Everett Herald Endorses John Koster

That is disturbing and shocking. Wanting a congressional representative that is more aggressive and influential, yes, that’s one thing. But endorsing Koster and his policies is irresponsible and destructive. I’m in the 2nd District and can only hope that the Herald’s endorsement is as meaningful as one by the Seattle Times. Not!

As I stated in the other post on him today:

I’m debating voting for him for three reasons (as irrational as they might be):

1) Two years of a bad representative to get then get someone new in on the dem’s side.
2) So constituents can see first-hand the effects of having a radical TEA bagger in office.
3) Get Koster of the Snohomish County Council.

Koster (R-Pluto) needs to be off the Snohomish County Council and enjoy the House Chamber from the Vistors Gallery. Larsen worked at the grassroots level listening then with Patty successfully pushed for adoption of the Wild Sky Wilderness Bill. Koster would prefer to turn it into a snowmobile ORV park and shooting range.

Koster is useless on the County Council, what with the 4 other members being Democrats. This is his last term (term limits in SnoCo), so you won’t have to wait long.

And constituents already have the ability to watch a right-wing nutter in action – Sen. Val Stevens (R-39).

And finally – what is so awful about Rick? And when was the last time an incumbent was defeated in WA-2?

Thanks for the correction, I forgot that he was already at the end of his tenure due to term limits. Would be nice if we had those on the state and federal levels, too.

Ricks is horrible, just need new blood (not Nick Harper too lefty) but someone that will talk about more than just the Navy and Boeing.

Nothing like have a local TEA bagger on the national stage to see what kind of nut jobs they are.

You lib’s make me laugh. You literally have nothing to attack Koster with other than debatable social issues (social issues I might add the majority of voters in this CD side with Koster on) which have little to do with the seat and nothing to do with the current political climate. So you stoop to calling him a teabagger, a nasty slur that only the media dominant left could get away with using in politics. For all the whining we hear about “hate speech”, you guys sure are full of it.

I bask in the heat of your frustration; Rick Larsen will lose and maybe, just maybe, the American people can gather their senses and fight back against your pathetic, FAILED policies before we have a definitive economic meltdown.

Jakers youre a nut case. screw you for even considerign voting for such a nut job!!!

The only socialist projects we should ever support are teh ones that go to letting the rugged individuals in eastern washington think they did it all themsleves withoutt the help of society…like irrigation/dams./cheap power/poluting publiclyowned waterways with cow piss and manure…built under the most socialist new deal government of roselvelt! Just think…70 years from now this socialist stuff done by obama will be loved by libertarians has rugged individualism!!!

So what you’re telling me is that Koster just needs a new job and so he is going to find one from Uncle Sam? He’s really putting the ‘bagger’ in TEA BAGGER.

Um…no, Koster is a fervent supporter of basically bankrupting America through tax cuts for the rich. Koster supports getting rid of the DOE, Social Security, Medicare, supports staying indefinitely in various wars, but, where it really counts, is currently a waste of space on the County Council, and has always been completely and utterly ineffective as a legislator.

Now that he sees his time sucking off of the government teat, with his 6-figure government job, is about to end, and it’s a good year for Republicans, he’s going to try to get a new job that pays over $170k per year, and allows for a lot more cronyism in staff hiring.

Rick Larsen has been an effective member of the U.S. House (Pipeline Safety, Wild Sky, to name a couple – both very popular in the District), a staunch supporter and advocate for seniors, active duty and retired military members, and union members, and has always been open and accessible to his constituents.

To replace him with an extreme right-wing, do nothing, hate the government, but live off of the government teat, Tea Party Republican would be a major loss to the district and to the state.

Rick Larsen’s mediocrity aside. Koster’s positions on social issues are no small matter. I know he himself wants to minimize them because the economic problems loom so large, but to put a man in Congress who is wrong on gay rights and wrong on a woman’s right to choose is something only a heterosexual man could rationalize.

Um… yes. You want to talk about bankrupting America? Let’s see, Rick Larsen claims he wants to “stand up against Wall Street”, only thing is he voted for the whopping $862 BILLION ‘stimulus’ plan which has done absolutely nothing for the economy except keep big corporations alive that are “to big to fail”, and they continue to hand out massive bonuses on the taxpayers dime.

How about voting for every new tax under the sun, bringing us now to a $2.7 TRILLION national debt?

How about voting for Government run healthcare, which hands over 1/6 of the US economy to the government who we all know handled Medicare and Social Security so well… ha.

Oh, and how about that 16.5% unemployment rate?

Rick Larseny may have set aside some earmarks for projects as you stated, but he has voted over and over for the failed policies of Nancy Pelosi and Obama, and nothing can make up for that. And to say that Koster’s in this for the money is absolutely ridiculous; if you knew the man, which clearly you do since you’ve got all of Rick’s talking points posted, you’d know he could already retire and would much rather stay at home with his family then go into that snake pit. He’s running for congress because he TRULY understands the needs and concerns of the people and can see what a mess Rick Larsen/Pelosi congress have made. Sorry pal, but your arguments hold no water.

Correction: $2.7 TRILLION debt in the past 18 MONTHS.

There are quite a few questions your post raises.

1) What does the Stimulus plan have to do with bailing out Wall Street? The spending was largely for tax cuts, money to states, infrastructure projects, etc. That’s a pretty tenuous link to Wall Street financiers.

2) What experts do you cite for the claim that the stimulus spending has “done absolutely nothing for the economy?” Most experts believe that unemployment and GDP growth would be worse without the stimulus. In any case, I doubt you can find an economist who would argue that the government spending hundreds of billions of dollars and granting hundreds of billions in tax cuts has no effect on the economy.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-08-30-stimulus30_CV_N.htm

3) Where do you get the figure that 1/6 of the economy that was previously privately funded will now be in government hands? First, government already accounts for almost half of health care spending in this country. Thanks to GOP scaremongering and health insurance lobbyists, there is no public option. Most people will spend their own money (some will be subsidized instead of relying on uncompensated emergency care) on private health care plans. How does this amount to a 1/6 hand over of the economy?

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/feb/16/joe-biden/biden-overstates-role-medicare-medicaid-us-health-/

Mikos, you changed my mind. I was gonna say: let Larson loose, usher in the maniac for two years to fule the soon-to-implode conflagration that is the Tea Party, and then, in twenty-twelve, elect someone good from the district like Kevin Ranker. Seems like as good as any way to oust a lame incombant. But you are right. Intolerance cannot be tolerated. If Larson is smart he’ll tack that way fast.
Thanks.

Wow, incumbent.

You are all missing the point. The point is the Herald – not Koster or Larsen. The Herald, the biggest newspaper in Snohomish County, is endorsing a candidate that is on the record of a candidate who is in favor of dismantleing most of the institutions – except for the military – that make up our government and our civic society. The fact that they endorsed him is the story – it is, as I said, irresponsible. You can’t shout “fire!” in a crowded theater? You can’t – if you want to claim a position of responsible journalism – endorse a candidate that wants to undo our country. If the Herald wanted to signal its displeasure with Larsen, then all they needed to do was withhold an endorsement in that race.

OMG, I don’t even know where to begin!

There are so many factual errors, which shows me that you obviously get your “facts” from Fox News or Sarah Palin. Or that you’re one of Sarah Palin’s children.

First, as T. Chen pointed out, the economic stimulus package was not a “bailout”. I believe you’re referring to the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, which, as you may recall, was pushed through Congress by the Bush administration, with the help of Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH). What you may also be aware of is that it is, technically, a success. It helped stem the bleeding of the banks, and ensured that the problem in the banking sector didn’t hit a bottom as bad as it could have. Further, all signs point to TARP being either just shy of revenue neutral or profitable.

As for the stimulus package – the one thing that the majority of economists agree on is that it should have been larger. Unfortunately, it had to be pared down thanks, again, to the GOP and their filibustering in the U.S. Senate.

That said, even the anemic end result has, according to the CBO and OMB, reduced the unemployment rate by 0.8-1.8%. Which, as you may also be aware, stands at 9.6% nationwide.

And explain to me which of these “every new tax[es] under the sun” have actually had an impact on you? In fact, what new taxes are you talking about? There has been minimal fee and tax raises at the federal level, and if memory serves, they’re on tobacco products, and various medical machine manufacturers. In fact, part of the stimulus was a tax cut for most Americans.

T_Chen makes great points on your 1/6 argument – I would only add that while you chastise the government for their “handling” of Social Security and Medicare, I would point out that the reason there has been so much borrowing from the trust fund is to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. Additionally, Medicare is a great program, and while I think the reimbursement rates are low, I have yet to meet a senior who hates the program.

And finally, part of the Social Security issue is the cap on the SS tax, which could easily be increased, or even increased at a certain level (the doughnut option), and shore up SS very quickly – if the GOP could stand to have people who make upper 6 figures and above pay an additional $5200 per year into the fund.

I have tangled with John Koster on more than a few occasions, and he would be terrible for his district. He cares about his campaign contributors, having the government control people’s personal lives (again, anti-choice, and anti-equality), Dwayne Lane, cutting taxes for rich folks, and living off of the government teat. He is an extreme candidate in a moderate district, and would continue his trend of getting not a goddamn thing done in D.C.

Seriously, name one legislative accomplishment of Mr. Koster’s, in his 15+ years in elective office. Just one.

Wait, you can’t. They don’t exist.

I am actually quite surprised that the Herald endorsed Koster. Very Blethen-y of them.

i whave known john koster since he was 13 years old, he was ,sad to say, not smart then and he hasn’t got any smarter since then. he of the freeddom county b.s. and the christian colilition,and the black helicopter scare. he also was thought to have had a sexual moment with a dairy cow in his hay-day in arlington high school. you can say a lot about john, but don’t ever accuse him of being normal!