Darcy Burner finally succumbs to media hit job
By David Neiwert Saturday Nov 08, 2008 11:00am
DOWNLOAD (47)
PLAY (75)
I'm too distraught to write about this.
So go read Jesse Wendel. He pretty much sums it up: This was a media hit job.
It wasn't just the Seattle Times, incidentally, though they led the charge. Local talk radio -- particularly two very well-known jagoffs on the two biggest stations in town -- played a big role too.
I don't know if there will be a "next time" for Darcy. I do know that the Times' karmic bitch will be biting them in the ass for this in a big way.
Login or Register to post comments.
There is always a charge made against the progressive candidate that they are an invading force. All the contributions from the web are held against anyone who appeals to forces not answerable to the Courthouse Gang. Sorry, Darcy. You are great, and the time will come when that will be in demand.
Fight on. Destroy the newspaper. Fight lies with truth. The more lies the more truth needs to be uncovered. Dig into election fraud. Alaska there is something going on up there. Dig into the uncomfortable realities that comfort allows you to gloss over. Don't retreat in defeat. Find a new way to or tactic to fight.
Why would anybody want to destroy the Seattle Times? It's part of the left wing, liberal news media that's on OUR side. Uh..
Well, I hope she gets a nice, big settlement from her LAWSUIT against the Seattle Times. It's not like that stupid story wouldn't have been easy to fact check, so obviously they were posting malicious lies on purpose. Sue away! Maybe they'll think twice before doing it in 2010. The Swiftboat monsters are about to face the music for 2004, why not these guys?
As for the Alaskan election...well, just let me say eight words about that. "Caroline Kennedy in charge of the Justice Department."
So let me get this straight. The media screwed her over with lies. And now since the media called the race for Reichert she concedes? Why not count the damn votes and investigate any chances of election fraud, which for the last eight years or so has favored republicans in a disproportionate way.
Don't let the spotlight get off of Alaska and the Election Fraud up there either.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/what-i...
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/uncoun...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannyn-moore/a...
Great articles. We need to find a way to effectively fight back against the corporate owned media and this type of bullshit tactics.
that Burner won the election. What the hell happened?
Hmm. I am about as liberally leaning as a person could be. I have also worked with Darcy Burner on a volunteer board. I will say that I am very thankful that I didn't have to make the decision between voting for a Republican or voting for her. I have never felt the need to vote Republican, but would have in this case after working with her personally.While I can't say that I am glad that Reichert won, and I glad that she lost. My .02.
Could you be more specific?
You signed up just to smear Burner on the site? I mean really..."She's a dog..." and no reason?
Good one. not.
steal your girl scout cookies?
Because if you are as big of a douchebag in real life as this dickish message points out, I wouldn't want to work with you either.
My 0.02
What happened to me was wrong. I can't say what happened because I don't want to identify myself. But I can say that she made incorrect assumptions and used half-known data to attacked me personally in very negative matter. She ultimately got what she wanted, which was for me to resign. Tyler, I am surprised that you would attack me for having a different opinion. My guess is that you haven't personally interacted with Darcy. I am not saying anything mean, just sharing my truth in this situation. Calling someone names isn't nice or productive to a democratic forum; asking for clarity is.
To Miss Kitty. I have read this blog for years and years, so NO I didn't sign up just to smear Burner, and I didn't call her a dog, you did. I wouldn't call someone a name. I was taught better. Nor would I viscously attack someone on a personal matter to get my own way.
attacked Darcy in your oh-so-polite way. So Seattle, epicenter of passive-aggressiveness (and I'm an ex-Seattleite, nearly a decade there until the neo-yuppies priced me out. So there). So instead of your two passive-aggressive posts, why don't you be specific. I won't find out, and frankly I don't care, who the hell you are. But your posts reek. Hope I didn't make you cry.
Seattle media (aside from The Stranger, Eat the State, etc) epitomizes Seattle culture: crunchy liberal on the outside, chewy conservative on the inside. Volvo Democrats who give you dirty looks for not separating your recycling properly but won't rock the boat for any good cause if it threatens to hurt their properly diversified stock portfolio.
after they did a hit piece on my cousin and his wife, both public servants, after Barbara had a recurrence of cancer. They made shit up, and after Barbara died from her cancer, they brought it up and rehashed it as part of her Obit.
That goddamn owner, Frank Blethen is nuttier than a pecan tree, shot his neighbour's dog with rock salt. Asshole tried to kill the union and is doing everything to fuck the PI, with the JOA thing, in order to destroy it.
I wish the Seattle Times were sued out of existence and Blethen had to liven in a cardboard box on his lucky days. It's a piece of lying shit yellow journalism organ at its finest.
... and you're correct on all counts, Miss Kitty.
Glad I left there almost a decade ago.
But on the surface, it's oh-so-decaf-double-latte-with-sprinkles PC.
she finds the courage to run again.
We need to defeat that asshole in Georgia too. Sexby Shameless. His opponent should win in a re-election December 2nd. Never forget this shit.
http://www.martinforsenate.com/
These battles that we lose suck, but the war rages on. It always will.
[This seems kinda off topic to me-Sitemonitor]
[Deleted. Let's just nip this in the bud-Sitemonitor]
The Times is dead to me.
I won't buy their paper, link to their site, reference their articles. They could have the exclusive rights to the Second Coming and I'll pass on it.
Their paper isn't fit for a bird cage. I wouldn't wrap rotten fish in it. I may go so far as to reject any product made by recycled Times headlines.
And Reichert... Fuck him! I now have the worst, more ineffective Congressgoon representing me during the first two years of the Obama revolution. The thought of Dave Reichert walking the Halls of Congress as my representative gives me pause to puke.
It's like going to the Prom with the hottest girl in school but having to double date with your hayseed cousin and his inbred girlfriend from Othello. Everyone is going to have fun at the dance but me.
The Times is having a bad year financially. Here's to a slow, painful death as they slip into oblivion. A pox on all their heads.
I was really hoping she'd beat him this time. I hope she runs again. We moved out of the district so I can't vote for her anymore but I can give to her campaign which I will again if she runs.
I am a democrat living just outside her district and I don't think this was a media hit job. Reichert did not spend much of his own campaign money on ads, yet along attack ads. The only time he did was when Darcy stuck her foot in her mouth and said she had a degree in economics from Havard, which she didn't, but did indeed study economics while she was there.
Seattle Times endorsed Obama during the primaries, but I cannot find any endorsements for McCain.
From
Burner Campaign Statement on Seattle Times Story
"Darcy Burner has a degree in computer science with a special field in economics from Harvard, graduated 1996. This is exactly how she and her campaign have described her degree since the beginning of the campaign...
"...Harry Lewis, a professor of computer science and a dean of Harvard College at the time Burner got her degree, confirmed today that, “Darcy’s degree is in Computer Science, with a specialization in Economics.”
Harvard does not have either majors or minors, but Burner’s special field in economics within her computer science degree is the rough equivalent of a minor. The special field is a requirement for a Harvard computer science degree; computer science students are required to do a concentration in a related field to computer science. Darcy did hers in economics, taking five semesters of economics courses and two math courses that counted towards economics (along with eight courses in computer science and two other math classes that counted toward meeting the computer science concentration)..."
So the Times agreed with the assessment of Harvard and Burner as re Burner's bona fides, on 20 June, at least that was their reportage.
When did this
opinionbelief in the facts change? Which district does that trust fund idiot Blethen live in anyway? The Eighth. Burner's patch. I guess he'd rather he and his neighbours be represented by an powerless, ineffectual dork. And he got that for all of them.SO you're a tool for the Times. Thanks for showing us that.
The internal polling before and after the Times story told the story: Before, Darcy was winning handily; after, she was barely breaking even. Especially after the radio talkers piled on.
This polling, incidentally, was reflected in the early returns, which were largely filed before the Times story hit; Darcy was winning 56-43 in those returns. It's why we had the illusion early on she was going to win.
what does the exit polling data say?
All this political lying has got to stop!!! McCain/Palin used it extensively in their rally speeches, or else they wouldn't have anything to talk about. Maybe we need a NEW law to counter the Fox suit in which the judge said it was LEGAL for the NEWS to LIE. If a person has to win by lying, then they cheated as far as I'm concerned, and at least cheating in an election is still illegal, isn't it?
Burner should sue the newspaper, radio station, and all else involved in the lies. I was glad to see Hagan file a suit against Dole. Maybe if they got sued, and lost, every time they lied they might quit lying?
Damn shame. These close races really suck. Hopefully we'll be able to better close the deal in 2010.
Here's some good news today:
WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Obama will enter office with an immediate opportunity to begin shaping the federal courts by filling four dozen openings on trial and appeals courts.
The traditionally conservative 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the first court on which Obama can change the balance of power quickly. The Richmond, Virginia-based court has four openings.
# # #
to block any judicial appointments
today, bush cut medicare payments for certain outpatient services
the scorched earth policy has begun
Very sad. I'd hate to think she wouldn't try again.
*
I'd gladly donate to her legal fund. This kind of thing cannot go unpunished.
"Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! . . . And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough . . . the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go! . . . What the fuck happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? 'Ooh, we're afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble.' Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer . . . LET'S DO IT!" - Bluto, ANIMAL HOUSE [1978]
Another round of layoffs, more vapid coverage assigned to fewer "reporters", shrinking readership. the seattle times is not long for this world. it won't be missed. they endorsed bush in 2000 and that was the beginning of the end. plus, no one reads it.
Darcy deserves something good. Just hearing her speak on the above video made my usually hardened self soften a little.
Maybe we can help rebuild her burnt-down house?
I live in Washington State, but not in Darcy's district, so I couldn't vote for her. I don't (and won't) read the Seattle Times and I was astounded that they endorsed Obama -- that's a pretty good sign of just how bad a candidate McCain was and how scary the idea of Palin being president is and ought to be to any sane person.
I saw the clip that supposedly started the whole "degree" brouhaha and if that was all there was on the subject of her degree at that time, then I fear she made a mistake. It's not a serious error, and it certainly shouldn't have resulted in her losing to a mediocrity like Reichert.
During the past campaign Democrats spent much too much time discussing statements that were carelessly worded and ripe for mischaracterization when taken out of context. Darcy should (in retrospect it's easy to say this) always have stated her academic credential exactly as it appears above in the post by miss_kitty. That way no one could have criticized her or made any claims about her misrepresenting anything. And her credentials are sufficiently impressive when compared to Reichert's that she would gain nothing by stating her education any other way.
It has gotten to the point in campaigns that every word gets inspected to see if it can be used to hurt a candidate. In the clip I saw, Darcy said that she'd gotten a degree in economics. If she'd said she specialized in economics, no one could have said a word. I wish she'd said that. Comparing her academic record to Reichert's is pathetic -- for Reichert. He got an AA from an undistinguished religious college. Burner got a bachelor's degree from one of the country's best universities.
As for running again, it's up to her, of course. I usually feel that two losses by one candidate to the same opponent is enough to suggest that another candidate should run in the next election. I think it's a shame that the voters opted for Reichert. In 2010, if the Democrats can find another good candidate to replace Burner, then I think it might be better to go with a new face. The goal is to replace Reichert, and Burner will begin the next campaign with the handicap of already having been rejected twice by the voters. I know if lived in that district and she ran, I would work for her, donate to her campaign, and vote for her, but I don't know if she will be the strongest Democrat in 2010.
One lesson of the recent campaign -- at all levels -- is that people have to be really careful not only what they say, but how they say it. Obama, his wife, Clinton, and Biden all said things that they shouldn't have said or should have worded differently. Each time it happened the campaign wasted time trying to make amends.
I wish Darcy nothing but the best (and some much better luck) in the coming years.
Login or Register to post comments.