The Democrats in the legislature are declaring victory ... for their Republican-inspired accomplishments
When majority Democrats wrapped up this year's legislative session Wednesday night, some of their biggest achievements read like a Republican Party wish list.Not to mention mostly sensible election reform, for a change. The headline in the quoted Times article is "Republicans say legislative moves by Dems dim GOP election hopes". But I'm not so sure --They took steps to resolve long-standing water disputes between farmers and environmentalists in Eastern Washington. They handed sizable tax breaks to farmers and the timber industry. They won a truce in the years-long war between business and labor over unemployment insurance. And they pushed through tougher penalties for sex offenders.
The fact that the Democrats were motivated to pass even a weakened version of the Republican platform suggests that their own polling shows that the voters are concerned about issues where the Republicans have far more credibility. Besides which, the Democrats' Republican-lite accomplishments are overshadowed by their irresponsibly bloated tax and spend budget
Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, called it the "culminating project" for Democrats who wanted to go hog wild with spending. He calculated the spending increase at $686 per Washington resident.And that's before giving billions more to Sound Transit and the Seattle waterfront tunnel. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 10, 2006 11:05 AM | Email This
Seems as though the idea to throw out the Republican Commitment to Washington before the legislature began was a dim-witted and ill-advised idea, if we note the title of this article today from Orbusmax.com -
"Republicans say legislative moves by Dems dim GOP election hopes".
At least a few of these legislative moves were apparently stolen by the Democrats from the draft of the Republican commitment to Washington. Very poor political strategy ! Why couldn't this have been held back until the Legislature was over ? Unbelievable !
The Republicans in this state must be content at being second fiddle. I don't just pay attention to words - I look at actions :( Awaiting Phil Spackman's commentary on this.
A couple of years ago, they started cutting the benefits to the homes (while keeping onerous regulations) because of the budget crunch.
This year, believe it or not, the Republicans supported bringing back some of the cuts, but the Democrats were against it. This is usually a Democrat issue. What gives?
So, instead of taking care of the elderly, the Democrats decide to hire 1000 plus new employees, start several multimillion dollar programs that will need additional funding in the near future (aka Gregoire Government Management 101) and make a flat out mess of other things.
Is it any wonder I hate the Democrat party more than the Republicans?
Posted by: swatter on March 10, 2006 11:28 AMRepublican have a lot of issues that can make the democrats very uncomfortable. Is it dirty pool, no it is provide facts Let the people make the choice. Republicans in this state have no real guts or standards. I have been disappointed with thier actions time and time again. I know no politician is clean but look at all the special interest money that shows up on close elections all supporting democrats advertise these figures. and show what has happened by those same elected officials that took all that special interest money. What deals did they support. How much money did the special interests make on a deal for a few thousand dollars of booty to the election coffers?
Posted by: David Anfinrud on March 10, 2006 12:13 PMAdding to yours is the "Democrats are against the elderly".
Buck up guys and get some good candidates out there.
Posted by: swatter on March 10, 2006 01:13 PM You both make some great points about what the
Gop should.I agree they should do these things.
There just one problem the State party has no
money. They are over a million dollars in debt.
Without the resources to get there message out
there is very little chance of anything happening
to change things here.I am sorry to say.
The '94 Republicans had their Contract. I didn't hear of it in ads but through the MSM. If it is catchy enough, it will get the press. If it gets the press, the Ds will counter negatively and look bad. All this is done without wasting a bunch of money doing silly mailings.
Someone told me that the amount of time a voter spends on a mailing is the amount of time it takes to see it and throw it in the trash (er, recycling if you are in Seattle).
Buck up a little, Phil.
I also think a lot depends on the national elections, too. If Bush has recovered, then good for Rs locally.
Posted by: swatter on March 10, 2006 01:51 PMput another way, after the failed republican experiment over the last 6 years, is it even fair to say that either party is the party of fiscal moderation, individual rights, small government? if yes, what evidence do you have to support such claims?
Posted by: dinesh on March 10, 2006 02:50 PM
Or was that a typo? Ironic, isn't it, that your tangled typing immediately precedes your uninformed comment about Dubya. Who do you think is smarter? The guy with a Harvard MBA (Bush), or the guy (Al Gore) who flunked out of law school and dropped out of divinity school (or was it dropped out of law school and flunked out of divinity school)? Who's smarter? Bush, or Kerry, who got worse grades at Yale, and a lower score on the military's aptitude test? One last test, don't worry, it's not too hard. Who's smarter? The guy who won the presidency twice, or the two idiots he beat?
You're entitled to your insane, delusional beliefs, but that doesn't make them true.
BTW, I'm no fan of most Republicans either. I hold my nose when I vote for many of them, because their opponent is worse.
Are you ready? This is the secret no one wants you to know. Washington is actually a very, very conservative state. Not Pres. Bush style conservative. More like Pres. Reagan conservative. They hate the government, they hate politicians, they hate taxes, and they just want to be left alone.
The reason why the Republicans can't keep power? They're not conservative enought. The reason Democrats keep getting elected? The conservatives won't come out and vote.
Two facts to bear in mind: (1) Reagan won Washington State. It wasn't even close. (2) Tim Eyman's nickname is "King Eyman". Why? Because he is running the conservative issues, and the voters follow him almost every time. He has more power than the entire state government put together because he is hitting on the conservative issues.
Democrats try to fool the republicans to run in the center, particularly in King County where any real conservative can win again and again. Meanwhile, the Democrats have to keep some of the conservative issues or else they would be burned at the stake.
Dino Rossi is a real conservative, and he is very practical too. People like him can go all the way to the top. When I was door-knocking, I was foolishly knocking on every door. I'd say, "Vote for Rossi." They'd say, "He's a republican/not conservative/too conservative." I'd say, "He balanced the budget without tax increases." They'd say, "He's my man!"
Posted by: Jonathan Gardner on March 10, 2006 11:55 PMHowever, it appears that the Republican Party would sabotage this. Where did Ellen Craswell fit in ? She was the worst candidate for Governor that I can remember. Rob McKenna might be another possible conservative who could win against most any Democrat. Too bad he wasn't available to run against and beat Sims into the ground. Those type of candidates don't grow on trees - with the ridiculous loophole rich campaign finance reform laws on the books - it just takes money from lobbyists, not integrity to be a viable candidate.
Posted by: KS on March 11, 2006 10:22 PMAmen Brother, the Republicans in this state, and their past so called RNC leader, were just warmed over democrap puppets always happy and willing to throw a few R's over the fence for the Dems higher taxes. What a team they have!
I had high hopes for Dianne, their new RNC leader, but up till now I am concerned because she can't even aparently be bothered to respond to concerns I relayed to her about the Republicans who continually bow to the Queen Christine's request for massive new taxes on the citizens of this state.
I hope Dianne gets some Regan Republican Backbone, and get it real fast, or this will be more of the same RNC leadership , the path of Washington state RNC losers before her.
I truely hope she Kicks some ass and takes charge!
I have to hold my nose to vote or donate to R's in this state right now! The only more disgusting animal right now is the tax happ and rregulation happy Democraps!
Posted by: GS on March 13, 2006 10:04 PM