Speak to us, maria

If Ralph Nader had the scones and the willingness in 2000 to put the public good before the snappish appetite of his ego like Mark Wilson has, George Bush would still be a born-again Texas playboy eatin' fried pies in a political office his family bought him. (an office with big desk, a ficus, and no army, sigh...)

Wilson has the scones. He appeared on the David Goldstein's 3-hour interactive radio blog (KIRO Sundays, 7-10p) made the principled decision to pull out of his primary campaign against Sen. Maria Cantwell and join her re-election campaign against bland GOP meaneocon Mike McGavick.

(In a Sunday evening coup, Goldstein scored Cantwell for a little 14 minute, take-no-callers chat. No news was broken, but it was nice to hear her in a human conversation- we're so used to hearing the right-wing's Maria-the-bitch meme. We know she can stand up to any verbal challenge, so we were left wishing she'd stayed the whole hour and talked to the talk radio audience. For her to dive into this kind of retail politics is what so many Democrats are craving. We say this to every politician: you do yourself no service by ducking this audience).

Wilson put his money where his mouth is last year and spent a shit load of his own dough to make his point that Cantwell was mistaken on the war and has been forsaking what he considered Democratic principles. The two have come to an agreement and Wilson is on the payroll.

He now says, "My values haven't changed, but my strategy has."

At the end of the day, as the Bard Tim Eyman might say, they're on the same page.

(This is bad news for Republicans who love it when Democrats fight over purity and figure anything that might keep Democrats away from the polls is a good thing. Republicans don't like a lot of people voting and Democrats too often indulge them in that pleasure.)

The green party (the green part is envy and the party part is lots of Koolaid but no cookies) has already denounced Wilson as "bought out." Their own candidate, Aaron Dixon whose revealed past as a scofflaw who doesn't vote or pay his traffic fines has already pretty much side-lined his own ill-conceived, disorganized, unfinanced, joke campaign.

But many liberals are still angry at Wilson and what they believe is a betrayal. He says he was always going to endorse Cantwell eventually and now was the time. "It was the right thing to do and the right time to do it," he said.

Wilson's got some 'splainin' to do around the state, alright, and so does she. But we think their both up to the task. This election is Maria's to lose.

Comments

[joanie]

I agree with your last line: "This election is Maria's to lose."

But I will never admit that the way to win is to copy the Rs. We are not sheep. It is in the nature of intelligent beings to think for themselves and we do it. Once we thoroughly vet an issue, we come to consensus. That is the way it should be.

Enough talk about party line, coming together, speaking with one voice and all the other garbage that Goldy is obviously selling. If we are simply authentic, we will prevail in the long run.

I'm annoyed cuz I know Goldy never would have had Wilson on if he hadn't reached a compromise with Cantwell and pulled out of the race.

I'm about as close to being green as you can come without actually joining their party - and I considered joining at one time. Aaron is a good man . . . but he should never have been their candidate. He is part of the problem and will never be part of any political solution.

BTW, "meaneocon" - good one!.

[Goldy]

Joanie,

Ideologically, I too am more closely aligned with the Greens than any other "party," but unfortunately one must always put the word "party" in quotes when talking about the Greens. Until they focus on building from the ground up by winning locals races and changing our election laws to actually permit third parties to compete, they will be nothing but a joke.

As for Wilson, I would have gladly had him on, regardless of whether he had endorsed Cantwell. But I wouldn't have been so nice. That's the nature of what I do.

And for those who are counting, I have invited Tim Eyman, Mike McGavick, and Reagan Dunn onto my show. All have declined.

I'll echo Michael here: it's as much of a mistake for Republicans to avoid my show as it is for Democrats to avoid KVI. I will be harder on R's than on D's, but respectful. (Except maybe for Eyman... he's earned my disrespect.)

[Stephen Schwartz]

Maturity.

Last night's show was about maturity. Wilson's decision means a lot .. about Cantwell as well. However she pulled it off, this means she has the ability to solve political problems.

I have not been a Cantwell enthusiast. The Governor's idiotic gloating about gender politics, the frightening lack of gravitas in Murry, the Guv's own weird world of self importance and her vile campaign against Ron Sims ... all of these have made me very unenthusiastic about the Feminine Trinity.

Beyond my own reactive bigotry, WADR, Cantwell has been almost AWOL until the last year.

What a concept .. an adult Publican running against an adult Dem!

If she keeps this up and gets re-elected, WA state may return to having some stature in Congress!.

[sparky]

I would love it if a Peter Goldmark type candidate appeared and ran against Patty Murray....yeah yeah I know she has done good things for Vets and for that I am thankful, and I know that no congresscritter is going to do everything that I want, but I dont understand why we cant elect leaders who LEAD..where are these women on health care and education, beyond the sound bites when someone asks them a question?

Thanks for getting Maria on your show, Goldy....now I hope she continues this effort all the way to November.

[Fremont]

Great explanantion about Greens, David...equal to your differentiation between liberals and progressives last night. I'm green, as well....I think Nader is an ideological genius, but an abysmal tactician.
Bla'M, I'm sure Aaron Dixon, former chairman of the Seattle Black Panthers, would wither at the reference to his legacy as a "scofflaw".

[joanie]

Goldy, I don't believe you would have had Wilson on had he not shut down his campaign and joined Cantwell. Of course you want Eyman and McGavick because they are big news one way or another. Wilson was not which is why he shut down his campaign.

I know Michael disagrees with my premise that we are a party with as many differences as similaries and we should be true to that identity. In the long run, that is what makes us better and more effective administrators of government.

We keep having to clean up republican messes over and over and over . . .

Also, I'm so waiting for you to tell Beverly to vote for abortion-forcing republicans.

[joanie]

Oh yeah . . . that explanation of the difference between progressive and liberal. Hmmmm. . . I thought Lakoff had something to do with the notion of replacing "liberal" with "progressive." I'm comfortable with your spin on the words . . . but I reject the notion that we have to reinvent ourselves. I'm liberal . . . I'm progressive . . . and I'm proud to be!

Also, until people with radio shows start having greens as guests, they will fail even at local politics. I remember hearing a libertarian on Ebert's show once. But, media has to start giving time to all candidates if they are going to be viable. Will you do that, Goldy?

I forgive Aaron his parking tickets - just barely! But I can never forgive him for not voting.

[joanie]

Andrew is being quoted by Postman on Postman's blog.