Ah, Politics.  It greases the soul and smears the senses with its zesty stink of rhetoric and lies.

Ok, I admit it, I am cynical.

Maria Cantwell, the junior Senator here in Washington is someone I grudgingly supported in 2000 because I felt she brought more modern ideas to the table then her opponent.  I hoped that she would be a benefit to the State.

I won’t say she is horrid, I just have not been terribly impressed.

Many of her positions are ones I disagree with.  I knew that before hand, I just felt that the good outweighed the bad.

Her position on the war, and her support of the troops has been fairly good.  Her help in the gas prices debate and her position on oil drilling has not.  I will avoid the typical issues, like abortion.

But the minimum wage is one that concerns me.  Minimum wage is a tough issue, trying to balance a fair wage with the cost to the economy is tough.

In the recent debate on Capital Hill, she voted against the bill, and in the following blog listed her reasons why:

Senator Cantwell: Washington State’s Working Families Deserve Better

(Note from the Executive Director: On behalf of all of us at the Northwest Progressive Institute, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Senator Maria Cantwell to the Official Blog. We are deeply honored that she is sharing her perspective with our readers in this special guest post.).

(suck up)

I grew up in a working family – a family with five kids. Our parents worked hard and we worked hard alongside them.

With the help of financial aid, I was the first person in my family to go to college. Without it, I couldn’t have afforded to go to school. But even the aid didn’t go far enough to cover all of my costs, so I bartended too. And it was hard, tough work.

I know how important a living wage job is and what a fine line there is between making enough to get by and making enough to plan ahead for your family’s future.

I have blogged on this previously, and I have long predicted that the Dems use of "culture of corruption" would eventually come back to bite them, in a pot/kettle sort of way.

I was right.

All I can say is that if the Dems insist on running a campaign on labels and accusations, as opposed to showing that they have a vision for leadership, they will find the race to be a tough one.

And the Reps better realize that they too have a need to provide solid ideas and vision for the future, of their majority is not assured.

Their days of grace provided by 9/11 are waning,

Finally, I leave you with this cynical thought, based solely on my growing disgust with the Dems insistence on complaining about how bad the country is, coupled with the Reps bragging about how they are doing just fine and with both of their refusal to work together to solve the problems facing us.  I am tempted, for the first time in my life to vote strickly on a prty line:  Democrat.

I figure that if they are right, and our country is on the road to ruin because of the evil Reps, well let’s turn the keys over to them.

Then in 4 years when things still suck, and when the partisan BS in DC is still happening, when terrorism is still abroad, and the middle east is still entrenched in violence, people can evaluate whether they are right.

But my integrity demands that I stay true to my principles and vote based on my assessment of the person and the issues.  SO no free passes today.

But be warned, both sides, the people you represent demand people who are part of the solution, not part of the problem.  Time to put away the politicians playbook, and start practicing true statesmanship. 

Democrats mum on ‘corruption’

Democrats have reined in their use of the "culture of corruption" mantra in their efforts to oust congressional Republicans from power, fearing the slogan would backfire after two senior members of their own party were implicated in ethical scandals.