BlatherWatch

Goldy to fill-in for schram

An honest-to-gott liberal on The Commentators? Yes... and it's Goldy!

David Goldstein, political blogger at Horsesass.org and former KIRO talk host, will fill in for Ken Schram on March 23 & 24th.

"We're excited about having David join the team," said PD Dennis Kelly, "He's a great talent." 

War on Xmas: o'reilly listeners jam o'lympia phones

After Bill O'Reilly announced Governor Christine Gregoire's phone number over national teevee last night, and again on the radio today, phones in hers and other Olympia offices went mad with pissed-off listeners, according to a staffer in Lt. Gov. Brad Owen's office.

(photo: Governor Gregoire - she's got more hanging than Billo)

O'Reilly vows to ambush governor gregoire

In the rancid War on Xmas foofaraw tonight on the O'Reilly Factor, the Big Fat Head called Washington Governor Christine Gregoire "weak and ineffective."

"We're going to get the governor," O'Reilly said, "whether she comes in or she doesn't. Well ask her directly."

What will he ask? He'll ask why she allowed the atheist sign in the Capitol alongside Xmas displays.

We know what that means: O'Reilly will send one of his pencil-dicked producers to stick a microphone in the governor's schnoz shouting do-you-still-beat-your-wife questions.

KUOW's conversation turns bloggy... despite themselves

Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas, a leading voice in the generational change-up of the Democratic Party, and the American left appeared on KUOW's The Conversation (m-f, 1-2p) today.

Also: local bloggers David Goldstein and West Seattle Blog's Tracy Record.

(photo: Markos)

(Many who might have been really interested knew nothing about it. the show was not well promo-ed by the public radio station who's known for shrinking from promotion)

The topic was about bloggers letting commenters write pseudonymously and profanely on their sites.

  Pseudonymous commenters, according to Markos, are stripped of everything but their message which will be judged on its efficacy alone. It's egalitarian communication.

(photo: Ross Reynolds)

Darcy, goldy, mcjoan to 'meet the bloggers'

Defrocked KIRO talk host David Goldstein, political blogger, (HorsesAss.org) and Dave Ross fill-in, will be on Meet the Bloggers with Cenk Ugyur.

Also appearing: Darcy Burner who's running against the coiffed Sheriff of Bland for the 8th District ( WA) congressional seat; Seattle's Joan McCarter (Daily Kos), and Matt Stoller (Open Left). They'll  will discussing ways to bring about an end to the Iraq War. Specifically, they will focus on IT A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, which Burner co-authored. Read the Responsible Plan here.

Dave Ross: will dino rossi ambush me... PLEASE?!

Last week Dori Monson was ambushed by Governor Gregoire that is, called him without prearrangement -- and he's been bragging/complaining ever since.

We loved the whole exchange, it was great radio, and wrote almost lovingly about Dori for once. (It showed that despite he has a girl's name, he is The King Of Seattle Talk Radio)

We realized that one of the things that bugs us about local talk radio now that it's been dry-cleaned, pressed and all the local weirdos removed, is the absence of the unexpected. With just Dori, Dave, The Commentators, Ron and "I would Be" Don, there's none (save maybe Kirby of KVI) of the pure, local, slightly strange, one-of-a-kind hosts that promote (not always intentionally) that tension of the unexpected and take you occasionally by surprise.

(That's some of why we're hooked on Too Beautiful to Live (KIRO m-f, 7-10p -- it's feeling that anything -- though perhaps trivial -- can happen at any time).

Movie review: the battles of tim eyman left on the cutting room floor

The Battles of Tim Eyman
Available on DVD, here

If you're Tim Eyman, you'll definitely love Paul Fraser's documentary.

If you're one of the battalion of state journalists, pols, talk hosts, bureaucrats, politicos, activists, or just random citizens walking around Greenlake who appear in it, you may really like this doc.

If you're just incredibly, troublingly wonky about state politics you could like this doc.

But we were suspicious when the twitchy NW Republican blog wrote, "You just know this makes the moonbats seethe inside."

It was for us-- not so much seething... as dozing. (We love to seethe, as you know).

We're sure Fraser thinks his very long (110 mins) is fair and balanced; but we're guessing he fell under Eyman's spell, and though there are dissenting voices, the movie is framed by Eyman, and his minions, Mike and Jack Fagan. 

Grover norquist vs. goldy: the homey takes it

(photo; bored Grover, eager Kermit and David)

We mingled with Republicans tonight and came to some conclusions:

1. we miss David Goldstein on the radio
2. living in the rarified world of the liberal Seattle bubble, there's not enough real political debate in this town.
3. no wonder the right's in trouble

We went to a dinner/debate at The Steakback Outhouse on Westlake  Ave. to hear former KIRO talkhost, David Goldstein debate Grover Norquist, the conservative wunderkind who, despite being a quintessential Washington animal, would famously like government (and you, too!) to be small enough "... where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."

David Goldstein to replace robert mak?

Well, maybe...

David Goldstein, who finished a fine career in radio just months ago at KIRO, has written a must-read letter  to KING5 News Director Mark Ginther offering to leap into the breach left by the departing Robert Mak.

No doubt Goldy, even with his hairline made for radio, could improve the prospects of Channel 5 who may be soon suffering layoffs and a downturn.

We're fairly sure that his idea for title, Up Yours with David Goldstein may not make it with the Texas media company, but we agree with David that hiring him would signal "KING5’s ongoing commitment to thoughtful political coverage and analysis while adopting the snarky and somewhat irreverent attitude of the Daily Show, the blogosphere and the other new media outlets that have been steadily stealing audience (and advertisers) away from traditional news organ izations such as your own."

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~~ Unfortunately for KIRO fill-ins Frank Shiers and David Goldstein; these shrimp cocktails were hired during Passover to fill in for Ron & Don (m-f, 3-6p). "They're not kosher," said PD Rod Arquette, "but few in the R&D audience knew the difference." 

~~ "You don't know what you're talking about." We've been trashing MSNBC's Chris Matthews lately because he gets spittle on his jaw when he talks, and what he's usually talking about generally reveals him to be a supercilious ass. But Thursday, we gotta hand it to you, Chris: you done good. KRLA talk host Kevin James came on to discuss Bush's pointed attack on the Democrats in the Knesset today, where he accused Barack Obama of the "appeasement" of terrorists, comparing him obliquely to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, British Conservative appeaser of Hitler. James, who's a blabbermouthed fool his own self, kept referring to Chamberlain until Matthews could take it no more. "What did Neville Chamberlain do wrong in 1939?" he demanded. James motored on without answering the question. Then Matthews went after him like a school marm on meth until he got James to finally admit he didn't know what the hell Chamberlain actually did in the hideous history he was trying to hang on Obama. "He's as bad as the White House Press Secretary that doesn't even know what the Cuban Missile Crisis was," Matthews said later. Kevin James is an attorney, and the exchange was utterly satisfying. The incident, which can be viewed here, was added almost immediately to James' Wikipedia entry found here.   

Friday oddems: honky whitesville; slime at the water's edge; neville chamberlain plays hardball; tiny, sick children; zucchini de ron; shrimp cocktails hired at KIRO; absolutely nothing about dori monson

~~ Unfortunately for KIRO fill-ins Frank Shiers and David Goldstein; these shrimp cocktails were hired during Passover to fill in for Ron & Don (m-f, 3-6p). "They're not kosher," said PD Rod Arquette, "but few in the R&D audience knew the difference." 

~~ "You don't know what you're talking about." We've been trashing MSNBC's Chris Matthews lately because he gets spittle on his jaw when he talks, and what he's usually talking about generally reveals him to be a supercilious ass. But Thursday, we gotta hand it to you, Chris: you done good. KRLA talk host Kevin James came on to discuss Bush's pointed attack on the Democrats in the Knesset today, where he accused Barack Obama of the "appeasement" of terrorists, comparing him obliquely to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, British Conservative appeaser of Hitler. James, who's a blabbermouthed fool his own self, kept referring to Chamberlain until Matthews could take it no more. "What did Neville Chamberlain do wrong in 1939?" he demanded. James motored on without answering the question. Then Matthews went after him like a school marm on meth until he got James to finally admit he didn't know what the hell Chamberlain actually did in the hideous history he was trying to hang on Obama. "He's as bad as the White House Press Secretary that doesn't even know what the Cuban Missile Crisis was," Matthews said later. Kevin James is an attorney, and the exchange was utterly satisfying. The incident, which can be viewed here, was added almost immediately to James' Wikipedia entry found here.