It’s disturbing to admit it, but on at least one subject, GOP state Sen. Don Benton and I think alike:
Washington state Sen. Don Benton says he doesn’t expect Republican Dino Rossi to enter the race for U.S. Senate this year, citing his personal friendship with the two-time gubernatorial candidate.
Benton, who has already entered the race against Sen. Patty Murray on the Republican side, told POLITICO Monday: “Dino’s a good friend of mine. I’ve talked to him many times. I don’t believe Dino would allow me to sacrifice my family time and my business if he was going to run for U.S. Senate. “
“If he had serious plans, I really believe he would have told me that,” Benton said. “I just don’t see it.”
Yeah, I know, the conventional wisdom is that Rossi wouldn’t be going through all this public preening if he weren’t at least seriously considering a run for the U.S. Senate, but like Benton, I just don’t see it, and for many of the same reasons:
“He doesn’t have any money in the bank, he doesn’t have any money raised. He doesn’t have the foundation. The talent pool is pretty much committed for this election cycle. It’s too late for him to become a viable candidate in this race…”
Of course, with only $130,000 dollars in the bank, little statewide name ID, and almost zero support from his own party’s establishment, it’s pretty much “too late” for Benton to become a viable candidate as well, but that shouldn’t detract from his appraisal of Rossi’s own bleak senatorial prospects. Sen. Patty Murray would be a difficult target even in a red wave election, and while there’s no reason to suspect this won’t be a painful midterm for congressional Democrats, the generic polling just doesn’t show a tsunami on the horizon.
Yes, Rossi’s fundraising prowess and name ID could at least make this contest a race, hence the NRSC’s aggressive recruitment, but barring a double-dip recession or some other dramatic shift in the political climate, he’d still be little more than a sacrificial lamb. The NRSC is looking for a candidate who can draw Democratic money, energy and focus into Washington state and out of contests where Republicans have a better shot at making gains — the 50-state strategy, and all that — and Rossi would play that role well. But it’s not at all clear that Rossi is selfless enough to sacrifice his own political career for the greater good of his beloved Prefers GOP Party.
“I said, ‘Hey Dino, you know as long as you’re in limbo, it does make it a little more difficult for those of us out here doing this,’” Benton recalled. “He said, ‘I’m sorry for that, but I’m on nobody’s timetable but my own.’”
Not exactly the sentiment of a guy willing to take one for the team. And as for the “timetable” Rossi’s on, I’m still guessing it’s for an express bus to the 2012 gubernatorial campaign.
That would explain Rossi’s months-long political striptease, for while the clock’s quickly running out on a serious 2010 challenge, all this hemming and hawing only serves to keep Rossi’s name in the news and in front of voters in advance of one last shot at the governor’s mansion. And it would also account for Attorney General Rob McKenna’s inexplicable public lurch to the right, for how else to explain McKenna willfully ripping that carefully crafted mask of moderation from his face, if not to position himself for gubernatorial primary battle against Rossi?
Rossi ran for governor for nearly five years straight, and now he’s contemplating an impulse run for U.S. Senate? I don’t think so. He’s raised no money, he’s hired no consultants and he’s assembled no staff. In fact, his usual cast of staffers and advisors are already committed to other candidates and races. So a last minute run at Murray would just strike me as somewhat out of character.
And foolhardy. Murray is no pushover, and she not only enjoys enthusiastic support from our state’s Democratic majority, her well-earned reputation for both bringing home the bacon and defending our state’s economic interests has endeared her to business interests who more typically find themselves in the Republican camp. Hell… I even think Murray stands a good shot at winning the Seattle Times endorsement… even in a head to head with Rossi.
So yeah, I’m with Benton on this one. I just don’t see it.
makes me pine for sweet Darcy Burner…..can’t you get her to run against Patty? same bad politics, but at least a modicum of intelligence
Two words on Dino Rossi: attention whore.
@1 Bring back Darcy! She hugs rabbits! I haven’t had a Darcy hug since she moved to D.C.
@2 Exactly! I can think of a reason why Rossi might go through this public preening even if he isn’t seriously considering a run against Murray. If he thinks he might want to run for any office in the future, the worst thing that can happen to him is fading from public view. This “preening” is an inexpensive and nearly effortless way to keep his name and face in front of the GOP base, without having to do anything else.
Inside knowledge about Dino’s intentions for 2012 would also be the only “rational” explanation for Rob McKenna’s deep and passionate embrace of the teabaggers.
My oh my, what an interesting primary that would be…
Free Speech Isn’t Absolutely Free
This principle has been so deeply entrenched in our case law for so long it barely needs discussion. The classic example given to high school civics classes of permissible limits on free speech is, “No one has a right to yell ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater if there is no fire.”
Restrictions on public speech, especially political speech, are more difficult but even in this area there clearly are limitations: Throwing a brick through a congressman’s windows to protest his vote on legislation you dislike, although intended as a form of political speech, is prosecutable as vandalism.
Here in Washington, the state supreme court ruled some years ago that a rightwing farmer who erected a large political sign on his own property adjacent to the freeway could not be compelled to remove it despite a general prohibition against billboards within a certain distance of freeways. Notwithstanding all the various rationales for prohibiting billboards — traffic safety, preserving scenic values, etc. — the court carved out an exception in that case for political expression.
This case no doubt will be cited by lawyers on behalf of a billboard company owner who sought to erect a “Palin For President” sign along California’s heavily-traveled Highway 101, who will undoubtedly appeal a federal judge’s decision upholding a municipal ordinance prohibiting any and all advertising signs along that stretch of highway.
I predict he’ll lose, notwithstanding the persuasive authority of the Washington case, and similar cases from around the country.
Why? Because the cases are factually distinguishable. The California case doesn’t involve a property owner displaying a political message on his own property. He’s a Nevada resident who wants to erect billboards with his political message all over the Western states. And those billboards will carry commercial messages. Arguably, the political messages are just a ruse to get around laws prohibiting for commercial advertising billboards. And the billboards will make money for their owner, who is in the business of making money from billboard advertising.
Mixing political and commercial messages is an interesting concept that will provide for interesting legal arguments, but in this case, the judge was right.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/.....d/19437408
When Cops Lie …
Police officers have a difficult and dangerous job that is vital to the safety of our communities, and they deserve our thanks and support — when they do their job.
But there are, unfortunately, rogue cops and rogue police departments.
Few things are more threatening to innocent citizenry than cops who break laws, violate the rights of citizens, and falsely accuse innocent citizens of crimes to cover up their own lawless behavior. That’s exactly what happened at the University of Maryland on March 3.
The setting was a postgame celebration by students when Maryland beat Duke in the basketball playoffs. Celebratory students spilled into the streets and perhaps got a little rowdy. Police made 28 arrests. But this isn’t about an arrest. This is about rioting police officers who attacked students who hadn’t done anything.
John McKenna, 21, and Ben Donat, 19, were in an area where many students were holding their hands above their heads to signal to police they weren’t resisting. McKenna and Donat were simply on the sidewalk, not doing anything, when a group of officers clubbed them to the ground.
After the beatings, police filed criminal charges against McKenna and Donat, accusing them of assaulting several police officers and their horses. Those charges were a lie, and were filed to cover up the police officers’ misconduct and excessive use of force.
All across the country, in “he said/he said” situations, police know that when it’s their word against a citizen’s, the system — prosecutors, judges, jurors, news media, other citizens — will almost always give the police officers the benefit of the doubt. That’s what the cops were banking on in this case.
It unraveled when, unknown to them, a private citizen who had videotaped the incident came forward with the tape. The two students’ lawyers quickly made it public, before authorities had a chance to seize and suppress it, as governments are wont to do when caught in wrongdoing.
The prosecutor was forced to drop the criminal charges against the two students, and the police department was forced to suspend three police officers and open a criminal investigation into their conduct. Due process must be served, but the tape shows what it shows, and these guys should be fired and never be allowed to work in law enforcement again, because they committed the gravest crime it is possible for a police officer to commit: They falsely accused innocent people of criminal conduct in an attempt to get away with their own criminal conduct. Had there been no videotape, had they gotten away with it, those two students would have had criminal records for the rest of their lives, costing them job opportunities, access to credit, their educations — explusion from the university would have been a probable consequence — their reputations, and a host of other things.
Given the severity of the consequences for the wrongly accused students, the consequences for their accusers should be equally severe. This should cost the lying police officers their careers. This should cost them and their department hundreds of thousands of dollars in false arrest and defamation damages.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely; and when police officers, who — when video cameras aren’t around — hold near-absolute power over citizens’ lives, are caught abusing that power they should never have an opportunity to ever abuse it again.
Filing false charges against an innocent citizen to cover up the officer’s own misconduct should opoerate to bar such an officer from law enforcement work forever.
http://www.aolnews.com/crime/a.....o/19437356
The Fame Game
Why is Rossi seeking attention?
Because it pays well.
Fame pays whether he does or does not run a Quixote campaign against Sen Murry.
Look at Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck if you need examples of this phenomenon on a grand scale or .. if you need more modest examples how about Jo the Plumber, Octomom, or the lady whi just returned her kid before his warranty from Mother Russia ran out?
Of course, running does NOT mean you want to win. Sarah Palin has no interest in being President, the job is hard and the pay ain’t at her standard. Same for Dino, though the scale is less.
Dino will not run, he can not afford the pay cut.
Brutal police beatings of innocent bystanders have been commonplace wherever demonstrations or riots or near-riots occur in the U.S. In many locales, police seem especially prone to target college students, as in this case of a postgame celebration that got rowdy.
These incidents represent a breakdown of police superiors’ command and control over their officers. But even more, they represent an inappropriate willingness of some individual police officers to take the law into their own hands. And these rogue police officers, not infrequently, are individuals who, at the personal level, adhere to strong rightwing political views. It’s consistent; rightwingers, across the board, are exceptionally prone to use violence against others — including innocents.
Therefore, how should Rossi satisfy his craving for attention?
a.) Radio host
b.) Reality show
c.) Light himself on fire and jump from the Space Needle
Okay, just kidding on (c.) Really, I’m surprised KVI hasn’t offered him a contract to do something on their station. Or maybe they did, and he wanted more money and/or airtime than ehy were willing to give him…..
Geez, Goldy. It’s Patty Murphy. What the hell kind of outfit are you running here?