 by Ali Davis |
RachelWatch: Election ExtravaganzaToday: Cleve Jones, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, and one or two ballot measures you may have heard of.
Decision ‘09 Rachel started off the first of the night's two shows absolutely geeked for election night. It was clear early on that Republican candidate Bob McDonnell, who in his graduate thesis argued against working women and said that governments should “protect” traditional marriages by legislating against gays and fornicators, was winning in Virginia. And that in spite of a substantial population of fornicators. Fringe and Purge Rachel moved on to a look at New York’s District 23 Congressional race, in which pressure from far-right Republicans knocked the actual locally chosen Republican candidate out of the race in favor of “Conservative” candidate Doug Hoffman. The oddly creepy metaphor “the tip of the spear” got bandied about, indicating that there are more plans to knock reasonable Republicans out of the race in favor of candidates the loonbats like Glenn Beck prefer. Rachel’s old pal Dick Armey stuck the tip of his spear into the race (see?), and seems like he’ll be doing so more often. But he probably won’t be appearing on The Rachel Maddow Show any time soon, since he just got called on some bullpuckey and one or two lies about Rachel’s reporting. Get ready for some Wrath of Nerd. Maine Squeeze Rachel noted that some of the jerks from California’s Prop 8 campaign helped bigots in Maine get organized for what looks like a successful effort to repeal civil rights. Way to spend your lives, you craven stinkheads. Did this ballot victory make those secret, shameful gay feelings go away? Didn’t think so. Before the outcome was at all clear, Rachel welcomed human rights activist Cleve Jones for a little perspective. Decision ’09 VA Rachel welcomed the always sharp and insightful Melissa Harris-Lacewell to talk about Virginia’s lurch back into the 1950’s. Harris-Lacewell noted that exit polls can only get the opinions of people who decide to go vote, and that the voter turnout was older and whiter than the 2008 election. Remember that certain population of Obama fans who were voting for the very first time and were sooooo proud about it? The ones who were pushing 30 and so pleased with themselves for having finally found a candidate who was inspiring enough to prod them into actual political action? If you live in Virginia and you know that one of those smugballs stayed home because Creigh Deeds wasn’t sexy enough to inspire getting his or her ass to out to vote, you are allowed to swear at them all day today. ‘Busted Rachel looked at the probable continued delays with health care reform, and at the minor kerfuffle over reports that Senator Joe Lieberman (I – Obstructicut) privately agreed not to filibuster and his subsequent loud denials that he did any such thing. She also apparently managed to ask Al Gore about Lieberman without the word “dipwad” coming up even once. Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake.com dropped in to do a little health care handicapping and talk about the baffling phenomenon of people swearing that Joe Lieberman is secretly going to do totally different things than he says he’s going to do. Decision ’09 New York City Whoo, exciting! New York’s mayorial election was initially called for incumbent mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) but then that was withdrawn. To be continued at the second show! Decision ’09, now at 11:00 Rachel started off the second show with the news that challenger Chris Christie had unseated New Jersey’s incumbent Governor Corzine (D). New Jersey resident and Corzine fan Melissa Harris-Lacewell returned with a few philosophical words before we had to listen to the Republican crowd at Chris Christie’s acceptance speech chanting “Yes we can!” Which, as numerous friends on Twitter pointed out more eloquently than I did, is really freaking irritating. Question 1 Rachel spoke with Governor John Baldacci on the Question 1 nail-biter-turned-heartbreaker. Let’s take comfort in the fact that the margins on these things are getting closer and closer, and that good people like Baldacci are increasingly moved to take principled stands. And that it looks like the good people of Washington may have passed Referendum 71. And that the population of crazy, older loonbats that organizations like NOM so count on are inevitably dying off. Yes, there's no better clue that you're spending your life well than that millions of people are quietly waiting for you to die. Decision ’09 — New York Hey! Ready for some more tangible good news? Enough voters in New York's District 23 were skeeved out by the heavy-handed attempts to get Glenn Beck’s protégé Doug Hoffman in that Democrat Bill Owens is, as of this writing, in the lead. Thanks for your hard work, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin! Stop by my election anytime! Oh, and could y’all take more of an interest in gay rights ballot measures? That would be swell. Decision ’09 New York OK, Mayor Bloomberg won for real this time. After spending a pittance of somewhere between $85 million and $100 million dollars on this year’s campaign alone. Good call, sir! Why waste that kind of money on something frivolous like revamping your state’s entire public school system? |
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Awaiting the next generation to make the change possible
I am still in shock from California's decision one year ago today. I'm enraged and saddened by Maine and Virginia.
So much for "Land of the Free". America is the one country where you can be a normal citizen one minute and easily be voted into a 2nd class citizen the next.
I must admit, being an avid follower of politics, my mind has gone haywire. It is so great to hear Houston elect a lesbian mayor. Houston is in Texas....yes Texas the Right Wing Republican state. So when a place like that sees past the fact that a person is a minority and they choose that person to represent them and lead them, that is amazing. At the same time, those of us that have followed politics for a long time, we find it confusing. For me, at the same time, it's a bit scary. If places like California are banning equality and places like Texas are moving more towards it, it makes me worry about other Blue States. Where will they go?
I agree with most people that posted on twitter last night and this morning that a civil right should never be put to vote. History and statistics show that it never turns out good. But the elections and courts also go on to point out how flawed our law system really is. Apparently we can throw the 14th Amendment right out the window.
I guess these are just words that were written too long ago and we do not understand them anymore.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." (Declaration of Independence, Preamble)
"Yes, there's no better clue that you're spending your life well than that millions of people are quietly waiting for you to die."
True words.
Forget the Maine
Forget the defeat in Maine--Polls repeatedly show that the Bill of Rights would be rejected if presented to voters as legislation presently pending before Congress--civil rights movements rarely succeed at the ballot box
Nonetheless, I hope everyone has duly noted Barack Obama's deafening silence--although looking at the election results in the rest of the country it is questionable what kind of coattails His Barackness now has--but just the same, it would be nice if he would, for once, do more than just pander.
But whats important to remember is that the tide of history is with the position of the Iowa Supreme Court--there is no constitutionally permissible reason for the state to treat same sex couples differently than straight couples. See" Conservative Judges--A Gay Girls Best Friend" http://bit.ly/3afkb
No civil rights movement is immune from setbacks--the narrow defeat in Maine is a brief and negligible pause in the relentless march toward the final fulfillment of Jefferson's assertion in the first line of the Declaration of Independence.
President Obama has stated that he is against
a ban on gay marriage even if he himself is not in support of gay marriage. To me it's not silence but short term memory from those who seem to forget his position on the issue. Change is gonna happen maybe not today, but eventually it will. Keep hope alive!
I wish universal healthcare would just pass already to help the people who really need it right now.
"Come On Then Get These Good Done Debbies"
Ref. 71 and Ord. 1856
In 2004 & 2006 conservatives put gay marriage bans on the ballot supposedly with the strategy of getting homohaters to the polls who would also happen to vote Republican. I think it was 17 states altogether.
The difference then though was that there was no gay marriage laws passed by legislation to repeal. It was instead a preemptive attack on gay rights with the purpose of pandering to the homohating Republican base.
The idea that civil rights can't win at the ballot box is not entirely true since Ref. 71 in Washington state and Ord. 1856 in Kalamazoo Michigan both of which extends civil rights to LGBTs did pass. It's just that when the word "marriage" is involved, conservatives have an aresenal of religious ammunition to scare the shit out of the electorate.
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Tweet: @GrrrlRomeo
No Go Obama
I have never forgotten Barack Obama's true position on gay marriage--it is the same as Carrie Prejean
Its just that he spends a fair amount of time attempting to convince the LGBT community that he is one with them, and collect a lot money from the most gullible constituency in the Democratic Party coalition.
But then he does absolutely nothing except sign the meaningless "hate crime" pander and fight those who are trying to remove institutional discrimination which is actually embedded in the federal code.
Health care, Health care--its an important issue--but when did it become the biggest crisis in the world?
I don't think Barack Obama got elected on his promise to reform health insurance.
Shows How Much You Don't Know
Health care reform is a central issue of the Democratic platform and has been for decades. It is a big reason why people vote for Democrats.
Health care is not the biggest crisis in the world, it is the biggest crisis facing the US. It is twofold, affecting both the economy and the quality of life in the US. Health care accounts for a large chunk of US debt and will only rise unless health care is reformed.
The progressive LGBT activist community has been attacking Obama on a daily basis since the inauguration. So it's obvious to me that you continue to criticize things you know absolutely nothing about.
The most "gullible constituency" of the Democratic base is in fact progressive straight allies.
The Democratic party might throw us under the bus, but the Republican party will get in the bus, intentionally run over us, then tie us to the rear bumper dragging us to our death while the Republican base cheers.
Gullible is believing that a third party candidate will ever win a US presidential election.
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Tweet: @GrrrlRomeo
What she said
And, for the visual learner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BMgEEHA5-Y. Also, I think Maggie covered it already, but the same could be said about gay marriage. Why should anyone care, really?
"Progress is not an illusion, it happens, but it is slow and invariably disappointing." Orwell
i coulda sworn . . . .
that health care reform was one of the things that really got people out to the polls in the 2008 election.
Carrie Prejean's position on gay marriage is not the same
as President Obama's. Carrie Prejean was in an ad for the National Organization for Marriage opposing gay marriage. President Obama has stated that he will not fight against gay marriage, unlike Carrie Prejean.
I never got the message that Obama was one with the LGBT community, what I got from Obama was that unlike President Bush he would not try to take away the rights of the LGBT community.
That hate crime bill might be meaningless to you but not for others.
Health care is a national crisis in this country when people can only pay for half of a cancer treatment either b/c insurance doesn't cover all of it or b/c they have no insurance at all or they can't afford to take time off from work b/c they have a family to take care of, and the list goes on and on.
If you are against providing health care to those who cannot afford it, but you can afford it, why are you complaining? It's the same with those who are against gay marriage, why are you complaining about something that doesn't concern you?
"Come On Then Get These Good Done Debbies"
yay KZOO!!