Comments

1

Democracy! Show up or shut up. (Or just mail your ballot. Easy peasy)

3

Four dedicated articles in support of Sawant in the last week (2 guest editorials, an I anon and now this). The Stranger is definitely pushing all their chips to the center of the table and setting up the narrative that if Sawant does lose it will be all because of those evil homeowners and right wingers who voted 92% for Biden. I'd ask if there will be similar walkabouts in the central district or around Cal Anderson to talk to some of Sawants original supporters who are now sick of the dogwhistles, gaslighting and overall toxic nature of her office however I'm guessing that wouldn't help with the demonization and us against them mentality she likes to cultivate.

4

@2: Blame Chase for assigning her to this redundancy.

5

Point of clarification, please: Is Dora Houston just now registering to VOTE, or just now registering at her D3 address? Because if she's over the age of 20 and just now registering to vote, well, that's fucking lame.

6

@3. Exactly! Wtf is going on at the Stranger?

8

I was up on North Capitol Hill today, and they really don't like her either (judging by the signs)

9

"a self-described moderate"

Oh, look, another insufferable person. He doesn't even know what he stands for. I'm sure he considers himself an independent thinker though. Of course he can't really explain why he thinks the way he does, or what alternative he wants, but Sawant bad! If it weren't for her, his property value would have probably increased by 1000% percent instead of only 800%. Poor bastard.

10

How is it doxxing to publish publicly available information, or information given by people who were willingly interviewed?

12

@9&10. Are you really that dumb? Or just a Sawant whore?

13

3 if you want coverage of the recall side, there are plenty of sources that will cater to your needs - the Seattle Times, any of the local news stations, whatever weird stuff Brandi Kruse is posting to her patreon or MyNorthwest.

Instead you came here bitching about the stranger not being neutral when this sort of thing has been their M.O. since forever?

15

12 if a reporter comes up to you and says "hi I'm a reporter for the stranger and am interviewing D3 about the recall, mind if I ask you questions about your feelings for the paper?" And you agree and give your name, it can be published. There's tons of times where you see people give a quote but not give a name. This has literally been how journalists have operated for the past, I dunno, 200 years?

16

"marks the district’s convservative point of no return" -- the Stranger can't even bring themselves to spell the word.

17

@13 I don't care about the Stranger being neutral. BUT - shilling for a whacked political candidate INUMERABLE times? One that has broken the law? And alienated even those of us who call ourselves "liberal" but who are now called "right wing"? Maybe it's because we used to like and support the Stranger before it got take over by a bunch of fanatical idiots? Just a thought.

18

We need more socialists like her. Look at how wonderful Venezuela is now! Socialism did wonderful things for the country. I'm sure our city will thrive under Sawants cult....whoops! ...er...um...I mean.....dictatorship........whoops......dang - how can I put it so the stupid populace will embrace her?.....whoops! I said that out loud?

19

@5, A lot of young folks are like that unfortunately, with a thousand excuses for not finding the time to register much less vote.

20

@11 well that is certainly an untethered hypothetical in your own mind, I'll give you that.

21

I don't want to write this lecture, so I'm gonna Fisk this inane post.

"About twice as many D3 residents have returned ballots at this point in the cycle compared to the same point ahead of November’s general election, which speaks to the level of enthusiasm coursing through the district."

Whelp, there goes the long-standing talking point about how a special election in December was anti-democratic voter suppression.

"So far, voters from Broadmoor, Madison Park, and Washington Park – the once redlined lands of gated communities, million-dollar homes, and niche shops you would not expect to survive the pandemic – have shown the most eagerness in submitting their ballots, with some precincts already turning out at over 50%."

Western Capitol Hill, where the people whose politics you like reside, was also redlined. Sorry the shops there aren't to your taste, apparently they should have closed during the pandemic because the neighborhood doesn't share politics?

"Meanwhile, some precincts around Capitol Hill, where Sawant will likely find her base, show voter turnout as low as 12%."

Isn't it these people's fault, then, that they aren't assed enough to vote?

"Those neighborhoods in the northeast corner of D3 overwhelmingly voted for the conservative slate in the general election."

Center-left is the word you're looking for. And center-left≠conservative.

"I started my stroll at Cafe Flora, a vegetarian brunch spot that more-or-less marks the district’s convservative point of no return."

Beyond the typo, what the does conservative mean here? "Almost everyone here votes for the center left party, but since they don't agree with our preferred choice in local politics, we will call them conservative," I guess.

"Clouse told me he was a lifelong Seattleite. According to real estate records, he bought his D3 home in 1993 for $90,000, but it’s now worth between $775,000 and $1,000,000, according to various estimates."

What relevance does the value of his home have, here? I mean, good on him, $90k was only 3.5x the median income in 1993. Not bad!

"He said that the council member had not sent mailers to his home, but the recall campaign had."

Maybe Sawant writing off the voters of a not-insignificant chunk of her district should be the story here?

"In 2019, Trump donors funded Orion’s campaign, but Orion’s staffers claimed the campaign gave the Trump donor money to charity after the election."

Your own linked article says FIVE of those donors who each gave Orion $500 also gave to Trump. That $2500 "funded his campaign," no doubt.

"The three recall charges are not guilty verdicts, and I explained what we know about the truth of the allegations them here."

No, there was never a "verdict" on these matters, and your own linked article notes clearly that these allegations were each, in fact, substantiated. That you do not agree they should be reason to recall someone is a normative position, not an empirical claim regarding whether they received a "verdict," and certainly not regarding the "truth" of the allegations.

"“I read about the protest at the Mayor’s house, and that did disturb me, but I think that her fighting for the little guy kinda wins out for me,” Randall said."

So, unlike the Stranger, even some of her supporters aren't OK with her involvement in that.

""“I think technically she did break the law, but I think it's complicated,” Fontana said. “I don't think, for me, it's enough of a reason to vote her out of office.”"

Another person voting against the recall with a more nuanced position on this than the Stranger.

"Houston said she knew she lived among the recall’s target demographic, as she had received mailers almost exclusively from the recall campaign."

So the neighborhood isn't monolithic, and we see another person reporting Sawant has written it off.

"Houston did not care about the charges, and said the charge about Sawant mishandling funds was especially bullshit since the council member paid double the amount of the ethics violation."

Here is the Stranger's position! If you pay the mandatory fine for an ethics violation, it is bullshit anyone can ever suggest it was problematic!

"Although Houston has lived in D3 for three years, she is only now registering to vote."

A bit on the nose, eh?

"Houston – who, in typical progressive-voter fashion, still needs to print her ballot – will count herself among the new voters captured by the get-out-the-vote efforts of Sawant’s team."

With this being the ending, I'm half-tempted to give the post a Straussian reading.

23

@17 liberals in america are right wing, hope that helps

24

"The" neighborhood that hates Sawant? You'll have to be more specific.

25

...going out for more popcorn...

27

@26 - you have to remember that anyone who owns a house clearly stole it from a deserving working person. No, wait, Jeff Bezos stole it from the virtuous workers and then handed it out to his favorite enemies-of-the-people.

28

@21 you said everything I came her to day. Thanks for saving me all those keystrokes!

29

Only in The Stranger's myopic world was Bruce Harrell the "conservative" mayoral candidate. Perhaps Hannah should spend some time reporting from Lewis County interviewing residents on abortion rights to see how absurd her bias is.

30

21 for the win!

31

Thanks @21 for doing the slog (ha, ha) so the rest of us here didn't have to.

Hannah correctly notes a former US Attorney for Western Washington was murdered in his own Seattle home, by a killer who has never been caught. I'm glad the Stranger has finally mentioned this fact, which heretofore has been left to us commenters to recount. The Stranger fails to connect the dots, though; the murder of Thomas Wales is the reason his successors, including Jenny Durkan, have their addresses legally protected.

This may explain the revulsion many of Seattle's citizens felt when CM Sawant appeared in front of Mayor Durkan's family home, complete with an attack speech and and attack mob; the latter duly vandalized the place. No matter whose house it was, making a political fight into a personal one violates Seattle's standards for how leaders should behave. Adding the implication that Durkan might follow Wales if she didn't stop defeating Sawant merely increased Seattle's anger at Sawant's already provocative act. The Stranger's writers might have a better chance of understanding this if they'd follow their own reporting to the logical conclusion.

Also, the Stranger should really re-think throwing terms like "hates" around. Seattle has had two openly gay mayors. The Stranger demanded (and got) the resignation of the first, and demanded (but did not get) the recall of the second. Does this mean the Stranger "hates" openly gay mayors?

32

Hmmm. Last time I looked, all those "conservative" precincts also voted overwhelmingly for Biden and Inslee. Strange definitions at play here in Strangerland.

Or are you really trying to redefine the political playing field and label every non-socialist voter as conservative and/or right-wing?

34

@32 american politics redefined the political playing field, as you call it, already by having a two party system that consists of center-right perpetual losers and far-right fascists with no opposition party at all. if you don't think biden's crime bill is right-wing you are truly lost. google overton window or something

35

When you're on the left, everyone to your right is a conservative. That's how political alignment works. Y'all need to do some reading. I recommend starting with Conquest of Bread.

37

Based on contributions, 54% of the neighborhoods that “love Sawant” are outside Seattle.

39

C'mon, I get that this kind of piece doesn't get fact checked, but do better. Broadmoor, Madison Park, and Washington Park were NOT redlined. Sure, they had racial covenants keeping people of color and Jewish folks out, but so did much of Seattle. Nor are there gated communitieS in Seattle. Broadmoor's the only one.

40

Dr. Nelson Salim says vote NO on the recall.

41

@14 - Hannah's writing is far far better than the usual Real Change standard.

42

@33: naw, that would just ruin the whole Cracked/Mad Magazine aura of The Stranger. I read this publication in the same vein as the aforementioned magazines. Each time just looking to see if they have topped/exceeded the lunacy of the previous issue.

43

yawn. this story would have been WAAAAY more interesting had you wandered into a local D3 drug-addled camp and started asking questions.
'When I asked a man, who says he goes by the name "Cheezrat", what he thought about Sawant he told me, "I GOT YUR CROISSANT RIGHT HERE YEEEEAAAAAARGGGHHH!" while running at me with some sort of DIY weapon and his dick hanging out of his pants.'

44

As per usual, the right-wing trolls have invaded an article about Sawant. They truly are the loudest. Keep in mind though, they just have more time to waste on spewing their nonsense online. There's plenty of us who appreciate journalism that doesn't only cater to big business and centrist (non-equitable) policy folk.

45

How extremism is making us 'structurally stupid'
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/12/02/why-people-are-getting-more-extreme-reality-check-orig.cnn
This applies to the left as well as the right. No one is immune.

46

As a lunatic right winger who is just a tad right of Socialism, I see you, and hope I can be reprogramed one day that you will find satisfying.

48

Kshama Sawant: Hero of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce!

49

I hated the fat, orange chimp with a bad combover that was in the White House for years and after we fixed that, I thought that no one would be able to lie more than him. I was wrong...I got a Sawant Solidarity flyer, and her lies are stunning. There's no single item of truth in her claims. I'm not right wing. I can't think of the last Republican I voted for... but Sawant? She's actually worse. She's dangerously pushing a naive, bullshit Marxist ideology on a city that needs to clean itself up and destroying the very essence if what and how we'll do it with her socialist crap. She's a menace: to Seattle, to intelligent and educated people, to a prosperous economy, and to common sense. She wastes resources fighting for illegal and stupid ideas, wastes time, and is out strictly for her own loud mouthed, self serving bullshit.

I'm sure there are good socialists. They're all in coffins, right where they belong. Fuck Sawant, fuck what she stands for, and fuck her worthless piece of shit supporters.

50

I think we should just rename this slog to "THE SAWANT-STER".

It seems more appropriate. All the opinions and pieces seems to center on keeping her in office.

Its sad, this used to be an interesting newspaper, but now it seems to be a low grade slog, enslaved to keeping Sawant in office. This slog, much like the voters in D3, need to drop her like a hot brick and move on.

52

Apparently, when your property value increases ten-fold over a thirty-year period, you enter the upper middle-class and turn into a philistine who subscribes to the Seattle Times, supports fair-to-middling candidates like Bruce Harrell and become indifferent to social inequality and workers’ rights.

If Kshama Sawant scares you tighty-whities so much, why not vote her out of office in the natural electoral process of things, rather than make a big stinky-poo out of it and have the City Council make the decision for you, because you’re a closet Republican pussy and cannot think for yourself.

The entire country took a Trump-Dump with Seattle leading the way, and the prima donnas of East Madison should follow suit and support Sawant, who may be one of the only politicians who thinks, feels and cares among the baboon-platoon we refer to as the Seattle political leadership class.

53

I find it disheartening how little I know of and recognize in Seattle anymore, and
I was born in this city. Recall elections are total gerrymandering bullshit and have got to go.

@25 & @48 Trolling all the way from your tree fort hidey-hole, Swifty? How brave of you! Who has top bunk tonight, you or Elmer? I'm amazed your MAGA bros aren't using your avatar for target practice.

54

22K people elected Sawant. I hope just a few more “unelect” her. Nothing more democratic than that. Let the D3 voters decide. Anyone who says otherwise is against democracy and the standard rules. The Supreme Court ruled she crossed the line enough to qualify for recall.

The state of the city has done nothing but go downhill. People recognize that and made change in the recent election. Sawant is next.

55

She is going down in flames!

56

@52 Apparently when your neighborhood is awash in gunplay and break-ins and homeless taking over parks so that nobody else can use them, amongst many other issues that effect POC as well as the 'lily whites,' the best action is to pull out the megaphone and tackle high profile, sexy socialist issues in other neighborhoods or the country and blame the entire world's woes on Bezos. Sawant has consistently failed her own district (ftr I voted for her the first time around) and now, if she does survive the recall, will most likely take revenge on her own district just out of spite to 'give it to the man.' No wonder so many dislike her except for her sycophants - it's entirely of her own doing.

57

Q. What’s the best thing about a weekend?

A. We get a two-day break from The Stranger’s desperate effort to save Kshama Sawant’ ass.

58

Unfortunately for the average Seattleite, The Stranger is happy to continue running propaganda on behalf of the corrupt Marisrs in Seattle city government. Go figure.

59

Isn't Krieg's internship over?

Btw, picture captionist ("Where you wait to catch the bus back to the Hill after going to the beach)," if you're catching the bus at that location, you've already walked a mile from the beach. The bus stop at the beach is actually only a block or two away. Typical Stranger lameness or worse: looked for a "Recall Sawant" sign and then misrepresented...

60

Does anybody actually LIKE Sawant? Even her most die-hard supporters won't say that she's a good person, or a likable person, or a person with high integrity.

Everyone votes for her IN SPITE OF.... nobody actually likes her but they think it's good to have a "fighter" or a "left-wing voice" or whatever. Find one person who votes for her because she's a good person or has high character. You can't.

61

Add WWW
realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/112-28th-Ave-S_Seattle_WA_98144_M17177-62846#photo7
i walk through the neighborhood all the time. Part of my pandemic walk about. Her house is a single family unit. Valued at over $800k, which means, in these times, that Ms Sawant could get at least a million when she moves. Next month.
She deserves reaping the rewards for a smart purchase. Perhaps she and her SO will move to an apartment in Bellevue.
BTW has there been an improvement in the 28th Ave gang since her residency in the neighborhood?

64

“I don't think the rule of law or justice has any kind of political position. Unless you're trying to evade justice.”

A whole lot of ostensibly well-meaning white liberals hide behind this kind of statement when they break conservative. I don't think the rule of law or justice has any kind of political position - please just IGNORE THE DECADES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OUTCOMES THAT PROVE OTHERWISE... and read the text of the law which totally sounds impartial.

Good lord. The denial is amazing.

66

@64: That quote was in the context of CM Sawant's evasions and lies about having led the abusive, bullying march to Mayor's Durkan's family home. A person can be offended by such behaviors without being white, liberal, or break[ing] conservative.

Also, the only punishment CM Sawant can suffer here is recall from office, not violently racist policing or whatever. If you think the "rule of law" statement is tainted, then just substitute the expectation of persons elected to leadership aspiring to a higher standard of behavior. CM Sawant had no good reason to get personal with Mayor Durkan, and doing so in such a way which recalls (ha!) the assassination of one of Durkan's predecessors at US Attorney was really, really ugly. Those are the reasons CM Sawant and the Stranger continue to lie about how she appeared in front of Durkan's home.

@65: Agreed. We all need to aspire to a higher standard of behavior than racist, misogynistic name-calling.

67

They should call us "Never Sawanters". Her tactics and style of rhetoric are pitch perfect MAGA, just with different politics. If you are not with them they will demean you, even if you're in the same party.

69

This article is a good example of why the Stranger will never get a dime of support from me. I have to snicker every time I see the header begging for money. The journalism is crap. It's always been heavily biased, but in the past ten years this newspaper, which I used to eagerly read each week, has become an embarrassment.

70

"Only nine people out of 489 in that shrubbery-lined neighborhood next to the Broadmoor Golf Course voted for the progressive candidate,"

It's the shrubbery. That must be the reason. If you can't smoke it, it's evil.

71

Broadmoor is one of Seattle's earliest gate communities. The Golf Course is part of that community.

I can see why they wouldn't be lining up to vote for the progressive candidate.


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