Elections 2012: BFP Watch Party

[TexasCowboi]

Originally Posted by Martina

Have all the cool people move out of Texas (what, like a tenth of the population) and move all the tea party racists from other states into Texas and let it secede. Can you imagine how mean-spirited and angry that place would be. Let em hate on each other.

Whenever a gay kid self-identifies, he or she is given the choice to leave the country of Texas and come to us. There will be loving chosen family and friends waiting to welcome her or him.

Excuse me?

[Martina]

Originally Posted by TexasCowboi

Excuse me?

Obviously I am joking, but . . . Texas brought us George W. Bush and all that has meant. I think there's going to be some derision -- for a generation or two anyway. Maybe more.

Seriously, is there a more proudly reactionary state in the union? Texas has had FIVE times, FIVE TIMES the number of executions of any other state.

Texas is an outlier in so many measurements of progress, especially given its great wealth, that it boggles the mind. It's not that it's poor and ignorant. It's rich and determinedly proudly ignorant. I can imagine loving one's home regardless, but conservative Texas is beyond a red state. It really is another country.

The Texas Board of Education has done more harm to high school social science and science teaching -- nationwide -- than maybe any other entity in the U.S. Texas is a huge market, and, in the past, publishers created texts that could be sold in Texas under their laws, texts that deny there is a separation of church and state, that discuss evolution as if it were ONE possible explanation for biological diversity, texts that pretty much ignore the presence Hispanics in the U.S.

As an educator, I have thank Texas so much for wielding that influence.

I googled -- this article is a year old. It quotes another article, from The Washington Post, that I did not bother to look up.

"Perry is known in Texas as "Governor Supercuts," not only for his spiffy hairdo, but also for cutting the budgets of schools and poverty programs and holding down wages," writes Texas liberal James Hightower. "In his 10-year tenure, Perry has created more minimum wage jobs than all other states combined, and his superrich state now has more families in poverty than any other."

The Washington Post's Harold Meyerson provides more particulars:

Rick Perry's Texas is Ross Perot's Mexico in reverse, says Meyerson. Through a third world combination of low wages, no benefits, high rates of poverty, scant taxes, few regulations, but generous corporate subsidies in the Texas "crony capitalist" tradition, the Lone Star State has managed to attract businesses from other states "to a place where workers come cheap," says Meyerson.

Texas also boasts a number of other firsts, writes Meyerson:

It is first in the percentage of workers in minimum wage jobs.

It is first in adults without high school diplomas, at around 12% and projected to reach 30% by 2030 if there is not more support given to public education.

It is first in the percentage of medically uninsured adults and first in the percentage of children without medical insurance.

It is first in the number of executions.

It has the fourth-highest rate of poverty of any state.

Confronted with a $27 billion budget deficit this year, Perry did not raise taxes but instead slashed $4 billion from the public schools, Meyerson reports.

Oooo, I read the rest of the article. I like this quote --

"The failure of the nation to Americanize the South has made it possible for the South, under leaders like George W. Bush (and now Rick Perry) to Southernize the United States," writes Lind.

Lind, who is a Texas native himself, believes that the revival of Southern conservatism is "an aberration" and that white, Protestant fundamentalism will be a shrinking influence in our politics. "Trigger-happy, free-spending, Bible-thumping Southern conservatism" is doomed in the long run, says Lind. "The only question is how much damage it will do before its unregretted demise."

Thank you, Texas.

I have to enjoy the fact that changing demographics are eventually going to turn Texas into one big beautiful blue state, regardless of how reactionary its conservatives are. Looking forward to that day.

[Martina]

This conservative did a little more than wring her hands. She ran over her husband with a car.

PHOENIX (Reuters) - An Arizona woman, in despair at the re-election of Democratic President Barack Obama, ran down her husband with the family car in suburban Phoenix on Saturday because he failed to vote in the election, police said on Monday.

Holly Solomon, 28, was arrested after running over husband Daniel Solomon following a wild chase that left him pinned underneath the vehicle.

Daniel Solomon, 36, was in critical condition at a local hospital, but is expected to survive, Gilbert police spokesman Sergeant Jesse Sanger said.

Police said Daniel Solomon told them his wife became angry over his "lack of voter participation" in last Tuesday's presidential election and believed her family would face hardship as a result of Obama winning another term.

Witnesses reported the argument broke out on Saturday morning in a parking lot and escalated. Mrs Solomon then chased her husband around the lot with the car, yelling at him as he tried to hide behind a light pole, police said. He was struck after attempting to flee to a nearby street.

Obama won the national election with 332 electoral votes compared with 206 for Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Arizona's 11 electoral votes were won by Romney.

[Oiler41]

There is always talk of people moving to Canada and Secession after an election. For both, I have but one thing to say:

If you don't like it here in the good old U.S.A. because your candidate didn't win, stop whining about it and threatening to secede; quit making idle threats and get the fuck out and don't come back. There are people lined up around the world who would leap at the opportunity to come here and take your place.

It doesn't matter which political party wins or loses; the other side is going to cry, flail around on the ground, and whimper about leaving the country or seceding. In a few months, it will all pass, as it always does. We live in a free society. If one doesn't like what is happening where they are, they have the right to change that up to and including finding another country to call home. I say quit the foaming at the mouth and get on with it. I will not lose one moment of sleep over anyone threatening to secede or leave the country; it is little more than post-election rhetoric.

Glynn

[Martina]

I honestly have to admire the level of hysterics the conservatives are displaying. The amount of weeping and moaning and gnashing of teeth is impressive. I am enjoying it, honestly.

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by Martina

This conservative did a little more than wring her hands. She ran over her husband with a car.

Originally Posted by Martina

I honestly have to admire the level of hysterics the conservatives are displaying. The amount of weeping and moaning and gnashing of teeth is impressive. I am enjoying it, honestly.

These are separate posts and I know that you weren't saying you were pleased with the woman running over her husband, but reading both of these posts made me think....

...this could have just as easily been us. The strong beliefs and fear that we had that the country would be doomed if Romney took over office is just as strong in Republicans.

I questioned in a post prior to the election the effect of the election results on the losing party...I wondered if there would be an increase in anxiety, depression, etc. for those whose candidate didn't win.

My guess is that this woman truly, deeply believes that things will get worse for her family due to Obama winning, and it just put her over the edge, so to speak.

[Greyson]

Today I went to the California Secretary of State website to try and analyze election results. What I found surprised me.

There are a total of 59 counties in California. Votes are tallied from each preceint by County. First I looked to see how each County voted on the 11 propsitions on the ballot. To my amazement each of the 59 counties all agreed on each of the 11 Propsitions. Perhaps the percentages of Yes and No votes varied by County but in the final tally of each single vote for the propositions every county had the exact same result. All of the Propostions passed or not, across the board, the same in each County. (I hope this is making sense. The percentages of votes varied but the "pass or fail" was identical statewide.)

Then I took a look at the Presidential vote in each of the counties and it was pretty much what I expected, conservative counties voted in majority for Romney, more moderate and/or Urban Counties voted for President Obama. The exception was Orange County. Historically Orange County votes Republican. This time Obama won in Orange County by a samll percentage.

In the Senate Race, the same. conservative counties voted for Elizabeth Emken, Republican. (In this race Orange County voted in the majority for the Republican.) In the more progressive and/or moderate Urban Areas, Senator Feinstein, Democract won.

Can anyone explain why all counties voted the same on the propositons but not in the nation wide races? Yes, I know propositions are not officially partisan but most of us know which Party supports each Proposition. Thanks for your help.

[Martina]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

...this could have just as easily been us. The strong beliefs and fear that we had that the country would be doomed if Romney took over office is just as strong in Republicans.

Well, yes, there would have been a lot of dismay, but I think it's a little different. I think on some level the conservatives are aware that their time as the big bully on the block is over. Seriously, I do think the election marks the end of the so-called culture wars. I think the conservatives got to flare up big in the primaries and were slapped down in the general election. They know what the demographics mean. In addition, they have used gay rights propositions cynically to get the white vote out so that their candidates got a boost. This time gay marriage won. It's a sea change. Not just Obama winning.

These are white people, sometimes well off people, having to face the fact that they may never be the force they were in this country. (BTW, I have no idea whether the driver of that car was white. Speaking in general). They are enraged. The tone is different than it would be for us. Even though Obama is the encumbent, even though the Democratic Party is in less disarray than the Republican Party, the fact is that historically the people currently represented by the Republican Party have held much more power in this country than those represented by the Democratic Party. They still do.

But they couldn't buy this election. That's one amazing thing. And demographics are changing. The culture is changing. Young white evangelical males are not even as conservative as their parents on some social issues, like gay rights. The misery they are feeling is not just because they lost an election. They truly see that the future is not theirs. They do not know what to do with themselves, they are so pissed off.

And that's why I am gloating. Not just because the other side lost.

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Oiler41

There is always talk of people moving to Canada and Secession after an election. For both, I have but one thing to say:

If you don't like it here in the good old U.S.A. because your candidate didn't win, stop whining about it and threatening to secede; quit making idle threats and get the fuck out and don't come back. There are people lined up around the world who would leap at the opportunity to come here and take your place.

The thing I found most beautiful about pseudo-conservatives who thought Romney would win in a landslide saying they are going to Canada is the breathtaking ignorance it displays. Think about it, these people are saying, "A Kenyan, Muslim, Atheist, Marxist, Socialist, has taken over the country and tried to bring European Social Democracy to our nation so we're going to move to Canada which is a nation with a Social Democratic social contract."

You've *got* to love the idea of moving to a *more* left-leaning nation because this country took a few incremental steps to the left.

Cheers
Aj

[Linus]

Originally Posted by dreadgeek

The thing I found most beautiful about pseudo-conservatives who thought Romney would win in a landslide saying they are going to Canada is the breathtaking ignorance it displays. Think about it, these people are saying, "A Kenyan, Muslim, Atheist, Marxist, Socialist, has taken over the country and tried to bring European Social Democracy to our nation so we're going to move to Canada which is a nation with a Social Democratic social contract."

You've *got* to love the idea of moving to a *more* left-leaning nation because this country took a few incremental steps to the left.

Cheers
Aj

I think it's the allusion of the White Christian Man ruling a nation, especially a Conservative. They seem to believe that because the Conservatives are in power somehow we're not as socialist as we are as a nation/culture.

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Linus

I think it's the allusion of the White Christian Man ruling a nation, especially a Conservative. They seem to believe that because the Conservatives are in power somehow we're not as socialist as we are as a nation/culture.

Well, you know how it is. I mean, when's the last time *you* saw a white man in the halls of American power? I mean, we haven't had a white president in, what, almost four years! It's even worse when you think about Secretary of State. When was the last time a white man held that position? It's been at least 10 years.

Cheers
Aj