Dori Monson's call to arms: the great, fake, talk radio tax revolution

I'm not advocating taking up arms... yet. ~ Dori Monson

There's blood in the water. They smell it, and it smells like righteous indignation- and as everyone knows, smug bombast is the grits and gravy of talk radio ratings.

Monson (KIRO m-f,12-3p) was popping his buttons in his calculated, ratings-conscious, blowhardian way (he is the self-proclaimed King of Seattle Talk Radio, after all) after the State Supreme Court struck down Tim Eyman's I-747, which limited property tax growth.

When caller Jim, called Dori on his remark about "armed tax revolt," Dori brushed him off saying it was a joke. "To me, said Jim, "that was not a joke." Dori called him a nut, hit the dump button and snarled, " get outa here."

Dori was in the midst of trashing not only the court- but also Governor Gregoire- when inconveniently, an announcement came into the newsroom from Gregoire saying she'd ask the local taxing agencies not to raise any taxes until she and the Legislature could work out a reinstatement of the property tax cap in January.

"Too late!" he said. (There's no ratings to be had when the bad guy does it right; or the government solves a problem with no gun play or body count!)

"Screw that," Dori said thoughtfully.

And rant he did, with his anger schtick dialed up to 11; doing his best to separate the duly-elected government from the people who elected it.

Solid conservative principles? Hell no, he was stirring the shit so people would get riled up and call in. (Don't forget- that's his job).

"Your life doesn't matter," he cried. "You don't matter, your vote doesn't matter!"

What's he so mad about? They won some on Tuesday- we're the ones who oughta be mad, and we are.

It was only last week lefties were being raked over the coals by Dori and his meaneocon cohorts for being "the angry far left" who are hurting our cause by being so mad. (Why can they get so pissed about taxes they threaten armed revolt but us being torqued about being lied into a deadly and intractable war is fatal overreaction).

Dori's angry charade and faked furor would be just laughable, disingenuous, and dismissed as the show biz it is if it weren't for those few scabrous rural and exurban righties who think it's OK to shoot people when a court, legislature or government agency rules against them.

Talk which makes elected officials sound like invasive warrior aliens has inspired some pretty fantastic fireworks from the gun-totin' right in the past.

We hope this won't incite that kind of action as it did in the early '90's, and that The King of Talk Radio will be distracted from the seditious jabbering and go back to talking about sea-hockey and dogfood, and date rape. 

The Republic would be better for it- and so would the Republicans.

Comments

[sparky]

So, since you knew it was in jest, are you saying that makes you an idiot?

Just sayin'.....

[Goldy is a dick]

Who the fuck wants to pay more taxes?

[joanie]

speaking of taxes and prop 1 - Dave Ross had Doug McDonald(MacDonald?) on today. He has resigned from the state and admitted that he thought/thinks prop 1 was sort of a mess, too.

Very interesting hour. Hope Goldy listened. Goldy seems like he's for any tax that liberals put forth. That's a Democrat, not a liberal. It is like the Dems can't be wrong on anything.

Well, they were wrong on this one and I agree with Doug. He says he thinks some better solutions will come out of this including an emphasis on pay for use. He was clear spoken, clear thinking and very informative this morning.

[scott]

When the State Supreme court turned over 747, that was a massive miscarriage of justice and here is a thought: the state Allows for non Property owners to vote on things that RAISE property taxes... No Matter what you think about Dori (Man he has a face for radio) the real issue is what the courts did AND GOT AWAY WITH. Who gives a rat’s hairy ass if some Radio idiot made a rant to make him look better to his or her boss? Those that are paying attention to that are missing the REAL issue(s). That issue is that the Republican Vs. Socialists… err... Democrat act is just that – an act. Jessie Ventura’s experiences are proof of that. In Fact, the relationship the R’s and the D’s have is very much like Professional wrestling. Unfortunately, they already have the entire show when it comes to elections – there is no real option for a third party as they are priced out of the market – hell, you have to command $15 Million to even RUN for office. But EVERYONE SHOULD make it more and more difficult for them to tax us. Remember, the @$$holes in Olympia are a bunch of three year olds – time to take away their toys (our money) by making it harder and harder to tax us and start making laws that hold them accountable – like LIFE IN PRISION for ANY infraction if you are a lawmaker. I also like the “Politician Tax” that is 150% of the Politicians income idea…

Unfortunately, I have to admit that maybe Duffman is not that far from wrong: the gap between the “haves” and “have Not’s” is growing larger and larger every day and when a person has nothing else to loose, they tend to resort to desperate Measures… and the only winners I have seen are the politicians and big business… Come on People, WAKE THE FUCK UP! Remember, It’s “We the People” Not “We the Corporation”.

Enough of my Libertarian Rant… I can only hope that it opened the eyes of a few of you…

[correctnotright]

Scott:
People who think they are libertarian end up regretting it because libertarianism means doing a lot of stupid things such as:

Letting big corporations get away with anything they want (we tried this before - they were called the robber barons and led to the great depression).

Not using government to plan or incentivize for future problems (ignoring the lack of future oil reserves and letting the market take care of things (so when the price shoots though the roof - we are not prepared and have no alternatives (pretty much the republican approach).

Unfortunately, the republicans have combined corruption and ineptness into a new art form. The K street project and Abramoff were all republican - it was designed to nail down all the lobbyists in the GOP camp and siphon their money into the GOP.

Dems would never have started the Iraq war on the pack of lies about WMDs. Dems wouldn't deliberately sabotage the science to fit the politics like at the FDA or global warming reports or salmon survival.

Go ahead and listen to the right wing spin - they want you to think there is no difference - but the incompetence in the Justice dept, Katrina, Interior, Iraq planning - that was all GOP, all the way.

[scott]

correctnotright, My post was specifically state level (and 747) targeted and you seem to be going of on a tangent with statements that are more federal level… not really sure that has much to do with my original post – and the libertarian comment (your first paragraph) has nothing to do with the rest of your post… you seem to be accusing me of being wrong – but at the same time not having an real relation to my statement(s) - kind of like the following example:

ME: “Wow, it is a nice day out.”
YOU: “Scott, you are so wrong, the Color purple does not remind me of Utah!”

Huh?

Also, what makes you a military expert? Have you ever served in the military? Were you there? Have you ever been in combat? Do you have access to classified information?…or is it just OPINION? (Your comment "Dems would never have started the Iraq war on the pack of lies about WMDs.") If you remember (you can review the tapes too) a lot of the leading Democrats were ALL FOR the Iraqi invasion – now they are not. Just depends on how the wind is blowing… and that is NOT reserved to Democrats. Also, the Dems took over in the last elections and we are still there – doesn’t that lend some credibility to the opposite of your statement? Do you remember Vietnam? Did you know it was Every Democrats Favorite Democrat that put us there? Mr. Kennedy. I only bring that up since so many Democrats like to compare Iraq to Vietnam… My point is that there is no real difference between the two… and the fact they we are STILL there PROVES my point when they ran on the Promise that they would pull us out of Iraq (go ahead and review the older, archived election commercials). Doesn’t that make them liars? … yet making my point once again…

I am not saying there was or was not WMD (and, to be technical, there are still WMD there - the Automatic rifle is categorized as WMD within the Geneva convention - and we KNOW there was chem. Bio there - we sold it to them! - I think you REALLY mean Nukes...) I will go on the record with my opinion: I think (and have from the beginning) we should NOT have gotten involved in Iraq, but we ARE – the stance that a lot in this region have (usually a liberal population) of just walking away is stupid at best. It is analogous with taking birth control when you are already pregnant. You want to see it REALLY hit the fan – continue to support the just walk away idea.

To be honest, I agree with some of your statements – but I fail to see the correlation with your first paragraph and the rest of your post (I really fall into the area of Constitutionalist, but not everyone knows that that is even a party – so the closest Party KNOWN by all is Libertarian). And, we probably agree that one of the BIGGEST problems this country is facing right now is the Polarization – a fire fed by the Extremists in the afore mentioned parties - those that fall into the Socialist thru Fascist categories… the idea of a solely Market driven society is ludicrous – the end result will be a serfdom type society. Capitalism needs to be balanced with a bit of socialism, but, unfortunately the politicians in power want one OR the other – not a balance. Most of the US population really falls in the middle, but, stupidly those that are of an extreme are the one’s elected

But it really extends to just one issue: Follow the money. – both parties are just Puppets to Money – Who’s Money? Big Companies. We currently do not hold our lawmakers – Fed or state levels – to a level of accountability that they should be – and by the way, it was the Democrats and the Republicans that voted to extend constitutional rights to Corporations – NOT Libertarians. Also, you appear to be accusing me of being a Republican… something I had stated BEFORE you even began to type that I was not (the libertarian rant statement)… At best you are accusing me of blindly following the “right wing spin” but did it ever occur to you that you may be following the left’s version of it? All of your comments point to that conclusion. Personally, I do not follow any “spin” but choose to research and find out the facts for myself – but, unfortunately and admittingly, that is getting harder and harder to do – which brings me back to the state level – WA state – a Primarily left state – also just ruled that it is and should be legal to lie in election related commercials… Yet another action making my point.

[PolySciProf]

Scott:
Bravo! Well stated! ...even though I detect that you have a conservative streak, the points you have brought are valid. Be Careful though! You sound like you have what it takes to be a politician – but probably only AFTER you adapt a more flexible morel standing. Did you Attend U-DUB? You sound like you may have gotten to at least the POL S 500 level of my classes at the DUB. Unfortunately, this has digressed from the original posting subject though… but it is always inevitable with these blogs.

[joanie]

That issue is that the Republican Vs. Socialists… err... Democrat act is just that – an act.

Had you been honest in your comment, ie "the Fascists ... err Republicans vs. Socialists...err... Democrats" I might have taken your post seriously.

And to end it as a libertarian rant validates correctnotright's response.

So, what's your beef? I got the connection. Too bad you didn't.

And for anybody to think Duff's comment about the gap between rich and poor is newsworthy causes further concern. Where have you been, Scott?

[joanie]

polsciprof-not, you are funnier than scott. Bet you're a regular Billo, huh?