Let the Spin Begin

This election was a victory for moderates.

No, it wasn't!

Was too!!

Was not, was not, was not!!!

Both of you shut up!! The Republicans lost because they didn't pander enough to blasphemous religious zealots!

No, you shut up! Republicans lost because terrorists totally brainwashed the voters!

Sigh. I need a nap.

UPDATE: Republicans lost because they abandoned the Will of God (which, coincidentally, is also the Will of Dobson).

No way, dude!

Run for your lives! The Democrats are gonna impeach Bush!! Really!! I mean it!!!

It was the incompetency and corruption, stupid!

Oh, yeah; I definately need that nap now...

Chet Takes Johnson County?

Chet Edwards and a future member of Congress at the Johnson County Democratic Convention


With 83% of the total vote in, Chet is running away with it at 59% and is carrying every single county except for Hood. Even more astonishing, though, with 66% of the vote counted, he's carrying Johnson County 51% to 47% for Vancampen. If this holds, he'll be the first Democrat to win this county since (I believe) 1998.

UPDATE: Sadly, no. CNN reports that Chet lost Johnson County to Vancampen by 8 votes, still a remarkable achievement considering he didn't even break 40% in the last election. The Johnson County Elections site confirms the figures, as well as the fact that no other Democrats even came close to winning. More analysis of these results later, but they are frankly pretty grim for any prospects of this becoming a two-party county anytime soon.

Election Results

Check here for election results in Johnson County ONLY.

Check here for election results in Texas.

And, finally, go here for national election results.

Good luck, and God Bless America!

Closer Than It Looks?

Two recent polls show the generic ballot tightening, maybe dashing hopes of a Democratic Senate, or maybe even a Democratic House (though that is less likely). If these are accurate and not merely outliers, it will reinforce the pre-election RW spin: Democrats have no mandate. That, and the neo-cons bashing Bush for not being "neo-con" enough.


UPDATE: FOX News (!) gives the Democrats a 13 point lead.

Sympathy for the Devil

Kevin Drum over at Washington Monthly notes outraged Ohio Democrats claiming they won't support Sherrod Brown or Ted Strickland because they voted for the White House Torture and Permanent Detention Act.
We've had a similar meme running through the party here over Chet Edwards, finally culminating in:

Chet is a practically Republican. He votes with Democrats only on the amendments to resolutions, but he votes with Republicans 80% of the time on passage (when it actually counts). This is one of many reasons why I will not vote for him! I am a Democrat, and I will only vote for people that support a Democratic agenda. Chet Edwards and Van Taylor do not meet this criteria thus, I will leave this portion of my ballot blank on November 7th. I encourage real Democrats, and people that believe in the Democratic party principals (not just flag wavers) to do the same.
LEAVE IT BLANK!!!!


My response:

Then you are voting FOR Nicholas Vancampen Taylor and if he wins, we will have YOU to thank, just like we have that preening narcissist Ralph Nader to thank for George W. Bush.
And, second, I resent your statement that I am somehow not a "real Democrat" because I choose to live in the real world of politics and not some liberal Candyland. There are several "real Democrats" on this list who were nowhere to be seen when I was running for office and whose sole contribution to the party appears to be sitting in the cheap seats and throwing spitballs. By your standard, we should've refused to vote for Ralph Yaborough because he started out supporting LBJ on Vietnam or refused to vote for JFK because he supported nuclear testing or refused to vote for Ann Richards because she supported the death penalty. If you cannot accept the basic reality that politics requires compromise, then electoral politics is not for you. I recommend blogging, where you can happily spend all day criticizing while the rest of us actually go out and win elections.

Once again, Democrats threaten to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Do you not think that Karl Rove (the evil genius) planned this vote? If Democrats vote AGAINST it, then the GOP blasts them as "soft on terror." If they vote FOR it, then pissy liberals stay home. Either way, Karl Rove wins. Friends, I have said it before and I will say it again: in politics, winning isn't everything, it's the ONLY thing. Unless we win control of (at least) the House, the GOP will continue its agenda of eradicating the Constitution. If you withhold your vote from Chet Edwards, make no mistake: you are voting FOR that weasely, crypto-fascist ankle-biter, Nicholas Vancampen Taylor.

Free Campaign Advice for Van Taylor...

...if you can't run with the big dogs, stay under the porch. Video of Taylor getting schooled by Chris Matthews and Paul Hackett, courtesy of Crooks & Liars. Commentary by dday at DailyKos.

Meanwhile, in Big Sky Country...

Senator Conrad Burns may very well have torpedoed his re-election bid with a bizarre attack on firefighters who are battling wildfires all across Montana. Next thing you know, he'll start insulting 9-11 widows. Nah, that would be insane!

DeLay STILL Stuck

The Republican campaign against democracy suffered another setback today as a three judge panel of the Fifth Circuit ruled that the GOP cannot remove a candidate from the ballot just because he is less popular than a case of the clap. Vowing to fight these "activist judges" who insist on enforcing the "liberal notion" that voters should pick candidates, the Republican Party of Texas is appealing to the US Supreme Court. Justice Scalia has been assigned to the case, and of course he is well known for his fidelity to will of the voters in free elections.

Well Said!

An excellent exchange from a Texas Democratic list serv. The topic was berating Chet Edwards for voting for the GOP's dog-and-pony-show Constitutional Amendment to outlaw marriage beween people they don't like:

The Post:
How can anyone even sugguest that it is ok to barter with someone'sfreedom, liberties and rights, for the purpose of keeping a seat inCongress? Where do we draw the line at bartering one's value's tostay in office? It is indeed a slippery slope. It it easier tobarter someone's freedom, than to take bribes? Is it more ethical?Shame. When did doing the right thing stop becoming what was important as aleader.


The Response:
Yankees. *shakes head*Ethics don't matter, we live in Texas, remember? God doesn't "hate fags," but Texas certainly does.Deep in the heart of Texas, there is a city called Waco, this is where the Klan lives. I know it is unfathomable for you city folk to figure out how these people think, but my whole family is from Waco, and I do understand. Chet is elected by Waco, not Austin, Houston, or Dallas. He knows his people and what will fly and what will not. That's why he's been re-elected eight times. I am gay, and I would sacrifice my "freedom, liberties, and rights" if it meant that my nephew could go to a decent public school and get healthcare. That's the choice. We can dwell on an issue that will guarantee successive failures, or we can put it on the back burner and put the interests of ALL Texans first.Why can't we put it on the back burner until the old farts die off? Why must we endure failure after failure when we could just wait a few years? Everything takes time (and the death of a generation). Whether you like it or not, Texas has ALWAYS been conservative and always will be. Why not focus on issues that win? Only then can we fix the Texas public education system, and from education will come some form of liberalism.So yes, it is perfectly okay with me that Chet is a adept politician who knows his people. I am perfectly willing to let this issue slide to ensure his re-election, keep the VA open, keep Fort Hood open, keep Tricare funding in line, fight to reduce the deficit, fight to protect Social Security, etc, etc, etc...Why don't you yankees come down from your ivory towers (Dallas, Houston, Austin), put down your starbucks, take off your birkenstocks, and realize that the State of Texas is nothing like you, and that to win here, you must give a little. And yes, winning is everything.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

A Bullhorn Not A Whimper

Tom DeLay's career of political thuggery ends on an appropriate note, as a gang of idiots from his campaign, including a candidate for judge, crash Nick Lampson's press conference. Why is Lampson smiling? Because he knows these morons have virtually guaranteed his election against whatever tool the GOP nominates to fill DeLay's golf shoes. More here and here.

Republic Party (1855-2006) Rest in Pieces

On March 16, 2006, the Republic Party, the Party of Lincoln, the Grand Old Party, died in a Wahington-area hospice facility. According to a preliminary political autopsy, the cause of death was massive ideological hemorrhaging, caused by the unexpected abandonment of the Party's last remaining principle. Though the death of the Party was a shock to many nationwide, pundits had long suggested that the GOP had been on life support since 2000, when it lost the popular vote in a third straight Presidential election and was resucitated only by a massive infusion of judicial activism. After a brief rally in 2002 and again in 2004, the Party's fortunes began a steady decline, first into impotence, then senility, and finally, death. No notice of funeral services have yet been announced, but they are expected in early November. The Party's two surviving children, the Christian Reconstructionists and the Plutocrats, have already retained counsel for a protracted legal battle over the estate that is projected to continue well into 2008.

Foxes Guarding the Henhouse

The House GOP remain hopelessly clueless. First, they elect as majority leader a "reformer" who is plainly yet another lobbyist tool, now they put Tom DeLay on the Committee overseeing the Abramoff investigation. With this kind of sheer unmitigated arrogance, even the Democrats couldn't screw up this election (maybe).