Search Results for: Dave Reichert

Via Dan…

Hey Dave… how’s that Giuliani endorsement working out for you?

Delayed a bit because Goldy was filling in for Frank Shires, edition. Let’s start nationally:

* My favorite bullshit this week comes from Michael Chertoff’s gut. I don’t even understand the point of mentioning his gut feeling that, “OHMYGOD!!!!1!!!!! We;re all goinna diez!” But, I for one hope that future presidents at least consider not hiring crazy people to secure the homeland.

* A little bit away from the homeland, remember Republicans, supporting the war in Iraq is the means to victory at the polls. Especially when your argument for the war is reduced to we don’t want to make a general sad. And of course, it helps to be able to put words into the troops’ mouths.

* But never fear, Mitt Romney is projecting the goodness that can only come of attacking Iran.

Locally, a lot of the good bullshit has already been mentioned here on HA. Including by me. Still, there’s other bullshit:

* Eric Earling is concern trolling Darcy Burner.

* And finally this week, Forbes Magazine calls bullshit on the state Republicans. Apparently, since the Dems took total control of the reigns of government, the state has gone up to 5th best business climate. I would avoid thinking that business climate is the most important measure of the health of the state but still, it kind of puts a kink into the Republican claim that they are the best people for business.

Over a month ago, I said this about the race among Democrats to take on Reichert in the 8th CD:

Unlike Goldy, I’m not committed to supporting a single candidate. At least not yet.

Today, I announce that I will be supporting Darcy Burner for Congress.

Democrats need an energetic new voice in Washington. We need a voice from Seattle’s Eastside that will advocate for fiscal restraint and personal responsibility. We need someone who understands not only the high-tech businesses of Bellevue and Redmond, but also the VFW halls of Auburn and Buckley. Darcy Burner meets or exceeds all of these requirements.

While some folks question whether Darcy is the candidate who will lead Democrats to victory, I don’t. Darcy fell just 8,000 votes short of victory in 2006. In New Hampshire, Paul Hodes lost to Rep. Charlie Bass by 20 points in 2004. Two years later, Hodes won, 52-45. The truth is, Darcy is much closer to victory in ’08 than many candidates who are giving it second try.

Darcy Burner isn’t the anointed candidate; if there are challengers, she’ll have to beat them. If Dwight Pelz does what Paul Berendt did in 2004 by finding a celebrity candidate to run in the 8th, Darcy will have to beat that candidate, too. No one is owed a seat in Congress, or even a party’s nomination.

Darcy has learned much from her first campaign, and I see no reason why she can’t get another 10,000 votes somewhere in the 8th District.

It’s BIAW-Bashing Night, tonight on “The David Goldstein Show” on Newsradio 710-KIRO, 7PM to 10PM. The lineup could change in response to breaking news, but here’s what I think I’ll be talking about tonight:

7PM: Few right-wing groups are more vocal than the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW), which is in the midst of shattering campaign finance records by spending millions of dollars to put their hand-picked candidates on the state Supreme Court. But one hot-button topic they’ve been silent on is the issue of illegal immigration… and now we know why: as the Seattle Times reports today anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of residential construction workers are Latino immigrants, many of them illegal. Did the BIAW bust the unions and replace them with low cost, illegal workers? Are you willing to crack down on immigration if the result is dramatically higher food and housing costs?

8PM: Over $1.8 million has already been spent on behalf of right-wing Supreme Court challenger John Groen, most of it viciously characterizing Chief Justice Gerry Alexander as a senile, baby-killing boozer. What if anything can be done to prevent wealthy special interests like the BIAW from buying the bench? Terry Sullivan from Washington Public Campaigns joins me to discuss public financing of elections, an idea whose time may finally have come. Are you willing to pay to get big money out of local politics?

9PM: We continue our evening of BIAW-bashing when Seattle P-I political columnist Joel Connelly joins me in the studio. In addition to discussing our disgraceful judicial elections, I’m guessing we’ll also touch upon GOP evil-mastermind Karl Rove’s visit this week on behalf of Rep. Dave “Rubberstamp” Reichert, and the state of the US Senate race between Sen. Maria Cantwell and challenger Mike?™ McGavick.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

I was all set to write about the incredibly manipulative and dishonest tactics behind the state GOP’s frivolous FEC complaint against Darcy Burner… but The Stranger’s Eli Sander’s beat me to it. Sanders outlines the GOP’s simple, time-tested, three-step process towards casting unfounded aspersions.

Step 1: Have the State Republican Party write up the complaint. Mail it off, post it on the web, and send an email to local bloggers and reporters headlined: “8th District Democrat named in campaign violation complaint.” That’ll get their attention. And it does! Bloggers post it (here and here). And the next day, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer picks it up, as does the King County Journal.

Step 2: Nevermind that the Burner campaign has already answered the allegations, calling them “frivolous.” The seeds of suspicion have been planted. It will take the FEC weeks, if not months, and maybe even until after the election, to determine whether the complaint has merit. In the meantime, encourage conservative blogger Stefan Sharkansky to do a running series of posts on the subject (here and here).

Step 3: Feed the story to the conservative Washington Times so that when it dutifully reports on the allegations (as it did today) Sharkansky can do a post announcing “Darcy Burner Makes the National News. Ouch.”

And there you have it: Aspersions cast, doubts raised, a “national story” created, and all of it just in time for Reichert’s campaign kickoff next Tuesday!

When we talk about the right-wing media echo chamber — or Markos and Jerome reference the incredible infrastructure advantage the Republicans have at their disposal — this is the type of crap we’re talking about.

Meanwhile, if you’re more interested in Burner the candidate than the fearful, cynical machinations of her Republican opponent, the Stranger is giving you the opportunity to question her on the issues:

Burner has agreed to address The Issues you find most important, but that we’ve apparently been negligent in covering. So post your questions in the comments section below, and we’ll slog her responses sometime early next week.

Betcha you won’t see that kind of responsiveness from Reichert.