Quick Hits and Deep Thoughts: East Multnomah County, here we come...
Kari Chisholm
- Well, it looks like John Kroger has an opponent after all. The Constitution Party has noiminated James Leuenberger for Attorney General. He previously ran for the Oregon Supreme Court. Oh, and remember that teacher in Medford that wanted to carry a gun in school? He was her lawyer. Fun times.
- A decade ago, the House and Senate seats in Washington County were reliably Republican. Today, it's a sea of blue. The same shift appears underway (finally) in the eastern end of Multnomah County. From the Gresham Outlook:
Every single house legislative district in East County — districts 49, 50 and 52 — has seen a significant rise in registered Democrats since the beginning of primary season, and a drop in registered Republicans. ...
“The opportunity available for Democrats is enormous,” said lobbyist Alan Tresidder, who represents Nike and other clients. “If they take advantage of it, I think it will change the political landscape for the next decade.”
Let's do it. Go help the candidates: Nick Kahl (HD 49), Greg Matthews (HD 50), Brent Barton (HD 51), and Suzanne VanOrman (HD 52).
- The Source Weekly in Bend is jumping on Carla Axtman's bandwagon - proposing that the planned sewage treatment plant be named after our president.
- Football is finally here, starting with yesterday's Hall of Fame game between the NFL clubs in Indianapolis and Washington DC. I only mention it because it's an opportunity to give the Oregonian some props. For several years now, the Oregonian has quietly refused to print the offensive name of the Washington NFL team (the Redsk*ns), using instead the city name on each mention. And that's not an easy thing - they have to go thru and edit every wire story that comes across the line. Good work.
[Of course, I'm with ESPN's Gregg Easterbrook - given that the team is headquartered in Virginia and plays in Maryland, the name "Washington" is also a misnomer. He prefers to call them the Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons.]
- Gordon Smith has been bought by Big Oil. Unlike so many other issues where he pretends to flip to our side (but only until the post-election flop), I'm fairly sure on this one, he'll stay bought.
- How long before Gordon Smith joins Idaho Republican Senate candidate Jim Risch - who calls bloggers "left-wing hatemongers"?
- Finally... Yes, BlueOregon went down on Friday night. But only if you were using Internet Explorer. Actually, it wasn't just us. Every site that uses SiteMeter suddenly became inexplicably unavailable on Internet Explorer on Friday night, as a result of an "upgrade" to SiteMeter's code. Ugh. More from Information Week and the Washington Post. (Who gets blamed? As usual, Microsoft. It's their bug - though one that was triggered by SiteMeter's failure to test their new code.)
Full disclosure: My firm built JeffMerkley.com and ElectGregMatthews.com. I speak only for myself.
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Aug 4, '08
So wait, you can post admittedly "snarky" posts about Smith, then attempt to suggest that he will call left wing bloggers "hate-mongers," which he hasn't done... I love the hypocrisy.
Seems to me that if you spend your time using terms such as lying scumbag, calling someone fat, and in general being derrogatory, the reference would fit.
2:41 p.m.
Aug 4, '08
Lying scumbag=hatemonger?
Sheesh...that's pretty thin-skinned, especially given the raft of rightwing vomit that spews forth from rightwing talk radio.
Aug 4, '08
I also take issue with the name calling and general "vomit" that comes from the right side.
The difference is that if Gordon Smith did call left-wing bloggers (which he hasnt)"hate mongers," he could easily make that argument, based on Kari's recent post, and your (Carla) general love for sensational headlines.
You may not consider calling someone a lying scumbag hateful or consider it "hate-mongering," but you certainly open yourself up for that criticism when you decide to go that route with your headlines.
Either way, its ironic that Kari tries to tie Smith to the comment someone else has said...when in fact some of his previous posts could easily fit him into that camp.
3:18 p.m.
Aug 4, '08
You may not consider calling someone a lying scumbag hateful or consider it "hate-mongering," but you certainly open yourself up for that criticism when you decide to go that route with your headlines.
If I were afraid of or had an aversion to being "opened up to criticism" I wouldn't be a blogger. Its inherent in the job/hobby. But that doesn't make the criticism correct...or even in the same ballpark as correct.
3:26 p.m.
Aug 4, '08
Finally... Yes, BlueOregon went down on Friday night. But only if you were using Internet Explorer. Actually, it wasn't just us. Every site that uses SiteMeter suddenly became inexplicably unavailable on Internet Explorer on Friday night, as a result of an "upgrade" to SiteMeter's code.
Shit! Now I find out, after having bought a new anti-virus/firewall. And wouldn't you know it, the timing was such that... voila! I could access Blue Oregon and Preemptive Karma again after I got the new software installed. I was positive that the new program was what had done the trick... especially since a minor Trojan virus was snagged by the initial scan of my files.
:::sigh...:::
Oh well, I've got superior protection out of the deal, even if it was unnecessary.
3:51 p.m.
Aug 4, '08
Really? Calling someone a little chunky is "hate"?
My, my, aren't we all such delicate little flowers...
3:53 p.m.
Aug 4, '08
I'm for Potomac Watershed Indigenous Persons, it saves a word and allows the acronym the PWIPs. We could find alternatives for "Persons," I suppose -- "Team" would give us PWITs, which has a certain ring. If we could find a good "G" word, we could have PWIGs! No 'c's,'k's or 'x's though. Or we could just call them the Fudds.
Aug 4, '08
I've always been partial to Kornheiser's idea: Replace the picture of the Chief on the side of the helmet with one of a sweet potato.
8:05 p.m.
Aug 4, '08
Just move the team to Boise, and we'd have the potato-themed Redskins playing on the Smurf Blue field.
Aug 4, '08
As I never read the sports page...what does the Oregonian call the baseball team from Cleveland? Or the one from Atlanta?
On a more serious note perhaps, I'm wondering: if Washington Redskins is offensive for being pejorative, is it less of a problem to propagate romantic images of our indigenous people, for advertising, say? Like that brand of "natural" cigarettes? I'd say it's just as offensive to propagate the "noble savage" romanticism as to call a team the Redskins. My kid is coming home from school with the noble-savage nonsense implanted in her head, just as I did when I was her age, leaving it to me to talk about our native people as actual people, as best I can.
12:11 a.m.
Aug 5, '08
Okay Kari,
NOW you have stepped in it ;) As the leader of the 10 person strong Oregonians for the Skins Coalition I take umbrage at your assertion vis a vis location meaning anything in regards to being called the "Washington Redskins". By that definition 3/4 of the profesisonal teams in the nation would have to be called by some bizzare suburban name- "East Rutherford Giants and Jets!" The "Foxboro Patriots", the "Alamaeda County Raiders!" etc etc.
As for the whole "Redskin" controversy. Two thoughts - as previously pointed out there are an awful lot of native nicknames. Doesn't make it right and it isn't just that the Oregonian should be consistent (and if they are then good on them"/ But more importantly the team should just take a clue from their fans and call the damn team "The Skins". Nobody calls them the "Redskins" from D.C. and no one would miss it.
12:28 a.m.
Aug 5, '08
JDW and JW --
While I think there's plenty of interesting discussion to be had around names like "Braves" and "Warriors" (which some argue glorify, rather than denigrate), tribal names like "Seminoles", and the Euro-centric ones like "Indians"... I don't think there's any plausible argument that "Redskins" isn't just flat-out offensive.
And besides, Dan Snyder is pure evil. There's a reason his nickname is Lord Voldemort.
Aug 5, '08
Kari, I'm the District Leader here in 49---Nick Kahl's district. Thank you so much for highlighting East County in this post. The Bus Project came to East County last Sunday and we had over 100 volunteers knocking on thousands of doors for Nick and Greg. There will be another East County Bus Project on September 6th and we encourage everyone to Get On The Bus!
Nick is a terrific, progressive Democrat with lots of energy, ideas, and passion to contibute to the legislative process. Anyone that wants to volunteer for Nick in any capacity is most welcome---we look forward to seeing new faces in East County!
Also, I'd like to point out that Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson (SD25) now has an opponent as well...David Kim, who I'm told is Don McIntire's accountant. Laurie is also looking for volunteers. Her website is here
Aug 5, '08
It's great that Kari included Brent Barton in the push for Dems in East Multnomah County, and surely he should be included in the blue tide in the suburbs east of Portland.
I'd like to point out that only 2 precincts of HD 51 are in eastern Multnomah County while there are 189 precincts of it in Clackamas County! It is a burgeoning outpost of suburbia with a rising tide of blue, stretching from Mt. Scott to the area around Estacada. As of the May '08 primary it boasted registered voter portions of Democratic: 39%, Republican: 37%, NAV: 21%.
Brent has been running hard for the seat occupied by rock-ribbed R Linda Flores since she unseated Jan Lee in 2002, after Lee switched from the R to the D column. I've been out canvassing for Brent a lot recently, and we could use some help out there. We deserve a Democratic State Representative, and Brent represents our future.
Aug 6, '08
Today's Clackamas Review newspaper has a story titled "A blue tide washes over suburbs" which supports my previous comment about Brent Barton's campaign. Unfortunately they did not post the story to their website.
Excerpts from the story:
"Oregon Democrats have added 115,000 registered voters since January, overtaking the GOP in four of the five Republican-leaning House districts in Portland suburbs, including the seat currently held by Linda Flores in Clackamas..."
"Some Democratic gains have come via demographic shifts, such as newcomers to Hillboro lured by Intel jobs, or Portlanders buying homes in North Clackamas. Rep. Linda Flores, R-Clackamas, has been watching Democratic gains with trepidation. ..."
"Her Democratic challenger, attorney Brent Barton is seeing change afoot when he goes door to door. 'I'm noticing a lot of new registrants and new participants in the political process,' Barton said. 'I feel we are in uncharted territory.'"
Aug 7, '08
Correction to my earlier comment:
House District 51 has 31 of the 189 precincts in Clackamas County.
<h2>Go Brent!</h2>