Queen Christine Plays Checkers

It was a weird political twist in a Washington gubernatorial race already full of them; strangely reminiscent of Richard Nixon's famous 1952 Checkers speech, when then Senator Nixon denied receiving any personal gifts from supporters other than "a little cocker spaniel dog...our little girl-Tricia, the 6-year old-named it Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna keep it."

According to Spin Control 2.0:

In describing her Republican challenger, the governor tried tying him to President Bush, which is something she's been doing for months now. According to The Associated Press, Gregoire said there's no difference between Rossi and Bush.

“He’s so enamored with George W. Bush, he named his dog ’W,”’ the AP reported Gregoire as saying. “I feel sorry for the dog.”

Hey, attacking Dino's dog is beyond the pale, the Rossi campaign complained.

“People in Washington want a candidate who will fix problems in our state, not an incumbent Governor who spends her time attacking her opponent’s dog. We’re going to keep talking about issues that matter like controlling spending, fixing our traffic congestion problem, and improving our schools,” said Jill Strait, Rossi spokesperson. “It’s sad that Governor Gregoire has already come to the realization that she can’t win by talking about her own record, so she resorts to the same tired old strategy being used by Democrats across the country -- to tie all candidates in our party to the President.”

And it wasn't Rossi that named the dog, it was his daughter Juliauna, in gratitude to the president for writing a letter telling Rossi to get their kids a dog.

So desperate to hang on to state office, the only job she's ever known, with no record of accomplishments and no plans for the next four years, the Queen has reached a new low trying to associate Dino with the President by going after the Rossi family dog. Who in the heck is calling the shots in her campaign anyway? A pimply-faced Young Democrat nutrootsers locked in his mom's basement?

January 2009 can't come fast enough so we can run the tyrant out of Olympia on a rail.