In case you can’t guess, I’ve been reading the Seattle Weekly this morning, and you absolutely, positively must read Mike Seely’s piece on Sen. Maria Cantwell. Really.
Stepping in for Knute Berger in the “Mossback” column, Seely, who worked as Cantwell’s deputy press secretary during the 2000 campaign, presents the most honest and straight forward analysis of Cantwell’s strengths and weaknesses I have ever read. Finally, a Cantwell insider publicly says what most people who have worked for her at Real Networks or on the campaign trail will tell you privately, if you pour enough booze them… though probably not quite so emphatically.
Cantwell is far from perfect. In fact, she ranks high among the most difficult people I’ve ever worked for or with. The seven months I spent in her charge felt like seven years. The campaign, larded with her RealNetworks stock windfall, spent more money on Red Vines than most candidates spend on direct mail. And conspicuous consumption during happy hour became all but a necessity, as it was invariably better to be half in the bag when Cantwell, a paranoid hellcat of a boss who rolls through staff like toilet paper, would make her daily sweep through the office, berating everyone in sight.
On the trail, Cantwell often handled small groups of constituents in closed settings well. But she was not what you would call warm
I don’t mean to get religious on you, Goldy, but, AMEN.
Socks are available if people would like me to send them some.
The mid term election cycle is not so much about Cantwell as it is a referendum on the Bush Republicans agenda for America. To elect another conservative Bush lap dog to congress will only take this country further of course — a course that nearly 7 out of 10 Americans believes is the wrong one.
The mid term election cycle is not so much about Cantwell as it is a referendum on the Bush Republicans agenda for America. To elect another conservative Bush lap dog to congress will only take this country further of course – a course that nearly 7 out of 10 Americans believes is the wrong one.
This is the bottom line. Mike “I just found out where Iran is on a map yesterday” McGavick is campaigning to be part of the problem. I’ve been disappointed with Maria Cantwell, and I don’t think she quite has the intellectual heft the author claims she does, but she is by far the better candidate this year, for both Washington and the country.
Fuck…
I guess we go to war with the candidate we have instead of the candidate we wish we had.
Matt, Phillip, John…see you for the next round of phone banking.
You boys have a nice time stoking the fires for our arrogant, distant and UNINFORMED (on the war) Senator Cantwell.
Gee, she’s good on the environment and pitches energy policy, so I should just forget about the issues that mean something to me and shut up.
Connecticut Democrats have more balls.
For Maria Cantwell not to change her stance on Iraq is not a sign that she “does not bow to political expediency”, it is a sign that she does not demonstrate sound judgment on one of the key issues of our times. Who knows how many other “mistakes” in judgment she might make in the future.
I definately will vote for her over ANY Republican and Cantwell is no Lieberman-In-Democrats-Clothing but her continued reluctance to admit Iraq is a mistake is a sign of bad judgment, not “character” and will always be considered as such by most Democrats. “Stay the course” doesn’t work for Bush anymore on Iraq and “stay the course” on Iraq is not a sign of a reasoned position for Maria Cantwell either.
Sure, I’ll vote for her.
But will I sa a kind word about her to the people I marched with in 2002 and 2003? To those I see at vigils for the war dead?
No way.
Slade said it best, “she has been a complete cypher” as a Senator for Washington State.
Patty tends to more tangible matters.. Yeah because she has the intellectual capacity of a flea (slighly more than rudjaks, GBS and Rabid combined.
Get used to “Senator McGavick.” We are going to make him yours!
Observer @ 8:
You and what army? Loser.
My top issues are: the war, get out of Iraq; universal health care, screw the insurance companies; campaign finance reform.
With Maria, I get something on one of my hot buttons. She at least understands the problem, and for her that’s a big deal. McSafeco’s blame the consumer and make us eat heath savings accounts is a non-starter.
Thanks for finding me a reason to cheer for Maria, Observer.
“I definately will vote for her over ANY Republican and Cantwell….“Stay the course” doesn’t work for Bush anymore on Iraq and “stay the course” on Iraq is not a sign of a reasoned position for Maria Cantwell either.”
And how is voting for McGavick going to ‘solve’ Iraq, in your view? It seems a vote for McGavick is an endorsement of the President’s Iraq policy. I’m no fan of Senator Cantwell, but I just don’t get this “Bush is Evil, but I’m not voting for Cantwell” stance some are taking. If you’re truly opposed to the President’s programs, then you should vote Democratic, shouldn’t you?
Me @ 11… Sorry, I didn’t edit before I posted. I didn’t mean you, Big Time Patriot, I mean others out there. Sorry!
As for Patty Murray’s intellectual capacity, she actually strikes me as having a better grasp than Cantwell on legal matters, but Cantwell arguably understands matters of business and industry better. McGavick is a lightweight compared to both though. Kicking Iran out of the World Cup? That’s the kind of solution a middle schooler comes up with. We need serious people in the Senate, folks.
For crying out loud, I’d like to hear just one Democrat in Congress say something like, “Mr. Bush, we voted to authorize your stupid war because we couldn’t believe that you were such an unprincipled weasel and that everything you were telling us was a God-damned lie!”
Somehow, I don’t believe Ms. Cantwell is ever going to be the Democrat to do that. On the other hand, what the hell do you think McGavick’s going to do, other than do a nice little goose step, kiss Bill Frist’s butt and sell out SnoPud?
Real simple: She backs the war in Iraq AND the threat of war in Iran and she doesn’t deserve my vote until she changes those positions. Fuck her, her apologists and her stupid, lame-brained, Republican-dick-sucking “strategy”.
And this NONSENSE that her position on the war in Iraq is “responsible” is just that, nonsense.
Her responsibility is to beat the SHIT out of the Republicans every fucking day. If she can’t use the Iraq war to do that, she is not worth a vote.
Right now I could give a fuck who wins this election. Pro-War Democrats are KILLING the party. Killing.
“Yeah because she has the intellectual capacity of a flea (slighly more than rudjaks, GBS and Rabid combined.
Commentby Observer— 5/24/06@ 3:18 pm”
Well, I’ve never claimed to be the smartest person in the world and if my intellectual capacity is less than 1/3 of a flea’s, imagine how small your intellect must be if I can point out your misspellings. “Slightly: S–L–I–G–H–T–L–Y. Slightly.”
Also, if you use an opening parenthesis, please use a closing parenthesis.
Dip SHIT!
dlaw, I fully agree with your points, but not your conclusion. We’re completely SOL if we don’t get back the Senate, even if then we have to pin our slim hopes on our folks growing a spine. Today was a discouraging day with Hayden flying through the committee vote. Better to go down fighting than to walk away. Come 2011, we can upgrade and find our Ned Lamont.
DEAD SQUIRREL DEMOCRAT
Maria Cantwell votes for war but says she has a new plan , a war plan . Maria Cantwell wants to change the strategy in Iraq , once again good Democratic bombs will be blowing up innocent Iraqi’s as opposed to evil Repub bombs . There is a billion dollar embassy being built in Iraq folks , We are a trillion or more into this war . What dubious information , leaked by a half drunk Cantwell staffer ???? boy , now my fears of Ms Cantwell funding the war without end , instead of Goldy’s schoolhouse are allayed . Are folks that desparate for light under USS Cantwell’s bushel basket?
Mark @ 17
This idea that I must support Republican-dick-sucking Democrats for “us” to “win” is rubbish. “Win first and have principles later” has been a consistently LOSING strategy. Read that again. Democratic insiders will tell you that sucking up to the Right is a winning strategy. It IS NOT TRUE. That’s why Dems have lost the Presidency, both houses of Congress, and the majority of state houses and Governorships.
Again, Maria Cantwell is HURTING THE PARTY. Why? Because she supports Bush’s central, least-popular FAILING policy. Why is that so difficult to understand? People who think that Maria Cantwell will be called a flip-flopper if she stops supporting the Bush administration are idiots. It’s just that simple. Bush has screwed this war up before it even started. If you can’t figure out how to reverse yourself in the face of your opponent’s catastrophic you should not be involved in politics.
I don’t give a FUCK that Maria Cantwell does her homework and neither should anybody else. Does she have a record of being persuasive for OUR TEAM? Right now I don’t see her doing much at all to persuade people that Liberals and Progressives are right and Conservatives are wrong.
Again, dlaw, I am not defending the Junior Senator. Her stand on the war is only part of my own dissatisfaction with her. That list doesn’t need to be repeated here. She can’t be replaced by a better Democrat too soon, but by any Republican would be even worse. You are correct that we have nothing to gain by moving to the Right (although your more colorful phrase is “sucking up”), and that’s exactly what would happen if McSafeco took the seat. Sucks to be our team right now.
A study of parlimentary history shows that parties that split over contentious issues rarely find themselves in power afterwards. The other side is falling apart too. We need to stick together until they do, and then we can get down to cleaning our own house. 2012 is closer than it looks.
I guess this post by Goldy explains her current position in the polls.
15. Do you approve or disapprove of Senator Maria Cantwell’s job performance?
Approve 48%
Disapprove 36%
Undecided 16%
16. If the election for United States Senate were held today and the candidates were Maria Cantwell, the Democrat or Mike McGavick, the Republican, whom would you vote for?
Maria Cantwell 47%
Mike McGavick 42%
Undecided 11%
Now here is a real interesting result from the poll (remember, Washington State government is controlled by the Democrats).
12. Do you think Washington is headed in the right direction or the wrong direction?
Right 28%
Wrong 60%
Undecided 12%
The washington State Dems have a lower approval rating than the President!
“12. Do you think Washington is headed in the right direction or the wrong direction?
Right 28%
Wrong 60%
Undecided 12%
The washington State Dems have a lower approval rating than the President! ”
Jaybo, your conclusion is a little lacking. Even I don’t think that Washington State is headed in the right direction. But that is predicated on the reality that no state can head in the right direction when the whole country is headed in the wrong direction.
With proper leadership in the other Washington, states will have the ability to move foward, but with the federal unfunded mandates and increasing need to overcome reduced national support requiring increased state taxes and reduced services..
Washington State is moving in the wrong direction lock step with all The United States.
As far as Cantwell is concerned, I voiced my anger about her earlier.
But there ain’t no way I am voting for McGavick.
Cantwell has some very good positions and bad positions, but McGavick has absolutely nothing to offer that I am interested in.
I am with Harry Tuttle on this. Lets take control away from the wingnuts and their enablers, and then put the screws to the Democrats to make them real Democrats.
I just happened to click over here tonight…..Damn you guys/gals/hemaphrodites are funny.
Dannageddon….it’s WA DC that is making our State gov tax the shit out of us? Was it Bush that just proposed that assinine roads tax…no it was the fat ass in the mayors office.
Maria’s policies are bad for America….as most socialist ones are. She was right that going to war with IRAQ was the correct thing to do….she is also correct that finishing it is the best thing to do….However we need to be stronger and not be afraid of “offending” liberal sensibilities and kill people and fight a war like a war and not like a security detail at a gay pride parade.
Currently, it seems that most dislike Maria, but don’t want McGavik because he’s an R. If he had a D by his name you’d love him. Funny huh.
Welcome Dengle.
Feel free to make fun of the size of the mayors ass.
That is acutally a unique take on the subject.
The rest of your comments are standard wingnut troll.
Perhaps your next post will be better.
Dengle in #24….well, lessee. Washington State’s constitution says we have to pay as we go, so we can’t go out and borrow a trillion dollars from the Chinese like Uncle Sam can. Funny thing, the R’s were screaming for a balanced Federal budget until they got hold of the checkbook.
Maria’s policies are SOCIALIST? That’s pretty funny. And if I understand your complaint about the war, everything would be wonderful if we could just kill more A-rabs, and that the “lib’ruls” are somehow in the way of doing that. Is that about it? Well, if that’s your Ultimate Solution you’d better hurry up about it, because at the rate the dollar’s losing value we’re going to have trouble buying enough bullets.
And as to the fact that some of us happen to think that the decision between candidates for the junior Senate seat from Washington is a matter of picking who sucks the least, that isn’t at all “funny”. It’s pathetic.
“Wingnut Troll” is an artificial language similiar to Klingon. It is derived from drinking in wingnut radio and Fox “news”, and regurgitating it on blogs.
But under a lingustic microscope the claim:
“it’s WA DC that is making our State gov tax the shit out of us? Was it Bush that just proposed that assinine roads tax…no it was the fat ass in the mayors office.”
I find it hard to blame the Seattle Mayor’s fat ass on perceived State government problems.
Maybe I am neive. Perhaps the mayor’s fat ass has a state wide manifestation.
Or perhaps Dengle is drunk on Kool Aid and vodka.
That is never a good mix.
The Senate vote “to authorize President Bush to attack Iraq if Saddam Hussein refused to give up weapons of mass destruction as required by U.N. resolutions” was 77 to 23. The House voted 296 to 133.
29 Democratic Senators voted for the Resolution:
Baucus, Bayh, Biden, Breaux, Cantwell, Carnahan, Carper, Cleland, Clinton, Daschle, Dodd, Drogan, Edwards, Feinstein, Harkin, Hollings, Johnson, Kerry, Hollings, Johnson, Kerry, Kohl, Landrieu,Lieberman, Lincoln, Miller, Nelson, Nelson, Reid, Rockefeller, Schumer, and Torricelli
http://www.senate.gov/legislat.....vote=00237
I wrote previously on MajorityRulesBlog of a conversation I had last month with Senator Maria Cnatwell regarding her vote.
Senator Cantwell said “If we knew then what we know now there probably never would have been a vote by Congress to go into Iraq.”
To me this was an admission that she could see that the evidence was not there to support going into Iraq when viewed from our present perspective. She stated it in one of those, you know we wouldn’t even be having this discussion if we knew then, what we know now.
I do not see Senator Cantwell as a someone who wanted to go to war then or who wants war now. I see her as an elected official trying her best to act based on what she knows at the time.
In that same conversation she depolored Bush’s sabre rattling against Iran and thought it was wrong. At the same time she does not back away from having to make tough decisions.
She has stated that this is the year of transition for Iraq and that we need to bring the troops home. I think it would be much more constructive at this point to quit hitting her over the head on the original vote and press her for specifics on getting the troops home.
Mark @ 20
you write: “A study of parlimentary history shows that parties that split over contentious issues rarely find themselves in power afterwards” – so let the pro-war Dems reverse themselves. After all, the war is only UNpopular 2-1.
Steve,
“Senator Cantwell said “If we knew then what we know now there probably never would have been a vote by Congress to go into Iraq.†This does not say anything about Cantwell’s position; only that there would not have been a vote. The fact that she has repeatedly refused to say that, knowing what she knows now, she believes this was an invasion on the back of bad policy tells me that she endorses the policy. “A Year of Transition” is just as much hollow rhetoric. This then leads me to her co-sponsoring of S-333 with Rick Santorum and where will she come down on an Iran vote. She may deplore Bush’s saber rattling but S-333 places the sole authority for determining Iran’s compliance right back at Bush’s feet. If he couldn’t be trusted in Iraq, how can she trust him in Iran?
Peace,
If you want an IRAN WAR; if you want more lose of Civil Rights like in the Patriot Act; if you want more H1-B visa workers here to take American jobs; if you like more Mexican immmigrants driven to the USA because NAFTA has destroyed Mexican agriculture; if you like the devastation of the environment in Central America caused by CAFTA; if you like more restrictions on filing for bankruptcy; if you want more tax breaks for the wealthy; and if you don’t want your next Senator to pay attention to your concerns.
THEN vote for Mike McGavick
or vote for Maria Cantwell
as they both agree on all these issues.
If you want to vote for principle, then vote Mark Wilson Democrat Senate 2006 http://votemark.org
“Nothing will change until you stand up to be counted.”
Send a message to Maria. Tell Cantvotewell to Recant:
http://www.petitiononline.com/.....ition.html