Now that Rob McKenna has been pressured into revealing his positions on this year’s slate of initiatives, it is time for the Republican attorney general and gubernatorial wannabe to come clean about his stance on Initiative 1183. McKenna’s staff recently told the Seattle Times that he is undecided on Costco’s liquor-liberalizing initiative, but the video above from March of 2010, shows our state’s top law enforcement officer expressing some deep concerns about privatization “if it means we’re going to have vodka for sale at every grocery store.”
Well, that’s exactly what I-1183 would mean, so man up Rob and tell us how you plan to vote when your ballot arrives later this week.
Of course, I-1183 presents a bit of a dilemma for McKenna. On the one hand, “privatization” is a core Republican mantra—shrinking government, breaking the public employee unions, and advantaging their corporate patrons is job one for the GOP, whatever the consequences. On the other hand, as attorney general, McKenna cut god-knows-how-many PSAs warning about the dangers of drunk driving and teen drinking, both of which, studies show, increase with availability.
So, which is it, Rob? Are you with the booze-peddlers and the knee-jerk ideologues? Or do you really believe the stuff you told all those high school kids?
What’s wrong with vodka for sale in every grocery store when there is already beer and wine there?
@1 Vodka is the gateway drink to pot smoking.
@2 … and pot smoking is the gateway drug to homosexuality.
I like the current system where you can buy beer at every grocery story, but not vodka. Anyone can walk into the Safeway or 7-11 around the corner and buy all the beer they want, because beer is harmless. People keep forgetting that. You can drink as much as you want of that stuff and you can still drive a car, or go to work. You won’t fight, you won’t get sick, and you’ll live just as long. Beer is supposed to be available everywhere because it’s wholesome, like bread or milk.
Hard liquor is the opposite. Hard liquor can get you drunk people! Are we forgetting that? Drunk! We can’t have a situation where you walk one or two blocks, into the first convenience store or grocery store, and can buy something that will get you drunk. Can you imagine the horrors that would come of that?
Stop lying, Goldy. You’re lying.