Search Results for: Reichert

Gen. Paul Eaton knows what’s at stake in Iraq, and he knows what’s at stake in the next election. That’s why he urges you “to join me in doing everything you can to elect Darcy Burner to Congress,” and to participate in tomorrow’s virtual town hall on Iraq. If you haven’t already signed up for the town hall and sent in your question or YouTube video, go to www.darcyburner.com and do so now. And if you haven’t already given generously to our ambitious $100,000 netroots fund drive, you’re running out of time.

Help Darcy Burn Bush: $

The local media hasn’t seemed to realize it yet, but we’re on the verge of making history in their own backyard. By pulling together the national and local netroots in an unprecedented effort, we’re within striking distance of raising more money for Burner than Bush raises for Reichert. The DC establishment is already in shock at our success thus far — nearly $67,000 in less than three days. Together we can blow through our target and add a little awe to their shock.

Even a ten dollar donation brings us ten dollars closer.So please give today.

Frightening as the two of us may find it, the Seattle Times editorial board and I are in complete agreement on electing King County’s elections director: opposed.

Should the King County elections director be chosen by voters? The correct answer is no, but this becomes a far more complicated question now that Initiative 25 has qualified for a ballot.

I-25 next goes to the County Council, which should do us all a favor and put this measure on the ballot in such a way that it changes the rules not for next year’s elections, but rather for elections in 2009 or 2010. King County switches to all-mail balloting in April 2008, in the middle of a huge election year, with a presidential contest, congressional races and legislative races on the ballot in the summer and fall.

The county does not need to make this change amid all of that. The county does not need to make this change, period.

I-25, if adopted by the council and approved by voters as a charter amendment this November, would hold a special election this February to name the first elections director, with no primary contest, and an abbreviated last minute campaign. I consider I-25 sponsor Toby Nixon a friend of HA and of my radio show, but I have to say that I find this provision at the very least ill-conceived if not downright sneaky. Republicans look at this as an opportunity to seize control of the county’s election machinery, but to do so, they have to win. And a rushed, low-profile, nonpartisan race where a sudden influx of cash can make all the difference, is just about the only way for Republicans to win a countywide election these days.

Much fuss has been made about how the elections director is not accountable to the public and how if the elections director had been directly accountable to the public in the 2004 governor’s race, election mistakes would not have been made.

This is by now trumped up hooey, and a judge in a Republican county said as much after a lengthy trial on behalf of Republican Dino Rossi.

The elections director currently is accountable to the county executive. Challenger David Irons tried to pin the foibles of the election on Ron Sims in the 2005 campaign for county executive. Voters didn’t buy it.

Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where rhetoric and reason aren’t on the same side of the debate. An appointed elections director is in fact more accountable than an elected one because the appointment must be approved by the council, and the director can be fired at any time. Likewise, it is hard to imagine how electing the elections director, rather than just hiring a qualified professional, is the obvious path toward keeping politics out of our elections.

That said, it is equally hard to imagine voters rejecting the deceptively simple appeal of “more democracy.”

My only hope is that Democrats wake up to the larger agenda of the GOP, which has focused relentlessly on controlling Secretary of State and Attorney General offices nationwide… and to possibly devastating effect in places like Ohio and Florida. As they did during the legal contest over the disputed 2004 gubernatorial election, WA’s Republican minority now controls the offices of the Secretary of State, the state Attorney General, the King County Prosecutor and the US Attorney. Should they control the elections office, they could have absolute control over elections in the largest and most Democratic county in the state, as well as all offices wielding administrative and legal oversight.

And just in time for a presidential election and the Gregoire-Rossi and Burner-Reichert rematches. How convenient.

I’ve devoted a lot of bytes the past couple days to the Burn Bush for Burner online fund drive, because, well, the sad truth about politics is that money talks. And believe me, hitting our ambitious $100,000 target will be heard loud and clear in both Washingtons, so if you haven’t already given, please give now.

Help Darcy Burn Bush: $

That said, this ambitious netroots fund drive was really only an afterthought a few of us bloggers put together around the Darcy Burner campaign’s ambitious plans to hold a virtual town hall on Iraq to coincide with President Bush’s $10,000/person funder for Dave Reichert. And I haven’t written nearly enough about the town hall itself.

The “Send a Message” Town Hall will be held Monday afternoon at 3pm PST at the Bellevue Westin, just three blocks from the Hyatt where Reichert and Bush will be holding their exclusive high-donor affair. Space is very limited, but don’t you worry because that’s where the word “virtual” comes in. The entire event will be streamed live a www.darcyburner.com, throughout Washington’s 8th Congressional District, the nation and the world. You are all invited to sign up, submit your questions, and then watch the town hall from the comfort of your own computer.

In addition to Burner, panelists will include:

Moderator Joan McCarter — Writing under the pseudonym “mcjoan” at DailyKos, where she is also a fellow, Joan is one of the best known and respected voices in the blogosphere. She writes regularly about the Iraq War, campaign strategy and other issues, and recently co-moderated the YearlyKos presidential candidates’ debate in Chicago. She is currently working on a book about the politics of the American West.

Jon Soltz — the co-founder and chairman of VoteVets.org, Jon is a veteran of the Iraq War, where he served as a captain with the 1st Armored Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is considered one of the country’s most authoritative voices on veterans and military issues and is a regular contributor to the MSNBC program “Countdown” with Keith Olbermann. He also blogs on military and veterans issues at the Huffington Post.

Navy Capt. Larry Seaquist (ret.) — a former US naval officer, Captain Seaquist commanded a number of warships including the battleship USS IOWA during his distinguished 32-year career. He also served as a senior security strategist in the Pentagon including an appointment as the Director of Policy Research in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. During the period leading up to the Gulf War he was Acting Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning. He currently serves in the Washington State legislature and writes regularly for major newspapers and defense journals.

Lorin Walker — serves as vice-president of VetPac, a political action committee dedicated to electing candidates who preserve the values for which veterans have served, fought and died. She is the daughter of Captain Bruce C. Walker USAF, MIA 1972. A resident of Washington State, she is active in veterans affairs and Democratic politics and works at Microsoft.

Professor Clark Lombardi — teaches comparative law at the University of Washington and is an expert on Islamic legal systems. He recently returned from a trip to Iraq, and speaks knowledgably about the difficulties the United States faces in Iraq in creating functioning civil institutions that are critical to the functioning of a stable and effective democracy.

Major General Paul D. Eaton (ret.), who went to Iraq in 2003 to lead the effort to recreate the Iraqi military from scratch, and who since his retirement has stepped forward to speak plainly about the Bush administration’s incompetence in conducting the Iraq War and callousness in treating its active duty forces and veterans, is unable to attend in person but has submitted a video statement for the “Send a Message” virtual town hall. The same is true of Ambassador Joe Wilson, who exposed the administration’s efforts to falsely hype the Iraqi regime’s efforts to acquire nuclear materials from Niger in the run-up to the war and has been forthright ever since in .

The participants will answer questions submitted over the web or via Youtube video clips and will offer their expertise on our current dilemma in Iraq and the impact it is having on our nation, our military, and our reputation in the world.

This first-of-its-kind forum promises to be as innovative and ground breaking as the netroots fund drive that sprang up around it. For further details about how you can participate, visit www.darcyburner.com today, and check regularly between now and Monday for updates.

And oh yeah… be sure to go to Burn Bush Act Blue page, and give whatever you can.

Yup, that’s the kinda “conscious-driven independent” who currently serves Washington’s 8th Congressional District. The kinda congressman who apologizes to fellow Republicans for voting with his constituents and against drilling in ANWR… but of course votes for drilling when the vote really counts. The kinda congressman who votes the way the Republican leadership tells him to vote, because he knows they are trying to protect him. The kinda congressman who is comfortable voting against education funding because he knows his leadership is putting together a bill to cover his ass. The kinda congressman who jokingly compares Democrats to the Green River Killer, trivializing the deaths of dozens of women… deaths that occurred on his watch.

And this is the type of leadership Darcy Burner would bring to Congress:

No wonder the national response to our Burn Bush for Burner campaign has been so overwhelming: over 1,420 contributers giving over $47,000 in just a day and a half! (Blue Majority totals included.) Wow!

That is simply amazing, but it’s still less than half-way toward our ambitious $100,000 target. This is not just about supporting a progressive netroots candidate like Darcy Burner when she needs us most — it’s about sending a message to other Republican candidates nationwide that they bring Bush into their district at their own peril. If we can meet or beat our target — if Darcy can possibly raise more money from Bush’s visit than Reichert — then we will have effectively neutralized the GOP’s most effective fundraiser, potentially costing other Republican incumbents millions of dollars by making the rewards of a Bush visit simply not worth the political and monetary price.

So if you haven’t already given, please give today. Every little bit counts.

Help Darcy Burn Bush: $

As for my own, personal HA targets, it’s been equally amazing. Yesterday I asked for ten HA readers to match my own $100 donation (as most of you know, a financial stretch for me,) plus a total of 25 contributions of any amount over the next day. One day later we’re an encouraging half-way towards my $100 matching challenge… but you blew my one-day 25-person contribution request right out of the water. So far, 56 HA readers have contributed over $1,700! To put that in perspective, that ranks HA number five nationwide after powerhouses Daily Kos, Atrios, AmericaBlog and Blue Majority! And on a contribution-per-reader ration, nobody else even comes close.

So here’s what I want to do. Let’s keep my $100 matching challenge unchanged, but let’s shoot for a total of 100 HA contributors by midnight Sunday. Give whatever can — five or ten bucks is enough — and let’s show Bush, Reichert and the Republican and Democratic establishment that people-powered politics can beat a handful of rich folk any day of the week.

Last cycle it took an immense amount of local support for Darcy Burner to prove herself a national netroots candidate. This cycle, she has that national support right from the start.

Yesterday we launched an ambitious $100,000 fundraising drive to counter President Bush’s $10,000/person funder for Dave Reichert, and to coincide with Darcy Burner’s Virtual Town Hall on Iraq, Monday Aug 27 at 3PM. And while 380 individuals have already contributed over $15,000 via our Act Blue page alone, I’m hoping HA readers will be more than just a tiny asterisk in the final totals.

To that end I have personally donated $100 (and you all know I don’t have a lot of cash to spare,) and I’m hoping 10 of you will make it worth my while by matching it dollar for dollar. And for those who can’t afford to be so generous (or unlike me, are prudent enough not to make a donation you can’t afford,) ten bucks isn’t so much to ask, is it? I’d like to see at least 25 HA donations over the next day, in appreciation of the generous support we’re getting from our friends in the national netroots.

Send a message. Make a difference. Please give generously to Darcy Burner.

Ambassador Joe Wilson asks you to support Darcy Burner

George W. Bush is coming to Seattle Aug. 27 to raise money for his friend and ally, Rep. Dave Reichert (WA-08), and to thank him for his unwavering support of the president’s policy in Iraq. Reichert hopes to raise over half a million dollars from this $10,000/person event, but this is our opportunity to send a message Reichert and his fellow Republicans that toeing the Bush line on Iraq just won’t pay off.

Over the next five days the Darcy Burner campaign will be releasing a series of videos, asking for your participation in a Virtual Town Hall forum on Iraq, scheduled to coincide with the Bush fundraiser. Meanwhile a coalition of national and local blogs is launching a coordinated drive to help Darcy counter the Bush visit. Our ambitious goal: $100,000 in netroots contributions to the Darcy Burner campaign between now and the end of the drive.

Sure it’s a lot of money, but money seems to be the only political currency Republicans understand. Reaching our target will not only send a strong message that we want our troops out of Iraq, it will also teach other Republicans that bringing in Bush isn’t worth the financial and political cost, thus neutralizing the GOP’s most effective fundraiser.

We have created a special Act Blue page just for this event, or you can contribute directly via this embedded form:

Help Darcy Burn Bush: $

As we’ve learned from several recent disappointing votes, it is not enough to just send Democrats to Washington — we need to send progressive Democrats who will stand up for the values and concerns of their constituents. So please dig deep into your pockets and give generously before the Bush fundraising juggernaut gets off the ground, and rubberstamp Republicans like Reichert get out to an insurmountable lead.

A note to the people person sending me bullshit. First, thanks, you rule! Second, I didn’t use it, because I link to the people calling bullshit, not the actual bullshit itself, but I still love ya. Anyway, on with the post:

* You know what proves the war in Iraq is going swimmingly? Glenn Reynolds says it’s the fact that the media hates America and refuses to report all that good news. You would think they would have new shit, but I guess someone told them the old stuff didn’t stink.

* The good Glenn continues to call bullshit on the foreign policy establishment. This time he goes straight to our militarism and the fact that if you don’t think it’s totally awesome, you aren’t allowed to talk about it.

* And the last national bullshit is an extended look at Rich Lowry. Calling bullshit not only on his career and his political leanings, but frankly on his whole life and on his humanity. It’s really quite a read, but don’t start on it unless you’ve got some free time.

Locally:

* Dave Reichert is taking some flack for taking some scratch from crooks. And what I want to know is why he couldn’t find any Eastside crooks. I mean Baltimore, and Alaska aren’t the only places with crooks who would be happy to bribe a Congressman, surely.

* And finally, one of my favorite local loons thinks that because the temperature in the continental U.S. was slightly warmer during the dust bowl than it was in 2005, it totally proves that the planet isn’t getting warmer.

This is an open thread.

I’m typing this from a borrowed laptop in a Cannon Beach coffee house. I’m on vacation again. Instead of driving through Longview, WA and into Oregon, I decided to get frisky and try a SW Washington route. We left I-5 at Olympia, went west, and then south across that big ‘ol bridge at Astoria, OR. A few notes:

1. Aberdeen is depressing. Now I know why Kurt Cobain got the hell out of there. But seriously, Aberdeen is in rough shape. I’m told its always been a rundown kind of place, but Jesus! Huge parts of its downtown are deserted and empty. Cheap furniture stores are aplenty. The electrical infrastructure looks about 50 years old. The people I met were very nice and down home, but Aberdeen needs some serious work. Which reminds me… Richard Florida, the author of Rise Of The Creative Class, once said that the people who made places like Seattle, Austin TX, Boston, and San Francisco so great are now leaving, moving to places like Pittsburgh (among others). I think some of the under-35 set who are flocking to the Seattle area could do well in Aberdeen. A lot of places in WA seem ready to pivot from resource-based economies to creative economies. It’s definitely a ways off.

2. Property rights are sometimes bad for business. Cannon Beach, a seaside town in OR, is great. But it couldn’t have been made without restricting the rights of who could build what and where. Resort towns have to protect their image. Cannon Beach is gorgeous while nearby Seaside, OR isn’t.

3. Train travel in America sucks, unless you live in the NE. Seriously, if we’re going to ween ourselves off foreign oil, America should build a passenger train service that’s good, if not great. When I travel, I always check Amtrak first, before I fly or drive, to see if I can get to my destination by train.

4. Every congressional district in Oregon west of the Cascade mountains is held by a Democrat. In Washington state, Dave Reichert is the last Republican left on the westside. If Democrats are locked out of eastern Washington for years to come, I’d at least like to do the same to the GOP in western Washington.

This thing is acting up, so it’s TTFN.

* I’m glad that there’s someone calling bullshit on the foreign policy establishment. A desire to attack anyone who didn’t attack us on 9/11 is acceptable, but the idea of getting the people who attacked us is beyond the pale. Odd those serious people.

* Seriously chicken hawks, don’t complain about being called chicken hawks unless you’re willing to get your head handed to you.

* And speaking of chicken hawks, Bill Kristol is impressed with what the U.S. Military is doing in Iraq.

* But at least Kristol isn’t wishing for another terror attack on U.S. soil. You know, for unity sake.

* And in any event, an interviewer’s questions totally proves that all liberals are looking for an Islamic version of creation science.

Locally, the crazies can’t compete with all that. But they’ll try.

* Dino Rossi’s idea man has decided that we should annex Mexico. Just make it a state. Oh and then force them to all speak English. That’s my favorite part of the plan.

* Some conservatives engaged in media criticism.

* Dave Reichert is still neither independent or bi-partisan.

This is an open thread

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is preparing to launch radio ads in the districts of 12 vulnerable Republican incumbents, and lookie who’s on the list: Rep. Dave Reichert. “This August we’re going district by district to urge Republicans to stop obstructing progress and work with us to end the war in Iraq,” says DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen. TPM Cafe’s Election Central has the details and the audio.

The ad will run locally during drive time on KING, KIRO, KIXI, KMTT, KOMO, KPTK, KTTH and KVI. And considering the coming lane closures on I-5 North, folks will have plenty of time to listen.

There’s a reason why President Bush is coming out here to raise money for Reichert, the first congressman to receive that “honor” this cycle. Reichert is desperate. And you can’t get much more desperate than inviting Bush to come out and campaign for you.

What’s the difference between a true netroots Democrat and an establishment Democrat? The willingness to criticize members of one’s own party when it really counts.

In her latest web ad WA-08 netroots “rock star” Darcy Burner not only sticks it to her Republican opponent Dave Reichert for handing warrantless wiretapping powers to President Bush, Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales… she also takes on the 41 Democratic House members who voted with him.

“When Republicans like Dave Reichert give George Bush everything he wants, that’s bad enough. But too many people in my own party aren’t listening either. The warrantless wiretapping bill won’t make us safer, but it will strip us of the rights so many of our families have fought to preserve, including mine.”

This race is about bringing new leadership to the House, not just padding the Democratic majority. No doubt Burner would like DCCC support and the money that comes with it, but anybody who thinks she’s taking her cues from the other Washington, just isn’t listening.

*Seattle Port Commissioner: There’s a battle going on between Jack Block Jr. and Gael Tarleton. Either one would be better than Bob Edwards.

*Matt Manweller is a loon.

*Liberal bloggers are rightfully pissed after Congress signed off on Bush’s FISA bill. The House Democrats supporting the bill are a who’s who of Blue Dogs and conservative Democrats. Who also voted yes? Rep. Dave Reichert. Darcy Burner would have voted no. Replace Reichert with a strong Democrat, and we’re that much closer to not being held hostage by conservative Democrats.

*If you like basketball, go see the Seattle Storm. They’re our WNBA team. The tickets are cheaper, and the game is better (more passing, higher percentage shooting). There isn’t the ridiculous circus-like atmosphere either. No idiot mascot with his t-shirt gun. Just basketball.

OOPS! CORRECTION! Turns our that most NBA teams have a higher shooting percentage than the Storm, who lead the WNBA in team shooting percentage. But, still, I did like the pace of the game MUCH more on the women’s side than the men’s.

WAPO’s Chris Cillizza reports from Yearly Kos, where longtime Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg had some advice for the assembled progressive bloggers:

Think big. As in, big gains for Democrats in both the House and the Senate in 2008. “Do not think conservatively,” said Greenberg during a panel discussion on the impact of Iraq on polling and the coming election. “The idea of a 50-seat-plus majority is real.”

Greenberg wasn’t the only Democratic strategist predicting huge gains. Tom Mattzie, Washington director of MoveOn.org, insisted that a path existed to a 60-seat majority in the Senate after the 2008 election.

Why the rosy predictions?

Because the 2006 election in which Democrats regained majorities in the House and Senate was a “small point along the way,” according to Greenberg, and the data continues to suggest that the political environment is worsening almost daily for Republicans.

In making the case for Rodney Tom, he and his surrogates routinely dismiss Darcy Burner’s ’08 prospects. “She had her run,” state Rep. Chris Hurst smugly told the Seattle P-I, complaining that she “came up short … in what was probably the best year in 40 years to run as a Democrat.” The intended message to Democratic primary voters is two-fold: 1) Burner only did as well as she did because of unusual national trends; and 2) those trends won’t be present in 2008.

Yeah, um, that’s right… Burner went from complete unknown to within inches of victory, simply by riding the Democratic tide. It had absolutely nothing to do with her smart campaign, her relentless hard work, and a force of personality that won over hundreds of passionate grassroots volunteers. I could write dissertations refuting premise number one, but suffice it to say that it is just plain insulting, and I’m not so sure that Tom, Hurst and their buddies would derisively dis Burner like that if she wasn’t, you know, a girl.

But premise number 2 — the heart of the Tom campaign’s critique of Burner — is just flat out refuted by the numbers. Indeed, Greenberg’s polling data suggests a steadily deteriorating political climate for Reichert and his House colleagues:

The Republicans are in trouble – almost as much trouble as they were in 2006. Democrats are not only ahead in the most competitive Republican districts (Tier 1), but they also lead by 3 points in the second tier, less competitive Republican seats, which means there might well be additional Congressional seats at risk beyond the 35. The extent of Republicans’ vulnerabilities suggests that Democrats can take their advantage far into Republican territory in 2008. This pattern that allowed the Democrats to take 30 seats in the last mid-term election could well take Democrats up to 20 in the Presidential, unless confounded by intervening events. There really could be another wave election.

Unlike the Democratic incumbents, Republican members in competitive districts face a range of trends that are working against them, reflected in their deteriorating margin – a 10-point net swing against them since mid-June.

Tom and his boosters imply that Darcy blew it, repeating over and over again that the coming election will be nothing like the previous one, as if that were a fact. But if Tom and Hurst et al are such geniuses at predicting Democratic waves — or the absence thereof — why didn’t any of them run in 2006? By January of last year it had already become obvious to amateurs like me that something BIG was potentially coming in November, yet the DCCC failed to recruit a single experienced candidate to challenge the one-term Reichert.

Compare that to this cycle, with both Tom and Hurst drooling to get into the race after state Rep. Ross Hunter’s ill health knocked him out. If 2008 is gonna be such a tough year for Democrats, why were so many formerly timid Democrats suddenly so anxious to get into the race?

Because they know Reichert is vulnerable. Burner proved it. And now they just want to brush her aside in a cycle they assume will be very good for Democrats indeed.

lolreichert!

A couple weeks after announcing his run for the 8th Congressional District Democratic nomination, State Sen. Rodney Tom finally has his campaign website up online, touting his “experience” and “knowledge of the issues,” and of course, slamming the Republican incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert:

The current congressman has repeatedly failed us, most importantly by stubbornly sticking with President Bush in support of the war in Iraq, not asking the tough questions prior to the invasion, and not holding this President accountable as this conflict has evolved.

Um… nobody likes to stick it to Reichert more than me, but to be fair to the congressman, it’s hard to blame him for “not asking the tough questions prior to” the March 2003 invasion, when he wasn’t even elected to Congress until 2004. (Considering Tom’s “knowledge of the issues,” you’d think he would’ve known that.) Come to think of it, Reichert wasn’t even a declared Republican at the time, having recently won a second full term to the nonpartisan office of Sheriff. As for Tom, I’m guessing he didn’t have much time to ask those tough questions during the build up to war, as he was too busy campaigning for the state House… as a Republican.

I’m just sayin’….