Team Gregoire assembled a cast of characters to express their earnest outrage about...
...a bunch of political yard signs.
Has our politics really become this small? Besides, I thought we already hit "rock bottom"? If Gregoire will complain this much about a round of critical radio ads and some annoying yard signs, how much will Rossi be entitled to object when Gregoire's left-wing allies at Evergreen Progress unload on him with even more vigor on TV this fall?
The BIAW signs in question aren't the brightest move ever; I've said as much. Nevertheless, excessive whining about yard signs and billboards, even as the incumbent herself can't seem to run an ad talking about her own "accomplishments," increasingly gives off the feel of a campaign that knows it can't win on the merits of Gregoire's actual time in office.
Eventually, those sort of tactics don't hold, as already happened today in a rebuttal statement from the Rossi campaign spokesperson Jill Strait:
Last week the Governor said there wasn't enough time in her busy schedule to place a phone call to a company about creating 400 new jobs in our state, but now she has time to hold a press conference to complain about yard signs. At least we know what her priorities are.
Jobs or yard signs. Which issue resonates with voters more?
Meanwhile, let's be fair and acknowledge that BIAW's signs represent an understandable attempt to motivate Republican voters east of the Cascades who could have showed up at the polls in greater numbers in 2004. Broader efforts to achieve that end are entirely laudable, which almost inevitably will include a bit of stoking of the frustration east-siders feel with Pugetopolis.
At the same time, BIAW should keep in mind that their own ill-chosen words have at times done more harm than good. Democrats, related interest groups, and the left-of-center media establishment will jump all over any perceived rhetorical slander between now and Election Day. Regardless of the motivation factor that may provide to the conservative base, the concurrent negative blowback could prove problematic to the Rossi campaign that will have to rely on many less partisan voters - especially west of the mountains. It would be a shame if such a turn of events came to pass, especially since there is already such a robust stable of issues on which Gregoire is weak.
In the bigger picture that's a common problem in politics. Ideologically fervent opponents say things that inspire like-minded souls, but that which don't always sit as well with voters at large. Given the stakes of this race, it would be prudent if conservative groups working to supporting Rossi kept that in mind, particularly since the Gregoire campaign itself is already making their own candidate appear exceptionally small.
UPDATE: here's a shot of the signs in question, per commenter Phil's request:
Cross-posted at the Examiner.
Thank you, BIAW!
Posted by: Kato on July 10, 2008 09:02 PMSeattle is her only stronghold
Why not tell it as it is
Flush Seattle down the Socialist toilet it belongs in
And let's listen the rest of the state
She is a F'n disaster of overspending and greed
And needs to be retired with her PERS 1 Pension wich will give her her total working wage compensation for the rest of her total life. Thank you taxpayers of this state! I doubt you'll get the same out of your company!
Un F'n Real!
Flush her ... We need change! We Need Hope! We Need Relief from this tax happy Government grabbing Sold out B!
Posted by: gs on July 10, 2008 11:05 PMI'm very proud of his ability to work through all the garbage she's throwing, and for his ability to come across as likeable and credible. Posted by: Michele on July 10, 2008 11:35 PM
I've searched the BIAW site and searches only come up with the various media stories about them.
Help a brother out here, guys.
Posted by: Phil on July 11, 2008 12:56 AMWhy not kick Seattle around a bit. I don't see a statue of Lenin in Coulee city or self cleaning megadollar toilets in Roslyn. Omak city council isn't gathering citizens to have crybabyfests about styrofoam containers. Just follow it up with a tag line "What happens in Seattle doesn't stay in Seattle" Posted by: PC on July 11, 2008 01:14 AM
You may or may not be aware, but the minute he calls the BIAW to talk to them about the signs he has just violated campaign finance laws. They are then a part of his campaign and every penny they have spent gets charged to him on finance limits.
Posted by: Calvin A on July 11, 2008 07:11 AMGregoire and Bainbridge Island need to review the tenets of free speech. Stop whining Chris. Stop whining Bainbridge Island Council.
Posted by: Bainbridge Clear Cut on July 11, 2008 07:16 AM"Independent Expenditure," you political moron. Look it up.
Only a leftist would demand that someone break the law in this state when doing so supports his candidate.
Duffer, you're such a political buffoon.
Posted by: hinton on July 11, 2008 08:13 AMWell the facts support my position. INflated prices because of the lack of homes. Apartments becoming condo's. Apartment costs rising. Soon it it will be cheaper to buy a house than live in an apartment.
Higher Spending. I did not see my salary increase 33% in the past four years to help support the BUdget growth. When budgets grow faster than peoples salaries to support it you get shortfalls.
Green attitude to raise rates. When people conserve prices go higher. I tried to cut my electricity from last year. ANd it was a cold winter. I used less energy but paid more for what I did use. Rising costs affect everyone.
Overbuild is not a problem. We need more affordable homes not the Million dollar homes. IF we overbuild prices will drop and more people can afford a home. I figure the cost of a average home in this area is still over 100K more than it should be. Drop the average price by another 100K and more people can afford their own home. Prices are out of control. I have less and less free money each year. ANd it is growth in taxes, Growth in fees, Growth in bigger government that affect my ability to survive.
As Taxes increase more jobs are lost. I have seen several businesses I enjoyed buying things at close. Sure whats 2 or 3 jobs at one store have to do with anything. If the small business can not survive it is because people can not afford to use thier services. Small businesses are a sign of the strength of the economy. Watching them close is a sign of the Weakness of Washington State economy. Anti business climate is very strong and they are paying most of the bills. Posted by: David Anfinrud on July 11, 2008 08:16 AM
Wow! Tolerance and understanding apparently not a part of your upbringing. Lo siento mucho!
Something Dini is doing must be going very right.
That said, I think that Dini should ask for a revision in those yard signs. Instead of saying that Seattle stole the election, they should be revised to say "Don't let a crook like Ron Sims steal the election again."
That said, I haven't noticed that Gregoire has denounced any of those PAC's which have been involved in negative attacks againt Rossi.
On the contrary, she is denouncing the BIAW, while saying nothing about PAC's which benefit her. Is she following the letter of the law which several of these posts suggest Rossi should ignore?
Posted by: Camille on July 11, 2008 09:10 AMThat said, I haven't noticed that Gregoire has denounced any of those PAC's which have been involved in negative attacks againt Rossi.
On the contrary, she is denouncing the BIAW, while saying nothing about PAC's which benefit her. Is she following the letter of the law which several of these posts suggest Rossi should ignore?
Posted by: Camille on July 11, 2008 09:10 AMdemo kid, bring the A-game. I'll settle for the C-game, but leave the D-game at home.
Posted by: swatter on July 11, 2008 09:24 AMYou show up to insult and just get slapped.
Dude, stick to beer & Jerry Springer re-runs.
Good luck with that! :) Was just listening to the Dave Ross Show and he played Judge Bridges ruling and rationale on his show. Some of you would do well to revisit that Yakima's judge's words. You're starting to resemble the definition of what Phil Gramm of Texas was talking about. WHIiiiiiiiiNERS ROYALE!!!
Posted by: Duffman on July 11, 2008 12:03 PMPlus didn't Nancy say they would be the most honest congress of all. (blew that one) LOL
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on July 11, 2008 01:55 PMHope the 'ranch' is big enough for our ex-President to hide therein, cause if he has any inkling of a legacy whatsoever, it will take a heck of a while for it to surface. What a frickin disaster. Onward, however honest Mr Gramm I wasn't whining. :) Posted by: Duffman on July 11, 2008 02:05 PM
It would also be nice if all anyone had to worry about in buying a house was "where" and not "is it a safe neighborhood."
While I'm at it, it would be nice if I could drink all night and show up for work sober without a hangover.
Posted by: pyotr on July 11, 2008 02:15 PMWe did try to leave. Remember the push to create Cedar County?
Frankly, I'd love to leave Ron Sims and the whole King County fiasco and let Seattle be Seattle in the same way that San Francisco is a city and county unto itself.
The latest I heard is that now Sims and co have decided to slash King Countys law inforcement budget by 20 deputies next year. Does that sound like the kind of leadership that we WANT representing us?
(I'm sure they'll rehire them all to enforce the new rules on paper bags and spend the money to make sure that town homes have the right number of windows instead.)
Posted by: johnny on July 11, 2008 05:24 PMYou and the rest of the Dumbocrats can get a liplock on my big red rosette. Your stupidity has been in charge for two years now and NOTHING has been accomplished. Only the galactically stupid will blame Bush for the ineptitude of the Democratically controlled congress on Bush. Your stupidity does not only not care how much we pay for gas, YOUR STUPIDITY THINKS IT IS A GOOD IDEA THAT WE GET SCREWED. Even some of you IDIOTS are starting to complain. Before you start complaining about the the Dow, maybe you should go back and see what happened at the end of Bilious Clinton's watch. Clean your own house first before you start complaining about someone else's.
Posted by: NW Denizen on July 11, 2008 07:28 PMYou and the rest of the Dumbocrats can get a liplock on my big red rosette. Your stupidity has been in charge for two years now and NOTHING has been accomplished. Only the galactically stupid will blame Bush for the ineptitude of the Democratically controlled congress on Bush. Your stupidity does not only not care how much we pay for gas, YOUR STUPIDITY THINKS IT IS A GOOD IDEA THAT WE GET SCREWED. Even some of you IDIOTS are starting to complain. Before you start complaining about the the Dow, maybe you should go back and see what happened at the end of Bilious Clinton's watch. Clean your own house first before you start complaining about someone else's.
Posted by: NW Denizen on July 11, 2008 07:28 PMI want Old Seattle back. The pragmatic blue-collar city that could joke about Seattle architecture being color-coordinated (concrete gray to match the sky) without getting their panties in a twist about what "visitors" might think about us.
Posted by: Cicero on July 11, 2008 08:42 PMOh, and good work on the historical accuracy. Just as King County is not Seattle, environmental regulations are not Naziism. (Not like we expect the BIAW -- the Inner Party of our age -- to admit this.)
I do have one complaint, though. The comments to this post lack any threat to starve children. We do want you to make the gender pie higher, to paraphrase your Dear Leader, and your joyful descriptions of cruel, mass murder of children do help immensely. Thanks!
You have given us an example of how you did it by applying the following Moonbat rules as shown in the summary below;
Here are a few of the rules that moonbats are attempting to place on the rest of society.
Rule 3.0 - Democrats are NEVER guilty of anything. Ever.
Rule 3.1 - If a Democrat ever makes a mistake or is accidentally found guilty of something; BLAME THE REPUBLICANS.
Rule 4.0 - It is not who VOTES that matter. Rather it is who COUNTS the votes that matter. Please refer to Washington State and Oregon State elections offices.
Rule 4.1 - It is OK for Democrats to fix elections and find votes for dead people. It is NOT ok for Republicans to find fault with that.
Rule 5.0 - Americans share our moonbat values. However never, ever campaign on Moonbat values because Americans are stupid and will never actually vote for Democrats if they really KNEW they shared our moonbat values.
Rule 5.1 - Never, ever under any circumstances admit rule 5.0.
Rule 9.0 - It is OK to hate. Just so long as you hate conservative Republicans
Rule 9.1 - Remember all Republicans are Nazis so it is OK to hate them and if anyone backs you into a corner you can always yell "NAZI!" and that will usually fix things.
Rule 10.0 - Confusion is our ally. Any fallacious argument that can be made will help advance the cause and mire the opposition in refutation of our logical inconsistencies.
Posted by: KS on July 13, 2008 08:23 AMI figured I'd save you the time, as you would do it anyway. You don't really think I expected a rational response here, did you?
"Rule 3.0 - Democrats are NEVER guilty of anything. Ever."
Please provide my quote claiming this. I said that Judge Bridges' ruling contradicted all of the claims the plaintiffs made. That merely means that no one (and, therefore, not "Seattle") stole that election. The BIAW's sign is a piece of lying propaganda, and if noticing that makes one a "moonbat", that merely means that "moonbat" is not an insult. (We prefer "reality-based community.")
"Rule 3.1 - If a Democrat ever makes a mistake or is accidentally found guilty of something; BLAME THE REPUBLICANS."
And where did I say that? Judge Bridges noted the errors made by King County, and the County has taken steps to correct them. The errors were not shown to have affected the outcome of the election, so no harm was done. (How could anyone have been found "guilty" in a civil trial? That would indeed have been a huge accident!)
"Rule 4.0 - It is not who VOTES that matter. Rather it is who COUNTS the votes that matter. Please refer to Washington State and Oregon State elections offices."
Again, Judge Bridges' ruling makes clear that no evidence was presented to support any claim that any person attempted to manipulate the election results.
As for "Washington State ... elections offices", are you accusing our State's Secretary, Mr. Reed, of illegality? (He's a Republican, you know.) As for counting votes, six Republican-dominated counties had greater per-capita error rates than did King County. Does that imply they all tried to manipulate the election's result?
"Rule 4.1 - It is OK for Democrats to fix elections and find votes for dead people. It is NOT ok for Republicans to find fault with that."
Again, Judge Bridges' ruling flatly contradicts your claim that anyone tried to "fix" the election. As for the votes of dead people, "Holmgren previously told The Seattle Times he cast his [dead] wife's ballot for Republican Dino Rossi." (Seattle Times, 03 June 2006) Please vent your outrage.
"Rule 5.0 - Americans share our moonbat values. However never, ever campaign on Moonbat values because Americans are stupid and will never actually vote for Democrats if they really KNEW they shared our moonbat values."
How did the 2006 elections go? Have you seen the predictions for 2008?
"Rule 5.1 - Never, ever under any circumstances admit rule 5.0."
Of course not. Given the massive liberal landslide of 2006, and with a bigger one predicted for this November, doing so would be LYING.
"Rule 9.0 - It is OK to hate. Just so long as you hate conservative Republicans"
A surplus squandered to deficits, clear warnings of 9/11 ignored, illegal war in Iraq based on lies, Afghanistan returning to the Taliban's control, Osama bin Laden gallavanting around freely, illegal spying on Americans, refusal to admit climate change, boy-chasing, bribe-taking, whore-paying, bathroom sex -- yeah, which sane person could find anything to dislike? (Republicans' private acts seem to indicate that the "family values" crowd has very little influence.)
'Rule 9.1 - Remember all Republicans are Nazis so it is OK to hate them and if anyone backs you into a corner you can always yell "NAZI!" and that will usually fix things.'
It was the BIAW who made the ridiculous comparison of environmental regulations to Naziism. I criticized their irresponsible statement; I did not call anyone a Nazi.
"Rule 10.0 - Confusion is our ally."
Why then would I write to clarify these issues? It's the BIAW which is lying, thus attempting to confuse our public discourse.
"Any fallacious argument that can be made will help advance the cause and mire the opposition in refutation of our logical inconsistencies."
Yes, claiming that environmental regulations equal Naziism is a very fallacious argument, as is the claim that "Seattle" stole our 2004 Governor's election. These false claims, if not refuted, could indeed allow mendacious persons to alter our public discourse. Thank you for your concern; please direct your outrage to the makers of those false claims.
As your performance here shows, no effort is made by my opponent to engage in honest refutation, so that tactic would not work anyway.
Thanks for playing! And double-thanks for showing the keen grasp of facts a modern Republican has. I'm sure you're performance here has convinced many voters to hire your Party's candidates.
"Again, Judge Bridges' ruling flatly contradicts your claim that anyone tried to "fix" the election. As for the votes of dead people, "Holmgren previously told The Seattle Times he cast his [dead] wife's ballot for Republican Dino Rossi." (Seattle Times, 03 June 2006) Please vent your outrage."
First off, I am Independent and not a rank-in-file Republican. The republican party morphed into a liberal party which stands for values that I don't support, thanks a lot to the current President. I agreed with Judge Bridges ruling, by the way. The Republicans had a golden opportunity to demonstrate this and could have done so. The Democrats did a better job of presenting their side of the case and even obtained 5 signed affidavits certifying that they voted for Rossi. The judge deducted these votes from Rossi's total. The Republicans could have done the same thing but they did absolutely nothing - a lame attempt, but the judge had no other choice but to rule in favor of the Democrats.
In spite of the verdict - How do you account for the preponderance of dead people who voted and more ballots than registered voters by several thousand, based on an investigation from Stefan Sharkansky ? King County was negligent in addressing these problems and whole process stunk and was riddled with corruption, distributed voter fraud would describe it well. A left-wing activist group, ACORN was heavily involved with voter registration that produced many of the illegitimate ballots. 2004 is water under the bridge, but there is good reason to believe that ACORN doing the same thing at this time. It is my hope that no one will have doubts about the results in this year's Governor's election, regardless of who wins.
"Why then would I write to clarify these issues? It's the BIAW which is lying, thus attempting to confuse our public discourse."
I disagree there. The Gregoire campaign would have you believe this, but they are not being truthful to begin with and they have been successful in demonizing Rossi. Specifically, how is the BIAW confusing the public discourse ? Are you saying the ads I have heard from them are false ? I don't see them as being lies, as they are generalizations.
Lastly, the above moonbat rules are from NW Republican blog - cleverly done and see that you even agreed with some. I haven't seen any wingnut rules from the left - why not ? As in the case with moonbat rules, they would probably end up bolstering the opposition's case. I like honest debates that can be constructive, but dishonest debates typically end up being polarizing.
Beware Sofa Voters, remember the Fate of the Unlearned!! We have been there (for four lonnnng, expensive years), done with that.
BIAW, not the what I would have done but delightfully felicitous.
Time for a change indeed...and amen 19!
Posted by: SB on July 15, 2008 03:47 PM