Showing posts with label gerrymander. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gerrymander. Show all posts

Sunday, November 9, 2014

The Nonsensical Election of 2014

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Many people in the U.S. and around the world are still struggling to understand why a Midterm Election in which only 36% of voters bothered to show up at the polls is being taken as a "Mandate" by the nutty Republicans. If this is just a typical midterm election, then why does it feel as if we've really gone down the rabbit hole this time?

Maybe it's the obvious gloating of the Tea Partiers, who should realize how marginalized they are according to every demographic number, but who thought President Obama should just surrender and impeach himself the day after the election. I guess the fact that Cuckoo-For-Cocoa-Puffs candidates will soon pour into both houses of Congress is giving them the "audacity of hope" that their draconian views are the norm. Why shouldn't they gloat? They turned out the vote, and the Democrats failed miserably.



Maybe we are just outnumbered by the stupids in this country, and we need to accept that.

While cool heads are saying this election was a quirk of red-state geography, gerrymandering, and local elections that pushed hot-button issues, that's no solace to those who voted Blue in a Red State. For instance, in Tennessee it is a fact that a new constitutional amendment to make abortions harder to get failed in the four major cities, thanks to Blue voters. However, it was passed almost as a landslide statewide as if those cities and their Democratic voters didn't even exist. And therein lies a sad truth about why turn-out is so low among Dems in red states - our votes get canceled out, and that leads to voter malaise and low turnout.



We also suffered in Tennessee from a wealthy scandal-proof fence-rider of a Republican governor whose only Democratic opposition was some unknown doofus named, I kid you not, "Charlie Brown." Behold, our state Democratic Party in action. Red state Dems are like orphans in the wilderness these days, and we are outnumbered by crazies.





Same thing in Texas where candidates like Wendy Davis and Letitia Van de Putte couldn't overcome the basic sexism of aging white ranchers, oil men, and the loony misogynist Christians who turned out to vote. What's more astonishing is that women turned out to vote against women candidates too. Another mystery of this election. Where were the "majority" of Dem and Independent women, and why didn't they care?

And then there was Kansas, allegedly a state where the Tea Party had turned their economy upside down, so they were ready to clean house starting with Governor Sam Brownback. Also, Independent Greg Orman was supposed to handily beat the incumbent Senator Pat Roberts, then caucus with the Dems. Except that none of that happened. The polls were all wrong. The people voted for Brownback as if everything was just okey dokey with them. And their absentee Senator, who doesn't even live in Kansas anymore, was re-elected in a landslide. Go figure.

My husband said no one should be suprised that a red state stayed red, but what was all that reporting about? How could everyone be so wrong this time?









Maybe it was delusional on the Dems' part to think states like Georgia or Kentucky - or Texas, a longshot - could be blue in this election, that they would elect a Michelle Nunn or an Alison Lundergan Grimes. But it's just as mysterious that Kentucky re-elected an unpopular guy like Mitch McConnell, while keeping their blue Governor and State Legislature. The popularity of Governors like John Kasich in Ohio, Rick Scott in Florida, and Scott Walker in Wisconsin is a conundrum that cannot be explained easily. Those states had huge "get out the vote" movements, and actually have real Democratic Parties, unlike in Tennessee. Yet it all seemed to make no difference in the end, and I'm sure their Dem voters feel just as puzzled as ever.



Many say that Democratic candidates failed because they "ran away from the President" and from the victory that is Obamacare. But to those of us in Red States who understand swing voters, it seemed logical that the candidates wouldn't want to draw too much attention to Obama or to the unpopular idea of ACA. I think it was a lose-lose situation - damned if they did, damned if they didn't.

Maybe history will explain this election, if we live long enough. Or we can just blame the black President like most of the media. If it really is that simple, and that racist, I just don't want to know.

Maybe we Dems just had too much hope, and got ahead of ourselves, and now we are turning on ourselves and playing the blame game. The fall-out in the Democratic party is already happening. There are calls to throw out Harry Reid as Senate Minority Leader, and toss Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as head of the Democratic Party. The head of the DCCC, Steve Israel, resigned a few days after the election.

All this blaming and firing won't really help us understand the Midterm from Hell, but I guess it will seem like progress. Meanwhile, most Dems are taking time off from the internet, watching Netflix, listening to soothing music and wishing this was all a bad dream.
























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Friday, June 7, 2013

Marsha Blackburn ~ Women Don't Want a Law for Equal Pay

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From Talking Points Memo
In a panel on NBC's "Meet The Press" discussing new statistics showing women are increasingly the primary breadwinners in American families, David Axelrod asked Blackburn if she would support workplace gender equality legislation. The Tennessee representative responded by insinuating that such legislation would be condescending to a woman already qualified for a position on the basis of her skills alone.

"You know, I’ve always said that I didn’t want to be given a job because I was a female, I wanted it because I was the most well-qualified person for the job," Blackburn said. "And making certain that companies are going to move forward in that vein, that is what women want. They don’t want the decisions made in Washington. They want to be able to have the power and the control and the ability to make those decisions for themselves."



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The only reason this woman gets re-elected is because of her re-drawn district lines... from East Memphis to Kentucky, with a left turn in Nashville-- the only (R) part of Nashville. The Bachmann of the South-- bat$#it crazy.
~ Jules on Sodahead

Gerrymandered
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This lady does not have a clue about the real world. However its the folks that keep electing her that are lost in space somewhere. I suggest that had she lived in the 1860's she would have said that its the slave owners that need to take care of their slaves. One out of touch lady from the elitist class. God bless her.
~ Frank E. on The Nashville Tennessean

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.....WHY can't regressives get on the positive side of history?
~ Twinertia on Topix Politix

Then I'm sure she won't mind taking a voluntary reduction of her $174,000 salary
~ Michael N. on Talking Points Memo

She may look like and idiot and sound like an idiot, but don't let that fool you, she really IS an idiot. [Thx to Groucho Marx]
~ Iron Bullwinkle on Talking Points Memo

I guess since Bachman is leaving, someone has to drive the clown car.
~ Yikes11 on Huff Post

Marsha (Real Housewife of Dixie) Blackburn actually voted AGAINST pay fairness measures for women...she also voted AGAINST the violence against women act...is she so daft to realize that she gained from trailblazing laws in the early, mid and late 20th century? Blackburn is beyond a joke
~ freefreememe on Huff Post

What is the ultimate irony here? This woman wouldn't be where she is today without the women's liberation movement. She has profited off activist women's work, yet she refuses to pick up that banner herself. What an ungrateful, TYPICAL conservative mouthpiece. If she were a dog, I'm quite sure she'd eat her own young for a scrap.
~ Keri A. on Addicting Info

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