Inside Opinion » poverty

Poor? What poor? U.S. politics play to middle class

TNT Editorial Board — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:52:05 +0000

This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

Mitt Romney doesn’t care about “the very poor”? He’s not alone.

Romney’s point – as he hurried to emphasize Wednesday after his awkward phrase popped out on CNN – was that the poorest Americans have a safety net while middle-class Americans are “struggling.”

His real sin was saying out loud what campaign strategists from both parties know: In American politics, it’s all about the middle. That’s true for the nation. By and large, it’s true for Washington state.

The middle class is where the votes are. People who want to win elections …

Long on troubles, short on political clout in Olympia

Patrick O'Callahan — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:00:39 +0000

This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

On Thanksgiving Day, the decomposed body of a homeless person was found under an overpass in Thurston County near Interstate 5. Dying alone and out of sight is one of the ugly faces of homelessness.

Many of the chronically homeless are mentally ill. When the state economizes on the treatment of psychiatric disorders, sick people wind up on the sidewalks, in doorways and under bridges.

Some of the mentally ill – a small percentage, but too many – erupt in violence in the absence of case management and medications.

The man accused …