You say Goldy that you've never disrupted these events, but what about your body language? Sighs, grunts, rolling of the eyes, etc., can itself be disruptive even though you're weren't being verbal.

You make it impossible to root for you, Goldy. Insufferable would be too generous of a description.

@1

Bullshit.

Don't tase me, bro!

@1: Yeah, that's lame. Seriously lame.

Consider the Congressdouche who yelled, "You lie!" at President Obama while he was speaking. That guy didn't get kicked out of Congress, am I right?

@2 - It's about fucking time we had journalism that was "insufferable." A weak, pathetic approach to journalism is part of what's gotten us into the mess where politicians can just make up shit and get away with it. It's time someone called them out and made them defend their bullshit.

It's obvious from his reaction to Goldie, his sheer terror at being in the same room with him, that Rob McKenna is an anti-semite.

We need to spread this meme.

I can't believe my tax dollars are being used to pay an attorney to read Goldy's blog archives.

@1, you're shitting me, right? Goldy should be kicked out of a press conference for an inappropriate eye roll or grunt?

Try harder.

I thought that being insufferable was the role of a free press in a democracy. It's funny how wrong you can be.

@1
OMG! He rolled his eyes! Ban him! Ban him NOW!!!

Democracy cannot stand if a reporter rolls his eyes!

Our government officials can only work if they are guaranteed that no member of the press will EVER roll his eyes!

And that even made sense to you?

Is it me, or is the only reason Toby has a job with The Stranger, is because he is so far to the left, that he shits carbon credits and that makes everyone else look like moderates by compassion.

Everyone seems to be taking comment #1 seriously; I thought it was meant to be humorous, in sympathy with Goldy.

@1 [every horrible word that could be used to describe a female] I'm so thankful to be gay because of someone like you to remind me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, are you telling me Washington might elect this PIECE OF SHIT to be governor?! I so love Washington, well the western part anyway (except for female shit like @1)!!!!

@18: Burn. 1 is dead wrong, but playing the "women suck (if only I'd let 'em, har!)" card makes you lower than sludge at a waste treatment plant.

So burn, you piece of shit. Burn.

So many of you are taking my question way out of proportion. I was simply suggesting ways in which McKenna's people got the perception that Goldy was being disruptive in meetings. People shouldn't extrapolate anything else.

@20

Bullshit. You were not saying that McKenna's people may have gotten that perception. You were suggesting that Goldy was being dishonest in claiming he has never disrupted a press conference.

@21: No, if you read my it again I ask "... but what about your body language?" I don't blame people who overlook their non-verbal communication and body language and how it impacts them both professionally and socially. We all are guilty of overlooking it at times.

Journalists as a rule, should be big pains in the ass! They should not be obsequious nincompoops.

It sounds like you are on a Nixonian-style enemies list. You must be doing something right.

What the fuck is wrong with @18?

@25 Not that it okays misogyny, but Phoebe's constant trolling/idiocy can get really fucking annoying.

There's a similar situation with recalled Senate Pres Russell Pearce in AZ working it's way through the courts. Russell Pearce Sued by Puente's Sal Reza. Of course, Reza got roughed up and detained, what with it being AZ. McKenna and Pearce probably have much in common.

Phoebe, I don't think "disruptive" means what you think it means. Even taking your ridiculously far-fetched examples into account, in order for such "non-verbal communication and body language" to have been the cause of the McKenna camp's complaint, such behavior would have had to create some sort of actual disturbance of the proceedings, either by interrupting or impeding them to a noticeable extent. Perceiving a disruption (which is what you seem to be implying) where nothing has actually been disrupted, doesn't cut it.

And aside from the accusation itself, they've provided exactly zero evidence of any such disruption occurring, which, as Goldy notes, should be quite easy to verify if true, given the preponderance of recording devices in attendance at any given public appearance by the AG. So, the issue should be childishly simple to resolve, because IF Goldy did disrupt any of McKenna's press appearances, somebody (multiple somebody's as a matter of fact) should have a recording of it, and all they need to do is produce it.

Otherwise, as they say on the Interwebs: "Pictures, or it didn't happen"...

@26 Ah, well annoyance aside, hating on every woman on the planet is probably not the best response to disagreeing with a comment.

@28 has the correct response I think.

@29

I think @3 was more succinct. :)

The hilarious thing is I've met and spoken to Rob McKenna many times over the years as a member of the 47th District as places as intimate as a Round Table pizza and and Oddfellows Hall. These were completely open, come as you are venues. (Yeah, you have to pay for your own pizza.)

While I support Goldy's right to access, I am wondering if his inability to do something which seems to be quite easy for the average citizen has more to do with behavior than he is letting on.

McKenna is a monster.

I don't know, Goldy. If you are explaining, you're losing. Love your stuff, but this story line is weakening the main point. Which is?

Good for you for answering the insinuations and not letting them get away with damaging your career.

@32 which is what? The very point of journalism is to counter balance those in political and economic power - to create accountability by reporting everything. To be an obnoxious asshole basicly. Not to be well behaved, forgiving and forgetful.

If he didnt scream, kick over tables or puked on the snacks-table - banning him is "banning a journalist". It doesn't matter whether you like McKenna or not, or what your political leanings are - a world where journalists are banned for their criticism of someone in political power is a very dangerous one.

Personally I think Goldy could well keep pushing this button for a while. Questions like "So why are you banning journalists who doesn't agree with you" while wearing "I love McKenna more than babies" Tshirt would be brilliant.

Its a spectacle but its a relevant spectacle.

@36

Erm, journalism can't counter power, it can only wield it, or question its direction. And the particular sort of journalism that The Stranger practices isn't questioning power at all, it's advocating the transfer to or consolidation of power within a particular ideological tendency.

The fact that we generally regard that ideological tendency as correct should not blind us to the intent, methodology, and effect of those attempting to advance it.

Anyone who tells you that a group or individual is acting entirely outside a given power structure is trying to hide something. And that goes double for anyone who pretends to be forcefully, vehemently, stridently, or even violently opposed to "all" power structures (by which they inevitably mean only those power structures in which they do not participate).

What I find endlessly more fascinating about this is had Rob dealt with you in a different way I probably would have been more annoyed with Goldy, however the situation makes it near impossible for me to feel any sympathy towards McKenna and really I just want to yell at him for being an unreasonable twat. It seems he has made the personal decision to personally bar you from his public events because he doesn't like who you are or what you do and is desperate enough to grasp all the straws to keep you away. People who do that strike a very fine line with me, consider it a pet peeve, if you hold a public event and complain about who is there it's 100% your fault and you deserve the uncomfortable feeling. If you take a job where it's expected that you talk to the public on a daily basis, EVEN THE PEOPLE WHO HATE YOU AND WOULD LOVE NOTHING MORE THAN YOU QUITTING, you should expect to talk to people you don't like and to have them say things about you that you don't like. I think they called it America or something, free speech or some technical term or something. There are a few places McKenna can go if he has a problem with journalism, America is not one of them. In conclusion this entire thing is silly, but it's only silly because McKenna made it that way. Imagine him answering your questions sarcastically while rolling his eyes, sure you have to be there but no one said (even as a politician) that you'd have to treat Goldy with respect. This bullshit? Acting like you have the power to ban the public from a public event because their press badge wasn't given out by the government? Revolutions have been started for less, this candidate is barely a joke anymore.

If there is a litigious case then Goldy needs to sue. AND if there is a case attorneys will take this case. If there isn't anything there then nothing will happen and this is nothing but internet bitching.

@39: The lawyers are talking.

How do we know that? Because this past letter was sent from the Solicitor General to the Stranger's attorney.

Lawsuits are expensive and reasonable people try to accomplish their goals without taking up space in the public courts (and thereby costing taxpayers money).

I have been in a couple of press conferences with Goldy at Seattle Schools.

At those conferences, he acted as he described - sat quietly and asked few questions and mostly took notes.

Those of us who are not trained journalists but are allowed in press conferences because the brave new world of journalism allows bloggers in? We know it's better to keep a low profile.

No, I think McKenna is worried about what Goldy will ask. If McKenna is acting like this now, as a candidate, I worry about what he would try to do as governor.

Attorney General Rob (Pussy) McKenna is too thin skinned to hold public office.

McKenna fears the question about why he supports state's rights okn health care, but not legalization of cannabis.

Or perhaps McKenna is afraid of what Goldy's growing in his garden. Hey, it makes just as much sense as any other ... uh ... reason.

@38 Exactly. The funny thing is, the nature of the press conference automatically puts the press at a disadvantage. Much like a talk radio host, it's the person giving the conference who controls the mic. He gets to speak for as long as he wants, pick and choose who to call on, and then play the journalists against each other if one insists on pressing for a followup: "Give someone else a turn," McKenna might say to me scornfully if I'm too persistent. And everybody else wants their turn.

It's why adversarial press conferences rarely yield much new information or insight.

So all McKenna had to do was let me in and knock me down. Then I might be the one looking stupid and arrogant instead of him.

I just have to say that I find Goldy vs McKenna waaaaaay more interesting than Inslee vs McKenna. Way to make the governor's race interesting.

Let me, modestly, offer two suggestions:
1. Use a professional byline, instead of a nickname, if you want to be taken seriously by more than an ideological claque.
2. Stop whining.

...says the poster whining behind an anonymous nickname...

@49 I'm not asking Rob McKenna to respect me. I'm just asking that he respect my constitutional rights.

If Mckenna doesn't respect Goldsteins constitutional rights how can I expect him to respect and honor mine or anyone elses?

These modern (neo) conservative republicans are out of line! One only needs to listen to a few minutes of Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, Savage and their ilk to realize what little respect they have for any law or right.

The republicans only plan is "monkey wrench" in the gears or church.