The election is still a year and a half away, but we should be thinking about it now. And we should be thinking about more than just the presidential election. There are a lot of other offices and only so much time, energy, and money. So I’m curious, what do we want to work on the most?
Obviously, who’s president is hugely important. I’ll support the nominee whoever she happens to be. A Democrat in the White House will start to bring sanity to our foreign policy. Will restore our basic rights. Will be a force for the Constitution.
But a Democratic White House will need all the support it can get from Congress. Just look at the difference between Bill Clinton in 1993 and 1994, passing FMLA and restoring sanity to the budget with the rest of his Presidency where he was playing defense. Locally, that means supporting the nominee in the 8th. I’d also like to pick off one of the Eastern Washington Republicans.
Locally, we’re going to win the governor’s mansion by enough that the Republicans don’t try to steal it in court.
All of that is good and necessary, but I think it’s time to start running some primaries. There’s a lot of dead weight in Seattle, and frankly it’s silly. Is there any reason that the state’s best environmental legislator should be from sprawlville? Is there any reason that the impeachment resolution should have come from Kirkland? I mean these legislators are a treasure, but come on Seattle!
Seattle legislators should lead on education. They should lead on the environment. They should lead on making sure there is better public transportation. It’s not like they are voting wrong for the most part, but they are in safe seats and if they don’t start acting like it, maybe we should put some time and money into finding better legislators.
Also, I’d like a better Lt. Governor. I mean playing the guitar is important, but I’d think we can do better. I’d like to see someone who we can put out on the campaign trail (I’ve been to my share of campaign events since Owen was first elected, and I can’t remember him ever showing up, maybe I’m forgetting something). Surely there’s some small town mayor from Eastern Washington who’s loved, but too liberal to advance to the legislature who can take a shot at a statewide race. Surely there’s some D. legislator who wants the job and is willing to make the case that we can do better.
I’m not sure that there is the energy (or the money) for several serious challengers, but I’d like to see a few any way. And with the earlier primary, it probably won’t take as much time away from general election activities.
Good environmental legislators come from sprawlvilles because they and their supporters see and feel the impact of poor environmental and development policies on a daily basis. That’s why all three of our state elected’s in the 26th LD (where I live) are enviro-champs. We worked our tails off to get Lantz, Seaquist, and Kilmer in office.
It seems that you have overlooked the demographic shift occurring in Seattle with the condo owners who aren’t really the old school Seattle liberals of times gone by.
Here’s how Publicans like to solve problems. If they can’t get what they want during the political process, they resort to violence. I hope the victim in this case files charges against this right wing, inbred piece of shit.
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/2664
RightEqualsStupid says:
Let’s see – 12 federal Publican politicians arrested, under indictment, convicted or pled guilty in the last six years. One Dem. That’s about the right ratio. Too bad traitors like MTR wasn’t concerned about sending people to jail when it was Publican crooks.
That is nothing, check this out:
1. CLINTON MACHINE CRIMES
FOR WHICH CONVICTIONS
HAVE BEEN OBTAINED
Drug trafficking (3), racketeering, extortion, bribery (4), tax evasion, kickbacks, embezzlement (2), fraud (12), conspiracy (5), fraudulent loans, illegal gifts (1), illegal campaign contributions (5), money laundering (6), perjury, obstruction of justice.
1. CRIME STATS
– Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47
– Number of these convictions during Clinton’s presidency: 33
– Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: 61
– Number of congressional witnesses who have pleaded the Fifth Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses) refused to be interviewed: 122
Nothing comes close to democrat corruption. heheehe
Michael @ 1
Great point! Still, Seattle and the close in suburbs don’t have to deal with a segment of their constituency who moved up north or out east to get away from the city or the same level of property rights nonsense. Because,
Rule @ 2
The city is still damn liberal. And the legislators have the freedom to take the lead more than legislators who represent areas where people who know that they’ll have a tough election.
Right @ 3
Holy shit am I glad I don’t live in Alabama!
@4
Snore…
Tell me how you plan on not getting shut out in the next state legislative races or something else relative, please.
Brad Owen is a piece of shit. He is so bad that when you step on him you want to burn your shoes, not just try to clean them. If any democrat ran agianst him they would have my vote. When he was in the state leg. He tried to get out of paying child support using leg. imunity. He delayed payments for months. He always claims that he support kids, just not his own.
We all need to stop being afraid to call ourselves liberals. We need to raise our hands and proclaim ourselves as liberals whenever, and more importantly wherever, we might be. Why do all politicians, including Democrats, want to talk about their conservative credentials? Liberalism led to the Reformation then to the Enlightenment then to the American Revolution. Why the hell do Democratic politicians try to shed such a badge of honor? The 2008 election gives us an opportunity to recapture our pride in being, goddammit, liberals.
For what it is worth, WA is Blue and going to stay that way. The effort to elect a Democrat controlled Federal government is, to me, the main focus.
I have decided early on to support John Edwards. He is smart, sincere, sympathetic (wife’s illness, son’s untimely death), good looking (don’t kid yourself, this is important), he offends few groups and his mantra of “two America’s is ringing true.
The choice was difficult. Hillary may be smart and have all the ability to run the country, but she is a polarizing figure. You either love her or hate her. There is no middle ground.
Obama lacks experience, but has the gift of communication and evoking a spirit of youth and hope. But we have to ask (devil speaking here) Is America ready for a woman or a man of color to be president? While my heart wishes that it is so, my head sees the ignorant signs of racism and gender bias. Harold Ford, Jr. anyone?
In the end I will vote for the Democratic candidate, no matter who is chosen to run in the general election.
We must stick together as liberals and Democrats.
@4 Sounds like one of those phony e-mails made in the Wingnut Fiction Factory. In my household, we call these “spam.”
@8 AMEN brother! That’s what I’ve been saying all along! Just as Jews should wear the Star of David as a badge of honor, we should wear the “liberalism” label like a Congressional Medal of Honor!
If I vote Republican, what’s in it for me?
How do I benefit?
10
Yeah, the rap sheet of Willie is quite impressive. Clinton is by far the most corrupt POTUS ever.
4 is nothing more than ipse dixit. Nothing to see really, but it made Danny feel more manly.
You dems sure like to rewrite history. You can’t get you’r facts straigt from last week, let alone a decade ago.
13
Dan can you back that up? You are upset because he got a blowjob and you didn’t. Nixon resigned in disgrace. How convenient of you to forget that little fact.
Dumass.
Fuck you.
Did everyone notice Bush’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs is being replaced by an admiral because they couldn’t get Gen. Pace reconfirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate? Pace would have been a slam-dunk before last fall’s election — now he’s out. The Bush War Machine is crumbling.
15
Fact Bush lied
Fact Bush is lying.
Fact Bush will continue to lie.
I don’t need any other facts.
Neither should you.
ROGER RABBIT RIDDLE
Q: What’s a Republican candidate’s worst nightmare?
A: A gay hero prevents a terrorist attack.
News update: Rightwing tort reform advocate Robert Bork is suing the Yale Club of New York for negligence after falling on his ass while climbing onto a stage to give a talk.
Here’s the link: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/.....yale-club/
FROM AN ANGRY SOLDIER:
“Fuck you, war supporters, George W. Bush, and all the god damn mother fuckers who made the war possible. I hope you burn in hell. ”
READ THE WHOLE THING.
The World After Nov. 4, 2008
“America stands at the threshold of a new Democratic president, Democratic Congress, FDR-magnitude realignment and a national spirit reminiscent of the New Frontier.
“There will be a transformation of American media as powerful as the days when Edward R. Murrow took integrity and quality to broadcast radio and then network television.
“By November 2008 there will be a giant mega-move of mutual empowerment and support networks of the progressive Internet, radio and politics that will have extraordinary power to drive ratings, move money and turn out votes. …
“[T]he Democratic House will maintain its majority and the Senate will include 53 to 60 Democrats because so many Republicans (22) are running for reelection. …
“[I]magine the spirit … on Inauguration Day with a Democrat putting his or her hand on the Bible, with rejoicing throughout the free world. …
“Nancy Pelosi … stands up for African Americans, Hispanics, poor folks, veterans and friends of the Earth far more than the males who preceded her … and will be a historic figure when she breaks free from the chains of a backward Republican presidency.
“If Hillary is elected president, of the three most powerful leaders in America, two of them will be women, who will lift up and empower Americans across the spectrum. …
“If Barack Obama is elected president, … he will electrify young people throughout America and around the world, and inaugurate a new spirit of community activism and optimism. …
“If Al Gore is elected, the world’s leading friend of the Earth will empower Americans, mobilizing the highest aspirations of huge numbers of people, through the newest technologies of politics and media. …
“Think about the rejuvenation of participatory democracy and the huge impact on media that will come with the new order of political change. Don’t be surprised to see Air America TV, to see Ed Schultz surpass Rush Limbaugh, to see Nova M Radio blossom, and a powerful surge for progressive radio that will migrate to cable television. …
“I predict Rupert Murdoch will respond to a Democratic USA by putting tons of money into what will look like a liberal Fox News. … You will be hearing a lot less about Sean Hannity and a lot more about Randi Rhodes and Amy Goodman. …
As the sun sets on the Bush years, people will be astonished at the reawakening of the American spirit of optimism, driven by a nobler vision, supported by a vast majority, who want tomorrow to be better than today. It is time to dream again, to … begin the next great era of American renewal and reform.”
http://pundits.thehill.com/200.....nd-a-plan/
Suck on it, rightys!
Paul Krugman Says Media Coverage of Campaign Still Lousy
“In Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate, Mitt Romney completely misrepresented how we ended up in Iraq. Later, Mike Huckabee mistakenly claimed that it was Ronald Reagan’s birthday. Guess which remark The Washington Post identified as the ‘gaffe of the night’?
“Folks, this is serious. If early campaign reporting is any guide, the bad media habits that helped install the worst president ever in the White House haven’t changed a bit.
“You may not remember the presidential debate of Oct. 3, 2000, or how it was covered, but you should. It was one of the worst moments in an election marked by news media failure as serious … as the later failure to question Bush administration claims about Iraq.
“Throughout that debate, George W. Bush made … outright lies — for example, when he declared of his tax cut that ‘the vast majority of the help goes to the people at the bottom end of the economic ladder.’ That should have told us, right then and there, that he was not a man to be trusted. But few news reports pointed out the lie. Instead, many news analysts chose to critique the candidates’ acting skills. Al Gore was declared the loser because he sighed and rolled his eyes … at Mr. Bush’s dishonesty. And that’s how Mr. Bush got within chad-and-butterfly range of the presidency.
“Now fast forward to last Tuesday. Asked whether we should have invaded Iraq, Mr. Romney said that war could only have been avoided if Saddam ‘had opened up his country to I.A.E.A. inspectors, and they’d come in and they’d found that there were no weapons of mass destruction.’ He dismissed this as an ‘unreasonable hypothetical.’
“Except that Saddam did, in fact, allow inspectors in. Remember Hans Blix? When those inspectors failed to find nonexistent W.M.D., Mr. Bush ordered them out so that he could invade. Mr. Romney’s remark should have been the central story in news reports about Tuesday’s debate. But it wasn’t.
“There wasn’t anything comparable to Mr. Romney’s rewritten history in the Democratic debate two days earlier …. Still, someone should have called Hillary Clinton on her declaration that on health care, ‘we’re all talking pretty much about the same things.’ While the other two leading candidates have come out with plans for universal (John Edwards) or near-universal (Barack Obama) health coverage, Mrs. Clinton has so far evaded the issue. But … this went unmentioned in most reports. By the way, one reason I want health care specifics from Mrs. Clinton is that she’s received large contributions from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. Will that deter her from taking those industries on?
“Back to the debate coverage: as far as I can tell, no major news organization did any fact-checking of either debate. And post-debate analyses tended to be horse-race stuff mingled with theater criticism: assessments not of what the candidates said, but of how they ‘came across.’ Thus most analysts declared Mrs. Clinton the winner … because she did the best job of delivering sound bites — including her Bush-talking-point declaration that we’re safer now than we were on 9/11, a claim her advisers later tried to explain away as not meaning what it seemed to mean.
“Similarly, many analysts gave the G.O.P. debate to Rudy Giuliani not because he made sense — he didn’t — but because he sounded tough saying things like, ‘It’s unthinkable that you would leave Saddam Hussein in charge of Iraq and be able to fight the war on terror.’ (Why?)
“Look, debates involving 10 people are, inevitably, short on extended discussion. But news organizations should fight the shallowness of the format by providing the facts — not embrace it by reporting on a presidential race as if it were a high-school popularity contest.
For if there’s one thing I hope we’ve learned from the calamity of the last six and a half years, it’s that it matters who becomes president — and that listening to what candidates say about substantive issues offers a much better way to judge potential presidents than superficial … judgments. Mr. Bush’s … lies, not his … amiability, were the true guide to how he would govern.”
Quoted under fair use; for complete article and/or copyright info see http://welcome-to-pottersville.....itics.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Goldy has commented often on how bad the MSM is. In fact, blogs like HA exist precisely because the funded-media are NOT DOING THEIR JOB! The early coverage of Campaign ’08 is not encouraging; it’s no better than ’04 or even ’00. But we don’t have to get stuck with another unqualified turkey in the White House despite the derelictions of MSM. There’s always the blogosphere! HA is a reliable source of news and commentary as this campaign unfolds. Just don’t pay any attention to the screeching of the troll monkeys in the background.
WHAT Do We Want in 2008? A New U.S. Attorney General Is High On My List
Gonzo will be back in the news Monday … that’s when Sen. Charles Schumer has scheduled a no-confidence vote.
http://thehill.com/leading-the.....06-08.html
Blackwater Files SLAPP Suits Against Families of Slain Employees
“Raleigh, NC — The families of four American security contractors who were burned, beaten, dragged through the streets of Fallujah and … hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River on March 31, 2004, are … [being sued by Blackwater Security Contracting] to silence the families and keep them out of court.”
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/53460/
“As the sun sets on the Bush years, people will be astonished at the reawakening of the American spirit of optimism, driven by a nobler vision, supported by a vast majority, who want tomorrow to be better than today. It is time to dream again, to … begin the next great era of American renewal and reform.”
Roger,
Ah, such a quote. I will now go to bed, and dream of what shall be. Dreams, glorious dreams, of what we were and can be again. Though ye be but a hare, your insight exceeds that of those who walk upright. May you find the lettuce patch you seek.
Blackwater is owned by Erik Prince, who has some interesting connections. His father owned Prince Corporation, an auto parts maker, which was sold to Johnson Controls for $1.3 billion. His sister, Betsy DeVos, is the wife of Amway co-founder Dick DeVos and served as chair of the Republican Party of Michigan. Prince, a scion of inherited wealth, is 38 years old.
@26 Don’t worry, when my time is up I will go to the Giant Lettuce Patch In the Sky, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon because the king of the rabbits is immortal.
Getting back to the subject of Alberto Gonzales, the New York Times ran this editorial today:
“It’s Subpoena Time
“The New York Times | Editorial
“Friday 08 June 2007
“For months, senators have listened to a parade of well-coached Justice Department witnesses claiming to know nothing about how nine prosecutors were chosen for firing. This week, it was the turn of Bradley Schlozman … to be uninformative and not credible.
“It is time for Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to deliver subpoenas that have been approved for Karl Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers and their top aides, and to make them testify in public and under oath.
“Mr. Schlozman was appointed United States attorney in Missouri while the state was in the midst of a hard-fought Senate race. In his brief stint, he pushed a lawsuit, which was thrown out by a federal judge, that could have led to thousands of Democratic-leaning voters being wrongly purged from the rolls. Just days before the election, he indicted voter registration workers from the liberal group Acorn on fraud charges. Republicans quickly made the indictments an issue in the Senate race.
“Mr. Schlozman said it did not occur to him that the indictments could affect the campaign. That is hard to believe since the Justice Department’s guidelines tell prosecutors not to bring vote fraud investigations right before an election, so as not to affect the outcome. He also claimed, laughably, that he did not know that Acorn was a liberal-leaning group.
“Mr. Schlozman fits neatly into the larger picture. Prosecutors who refused to use their offices to help Republicans win elections … were fired. …
“Congress has now heard from everyone in the Justice Department who … played a significant role in the firings …. They have all insisted that the actual decisions about whom to fire came from somewhere else.
“It is increasingly clear that the somewhere else was the White House. If Congress is going to get to the bottom of the scandal, it has to get the testimony of Mr. Rove, his aides Scott Jennings and Sara Taylor, Ms. Miers and her deputy, William Kelley.
“The White House has offered to make them available only if they do not take an oath and there is no transcript. Those conditions are a formula for … perjury, and they are unacceptable. As for documents, the White House has released piles of useless e-mail messages. But it has reported that key e-mails to and from Mr. Rove were inexplicably destroyed. At the same time, it has argued that e-mails of Mr. Rove’s that were kept on a Republican Party computer system, which may contain critical information, should not be released.
“This noncooperation has gone on long enough. Mr. Leahy should deliver the subpoenas for the five White House officials ….”
Quoted under fair use; for entire editorial and/or copyright info see http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06.....ref=slogin
Roger Rabbit Commentary: For you trolls who were thinking, ‘Thank God the prosecutor scandal is over’ — dream on. It will be back in the headlines next week when the Senate votes “no confidence” in Bush’s corrupt and lying attorney general, and it will stay in the headlines as Bush’s henchpeople are dragged in front of TV cameras and handed Bibles and told to raise their hands.
Think Rove, Miers, et al. can make this go away by lying, stonewalling, or not remembering? Dream on! Here’s how things work in Washington D.C. You subpoena the scared young functionaries like Monica Goodling, who then spill the beans to keep themselves out of jail and save their own licenses to practice law. They’re smart enough to realize the assholes they work for won’t be able to protect them forever, and after this is all over they’ll have to make a living. Furthermore, there’s a lot more money to be made from book contracts than from saying “I don’t know anything.”
The neocons are GOING DOWN, and in the end, it will be their own trusted underlings who blew the whistle on them. Wait and see.
The right is so pathetic – all they have is made up stories about Bill Clinton to justify their miserable lives. Too bad these traitors are living in the past. In the right here and now – they have nothing but crooks, kooks and convicts running their party and they have to point to a decade ago to try to deflect.
And what’s even more interesting, every poll says Bill Clinton would win re-election by a landslide today against ANY Publican, even now – even after the Publicans blew 50 million taxpayer dollars to get to Clinton associates arrested in a land deal that didn’t even make President Clinton any money.
By the way, Puffybutt’s list of so-called Clinton crimes at number 4 never happened. There were fewer than 10 associates that were convicted and the meme going around that there were more is all part of the Publican noise machine.
Harry @12
You’ll look like your name….
I’m not convinced that if the Dems win the White House we will have any sane foreign policy. Clinton and Obama both support enlarging the Marines and Army. Haven’t heard any of them talking about closing Gitmo and stopping torture either.
‘Win the Governor’s mansion by enough so that the Republicans don’t steal it in court’ How funny is that? Queen Crissy and buddy Dean Logan steal it in the first place, then later a liberal Chelan County Judge buys their BS, then it is proven that many, many dead people, felons, illegal aliens, etc. were wrongfully counted. 139 votes were mysteriously found in the basement of the King County Elections office by an incompetent Democratic Elections Director in the middle of the night; King County convienently being the Dems. stronghold above all other counties. I ask you, how stupid and naive to you have to be to believe this election was won fairly?! Oh wait, there’s a name for that: Democrats. What goes around comes around, remember that you liberal morons. ‘Nuff said, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass Queen Christine!