Seattle Times editorial page editor Jim Vesely is deeply disappointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire’s reelection, so much so, that’s he’s taken to bad mouthing his own readers:
Democrats are doing well on the Eastside of metropolitan Seattle, either through onslaughts by good candidates or the inevitable party-switching that represents tidal change. Yet before the Republican majorities in the far Eastside are snuffed, something remains of their efforts: a general sense that self-absorbed Seattle is not the definer of metropolitan life, that political independence is not the sponge to be soaked up by King County Democrats, and that a way of life on the exurban Plateau has meaning beyond Seattle’s persistent, and effete, condemnation.
“Self-absorbed” and “effete”…? Really? This is the sort of profound disaffection Vesely ironically holds for the city whose name is featured in his paper’s masthead? Wouldn’t it be more honest to rename the paper “The Sammamish Times”? Is it possible for subscribers to sue the Blethens for false advertising, based on the so-called “Seattle” Times’ blatantly misleading name?
Honestly, how can the Times editors claim to represent the interests of Seattle when they hold such obvious contempt for the city and its residents? And how can their holier than thou exhortations against partisanship be taken the least bit seriously when they prove so eager to fan the flames of such petty and divisive sub-regional factionalism?
I’m just askin’….
I’ve already cancelled my subscription. The Seattle Times isn’t even good enough to line the bottom of the aquarium for my son’s bearded dragon.
I think we should raise the inheritance tax on newspaper owners.*
* Hey, just kidding! Just fuckin’ with ya, Frank!!
@1 I never had a subscription. I read it free online or in the public library. I don’t buy stuff from Frank’s advertisers, either! I’m a net drag on his bottom line.
Oh, they tried to sell me a subscription. Frank’s telemarketers bugged me two, three, four, five times a week. Sometimes they called every night for 2 weeks running. I finally complained to the Attorney General’s consumer protection division. I asked them to file criminal charges against the Seattle Times under the racketeering statutes for using coercion and harassment to force me to buy their newspaper. I don’t know if anyone went to jail but I didn’t hear from the Seattle Times again.
Let me read between the lines of Goldy’s Seattle Times post for everyone:
“The Seattle time doesn’t want to hire me? I sent them my application over FIVE YEARS AGO! A callback would have been nice. Fine. Let’s see how they like me bashing them on a daily basis. That’ll show ’em.”
Why don’t we organize something to punish the Seattle Times. Some type of campaign.
The Palin Clothing Saga, Continued
OK, here it is, the smoking gun evidence of Palin’s sticky-fingered intent:
“Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spent part of the weekend going through her clothing to determine what belongs to the Republican Party after it spent $150,000-plus on a wardrobe for the vice presidential nominee, according to Palin’s father. … Chuck Heath, said his daughter spent Saturday trying to figure out what belongs to the RNC. ‘She was just frantically … trying to sort stuff out,’ Heath said.”
(Quoted from AP under fair use.)
Roger Rabbit Commentary: People who intend to return clothing don’t stash it in their own closets and commingle it with their own clothes.
@4 You seem to like the ST. Can I send their telemarketers to you?
@7
Yeah, I do like them. For local news, sports, weather, entertainment, etc., they’re the first online source I go to.
I don’t care for Goldy’s ST-bashing. At its core, I think he’s saying: “How dare they have non-liberal views and opinions!”
Word has it Gregoire will be proposing a Ballot Initiative to massively raise taxes, threatening to cut all the stuff folks like (Parks, recreation, create massive class sizes etc.)…
It’s also called EXTORTION!!
Gary Locke on Election Night said he expects the Deficit (LOCKE’s WORD!!) to be closer to $4.5 BILLION. Locke’s former Budget Director was on King5 UPFRONT and stated the little feel-good things Gregoire has proposed were a drop in the bucket and called them “INSIGNIFICANT”. This ain’t Republicans talking guys.
The Hiring Freeze, cutting back on Travel, 1% acroos the Board Cut, cutback fuel consumption 5%………….all these combined are insignificant. No one can still figure out how the dinky things Gregoire has proposed to date will “cut the Deficit in Half (Gregoire’s words). It doesn’t come close to adding up….and no one challenged her bullshit. What she did was scoop up loose change from ALL unused Fund Balances and shift them into the General Fund…a one-time shell-game.
We have serious financial problems in Washington. In addition, the Underfunded State Retirement Fund has grown massively. Will likely be $7 BILLION @ 6/30/08 and has grown even more since then. Huge problem which guys like Rog Rabbit say don’t worry about because they still have great cash flow and it MAY be a problem SOMEDAY! Sounds like Bush and the National Debt.
Anyway, prepare yourselves for the vote/EXTORTION. Massive Tax Increase…approve it, or prepare to be punished!!!!!!!!!!!!
Troll @ 8
“I don’t care for Goldy’s ST-bashing. At its core, I think he’s saying: “How dare they have non-liberal views and opinions!””
You “think” that, kiddo, because you are too fucking stoooooopid to actually understand what Goldy is getting at.
“a general sense that self-absorbed Seattle is not the definer of metropolitan life,”
Uhh…self-absorbed? You want self-absorbed? Check in with the wine & cheese elitists at the Discovery Institute, where Vesely gets all his “big thinkin'” ideas from.
Vesely needs to venture out of his cul de sac, and visit Bellevue and Mercer Island city centers some day. Do you think suburbia is modeling itself after central cities these days, or, is the center city trying to mimic far-flung low-rise ‘burbia?
How many years did we have to listen to Vesely talk about “regionalism?” For God’s sakes, the guy kept drilling it into our heads…then – of course – Vesely opposed just about every regional initiative out there. Including the successful Prop 1 rail measure last week.
What a knucklehead. You get the idea these old Gerald Ford Republicans are just a bunch of airheads.
At least on Wall Street, the dead wood gets thrown out of the hot air balloon as it plummets to earth. On Fairview Street, the dead wood goes down with the ship.
Calling Seattle “effete” is a stunningly stupid step for even an idiot like Vesely to take. Newspaper editors are gathering to try to figure out how to save the print media, and here we have an editor who offends, seriously offends, the bulk of his readership. He shows his true Republican colors, the colors of people who are separated from the fact-based universe. Sarah Palin tried to cast urban, and even suburban, voters as not part of the “real America.” Given the reality of where voters actually live, good luck with that strategy, Sarah. Likewise, Vasele flips off those who live in the place that mostly buys his papers. How stupid are these people?
@10
Wrong. I read and understand what Goldy’s getting at. I’m just not falling for it. Something else is going on between him and the Times, and it has nothing to do with what he’s writing about. But you go ahead and eat up what he spoon feeds you through his posts. Take him at face value. I, on the other hand, was educated to read between the lines.
RR
DO YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT USED CLOTHING IN YOUR WORLD VIEW???
I AMA LEFTY DEM, BUT, FOLKS WHO GIVES A SHIT. THE STUFF IS USED USED USED AND WHO GIVES A FUCK
BY THE WAY HIGH END STORES LIKE NIEMAN AND SAKS HAVE BEEN VERY VERY EXPENSIVE FOR 40 YEARS.
GET A LIFE RR – GET BACK TO INTERESTING POLITICS – PALIN IS OF NO NO NO ACCOUNT FOR YEARS
TOO BAD THE DEMS DIDN’T BUY CHRISTINE A BETTER SET OF CLOTHES YEARS AGO – HER TASTE IS HORRID
Hey, Troll,
You are delusional, clinically so. Would you like my diagnosis? I could also give you a treatment plan, if you’d like. In lay terms, you are an asshole. With regard to treatment, I would suggest you lay off listening to Limbaugh, Hannity, and O’Reilly. Then, you should actually start to read periodicals that provide some real news, let me suggest The Atlantic, for starters.
I always find these Eastside vs Seattle battles so pointless. Only one side even cares, and that just makes it so much more pathetic. If the Seattle Times wants to champion the Eastside so much, fine. Seattle proper generally doesn’t care and generally doesn’t read the Seattle Times.
Oh, and another thing… what good is the Times anyway?
National news? New York Times or a million other sites online.
Local news? Are you kidding? Anywhere but the times.
Classified ads? Craig’s List.
Entertainment? The Stranger.
I can’t think of a single reason to actually read the times.
@8 “online source”
I see. You don’t buy the paper.
@17
I don’t believe that you don’t regularly read the Seattle Times.
@9 “Word has it Gregoire will be proposing a Ballot Initiative to massively raise taxes, threatening to cut all the stuff folks like (Parks, recreation, create massive class sizes etc.)…”
What wall did you peel this off of?
@13 What’s going on between Goldy and the Times is the paper is doing a lousy job and like any good critic he’s trying to push them to do better. Of course, we don’t expect a wingnut blockhead like you to understand what the role of “criticism” is in a literate society.
@21
And by pushing them to do better, do you mean to cease to express any opinion that isn’t liberal-progressive in nature?
@14 “DO YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT USED CLOTHING IN YOUR WORLD VIEW???”
It isn’t about the clothing, dumbass. It’s about lying.
“I AMA LEFTY DEM,”
Yeah, you and all the other trolls on this board.
“BUT, FOLKS WHO GIVES A SHIT. THE STUFF IS USED USED USED AND WHO GIVES A FUCK”
Well let’s see how many people give a shit about a vice presidential candidate flashing $150,000 of fancy threads while people are losing their jobs and retirement savings. Here’s a question for ya, bub — who won the election? There’s your answer.
BY THE WAY HIGH END STORES LIKE NIEMAN AND SAKS HAVE BEEN VERY VERY EXPENSIVE FOR 40 YEARS.
Uh yeah, the voters sort of got that, I think.
“GET A LIFE RR – GET BACK TO INTERESTING POLITICS – PALIN IS OF NO NO NO ACCOUNT FOR YEARS”
There aren’t very many surviving Republicans to kick around so I use what’s available.
“TOO BAD THE DEMS DIDN’T BUY CHRISTINE A BETTER SET OF CLOTHES YEARS AGO – HER TASTE IS HORRID”
Got a couple of questions for ya, dude:
1. Do you have a problem with the governor buying her own clothes?
2. Which do you think is more important, her taste in wardrobe, or the decisions she makes as governor?
@9: Word has it that cynical will propose a massive tax increase on poodles.
Yeah, the state government is in trouble with revenues because of the massive DEPRESSION caused by Bush and his conservative acolytes. We know that – that is why the state started a rainy day fund.
@ 14 YO WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE FOOLING?
Jeesh. Just when I think the trolls can’t get any dumber, in walks YO.
@ 23
A better question for YO is: Didn’t Gregoire just win the election, even with her “horrid” clothes?
Wait! An even better question for YO is: The voters just passed the assisted suicide law. Why don’t you take advantage of it?
Actually, the Times tries to reach beyond Seattle, in order to boost circulation. The column speaks to that fact. And each week they have special editions for the different regions. But if you don’t live on the eastside you wouldn’t know that. The “effete” description is, unfortunately for y’all fairly appropriate. Very thin-skinned and freaking out at the mere mention of any non-liberal idea…..sh, sh, don’t argue. It’s true.
What exactly is “non-liberal” about plopping cheaply built 4000 square foot mini-chateaus on forest land 60 miles from where you work and shop?
Seattleites do indeed “comdemn” such stupidity when they see it. Not because they are “effete”. And not because they want to impose a definition of “metropolitan life” upon the region.
But for a simpler reason that, once upon a time, before their brains were melted by too many hours of American Gladiators, traditional conservatives would have readily grasped. It isn’t economically feasible. And we’re all tired of being asked to pitch in to subsidize the whole suburban Ponzi scheme.
Just this thread alone provides more cover on why Real American is a another sock puppet name for headless lucy. In the open thread “it” uses a name “it” calls Mr. Cynical and since YO hasn’t posted in a couple of months under YO, a newbie wouldn’t know YO.
@29: Well put. The extravagance of the Sammamish plateau is an economic dead end, an incredible waste of resources. It is a lifestyle that simply cannot be maintained.
The Seattle Times just hates anything that’s liberal. I’m sure the only reason that they endorsed Obama was to keep their subscription numbers up. But when it comes to more local issues, they will always editorialize in favor of the conservative viewpoint.
Let’s see if I understand you libs.
If someone is for my candidate I don’t care what they stand for I’m with them.
All of you are a shallow little people with no respect for anyone that differs with you.
Must be hard for you to get up in the morning.
It looks like Pudz is reduced to playing the HA sockpuppet cop. Laughable, seeing as how the guy probably operates twenty sockpuppets himself. Isn’t that right, Hannah? What do you say, RickyD?
If the Seattle Times hates Seattle, then the newspaper has a lot of like-minded people living here in the rest of Washington.
As for Mr. Vesley, his opinion of the Eastside has never recovered from the shock of a whole bunch of Eastside Democrats showing up at the Social Security reform panel at Bellevue High School, oh so long ago. He didn’t think we existed, could exist, out here.
As for the Times in general….well, I don’t always agree with the other rags (The Stranger’s endorsement of Holly Hill made little sense to me and the P-I‘s refusal to endorse or, pretty much, comment on the Marcie Maxell/Steve Litzow race in the 41st LD was inexcusable), but they at least come across as media that tries to find it’s own way, often stumbling but with a desire to get to, if not consensus, at least a rough agreement, often willing to ‘fess up to divisions within (witness The Stranger’s internal fight over the previous attempt to fund light rail).
The Seattle Times is led by someone who expects you to do what he says, without complaint, without question. He doesn’t need to explain it to you, and if he does, you should swallow the opinion whole, regardless of the fact that his own editorial board has disagreed with him on numerous occasions. There’s no movement forward to understand a changed, and changing, Puget Sound or Washington state for that matter – just resentment that it is changing, just resentment that we don’t treat it as a surrogate father figure that “knows best”, just resentment that we don’t agree and obey.
I don’t subscribe to the Times. I stopped reading their website on November 1st. I won’t be coming back until they get new leadership, new owners, that actually want to understand our home again.
Keep up the good detective work, Puddybud!
At least takes time away from your other profuse wingnut blathering. :)
Steve, beats talking about goat sex.
Baaaaaah