The Gristle opens a can of civilized analysis
2 11 2007Fresh off their near-endorsement of McShane last week, the Cascadia Weekly is at it again. This week’s Gristle column (page 6) firmly but politely takes some Pike supporters to task:
Why do or don’t people want Dan McShane elected mayor? Because his mind, his character, is clearly made up on issues related to Lake Whatcom, the waterfront, neighborhoods and growth. Why do people want Dan Pike elected mayor? Because, despite his authoritative statements on those issues, the sense is his mind is not made up on those issues.
Is this an unfair characterization? Isn’t, in fact, the central appeal of the Pike campaign that the candidate is open-minded and evaluates all sides?
Well extend further and suggest one reason Pike gathers such broad support from diverse groups is, face it, their hope - however faint - that he can be rolled on his stated positions. Dan Pike himself warily senses the truth of this; and the question of whether he can be or cannot be rolled is that leap of faith supporters must take.
And that’s not all, you can read the whole thing in this week’s issue or download the pdf from their website.
It’s nice to see this kind of comparison and analysis of the race, even if it does feel a little bit late. The Herald has done some good work, but at the same time the decision to allow open and anonymous commenting has made them the epicenter of much of the mudslinging.
It’s really a shame because the Herald really is the epicenter of the local online community and could bring people together. It doesn’t have to too involved, but by adding some authentication and separating the ‘News’ and ‘News with public commentary’ areas of the site I think that they could really make something amazing.
Back to the main topic: Go the Weekly and especially the Gristle.
It would have been nice of the Cascadia Weekly to actually endorse a candidate, rather than the milk toast articles covering the election that seem designed to lean towards McShane but not take an official position.
I don’t know, I think they’ve been quite excellent in their coverage, making a very difficult point in a very clear and direct way. I too would have liked to see an endorsement, but I’ll take what I can get.