January 22, 2007
It's in the P-I

Joel Connelly, the contumelious liberal columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, writes today: "Sexism's alive and well on the right". Among his "examples":

the far-right Soundpolitics.com Web site directing ceaseless, often personal nastiness at Gov. [sic] Chris Gregoire.
How pathetically baseless. We criticize Mrs. Gregoire for her public acts as the occupant (under dubious circumstances) of the state's most powerful office. It's no more personal than Connelly's (inapt) characterization of our blog as "far-right". We post similarly tough criticism of other deserving politicians, most of them men. Dissent is patriotic, is it not?

Connelly's "insights" are frequently this painfully far off the mark. At the risk of being accused of harboring prejudice against men with moustaches but not beards, I'll aver that Connelly is simply not very good at his job.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at January 22, 2007 04:20 PM | Email This
Comments
1. Stefan, I must defend you -- Connelly confused ceaseless personal nastiness for sexism. You direct equally ceasless personal nastiness at male Democrats.

Posted by: Bruce on January 22, 2007 04:18 PM
2. You criticize the Governor for being a Democrat, if your hero Rossi had won you'd never have stupid stuff like this on your site.

I think if Rossi had won you'd be acknowledging his incredible accomplishments and not make cheap jokes at his expense. You would all sit around and blame the Democratic congress for not implementing Rossi's tax cuts or mandatory Creationism teachings. Even if his poll numbers we're as low as Dubya's you'd be singing his praises from the rooftops.

You flatter yourself by saying "We criticize Mrs. Gregoire for her public acts as the occupant (under dubious circumstances) of the state's most powerful office." When clearly theres a double standard.

Posted by: Cato on January 22, 2007 04:23 PM
3. So when the Left was virulently criticizing the appointment of Condi Rice to her present position with etc, that was just SEXISM...alive and well on the LEFT????

Forget it, Connelly. It's not that easy and no one's buying it. I very much enjoyed having Jennifer Dunn as my congressperson. Would love to have her still representing me. Is that sexist, too?

Posted by: Michele on January 22, 2007 04:26 PM
4. Wow, that is a good topic. So, what does Joel think of the way his media talks about the sexiness of Obama? Or the famous picture bare-chested recently in Hawaii? Or the past pictures of the Kennedy kid on the boat and topless.

Isn't that sexism, too? I defend my right to comment on a woman's looks. Ditto on the man's looks for those so inclined. Didn't we have choice comments on Mike 'Che' Lowry?

Joel belongs in the unisex and spiritless crowd.

Stefan, you have taken some shots at some using photoshopped pictures, but you did it to counteract something the Connelly crowd had done to a R.

That remark by Boxer was condescending and an attempt to belittle Rice. Boxer had kids, so she is superior? Come on Joel, you have to do better than that and you should know better. Shame, shame on you!!!!

Posted by: swatter on January 22, 2007 04:27 PM
5. The Seattle PI is a closed society. Much like a petrie dish that keeps reproducing the same mutating culture. The end result of the PI's internal structure will be the same as virtually all petrie dish cultures. It will die out from within taking Connelly with it. And at his age, with his resume, he has a great future as a Wal-Mart greeter or a stocker at Bartell's.

Posted by: Doc-T on January 22, 2007 04:33 PM
6. a true statesman--excuse me, seattle libs, statesPERSON--should be up for ANY & all criticism. hard, soft & in between.

one's character and ACTIONS and VOTING RECORDS will separate the chaff from the grain. simple. but scary to the left.

they want a cushy gray area in everything. except forcing (through government fiat) YOU to accept THEIR views. example? diversity "training" and "inclusion" concepts that work to point out more differences than actually promote assimilation, teamwork & REAL state/community/national unity.

Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on January 22, 2007 04:33 PM
7. You would all sit around and blame the Democratic congress for not implementing Rossi's tax cuts

No. If I put forward that complaint, I'd find myself in remedial civics trying to understand the difference between the state and federal government.

Posted by: jimg on January 22, 2007 04:38 PM
8. It cracked me up this morning to see Connelly call Sound Politics "far right".

I wonder if he would take umbrage if I called him a "far left winger".

I suspect he would.

Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 22, 2007 04:50 PM
9. This morning I woke up to find my copy of the King County Journal missing from the driveway. Just think--on May 31 of this year, the PI will also cease to exist. The dispatched Connelly could do worse than become a Wal*Mart greeter.

Posted by: Organization Man on January 22, 2007 05:01 PM
10. Whatever, the intent is still the same:
You would all sit around and blame the Democrat controlled state legislature for not implementing Rossi's tax cuts

Posted by: Cato on January 22, 2007 05:05 PM
11. C'mon Stephan, you know that it is illegal in this state to criticize a woman Democrat politician. Joel is merely doing his part to alert the authorities to your crimes. I forget the punishment, maybe reading the PI every day? Aaaggghhgh.

Posted by: Cliff on January 22, 2007 05:32 PM
12. Connelly the Clueless once again substitutes perceptions for facts. Does this goofball really think Prince Harry or Wills will be in the frontline? He probably believed Al Gore was, too.

He also shows his economic ignorance, otherwise he wouldn't be cheering about the minimum wage hike and reducing tax breaks for big oil. He conveniently leaves out the fact that the AFSCME alone contributes more to the DemocRats than big oil does to the Conservatives. And I didn't see how this related to sexism.

If he wants a real example of shoddy treatment by the press, he should go back and look at how the mainstream media reacted to Condi's appointment and then compare that to their a##kissing coverage of Pelosi as Speaker.

He also overlooks Pelosi's lack of leadership skills. She must have attended that same leadership class as Gregoire. Pelosi made several missteps right off the bat and yes, it was a "catfight" between her and Harman. Harman didn't think it was real smart for an impeached, disgraced judge to head the intelligence committee. Pelosi tried using her position as a bully pulpit and failed, something else Connelly glosses over.

The column is the typical liberal whinefest written by one who is distraught that his "heroes" are taken to task for their actions. He never really does give examples of true sexism. Maybe he doesn't understand the concept.

And finally, Connelly is further proof that reading comprehension skills are no longer being taught in the schools otherwise he wouldn't have written that silly bit about SoundPolitics. The good thing is that he gives the site free advertising and for the few conservatives who still peruse the PI, they may rejoice in knowing there are alternatives to the bird cage liner that lands on their doorstep each morning.

Posted by: Burdabee on January 22, 2007 05:47 PM
13. It's easy for the mainstream media to engage in labeling. They've got the weight of groupthink across all media sources to convince themselves they are correct. Connelly is on the downhill both in terms of his personal life and health, and in terms of his professional life. He knows he's becoming less relevant in the new open media world. And he knows he is working for a paper that is irrelevant and losing circulation rapidly. Even amongst leftwing sources, the P-I is not well regarded.

It's not about Sound Politics, it's about Joel Connelly struggling against himself.

Posted by: Jeff B. on January 22, 2007 05:49 PM
14. Jeff, When Connelly finally overcomes his personal struggle, he'll find that he's really in love with a 150lb feral lesbian in a T.J. Maxx pantsuit. (An obvious unrequited love.)

Posted by: Walters on January 22, 2007 06:07 PM
15. It's my understanding that Connelly and William Arnold are going to a private screening of "Zoo" tonight. Hopefully his mood will improve soon.

Posted by: Faust on January 22, 2007 06:17 PM
16. Mustaches are pretty much associated with child molesters, 70's porn stars, movie bad guys and disco.

On the other hand, most men look better with a beard. Certainly more masculine, which is in short supply in these days of emasculated "metronatural" "men".....

Posted by: H Moul on January 22, 2007 06:17 PM
17. " that he's really in love with a 150lb feral lesbian in a T.J. Maxx pantsuit."

Explanation please. Is that code for something else and if so, for what? What's a 'feral' lesbian as opposed to say a run-of-the-mill Capital Hill type lesbian?

And the T.J. Maxx pantsuit reference? What's that about?

I don't care if these are anti-lesbian, anti-woman or even anti-T.J.Maxx insults... I'm just trying to keep up.


Posted by: Blanchard on January 22, 2007 06:40 PM
18. Today's sexist post: Is this woman just a lousy governor or is she "fickle"

Januray 19, 2007

Gov. Christine Gregoire, however, said enough was enough. She ordered an end to the discussion. Either the state will build a cheaper elevated replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct, or more than $2 billion in state aid would be shifted to the equally needy Highway 520 floating bridge.

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=tunnelcapacity19m&date=20070119&query=Christine+Gregoire

Januray 22, 2007

Gregoire gives tunnel option for viaduct a chance

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=webviaduct22&date=20070122&query=Christine+Gregoire

Posted by: rob on January 22, 2007 07:09 PM
19. Speaking of Joel Connelly, whatever happen to his illegally voting treehouse bunkies from back east? The truth is that Joel wouldn't know a real story if it circumnavigated his Ivan Wiess like girth and landed on his gin enlarged proboscis. He is a well run dry and he needs to be downsized.

Posted by: Smokie on January 22, 2007 07:36 PM
20. The term "far-right" is a fnord, used in this case to mark where people are supposed to feel fear and revulsion.

Posted by: Dishman on January 22, 2007 08:32 PM
21. # 3 Michelle:
Thank you. I don't subscribe to the papers. Did Conelly say word one about Boxer's tirade? Isn't he the one that disses everyone that doesn't hold his views? I realize that this is a blog and there is plenty of sarcastic comment. I wondered why the Governor was called "Mrs." I don't necessariy agree with Secretary Rice, but she has worked hard to get where she is. Now, it's just Boxer to me. Sometimes the comments are close to the line, but on the whole, I think it is just partisian politics.

Posted by: WVH on January 22, 2007 10:19 PM
22. Walters, 'feral' lesbians are my cup of tea and to work at TJ Maxx is just icing on the cake.

And if one of the Bush women, or how about Chelsea Clinton went to the war zone? How many secret service people would that take to protect them? Come on Babs, think before spewing the company line.

Posted by: swatter on January 23, 2007 06:57 AM
23. Joel Connelly...where's a canoe full of indians with a harpoon when you need them?

Posted by: Whiskey Dick on January 23, 2007 07:04 AM
24. Connelly's way off base here. He should apologize.

Having said that, I think that making a point of calling Gregoire "Mrs." at every turn gives Joel some grist to fuel his fevered musings. So maybe Stefan should tone that stuff down.

Posted by: DJ on January 23, 2007 08:36 AM
25. YOu can't spell hate without "Joel Connelly."

Posted by: Coyote on January 23, 2007 08:43 AM
26. You would all sit around and blame the Democrat controlled state legislature for not implementing Rossi's tax cuts
Posted by Cato at January 22, 2007 05:05 PM

And you act like this is a bad thing. If Rossi were to put forward a responsible budget - say, one that doesn't include $4 BILLION in new spending - and that budget included tax cuts ... and the Democrats in the Legislature didn't implement them, then, yes, I would sit around and blame the Democrats for not passing tax cuts.

Again, this is a bad thing why? Or are only Democrats allowed to complain about the actions and policies of the other party?

Posted by: jimg on January 23, 2007 11:12 AM
27. No, Shark, it's not a far right site, and you and you're readers don't take personal cheap shots...as we can all tell by reading the above. Sic yourownself.

Posted by: BobO on January 23, 2007 02:04 PM
28. Right on. Thanks, everyone, for proving Joel's point.

Posted by: Budder on January 23, 2007 02:07 PM
29. I've been seeing the comment 'Dissent is Patriotic' more and more lately.

This isn't directed at the author, especially in this case, but I'd rather see this phrase put to pasture.

It smacks of 'Weakness is Strength' and other Orwellian maxims.

The fact is, well-reasoned dissent, expressed with a respect for the institutions and traditions we hold dear, is patriotic.

What passes for dissent on the left is something other than patriotic. I believe that if you disagree with something, you at least owe it to yourself to try and propose an alternative besides 'make it stop' or 'it doesn't feel right and I really can't put my finger on why.'

Dissent implies that some sort of thought went into a position, and the position is supported by AT LEAST logic, if not fact.

Today, dissent consists of 'Keith Olberman says we are losing in Iraq so let's leave.'

My idea of dissent is, "If Iran and Syria are fueling the insurgency, then its time to cut that line of support at a point somewhere before you reach the border of Iraq, and not after that support has crossed."

Posted by: MDK on January 23, 2007 08:59 PM
30. Apparently Joel suffers from selective memory. Who bashed Ann Coulter, Katherine Harris, Janinie Pirro and Elizabeth Dole to name a few on the natioal scene.

And who was it our 1996 governer's race that branded Ellen Craswell as a "religious fanatic" when she regarded herself as a christian?

Who was it that printed rascist, bigoted and sexist cartoons about Condi Rice?

Why stop at sexism? Who was it that branded Michael Steele, Alan Keyes, and Colin powel as less than african-american only because they considered themselves conservative?

Again and again, the party of tolerance proves themselves to be anything but tolerat... unless you hold their view of the world.

Posted by: Ken on January 24, 2007 11:31 AM
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