Darcy Burner's netroots base will probably never let us hear the end of their earnest insistence that it was those rotten, corporate bastards at the Seattle Times who defamed Burner and thus manipulated the race in favor of Dave Reichert.
Timeout: let me pause for a minute to savor the schadenfreude of liberals complaining about treatment received from the MSM as harmful to election prospects.
[chuckle]
Ok, back to the post.
This blogger believes the lameness of that excuse speaks for itself given the facts of the matter. Nonetheless, I refer one and all to the Stranger's Eli Sanders's take on the issue when it first came up:
Burner, the darling of the Netroots who worked at Microsoft and understands the power of the internet better than most candidates, should get this. She should know that if she misstates, or exaggerates, or clumsily describes her Harvard degree it will eventually be caught on tape and she will eventually have a moment like the one she's having now. To not protect herself against that possibility was just plain sloppy campaigning. [emphasis in the original]
Exactly. It was a preventable, unforced error.
And in Democratic circles outside the netroots, that sentiment is not exactly foreign.
Posted by Eric Earling at November 08, 2008 12:16 PM | Email ThisThe Naked Loon: Burner Campaign Runs on Blind Optimism and Rainbows
Let's focus on things/people that matter. There are more than enough of them to keep us busy.
Yes! Like a nitwit with an AA, a penchant for grandstanding, and even LESS power in the House than he had before.
Posted by: demo kid on November 8, 2008 12:58 PMSo if you're looking for a nitwit, the nearest mirror ought to help you find one.
Posted by: Hinton's BlackBerry on November 8, 2008 01:04 PMWas it only so damn obvious to us or could it have been one of those little things that contributed to her demise at the polls? Nasty looming music for Dave Reichert, pleasant elevator music for Darcy Burner. Barf!
I can only hope that her campaigning days are done just so we never have to hear that stupid music again.
Posted by: RobertinBellevue on November 8, 2008 01:05 PMSo glad that you're showing that unity and togetherness that your Marxist Messiah wants you to show! Such love and tolerance and acceptance from you, for the 3 time elected Representative Dave Reichert.
If Dave's a nitwit who's defeated your Harvard educated, Microsoft trained wunderkind Darcy Burner - well what does that say about her? Her poor showings and consistent failures really speak glowing platitudes for the hallowed halls of Harvard!
Stay classy, Slavery Party Failed Abortion!
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on November 8, 2008 01:30 PMOr how about an inexperienced racist terrorist lover as commander in chief? C'mon, let's all sing the Rev Wright/Obama anthem together:
Gad Damn America.....
Posted by: pbj on November 8, 2008 02:51 PMwe hoped...it changed...
now---for that BIGGER looming Marxist crisis...our de-evolution into Euro-Lite...
Land of Perpetual Victims and Handouts...
I'm confused. I thought Obama had a graduate degree and was President elect?
Posted by: Dave on November 8, 2008 06:09 PMROTL LMAO. The mainstream media working so hard against Democrats. Next your going to tell me Darcy has a degree in economics.
And the other unforced error was Darcy's utter ignorance of Pierce County. She ignored Pierce in 2006 as well, even though Pierce made up most of the Reichert lead.
Either Darcy is getting some really bad advice and ignoring all of the information on the ground during her campaign, or she is so arrogant that she thought her aggro anti-Bush campaign would be enough for a win.
Either way, with nearly a carbon copy of 2006, this second time around doesn't make it look like Burner has the ability to be at all introspective.
She's very much deserving of the criticism she is getting.
Posted by: Jeff B. on November 8, 2008 09:44 PMP.S. Please remember to write your thank-you notes to Joni Balter.
Posted by: tensor on November 8, 2008 10:25 PMLook, dime, the fact is that our local version of OhDrama, who had all the money but none of the support, save from fringe whackjobs such as yourself, lost, again... as most sentient beings knew she would.
While moronic koolaid drinkers like you put that racist, anti-American, empty-suited bigot over the top, that doesn't mean everyone lost their minds all at once.
Just those infected with your derangement syndrome.
Tah, idiot.
Posted by: Hinton on November 8, 2008 10:55 PM1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $4.00 a gallon at one point;
3) Unemployment is up to 5%(a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars,
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.
Remember it's Congress that makes law not the President. He has to work with what's handed to him. (I don't think Obama gets that.)
Now Obama promises 'change' again? Looks like he's going to have to going against his own party and vetoing legislation if we are going to begin to see change from what the Dems have done since 2006
However, I think this election was the peak for Democrats. Now, Dave Reichert should be politically safe for the forseeable future, unless 15 million more citizens are suddenly created.
Posted by: John McDonald on November 9, 2008 07:32 AM48% of the voters in the 8th CD are "fringe whackjobs", eh? Good way to begin your long, long journey into political oblivion. (Don't forget to call us liberals "elitist" on your way out there.)
"While moronic koolaid drinkers like you put that racist, anti-American, empty-suited bigot over the top, that doesn't mean everyone lost their minds all at once"
Way to stay classy in the face of defeat, guys! (It's a sign of superior character, you know.) I'm sure your name-calling will win you lots of votes.
Now, will Reichert or Hastings take the coveted spot no. 435 in the ranking of most powerful Representatives? Place your bets!
Posted by: tensor on November 9, 2008 02:29 PMFirst, Darcy intentionally exaggerated her CV. She does not have a degree in economics. Period. If she had initially said that she minored in economics or had a concentration in economics, there would be no controversy. In fact, had she issued a clarification after the story broke, I think most people myself included would have given her some slack and forgotten the issue. In my opinion, it was the dogged insistence that she did in fact have a "degree in Economics, from Harvard" that was so damning. Now admittedly, I personally would never have voted for her but don't you think that undecided voters would be put off by her pig-headed insistence that she had something that she does not?
Secondly, Reichert's campaign ran awfully hard with the notion that she had no economics degree whatsoever and, by implication, that the whole thing was a flat out lie. Perhaps Harvard's nomenclature wasn't intended to be understood by mere mortals but I would translate what she has as a minor in economics. So, Reichert too exaggerated by saying that she had no degree. However, -- I'm sorry if this seems partisan -- I'm inclined to cut him some slack on this since she opened the door and refused to take a more moderate tack by restating her position to reflect that she had minored in economics.
So, in the end I came away with the opinion that Darcy in incredibly hard headed which is not something that's overly useful in someone you're supposedly electing to practice the art of compromise as politics has been referred to.
Finally, lot's of big "R" republicans hope that we've seen the last of Darcy in the 8th. Not I. If Obama's otherwise huge coattails couldn't drag darcy over the line the way that they did for Governor Gregoire, I doubt that she could ever win. So, I look forward to seeing Darcy in two years time. The big question is whether or not her outside the district backers would be willing to back such a pig-headed poke again.