1. Hey, isn't it much easier for a felon to illegally vote if out of jail? Come on, Gregoire letting them go is only political expedience, isn't it?

Maybe if Democrats got their way and felons were allowed to vote - for Democrats - well, maybe Gregoire wouldn't feel the need to let them out?

Posted by: Hmm on April 23, 2007 11:13 AM

2. What's really disgusting in all this is that all the "D" voters in Washington never make the connection between the stolen cars, house breakins, rapes, shootings, etc. and the policy makers they send to Olympia. You only need a "D" after your name on the ballot are you are good to go. Yet they wring their hands and wail about all the crime and how unsafe their neighboorhood has become and how awful all this crime is and yet never look at who passed all the laws that made it this way.

Posted by: RJK on April 23, 2007 11:37 AM

3. I didnt thinks the Rs had the guts to do this. Good for them. Now, a little bit more.

Posted by: swatter on April 23, 2007 01:18 PM

4. It all come down to the priorities the D's have in allocating our tax dollars.

Prisons are VERY expensive. The D's would rather spend money creating more "Programs" for their core constituencies.

Posted by: deadwood on April 23, 2007 01:45 PM

5. Look, she is just lonely. Being a felon herself, she just is looking for some company ... After all match.com does not have a jail bird section.

Posted by: Carl on April 23, 2007 02:04 PM

6. Agree with all of the above. The equasion is; how many D votes did they buy this session, gay benefits buys the gay vote, family leave act buys average lemming seattle worker and union votes, lowering WASL standards buys the NEA and union vote...will the Rs have enough ammo? We'll see.

Posted by: Jeffro on April 23, 2007 02:10 PM

7. I have a sincere, general question. When Republicans and Democrats disagree, do you automatically assume that the Republicans are saying what they think is best for the state (or whatever jurisdiction) as a whole but the Democrats are just cynically trying to strengthen their grip on power? If not, how do you decide whether the Democrats might sincerely believe that they are doing the right thing for the state? Do you genuinely attempt to understand their rationale?

Serious debate on the issues is interesting. Conspiracy theories assuming that Democrat=Evildoer are infantile and boring.

Posted by: Bruce on April 23, 2007 02:12 PM

8. Bruce:

As neither a D nor an R I find it slightly hillarious and more than a bit sad that true believers feel such a need to demonize their opposites.

That said, I see far more hate coming from the left than I do from the right. The vitriol leveled against the President and his inner circle is the most disturbing. What I see coming from the right is far less like hate than it is contempt.

Posted by: deadwood on April 23, 2007 02:29 PM

9. Bruce: I'd say releasing felons early to kill innocent folks is a pretty evil deed, well-intentioned or not. Since our state has been under D control for as many years as I can remember, and this process has been building for many, many years, I can easily equate D with evil-doer. The policy that puts felons back on the street is a D policy, therefore they need to be held accountable.

Posted by: katomar on April 23, 2007 02:33 PM

10. Bruce-
When the subject is letting felons out of jail before they have served their time, I have to believe that it's about preserving power.

When I see them weaken our education standards, I have to believe it's about preserving power.

When I see them shortchange the amount they spend on police enforcement while jacking up the amount they give in feel-good programs that us plain old taxpayers don't need and don't believe in, I have to believe it's about preserving power.

That's three strikes - one for stealing tax dollars while hobbling our defense against crime, one for shortchanging our childrens education and one for coddling criminals- thats life in prison in some states. (Just not in Washington, where prisoners seem to have more rights and priviledges than taxpayers.

Posted by: johnny on April 23, 2007 02:34 PM

11. Bruce-

Yeah the dems care about us regular folks. Crime is on the rise, felons being released early, schools are lousy, roads/infrastructure deteriorating, businesses are leaving...

Thank god we have dogs in bars, felons being released early (still), felon voting on its way, gay partnership benefits, family leave with pay...no power grab/keep going on there.

Posted by: Jeffro on April 23, 2007 03:27 PM

12. Great article today in the Wall Street Journal about why we don't have involutary commitments of people with mental illness - because the liberals want to believe that we can all just get along and hope everyone behaves. It also touches on the problems associated with releasing dangerous felons back into society - and the fact that the liberals are always shocked, shocked I tell you, when they re-offend! Gregoire was Attorney General when DSHS had several prominent lawsuits in the 90s and she was asleep at the wheel then and no improvemnets have been made to that system - why would we expect her to step up now and act any differently?! Another felon will commit a heinous crime, another innocent person will die, or another good cop will be killed and we'll hear that it's all our fault for not spending enough to get these people help! Sometimes I wonder when common sense became so incredibly uncommon!!

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009977

Posted by: suzihomemaker on April 23, 2007 04:09 PM

13. Bruce, very, very good question. It demanded an answer from several of us.

Now, my turn and it won't be cookie cutter.

I think the Ds are sincere in what they say they believe. Their belief is based upon what unions did for the country in the past. They haven't got past that.

Their belief is to create a utopia that all people make the same amount of money and all are treated the same. This belief, in reality, creates a caste system. Take GW. It was the Great New Republican, Ahnold, who said it best for the Ds- if the people in the Land of Illusion can get millions of others to not use energy, it is a good thing. Why demonize the masters of illusion? So what if they have a ton of SUVs and more than one private jet? If there is overall good (if you believe the GW and credits scam) the masters should be praised.

In the groupthink society (read Ayn Rand) everyone thinks the same. Everyone should have a right to vote in the utopia.

Bruce, you go off-topic often, but why would the Ds not attend an intelligence briefing on a war with $100s of billions of money at stake? Groupthink, I think.

Posted by: swatter on April 23, 2007 04:28 PM

14. Swatter- How many Dems do you know who actually fit the description you paint? You certainly haven't described any of the Dems I know.

Posted by: Bruce on April 23, 2007 05:29 PM

15. Swatter- How many Dems do you know who actually fit the description you paint? You certainly haven't described any of the Dems I know.

Posted by: Bruce on April 23, 2007 05:30 PM

16. Bruce-

Dems that fit swatter's description;

Jerry Hanauer - Owner PCF Co.
Howard Schulz - CEO Starbucks
Paul Allen - Vulcan, etc.

That's three that a lowly guy like me has met and/or know.

Lets just say that in my 47 years, the affluent Rs that I've met (especially when I was a hardcore dem) were much more, gracious, inclusive and just plain nicer. i might ad, they had much more respect for alternate opinions.

I'm sure the posters on this sight have much more examples.

Posted by: Jeffro on April 23, 2007 06:48 PM

17. This is her perverse way of thanking those in King County who helped get her elected - illegal votes from felons that had been released. (tongue in cheek)

What she is also saying is that citizen's safety is secondary to whatever moral relativism they want to make up to fit the situation.
It should be no surprise that she'd like to see all released felons be eligible to vote. The Republicans will need some more effective ads like this if they want to dethrone the Queen come Nov. 2008.

Posted by: KS on April 23, 2007 07:22 PM

18. Another angle:

Dems have no problem with early felon release, and they also vehemently support gun control. Let's see: Disarm the average citizen, and then release less honest and less desireable felons back in to the general population. Sounds like a recipe for creating a lot of sitting ducks.

Democrats like to think of themselves as the party of compassion, but true compassion requires restraint. It's not enough to simply release a feel good policy or give a handout. Real actions have real consequences.

If I were Chris Gregoire, I would be scared to death that a released felon might do something stupid between now and November 2008. It won't take much, and Chris Gregoire will have her Willy Horton moment.

Posted by: Jeff B. on April 23, 2007 09:54 PM

19. A countless number of felons have done stupid things. If I recall correctly, safety is a state's top priority. If indeed I am correct then how come this state is unable to meet that responsibility.

Our court system in King County is bogged down in quick sand. Major felony cases are routinely strung out years. It seems that when a person is finally arrested he is released on bail pending trial that may be as long as years. Justice is not swift. It is not unusual to read the bio of some criminal after committing a murder to discover that he has a record of many alleged felonies; a number of which are pending trial.

If indeed he is found guilty and sentenced to 20 years, the catch and release mentality still takes over and given that mentality he is released in less then 10 years. Free to continue to ravage society.

Many deaths have occurred needlessly because of our irresponsible state government led by a governor that only respects cronyism and socialism.

Why?

Posted by: Snuffy on April 23, 2007 10:28 PM

20. So how many of you greedy little cons are willing to pay more in taxes so we can keep the felons locked up?

(Crickets Chirping)

You nutcases have no idea how foolish a hypocrite really looks.

I was talking to two "really religious" fellows the other day about abortion. I asked them how many unwanted children they had adopted. They said zero. I then asked them who was going to adopt tens of millions more unwanted children if women were forced to carry all babies to term at the point of a gun..... I guess Jesus didn't save them that day. Poor little hypocrites.

The thing about the Republicon Party, is the fact that they do not have one single issue they champion that is correct. The few things they say they are for, Bush, and the congress that was controlled by Cons voted against.

Accountability? Don't make me vomit.

They stand for two things. Corruption, and abuse of power.

Thank god most Americans have figured it out. You can only fool some of the people some of the time, even if you pretty much control the main stream media.

Talk about talking points.....

By the way, what ya gonna do when Bush cuts off funding for the troops, with his veto pen? He wants to play war president (as badly as could be imagined) and get his way forever. Good luck.

How many of you said a prayer for the 9 soldiers that were blown to bits today, so Bush could play war president, and "take out" Saddam?

Have a corpse on me!!!

And all you can do is complain about Gregoire. What a laugh. You people need help.

Tell you what. Go enlist.

I heard the Bush Twins just joined the Army.

Not!

Posted by: Facts on April 23, 2007 11:07 PM

21. "Regarding "DAVE MATTHEWS", "FACTS" and many/MOST of GOLDSTEIN'S PALS..."

Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on April 23, 2007 11:33 PM

22. Hey Fucts, I mean Facts-

Way to stay on point. I believe it was the Ds that said "no new prisons". I'd rather my dollars go to prisons that new entitlements and wrongful death suits brought on by early released felons.

Posted by: Jeffro on April 24, 2007 10:47 AM

23. Facts, buppi, chill. The R's are the ones that vote for prisons for the guilty and fight for real terms. Just because the two people you spoke with did not adopt any children does not show that the R's are hypocrites. Try adopting a newborn today. It aint easy. The D's are soo busy killing them that getting one takes years of waiting in many cases.

But, go ahead and rant. I know that thinking is harder that feeling and you feel better when you rant. Many of us feel better when we think about and solve problems. D's feel better when they rant.

Posted by: Real Facts on April 24, 2007 02:15 PM

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