In 2004 Dino Rossi got away without talking about abortion, birth control and sex education by quipping he’s not running for US Supreme Court, but it’s not going to be so easy this time around. And the more voters learn about Rossi’s 19th Century position on reproductive rights, the less he’ll be able to pass himself off as a moderate.
FYI, today is the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, guaranteeing a woman’s right to choose, and I will be celebrating by joining the folks from NARAL Pro-Choice Washington at their annual Chocolate for Choice fundraiser. It is a great event for chocolate lovers of all ages, an all you can stuff in your mouth extravaganza featuring the work of some of the region’s finest pastry chefs and confectioners. I’m told a few tickets are still available.
Homes for unwed mothers
Back-alley abortions
coat hanger abortions
Just more republican “options and alternatives”
Dino Rossi – trying to bring us back to the 1900’s – one election at a time.
Anyone have any thoughts on how the building crash has affected BIAW?
My gut tells me that construction is off here especially expensive places in Seattle and the Eastside but on the whole not as bad as the rest of the country.
I’m sure BIAW and their proxies will shower just as much money if not more on this loser and whiner as they did the last time.
Rossi is going down hard this election. The Republican’s stated policies and values, locally and nationally, have been revealed as hypocrisy; or in the case of the true believers like Marvin, Puddy, Troll and Piper, plain old fuckan idiocy.
the Republican parts is dead and stinking. It is so odious I’m willing to vote for the corporate lackey Hillary as the alternative to another corrupt and incompetent Republican president. A description that fits any of the Republican candidates.
I am so pleased to be at the front end of the baby boom so I’ll likely be dead or near death by the time the Republicans return to power.
Don’t forget:
Bush tortures people
Piper and Puddy support Bush
Therefore piper and Puddy support torture.
We’re lagging pretty far behind the rest of the nation with respect to the housing crash, but it might be taken as a bellwether of sorts that the developers of a sizeable condo project within the city announced that it’s going to be rental apartments instead.
A lot of the rhetoric around here about how “we’re not going to be affected by this” is pretty similar to what my daughter was hearing and reading in Los Angeles about a year ago.
The only asset the Publicans seem to have left is an abundance of hubris.
What bothers me is that the Democrats aren’t far behind them.
Meanwhile in the US Senate the Republican minority prepares to, once again, kick the Democrat majority’s ass over the FISA bill and granting immunity to the telecoms who have spied on us. As usual Glenn Greenwald gets to the essence of the Democrat’s spinelessness.
“But isn’t it painfully evident that a far greater liability for Democrats at this point than being (seen as)”soft on terrorism” is their refusal and failure to demonstrate that they will take a stand — any stand — against this extremely weakened President and his discredited political party, and therefore prove they stand for something?
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/index.html
Puddy and Piper, etc will all crow about the congressional Democrtas having lower poll numbers than their president. But what the won’t acknowledge is that Bush’s poll numbers are low besause of what he does. Congress’s poll numbers are low because they are not doing enough to stop the
assholePresident.Wow, Headless Lucy you have two names today. Going for the trifecta in another thread?
@5 In West Seattle, two large apartment buildings on south California Ave SW, The Strada and West Water, less than a mile apart converted to condos. They were advertising units around $250,000. The Strada is now leasing as apartments. And I hear that west water will be also.
To paraphrase a Seattle weekly who wrote I don’t care about the market. I’m not paying $400,000 for a $200,00 house
I apologize for my many mis-spellings. I can’t type worth a poop.
Dang! If Rossi won’t take an actual stand on anything, I guess he’ll just have to run on his record.
Yeah, right….
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Said it before. “The free ride is OVER!” Dino moved to the 5th District to run for Senate and after being beaten, he spent years politicizing the Catholic church up on the Samamish plateau, staffing the, so called, right to life table and getting even with those in the GOP who were not conservative enough to support him over more moderate republicans.
What we need is more abortions, not less. There’s enough people on the planet for humans to continue indefinitely, but there ain’t necessarily enough resources at any given time for everyone to live a “comfortable” life.
I’m definitely for abortions if the intent is avoidance of poverty! That’s just being responsible, IMO.
If you don’t like abortions, then don’t have one. Otherwise, STFU!!
Whoever this guy is that owes money (the one Roger Rabbit et. al. are always carping about), would you please pay the goddam debt so everyone will shut up about it? Jeesh!!
@15
OK .. now I am in deep shit, BUT ..
what is wrong with Dino’s words?
They seem reasonable unless you have some bias against him or his religion. BTW CG is a RC too. Does that make her a hypocrite?
The last time a number of liberal friends told me a series of horrid things abut DR. I researched everyone and found a lot less smoke than anticipated and no fire.
Dino is a devout catholic. He is certainly entitled to that legal set of beliefs. I agree with some of this.
*I do not accept the idea that women have rights over conception that exclude men’s rights.,
* I do think it is homicide to abort a viable fetus. Even when such a death is justified, e.g. a non functional fretus or an endangered mother, society has a legitimate right to err on the side of life.
* I do thik RvW is bad constitutional law. Legal ends do not justify illegal means! WE should have, instead, a constitutional amendment defining the rights of life AND choice.
* I think it is very reasonable .. maybe even imperative, to be sure that woman’s decisions in the first two trimestres are made for reasons other than poverty. Assuring that nay baby will ahve a good home seems , well humane.
OK .. does that make me a Rove worshipping Reprican? No.
Given the Obama bigotry, I will not vote for any Reprican unless they crucify every damn traitor in their party who let this happen. (As a Jew I am happy top delegate crucifiction to Christians, they have earned the right and it is not a legal emans of killing folks for us).
Rossi … if he does not show some initiative in cleaning out these scum is no better a Republican than Sharpton is a democrat, maybe worse.
So I will offer Goldy and anyone else here the same promise:
for now I am grudgingly planning to vote agin Rossi. I surely will nto give CH a sheckle. BUT, you find something more imnpressive than this and I will wear the CG colors gladly, donate to her campaign and buy you a beer.
She may be incompetent but ……….
He may be a scuzz, but this ain’t impressive evidence for that.
@2 et al: Remember, the BIAW gets most of its political money by sucking it from the workers comp system, in the so-called retro program (for retrospective rating)so that money that is supposed to help protect injured workers is used instead to assault their rights. Explain that to me. Thus, the housing issues have little impact on them and their cash flow. If the Democrats would fix this loophole- well, that would have a big impact on their money.
BTW, don’t forget an even better reason for not voting for Rossi. He made much of his money by being ahead of his time. He worked for a real estate shark and sub prime lender who ended up being criminally prosecuted, civilly sued, going to jail, and yet this guy made many millions for himself and his proteges, like Dino. He skimmed equity, floatde loans, acted as an illegal banker, and ripped off many customers and investors. See Seattle Times, 9/29/04 article for more info.
Dino claimed “ignorance” of what went on the eight years he worked for this guy. Wow, After eight years, several indictments, and many civil suits, he was never curious enough to ask? Not the kind of character and business experience I want running our state.
Tom
16 In other words, if Dino isn’t as bent as a paper clip, he has to be dumb as mud. Or both…kind of like that guy in the White House.
SJ at 15: I’ve stated before, I really don’t know enough about Rossi to really dislike him. What concerns me most is that he doesn’t have enough gravitas to run anything remotely as large as the state government on his own, and is therefore merely the token for the BIAW and subject to the whims and influences of the right-wing wackos in this state. In that context, he is very much like the current President Bush, and that makes him very dangerous.
I don’t fault the Republicans for challenging the 2004 election, but I do criticize them for the way they handled it more as a national fundraising tool and propoganda forum, than having anything to do with a fair electoral process.
I’ve stated before that I am personally opposed to abortion, believing that life begins upon conception, and when two rights conflict, the right to live takes precedence. I acknowledge that many well-meaning individuals believe otherwise. But I also believe that the Republicans have been using the right-to-lifers for decades for votes and money, and haven’t given them anything in return. As soon as they get into office they use all their political capital to give tax cuts to the rich, and then tell the right-to-lifers “maybe next year”.
In truth, the last thing the Republicans want is for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, either by USSC ruling, Congressional action to limit the USSC’s jurisdiction in those cases (yes, they can do that), or even proposing a Constitutional Amendment. They want to keep it as a wedge issue. If they win, then everyone has to start talking about the Republican foreign policy and economic nightmares, and that’s the last thing they want.
Besides, Republicans know that a majority of people want access to abortion. If the door were suddenly open to outlaw abortions by legislation or initiative, they would lose. So why do they keep campaigning on that issue? And what good does it do for the Evangelicals and the Catholics to punish the Democrats and reward the Republicans over the abortion issue, when they really need to first convince their next-door neighbors?
I wasn’t impressed with Gregoire before the election, she seemed to drop the ball managing the store as Atty General, with her eyes focused too much on higher office. But as governor, I think she’s done a pretty fair job, especially in getting the doctors and lawyers to get together and to pass wasting a lot of money on another brutal initiative fight. So I’ll vote for her in 2008.
Tom Foss at 16 said: “Remember, the BIAW gets most of its political money by sucking it from the workers comp system, in the so-called retro program (for retrospective rating)so that money that is supposed to help protect injured workers is used instead to assault their rights.”
Gee, in the construction industry most “on-the-books” employees have L&I premiums deducted from their paychecks. So perhaps the Republicans can explain to me how, if the BIAW can use that money to lobby for political purposes, then a Union worker can’t have his dues used for the same purpose? For some reason the latter situation seems to be a particular sore point for them, but not the former?
RHP @ 19, point is very well taken. It is sheer rank hypocrisy to say unions cannot use dues money for any purpose the union leaders and members sees fit, while protecting this stream of money.I think the workers comp issue is even worse because this money also affects tax liabilities- this is pre tax income for employers. In addition, workers pay a part of this premium, too, but NEVER get any of the rebate money back! It goes only to employers.
BTW, on 18, while I may disagree on the very personal and difficult issue of abortion, you are absolutely right that the R’s do not want R v. W overturned. Right now, it works as as a wedge issue in more places than not for them. If the issue is returned to the states as a legislative and Congressional issue if RvW is overturned, the wedge works against them.
Tom
@18 rhp6033 WELL thought out!
The only pace we differ is on the issue of CG’s performance. In my opinion she has dropped the ball badly in terms of leadership.
Frankly, rather than a one time increase in education funds, I would like to see a smaller increase but more long term commitments. Same is true of transportation and immigration. Under her leadership the polls are baout tlo blow more pork dollars on a Potemkin campus of the UW. Frankly I do not know of any issue where CG has impressed me as a leader.
Would DR be better, I do not lknow but dissing him because he has a belief in life at aocnception is pretty damn low ball.
BYW, sometime, I would like to change your mind on that issue. I used to have that stand but with the change in science I do not think the idea that a homunculus is creates ta zygosis makes any sense.
I also have to admit that I don’t exactly have an encyclopedic knowledge of Dino Rossi. However, what I do know doesn’t fit my idea of who I want to see in high office.
He’s evidently a “new” Republican, probably wouldn’t know “bipartisanship” if it scampered up like a friendly puppy, and would no doubt give it a swift kick if he did. The one time he got his claws into a state budget bill, he used it as a springboard for a bunch of arrogant grandstanding, went out of his way to snub Helen Sommers (who probably took her incomparably sharp pencil and made the numbers fit, after which he took the credit) and generally came across as a guy with a lot to say, most of it meaningless.
I can’t help but feel that if he were to become governor, he’d bring in a heavy agenda, like his counterparts in national politics…which the last few years have shown is a bag of manure. Washington can well do without going through that.
If all that isn’t enough, for a member of this supposedly “new breed” to be taking advice and counsel from someone so obviously out of touch as Lou Guzzo ain’t much of a recommendation.
@15 Seattle Jew: Get a clue on Rossi.
The guy is stridently anti-abortion, pro-BIAW (his major supporter) and Tim eyeman, pro-growth, anti-environmental, pro- big tax breaks for boeing and any other coporation that calls on him.
He wants to clearcut Washington state, cause floods, let coporations run amok and not pay any taxes, cut funds for educatuion (including the UW).
If you favor these policies – then vote for him.
24 It might also be assumed that he’d be all in favor of “privatizing” the PERS system just like the Bush gang has such a hard-on for Social Security.
All you need to know about Rossi is that he is a Republican; and then look at the behavior of the Republican party over the past seven years and ask yourself what sort of person supports that sort of behavior. A Pro-lifer? Count up the bodies strewn around the world by his President and political party. A man of ethics and morality and fiscal conservatism? Shit! Look at Rossi’s bahavior over the past few years.
“…what is wrong with Dino’s words?”
His ‘options and alternatives’ include ‘homes for unwed mothers’, but not childcare, contraception, or anything else invented in the last hundred years.
“Dino is a devout catholic. He is certainly entitled to that legal set of beliefs.”
He’s entitled to ANY set of beliefs. Like everyone else, he should be honest about his beliefs. And if we decide his beliefs got old a hundred years ago, we should keep that in mind when we consider voting for him. That last point is why he repeatedly weaseled out of talking about his beliefs in 2004. His views are completely antithetical to what we majority of Washingtonians have believed for a very long time, which is why he ‘hides his light under a basket’.
His beliefs, if put into action, will mean needless misery for many a young woman with a difficult choice to make. (And his opposition to contraception will mean we’ll have many more such distressed young women.)
“*I do not accept the idea that women have rights over conception that exclude men’s rights.,
“* I do think it is homicide to abort a viable fetus. Even when such a death is justified, e.g. a non functional fretus or an endangered mother, society has a legitimate right to err on the side of life.
“* I do thik RvW is bad constitutional law. Legal ends do not justify illegal means! WE should have, instead, a constitutional amendment defining the rights of life AND choice.”
All of those beliefs contradict what Washingtonians have said with our votes, clearly and repeatedly, for the past four decades. Again, this is why Rossi ran away from his beliefs, when caught with them on the campaign trail. I wish he’d been as honest and forthright as you have been, but he lacks the courage of your convictions, apparently.
Woo-hoo, homes for unwed mothers! Wait, but to do that you’d have increase funding for social services and he’s against that.
@1 I must take issue with your statement. You are incorrect. Dino Rossi is trying to bring us back to the 1800’s – one election at a time.
@2 As BIAW gets their money from L & I taxes, not building profits, they’ll simply push a few workers off roofs to keep the money flowing.
Seattle Jew why don’t you just shut up and vote for your tool buddy Rossi already. No one here should doubt for one minute that you will vote for him anyway.
Paddy Mac, your post is right on the mark except when you say this about S.J.:
“I wish he’d been as honest and forthright as you have been, but he lacks the courage of your convictions, apparently.”
The fact is that S J has been pretending to be some kind of undecided voter in the Gov’s race when in fact he is going to vote for Rossi this time just as he did last time. Frankly, I doubt he/she lives in Seattle, is Jewish and would ever vote democratic. Words of reason , in my opinion, are better spent on others.
27 Rossi’s views are likely out of phase with the majority of Washington Catholics.
28 One wonders if he’s also into “debtors’ prisons” and institutionalized stigmatization of “bastard children” like Gingrich was pushing in the 90’s.
#2 Particle Man
I use the SJ moniker but if you go to the SJ blog you can find all you will ever want to know about whoe I am .. and then some.
FWIW, yes I do live in Seattle and have lived here for almost 40 years. Our kids attended the SPS and I was an activist in the SPS. I was a founding member of the SDS and am fiercely proud of the achievement of my generation. I served dring Vietnam and support the patriotism of all those who served for or againstt the war. I have worked a good dela of my loife for civil rights causes and believe =, with Obam,a, that bringing us back together i the numbe rone issue in the USA.
Enuff creds .. I am anything BUT anonymous.
As for Rossi, I am hiding nothing. If CG were a better leader, if she showe3d the courage we need, there would be no issue. Frankly, if Rossi does not condemn the Clark County Nazis, there ill be no issue either. Given the record so far it is very unlikely I would vote for him.
BUT, I want to vote based on the best facts I can get, not innuendo. The piece of tape posted by Goldy is a fact. However, there is nothing in that tape that would convince me that Dino was a bad guy. I am far more concerned with his support for Lou Guzzo and the lack of outrage at Clark County.
Back on the abortion issue … you aregue as if there is only one right minded POV. Piss on that!
The idea that RvW made ocnsitituional sense strike sme as absurd. We are lucky to have this wonderful document and judges who legislate elections or RvW are, imho, harming the constitution.
Only an idiot would claim that women do not have a greater interest interest in the events going on in their bodies than any male. including the father of the conceptus. But greater should not, in my opinion, equate to absolute. Fortunately, in the DNA error we can absolutely tie a male to his child and with that ought to come some rights over what happens to that product of two people. At a minimum, any abortion after the first trimestre ought to be dine with the father’s knowledge.
First term abortions are a tricky issue. The religious claims are hokey because the author of the divine books was seemingly unaware of little things like chromosomes and zygotes. Moreover, spontaneous abortion in the first three onths is very common. My persdonal take is that the embryo at this stage is so far form being a person that there is no issue and I am comfortable even with this being a woman’s decision.
Puddy .. on HRC
I have also said, BTW, that there is no toehr candidate who has what t takes to floush the detritus of the Bush era out og=f governement in the time needed to protect ths country.
If she is the candidate, I will certainly vote for her. If BHO is the candidate I want very much for her t be loyal to him and help with the process.
Well, SJ I have no issue with your opinion about abortion other than that I do not agree with it. But I have been reading your dribble about our Gov for a few years now and have no doubt that you will never vote for her even when you are presented with a fast talking empty suit who lacks the ethics we should all demand in our elected officials. As for leadership skills, your claim about the Governor could not be more off the mark. But I think you know that. So go ahead and vote for Rossi, a guy with no leadership or managment experiance. He is a huckster and will bring state government to the level of the used car lot and don’t trust that odometer as he for sure will roll that back for a fast buck.
38. Particle Man
Sighhh!!!
As of now I find it unimageane that I will vote for Rossi. Every day that passes and the hidden Nazi in Clark County remains hidden is enough to stop me form supprting him.
As for the other issues, I simply do not have the data to make the judgments you make on Rossi. The best data I have is form people I have met who tell me he is bright and a good leader but tyhey are Rossi-itic.
In CG’s case I have a lot more evidecne to make me unenthusiastic, objective evidence. I dealt with the AG when she ran it and it was badly led, very badly. In my opinion she took adisastrous hand off approach to the AG office at the uW that had=s and is consting us tens of millions of dollars. While I appreciate her role in th tobacco settlement, my limited understanding is that she was no the major figure she says she was. More importantly, after the vicory, WAstate fucked upo its use of these dollars.
I won’t re-explore my feeligns about her role as gov. Folks I trust say she os a good negotiator and admin. I accept that. What bothers me is a near total lack og=f what we need most ,, leadership. Put another waym CG is no Ron Sims, Mike Lowry, or Dan Evans.
So hell, this is an imperfect world. I will not get to choose MY candydate for Guv and will need, sadly to choose between Rossi and CG. As I said above, his unamerican behavior in the Clark County issue is more than enough for me NOT to vote for him. Assuming he knows better, than a failure to do something to out this swastika carrying GOPper is a terribke evidence that Rossi also lacks leadership.
Frankly, the State needs better pols. If the Demo party is to be as dominant as it looks now, this is the time for some strong leaders to emerge. One reason I support Darcy is that I am convinced she has those abilities. I susedd NOT to support Murry, but the evidence of her leadershiop has more than changed my mind. Cantwell … zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. The Repubican AG is impressive (I would defntiely vote for him over CG).
So tell me …
who do YOU see as new leader matierial in eother party or are we on a downward cycle?
SJ, I started writing a long reply which I think is interesting given and taken together with your more recent and thoughtful comments. Rather than continue this here, though, I will post a diary over at WASHBLOG in a few hours and will incorporate your latest post along with my reply. I invite you to carry on this discussion and as this approach may be outside the box, I will check back here prior to posting. If you find my crossposting of your words as offensive then I will edit accordingly.