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WA: State Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt: Anti-gunner and Bigot (11/13/2001)
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Email the WA State Democratic Party; mailto:waparty@democrats.org
Paul Berendt's remarks divisive Saturday, November 10, 2001SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARDState Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt deserves a lot of credit for his party's recent successes. He also deserves a trip to the woodshed for intemperate remarks that could make governing more difficult for the folks he's helped get elected.If the numbers hold, the Democrats have gained a 50-48 House majority, thanks partly to massive state party efforts in the 21st and 38th district races. So if the legislative session opens with Democratic majorities in both houses, it's at least partly to his credit.But campaigning is over and governing must begin, and Berendt's ill-considered slam at gun owners, religious conservatives and those who live east of the Cascades surely can't contribute to the political balancing act in Olympia.Referring to the Republican Party bringing outside volunteers to doorbell in those two contested legislative districts, Berendt told reporters that the effort would fail because, "when all those gun nuts and religious nuts from Spokane, Yakima and Moses Lake pile off those buses, we will win in Edmonds and Lynnwood for sure .. If I had your typical Republican activist from Spokane or Vancouver showing up on my doorstep, that would be pretty scary. They're probably packing heat or the Bible."Berendt is contrite: "Should I have said it? No. And I apologize if I offended anyone."If? If? The tiny majorities the Democrats expect to hold in the Senate and House will demand continued cooperation with the Republican caucuses, many of whose members represent districts on the other side of the Cascade Curtain. Democratic legislators, especially those in leadership positions, would do well to quickly renounce Berendt's impolitic verbal hip shot and reprimand him for it. http://www.keepandbeararms.com/news/kabanews/display_day_archive.asp?d=11/13/2001
Paul Berendt's remarks divisive Saturday, November 10, 2001SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARDState Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt deserves a lot of credit for his party's recent successes. He also deserves a trip to the woodshed for intemperate remarks that could make governing more difficult for the folks he's helped get elected.If the numbers hold, the Democrats have gained a 50-48 House majority, thanks partly to massive state party efforts in the 21st and 38th district races. So if the legislative session opens with Democratic majorities in both houses, it's at least partly to his credit.But campaigning is over and governing must begin, and Berendt's ill-considered slam at gun owners, religious conservatives and those who live east of the Cascades surely can't contribute to the political balancing act in Olympia.Referring to the Republican Party bringing outside volunteers to doorbell in those two contested legislative districts, Berendt told reporters that the effort would fail because, "when all those gun nuts and religious nuts from Spokane, Yakima and Moses Lake pile off those buses, we will win in Edmonds and Lynnwood for sure .. If I had your typical Republican activist from Spokane or Vancouver showing up on my doorstep, that would be pretty scary. They're probably packing heat or the Bible."Berendt is contrite: "Should I have said it? No. And I apologize if I offended anyone."If? If? The tiny majorities the Democrats expect to hold in the Senate and House will demand continued cooperation with the Republican caucuses, many of whose members represent districts on the other side of the Cascade Curtain. Democratic legislators, especially those in leadership positions, would do well to quickly renounce Berendt's impolitic verbal hip shot and reprimand him for it. http://www.keepandbeararms.com/news/kabanews/display_day_archive.asp?d=11/13/2001