Wacky Mommy

Mike Erickson: “Political Sociopath”

WackyMommy — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:15:42 +0000

It is a weird, crazy day at Wacky House when Wacky Mommy finds herself in agreement with Kevin Mannix. (In today’s Oregonian, Mannix is quoted as calling Mike Erickson a “political sociopath.”)

And just to set everything straight — I’m pro-choice. Abortion needs to be safe, legal and removed of stigma and taboo.

However. (And this is a pretty big “however.”) I am against abortion when it involves your rich boyfriend driving you to the clinic, taking 300 bucks out of an ATM on the way, and dumping you at the clinic doors. (”That solves that problem.”) Then he takes you to Puerto Vallarta a month later, after you’re “good again,” so he can feel better and what? This is some sort of reward for “taking care of” the “problem”?

That I have a problem with. I mean, seriously. Fuck that. Fuck that about twelves ways to Monday. Because not only are you dealing with the post-partum that often follows abortion (and is something a lot of people refuse to discuss or deal with), you’re also dealing with Trauma of Asshole Boyfriend Who Treats You and Your Unborn Like Pieces of Dirt.

Something like that is going to take years of healing. Peace and healing to you, girl. You’re not alone. I hope you find some support and care and community.

(Here is the text of the editorial that ran in the Oregonian this morning:)

The 5th District bombshell
Kevin Mannix circulates troubling charges against Mike Erickson in a fight so down and dirty that one of the two must go
Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Ugly developments in Oregon’s 5th Congressional District race make it clear that one of the leading Republican contenders should drop out.

If reports about past conduct by Mike Erickson can be substantiated, he’s the one who should beat a hasty exit for the sake of his party. His opponent, Kevin Mannix, in an 11th-hour direct mail appeal to 60,000 GOP voters, raised allegations that Erickson got a woman pregnant eight years ago, gave her money to have an abortion and callously dropped her off at the door of a clinic where she had the procedure.

Erickson says the story isn’t true, but if it holds up, it could doom his candidacy in November should he become the Republican nominee. His party’s anti-abortion constituency would not be alone in seeing hypocrisy in his claim to be a “pro-life, pro-family” candidate.

However, if the story proves untrue, Mannix would become the poisoned candidate. He would be guilty of spreading a falsehood so reckless that it would leave him unfit for office.

So who are voters to believe? It’s troubling that mail ballots must be returned this week before the Mannix allegations can be fully investigated, but for the moment he appears to have the superior credibility.

As evidence, Mannix has a 2006 e-mail, purportedly written by a woman named Kristi Oetken, claiming to be a friend of a woman named “Tawnya” who had an abortion paid for by Erickson. Mannix says sources he trusts interviewed both women and found their story believable, and the Portland Tribune posted a detailed interview with the woman named Tawnya.

That’s not proof, but it’s powerful ammunition, so volatile that an innocent Erickson would want to go public immediately to offer a specific defense. Instead, he and his campaign hunkered down Tuesday, not returning phone calls but sending out an e-mail statement blasting Mannix’s “smear tactics” while offering no specific denial of his charges.

Mannix met with The Oregonian’s editorial board Tuesday to explain how he vetted the allegations and why he circulated them. He also made a strong case for why he considers Erickson to be a “political sociopath.” Erickson’s response to the allegations has gone through several iterations, including flat denial, and he did not respond Tuesday to repeated invitations to speak with the editorial board.

Indeed, Erickson has put out campaign materials that appear to have misrepresented his employment history and political endorsements. Oregon Right to Life, for example, has endorsed Mannix in this race, yet some of Erickson’s campaign literature makes it seem as though he is the group’s favored candidate.

Then there’s the cloud over Erickson’s political past. He was disqualified as Portland State University student body president during the 1987-88 school year when the student constitution committee found that he altered a letter written by then Gov. Neil Goldschmidt to make it appear as an endorsement. In a failed bid for the Oregon House in 1988, Erickson did a similar thing with a letter from then Sen. Mark Hatfield.

“Political sociopath” is an awfully harsh label, but it’s going to stick on Erickson unless he goes public, and soon, with a convincing case that the Mannix allegations are unfounded.

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MY favorite political video of the season (so far)

WackyMommy — Wed, 14 May 2008 04:58:53 +0000

Hoooooooooo-whee, this cracked me up.

(Steve’s favorite is pretty funny, too.)

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everyone’s got an opinion

WackyMommy — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:45:17 +0000

here are mine, for today:

* Mike Erickson is a jerk. We went to college together (PSU) and not surprisingly, he was a jerk in college, too! Way to go, Mike. Let’s hear it for the boy.

* We have a new expression in our house: “shovel-worthy.” (Like sponge-worthy, only not.) Is someone worthy of being smacked in the head with a shovel? Then they’re shovel-worthy. Several people come to mind. No, I won’t share names. OK, just 2,330 and that is all. That covers all the robots who sent me junk mail yesterday via the Internet. No, I don’t want to buy your watches, Viagra or porno videos you made of me. Because why? Don’t need ‘em. Thanks, though! And no, I don’t want to “get ready for sex in 15 minutes!” I have to go to work. (Here’s a smack with a shovel, at all your virtual skulls.)

* I’ll be glad when the election is over.

* Go, Obama!

* No, I don’t hate women. I just do not care for Mrs. Clinton or Monica’s boyfriend.

* My kids like to stay awake all night. They should sleep at night.

* We all need more sleep around here. And exercise. And vegetables. Other than that, we’re good. (Our new babysitter: “Don’t offer anything but fruit and vegetables. They’ll eat them, eventually. Believe me.” Me: Why are babysitters always so damn smart?)

* I’ve met about fifteen awesome new women lately, including the eleven I played bunco with on Friday. I do not have extra time to spend with any of them. Not even for coffee dates. This bums me out.

* The Interstate Farmers Market opens tomorrow. “The Underscore Orkestra, playing a mix of Klezmer, Balkan, Gypsy Jazz and Swing Music” will “set the mood for a fun and yummy summer!” Well, alrighty then! If you live in the neighborhood, go for me, would you? I have four meetings.

* Four. And none of them start ’til 5 p.m. That’s about three too many. No, it’s about four too many.

* That’s just my opinion. You? Happy Tuesday, y’all.

love,

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What was it the Trib president called us?

WackyMommy — Mon, 12 May 2008 05:33:00 +0000

Aw, Steve Clark, you shouldn’t have!

On the Portland Trib dropping to one edition per week:

“We fully expect that there will be those who will criticize our strategy. Through the years, we have routinely been scorned by some, including bloggers who are prone to vitriolic negativity.”

Vitriolic negativity? We are playful around here. C’mon, Steve. We’re just clowning around. (Mostly not for Jesus.) And making fun of the local politicos. And tucking our children away in large wooden shoes. Are we pillars of society? Please discuss amongst yourselves. I have no opinion on that one way or the other, but you know. The devil does make work for idle hands.

Just think, if you were a blogger, you could have just called us all “douches” and moved along to your next post.

kisses,

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HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!!

WackyMommy — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:50:27 +0000

To all the Ladeees…

Happy, happy, happiest Mother’s Day to you all.

xoxx

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come on Eileen

WackyMommy — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:31:54 +0000

Still stuck in the ’80s over here. It’s my new comfort zone apparently. I’m all better, recovered from surgery, feeling okay. Now Wacky Girl has a cold, fever, sore throat and wants to throw things around the room. She’s learned from the best, I guess.

Off to do yoga, vacuum, watch more videos and placate my sweet daughter.

xxox

ps — who can live without a little Ebn Ozn?

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qotd: Lillian Hellman

WackyMommy — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:28:01 +0000

“Since when do we have to agree with people to defend them from injustice?”

– Lillian Hellman, playwright (1905-1984)

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no homeschooling here, thanks

WackyMommy — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:28:14 +0000

You know why I love my children’s teachers? They are smarter than I am. Yes, sir. They truly are. And as a mom who loves the hours between 8:45 and 3 p.m., I really liked this post. Bring on the free cheese.

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Tom Potter turns away IFCC

WackyMommy — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:13:49 +0000

I’m not happy about this one. IFCC is our neighborhood community meeting place-art gallery-theater space-children’s theater space and much more. They do great work and need our support.

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smells like teen spirit

WackyMommy — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:01:23 +0000

You know how many times that video has been viewed? 11 million, eight hundred twenty-nine thousand, one hundred and 12 times, that’s how many. So far. Ah, what’s not to love about anarchist cheerleaders? So. So, so, so. Because I’m in an Oregonian-bashing kinda mood today… Did you realize the writers and editors there didn’t write shit about Nirvana until Kurt died?

I am glad newspapers are having a hard time. Serves ‘em right, being so snobby all the time. Anyway, then they were all about him, once he was dead. Then they asked me (I was clerking at the time, and this was pre-Internet) could I write down all the lyrics to Smells Like Teen Spirit for them? So they could, you know? Run them in the paper? And look cool? (Me: No.) (Then called my sister’s boyfriend to laugh our asses off.) (And cry a little, cuz we were bummed out.) (Also, when you’ve had a father and an uncle commit suicide, you just take all suicides a little hard.)

It was a fun time in the Pacific Northwest, those early grungey years. It was like all the stoner guys from my neighborhood had taken over the gym (kinda like in the video) and the clubs and the streets and were rockin’ it.

And finally making some money, so they could buy something other than Top Ramen and Hamburger Helper. Then when Kurt died, it was like… last laugh on the kids who got Food Stamps. Last laugh’s on you, bitch. Ah, it harshed my mellow is what I’m saying. (You know why he named the song that, right? Cuz he was broke, couch-surfing, borrowed someone’s Teen Spirit deodorant and… there you go. Next thing you know you got a big hit song, baby.)

The buzz that went on around here, prior to Nirvana’s big break-out, it felt good. It was hot and sweaty and sexy and just felt really good. I’d already been going to the clubs for a few years (I started getting into bars, getting served when I was, uh, fourteen.) (Yes, fourteen.) (Jesus H.) (I was able to buy booze and cigarettes at the store from the time I was twelve.) (Blame it on the rain. And the curves. And the ’70s.) But the clubs during the ’80s and early ’90s — it was an especially fun time to be clubbing.

Anyway, I wasn’t a big fan of Bleach, but when Nevermind hit I was just mesmerized. I remember being at the Lotus Cardroom in downtown Portland with my girlfriend Kate, and Smells Like Teen Spirit came on. We all just went totally nuts, it was so good. It was like — punk goes disco fever. It was so fucking fun. I also loved and will never be disloyal to:

Fishbone
Crackerbash
The Gits (RIP Mia Zapata, one of my favorite girls)
The Goo-Goo Dolls (don’t tease me — I saw them at the Blue Gallery and it was the funnest damn show)
Pearl Jam
Mother Love Bone
L7
Dead Moon
The Jackals
Frightwig
Calamity Jane
Los Lobos
Cherry Poppin’ Daddies
Public Enemy
Ice-T
Tori Amos
NWA
Violent Femmes
Soundgarden
The Hellcows

Are my kids going to like all that stuff? Everything goes in these 20-year cycles, right? I better pretend, starting right now, that I don’t know or like any of it.

And they never have to know that I know all the lyrics to Smells Like Teen Spirit. By heart.

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