Reichert ducks radio producers, darcy, engagement, reality

He's a good "get." Not because his presence adds brilliance to broadcasting, but because he plays hard to "get."

It's a lack of supply, rather than demand.

That's what radio producers say about the magnificent head of hair that is the 8th district incumbent Congressman Dave Reichert, who's being seriously challenged by smarticulate upstart Darcy Burner.

"Reichert's people always have an excuse [for him not appearing]- when they even bother to return my calls- which is rare," a conservative talk producer who prefers to remain nameless told BlatherWatch Monday. "Burner's been on several times, and frankly, she made a good impression on [host] and everybody else around here."

Ron & Don (KIRO, m-f, 4-7p) said on-air Thursday that "Sheriff Hairspray," (as he's yclept in King County legal circles) won't return their calls, but Darcy "comes down any time we ask her to."

"I like her," said Ron."She doesn't mind when Don asks her the tough questions."

Burner might even get the coveted endorsement of the Ron & Don Nation; which is not, Don says, based "on politics or any of that stuff, it's based on whether we like the guy."

Darcy, according to the boyz, is a helluva guy.

Maybe Reichert's freticence to appear on live radio- especially with his opponent- accounts for some of the 8-point drop in his poll numbers in one month. A KING/5 SurveyUSA poll out Wednesday put the two in a statistical dead heat. 536 likely voters interviewed between Thursday and Monday, gave Reichert 50 percent to Burner's 48. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4.3 points.

A problem Rep. Hairspray's campaign has with their candidate, is that he says very little and not very well.

He looks marvelous, but we'd posit that in light of the dire circumstances in the Congress, the 8th district no longer has the luxury of sending a dashing haircut with an empty suit to Washington. 

A rambler and poor on his feet, Reichert finds himself ill-equipped to vigorously defend his lackluster congressional portfolio and embarrassing alignment with the Bush policies, and the Tom Delay House leadership.

That's why his handlers keep him away from the facund Burner, a former Microsoft exec and Harvard grad. Don't take our word for it- listen to her here.

A newcomer to politics, she needs name recognition, although polls show that once voters are introduced to her, they jump the Reichert ship which was launched and has stayed afloat on the promise of his beautiful silver-gray hair and an exaggerated campaign narrative of the muscle-shirted cop who wrassled down the Green River Killer single-handed.

(Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, once asked Reichert the question everyone always wanted to ask but never dared: "Why are your eyebrows so black and your hair so gray?" Reichert answered, "I dye my eyebrows.")

Radio talker Dave Ross (KIRO m-f, 9a-12p) warned Darcy Burner on the air Thursday: don't count on the polls. He should know- he held a two point lead at this time in the process in his unsuccessful run against Reichert back in 2004, yet ended up being beaten by 4 points.

Reichert, who has a record in the 90+ percentile voting with the floundering Bush administration, and most important to Burner's cause, has supported the President's unpopular war policies that are literally blowing up in the faces of Republican incumbents all over the country.

Sen. Maria Cantwell's solid lead in the state has enhanced Burner's chances, but not nearly as much as Reichert's recent revelation that he was skeptical that global warming was a problem. 

"No wonder they won't let him speak by himself out in the wild," said UW political scientist, Edgar "Choch" Manana. "He ought to get his wife to do interviews."

Reichert insists he's not afraid of debating Darcy Burner. "I've had people point guns at me," he told KUOW's Steve Scher.

Comments

[joanie]

Maybe Shiers could get Reichert . . . since they are both lightweights in the area of gray matter and both seem to think that global warming is just a passing fad.

Oh, and I bet Frank would just love to have his pic taken with the Sheriff . . .

[joanie]

Maybe Shiers could get Reichert . . . since they are both lightweights in the area of gray matter and both seem to think that global warming is just a passing fad.

Oh, and I bet Frank would just love to have his pic taken with the Sheriff . . .

[sparky]

I would love for someone to ask him why he hates the American troops..now that he has voted in favor of torture, our soldiers are considered fair game by our enemies.

[Scrilla]

OH REALLY!!!
Try producing for KVI and getting even a COURTESY "no" from Sims, Nickels, Cantwell OR (obviously) MACK Dermott.
It is arrogance and disconnection.
Meanwhile, Nickels gets some nice old man in Lake City to front his Ref #1 campaign. Very brave.
p.s. This is a lefty blog and I don't EXPECT you to be balanced, but I'm paying for KUOW with my $$$.

[DOUG.]

9% of KUOW's 2005 operating budget came from public resources. Yes, you pay a little, but not much.

[lukobe]

Joanie, you don't ACTUALLY believe Shiers and Reichert are of subnormal intelligence, do you? why the ad-hominem attacks?

[Steve Johnson]

Oh no! Now our soldiers are going to be tortured by the terrorists! If only we hadn't passed that bill.

God you people are stupid.

[Proregressive]

Why are ANY of my tax dollars being used to support KUOW???

If NPR stations are such a hit as this website espouses, then they should have no problem generating enough revenue from their pledge drives and corporate donations to stay afloat.

I'm sure we can think of a lot better places to spend tax dollars in this country than on public radio/tv stations.

For that matter, I've never understood the purpose of funding arts programs with public tax dollars. My latest peeve in this regard is a new overpass on I-90 near Factoria that has some 32 bronze salmon sculptures attached to the railing over the highway. Not only is this distracting for people driving by this "art", but it cost the taxpayers $198K. When is this nonsense going to stop?

[sparky]

Hell ya..I want my tax dollars going to Halliburton, goddammit.

[sparky]

it DOES sound stupid doesn't it, Steve?
Just like when Cheney and Bush said that if we voted for Kerry the terrorists were gonna bomb us.

Glad you agree, pumpkin!

[TomF]

You wrote: << Reichert... has supported the President's unpopular war policies that are literally blowing up in the faces of Republican incumbents... >>

Policies don't "literally" blow up. IEDs do.

[DOUG.]

I don't know why Rush Limbaugh gets to use my airwaves.

[joanie]

Oh, lukobe, get over yourself. Yes, both are. Why do you think Reichert is referred to as "Sheriff Hairspray." Why do you think Shiers is considered so second tier? Or are you an expert on their IQs?

BTW, if you don't like ad hominems, don't bother to read them. No one is forcing you to. You are beginning to sound like a tiresome nanny . . .

Now, do you have something interesting to add to the discussion? Or are you going to continue to throw crumbs at those of us who do express opinions?

[joanie]

Doug, while I'm with you in sentiment, I guess the airwaves don't belong to us anymore . . . at least, that's what people tell me.

[KS]

I doubt if it really matters if Reichert came on the air to the anti-Republican ideologues.

Reichert should be more accessible for his own sake - he was actually looked upon favorably back in 1999 when there were the WTO riots which gave Seattle a black eye thanks to the mayor and police chief's lack of enforcement.
Dave R.actually got out there and did some enforcement and helped get some riots under control, while Mayor Schell did nothing and was being pathetic as was the police chief, who left shortly after.

[joanie]

Lukobe, in rereading your post, I don't understand your question or attack? I said they were "lightweights." Are you saying that your "opinion" is that they are both "heavyweight" thinkers?

Just looking for a clarification here. Thanks.

[joanie]

You know, Proregressive, I've never understood the need for my tax dollars to fund the right's little wars, Haliburton's bungling and the military industrial complex either. I'd much rather look at art, pay for education and provide health care to children . . .

must be a liberal thing.

[Ryder]

You people should all go watch THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.

[joanie]

And you, Ryder, should read more history books.

[joanie]

Program Alert
According to Randi Rhodes website, Dr. Justin Frank Bush on the Couch will discuss the Resident Idiot's "recent displays of callousness, denial, and his manic defensiveness over any criticism."

She just finished with an attorney talking about the bill passed covering prosecution of terror suspects - very, very scary. Anyone can be suspect and may be detained with very few - if any - rights. The attorney commented that American citizens are equally vulnerable along with illegals and alien visitors. I've read that American citizens are not vulnerable - so I guess that is an open question. This bill makes retroactive his ability to torture and to possibly declare "anybody" an enemy combatant.

America is not anymore.

[tim]

yea right /left sorry

[joanie]

He's on, he's on! Talking about Bush's torturing small animals as a kid! He gets pleasure from bullying and torture!

Oh dear, Lukobe, I hope I'm not being too crass for you. . .

[joanie]

Tim: Yeah torture! Yeah death to innocents! Yeah lamed and maimed kids! Yeah maimed and defeated American soldiers! Yeah war profiteers!

You're quite a cheerleader, Tim.

[Tommy008]

Don't get me wrong, Michael Savage is no Democrat, but he said yesterday that he inherently distrusts Republicans, and that they "make his skin crawl". hahaahaaha well said!

[mercifurious]

Don't get me wrong, Michael Savage is no Democrat

SHUT-UP!

[joanie]

Shocking revelation!

[Brian in Lacey]

I don't know why the Styblehead gets to use my airwaves.

[Liz]

Would someone here please email Frank Shiers and tell him how to start a blog. The last two times I have listened to his show, he has started off with a little soliloquy about how amazing his kid is. One was about the fact she could swim, and the other was about a classmate of hers, and Frank and the kid shared a Buzz Light Year moment.

Really, as touching as they are, they don't belong on talk radio. Everyone thinks their kids is tops, but listening to the constant diary is, well, boring. Maybe he can get a column in Good Housekeeping or Hilights magazine. Maybe he could be the first male member on The View. I don't know if I speak for others, but what your kid does, really does not interest me.

The kid talk was finished with an equally mature "nah nah nah boo boo" moment when he announced "word just in and sure to delight all you bloggers and anonymous emailers, that I will be covering for the month of October."

[testy]

you liberals make me feel churlish.

[ray]

You're an asshole

[KS]

When those like Ray run out of arguments, they resort to name-calling. Way to go !

[Oly]

I'm scratching my head over the above exchange between Ryder and Joanie.

To Ryder: What exactly did you mean? How does The Day the Earth Stood Still relate to Congressdoofus Dave?

And to Joanie: Why such a harsh response to what struck me as a benign (albeit cryptic) comment? An invitation to watch a movie which, if my feeble memory serves me correctly, points out the stupidity of humans going to war at the drop of a hat hardly strikes me as something to which you of all people should take exception. (Granted, perhaps there is some unhappy history between the two of you of which I am ignorant.)

As for namecalling, there is not a soul among us - including KS - who doesn't employ that cheap but satisfying method of discourse from time to time. Tut-tutting about it is therefore rather silly.

[joanie]

Oly, you are right. I've been pretty honery lately mostly because I've been on a tight and exhausting schedule.

Ryder may have provided a totally interesting and relevant suggestion but it's placement and his comment "you people" triggered a negative response . . . I ass-u-me-d a motive that may have been totally off base. . . and "you people" might have referred to KS and Proregressive for all I know. Obviously, I haven't seen "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

Sorry Ryder . . .

[joanie]

One more thing, Ryder: if I should have said "her comment," I hereby tender a double apology. :)

[joanie]

And, last but not least, I'm listening to Lionel on AA and he's pretty darned good. Has the most patience with rightwing callers I've heard and has his facts down as well. He's a good listen . . . I like him!

[joanie]

Oly, can we make that "I've been pretty ornery" lately? I always misspell that word! Must be something Freudian about it . . .

[Oly]

I was fairly sure you didn't mean "horny" when you spelled "honery". Besides, I'm not one of those Spell-Check Police types.

The Buzz (of sainted memory) used to run Lionel after Leykis in the evenings, maybe five years ago. He is actually quite entertaining, and fast on his feet too.

[Oly]

In fact, Lionel sort of reminds me a little of Allan Prell (also of sainted memory).

[lukobe]

joanie wrote:

Oh, lukobe, get over yourself. Yes, both are. Why do you think Reichert is referred to as "Sheriff Hairspray." Why do you think Shiers is considered so second tier? Or are you an expert on their IQs?

No, and neither are you. C'mon--anyone who gets that sort of job is going to be AT LEAST of average intelligence.

BTW, if you don't like ad hominems, don't bother to read them. No one is forcing you to. You are beginning to sound like a tiresome nanny . . .

I guess I should feel at home in Seattle then! :) The reason I don't like ad hominems is not because I'm overly sensitive but because I don't believe it advances the discussion at all. Let's stick to the issues, shall we?

Now, do you have something interesting to add to the discussion? Or are you going to continue to throw crumbs at those of us who do express opinions?

Not to this discussion, no. You've seen my posts before, though, and you know I have intelligent things to say.

[joanie]

Actually, Lukobe, I haven't seen many from you that do express much of an opinion. You are usually critiquing rather than adding . . .

Sorry to say it but that is how I see it. Let's see if I'm wrong in the future, shall we?

[lukobe]

let's!

BTW--critiquing is just as valid a way of expressing an opinion as adding. And I'd say, BTW, that calling Shiers and Reichert "lightweights in the area of gray matter" because you disagree with their politics isn't really adding much...I expect more of liberals.

[joanie]

I didn't call them "lightweights" because of their politics. I called them "lightweights because of their inability to express themselves in cogent ways.

Why do you think they aren't lightweights? Do you consider Shiers in the same league as Ross or Hartmann? Reichert in the same league as Cantwell or even Slade Gorton?

Also, why do you have any expectations of liberals at all?

[lukobe]

No, I don't consider them in the same league. But I also don't consider them to be stupid. It's not all or nothing :)

SHOULDN'T I have high expectations of liberals?

[joanie]

I don't know, should you? Also, since when does "lightweight" imply stupid? Perhaps you need to step back and take it less personally.

[joanie]

Don't know if anybody is interested, but Goldy has posted a picture of Reichert with Foley. He cached it before Reichert's people deleted it from their website.