She's a laughingstock, again.

Dianeline

So, the Portland Trail Blazers have a new coach - having recruited away Seattle's Nate McMillan. It's "McMillan" - got that?

And, to the Blazers credit, they really worked hard to involve the community - even bringing along City Commish Dan Saltzman and County Chair Diane Linn.

Unfortunately, Linn has become a national laughingstock for completely blowing the new coach's name.

Nothing from the Oregonian (if it matters to Oregonians...) but The Seattle Times has the story:

Even the one glitch in the opening remarks — Multnomah County commissioner Diane Linn calling him "McMullen," not once, not twice, but three times

[Update: The Oregonian gets the story this morning, on the front page.]

Not only that, but our county exec was the joke of the night on ESPN SportsCenter all night and all morning. Today, the story is picked up by the Miami Herald, San Jose Mercury News, Grand Forks Herald, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Akron Beacon-Journal, Macon Telegraph... oh, we're too tired to keep typing.

Catch all the hits here.

How bad can it get for her? Discuss.

  • afs (unverified)
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    I'm waiting for someone to call him "Nate McMenamins."

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    The Oregonian has it today. Poor Diane.

  • steve s (unverified)
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    Diane, Why do you stay in office?

    You can't do your job, have no related skills, continually screw up and have much of the County either laughing or cursing at you.

    Is it impossible for a "politician" like you to preceive reality, take a hint, punt, get out, leave, go away or just plain stop yourself?

    What is it?

    Can't you at least just explain your collective perception of things?

    I mean I know you were elected but is that a total free pass for being completely incappable?

    The county can revover easily and would clearly be better off if you would simply step down.

    It would be embarassing to do but how could it be any worse than staying?

  • Tenskwatawa (unverified)
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    Coach Ain't Much-Fillin'.

    Blazers are sooo Over. New personnel Never Were.

    That a County Commissioner's misspoken comments fill the attention of Liars Larson's hate or sports reports or schopp's slop, tells more about the carpers' calumnity than about the commissioner's composure.

    Help me understand whether The O's snideness is brought in here as part of the 'Blue' or part of the 'Oregon.'

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  • steve s (unverified)
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    Tenskwatawa, That you think there is only a County Commissioner's misspoken comments to fill the attention of Liars Larson's hate or sports reports or schopp's slop, tells more about your blundering misperceptions. You couldn't get it right if you stepped in it. There is abundant Blue critisism of Linn identical to that of the Lars "hate". Of course your contributions are never laced with any snideness, slop or "hate", are they?
    Are you Diane?

  • Dan Estes (unverified)
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    And yet again, it's everyone else's fault.

    If Diane Linn would stop screwing up and making really bad choices, this probably wouldn't be here. There would be no story. Circling the wagons on her behalf only works for so long...

  • JM (unverified)
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    Al Quada, Al Quida....Usama, Osama.....please...let's keep it real, Blew Oregon.

  • Svejk (unverified)
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    My god! Thanks for some real news! Now back to our coverage of shark attacks and Vanilla Ice's comeback!

  • frank (unverified)
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    hey svejk and JM

    your right it's not news, everyone has known for some time that Linn sucks, this is just typical of how she keeps stumbling in the dog shit

  • Tenskwatawa (unverified)
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    Oh, hey, Steve Schopp, while you're back here you can pick up a message for Liars. (Gosh, he stays down out of people's sights pretty much anymore; wonder why ....) I heard you sucking up airtime on the episode of Liars trashing Commissioner Linn; you came on right after Liars cut short the caller who asked him to report Depleted Uranium use in Iraq and testing for sickness in Oregon Guards coming home, when Liars !click! dumped the guy and lied that he 'hasn't seen any reports that D.U. causes sickness or fatalities when troops get back.' And went back to wasting airtime on hating something that doesn't matter, former Blazer fans or something.

    Of course, the guy trying to talk Depleted Uranium facts instead of Commissioner criticism did not get to give his news reference on the air.

    So Steve Schopp, send your pal Liars this one. There's thousands of reports available, nothing special about this one only that it happened to be today's example I tripped over.

    And let's just keep things right out transparently in the Blue Oregon open for returning Oregon Guards to see, when they can't hear Liars turn his back on them, after he made all the sound and fury to send them to Iraq so he could sieg heil for Prez Liar.

    Gulf War Syndrome: "I am 42 and feel like 90 years old" Veteran's Testimony

    June 20, 2005 Originally published in 2003

    ...and served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. I was a Captain and a Registered Nurse. I received many inoculations in Canada before taking the plane to Saudi. Most were NOT documented. ... I tested positive with traces of DU in my urine 11 years after the war. This is scary and very disturbing.

    I have been very ill since the Gulf War. I have lost my hair, my uterus and many teeth. I suffer from an array of symptoms and diseases. I will go into detail later if you wish.

    My health today in the here and now sucks. I am 42 years old and feel like I am 90.I take more pills and medication than my 89 year old grandmother. What really amazes me after all these years and everything I have read, it surprises me that I am still ALIVE !! For how long I don't know. Through the internet I am aware of so many that are on their death beds or dead that served at the same place and time as me.

    Doubtless, Steve Schopp, you are going to make sure your good buddy Liars has true facts for his dumbstruck fans. Doubtless.

    And ya' know, ya' caught me -- some snidemess did get into my above comment. Guilty. Can you show us where you've ever commented without it?

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    OK, guys, this isn't about Lars or uranium or the war. Stay on topic.

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    You know what I say to this whole brouhaha...

    SO WHAT!!!!!!

    Gawd, anyone using this mistake as an indictment on Linn is pathetic! So what, she messed up pronoucing a person's name. How many of you out there have done the same?

    I will always admire Diane Linn for her principled stance on the same-sex licences, her dedication to the public trust as an elected office holder and her past work on pro-choice issues.

    If ya don't like her, run against her! If not, shaddup from the peanut gallery.

    Moses

  • Dan Estes (unverified)
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    Thatis the beauty of the peanut gallery..it's called democracy and we are all free to challenge, criticize or praise our elected officials without the necessity of "putting up or shutting up". Sure, we all make mistakes. The key here is learning from them, which Diane Linn has proven a unique incapacity for. And just to stir the waters, if her stand on same-sex marriage was so principled, why couldn't she do it with full public scrutiny and in the light of day? She alienated people because of the way she chose to address the issue, more than her stand itself. A previous commentor speaks of public trust...If she trusted the public, she wouldn't have acted the way she did. But that is the beauty of being Democrat. You say you speak for the people, but when it comes right down to it, it's easier to do things your own way because, after all, you really do know what's best.

  • steve s (unverified)
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    Tens, What a drift. You don't like my posts so you attack Lars. Funny and snide both. I am quite certain Mr. Larson doesn't need your help (or my passing on your help) for information on anything.

    Linn's mistake doesn't stand alone. Those defending this insignificant error do so with the delusion that it is. Linn is a proven incompetent despite the affection she garnered over the gay marriage issue. That simply is not enough for her to stay in office.

    The County, Region and State are facing severe problems which demand genuine, honest and effective leadership. Linn has none of those prerequisites and serves as an obstruction and continual embarrassment. Even if occasionally it is only by way of an innocent mistake.

    No, it's not nice to call it like it is.

    But do we need nice or de we need a replacement for Linn?

    And Tens, quite pretendinglike you can't talk to Lars yourself. You can call him or e-mail Mr. Larson any time you want.

    I know he would put you on the air. Proving he is not hiding from anything.

    In stark contrast it is your beloved Governor and other elected officials who hide in their comfort zones. Now regularily venturing out to their AM 620 comfort zone where they face no critisism or demanding questions.

    I won't ask you to pass on anything to any of them however. I can call or e-mail them myself.

  • Keeping Score (unverified)
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    Just for the record, Moses, Linn's "principled stand" on gay marriage went away the day she apologized for it

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    If you read further on in the article you reference...

    <snip> But she did stress that she doesn't regret the decision that allowed gays to get married in the county, just the way it was handled.

    In other words, she took a position that some people didn't like. That to me is a "principled stand".

  • debra (unverified)
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    Hey Moses, I'm a loyal Dem too, but come on let's get real about Linn. She's no Bev Stien.

    You know its not her politics that stink, she's good on the issues, but my god she has just been a disaster as a county chair. She just doesn't know how to adminster effectively. Willamette Weekly made her rouge of the year for a reason.

    It could be her huge ego to blame, or poor communication skills, or poor advisors, or she just could be not that smart. But man this is a liberal town, she inherited a liberal budget, and won her elections over weak opponents with healthy margins. She could have just sailed through, but instead she hit some big rocks in the ocean politics. It's really pretty sad, she should not seek re-election.

  • Dan Estes (unverified)
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    Moses....you define "principled stand" as taking a position that people disagree with?!? Or does that just apply to issues that you personally support? I'm thinking you may want to revise your definition to include something about doing the right thing, even if unpopular. There...it's a freebie. Don't say we Republicans never gave you anything.

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    Dan, I agree with you and I accept your freebie. Usually I get only heartache and heartburn for free from Republicans. lol

  • Tom Civiletti (unverified)
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    As someone who would like to see Diane Linn succeed, she certainly has messed up a lot. It seems the downhill slide began about the time Dick springer left the picture. Ya, I know that sounds like a typical anti-feminist slur, but there are times when there is a great man behind a great woman, probably proportional to the number of times there is a great woman behind a great man.

    Dyslexia doesn't seem a reasonable explanation of the McMullin Incident, after seeing the videotape. Then again, it is a trivial matter, no?

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    Using Occam's Razor I conclude that she's a selfish narcissistic sleazeball, who apparently can't be bothered to retain the name of the new coach over the course of a few minutes,

    or inform all commissioners of public meetings as perscribed by law,

    or manage the county staff at any minimal level of competence.

    Then there was a recent political attack against a couple of congressional staffers for allegations of conflict of interest. There are no fingerprints on this one, but one of these staffers was rumored to be considering a run for commissioner.......Getting out the Razor again........

    Ayup. definitely time to go, Dionne....er, whoever.....

  • Pedro (unverified)
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    First of all I have to say that I agree with Diane Linn on most issues. That being said, I sure don't like the way that she gets there.

    Diane, PLEASE STOP. Think carefully before you speak to a news camera again.

  • Keeping Them Honest (unverified)
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    "Just for the record, Moses, Linn's "principled stand" on gay marriage went away the day she apologized for it"

    Just for the record here is what that link says:

    "But she did stress that she doesn't regret the decision that allowed gays to get married in the county, just the way it was handled."

    It does not appear she apologized for the decision, she apologized for not giving the public a chance to discuss it first. Whether she or the other commissioners would have stood up to the pressure and made the decision anyway is an open question. I'm sure they think they would have, I know there are people in the gay community who doubted it at the time. And, in fact, Basic Rights Oregon, carefully orchestrated the decision to prevent the opposition from having the opportunity to organize against it.

    I frankly doubt that Diane Linn has the political skills to have taken Tom Markgraf to the knife in the Oregonian. If she and Dick Springer have reconciled then maybe ...

    I don't really care whether she can remember the guy's name. I want to know what she was doing there to begin with. Aren't there more important things to worry about than the new coach of the Blazers? This is really only front page news because the Oregonian was once again embarassed by getting scooped in out of town media.

  • Tenskwatawa (unverified)
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    It seemed the topic was how bad can media (mis)representation get in the case of Diane Linn? The parroted aping voices here answer that -- repeating the words programmed in their minds tells what the media programming was.

    Liars droned on about this non-news for six airtime hours and now here parades his cultists exactly reciting his baseless lies. It's doubtful he thinks or cares about the lives of or injustices to homosexuals, beyond thinking his moral-midget ratings get stirred by fear flinging and, being retarded in their development at the juvenile stage, (as Liars admits he is, and his like-minded audience recognizes and attracts to -- misery seeking company), they fear sexual maturity and so he flips snotboogers on their fear to rile them.

    The subject: Madame County Commissioner's mispronounciations, is so trivial it makes media ridiculous to report it. So I ridicule that media. Using contrast: 6 hours of irresponsible "programming" contained a single :30-second caller citing responsible-adult news that military-deployed Oregonians are being poisoned inhaling toxic DU dust in-theatre and are now returning home in that unhealthy condition, which can further contaminate their family in the same house, sure, and also the rest of us around them -- think: second hand smoke.

    The contrast being that this is something important to talk about, give BlueOregon bandwidth about, and develop information about. And learn. Whereas, OBVIOUSLY, someone misspeaking someone's name is not. Mass media airing a missed-wording 'nationally' does not make it important, but the opposite: it makes 'national' media ridiculous.

    Diane Linn herself is doing a serviceable job, earning her pay, managing her responsibilities. Her style ain't my style, (her timing was timely on introducing gay marriage, I might have gotten that, missing being made aware -- as by hate-filled comments above -- that unreasoned and intolerant people can be media-incited to public disorder and riot, I am not sure I would have handled the issue any differently than she did, simply announcing it; and I'm also not sure the timing wasn't pathetically late, or popularly premature, or the timed trick-provocation toward a despot's oppression in the authoritarian rightist model -- whether by her [but an apology says not her], them, their whispering legal counsel, or his subversive handlers to him to them, as public news in today's mass media monstrosity is that Byzantine, that Machiavellian, that defiled in devious undoings as venal as von Klausowitz's or Sun-tzu's or Allen Dulles's double-crossings, where powermad false standard bearers sodomize childish naivety with a Guckerted flagpole; seeing too that eleven simultaneous other electoral precincts incited their moral-myopics with homophobic hastening staged a calculated number of months in advance of November's balloting); AND the Commission's insubordinate Liars being the Town Liar, (just because he has established that he lies, and slanders, and libels, and the details this time don't require examination to discover which lies Liars lied lately, but to show his excretement in a media-isolated market like Portland causes this item to pop out at all, and wind up on here), AND, most of all, amid dealers of death fogging all to forget the truly important people in the real news returning to Oregon, who seek to understand how people here did not care they were sent to Iraq and contaminated, it is vital that veracity is somewhere, (Blue Oregon), to be found: Showing that civilians here got their information from mass media repeating and repeating ruinous Rove-Republican lies to incite media addicts to warring violence; that accurately informed voices were gagged and edited out; and that instead of news the popular media time and space was filled with flinging deranged vile at visible elected officials such as the County Commissioners, for example.

    The commenters above programmed by Liars and rightist excess, or abscess, especially the one who talks long with Liars every day, all show no shame. That's how bad it did get. That's who to blame.

    Some people worked to shut them down, spread talk and conversation to start the wave of public reason, and raise it, and bring you Oregon Guards riding home. Join us. Bury Bush. It's as humanly bad as it could get.

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