Jeffer-Slam Smith's election-eve campaign commercial doesn't even ask people to vote for him for mayor any more. Now he's into some sort of vague theme about the outer east side being neglected. Yeah, the outer east side that he carpetbagged into from Irvington so that he could skate into the state legislature. And he shamelessly wheels out his poor spouse as part of the spiel. Yuck. Just yuck.
"We need you." Who's "we"? And what do you "need" us for? It's creepy.
But if you look closely, as always, there is a moment in which truth comes to the light:
Comments (14)
DIVORCE ! Post election
Some things you just can't hide.
Jefferson will get deposited into the largest slop bucket, taken out to some landfill somewhere where he will stink up the neighborhood for a few years.
And then, magically show up in the new and improved version, ready to be loved by Portland liberals again. Sadly, he will be accepted... but not before 8 years go by.
First Portland has to elect Hales and endure four years of his issues, during which Sam Adams appears on multiple billboards with his big smiling face, and the bubble asking "Miss me yet?" And Portland liberal voters (redundant, eh?) will take back Scam Adams into their loving arms first. Later will come the JefferScam recycle job.
Portland, funny (strange) and pathetic and funny (humorous) all at the same time.
First, I don't think his young followers have anything to be embarrassed about it. Some of us older types who saw through this act may have come off as know-it-alls at times, but believe me, we were young once too and getting hoodwinked is a rite of passage.
Certain people know how to take advantage of the decency and idealism that young people fortunately have.
Second, this wasn't a character assassination in my opinion. If it had just been the incident in college, maybe you could call it that, but when the candidate showed up at the woman's house at 8 a.m. on the day of his press conference, his campaign was over. And that wasn't 19 years ago. That was last month.
I'd also say to Jefferson Smith that I'm not holding myself up as some kind of moral beacon. I've been in tavern fights and I once played in a band with a drummer who - decades earlier - had been convicted of murder. He had punched a female social worker and she fell hitting her head and died. He served his time, and - though it was strange to be in his presence knowing what happened - I played music with the guy for at least a year.
In other words, I'm not here to judge you. If I came off that way, it was because I didn't think you should be put in charge of Portland. That was what was driving it for me: I didn't think you should be mayor.
Frankly, I'm already feeling a little sheepish about how pissed off I got this year. It is not my thing. As soon as this is official, I will return to a life of music, watching sports, and writing comedy. I will not be interviewing any more politicians.
When I look back on this year, I'll know I did the right thing standing up to Jefferson Smith, but mainly I'll see it as an unfortunate, pointless waste of time.
All he ever needed to do to get elected was to come out big time about neighborhood preservation. Burkholder's fake preservation act (see: stopmetro.com) passed by 65% (http://www.debunkingportland.com/smart/metrodensityvote.htm) and guessing at the number of people who voted only for the real neighborhood preservation, probably 75% of the people voted for it. Those are Clackastan type majorities.
The recent rebellion against no on site parking condo bunkers (see: sites.google.com/site/apartmentparkingtaskforce/) shows continuing support.
Add in a promise to stop taking money from schools, social services, police to finance pet projects for millionaires and he could have won big time. Add in weekly garbage.
Unfortunately he is NOT in favor of any of the above because he is just another smart growth idiot who wants to force his religion on the rest of us.
Bill, I'm a very infrequent commenter here, but thank you for all your posts on Smith. There are an astonishing number of sociopaths in politics, and it's amazing how rare the ability to see through them is. Astonishly, Denis Theriault of the Mercury is still trying to make excuses for Smith...
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2011
Pete's Mountain, Elijah's Reserve Cabernet, 2007
Beaulieu, George Latour Cabernet 1998
Januik, Merlot 2011
Torricino, Campania Falanghina 2013
Edmunds St. John, Heart of Gold 2012
Chloe, Pinot Grigio, Valdadige 2013
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly Gamay Noir 2013
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio, Friuli 2013
St. Francis, Red Splash 2011
Rodney Strong, Canernet, Alexander Valley 2011
Erath, Pinot Blanc 2013
Taylor Fladgate, Porto 2007
Portuga, Rose 2013
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Locations, F Red Blend
El Perro Verde, Rueda 2013
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Chloe, Pinot Grigio, Valdadige 2013
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly Gamay Noir 2013
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio, Friuli 2013
St. Francis, Red Splash 2011
Rodney Strong, Canernet, Alexander Valley 2011
Erath, Pinot Blanc 2013
Taylor Fladgate, Porto 2007
Portuga, Rose 2013
Domaine Digioia-Royer, Chambolle-Musigny, Vielles Vignes Les Premieres 2008
Locations, F Red Blend
El Perro Verde, Rueda 2013
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red 2
If You See Kay, Red 2011
Turnbull, Old Bull Red 2010
Cherry Tart, Cherry Pie Pinot Noir 2012
Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Cabernet, Oakville 2012
Benton Lane, Pinot Gris 2012
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Reserva 2008
Haden Fig, Pinot Noir 2012
Pendulum Red 2011
Vina Real, Plata, Crianza Rioja 2009
Edmunds St. John, Bone/Jolly, Gamay Noir Rose 2013
Bookwalter, Subplot No. 26
Ayna, Tempranillo 2011
Pete's Mountain, Pinot Noir, Haley's Block 2010
Apaltagua, Reserva Camenere 2012
Lugana, San Benedetto 2012
Argyle Brut 2007
Wildewood Pinot Gris 2012
Anciano, Tempranillo Reserva 2007
Santa Rita, Reserva Cabernet 2009
Casone, Toscana 2008
Fonseca Porto, Bin No. 27
Louis Jadot, Pouilly-Fuissé 2011
Trader Joe's, Grower's Reserve Pinot Noir 2012
Zenato, Lugana San Benedetto 2012
Vintjs, Cabernet 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White 2012
Rainstorm, Oregon Pinot Gris 2012
Silver Palm, North Coast Cabernet 2011
Andrew Rich, Gewurtztraminer 2008
Rodney Strong, Charlotte's Home Sauvignon Blanc 2012
Canoe Ridge, Pinot Gris, Expedition 2012
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly Gamay Noir Rose 2012
Dark Horse, Big Red Blend No. 01A
Elk Cove, Pinot Noir Rose 2012
Fletcher, Shiraz 2010
Picollo, Gavi 2011
Domaine Eugene Carrel, Jongieux 2012
Eyrie, Pinot Blanc 2010
Atticus, Pinot Noir 2010
Walter Scott, Pinot Noir, Holstein 2011
Shingleback, Cabernet, Davey Estate 2010
Coppola, Sofia Rose 2012
Joel Gott, 851 Cabernet 2010
Pol Roget Reserve Sparkling Wine
Mount Eden Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains 2009
Rombauer Chardonnay, Napa Valley 2011
Beringer, Chardonnay, Napa Reserve 2011
Kim Crawford, Sauvignon Blanc 2011
Schloss Vollrads, Spaetlese Rheingau 2010
Belle Glos, Pinot Noir, Clark & Telephone 2010
WillaKenzie, Pinot Noir, Estate Cuvee 2010
Blackbird Vineyards, Arise, Red 2010
Chauteau de Beaucastel, Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2005
Northstar, Merlot 2008
Feather, Cabernet 2007
Silver Oak, Cabernet, Alexander Valley 2002
Silver Oak, Cabernet, Napa Valley 2002
Trader Joe's, Chardonnay, Grower's Reserve 2012
Silver Palm, Cabernet, North Coast 2010
Shingleback, Cabernet, Davey Estate 2010
E. Guigal, Cotes du Rhone 2009
Santa Margherita, Pinot Grigio 2011
Alamos, Cabernet 2011
Cousino Macul, Cabernet, Anitguas Reservas 2009
Dreaming Tree Cabernet 2010
1967, Toscana 2009
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
The Occasional Book
William Golding - Lord of the Flies
Saul Bellow - Mister Sammler's Planet
Phil Stanford - White House Call Girl
John Kaplan & Jon R. Waltz - The Trial of Jack Ruby
Kent Haruf - Eventide
David Halberstam - Summer of '49
Norman Mailer - The Naked and the Dead
Maria Dermoȗt - The Ten Thousand Things
William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying
Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
Christopher Buckley - Thank You for Smoking
William Shakespeare - Othello
Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything
Cheryl Strayed - Tiny Beautiful Things
Sara Varon - Bake Sale
Stephen King - 11/22/63
Paul Goldstein - Errors and Omissions
Mark Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Steve Martin - Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Beverly Cleary - A Girl from Yamhill, a Memoir
Kent Haruf - Plainsong
Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time, the Graphic Novel
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
Peter Ames Carlin - Bruce
Fran Cannon Slayton - When the Whistle Blows
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 26
At this date last year: 32
Total run in 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (14)
DIVORCE ! Post election
Some things you just can't hide.
Posted by Portland Native | November 2, 2012 8:55 AM
If it says 'Jefferson Smith for mayor' on the screen, does he really need to 'ask' for your vote? Isn't it already implied???
Posted by john dull | November 2, 2012 9:04 AM
Not really. Now it's about trying to start rehabbing his epically failed political career.
Posted by Jack Bog | November 2, 2012 9:07 AM
...after all, the Governorship is opening up in a couple of years!
Posted by random | November 2, 2012 9:23 AM
Katy looks like she needs rehabbing from something for God's sake. That picture is awful.
Posted by sally | November 2, 2012 10:02 AM
Portland is the world's greenest city.
Recycling is what they know best!
Jefferson will get deposited into the largest slop bucket, taken out to some landfill somewhere where he will stink up the neighborhood for a few years.
And then, magically show up in the new and improved version, ready to be loved by Portland liberals again. Sadly, he will be accepted... but not before 8 years go by.
First Portland has to elect Hales and endure four years of his issues, during which Sam Adams appears on multiple billboards with his big smiling face, and the bubble asking "Miss me yet?" And Portland liberal voters (redundant, eh?) will take back Scam Adams into their loving arms first. Later will come the JefferScam recycle job.
Portland, funny (strange) and pathetic and funny (humorous) all at the same time.
Posted by Harry | November 2, 2012 10:05 AM
First, I don't think his young followers have anything to be embarrassed about it. Some of us older types who saw through this act may have come off as know-it-alls at times, but believe me, we were young once too and getting hoodwinked is a rite of passage.
Certain people know how to take advantage of the decency and idealism that young people fortunately have.
Second, this wasn't a character assassination in my opinion. If it had just been the incident in college, maybe you could call it that, but when the candidate showed up at the woman's house at 8 a.m. on the day of his press conference, his campaign was over. And that wasn't 19 years ago. That was last month.
I'd also say to Jefferson Smith that I'm not holding myself up as some kind of moral beacon. I've been in tavern fights and I once played in a band with a drummer who - decades earlier - had been convicted of murder. He had punched a female social worker and she fell hitting her head and died. He served his time, and - though it was strange to be in his presence knowing what happened - I played music with the guy for at least a year.
In other words, I'm not here to judge you. If I came off that way, it was because I didn't think you should be put in charge of Portland. That was what was driving it for me: I didn't think you should be mayor.
Frankly, I'm already feeling a little sheepish about how pissed off I got this year. It is not my thing. As soon as this is official, I will return to a life of music, watching sports, and writing comedy. I will not be interviewing any more politicians.
When I look back on this year, I'll know I did the right thing standing up to Jefferson Smith, but mainly I'll see it as an unfortunate, pointless waste of time.
Posted by Bill McDonald | November 2, 2012 10:17 AM
Damn, that side eye says it all!
Posted by reader | November 2, 2012 10:21 AM
All he ever needed to do to get elected was to come out big time about neighborhood preservation. Burkholder's fake preservation act (see: stopmetro.com) passed by 65% (http://www.debunkingportland.com/smart/metrodensityvote.htm) and guessing at the number of people who voted only for the real neighborhood preservation, probably 75% of the people voted for it. Those are Clackastan type majorities.
The recent rebellion against no on site parking condo bunkers (see: sites.google.com/site/apartmentparkingtaskforce/) shows continuing support.
Add in a promise to stop taking money from schools, social services, police to finance pet projects for millionaires and he could have won big time. Add in weekly garbage.
Unfortunately he is NOT in favor of any of the above because he is just another smart growth idiot who wants to force his religion on the rest of us.
Thanks
JK
Posted by jim karlock | November 2, 2012 12:11 PM
Bill, I'm a very infrequent commenter here, but thank you for all your posts on Smith. There are an astonishing number of sociopaths in politics, and it's amazing how rare the ability to see through them is. Astonishly, Denis Theriault of the Mercury is still trying to make excuses for Smith...
Posted by Neil Anderson | November 2, 2012 12:14 PM
Sorry, that should be spelled "astonishingly." Although I over-used that word anyways...
Posted by Neil Anderson | November 2, 2012 2:19 PM
She is giving him the "you are such an ass" look..
Posted by tankfixer | November 2, 2012 8:14 PM
"Tag. Heh. Yeah."
Posted by reader | November 2, 2012 11:05 PM
She looks at him at end thinking "Man are you creeeepy"
Posted by Billy B | November 2, 2012 11:52 PM