Thursday, September 07, 2006

WASHINGTON STATE'S TIM SHELDON-- WORSE THAN LIEBERMAN?

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Sometimes if I go out in the middle of the day I get back and look at the number of e-mails that have come in and I just want to... run to the fridge and eat a bunch of grapes. That happened today. So I'm scanning like a madman the subject lines of the 300 e-mails and seeing what I can delete. One pissed me off. It was from Progressive Majority and the title was "Lieberman II-- Battle on the West Coast." I figured it was someone comparing Maria Cantwell to Lieberman again and I almost deleted it. But I didn't and instead I discovered as big a brand-wrecker as Lieberman. Meet State Senator Tim Sheldon.

Democrats don't get worse than Tim Sheldon. Unlike Lieberman he doesn't even make believe. He supported Bush for President right out in the open. Like he Lieberman he has lots of nasty, vicious Republican talking points to throw at Democrats, giving the media an opportunity to ascribe right wing clap trap to "bi-partisan" opinion. He called Howard Dean "the most extreme figure in national politics." He supported Dino Rossi, the extreme right wing loon Washington Repugs ran against Christine Gregoire, and after Gregoire's victory Sheldon joined Republicans in the state senate in a vote to not certify her. He has also contributed thousands of dollars to GOP candidates.

A vicious and unrelenting homophobe, he cast the deciding vote in 2005 against a bill that would have made it illegal to discriminate against individuals based on sexual orientation. Over all his voting record is more Republican than Democratic on issue after issue-- always voting for corporate ambitions to gut environmental safeguards-- and supporting the religionist right, even on stem cell research.

In less than two weeks, Sheldon faces a real Democrat challenging him and seeking to hold him accountable, Kyle Taylor Lucas. You can learn a lot about these two candidates for the Democratic nomination by reading the transcript of their debate. You'd think you were reading a Lieberman/Lamont debate transcript; it's uncanny. Even the state Democratic Party took the unprecedented action of coming out publicly against Sheldon and endorsing Lucas.

7 Comments:

At 6:25 PM, Blogger john said...

Howie,

The content in your Sheldon piece was, as usual, informative and to the point(what a hypocrite; but many times I just enjoy the way you turn a phrase.
Fun to read and it makes me laugh. Thanks for turning over another rock.
braddahjohnny1

 
At 6:33 AM, Blogger Aethlos said...

your posts are so fucking delicious... wow.

 
At 6:49 AM, Blogger Scott said...

I got the same email, read it and found out enough about him to know he should join the Joe party. Yes, the transcript does sound like exactly like Lieberman with the same excuses.

He's not a Democrat.

End of story.

 
At 10:06 AM, Blogger moe99 said...

Is there another Dem in the race? The Dem majority in the Senate is not the safest, so would like to make sure it does not endanger same.

 
At 1:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr. Sheldon has only hung onto office because the primary system in WA allows anyone to vote for any candidate in a primary - regardless of party. So Mr. Sheldon has always drawn on a large republican base to keep himself on top. That changed this year. Now the primary ballot will not be counted unless only candidates of a single party are checked off - no more crossover. The more progressive democrats (and there are alot of them in his district) now have a chance to get rid of him - and believe me, most would love to. I suspect we'll be seeing a significant swing left for the State of WA both locally and nationally this november.

 
At 2:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yah, that Stranger article you linked to is very interesting in its delineation of conflict of interest issues with him holding two offices. Definitely worth reading.

-Primordial Ooze

 
At 4:18 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

MAN YOU IS REALLY STRAINING THE LIMITS OF FREE SPEECH - FORTUNATELY NEITHER YOUR OPINION NOR THOSE OF YOUR FOLLOWERS CHALLENGE THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE WA PUBLIC.

 

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