HorsesAss.Org

Let’s just say that if this were a real candidate representing a real party, we would expect him to announce his withdrawal momentarily.

I’ve got nothing against Dixon. People who know him tell me he’s a great guy and a dedicated community activist.

What he isn’t, is a viable candidate for U.S. Senate, and I have absolutely no compassion for those in the Green Party who put him out there for public scrutiny, apparently without any vetting process whatsoever.

The Greens say they want to become a major party. Well start acting like one.

UPDATE:
Richard’s got more on Dixon’s court records.

For example, if I were advising Dixon, I think maybe my first recommendation would be to, gee… I dunno… register to vote?

Yeah, that’s right… apparently the man so disgusted with Cantwell and the Dems that he’s willing to pour his energies into giving voters a third choice, isn’t even an active voter himself!

Go look it up in our good friend Stefan’s voter registration database, and you’ll find an Aaron L. Dixon, born Jan. 2, 1949, who registered to vote in 1998 at an address on the 500 block of 29th AVE S. But he’s listed as “inactive,” and there’s no record that he’s ever been credited with voting.

I suppose Stefan’s data could be wrong (it’s been known to happen) so I’ve made repeated inquiries with Dixon’s media contact (his wife Farah), and so far she has been unable to confirm or deny his voter registration status. She said she thought he voted in the last election, but King County’s voter database clearly doesn’t credit him with casting a ballot. And to further cloud his registration status is the fact that while he claims to live in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, the address on his inactive registration is smack dab in the Central District.

Perhaps there’s a reasonable explanation, and if so, I’ll print a retraction. (And if there is an explanation, then they need to get their media shit together, because I gave them every opportunity to refute this.) But it sure doesn’t look like during the past few years, Dixon has been much of an active voter.

So why the hell is he running for the US Senate?

Now I don’t want to get all high and mighty on him, but in my book, you don’t have much right to criticize the electoral process if you don’t participate. And if anybody should understand the importance of minority communities exercising their voting rights, it’s a longtime activist and former Black Panther Party leader like Aaron Dixon.

I mean, really… who the hell is Dixon to talk about “all the people fed up with the current political system” if he doesn’t vote?

One couldn’t help but wonder if the Greens’ recruitment of Dixon was demographically cynical considering his prior lack of history with the party, but an active voter registration is a technical prerequisite of candidacy, so you’d think they would have at least inquired about that one, basic qualification for office, huh? And it doesn’t say much about their GOTV potential when they can’t even get the top of their ticket to reliably turn out at the polls.

I personally sympathize with the Green agenda, but am endlessly disappointed by their half-assed and counterproductive strategy and execution. And as Geov points out, I’m not the only one giving a hostile welcome to Dixon’s largely fictional candidacy:

So far, the reaction to Dixon’s campaign among many progressive Democratic activists has been negative. In Seattle, Dixon’s home base, progressive bloggers mostly ignored or excoriated his campaign. Not one speaker on a panel of six of the most prominent local progressive bloggers, including myself, at last week’s “Podcasting Liberally” (www.podcastingliberally.com) defended Dixon’s campaign. Most, while professing sympathy for green ideals, savaged it and the Greens. What’s wrong?

“Aaron Dixon started out the campaign with two lies,” says David Goldstein of HorsesAss.org, Seattle’s best-known progressive blogger and a fierce critic of Dixon. “The first one being, ‘I can win’; the second one being, ‘There’s no difference between Republicans and Democrats.'”

Though in all fairness, I suppose when it comes to the vote you don’t cast, there really is no difference between which party doesn’t get it.

The other day I pleaded with my fellow progressives to get real and accept the fact that our choice this November is between Cantwell and McGavick, and that sometimes, life forces us to compromise. I don’t expect the race to be nearly as close as it was in 2000, but if it is, even a pathetic showing by Dixon could be enough to give President Bush another rubber stamp in the Senate. And the political ramifications could be much broader.

Goldstein also points not only to the infamous “spoiler” factor but to the impact of Dixon’s presence on the ballot if the race between Cantwell and Republican challenger Mike McGavick changes from a comfortable Democratic win to a closer race of, say, 5 percent.

The loser, Goldstein says, will be Darcy Burner, whose challenge of U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert in the 8th Congressional District east of Lake Washington is the state’s second-biggest race this year. If Cantwell’s race is close, the theory goes, it costs Burner both campaign money and media exposure that will flow to the Senate race instead. That, Goldstein says, would hurt the chance to elect a progressive to Congress in a winnable race, all for Dixon’s quixotic bid.

Of course, Dixon disagrees… but then, what does he know about electoral politics? He doesn’t even vote.

(Oh… and don’t forget to vote for HA in the Koufax Awards.)

Hmm.

Well I’d certainly hate to make a potential GOP presidential nominee into a liar, so that’s why I urge you to make a generous contribution to Burner’s campaign. NOW.

See, Burner is working hard towards an end of reporting quarter goal of $320,000 cash on hand, and if she meets it, she’ll be eligible for $250,000 of DCCC “Red to Blue” money. Burner’s on the verge of becoming a national Democratic darling… but she needs your support to help push her over the top. So yank out your credit card, go to my Act Blue page, and give what you can afford.

Please help make Sen. McCain an honest man… and give to Darcy Burner.

CORRECTION:
I’ve been told that McCain’s exact words were that he called it a “tight race.” Same difference.

While the WA state GOP’s favorite conspiracy theorist has tirelessly devoted himself towards uncovering fraud and corruption in King County Elections (I’m sure he’ll find that smoking gun any day now,) he’s totally missing out on a raging controversy that threatens to bring county government to its knees: Mooie the acid-washed puppy.

Of course, I expect the media to pile on this story: it was a horrific, heart-wrenching crime, and… well… everybody loves puppies (except, I suppose, the person who immersed the poor, four-month-old pitbull in muriatic acid.) But I was nonetheless surprised to see my inbox fill with puppy-related news releases nearly two weeks after the incident. If there’s ever a sign that Puppygate threatens to explode into a full fledged political crisis, it’s the elected officials tripping all over themselves trying to prove who is more strongly opposed to dipping puppies in acid.

Yesterday, KC Executive Ron Sims office released a somewhat defensive sounding “Puppy investigation update,” which of course prompted Council Chair Larry Phillips to go on the offensive… lest the executive steal the anti-animal cruelty high ground. Phillips apparently had no choice but to send a letter to Sims urging a “prompt and thorough investigation of this tragic and shocking case” — a letter that somehow managed to make its way onto an animal rights website before it reached Sims desk. Imagine that.

So I asked Sims spokesman Sandeep Kaushik… “what the fuck?”… to which he replied that they’ve never seen public reaction like this before. More than with the 2004 election controversy, I asked incredulously? “Magnitudes greater,” he said.

Spurred on by websites like Dogster and Pasado, animal lovers (or as the FBI calls them, “terrorists”) have been inundating (i.e. “terrorizing”) government officials with impassioned pleas for action. The Executive’s Office, the County Council, Animal Control, the Federal Way Police… they’re receiving thousands of animated and sometimes angry emails and phone calls… some even threatening vigilante action if the authorities do not apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice. No other controversy has come even close to generating such an outcry… not the election contest or the Southwest Airlines deal or any number of issues that impact the daily lives of the region’s citizens.

Which makes me wonder… is the American public so jaded by man’s inhumanity to man, that nothing short of dipping a puppy in acid compels compassion these days? Are our politicians wasting their money on media consultants and handlers, when the secret to shaping public opinion is… puppies? Is the anti-war movement making a huge miscalculation by focusing attention on the human tragedy of the conflict, when the one thing that could finally provoke the American people to stand up and demand an end to the war would be grainy pictures from the Baghdad pound of hooded, shackled puppies with electrodes attached to their testicles?

Now, don’t get me wrong… I love animals (i.e. I’m a “terrorist”,) and what happened to this dog was truly horrible. It’s an appalling, saddening crime, and the pictures made me cringe. I even made my own puppy look the other way. I sure hope they catch the guy.

But it’s a dog, for chrisakes!

I dunno… just thought we might want to readjust our priorities.

The Burien chapter meets tonight (the 4th Weds. of every month,) 7:00 pm at Mick Kelly’s Irish Pub, 435 SW 152nd ST. State representatives Zack Hudgins (D-11), Shay Schual-Berke (D-33) and Dave Upthegrove (D-33) will be joining the festivities. That’s a great opportunity to sit down and talk shop with some legislators. Wish I could be there.

For those further South and further West, the Tacoma chapter meets every Wednesday, 8:00 pm at Meconi’s Pub, 709 Pacific AVE, and the Spokane chapter meets every Wednesday, 7:00 pm at the Red Lion Pub, 126 N Division St.

Cienna and I continue our tussle over Maria Cantwell, Dirk Kempthorne and how political journalists influence the issues they cover. Then Joel joins in and the discussion ranges from Barak Obama, Al Gore, Mark Warner, John Edwards, John Kerry and the third anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.

The show is 53:19, and is available here as a 34.4MB MP3, and archived at PodcastingLiberally.com.

[Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing our show.]

For those on the other side of the mountains, please join Jimmy at the Tri-Cities chapter of DL, every Tuesday from 5:30 onwards, Tuscany Lounge, 1515 George Washington Way, Richland.

I’m not sure what Hunter expected. Flipping a Republican is big news and all, and Tom will certainly give state Sen. Luke Esser a run for his money — if he wins the primary — but the 48th had already recruited a strong challenger to Esser in Debi Golden.

Or more precisely, the Senate Dems had already recruited a strong candidate in Golden, and so if she and her supporters seemed a bit taken aback by Tom’s challenge, well, that’s to be expected. Commitments were made to Golden, and while I can’t really blame the Senate Dems for switching horses if they truly believe Tom is the stronger candidate, the manner in which they did it was rather ham-fisted.

According to Golden, both the Senate and House Dems recruited her for their respective races as early as July, and by October she had agreed to take on Esser with the assurance that she would have the backing of the SDCC unless Hunter himself decided to enter the race. Tom has told people that he knew he was going to switch parties as early as November, but Golden only started hearing rumors a couple days before he officially announced his candidacy. About an hour after the news broke, Sen. Karen Keiser stopped by to officially give Golden the bad news and ask her to exit the race.

As we now know, Golden refused to drop out, and last week the 48th LD Dems passed a motion affirming her right to stay in the race. This should be a good primary fight between two candidates who are strong in different ways, and I certainly wouldn’t count Golden out. In 2004, after a late start and with little money, Golden came within a couple points of beating Tom. Personally, I just think she’s a better fit for the district, and, well… quite frankly, female candidates tend to have an advantage out here.

I expect the primary to be a good, fair fight, and whoever wins should emerge stronger for it. I’ve heard the Dems have warned Golden not to “go negative” against Tom, but I’m not really sure what that means. Certainly his voting record should be fair game, as long as it is honestly represented.

One final comment on this whole affair. Like Hunter, I certainly encourage other Republicans — several of whom have seen the GOP leave them far behind — to seriously consider switching parties before the 2006 election. But before they do, I think the WSDCC might want to reconsider Section VI, Paragraph C of their nominating rules, which states that to be eligible for the party’s nomination:

The voter must not have been registered as a member of any political party other than the Democratic Party for at least one (1) year immediately preceding filing for office

If they’re going to ask Golden to take one for the team, the least the Dems can do is make certain that they are playing by the rules.

Two of my favorite locally produced blogs also made it into the finals, and in multiple categories, so if you have the time, please show them a little love too:

Most Humorous Blog: Jesus’ General.
Most Humorous Post: Jesus’ General, “Less painful than a crucifix”
Best Expert Blog: Orcinus.
Best Single Issue Blog: Orcinus.
Best Blog, Sponsored/Professional: Orcinus.

Jesus’ General is not only one of the funniest blogs out there, the General is also a constant reminder of the power of satire to effect real change. I love the General… in a manly, heterosexual way. And Orcinus is always a compelling read, both because of its often disturbing coverage of right-wing extremists, and because… well… Dave Neiwert is simply one of the best writers blogging.

So if you think we deserve it (and you want to cater to my fragile ego) please cast your votes. But please keep it honest… one vote, no freeping.

Conservatives now hold the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and a majority of governorships and state houses. And while 2006 is shaping up to be a year of political sea change, it has more to do with Republican arrogance, incompetence and corruption than with well planned and executed Democratic strategy.

Liberal Democrats simply aren’t as politically calculating as conservative Republicans, as ruthless or relentless, and certainly not as rigidly and blindly unified. Too bad.

For with the GOP teetering on the edge of the volcano, now is the time for progressives to practice a little realpolitik, join hands… and shove the bastards in! But no… we have to engage in our usual bullshit in-fighting over who is or is not ideologically pure enough… all the time losing sight of what should be our overriding objective: seizing power.

Case in point, Sen. Maria Cantwell and the constant chatter from WA’s angry left, bemoaning the fact that she doesn’t meet our unrealistic expectations… all this wailing and gnashing over her failure to stop a war she couldn’t stop or her refusal to join a filibuster that could not win. And then there’s The Stranger’s Cienna Madrid and her fellow environmentalists over on Slog, who just can’t hold back their contempt for the environmental record of one of the most reliably pro-environment members of the Senate.

Cantwell’s transgression? She “welcomed” Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne’s nomination to be Secretary of the Interior, telling the New York Times that he “understands the Northwest and a lot of Interior issues,” and has “stood up to the administration” over nuclear waste cleanup at a federal facility in Idaho.

Oh Cienna… get real.

Not only is it absurd to suggest that this one comment should negate a five-year environmental record that has made Cantwell’s reelection the number one priority of the League of Conservation Voters, but the ensuing comment thread brouhaha showed a total lack of understanding of exactly what it is we elect our senators to do.

Don’t get me wrong… I really like Cienna. She’s funny, she’s foul-mouthed, and she sure can string a handful of unrelated words together into a coherent and entertaining sentence. No wonder she has a horde of admirers in The Stranger’s forums: talent is a turn on.

(Too bad I’m way too old for her. Unless, of course, she has a thing for older men… in which case I’m only about ten years too old for her. Ah well.)

But while Cienna’s a great writer… she’s also young… and so her passion and prose sometimes gets ahead of her analysis. And in this particular case her ire was certainly disproportionate to the political reality.

See, the reality is that the GOP holds a 10-seat majority in the Senate, and that Gov. Kempthorne is not only a former senator, but one who was well-liked by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. The reality is that, evil or not, Kempthorne is going to be the next Secretary of the Interior, and there is absolutely nothing that Cienna or me or even Cantwell can do to stop it.

Cienna and others are outraged that Cantwell would greet Kempthorne’s nomination with such a welcoming statement, but she did so — so aides tell me — not only because she genuinely believes that he is somebody she can work with on issues important to Northwest voters… but because she has no choice. The reality is, he will be confirmed, and thus she will have to work with him, whether she wants to or not.

Sure, Cantwell could have greeted Kempthorne’s nomination with a big, fat “fuck you” — and perhaps that would have given people like me and Cienna a bit of passing pleasure. But what would it accomplish? The first time Cantwell went to Kempthorne on some real life issue that effected real life people in Washington state, she likely would have gotten a big, fat “fuck you” in return.

See, that’s the way things work in Washington… the Washington Sen. Cantwell works in, not the Washington in which she campaigns for votes. No, she may not be the best politician in the world, but she’s a damn fine legislator, and it should be pretty clear to her critics by now that she’s not going to do or say anything that interferes with her ability to do her job. It should also be crystal clear that while she’s reliably progressive on most issues (Progressive Punch rates her at 88.93% compared to current progressive darling Russ Feingold’s 89.56%,) she’s never going to be a Paul Wellstone.

Now… would I personally like Cantwell and the rest of the Democratic party to be a lot more stridently progressive? Hell yes! But the reason we have a war in Iraq and a Supreme Court packed with right-wing justices — and a “weasely, incompetent chode” like Kempthorne running Interior — is not because Democratic senators like Cantwell fail to take bold, symbolic stands… it’s because they’re in the fucking minority!

Welcome to my reality-based community.

UPDATE:
Cienna responds.