Comments

1

How far to the left does Seattle have to go before left-wing policies will finally make Seattle the utopia The Stranger has been promising for years? Let's face it, The Stranger's picks for City office have been the vast majority who wins those very offices. You'd think we'd be free of homeless drug addicts and garbage along the streets.

2

So she’s a registered socialist, but not really a socialist?

I thought actions spoke louder than words, or something.

Corrections welcome.

5

From The Stranger’s linked profile of Morales:

“She said she opposes sweeping homeless people in almost all situations and said Mayor Jenny Durkan has wrongly increased these sweeps.”

So, she hasn’t yet learned that basic public health and sanitation is not only the proper function of local government, but that it’s even more important than her ideology.

(Also, please note that while it is true I have read almost every edition of The Stranger ever published, I do not consider myself to be a “reader of The Stranger.” Thank you.)

6

Well, to her credit, she's a champagne Socialist.

7

It is a sad day when a right of center activist can't publicly attack a centrist candidate that ascribes to the positions of FDR and other centrists.

But, this is Seattle, so Jenny just increased Tammy's vote three-fold.

8

How fucking stupid is she? You cant join the socialist party, but not be a socialist. God, Seattle deserves he on the council.

9

Tammy should simply point out that durkan is also a socialist, just one who only gives handouts to the corporations that contribute to her campaign.

10

The Democratic Socialists of America is an organization, not the Socialist Party.

11

And Michael Dukakis was not a liberal......we've heard it all before.

12

Well, this will piss off the socialists now she's denying being one. Who the looney left vote for now?

13

Boy oh boy -- Handouts for Mega Corps or
Bootstraps for the Citizenry?

Tough. Call.

14

Tammy Morales is a card-carrying member of Democratic Socialists of America. What more evidence do you need? She can try to describe herself otherwise, for political gain, but she's simply lying. Until recently, Morales was appearing on posters with Kshama Sawant all around our city and is still being pushed as part of a "socialist slate" and "another voice to join Sawant."
Her lie that she joined DSA "to find out more about them" is utterly absurd and laughable.

Let me put it this way. Trump says and does tons of racist things. But because CNN once asked him whether he was a racist and he said "no I'm not", The Stranger would write a headline "Jenny Durkan falsely calls Donald Trump a racist." And Trump isn't even a card-carrying member of "Democratic Racists of America."

Use your heads people.

15

@11 no, Dukakis was. Trying to confuse things again, I see.

As to "card carrying", do any of you actually put those things in your wallets and purses?

I think I have ones from the ACLU, NARAL, UWAA, AAA, but only one of those is in my wallet. Never keep any of the ones from KCD, WSD, or others in there.

16

Oh look, Tammy Morales calling herself a socialist:

https://tinyurl.com/y43nx5k2

17

Maybe Jenny Durkan’s time is up.

18

@17 Dude, she crushed that other champagne socialist Cary Moon by 15-fucking-percent.

Now Cary can go back to managing her inherited wealth, and sending her kids to private school.

20

OK, so it's a smear to call her socialist, but I'm supposed to vote for her because one of her opponents is backed by capitalists, and we hate us some dirty capitalists?

That's the argument here, yes?

I feel like I might be missing a step.

21

@20 Tammy would squeal like a piggie if her surgeon husband’s $500,000 a year salary were taxed at a socialist 80%. Hell, those kind of taxes would force her to get a real fucking job.

22

Pass. Putting a hold on socialist crap on the council.

This is what happens when you consistently back an ineffective, self-promoting socialist like Sawant.

23

I'm glad to see the right continues to be completely deranged.

24

Honestly, centrist liberals should just throw their lot in with the far right at this point. They hate the left more than the right.

25

It's pretty clear the country is entering a full-on red scare again.

26

@23 why? Because center’s base doesn’t hang around under I5 shooting heroin all day and wonder why they can’t get a job and pay the rent?

27

@21

I don't know, with that kind of salary their mortgage is probably paid off, their retirement fund flush, and their investment income growing. And on top of that, under your nightmare scenario they'd still have more than double Seattle's current median after-tax take-home pay.

At a top marginal rate of 80%, assuming a simple textbook-illustration graduated tax schedule with a base of 30% increasing by 10% for every 100k of income up to 80%, a $500k salary would net you $220k/yr of after-tax take-home pay, enough to live high on the hog even in a fairly expensive city like Seattle.

And that's exactly how progressive taxation is supposed to work, too, but I imagine the point would be lost on you.

28

@26 Whatever else you might want to accuse the homeless of, I think "high voter turnout" might be taking it a bit too far.

29

26: I can see the foam coming out if your mouth.

30

26: I can see the foam coming out of your mouth.

31

"I imagine the point would be lost on you."

I grew up under socialism mate. Top marginal rate was 80%.You make $500k, you walk home with $100K. And that's just income tax. Add high sales taxes, local taxes, fees, plus 6 month wait lists for specialist healthcare that her husband gets paid $500k a year to perform.

Since Champagne Socialist Tammy doesn't have a job, and three kids she will no doubt send to elite schools like Cary Moon does, plus add nationalizing her family's stock ownership under a socialist government, trust me, she'd squealed like a fucking piggie under actual socialism.

32

@31

Ah, so not only is the point lost on you, you're also one of the many people who don't understand the fundamentals of our graduated tax system.

I guess you can take some comfort in not being alone there, but until you learn how marginal tax brackets work, you've disqualified yourself for the time being from any serious discussion of income taxes in the US.

33

@16 yep, that's the poster I'm referring to.

Tammy Morales lied. She is a lying liar who lies. There is no defense here. I challenge Lester Black or anyone at The Stranger to try to explain away how she could appear on that poster, which she approved, yet simultaneously insist she isn't a socialist.

But here's the bigger issue -- why is Tammy Morales so ashamed to stand for what she believes? Why does she tout herself as a proud socialist and ally of Kshama Sawant to one group of people, and then to another group say "oh heavens no I'm not a socialist! How dare you call me that!"

Is it because, just like Sawant agreeing to outsource her votes to Socialist Alternative, Tammy wants to hide her true intentions for her office from the voters?

No wonder Jenny Durkan endorsed Mark Solomon. Say his name, Mark Solomon. If you're in D2, that's who you need to vote for. Smart, eminently qualified, as strong of a background as you can get, and with more integrity in his little finger than Morales can even dream of.

Sorry he doesn't want to overthrow the capitalists, eat the middle class, and make all our corporations and property publicly-owned, Lester. Go cry into your Lenin body pillow about it.

34

Jesus whose idea was it to move Lester from covering pot to covering politics?

I imagine the interview going something like

LB: so you’re not a socialist?
TM: nope, not at all
LB: but you’re a member of the democratic socialist of America
TM: what does that have to do with anything
LB - takes a big hit of a massive joint: alright alright alright

35

@34

Pish tosh, let our Lester have his revelry while he may.

I for one am heartened to see that a well-bred young gentleman can still enjoy a brief run of bohemian dilettantism in this day and age, before inheriting the estate and succumbing to the inevitable toil of managing its expansion.

36

@35 i guess, i mean it’s probably a matter of time until he grows up, leaves the nest and joins the Seattle times ;)

37

Anybody else noticed how establishment Democrats tend to sound like Republicans nowadays?

38

@37 Don't worry, the rest of Left Twitter noticed, too.

39

This says a lot more about the mayor than the candidate. Not the socialist part -- who give a fuck, really. It is just code for "you don't want another Sawant, right?".

No, the big question is why is she openly attacking the mainstream front runner? Morales has picked up the support of just about every Democrat in the area, along with every Democratic organization. This includes existing city council member Mosqueda. Somehow all of these mainstream Democrats are wrong (and she isn't a radical) or maybe the mayor is talking out of her ass. Do you really think Mosqueda wants someone on the council who is a demagogue, and can't cooperate?

More than anything, this sounds like a weird power play by the mayor. She is probably afraid of Mosqueda, and doesn't want her to have another ally. Perhaps she picked someone down the list (fourth right now in Democracy Voucher contributors) in hopes that he will return the favor, and be a lapdog.

Either way it is strange, and suggests insecurity. Such insecurity is justified. She won the election mainly because more serious and qualified candidates just assumed Murray would breeze through. Now she hasn't done shit, and will likely face someone who can better handle the job. She probably figures that having the endorsement of a city council member (a cop no less) might make up for her inability to accomplish anything.

40

Let me know when you guys want to put any weight behind me telling you it’s Farrell or Durkan.

Or that Orange asshole might really win.

Or anything else, for that matter.

41

@39

I think that's pretty much correct, Durkan won against an unusually weak field, and has governed opposite a relatively weak, disunited council, and so is naturally maneuvering to cut off anyone who might make a formidable council president or challenger for mayor in 2021. As to why she's backing Solomon, my guess would be that someone has shown her some internal polling that says he's got the best (or more likely, only) shot at overtaking Morales.

It's some small-ball politics, to be sure, but it's not strange, I don't think. Maneuvering is just what politicians do.

42

Candidate: We need diversity on the Council. To represent the most diverse district in the city. But please don't vote for the sole viable African American candidate (who make up a plurality of the district). Instead vote for an all-Latinx and all-Socialist Council. That's the best kind of diversity.

To be clear, not endorsing voting based on race. But since she brought up her "diversity" credentials, it seems like fair game.

43

@39:

"Do you really think Mosqueda wants someone on the council who is a demagogue"?

As long as their demagoguery aligns with St. Teresa's demagoguery, she'd have no problem.

44

@39: ‘It is just code for "you don't want another Sawant, right?".‘

That’s exactly what it is, and that’s exactly why both the headline and lead of this article contain blatant, outright lies. Once again, The Stranger doesn’t want another of its’ favored candidates losing to Durkan, and once again, there’s little they can do about it but stew and rage.

@41: “Durkan won against an unusually weak field, and has governed opposite a relatively weak, disunited council,”

Her opponents included what, two sitting state legislators and a former mayor, the latter being front-runner in the pre-primary polls?

And that “disunited” Council voted 9-0 for the EHT, then 8-0 to get us sued over the Showbox. Their problem isn’t dissent, but a lack thereof. Morales has made it pretty clear she’d vote for the same failed policies which have sullied our public spaces with needles, shit, and garbage. Hence, Durkan doesn’t want her on the Council.

46

Tammy Morales may not be an actual socialist but Jenny Durkan is a card carrying pig.

47

46,

She is getting kind of fat, isn’t she?

48

Funny. I saw Tammy's face on a flyer promoting a Socialists to City Council meeting or somesuch, with billing also given to a 'socialist' (Shaun Scott) and a Marxist (who else). Tammy got cold feet and didn't show, but the fact that she agreed to participate speaks for itself.


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