The Obama presidency has been potent fertilizer for a new crop of right-wing conspiracy theories about the President, Democrats, liberals, and institutions identified with liberals. By now we're all familiar with birtherism, but there's a whole galaxy of bizarre innuendo to buy into if you hate the President. There's the theory that he's deliberately destroying the economy, that Weatherman Bill Ayers ghostwrote his best-selling memoirs, that Malcom X was his real father, that he's motivated by hatred of British colonialism, that he's a Muslim, that he wants to build a brownshirt-like organization in America, that liberals are indoctrinating your children in public schools, the list continues ad nauseaum. Most of them were made up out of whole cloth by talk radio hosts and other conservative hypemen, but some contain a grain of truth that has been spun into a larger fable. more ›

Mt. Vernon should be proud of Glenn Beck like the UW should be proud of Ted Bundy. (Fun fact: Both were active Republicans!) Just because you’re a big deal, doesn’t mean you’re a good deal. Mt. Vernon Mayor Bud Norris, long-time Beck friend, isn’t letting that get in his way as the Fox News waterboy is to be honored and given a key to the city later this month. more ›

• MyBallard has photos of a very cute raccoon lounging in the sun on someone's roof, watching the world pass by. That's exactly how we want to spend the afternoon.
• The Rainier Valley Post spent yesterday at Seward Park. We'd settle for lounging in the sun there instead of on someone's roof...!
• Beacon Hill Blog published a reader's letter asking for improved internet service in their neighborhood.

Though the political news of the day is most certainly McCain's ploy to "suspend" his campaign and delay the first presidential debate as well as the VP debate in order to concentrate on the economic crisis, there's other news out today about the plight of Republican candidates this year. According to the New York Times, Washington State Democrats are suing to force Republican candidate for governor Dino Rossi to list his party affiliation on the ballot as "Republican" and not "GOP" which apparently polls higher. more ›

Howard Dean's visit to Renton this weekend was really only the beginning of what is sure to be a lively seven weeks until the election. The first celebrity deathmatch pitting Obama versus McCain on national TV is still 11 days away. But if you want to wet your chops with a little political debate action this week, you're in luck. Our own homestate smackdown will be broadcast on KOMO-4 this Saturday, Sept. 20, at 9 p.m. It's the first of five scheduled debates, so we suggest you get to work on the rules for your Gregoire v. Rossi drinking game. We'll start you off: anyone mentions the viaduct, you drink. more ›

According to an email we got from the Washington State Democrats today, the state's Attorney General, Rob McKenna, laid out a plan for Dino Rossi to beat Christine Gregoire in November for state delegates at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. In short, according to McKenna, McCain-Palin needs to carry Washington by 10-12 points. "If he fails to carry it by ten or twelve points, Dino doesn't win." Maybe it's scary thoughts like that which convinced the state's Republican party to put out only a "vaguely worded press release" when their booth got trashed at Bumbershoot this weekend. more ›

If we were feeling snarky, we'd say it serves them right: after all, the vandalism of the booth is a mini-version of what the GOP leadership has done to the United States' image overseas in the past eight years, right? Poetic justice! But something about setting things on fire in the middle of a notoriously crowded festival strikes us as...well...inexcusably dangerous and short-sighted, even if what you're setting on fire symbolizes foreign and domestic policy of which you are very, very tired after eight years. more ›

Yesterday, this Seattlest headed to the U-District library to meet with other Hillary Clinton delegates (Hillegates?) from the fightin' 43rd, and to learn about what lies between us and the national convention. Because we care, we thought we'd share the info with you. If you're not a Hillegate or Obamegate, you can just skip to reading about other things. more ›

Seattlest grew up in a very small town in Central Florida. In our immediate area, we could count seven colleges. That doesn't include the University of Miami or Florida State, UWF, UNF, USF, the Art Institutes, and other colleges and universities (Obama's demographic). Florida is not, contrary to popular belief, peopled entirely by retirees (Clinton's demographic). Most of the folks around our small hometown are very blue collar, there are a lot of fern farmers and teachers, churches. It is, in our memory, a very conservative area. more ›

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First of all, let us say that we didn't plan our Super Tuesday get-together as an Obama event. We support Obama; we've even given him $$. more ›

We have gathered some of the top political writers in the country and asked them to discuss the presidential race throughout the year. Today they discuss McCain’s new frontrunner status, religion in American politics, and Edwards’ departure. more ›

When we first heard about the extra tax being levied on car-sharing companies like Flexcar in September, we were pretty incensed, as were many other one-car households. Sounds like the folks down in Oly may have actually heard our cries. The PI reports this morning that: more ›

Vedder’s first solo music video—for his critically lauded and Grammy-nominated Into the Wild song “Guaranteed”—airs on VH1 (and VH1.com) on Monday. Perfect timing, then, for the ever-more-famous guy to bump into his 1992 self while browsing Easy Street’s vinyl bins. Serendipity! more ›

Stealing Seattle's basketball team apparently isn't keeping Sonics owner Aubrey McClendon busy, so he's found another community to screw over: tiny Saugatuck, Michigan. more ›

Barack Obama's celebrity endorsement by Oprah Winfrey didn't go unnoticed by local Republicans. Never shy about borrowing strategy, they've recruited their own big name person--former Seahawk and Coug Robbie Tobeck. more ›

Those who attended the Issaquah Village Theater’s matinee of The King and I today may have come away a little disappointed. Dino Rossi used the stage to announce his candidacy for governor. more ›

In the middle of Steven Pinker's talk at Town Hall last night, the lecture morphed into some surprisingly blue comedy. We'll warn you now: what follows is adult language content. more ›

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. more ›

The Republicans, learning from the mistakes of the Democrats in King County's Sixth, may decide to run a candidate against Governor Gregoire next fall. more ›

The Mojo and the Sayso which opened at ACT last night is four actors and a car, but the car is the thing, the main entity. The car is the set, the stage, and the focal character. It may not have any lines, but it stands in for everything that moves playwright Aisha Rahman's story forward. It's the absent child, gunned down by aggro off-duty cops, it's the broken family, being rebuilt from the ground up with parts scavenged from here or there, it's the hard facts of terrestrial life in the face of the easy fixes of shyster spirituality. Jennifer Zeyl designed the set. She's a genius, we hear. more ›

The 8th congressional district lost five-term Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn and candidate Rodney Tom in the last twenty-four hours. more ›

Presidential primaries in December now a possibility: more ›

reports on his blog that state Sen. Joe Zarelli recently hosted right-wing Israeli politicians and others at a two-day conference down in Vancouver, to fan the flames of Islamophobia. more ›

Republicans in Olympia are tired of the Spend-o-crat majority rendering their very existence moot, and they've decided to do something about it—make funny noises. more ›

POLITICS: Young Republicans meetup. "Can't be any more boring than Drinking Liberally, can it?" asks Seattlest Seth. "Six of one, half dozen of the other," we reply. more ›

"I voted for Dino Rossi" is not what you say when you are dating a hard-left politics dork. Seattlest once learned this the hard way. The revelation sparked an argument. We lost. For months, we spent lonely nights reading Lewis Lapham, trying to cure our moderate streak. more ›

The 2007 Washington Legislative session begins today, and Governor Gregoire wants to spend big. Her argument, we have a $1.9 billion surplus, and we should spend that money on education, health care, and other gross poor people things. more ›

King County is accepting one-time applications for absentee ballots online until 7pm today due to concerns about poll accessibility in flooded areas. more ›

Halloween is Tuesday, which means this weekend is really the time for all of the –ists to celebrate. And whether they’re designing super-spooky costumes or talking about the super-spooky upcoming elections, we’d say that they’re doing a fine job of it. more ›