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Election Day Recap
2006.11.08 (Wed) 16:04
As we've said many times before, we don't love the Democrats, but we openly admit that we supported them through this past election — if only to get the Republican asshats out of power. So, with that said, yesterday was a tough day to be a Republican, and we couldn't be happier about that. (Well, no — we'd be happier if there were a substantial number of competent Democrats, but we're trying to keep our perspective grounded in reality, here.)
First up, unless BushCo manages a major rewrite of past events (and we're not putting it past them), it appears that the Democrats have taken firm control of the House, picking up what looks like 27 or more seats — at least twelve more than they needed. So at the very least, the Republicans should have one stumbling block preventing their bullshit agenda. We expected the GOP to lose the House, but now it appears that the Senate, which we honestly thought would remain with the Republicans, is down to one race. With victory for the Democrats looking good in Montana, and the Democrats holding a 50-49 lead, the deciding race will be in Virginia — where Democrat Jim Webb holds a small lead over George "Macaca" Allen. Our guess is that this last race will end up in recount mode, and we won't have an answer for weeks. It's funny — while we didn't really think that taking the Senate away from the GOP was likely, suddenly it's within reach, and this one race now means an awful lot. If the Senate ends up split evenly, then, of course, the tie-breaking vote would fall to Vice President Cheney, a prospect that leaves us with little doubt that the Republican agenda will be moved forward in the Senate. Given the sudden importance of this race, we'll be keeping an eye on this one, and we hope someone is keeping an eye on the people counting the votes; but an early kudos to the Democrats! Now don't fuck it up.
In other news, which can be appreciated by civil libertarians of any stripe, South Dakota voters bitch-slapped the statewide abortion ban that was passed earlier this year. You may recall that the law banned all abortions in the state, unless the mother's life was at risk. There were no exceptions for the mothers' health, nor for rape or incest. It was, in a word, batshit-fucking-insane. We are absolutely thrilled to hear that the people of South Dakota put both the governor and the state legislature in their places by voting this horrific law down, both because it means that South Dakota's women will not be fucked over (at least not as much as they might have been), and because it means that this law likely won't be the one that challenges Roe v. Wade, as the religious zealots had clearly planned. Kudos to South Dakota!
What's more, while seven states voted to okay constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage, Arizona bucked the homophobic trend by voting their amendment down. While some may see this as evidence that the fear-mongering surrounding this issue is waning, we aren't sure we'd go that far — one state out of eight doesn't really make us do cartwheels. But it is good news, and it is one more reason to overlook the mailing address of Allison DuBois and move to Arizona. Kudos to Arizona, too!
We've also learned that Donald Rumsfeld, asshat extraordinaire, appears to be stepping down from his Pentagon position, a rumor now confirmed by Dubya. We're a little shocked by this — given Bush's statements just last week that Rummy was doing such a great job (is that the kiss o' death in this administration, or what?), and his assertions that he expected both of the Big D's to stick around through his entire second term — but hell, we won't look a gift horse in the mouth. If this trend continues, Cheney will be out on his ass soon, too. But then there would be a gaping hole in the administration — who would do the thinking for King George, who would gleefully endorse torture, and who would shoot people in the face with shotguns? Hmm. No, it seems safe to say that Cheney will be around for a while yet; but goodbye and good riddance to Rummy! Still more kudos to...er...everyone who's not Donald Rumsfeld!
And, finally, a woman died after being bitten by a snake she was handling as part of a Christian religious ceremony in Kentucky. See what happens when you take the bible literally, folks? On a completely and totally unrelated note, you shouldn't try to walk on water, either. Kudos to reality for biting these idiots right square on their asses!
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[ Filed under: % Bush Watch % Civil Liberties % Government & Politics % Religion ]
Comments (3)
Jason Spicer, 2006.11.08 (Wed) 20:22 [Link] »
Infophile, 2006.11.08 (Wed) 20:34 [Link] »
The Tao, 2007.01.28 (Sun) 00:25 [Link] »
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