Monthly Archives: August 2012

Posted inElections, Events, Party Politics

RNC Postmortem: Republicans head home after last day of convention in Tampa, Florida

by Andrew Villeneuve

Yes­ter­day was the final day of the 2012 Repub­li­can Nation­al Con­ven­tion in Tam­pa, Flori­da. Here are a few part­ing thoughts on the con­ven­tion from The Seat­tle Times‘ Jim Brun­ner, The Stranger‘s Paul Con­stant, and oth­er jour­nal­ists who were in town cov­er­ing the con­ven­tion from a nation­al per­spec­tive. Paul Con­stant has an essay in The Stranger […]

Posted inSeries & Special Reports

Flashback to the Bush Error: In 2001, Paul Ryan defended budget-busting tax cuts

by Andrew Villeneuve

Today, we’re begin­ning a new series on The Advo­cate called Flash­back to the Bush Error that will fea­ture new install­ments on Fri­days each week through Elec­tion Day. The pur­pose of this series is to doc­u­ment and explore Paul Ryan and Mitt Rom­ney’s sup­port for the failed poli­cies of George W. Bush dur­ing the eight years […]

Posted inHealthcare, Policy Topics

Patient Protection Act a start, but U.S. still needs true healthcare reform: Medicare for All

by Ralph Gorin

Along with eco­nom­ic secu­ri­ty, the future of Medicare has emerged as a sig­nif­i­cant issue in the pres­i­den­tial cam­paign. The Patient Pro­tec­tion Act, passed more than two years ago and recent­ly upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court,  pro­vides insur­ance reform, not health­care reform. But both are need­ed. The Patient Pro­tec­tion Act imposed new require­ments on health […]

Posted inEvents, Party Politics

RNC Watch: Charter bus fiasco keeps Washington State Republicans up really late

by Andrew Villeneuve

Today is the third day of the 2012 Repub­li­can Nation­al Con­ven­tion in Tam­pa, Flori­da. Here’s a roundup of some of the goings-on there, as report­ed by The Seat­tle Times‘ Jim Brun­ner, The Stranger‘s Paul Con­stant, and oth­er jour­nal­ists who are in town cov­er­ing the con­ven­tion from a nation­al per­spec­tive. Incom­pe­tent cen­tral plan­ning by the Republican […]

Posted inElections, Party Politics

RNC Watch: RGA Chairman says Rob McKenna would govern like Scott Walker

by Andrew Villeneuve

Today is the sec­ond day of the 2012 Repub­li­can Nation­al Con­ven­tion in Tam­pa, Flori­da. Here’s a roundup of some of the goings-on there, as report­ed by The Seat­tle Times’ Jim Brun­ner, The Stranger’s Paul Con­stant, and oth­er jour­nal­ists who are in town cov­er­ing the con­ven­tion from a nation­al per­spec­tive. At the Hol­i­day Inn this morning […]

Posted inElections, Litigation

Tim Eyman’s lawsuit over I‑1185 fiscal impact “dimissed in full and with prejudice”

by Andrew Villeneuve

A base­less law­suit filed by Tim Eyman against the state’s Office of Finan­cial Man­age­ment (OFM) has been dis­missed in full and with prej­u­dice fol­low­ing a hear­ing in Thurston Coun­ty Supe­ri­or Court ear­li­er today. After lis­ten­ing to argu­ments by Senior Coun­sel Steve Diet­rich (rep­re­sent­ing the state) and Tim Eyman (who appeared pro se), Judge James Dixon signed […]

Posted inEconomic Security, Healthcare

One of six proposed coal terminals in Washington and Oregon abandoned

by Patrick Stickney

Ask a polit­i­cal orga­niz­er in What­com Coun­ty, and it trends that they will tell you about how often they hear vot­ers ask about the pro­posed coal ter­mi­nal at Cher­ry Point, right out­side of Belling­ham. They get frus­trat­ed. Train tracks cut right through Belling­ham, and run along next to local busi­ness­es. Sit for a few hours […]

Posted inCivil Liberties, Healthcare, Policy Topics

Republican Todd Akin’s offensive comments about rape draw widespread condemnation

by Lorrie Sullivan DeKay

Yes­ter­day, Mis­souri Repub­li­can Todd Akin, who cur­rent­ly serves in the U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives and is the par­ty’s U.S. Sen­ate nom­i­nee this year, was inter­viewed by St. Louis’ local Fox affil­i­ate about his can­di­da­cy. Dur­ing the inter­view, Akin was asked if he believed that abor­tion should be avail­able to women who are raped. Akin gave […]

Posted inElections

Turnout, get-out-the-vote efforts will determine whether Washington moves forward or slides backward after November

by Robert Cruickshank

Few elec­tions will be as piv­otal in Wash­ing­ton State his­to­ry as the Novem­ber 2012 elec­tion. It is an elec­tion that could decide whether Wash­ing­ton steps bold­ly into a pro­gres­sive future, or whether it falls vic­tim to right-wing poli­cies that ben­e­fit the top 1% while deny­ing basic rights to many of the state’s res­i­dents. Pro­gres­sives can […]

Posted inUnscheduled Programming

WOW! Félix Hernández pitches first perfect game in Mariners history at Safeco Field

by Andrew Villeneuve

All hail King Félix! The twen­­ty-six year old Mariners pitch­ing phe­nom solid­i­fied his place in base­ball his­to­ry by becom­ing the first Seat­tle pitch­er to toss a per­fect game in front of 21,000+ cheer­ing fans on a sun­ny sum­mer day at Safe­co Field. The Mariners scored just one run against the Tam­pa Bay Rays, but that was […]

Posted inBreaking News, Elections

BREAKING: Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan said to be Mitt Romney’s vice presidential pick

by Andrew Villeneuve

Break­ing news this evening: A num­ber of media out­lets are report­ing that the 2012 Repub­li­can tick­et has now been set with pre­sump­tive pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nee Mitt Rom­ney’s selec­tion of U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Paul Ryan to be his run­ning mate. Ryan, who rep­re­sents Wis­con­sin’s 1st Dis­trict and chairs the House Com­mit­tee on Bud­get, is well-liked by move­ment and […]

Posted inCivil Liberties, Elections, Healthcare, Policy Topics

Wanted: Women willing to run for office

by Kathleen Reynolds

At a time when women’s repro­duc­tive rights are under attack in state leg­is­la­tures across the coun­try, there might soon be no female Demo­c­ra­t­ic gov­er­nors to push back. The only two such gov­er­nors left in office — Washington’s Chris Gre­goire and North Carolina’s Bev Pur­due — are leav­ing office in 2013, and only one state, New […]

Posted inElections

Suzan DelBene gets boost from EMILY’s List, DCCC; Roll Call now rates WA-01 “Leans D”

by Andrew Villeneuve

The last forty-eight hours have been pret­ty sweet for Suzan Del­Bene and her cam­paign team. The good news just keeps rolling in fol­low­ing her big win in this mon­th’s win­now­ing elec­tion, which end­ed Tues­day. First, the DCCC has con­firmed that Del­Bene will receive pri­or­i­ty sup­port over the next three months as she bat­tles John Koster […]