How does it feel?

I laughed a little when I saw this story. It's Rolling Stone magazine, of all people, painting Betsy Johnson as a right-wing extremist.

Does anybody read Rolling Stone magazine any more? Its readership is probably in the AARP demographic these days. And people of that age who live in Oregon have probably already seen everything in the article. There's not much, if anything, new there.

But what made me chuckle is that while RS bleats in horror about Machine Gun Johnson's tight-righty tendencies, the Republicans are posting all over the internet (including in comments on this blog) that she's just another Tina Kotek liberal – that there's no difference between Johnson and the Democratic candidate.

Both characterizations of Johnson can't be true. But they could both be false.

The Usual Suspects are scared of her; that much is obvious. Willamette Weed is sharpening its knives for a major post-Labor Day assault against Johnson, I'm sure. Meanwhile, a few pundits are now calling the governor's race a complete toss-up, with the winner possibly coming in with less than 40 percent of the vote. Sounds right to me.

However it comes out, I am greatly enjoying watching the two major political parties in the state sweat it out. May their agony increase over the last two months of the race. They deserve it.

I was also mildly amused to see Johnson "reject" the endorsement of Mike Nearman, the clown who was kicked out of the legislature for aiding an attempted January 6-style riot at the State Capitol back in December. "Rejecting" an endorsement has always seemed like an empty act to me. Nearman tells his friends to vote for Betsy. Betsy says "I don't like Mike." So what do his friends do, vote for someone else? Maybe, but I doubt it. He said she was the best choice.

Elsewhere, Tina Kotek's old boss at the Oregon Food Bank is voting for Betsy. 

WW: Why are you supporting Johnson instead of Kotek?

Rachel Bristol: I guess I’m yearning for the days of yore when we had statesmen and stateswomen who could talk and negotiate rather than just bully the other side. I just feel that Tina has gone to extremes and that the policies under her leadership have put us where we are, which is in a horrible place. This is not the Portland and Oregon that I grew up in and love.

Food for thought, as it were.