My Friend, Nathan Weller

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I don't have that problem, because I have friends like Pullman City Councilman-Elect Nathan Weller. Nathan wrote a letter to the editor published in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News that calls for an apology for below-the-belt comments made on The Daily News website directed at my family.

I'm a Republican and Nathan is a Democrat. So what? He's going to take plenty of heat from those in his party for standing up for me and no doubt get savaged by the anonymous sock puppets on the Daily News website. Chris Lupke (sure must be boring over in Taiwan) has already posted a comment chiding Nathan for having been "deceived" by me, as if I am the Dark Sith Lord and Nathan is my young apprentice, incapable of any independent thought of his own.

Folks, this is a political blog. If you don't like what I write, for God's sake, QUIT COMING HERE (Raymond). I'm not a member of the Gestapo and I have no power whatsoever to "run anyone out of town" (luckily for some people.) Does it get sarcastic and snarky at times. Sure. Do I tell it like I see it, raw and unvarnished? Absolutely. Do I vigorously advocate for what I believe in and expose what I think are lies and half-truths spouted by PARD? Proudly. I'm not a politician. I'm a blogger. That's my job. And if the PARDners think I'm the only one saying these things about them, they live in a fool's paradise. I'm just the only one doing it publicly. They are the true embarrassments to this city.

You want to see some really wild left-wing blogs, surf on over to HorsesAss.org and Democratic Underground. Palousitics looks like a Salvation Army meeting by comparison. One's degree of offense, it seems, is inversely proportional to how much one agrees with what is being stated.

What I don't do is use profanity, claim people are in need of psychiatric help or have rage issues, advocate violence, accuse people of getting drunk, beating their wives, and cheating on their taxes, or make any comments about people's family members that are not publicly involved in the debate. No nasty personal gossip is allowed here. But, if you are going to make wild, unsubstantiated claims that Wal-Mart is going to disinter dead bodies, destroy the public education system, shrivel deer testicles, bring "lower social classes" into town, kill kids and old ladies or that you prefer Target or Costco over Wal-Mart, then be prepared to deal with comments like "leftist," "moonbat," "elitist" or "snob," just as I am prepared to deal with comments like "far right extremist," "wingnut," or "paid shill for Wal-Mart." There probably are ways to intelligently and rationally argue against Wal-Mart that are not based on emotion, political ideology or snobbery, but I have yet to see anyone around on the Palouse exhibit them. If this were, say, the fifth Supercenter being built in Pullman, I would not be such a strong advocate for Wal-Mart (although I would still feel they have the right to build if they were within the law) and I would be equally as strong in my support for Target or Costco should they decide to build here.

I didn't start this fire. Early on, PARD resorted to hysteria, fear, hyperbole, lies, and arrogantly and presumptuously claimed to speak for the majority of Pullman residents. They called down the thunder, now they have it. Grow a thicker skin or get a sense of humor, people.

It would have been easy enough for Nathan to just sit on his hands during all this fabricated brouhaha. Politicians, both Democrat and Republican, could learn from Nathan's morality, integrity, and guts. Pullman will be well served with him as a councilman, just as I have been well served by having him as a friend.

From today's Daily News:

An apology is owed

I read with dismay the recent Daily News Web site posting attacking Tom Forbes by someone who claims to be associated with my campaign. I have no knowledge of this person. Whether he had any connection with my campaign or not makes no difference. Such comments are hurtful, destructive, and divisive and have no place in our community.

I have known Tom for more than 12 months and consider him a friend. Tom and I disagree on many things but our disagreement has never been disagreeable. We are all part of a family and disagreements within families should be handled in a respectful and tolerant manner. We do not want the ways of Washington, D.C., in our state. This individual owes Tom and his family an apology and I hope that he has the decency and courage to do it.

Nathan Weller, Pullman