealed by another McKenna campaign press release.

So, good on you, media, for even noticing. I’m not sure what the lesson is from that except, perhaps, that Anthony Weiner might still be in Congress if he had had the foresight to beat the shit out of someone instead of tweeting a photo of his bulging briefs.

But here’s what I think is the part of this story that should outrage the fuck out of the media (emphasis added):

Oddly, even though McKenna’s comments respond directly to a story we broke, his campaign did not send the statement to The Stranger. Instead, we obtained them from another source.

…and this…

I’ve posted [the McKenna campaign’s] statement—which, of course, the McKenna campaign didn’t send to The Stranger, even though we broke this story….

REALLY, McKenna??? Fucking REALLY?!? You want to be Governor of our state, and you persist in having a media “enemies list?”

This certainly paints him a small, petty man who lacks the temperament to be Governor.

McKenna believes he can pick who is and isn’t media and who is and isn’t a reporter.

What I don’t understand is why the area’s media allow McKenna to get away unscathed with this kind of bullshit.

My questions in bold; Sarajane Siegfriedt’s as is.

1) The state’s paramount duty is education. Do you feel the state is living up to that duty? If not, what needs to happen to live up to it?

Obviously, the state is not living up to its paramount duty. The judge in the McCleary case made this crystal clear, as did another judge in a similar case in the 70s. “Paramount duty” is most often interpreted as 50% of the state budget. We are currently devoting only about 42% of the $32 billion budget to Basic Education. (Basic Education was expanded by the legislature in the 2011 session.) We are $4 billion short. The “down payment” of $1 billion for K-12 Basic Education is due in the 2013-2015 biennial budget. We have to make up another $3 billion by 2018. As the Governor said and as both candidates for Governor failed to grasp, we have to raise taxes to pay for this.

2) Washington State voters recently rejected an income tax. Most of the revenue that the legislature might be able to pass is quite regressive. Will you push for revenue, and if so, how will you make sure the burdens don’t fall on the poorest Washingtonians?

I am not the only candidate or legislator who will refuse to vote to raise the sales tax. For a decade, I have long fought for social and economic justice as part of the Poverty Action Network. Three years ago, I joined with Fuse, the WA Budget & Policy Center and many others as the Our Economic Future Coalition to propose progressive plans to increase revenue. I support a capital gains tax, which falls on the top 3% and exempts sale of a primary residence. It’s time to revisit the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax. It’s been 10 years since Eyman’s initiative eliminated it, economic times have changed, huge budget cuts have been made and transit and ferries have suffered without the tax. The MVET is inherently a progressive tax. We also need a per-barrel tax on oil. The 60% tuition increases at our colleges and universities since 2009 constitute one of the worst taxes on the poor (especially community college and voc/tech) and they need to be reversed. This is a wealthy state, but our tax system doesn’t reflect that fact. Wealthy individuals and corporations need to pay their fair share.

3) There is a good chance that the State Senate and/or the Governor’s Mansion will be controlled by Republicans after the next election, and certainly most legislators will be more conservative than people who would be elected in a Seattle district. Given that how will you get your agenda passed?

I disagree with your premise. I believe we will be able to pass more progressive taxes for several reasons. One reason is that the challenge to Eyman’s I-1053 was ruled unconstitutional. I believe the Supreme Court will sustain this ruling before the beginning of the 2013 session. I believe the Democrats will retain a working majority in both houses, based in part on Obama’s popularity and the presence of the marijuana and equal marriage initiatives on the ballot. Second, education is widely supported by both parties and we have the McCleary ruling, which makes raising taxes imperative under any governor. Third, we have a bipartisan legislative task force that must come up with a plan to raise $1 billion for Basic Ed before the session starts—or else. Fourth, we have the House Democratic Caucus coming up with their own progressive plan to raise revenue. Fifth, we are far more likely now than in prior years to reform the system of tax exemptions, because the Grover Norquist pledge was broken by the Republicans last session when they sponsored and voted to repeal the Wall Street Bank tax exemption. There are 570 tax exemptions that lack a statement of legislative intent. This will change, and measurable outcomes for tax exemptions will be demanded.

4) You’re running in a race with many Democrats who share similar positions. What separates you from the rest of the field?

I’m the only candidate endorsed by the 46th District Democrats, the King County Democrats, and Rep. Phyllis Kenney, whom I hope to succeed. I have a record of fighting for social and economic justice on state issues. I have been focused on Olympia since I lobbied there for alcohol and drug treatment fulltime in the 2002 session. Afterward, I joined several boards, including Solid Ground, one of the largest social service agencies in King County. We recently produced 50 units of low-income family housing at Sand Point, with 50 more on the way. I am the only candidate who has been involved with the Democratic Party. Since 2004, my involvement has been with issues, writing platforms and more recently as Legislative Action Chair of the King County Democrats—their volunteer lobbyist, if you will. The job includes working with labor and all the major progressive coalitions and with legislators to form a consolidated legislative agenda. I track bills, send out legislative alerts and organize a lobby day. More than anything else, this position has given me the breadth of experience to make informed decisions on priority legislation in Olympia. Our number one priority has been progressive revenue reform, in order to pay for everything else, including education, the safety net, housing and the environment.

I have lived in the 46th District for the past 15 years, in Lake City. I’m involved in my district, with issues of homelessness and plans for transit-oriented pedestrian-friendly mixed-income communities at Lake City and at Northgate. I’m also the only candidate with an appointive public board position. I serve on the King County Board of Equalization, hearing appeals of property tax assessments. I’m the only candidate with an MBA and with a background in business. I’ve worked for AT&T and for Boeing (for seven years). I combine private sector and non-profit management experience with public service and extensive knowledge of state issues.

5) Seattle and King County give more to the state than they get back. Part of this is reasonable things like the cost of providing education and social services in rural and suburban areas, but part of it is a lack of respect for Seattle and King County with the legislature that treats us as an ATM. How will you make sure your district gets its fair share of revenue without harming education or social services throughout the state?

How can we argue that wealthy individuals and corporations should pay their fair share, meaning they pay more than they get back, when we don’t expect the wealthiest county in the state to do the same? There are several counties that cannot perform the basic functions of county government, as required by law, without substantial state assistance. Does that mean the other counties should have fewer requirements?

Fairness is in the eye of the beholder. I will fight for my district to get its fair share of transportation funds to maintain State Road 522, otherwise known as Lake City Way/Bothell Way, because it is a state highway carrying far more heavy truck traffic than before tolling began on the 520 bridge. The town of Kenmore, with 22,000 residents, is being forced to pay $68 million in road repairs on its “main street” that should be the state’s responsibility. The state is paying for the 520 bridge and most of the Hwy. 99 tunnel. When it comes to funding education and social services, two of the state’s top responsibilities, why is it inherently better or worse to fund a teacher or a foster children’s case manager in Seattle or in Yakima? In the end we must trust these state departments to allocate their funds on the basis of need, not silos or fiefdoms. (Trust, then audit?) Perhaps the founders of Kentucky and Massachusetts got it right when they named them “commonwealths,” not states. The name emphasizes an idea that has been neglected. We are all in this together.

Our summer and the political campaigns are all heating up. So please join us for a thirst-quenching evening of politics and conversation over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet every Tuesday at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm. Some people show up earlier for Dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings over the next week. The Tri-Cities chapter of Drinking liberally meets every Tuesday night. Drinking Liberally Tacoma meets on Thursday. Also on Thursday, the Spokane Chapter is back!

With 226 chapters of Living Liberally, including eleven in Washington state and four more in Oregon, chances are excellent there’s a chapter near you.

Scott Morgan writes in the Huffington Post about the Obama Administration’s continued war on medical marijuana:

I have no idea whether Obama himself is as enthusiastic about destroying medical marijuana as the folks at DOJ who’ve been doing the actual dirty work, but the answer to that question doesn’t matter. If Obama can blame Mitt Romney for what Bain Capital did while he was CEO, we can sure as hell blame Obama for what the Justice Department does when he’s the president.

He told us we could expect better than this. And yet the problem isn’t just that he failed to keep his word, or even that his attorney general rather blatantly lied to Congress about it, as awful as that is. The greatest disgrace in all of this is the perpetuation of a reprehensible policy that crushes the will of voters and the wisdom of legislatures, that stands between sick people and the medicine their doctors recommend, that hands control of cannabis back to cartels that kill people, and that creates a continuing war in our own communities when there could so easily be peace.

Obama once said that undermining medical marijuana laws was a poor use of resources, and he was right. But it’s not only a poor use of resources, it’s also just plain wrong. As a candidate, and as a leader, it’s time for our president to make things right.

Obama can start by replacing U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, the most egregious of the DOJ officials undermining his previous promises to respect those who comply with state medical marijuana laws.