Features Jun 29, 2011 at 4:00 am

What Does the Worst Restaurant in Federal Way Have to Do with the Republican Party’s Race Problem?

Comments

1
That's some serious butt hurt you got going there, Paul.
2
Republican is the politically correct term for politically correct racists.
3
Way to be objective Stranger...This article was the liberal print equivalent of a Glenn Beck episode...Thanks for wasting everybody's time
5
Its the Stranger, flounder. If you care so badly, go back to Free Republic or Townhall. Or UnSound Politics, where you can gripe about queen christine and the dumbocrats ad infinitum forever and ever amen.

Nice article, particularly the 1994 part, I had no idea. So screwing with our health care has been a Republican project for decades. Figures. When will democrats grow a backbone and stand up to these punks? We elected Obama to get Single Payer accomplished, he's done so little in that regard, and now probably won't. Thanks in no small part to unamerican creeps like Cain.
6
Thanks, now I'm not hungry. Just a glass of water please.
7
You can like obama as president without wanting to lick his butthole as badly as this article seems to want to. What does pizza have to do with politics? Absolutely nothing, it's a bad analogy. Writing so poorly about politics is irresponsible.
8
@5 I just want to see a political article that appears to have been written by a professional journalist and not a mud-slinging tunnel-visioned harpy. This is O'reillyesque pandering and i'm probably delusional, but i'd like to believe that it's possible to write an article like this without name-calling and debasing the intelligence of the reader.

BTW - I'm a left-leaning independent and i'm not trolling the ultra-liberals here. I really would like to see this article re-written by somebody without such an obvious agenda.

9
What Does the Worst Restaurant in Federal Way Have to Do with the Republican Party’s Race Problem?

Why subtitle with that question if there is no attempt in the article to answer it or explain what you think the race problem even is?
10
This is why we need to run someone like Amy Klobuchar or Claire McCaskill in 2016. A bit more liberal and just as confusing to the Radical Regressives in the Republican party.
11
@3, 8: Given that everyone has an agenda, isn't it better if it's obvious? Attempts to appear "objective" are always disingenuous (because objectivity is impossible - everyone's actions are influenced by one's positionality, and your interpretation/understanding of everyone's actions is always influenced by your positionality), and really just serve to obfuscate bias, which tends to make it more insidious and damaging (bias is a bigger problem when it's treated as though it isn't bias). The Stranger is a postmodern journalism organization: the writers mix reporting with humor, narrative, (sometimes subtle) sarcasm and parody, and overt political stances, and they reject many of the more ridiculous conventions of 'traditional' journalism (e.g. censoring 'offensive' words like "fuck" or "asshat"). Complaining that The Stranger isn't something that it has never claimed nor aspired to be is exactly trolling; if you want reporters' bias made less obvious, I suggest CNN, NPR, the BBC, or AP dispatch.

Great article Paul!

@9: Okay, so the Godfather's Pizza franchise serves as an analogy for Cain's political platform - a breaking-even-to-profitable bottom line, but doesn't do anything useful for anyone. That makes him a terrible candidate on his own merits, but he's doing relatively well anyway because he's Black. The Republican race problem is the reason that Cain's skin tone has him doing well in spite of his total lack of qualification.
12
The Republican Party has a race problem. The Democratic Party has a queer problem. And Paul Constant has a problem with whoring for the Democrats.
13
I agree with Mr. Horstman on this. Everyone has an agenda, and nothing is "objective". Obviously, the only effect of an article like this is to get people pissed off; liberal-folk pissed that the republicans would even consider running a man like Cain, and not-so-liberal people pissed that someone is bashing one of their guys. Look, say what you will, but this is exactly the type of rhetoric we NEED as a political party; we need to quit holding our tongues, smelling our own farts, and acting like the republicans aren't really that bad. BECAUSE THEY ARE BAD. They have absolutely no idea what's going on in this country (neither do most people from seattle, BTW), they have political ideas and agendas that are hundreds of years old (read: conservative), and they genuinely hate a large majority of Americans. Besides, this is an article in the stranger, what do you expect? You read the stranger for strong opinions backed up with solid journalism, laced with humor, and targeted towards, oh what really, the average seattleite.
People who didn't understand this article or the point of this article, are, uh.. Well, I don't understand you. Read more, maybe
The race issue, btw, is a very thorny one, and it is often better to simply say that it exists as opposed to trying to delve deeply into it. That's a quagmire, and one that's best left at the simple statement that "there is a race issue". There has always been, and will always be, a race issue; it will just become less important as more Americans pull their heads out of their asses and realize that our country needs some serious leadership and some serious changes. Obama is going to get his second-term, and most presidents are more effective in their second term, for reasons that SHOULD BE OBVIOUS.
14
I agree with Mr. Horstman on this. Everyone has an agenda, and nothing is "objective". Obviously, the only effect of an article like this is to get people pissed off; liberal-folk pissed that the republicans would even consider running a man like Cain, and not-so-liberal people pissed that someone is bashing one of their guys. Look, say what you will, but this is exactly the type of rhetoric we NEED as a political party; we need to quit holding our tongues, smelling our own farts, and acting like the republicans aren't really that bad. BECAUSE THEY ARE BAD. They have absolutely no idea what's going on in this country (neither do most people from seattle, BTW), they have political ideas and agendas that are hundreds of years old (read: conservative), and they genuinely hate a large majority of Americans. Besides, this is an article in the stranger, what do you expect? You read the stranger for strong opinions backed up with solid journalism, laced with humor, and targeted towards, oh what really, the average seattleite.
People who didn't understand this article or the point of this article, are, uh.. Well, I don't understand you. Read more, maybe
The race issue, btw, is a very thorny one, and it is often better to simply say that it exists as opposed to trying to delve deeply into it. That's a quagmire, and one that's best left at the simple statement that "there is a race issue". There has always been, and will always be, a race issue; it will just become less important as more Americans pull their heads out of their asses and realize that our country needs some serious leadership and some serious changes. Obama is going to get his second-term, and most presidents are more effective in their second term, for reasons that SHOULD BE OBVIOUS.
15
Even though Federal Way is one big strip mall, there are many good restaurants there, due to Federal Way's non-lily white diverse community. Why the hell would you eat at Godfather's, and support the company that asshole Herman Cain was once in charge of?
16
@8, Can you spell out a little more precisely what it is that you want? This is an editorial piece. Do you know what that means? It means it is not intended nor obligated to be "fair and balanced." Candidate endorsements are editorial. Would you prefer that no one be allowed to offer opinions in print, or what?

Or is it just that you don't like the content? It really seems like you're uncomfortable with something in this story and you'd just like to have it rewritten for you in blander, easier-to-ignore terms.
18
Slight correction: the pizza is hanging around for 3 solid hours, not 6, not that it's a big deal but you're going overboard with your obvious hostility. Just sayin.
19
You had to go all the way to Federal Way to find a Godfather's that is still open. Then you point out that Cain was also involved with Burger King another restaurant chain that's in the shitter but not quite as bad as the first.

Since Cain has no elected office experience he tries to pass himself off as a successful businessman. His so called success is pretty marginal and that has nothing to do with race.
20
Outdated video games are the shit!
21
The fact that so many people still think that private sector expertise is a good thing in an elected official never ceases to baffle me. Do you REALLY want more Enron in your government? Are you all retarded?
22
Oh. My. God. Guys, Paul Constant is not "whoring for the Democrats" or "licking Obama's butthole". The only positive thing written about Obama in this piece was: "formidable talent". Which, having won the presidency, isn't unreasonable. You. Are. Projecting. And Herman Cain is an obviously shitty candidate. As Paul has written (much more eloquently). Duh.
23
Outdated video games that work are the shit.

Outdated video games that are gummy with years' worth of children's mucus are just shit.
24
@21: I'm not. I'm as frustrated as you are.
And DAMNED glad Dino, the "DO iiiiiiit!" Godfather of Pork, Rossi ISN'T our Governor!

25
The Republican Party ITSELF is hard to choke down without rancid, artery-clogging lard....

Oh, wait. That's already 95% of Southern-fried oil-soaked Goldman-Sachs bailed-out Congress.

Maybe we should ship them off to a deserted island hellhole in the middle of nowhere and let them fry in their own grease.

By the way...is that big ugly shithole Dickhead Cheney FINALLY dead?
27
You ate at a mediocre franchise for journalistic purposes? Was it for a food review or so you could make a weak connection to a candidate?
No doubt that Cain is the affirmitive action candidate just like Obama was for the other party last election - but tying a corporatist CEO and a shitty store with franchise rights is not the best way to go.
Better to do two seperate articles and avoid making beck-like leaps in logic.
29
Hey,fuck that shit! i agree outdated video games ARE THE SHIT!! and HALFthe article sounds like the time i went to chuck e chease as a kid!! (JUST ADD CRAPPY ANAMATRONIC CHARATORS ,A RAT MASCOT, PEDAFILES AND TICKETS COMMING OUT OF THE VIDEO GAMES...)LOL... The other half SOUNDS LIKE POLITIC BULLSHIT...I THINK THIS PAPER IS JUST HATEING FOR THE SAKE OF HATEING..OH AND ONE MORE THING: in 1997,guess what WAS THERE, right on broadway,across the street (where they are bulding the link light rail)from where pete's coffee shop is now? that's right...you guessed it:GODFATHER'S PIZZA!!! LOOK IT UP BEFORE YOU SHOOT YOUR MOUTH!!!
30
In a twisted way I would almost like to see one of these nut jobs such as Cain or Bachmann as president just to see how much of an national embarassment they could become. Then again, after that whole wacky WMD thing that's going to end up costing $3 trillion and a whole lot of lives, maybe not.
31
As a hard working (33 yrs) union member it makes me all the more thankful that I do not depend on "employment" such as Cain promotes. Until Americans band together, he and his ilk will always be viable canidates and corporate heads.
32
Ke$ha review was way better.
33
Piece of shit piece, grow up and write a real article.
34
Total piece of shit. Growup and write something adult.
35
Aside from the politics, I had no idea that Godfathers was still open. I personally haven't seen one since the Cap Hill one closed in the late 80's.
36
I can't think of Herman Cain without thinking about these guys:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Homemovie1?b…

38
"In current presidential politics, the platform barely matters; a campaign lives or dies based on the candidate's story."

Wow! Two insightful sentences in The Stranger. Next time you see Dan ask him how he likes the way his war on Iraq is going. Has the body count surpassed his dreams?
39
The Republican party will never, ever nominate a black presidential candidate. So why even bother talking about this guy?
40
@39, probably not, but don't forget that the time before the last time they went against Barack Obama they imported a black guy from Maryland to run against him in Illinois.
41
I don't care what ya'll say. This article was off the motherfuckin' hook.
42
I keep pointing out, and will continue to point out, that Godfather's started in Omaha, and was great pizza. It grew, and was still good. Then they sold it to Pillsbury, and it got really gross, really quick, and has not recovered. In fact, I'm surprised it's even still in business at all.

Herman Cain, the ex-Pillsbury executive who is the supposed genius behind Godfather's, is the perfect example of a corporation unloading a poor performing brand, and the executive who actively made it poor performing, at the same time.

If Cain were a Democratic candidate, the talk would be about how an "affirmative action" executive took a fine, upstanding brand and drove it into the ground. But he's a conservative republican, so we are all expected to believe that he "went rogue", and bought this terrific brand from a fine upstanding company and made it even terrific-er.

Only in America.
43
Why can't I "Like" @42's response? Excellent analysis Catalina.
44
I think a greasy spoon fast food pizza joint is rather a sweet comparison for the likes of Republicans? Once more a Black French fry slinger is about the cream of the Republican crop in my weary eyes but none the less he wears the Republican concrete shoes so let him swim in them. Out of date out of soap out of brains choke and pukes are many from the American road of horrors.

Takes all kinds of critters to make Republican fritters! welcome to Motel hell!
45
Cain left BK in 1985, godfathers in 1994. Can hardly be blamed for current performance. they were both rockin when he ran them. A shitty franchisee is Federal way, he can't be held accountable for, 18 years later.
46
Fair enough, Queenie. But do you remember the Broadway Godfathers? That place was dismal - worse than the buffet at Neighbours, or the dining room at The Brass Connection - and how long has that been gone? Atleast five years, probably ten.
48
I grew up in the midwest and moved to Seattle a few years ago. I *liked* Godfather's Pizza as a kid and actually went to that location. It had been 10 or 20 years since I had it. Decent enough. The same as I remember it. Seems like you are unfairly maligning a particular franchise location to tangentially attack it's *former* CEO. But you didn't delve into what Cain (supposedly) did to make their pizza so "bad".

You could have dumped the first two paragraphs...

I know newspapers, blogs, and the media machine have to fill space and time so the notion of "If you don't have something good to say, say nothing at all" is quaint.

I left Seattle less than year after arriving (Why? See above remark or read Seattle shmeng).

If you don't like the pizza/city/politican choose an alternate. I wonder how many people know *they* can do it better (whatever it is) but rarely do it. I guess it's easier to criticize...

49
So, Cain is bad because, seventeen years after he handed over reins of the whole company, a particular Godfather's franchise sucks? I think you might have to work a little harder to create a decent argument out of that.

Maybe Republicans only like Cain because he's black, and they resent the supposed fact that Obama was elected due to white guilt? If you're going to try for that argument, I think it's a bit more subtle: Obama is a Harvard-educated lawyer who taught in a law school, while Cain is from Georgia and had a successful business career. Which one do you think Republicans are more likely to embrace, regardless of race? Cain walks around in a cowboy hat and boots, talking about freedom from taxes and coming across for all the world like someone's cheerful old granddad. He has an appealing authenticity as a Republican that most of the GOP primary field lacks, before race even comes into the picture.

If you want to argue that Cain advocates crazy ideas and was not quite the business genius he claims to be, I agree with you. But the fact is, he succeeded at running businesses, he was on the Federal Reserve board in KC, and he argues forcefully and charismatically for all the core conservative positions. Why WOULDN'T they love him, even if he were white?

In short, attacking Cain's popularity as race-driven is just as disgusting as what you're alleging, if not moreso.
51
Hear hear, Suzy! I suspect you might not agree with Herman Cain as I do, but it certainly seems like you've hit the nail on the head: The fact that he's black has nothing to do with why Republicans like him. Is it a political bonus? Assuredly so. But he's a solid conservative, and that's why conservatives like him.
52
Republicans don't like the Economy (see the way they are and have been helping since RFK was mixing the pot

Republicans don't like Gays or the EPA or the poor or the homeless or the hungry or schools or hospitals or solving problems and the truth is Republicans only like two things. being lieing criminals and starting wars all over the place with no objectives or reason.

Republicans are not white black brow or yellow as they are just evil disgusting eww icky ucky Eeeee nasty worms.
53
Sorry, lost interest in the article about the time you pretty much said "And I'm a legitimate journalist, because I feel it's important to let you know I actually tried the pizza."
54
You're a smart guy, Paul, so it's hard to believe you're being anything but intentionally disingenuous when you write that Republicans "believe that voters—especially black voters—will get confused if they're faced with more than one black guy on a ballot." You surely have to know that some black voters did vote for Obama solely or primarily because his skin color matched theirs, just as some women voted for Ms Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary solely or primarily because her genitalia matched theirs. By choosing a black candidate, what the Republicans are doing is erasing that advantage--levelling the racial playing field, as it were. If you have any justification whatsoever for the "confusion" motive you allege, I'd like to hear it.

(And sure, there were some racists in 2008 who voted for McCain because of his skin color, but in a black vs black contest, those people are not going to turn around and vote for Obama, or for a third-party candidate, in large enough numbers to make a difference. So there is little downside to running a black man, if the Republicans think the candidate's skin color could be a deciding factor in 2012.)
55
Cain is a clown: Obama has become a mass-murderer, i.e. drone attacks in afghanistan and somalia, bombs in libya. Cain is a dummy, but Obama is a lawyer with no professional paper trail (no publications at harvard or chicago), but who bought into the whitest-of-white mythologies with an Oedpial auto-bio that reads as if cribbed from the out-takes of Clinton's wheezed out memoir. How about some investigative journalism: why are so many pizzas sold in Seattle schools, and what does that say about a bureaucracy-psychology of mass containment of students?
56
Uhh... @54. African Americans have been voting in solid numbers for the Democratic Party since the civil rights era, unsurprisingly. In the 2000 elections approximately 90% of black voters voted for Gore. In 2004 approximately 90% of black voters voted for Kerry.In 2008 approximately 90% of black voters voted for Obama. While I'm sure many of those voters were absolutely thrilled to be pulling the lever for a black candidate, it did not substantially alter the black voting demographic, nor –except in the deep south– even lead to unusually high voter turnout. Thus, I think Paul's point is much less disingenuous than you seem to think...
57
This article is sandwiched between two columns of ads of people looking to hook up. Instead of practicing journalism and investigating those actually in power, Mr. Constant has their backs. He is trashing anyone that is a threat to them. The article is therefore, well placed.
58
"he's got the undisciplined opinions of a man who's accustomed to filling two solid hours a day with hot air."

Nothing like butt hurt jealousy to bring out the irony.
59
Thank you Paul. That was wonderful.
60
"Pizza Man's pizza is inedible, unless you are an idiot or desperately poor."

John Constant- you are a racist and a classist. And I am done with you.

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