Growing up a Philadelphia Eagles fan, I have been conditioned to always expect disappointment. Even in this 10-1 season, with the rest of the NFC playing like… well, the Seahawks… I can’t help but expect a sudden collapse. Up 21 points at the two minute warning I sit there calculating how much time it would take for the other team to run three touchdowns and two onside kicks.
And so I have some empathy for the Mad Aluminum Hatters at conservative blog Sound Politics, whose wailing and gnashing over evil Democratic plans to “steal” the election grows louder the longer Dino Rossi holds the lead. WA Republicans are also conditioned to expect the worst, and so they’ve been following this election the way I watch football: a paranoid delusional yelling at the refs for every imagined transgression, cursing the fact that 10am is just too damn early to crack open a beer.
Take the latest brouhaha over the letter Democratic attorneys sent to Secretary of State Sam Reed. As reported in the Seattle P-I:
Meanwhile, Republicans are fuming about a letter the Democrats sent to Secretary of State Sam Reed on Wednesday.
The five-page letter threatens legal action even before the recount begins if Reed does not “make it clear in (his) hand recount guidelines that ballots previously rejected by canvassing boards or election staff should be reviewed again.”
Speaking on the behalf of Rossi and the Republicans, former Gov. Dan Evans said both the request and threat were outrageous.
“This is not a letter from someone who wants to find the truth; it’s from someone who desperately wants to change the results,” Evans said.
Hmmm. Could it be possible Dan, that Gregoire wants to find the truth and desperately wants to change the results?
Yeah, I know, Dan’s just being a loyal Republican, but I wonder if he’d be so comfortable playing the spin game if saw how dizzy things were getting over on the conservative blogs? For the past few weeks they’ve been describing Democratic efforts with words like “steal”, “illegitimate”, “corrupt”, and yes… “haruspex.” He’s before my time, but I’m familiar with the phrase “Dan Evans Republican” being used to describe a moderate member of the state GOP (you know, like what Rossi pretended to be during the campaign.) So by “moderate” are we talking about the following hyperbole from our friend Stefan at Sound Politics?
In short, by attempting to overturn the decision of Washington’s voters with a less accurate vote count, Christine Gregoire and the Democrats have declared a form of civil war on the people of this state. They are morally equivalent to the corrupt Ukrainian autocrats who have tried to steal the election from its rightful winners in the opposition.
Yeah, whatever, aluminum hat boy.
And if you think the conservative bloggers are incendiary, you should see the comments they generate from readers, like the following reasoned piece of discourse posted yesterday:
If the Democrats really want a war over who’s the next Governor of Washington, they might want to remember that the nation’s military overwhelmingly supported President Bush….
Uh-oh. I better check the weather forecast for Guantanamo.
Anyway, as to that “threatening” letter from Democratic attorneys… here, read it for yourself. Ooooh… scary!
Now, I’ve received some threatening letters, and this one doesn’t even come close. (Hell… I’ve even been sued by Christine Gregoire!)
This is what lawyers do. It’s just standard operating procedure, trying to squeeze the most favorable counting rules they can get out of a Republican Secretary of State. And you can be sure Rossi’s people are attempting the same.
Indeed, the Rossi campaign has not ruled out legal challenges if he loses the hand count.
“I don’t know exactly what would happen if the election results were overturned,” Lane said. “It would be highly unusual, and we would have to explore all our options.
As they should.
In the meanwhile, the righties can yell all they want about us evil, election-stealing Democrats. If the tables were turned, and God forbid my candidate was winning instead of theirs, I’d be screaming bloody murder too. But then, I’m an Eagles fan… so I’m nuts.
Goldy–I just can’t drop this potential fiasco about the Boo-Hoo Berendt provisional ballot affadavit show. Remember how proud he was when he dropped them off….all 400+. He was so star-spangled as he tearfully exclaimed how he spent his whole life for moments like this.
WELLL…now a public record request all turns up 225?????? WHAT IN THE HELL??? The Court told King Co. to set those affadavits aside. What is so hard about copying what was brought in?? It apparently took nearly 10 days. HELLLOOOOOOO! And then only 1/2 of the 225 were on the list of 900+ provisionals turned over to Dems. Now X, who participated in this scavenger hunt tells us some may be illegitimate????? And that King County Elections had SS#’s on file to compare SS#’s on the affadavits to????? Really?? Did they really do that? If King County had all these SS#’s as X says…couldn’t someone have passed those #’s on to the Dems??? Let’s get investigating Goldy. Sometimes ignorance is bliss!
Mr. Cynical-dy, I know I said I wasn’t going to respond to anything you have said, but I would like to ask you to begin to cite your sources. You like to say “word has it” and pull statistics out of thin air without bothering to cite any source for anything you say unless someone repeatedly presses you to do so. Perhaps the reason no one has responded to your comments regarding this subject is because they are unwilling to be lured by you into a debate over a subject which you have raised based on reports and statistics which cannot be verified in any manner due to the fact that no one knows what you are talking about or where you heard it because you did not bother to tell us. Cite your sources and provide evidence to support your positions or don’t be surprised when people ignore you when you raise issues. I would not have to get on your case for having done this if you did not do it repeatedly. If you’d at least say that you heard it from a specific news source or political camp, we would be able to look into the subject and inform ourselves about it before we respond to your comments. At least say something like “Last night I heard on NWCN that…” or “The Seattle Times reported yesterday that…” before you repeatedly post comments about a subject and then wonder why no one answers you. For all we know, you made it up yourself or got it straight from Sean Hannity.
Again Goldy – excellent post. All the people screaming loudly for Gregoire to concede and “respect the voters” or “do the right thing” are Republicans. They long ago stopped listening to anything we asked them to do (no matter how “politely”), and we really need to start returning the favor.
Especially in this case. The law is on our side. The hand recount is legitimate, the methods used have precedent and both R and D observers will be watching closely. Frankly, I think this is an excellent lesson in civics (every vote matters) and the need for more consistent election “technology” across the state/nation.
Goldy, as ALWAYS your points are well taken. It is time for the
the ‘non far right’ to exhibit cohesion and respect for the individual voters of the great state of WASHINGTON and not cow down to the idiotic self serving Republicans
You all, I don’t know if you’ve heard but:
a) Gregoire wants a hand recount of the whole speech, or to concede
b) Berendt will proceed anyway…
Now, what does that make when a party chair clearly under the influence of state employee unions terrified of a Gov’r Rossi versus a State AG whom knows that if this continues, you’re going to destroy public trust and potentially trigger a state constitutional crisis?
Gotta tell ya, I just hope Gregoire doesn’t get the money, she concedes and it’s over with today. Life has to go on. That said, if she does – fine, let there be a hand recount. But be forewarned: It’s going to be a political bloodbath and trust in state gov’t will sink to low enough levels for a demagogue (read Tim Eyman) to start having initiatives that stick again. We should not let that happen. I think Gregoire realizes this… as I just did seconds ago.
Cynical… I concur with Brent, please cite your sources.
I’m not Bob Woodward, and I don’t have the time or resources to investigate every claim posted to my site. Also, in answer to a previous comment in which you asked me to call Paul Berendt, believe it or not I a) don’t have his number, and b) doubt he would take my call.
I’m not a party operative. I don’t even attend my monthly legislative district meetings (they conflict with my PTA meetings.) I’m just some guy with strong and loud opinions, trying to make an impact as best I can.
Hey, you libs need to dig DEEP into your pockets, 7 hours left and your party is still $100.000 short according to the news. Reminds me of a televangilist exept you guys took the God part out.
Chuck, you realize that for people of your ilk, you just insulted tel-evangelists?
See ya in Hell, Chuck!
Hell if nothing else we have to be able to det a good laugh out of this anyway…
LOL
Good cop bad cop media strategy, worked well. Gregoire laying terms to the whole body politic, some might call it leadership. Surprised old Cool Hand Evans, very respected, predicted chaos or something. To jog memories he was the R former distinguished Gov. who was denied a seat at the national convention from Washington when he would not support Pat Robertson. Not a fav of the utter right wing of his party .
“Every vote counters” will have the money. Aside from the close vote count, this will be the most public and scrutinized election in American history. A model about recounts, right here in Evergeen Land.
Relying on Goldys advice, my three time coin toss has predicted the winner, going to check with Vegas and see if I can back it with cash.
New to betting, how do I get odds from Vegas?
Goldy –
Ya know, the real thing that concerns me is the fact that some people think 10am is too early for beer!! What the hell?
Just confirmed from their own messages, that Move On sent 250,000 to the “every vote counters” Dems yesterday.
Comment by Goldy— 12/3/04 @ 9:56 am
Yeah, well I didn’t ask you to call Berendt – but I think you’re a good citizen. I doubt seriously Pall Blowheart will be taking my calls…
But you must know that ANOTHER pro-Gregoire newspaper wants a concession from Gregoire (YEAH!) – namely the Tri-City Herald.
“There is talk that outgoing Gov. Gary Locke may have to stick around past Jan. 12 to lead the state while the courts sort out who his successor will be.
“Gregoire and the party should spare the state that mess while they can. The Herald editorial board recommended Gregoire to Mid-Columbia voters, in large part because of the work she has done to keep Hanford cleanup on track. Now we’re asking her to concede the race and let the state get on with business.”
Good enough reason NOT to give State Dems the money… and the fact that Tim Eyman – who preys on ANYTHING he can – will happily use this as a new raison d’etre for his initiative factory.
Folks, if we’re going to beat back Eyman: We need to restore trust in state gov’t. Governor-ELECT Dino Rossi will have a moral command to do just that!
You guys continue to beat on Eyeman, it just kills me. It isnt Eyeman you are trying to beat back, it is a voting majority, Tim is simply a mouthpiece for us. Tim has made a few moves that I dont agree with but his head is on straight. As for all of you trying to siphon money out of my pocket for the state leave me alone and give your own money if it is that good.
Did I miss something, didn’t Timmie’s last attempt fail big time?
I don’t like the bad information he has put out about how govt. really works. When the auto tax was obliterated, many small towns across the state lost half their budgets. Voters did not know the the auto tax fund was sent back to the rural and small town, small county, communities in many forms to pay for many vital services.
Shooting your foot off because you can does not make sense. Nor does it make sense to pretend as you hop along, you can still walk just as well.
I have been in conversations with a lot of the no tax folks over the years, and they sit next to and live surrounded by public money projects and institutions, roads, bridges, schools, water systems, even in some cases the power lines, the weed control district and the hospital district and the library district.
Then they say with great bravado…..I get nothing for my tax dollars.
Timmie lied to these people, over and over again.
Not to mention that Timmy kept talking about how the state had a surplus, when he was targetting the reserve fund established in Initiative 601 to protect us from dropping revenues meaning higher taxes when the recesion hit. Timmy did MORE to undermine I-601 than amny Democrat- then he had the nerve to try and run an initiative to restore I-601 (his initiative did no such thing, and he failed anyway).
Now he wants to gum up the issue of performance audits, all so he can draw a paycheck. Interestingly, no one who actually has worked these issues has ever indicated an intererst in having him get involved- and no one would hire him to lobby. Rule number one of lobbying- get the language right! Then you don’t get tossed out in court…
Jim, did you ever see the petition for I-601? The big red headline across the top screamed “No New Income Tax!”
What a fucking liar.
Good enough reason NOT to give State Dems the money… and the fact that Tim Eyman – who preys on ANYTHING he can – will happily use this as a new raison d’etre for his initiative factory.
That’s a good reason to give the Democrats money. There will be a statewide recount. There’s no reason why the Democrats can’t raise the required funds. As for Josef’s comments here about Tim Eyman, they are patently ridiculous. We’re not afraid of Tim Eyman. You just want Rossi to win and you’re making up reasons why Gregoire should concede.
Tim Eyman will do whatever he wants, no matter what state Democrats do. He’s clearly shown that he has no limits to his faux-populist anti-government (pro-Tim’s-pocketbook) outrage.
It’s time for us Democrats to stop listening to the Republicans. They do not have our interests in mind. When a Republican says “Democrats will lose legitimacy” or “it’s against the will of the people” what they mean is “Republicans won’t be elected to office” or “Republicans won’t win.”
The republicans are wrong on this issue and we should, in no way, accept their framing of the debate. The recount request has precedent and is well supported by law.
Just because one is for Dino dosen’t mean he or she is a die-hard Republican. Some us vote on candidiates, not bt party. As far as the bible-thumper thing goes, whatever happened to the separation of church and state anyway? I might lose a who two seconds of sleep over the rest of these idiots seeing the world thru stained glass. What about hell, they gotta sign there, or what?
Comment by Jenny— 12/3/04 @ 1:05 pm
Confession: Sort-of. But you guys seem to forget what Gov’r Locke and I get: It’s EymanISM for a reason… you need a lot of people to sign the petitions!
If people are pissed off at state gov’t – then they’ll do some anger management at the polls!
You see my point?
No Josef, all you need is half a million dollars worth of paid signature gatherers. I-695 was the exception, not the rule. And I don’t think Locke ever understood Eymanism. In fact, Timmy was partially the creation of the leadership void Locke failed to fill.
Gov. Locke is a nice guy, smart, dedicated, good manager, well-intentioned… but he’s no leader.