Oregon wasn't the same without you, Jules.

Geez Jules, you need a cold shower!

I happen to support Novick. Although I try not to believe in conspiracy theory, I have noticed that (a) the Merkley and DSCC banners are shown on the upper right of this site, and (b) I have received some email from Merkley @ an email address I registered on this site but DID NOT authorize my email to be sold or shared with Mr. Merkley.

If Mr. Novick wanted to purchase the premium sponsor slot next month, and I was willing to pay for it, what should I do? Or has this site become a a shill for Mr. Merkley, now that he has been blessed by the Hillary / DSCC crowd?

Strange that you mention that, Bluenote. In the past I have gotten emails from favorites of Blue Oregon at the email address I use here. (And don't say there aren't favorites--just look back at Kulongoski support here as if no one else should be running). Maybe Kari can tell us the BO policy for giving out email addresses used on BO.

Yet I could not have imagined that Jeff Merkley was about to make me prouder than I have ever been to be an Oregonian, and remind me why I think he has best chance to make all Oregonians proud of their U.S. Senator.

How bizarre. You must have had a very sad life. I could care less what kind of vague and empty platitudes he gives us and glad-handers like you he puts out there.

Tell your bud that there is only two things I want to know as a Democrat whose vote he wants and who, IF the image of having nothing to offer and the expectation he is owed the seat presented by the first 20 days of his campaign is accurate, is getting tired of empty-suit careerists like him.

First, he owes us a statement of his specific positions on all of the issues. His website is a paean to empty rhetoric.

Second, what is he doing, and I mean starting yesterday, to put his career on the line to put a stop to this:

Former CIA officer: US to attack Iran within 6 months http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Former_CIA_agent_US_to_attack_0821.html

starting by speaking out against DSCC Democrats like Wyden who aren't drawing the line in no uncertain terms? Wyden and his ilk give us mealy-mouthed statements about how an attack would be "unhelpful" but have consistently introduce belligerent legislation while not supporting meaningful actions to stop this. Merkley has given every indication of lacking anything approaching the backbone to stand up if it means risking his career.

I had hoped we would get another choice besides Novick, but that seems unlikely now and Merkley's don't-owe-the-voters-anything campaign style, is rapidly driving me to support Novick as the "anybody but another weasly Democrat" candidate. At least now that Novick has been snubbed by the sold-out Party establishment he is not beholden to them. We at least have a tiny chance that he will make their lives almost as miserable as they deserve if he were the nominee and then was elected.

p.s. BlueNote -- the guest column link works for you, just like it worked for Jules Kopel-Bailey. I don't know why people whine so incessantly about what gets posted here -- we're WAAAAAYYYY more open to guest columns than just about any other blog, except the open-diary ones.

I do have to give Kari the absolute highest marks here. While I daily am coming more and more to disagree with his choice of candidate --- due solely to Merkley already exhibiting that trademark detached style in which he communicates he owes nothing to the voter and the voter owes everything to him (after how many years of being a pol he can't give us an issues statement?) --- Kari has consistently allowed all voices to post, and been willing to cheerfully engage in the fray.

That, far more than anything else, is in the best spirit of what the Founders' intended when they gave us a free press. The press of their day was biased, opinionated, and aggressive - which is why they gave us the First Amendment --- and they knew our freedom depended on precisely a press like that. Not the careerist, intellectual dishonest, and utterly unrealistic claim of "objectivity" that the frauds in today's dollar-driven traditional media profess to practice.

I also want to know Merkley's positions on a severa specific things: Elected Democratic offiicals like Pelosi and Wyden (and oh yeah, that Republican guy who Smith would be his opponent) "impeachment-is-off-the-table" position. Feeble investigations of the administration that consist of saying they are going to have think about having a really important meeting if their subpeonas are refused one more time. Voters who say excuse-making Democrats are not defending their oath to the Constitution, which starts with having a backbone:

Pelosi's Stand Blocking Impeachment in the House is Killing the Democratic Party http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/9446

I'm sure two brilliant graduates from the Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs and his campaign team can put together a clear, short response to these clear and legitimate questions. It would be irresponsible to presume anything because Merkley hasn't had the courtesy to give us fully stated specific positions on ANY issues --- except a PR piece proving that he thought he could score points by jumping on the "Impeach Gonzo" bandwagon (Of course, without criticizing Democrats and Republicans who have the authority to do something and haven't). If I have to ask for information as basic as this, Merkley is a bad choice. He has a website where he clearly communicates what and how he feels about us mere voters who haven't gone to Princeton.

Jules, as a classmate of Jeff Merkley's in Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School class of 1982, let me echo how lucky Oregon is to have someone of Jeff's caliber in public office. I know Jeff to be honest and sincere, and a man who displays the highest level of integrity. Godspeed to Jeff in his quest to lead both the great state of Oregon and our United States Senate.

Posted by: anonymous | Aug 21, 2007 11:19:45 PM ...IF the image of having nothing to offer and the expectation he is owed the seat presented by the first 20 days of his campaign is accurate, is getting tired of empty-suit careerists like him. Posted by: anonymous | Aug 22, 2007 7:30:03 AM He has a website where he clearly communicates what and how he feels about us mere voters who haven't gone to Princeton.

Those are pretty bold words from someone who doesn't have the cajones to put a name - or even a recognizable pseudonym - to them.

Let's check the anonymous ad hominems at the door, shall we?

Hey "More Anonyous-er Than You" moron: I'm not running for office and I'm not asking anyone for anything. He is asking me and everyone else for our vote, the most valuable thing we have to offer politically as citizens in a representative Democracy.

Now let's see, today the psycho-in-chief said we have to stay in Iraq so it doesn't turn out like Vietnam:

Bush to cite Vietnam in defense of Iraq http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-bushspeech22aug22,1,7259923.story?coll=la-news-a_section

But gee, it seems some Democrats all of a sudden started singing the same tune several days earlier:

Baird sees need for longer U.S. role in Iraq http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/192500.html

With Congress poised next month to look at U.S. progress in Iraq and a vote looming on U.S. funding for the war, Baird said he's inclined to seek a continued U.S. presence in Iraq beyond what many impatient Americans want. He also expects Gen. David Petraeus, who oversees U.S. troops in Iraq, to seek a redeployment of forces. "People may be upset. I wish I didn't have to say this," Baird said. He added that the United States needs to continue with its military troops surge "at least into early next year, then engage in a gradual redeployment. … I know it's going to cost hundreds of American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars."

I already hear Jeff's Princeton smug frat buddies and campaign brain trust tut-tutting that the matter is complex, and WE all just know that Jeff wouldn't be like that. Except for the fact, except that in his customary calculated political style, he chose Kulongoski as a campaign manager who , despite what people have lied here, has not renounced his support of the war (just criticized how it has been run), and is reported to have said this THREE FULL MONTHS ago:

Oil drives governor's war stance http://blog.oregonlive.com/politics/2007/05/oil_drives_governors_war_stanc.html

Kulongoski wrote Bush a letter opposing the "surge" of new troops to Iraq, because he believes the president should pursue a much more intensive diplomatic strategy that includes most, if not all, of the neighboring nations. But Kulongoski won't sign onto resolutions calling for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

He says his thinking was shaped in part during a recent visit to Iraq. He was talking with a group of Army officers and one asked him what he thinks would happen if U.S. troops pulled out and a year later, Islamic militants overthrew the Saudi monarchy and imposed an Islamic state.

(Of course, what all these people have in common is that they are incredibly ignorant that it is the very continued use of military force that will only make things worse and worse.)

So I think we need a little more than assurance of Merkley's Princeton frat buddies that he is a good guy and we should just trust him because they are all just such upstanding folks, I guess like his fellow Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs grads Samuel Alito, Joshua Bolton, Frank Carlucci, Bill Frist, Judith Miller, and Gen. David Patreus.

Rather than rely on honor, or guilt, by association, I'll judge Merkley how, or apparently more accurately if, he gives us the respect we are due as voters to by providing us with full and precise statements of his positions on the issues. Which he still hasn't on his website as of this posting now 22 days into his campaign.

kari's right. i wouldn't assume that the anonymous bashers of merkely are novick supporters; my guess is that they're smith supporters couching their arguments in a calculated leftist rhetoric, hoping to score attack points.

<h2>feh.</h2>