What the Astorian said
Kari Chisholm
Couldn't have said it better myself. The Daily Astorian:
While Kitzhaber paid three visits to Clatsop County prior to the May primary election, the coast has yet to see much of Dudley. He also paid scant attention to some other parts of the state. He has never held public office. Other than playing professional basketball, Dudley's job has been selling investments.
It is great news that we won't have a social issues campaign for governor. Oregon really cannot afford one. Our fiscal problem is deep and abiding.
We will learn in some detail about Kitzhaber's plan. Meanwhile, Dudley is a cipher to most Oregonians. Alluding to that unknown, Willamette Week wrote prior to the May election that, "Dudley is offering himself up as a Reagan-like candidate who won't sweat the details but will hire good staff and provide inspiration. That's a leap of faith we cannot ask voters to make."
So the operative question is: Who are you, Chris? What is your plan?
With our public enterprise in dire straits, Oregonians can't be expected to bet on a vague promise.
Say what you want about Allen Alley (and I did, a lot) - but at least he spent time traveling the state and talking specifics about issues.
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3:26 p.m.
Jun 25, '10
It is clear that Dudley and his campaign team are planning to stay silent on specific policy positions for a good part of the campaign. They promise that they will get there, but I cannot tell if they are delaying because they really do not know what positions to take or are afraid that as soon as they do they open themselves up to attack by either independents or rightwing Republicans.
Now the question for me is when does he have to face the press and will they do their job and not let him continue to duck the issues? How long can this go on?
3:36 p.m.
Jun 25, '10
Maybe journalists will really turn up the heat? I think the people deserve a deeper look at what each candidate will realistically do if elected. No generalities, but specifics and what that means in working with the legislature, this budget and public too. A governor is just one person after all.
I think the Kitzhaber team has done a stellar job with community outreach and engagement via forums like Facebook. They listen to ideas from the public and incorporate them into the platform. It's wonderful. Go team Kitzhaber!
9:53 p.m.
Jun 25, '10
They are beginning to get their canvass on in a big way, by vetting canvassers in local neighborhoods like their SE stomping grounds and then outwards. I agree with you, the "What are your ideas?" aspect of the campaign is a great interactive tool.
Dudley unfortch is not in a position to use it also, lest voters think he is ACTUALLY requesting someone put together his platform for him.
6:53 a.m.
Jun 26, '10
You mean just like Dr. No did for 8 years in office? you mean just like our current governor has done withe the exception of his way late treatise on suggestions for Oregon's future?
Sixteen years of democrat stranglehold on the governor's mansion and here we are. I've met Ktz and spoken with him. He is as vague and exciting as the cardboard box Harry & David fruit is packed in.
Dudley may not be the answer, but like the recent Education race many voters are willing to bet on the vagness of change rather than the stale, ineffective status quo.
10:42 a.m.
Jun 26, '10
Mr. Chapman,
It might be hard to get past the partisanship but if you would like details on Kitzhaber's plans, just check out his website. If you have more questions, ask the staff. Simple.
I don't know where these playbook accusations of dullness and being evasive come from but I have known them not to be true with Dr. Kitzhaber. His speeches are passionate and he is forthright in person. Don't be fooled folks; he's the best we got and that's wayyy good enough even with this budget we are looking at.
2:23 p.m.
Jun 26, '10
I appreciate your comments, but there is nothing partisan about this. I voted for Ktz - twice. the incumbant once. Tired of the same old outcome so will try another alternative this go round.
6:33 p.m.
Jun 26, '10
Thank you for being civil. Hope you got a chance to enjoy the sunshine today!
10:05 a.m.
Jun 27, '10
Would you like to see the list of the specifics Obama gave everyone which he immediately forgot about the second he was elected...
11:31 a.m.
Jun 28, '10
I gotta comment here.
First, there are many valid criticisms of Kitz, but you can't say he's not charismatic. I've seen the guy talk on health care when he was working on the Archimides Project and it was awe inspiring. I've worked with and for politicians for many years and have met few as charismatic as Kitz.
Second, I'll assume Mr. Summer is joking and not really insinuating that because some candidates break specific campaign promises that there is no longer any value in candidates being specific. Don't we sort of have to demand specifics? Otherwise, what are we voting on?
2:54 a.m.
Jul 3, '10
It's Dr. Summers but please call me Rob, and no thats not what I was saying, I agree with you ...the devil is usually in the details ...the point I didn't do a very good job of making is that the details we got from Obama were as worthless as he has turned out to be. Details like his plans to have the healthcare tax debate broadcast for everyone to watch on CSPAN which of course never happened. If the media hadn't spent so much time trying to get obama elected then we would have been told that he has never had any personal integrity which would of allowed us to discount the veracity and value of what he is constantly saying. From all appearances Dudley is a very honorable man with no shortage of honor or integrity so when he gives up the details then I will believe him and take him at his word. And when habitual liars like Obama tell me it's dark outside I will be opening the curtains and looking for myself.
5:13 p.m.
Jun 25, '10
I think what Dudley is doing is working for him. Being quiet - leaving it to the electorate to decide who he is and hoping that this tactic will work. I assume that as debates get underway he'll have to say ... something, but until then, mum's the word is my sense of it.
9:54 p.m.
Jun 25, '10
I say, if he doesn't define himself I am happy to do it for him.
9:55 p.m.
Jun 25, '10
"That's a leap of faith we cannot ask voters to make."
TDA you little message crafter you! Stick this in some lit!
10:04 a.m.
Jun 27, '10
It's a terrible feelng not knowing or being able to divine what his specific plans are isn't it. 2 years ago all americans, eager to believe what they were being told by Mr. obama were faced with the same type of dilemma when deciding who to vote for in the Presidential election. Taking Obama's word for what he planned on doing was a huge huge mistake 9we know now) but then if he would have told the truth and let the world knowe that he was a cloward-Piven trojan horse candidate who if he were elected planned on whipping and driving our economy and resources right off a cliff as quickly as he could and was intending to work 24/7/365 to get as many americans as possible dependant on the govt to meet their needs so that scare tactics about the evil republicans who would take away all of their free stuffwould have a big enough impact to get him re elected so he could finish this country off by creating a total system breakdown before ushering in his idea of a Marxist utopia. It's the only possible way possible to interpret his actions versus what he says because any other interpretation would have to be able to explain the known impact his policies and the way he has had to go about getting those policies made into law ...and there just isn't any explanation that could do that
12:31 p.m.
Jun 27, '10
Obama wants a "Marxist utopia"? Ha! Don't you know communism is a failure? Maybe it looked good on paper, but no student of history and politics and law, such as Obama, would want that crap for America.
And you have the gall to talk about stare tactics from Democrats! For shame.
7:12 p.m.
Jun 28, '10
Yes Tim I do know that ...it's Obama who doesn't know it. Obama is a student of Saul Alinsky Radical extreme left wing politics and his legal specialization was geared towards ACORN's decades long crime spree at our expense. The only problem with your thinking on these things is the facts and the truth.
google ..obama, alinsky, cloward and piven and educate yourself
http://www.redstate.com/anitamoncrief/2010/05/27/obama-acorn-and-stealth-socialism-dire-domestic-threat/
3:14 p.m.
Jun 27, '10
Robert, take a look at what happened to the economy during Reagan's first term -- not a pretty picture.
Yet Republicans blamed it all on Jimmy Carter, even though things turned dramatically for the worse about 8 months AFTER Reagan took office, and stayed very bad through his first term.
If you look at Carter's fourth year and Reagan's fourth year, they look very similar. The problem for Carter, though, was that it was the worst of his four years, while it was the best of Reagan's first four years.
5:44 p.m.
Jun 27, '10
The economy cratered around carte rmostly as a result of drficit spending caused by the Vietnam war. That war was fought by several presidents, republican and democrat alike. What Carter failed so miserably at, and where Obama has failed so far, is doing anything of substance that changes the picture.
8:31 p.m.
Jun 28, '10
The economy cratered in the last year of Carter's administration for the same reason that it cratered (worse) during the Ford administration -- gas prices doubled in a very short amount of time.
But as bad as it was in Carter's fourth year, it was worse in Reagan's second and third years.
Amazingly, 8 years later the Rs were still trying to blame Carter for the havoc caused by 8 years of trickle-on economics.
7:19 p.m.
Jun 28, '10
They blamed it on Carter because Carter was to blame. The U.S. economy is a huge and very complex system that cannot be steered like an indy car but can only be herded like buffalo. There are some very basic fundamental principles that can't be ignored ... small businesses in this country creat 85% of the jobs. The reason the liberal ideas never work is because in order to pay for all of those great new programs to try and micromanage the people and have the govt be everything to everyone, you need money ..lots of it ...so the left raises taxes ...and small businesses stop hiring people and we have another 4 yrs of going backwards. Your rendition of Reagan's legacy is wrong on so many different levels I don't have the time or the space to address them here. ohhh and in response to the question you asked me on the Dudley child molester thread ...my answer is "NO I would not" :)
10:02 p.m.
Jun 28, '10
so the left raises taxes ...and small businesses stop hiring people and we have another 4 yrs of going backwards.
Bill Clinton passed the largest tax increase in American history. As a result, the deficit plummeted, the Treasury was able to reduce dramatically the amount of new debt being issued, and investors were forced to find new places to invest their capital - ushering in the greatest economic boom of the last half-century.
Bill Clinton's 1993 tax increase led DIRECTLY to the capital-driven boom of the late 1990s.
Meanwhile, George W. Bush's tax cuts - while putting some cash in the hands of the super-wealthy - combined with his extraordinary military spending led to massive deficits, which sucked investment money right out of the economy. Combined with the failure to adequately regulate Wall Street, we've now got the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
We can talk theory all day long, but I think the results are in. In a decade, we went from boom to bust.
5:37 a.m.
Jun 29, '10
Very good point, Kari.
I would add that unemployment dropped for seven straight years after that tax increase was passed.
Unemployment jumped up sharply after the Reagan and Bush tax cuts for the rich were passed.
The conservative mantra that tax cuts are always good for the economy and tax increases are always bad for the economy doesn't reflect reality in any way.
2:57 a.m.
Jul 3, '10
I saw a really good blog posting on the legacy of Reagan yesterday here is that link
http://conservativecameron.blogspot.com/2010/07/let-facts-be-submitted-to-candid-world.html
12:22 p.m.
Jun 28, '10
Obama was clear about his specific plans and policies and he's been working on exactly what he said he would work on. Progress hasn't been enough for some people and it's been way too much for people like you who didn't like what he said in the first place.
Forget your revisionist history. Bush drove the economy off the cliff--at high speed. (Remember the unprecedented TARP bailout they told us we needed to prevent a second Great Depression? Remember how Bush was still President then.) Obama is at least working to slow down the fall. Republicans in Congress are doing everything they can to keep things going badly. You are helping them by blaming Obama for the results of the previous administration's policies. You can't undo failure on that scale in no time flat.
6:50 p.m.
Jun 28, '10
When I read comments like .."Bush drove the economy off the cliff" Die hard lefties love to say that thinking it makes them look informed and 'in the know' but what you failed to remember on your way down the road to 'enlightenment' are a few facts that don't work with your original "Blame Bush" theme. First the President doesn't get to spend money ..that is a right reserved solely for the congress...and guess what Democrats controlled both houses of congress for two full years + of Bush's last term. The reason the economy is flying off a cliff into oblivion and the deficit has grown more since Obama took office than in all of Bush's years is because of Obama and the lefties who won't stop printing or spending money we don't have. The failure of biblical proportions is what we are seeing right now. Obama is not only doing what needs to be done to cushion the fall he is standing next to the fire with a gas can in his hands. Healthcare reform that unionizez 20-30,000 more healthcare workers but doesn't reform healthcare, financial reform that in 2000 pages fails to regulate Fannie or Freddie ...98% of the mortgage market?? You need to start paying better attention because you have missed whats really happening by continuing to Blame Bush ..who by the way hasn't been President for along time now
9:16 p.m.
Jun 28, '10
blah blah blah ridiculous right wing talking point, blah blah blah ridiculous right wing talking point, blah blah blah ridiculous right wing talking point, blah blah blah ridiculous right wing talking point. There, you don't have to post anymore as that is all you ever do on this site.
Obama isn't doing enough spending to get us out of this morass; mainly because he's trying to appease people like you who are stuck in Friedman/Rand/Greenspan land. If anything, common economic sense says we should be borrowing money like mad right now to promote jobs, which in turn promotes spending, which in turn brings the economy back. Of course, the next talking point you'll parrot is that old canard (wow, mixed animal metaphor) of "but FDR's spending made the Great Depression worse," when in actuality it was his slow down of spending that did.
9:41 p.m.
Jun 28, '10
I apologize, that was ad hominem. That said, I still think we can't have a reasonable conversation when the lines about Obama being a "radical extreme left winger" start flying. Obama is a moderate/centrist. What is your definition of a "radical left winger?" I want to be sure we are using the same vocabulary here.
1:23 a.m.
Jun 30, '10
Thank you for the apology, I hope this next part doesn't come off sounding like a right wing talking point (which it may be) but like most of those talking points, it has it's foundation in truth. The problem we are having cranking up the job machine is because the people who create those jobs in the private sector are scared to death because no one can figure out just wtf Obama is doing. He says one day Jobs are #1 priority and the next day he is tattooing another tax increase on small business owners (healthcare for example) here is one headline from last week "Individuals see health insurance costs jump by 20%", 20%! Small business is having a hard time trying to absorb those increases alone and those increases are not all due to Obama's plan. Which leads us to Obamacare. 2700 pages of government intrusion and bureaucracy. What it didn’t have was anything resembling reform of the healthcare system that would slow down the dbl digit increases in costs every year. What did the new law do …it grew government and it added tens of 1000’s of new healthcare workers to the union rolls. All bad if cost containment is your goal.
Is Obama a radical lefty? Beyond your wildest dreams ...he is a cloward and Piven socialist and not only was he well versed on the C and P strategy ...he even tought a class on it...look them up and see what they and their buddy Saul Alinsky say and then overlay what they say over the top of Obama's track record so far and you will get a near perfect match..here are some other supporting links http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/10/07/obama-is-hiding-a-radical-past/ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/02/opinion/main4145761.shtml http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=38992 http://video.foxnews.com/v/4179305/exposing-obamas-radical-past