Sound Politics: It's in the P-I

December 15, 2004

It's in the P-I

Joel Connelly in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer applauds what he calls the Democrat's "backbone" in challenging Rossi's double victory with every trick they can invent (including the bogus lawsuit that was unanimously rejected by the state's high court).

Connelly pays me the honor of a mention in his column:

the recount battle in Washington has witnessed mutual back scratching between the far-right SoundPolitics.com Web site and The Stranger. How come? The far-left Capitol Hill newspaper has urged on Gregoire a strategy of surrender.

I disagree with The Stranger on the issues more often than I agree with them, but I still find their writing to be always more entertaining and usually more enlightening than what I read in the P-I. (They were certainly correct in this case to deem a concession to be the politically astute move for Gregoire). And at least when The Stranger wants to use a silly phrase to mischaracterize my politics, they'll come up with something more original than "far-right". For example: "Bush-loving wacko"!

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 15, 2004 12:56 PM | Email This

Comments

1. I just clicked your link to the P-I story and it sent back a terse "Illegal referrer". What does the Kleptocrats' mouth-organ have planned for you?

Posted by: Mr.Zeitgeist on December 15, 2004 01:07 PM

2. Stefan, if you're 'far-right' and pro-choice, what does that make me? Uber-super-duper-mega-far-right?

Posted by: Timothy on December 15, 2004 01:42 PM

3. A classic "consider the source." Joel Connelly is simply a Democrat partisan. No one I know has taken anything he says seriously for a long time.

Posted by: J.A. on December 15, 2004 02:18 PM

4. I just sent this to Connelly:

Joel,

As for the "the far-right SoundPolitics.com Web site" - just what are you talking about? I am pro-choice, actively pro-environment and against the death penalty. Yet Stefan Sharkansky asked me to join the Sound Politics writers group. Far-right? Try diverse. Unlike the P-I. Ask Ken Bunting (my friend and yours) how many of my guest op-ed proposals the P-I has ever run. That is correct: Zip.

I am a Republican - and a NRA Life Member - but I push for reasonable compromise on handgun registration. I am a martial arts enthusiast, and would have no problem personally taking out all manner of bad guys - but cannot support capital punishment because frankly there are worse things on this world for them than getting to play the role of noble martyr. Capiche?

Sound Politics has no Litmus Test - clearly. But you do flunk the Rohrschach.

Scott

Posted by: P. Scott on December 15, 2004 02:26 PM

5. Ask Connolly to tell you the difference between "right" and "far right." He won't be able to do it. The liberals never can--they just shoot their mouths off. Just for fun, try asking a liberal to distinguish between "conservative" and "neo-conservative." They can't do that either. It requires thinking.

Posted by: FedUpWithThis on December 15, 2004 03:02 PM

6. I missed the "far right" smear, being so angry at his claim that Gore had fought a wimpy post-election fight. I was planning to use his column at OTLM, but I'll give you first shot, if you want, Stefan.

Posted by: Jim Miller on December 15, 2004 04:32 PM

7. I started "Voting" with my pocket book and canceled my subscription to the P.I. No subscribers, no money to pay the likes of Connelly.

Posted by: CP on December 15, 2004 05:12 PM

8. Stefan--
You have obviously gotten under Cornholey's skin!
Congrats! Wear that column like a badge of honor...cuz it is.
Cornholey is a funny guy. His problem is he takes himself seriously.

Posted by: Mr. Cynical on December 15, 2004 05:30 PM

9. Connolly praising Al Gore's approach to losing an election is about equivalent to MSM fawning over the dashing D.B. Cooper ripping off the system before bailing out of his Boeing.

Both events struck a mighty blow against public confidence - Al Gore's legions of lawyers against confidence in democratic elections, and Cooper's against confidence in public transportation. Life after those events became significantly harder for 'the masses' (whom Connolly and Cooper and the MSM would claim in public to support).

Give each his own anthill, and stake them out. And put Connolly on the editorial page where his partisan rants belong, and we'll nibble his sensitivities on the blogs - where the P-I can't censor us.

Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on December 15, 2004 06:43 PM

10. I listened to Connelly on KVI this afternoon. Of course he was arrogant. But what really struck me of how confident he was that the elections and counting are all clean. In his world, they can only be clean if Dems win. I think he knows the fix is in, and he knows who is going to win. So, he needs to call the elections clean now so he can continue to call them clean after the Dems steal this one.

I found him to be incredibly dislikable.

Posted by: Scott on December 15, 2004 09:43 PM

11. Scott--
That's exactly why I keep screwing up his name and calling him Poel Cornhole-y!

Posted by: Mr. Cynical on December 15, 2004 09:54 PM

12. Joel Connelly's response to my e-mail above:

SoundPolitics has displayed such a Republican slant, in coverage of the governor's race, that I feel like turning my computer to a 45-degree angle.
jc

I could not resist the repartee:

Joel,

With respect, I would be an idiot to say anything from the Democrats is 'far Left' - but it is sage for you to say that anything from the Republicans is 'far Right'? Is that really what it gets down to?

Scott

Posted by: P. Scott on December 16, 2004 07:41 PM