WA: Times Tries to Legitimize Phony Governor

Sunday's Seattle Times provides fresh evidence that:

1) the editorial board thinks Times readers are extraordinarily stupid

2) they believe they can trick the public into accepting Christine Gregoire as a legitimate governor of Washington State.


Could they be more obvious? Take a look at today's editorial. It looks as though it was written by one of Gregoire's PR flunkies:

Gov. Christine Gregoire has offered a forward-looking plan to invest in biomedical research and facilities and create thousands of new jobs. The proposal is appealing on several levels.

Gregoire unveiled a $350 million plan to funnel money toward research at the University of Washington, Washington State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland. Legislators who covet the money for other uses have to remember where it came from and the limits implied.

The Life Sciences Discovery Fund takes a windfall from the 1998 national settlement between the states and the tobacco industry — in essence, lawyers' fees awarded four states — and puts the money directly to work providing seed money for biomedical research.

Tobacco-lawsuit money has been directed toward smoking prevention and health care, which makes sense. This is a logical extension because biomedical research is part of the future of health care.

The fund would capitalize on Washington's high-tech reputation to create family-wage jobs. The money likely would be bolstered by federal and private matching money and could eventually total $1 billion.

This editorial also claims both Republicans and Democrats are excited about the governor's plan. Doesn't that seem a bit of a stretch?