March 23, 2006
Loonie Dems Go Ga-Ga over Congressional candidate who has zero experience

The various lunatic fringe Democrats from Howard Dean to wacko bloggers to Eli Sanders at The Stranger (nice guy, good writer, loonie Democrat) are all going ga-ga over this year's unknown and inexperienced Eastside Congressional candidate. In last week's gushing profile of Darcy Burner, a pleasant young woman who is challenging Congressman Dave Reichert, Sanders argues that the inexperienced candidate's inexperienced campaign is "ready for" the "condescending hit" of suggestions that Burner run for lower office and gain some experience before moving to the big leagues of the U.S. Congress.

"If Republicans in Eastern Washington can elect a young woman to Congress, I believe Democrats in Western Washington can elect a young woman to Congress," says Burner campaign manager Zach Silk, pointing to 36-year-old Republican Congresswoman Cathy McMorris of Spokane.
Yes, and any reporter who wanted to be perceived as more independent and skeptical than, say, a campaign spokesman, would have pointed out that comparing Burner to Rep. McMorris only reinforces the contrast. Cathy McMorris
was a member of the state House of Representatives from 1994-2004. She was minority leader from 2002 to 2004, when she resigned to run for Congress.
In comparison with Cathy McMorris, Darcy Burner has zero name recognition and even less experience. Her inexperienced campaign manager will owe much of whatever success he might enjoy to the unskepticism of the liberal media.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 23, 2006 01:07 PM | Email This
Comments
1. Of course, Republicans in Western Washington can elect a woman to congress, too...

Posted by: Timothy on March 23, 2006 01:33 PM
2. I'll be curious how well vetted Burner is. Just because she won the msft lottery doesn't mean she is just a naturally brilliant person that we all should just bow down to. The last dem running for this seat turned out to be a pretty vacuous campaigner, and she actually ran twice, losing pretty soundly. She was also totally inexperienced in the political realm.

Posted by: Janet S on March 23, 2006 01:57 PM
3. http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/0612/mossback.php

Knute Berger aka Mossback Seattle Weekly's article "Purple People Eaters - The Democrats cannot gain control of Congress by denigrating the suburbs." sums it up pretty neatly.

"Seattle Democrats tend to be contemptuous of the suburbs, especially the Eastside, unless, of course, they need them."

BTW Thanks to you and the Seattle Times for giving everyone a heads up that Snake Oil Salesmen Joel Horn and Daniel Malarkey have surfaced in Warden in Grant County, south of Moses Lake.

BTW2 Tina Podowski is a Microsoft Lottery winner but friends on the environmental PAC endorsement committees said she came across as being "slow"

Didn't Darcy Burner run against Ralph Reed as Secretary of State? If I had known Ralph would have mismanaged the Nov-2004 Election and hosed the voter database, I would have voted for Darcy.

With a pound of Starbucks and a dual Pentium based machine she probably would have gotten the database squared away in 48 hours.

Posted by: Green Lake Mark on March 23, 2006 02:15 PM
4. Shameless plug alert...

Reichert will defeat Burner in November but it's always nice to put the nails in her political coffin early so we can focus on other races.

The Re-elect Dave Reichert campaign team is gearing up for operation and can use all the help they can muster right now.
Give his campaign office a call if you have some help you can spare.
425-455-3283

Dave will be having his 2006 Campaign Kickoff Breakfast on Tuesday, April 18 starting at 7:30 a.m. in Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue for those who want to attend.

Posted by: Reporterward on March 23, 2006 02:20 PM
5. Her biggest qualifications seem to be 1) she's willing to run; and 2) she's a military brat.

In democrapic circles that qualifies one as an expert on defense.

Posted by: Obi-Wan on March 23, 2006 02:26 PM
6. More on Cathy McMorris (from the Almanac of American Politics): She also served as a state legislative aide, 1990-1994 and was the owner-operator of the Peachcrest Fuit Basket orchard, 1984-1998. She received an MBA from the UW in 2002. She's on the Republican Steering Committee, which makes committee assignments.

All in all, she looks like a poltician to watch. (And you can congratulate her on her wedding sometime soon. She got engaged on Valentine's Day -- to Brian Rodgers, a former naval aviator, who is now facilities manager at a San Diego church.).

Posted by: Jim Miller on March 23, 2006 02:41 PM
7. Stefan...

Are you saying YOU support Darcy Burner? Because your post said 'wacko bloggers' are supporting her. And we all know, you are the wackiest blogger around!

There's a new Sheriff in town...Darcy will give Dave a new seat...bailiff on the people's court.

Posted by: rossi too on March 23, 2006 03:05 PM
8. The only credential required for Democrats is to shamelessly spout the Progressive/ Socialist platitudes and all of the familiar media lies. Look at Ward Churchill or Jesse Jackson. They've long since been proven illegitimate in their chosen fields. There degrees and resumes, questionable or flat our invalid. But they say the things the media and the Elite Progressives i.e. Rich Democrats want to hear. Another example is Sheehan. From mom to famed activist speaker in no time flat.

Republicans are held to a much higher standard by the left biased media, and the business leaders and their own peers hold them to much higher standards as well. Sure there are the exceptions on both sides. But the point is that all of the Lefty Bloggers and Newspapers love Burner because she pushes the party line and she was willing to run for office. No other experience necessary.


Posted by: Jeff B. on March 23, 2006 03:09 PM
9. The D's surely are confident in this election year, and the R's have given them plenty of ammo to work with...but these same pundits were predicting Democratic gains in the last mid term election, and they got their clock cleaned.

Bush has alot of faults, but they keep underestimating his ability to campaign. All he needs is a couple of pieces of good news to come out this summer or in the early fall, and no Katrina repeats in the south, and the midterms won't be as bad as they might look right now.

Posted by: Palouse on March 23, 2006 03:31 PM
10. Dad, back on the meds and please spell our name consistently.

Posted by: roosi trey on March 23, 2006 03:36 PM
11. I hope she wins. Reichert sold his soul and civil rights of every man in his district in exchange for federal pork money for the Sheriff's association (whatever it's called) from VAWA.

Republicans ought to look more closely at the people and radical ideologies they go to bed with.

Posted by: BananaLand on March 23, 2006 03:48 PM
12. We prefer to be liquored up at an expensive restaurant before going to bed with anyone. Although usually we prefer it to be from someone of the opposite sex but same species.
Sheesh.
When Reichert wrote his book, Chasing the Devil, I didn't know that he actually caught him and made a deal! Lordy, lordy. Best rethink my vote for Congress this November.
Although I'm a bit confused. Is Reichert a radical or Rino?

Posted by: Reporterward on March 23, 2006 04:02 PM
13. It would be a bad idea to underestimate Darcy. She's extremely smart and a world class expert at reducing complex topics to great sound bites.

Her politics definitely aren't mine, but if she isn't taken seriously, it could get ugly.

Posted by: Mike on March 23, 2006 04:16 PM
14. There's no misunderestimating of Burner.
Dave's got the upperhand over her now but it's important that it stays that way.
With the deadline approaching for campaigns to report their funds, it's important for people who plan to donate and/or volunteer with Reichert to do so as early and often as possible.

With enough of an effort made right now, we can scare off the National Democrats and their minions from contributing to this race by this spring.

That way we can focus on our other two winnable federal elections, McGavick's senate campaign and Doug Roulstone's house race up in the Second District.

Posted by: Reporterward on March 23, 2006 06:32 PM
15. We better keep fixing the King County Election Machine, so we can have some faith that who we pick actually gets into office. No Fatal Pends, No Illegal Aliens, No Dead folks, No double voters, No Provisional votes before they are verified. No Dean Logan!

Posted by: GS on March 24, 2006 12:03 AM
16. Shades of Patty Murray! We all remember when she ran as the tennis shoe wearing, soccer mom, ordinary gal, of the people, candidate! And look what we got! One of the most elitist, dictatorial, threat slinging senators in D.C. She had no experience, and the Washington State public loved it, lapped it up. She has the extraordinary honor of being considered the "Stupidest" senator in D.C. Have we learned our lesson yet?

Posted by: katomar on March 24, 2006 09:32 AM
17. Sounds like a double standard to me.

What experience does Mr. McGavick have to justify being elected to the U.S. Senate? He's never been an elected official (municipal, local, county, state or otherwise). His biggest qualifications seem to be that he was on Senator Gordon's staff and was a lobbyist for the insurance industry), yet many on this blog have no problem advocating for his election. Perhaps he should consider working his way up too.

Posted by: Claire on March 24, 2006 01:41 PM
18. Claire: At least he can speak to more experience than that of his tennis shoes! Conservatives don't necessarily clamour for "political" experience in dandidates. We want our representatives to at least have some successful experience in the real world of grown-ups and to be savvy enough to get the job done. Patty Murray has none, and neither does Burner.

Posted by: katomar on March 24, 2006 02:50 PM
19. Good point katomar.

Of course, a three day old ham sandwich has more relevant experience than the moron~in~tennis~shoes...

Posted by: alphabet soup on March 24, 2006 06:55 PM
20. As a delegate to the King County Republican Convention, I am concerned about this issue of "inexperience" due to lack of elected service in lower offices.

As best I can determine Mike McGavick also fits the profile you disparage in your article - a former corporate executive with no name recognition, and no experience in lower elected office, or previous campaign as a candidate.

Your article appears to indicate this is a serious deficit to the candidate, so my question is, shouldn't I be looking at a Senate candidate without this deficit?

Why would your deficit profile only apply to a Democrat candidate, but not a Republican?

West Seattle

Posted by: KCgopDelegate on March 24, 2006 09:02 PM
21. What liberal media?

Posted by: what liberal media? on March 24, 2006 11:28 PM
22. Memo to Mike: So was Laura Ruderman, and look what happened to her.

Memo to Claire: I wonder why that principle doesn't apply to rich dilettante Dems like NJ Gov. Jon Corzine and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, both of whom held no prior elective office when advancing to the US Senate, but were willing to spend boatloads of their own money to get there.

Posted by: NJ on March 27, 2006 04:49 PM
23. My impression is that Darcy Burner, as a member of the Congress, will speak eloquently to the law;
both individually and in concert (teamwork) with
other excellent lawmakers and statespersons, such
as Congresspersons: McDermott, Smith, Dicks and Baird.

Posted by: Paul Schlossman on April 8, 2006 04:16 PM
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