Seattle Times Endorses Yet Another Republican
Their Values Are Not Our Values
These Are Not “Normie” Dems
The Seattle City Times Editorial Board endorsed someone I’ve previously argued is a clear Republican, to represent Seattle at the State Legislature.
This person not only has a concerning record of abusing homeless people, but she openly campaigns for MAGA Republicans and allies herself with kooky right-wing commentators like Jonathan Choe (imagine a much-less talented Ben Shapiro following people around with a camera).
I will note that I keep encountering umbrage from folks who get mad when I point out politicians working to hide Republican policy under the Democratic Party banner.
But CascadePBS reports that a senior staffer speaking on behalf of the State Democratic Party said of Suarez - “She is not a bona fide Democrat, and thus ineligible to have access to our party resources.”
Suarez told Cascade PBS that she believed Democrats are as unfair and “if not more or equally corrupt and evil as the right-wingers, as the MAGA party.”
This endorsement by the Seattle Times should serve as yet another reminder that their values are not Seattle, King County, or even most of Washington’s values.
Their reporters do great work, but their editorial board remains intellectually bereft and morally out of touch.
Recent Reminders
You may recall that they barely endorsed moderate/mainstream Democrat Bob Ferguson earlier this year, in what the Washington Observer called an “unenthusiastic backing of Ferguson [that] reads more like a litany of reasons not to vote for the three-term attorney general.” The tea leaves suggest that if someone to his right had a chance, they would have readily embraced that person.
They also enthusiastically endorsed Republican Ann Davison for Seattle City Attorney. Davison, as you may recall, joined with a January 6th insurrectionists to make a recruiting video for the Republican Party. Ditto with right-wing prosecutor Jim Farrell for King County (over moderate Leesa Manion). Farrell’s views were so right-wing that he was more or less unceremoniously tossed from the Democratic party.
The Seattle Times Editorial Board was also slow to fire their bizarre Hitler-versus-Lenin apologist, who now claims the editorial board admits he did nothing wrong and just bowed to public pressure. Yikes.
Nothing New
As I have noted in the past, this extends to more mundane political issues. They opposed bringing light rail to the University District, Roosevelt, and Northgate, the expansions to Lynwood, Bellevue, Tacoma, and Everett and the 2010 school levy. They tried to unseat Centrist Senator Maria Cantwell with a Republican, wrote nasty screeds against some of our most talented politicians like Teresa Mosqueda who then clobbered her opponent, and in my own area of town, endorsed Lelach Rave against Darya Farivar for state house (Farivar twon by 19 points).
The Rot at the Top
Frank Blethen, the owner of the Times, whose retrograde values dominate the editorial board, you may recall, was charged for injuring his neighbor’s dog multiple times with a pellet gun. Along with his many right wing views is his propagandistic claim to fame—he is thought to have invented the term “death tax.” This is used frequently by Republicans to keep intergenerational wealth in power and prevent anything like a meritocracy from ever taking hold.
But they want you to think their views are mainstream.
In Their Defense
And, to be fair, the editorial board occasionally endorses strong candidates–such as Jorge Baron for King County, Patty Murray for Senate, and Nick Brown for Attorney General. A broken clock is right twice a day, after all. In any case, these races usually do not offer a viable-but-not-straightforwardly-MAGA conservative who has a chance in hell at winning–and it is clear they are trying to not make themselves look too irrelevant.
But it does seem that when they can get it, these people would prefer rich Rockefeller Republican governance over mainstream Democratic party policy.
Thankfully, they usually don’t succeed!