I remember exactly where I was when I decided I couldn't support Gavin's run for Governor of California. It was June 29, 2009, and I was sitting in my living room watching MSNBC. Does that date mean anything to you? Well, that's the day South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford told the world he wasn't actually hiking the Appalachian Trail over the National Nude Hiking Day weekend, instead he'd been in Argentina just cold kickin' it with his special lady-friend.
That's when I decided I was sick of it. I supported John Edwards as VP nominee, and in his 2008 run for the presidency. I supported Gavin Newsom (not in his election, but in nearly everything since then) in running the city & county of SF. I thought Elliot Spitzer was really smart and knew how to kick "bad-guy" butt on Wall St. I was only a kid, but I was a big fan of Bill Clinton back in the day.
And I'm sick of it all. I'm a huge dork, but I get really into the political debate in this country. And while this is a democracy and we the citizenry get to voice our opinions every so often, the rest of the time our elected officials are supposed to be our champions, our chosen defenders in all the things we care about in this great country. So I'm sick of our chosen national (and local) defenders taking our trust and dashing it.
Now, as long as no laws were broken, these folks should of course remain in office. Hell, you know what, if somehow, these people (can I just say "men"? They're always men.) actually aren't in any way doing something wrong (like FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt's set-up), then I don't care. But if these people are lying and crushing their best friends and dying wives and what have you, then I want no part of it.
If someone gets elected and then makes a mistake or whatever, I'm willing to accept that. But I don't want to see it coming and just go along with it. It's crap, and I'm out.
Alright, getting off this soapbox now, thanks for reading.
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
A Long Time Coming
Well it sure has been awhile, hasn't it? I swear I was somewhat better at this before the Twitter ended up stealing all my real-time responses to interesting news. I've been swamped with "real" things lately though, so I thought I'd take a few minutes and try to cover EVERY SINGLE interesting thing going on, and throw my views out there.
Where to begin? Let's start with the DADT protesters at the Obama/Boxer rally recently. How great was that? Yes, O hasn't just run out and changed it like some had hoped that he would, but he's been constant in saying that the Administration wants to repeal the policy, and regardless of your feelings on the speed of the current repeal process, you've got to admit (I hope) that it's at least actually moving in a forward manner. Hearings have been held, key people have come out for repeal, and O hasn't exactly changed his tune on it or anything.
The other side of this is that I think it's important to take a second to realize we've got a president who doesn't have a problem with debating issues. These folks weren't screened, they weren't locked away, and he actually answered them!
Moving on: my father recently moved to Tuscon, AZ, and now calls me all the time to get an idea how things "really are" outside of an ultra-conservative filter. Yesterday he called to say he'd listened to Dick Morris on some radio show claiming that Republicans will win a majority in both houses of Congress come November. Not only that, he (allegedly) went on to say the GOP will gain 11 seats in the Senate. Now, I know this certainly isn't shaping up to be a Democrat's dream year, certain things just seem out of the realm of what's allowed under the rules of math. I'd post a link here to Nate Silver's list of Senate races that could concievably be interesting, but I am writing this draft on my phone. If I think of it, I'll fix that when I post this. No promises. [If I didn't, then just go over there and check it out.]
Where to begin? Let's start with the DADT protesters at the Obama/Boxer rally recently. How great was that? Yes, O hasn't just run out and changed it like some had hoped that he would, but he's been constant in saying that the Administration wants to repeal the policy, and regardless of your feelings on the speed of the current repeal process, you've got to admit (I hope) that it's at least actually moving in a forward manner. Hearings have been held, key people have come out for repeal, and O hasn't exactly changed his tune on it or anything.
The other side of this is that I think it's important to take a second to realize we've got a president who doesn't have a problem with debating issues. These folks weren't screened, they weren't locked away, and he actually answered them!
Moving on: my father recently moved to Tuscon, AZ, and now calls me all the time to get an idea how things "really are" outside of an ultra-conservative filter. Yesterday he called to say he'd listened to Dick Morris on some radio show claiming that Republicans will win a majority in both houses of Congress come November. Not only that, he (allegedly) went on to say the GOP will gain 11 seats in the Senate. Now, I know this certainly isn't shaping up to be a Democrat's dream year, certain things just seem out of the realm of what's allowed under the rules of math. I'd post a link here to Nate Silver's list of Senate races that could concievably be interesting, but I am writing this draft on my phone. If I think of it, I'll fix that when I post this. No promises. [If I didn't, then just go over there and check it out.]
[UPDATE: A.) I got this to post, yay! and B.) Here's the link to Nate Silver's blog!]
Anyway, my point is, for Republicans to gain 11 seats in the Senate, they need to take EVERY SINGLE competitive Dem seat, AND hold EVERY competitive R seat. This would include things like winning Patty Murray's current seat in Washington, Barbara Boxer's seat, and the seats vacated by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Ken Salazar. Some of these are more do-able than others, but getting all of them while fighting it out in NH, FL, MO, GA (and a whole host of others) starts getting tricky. So, basically: shut up, Dick Morris.
What else is going on that I can cover, hmmm? Well, Charlie Crist (Florida's governor), who is currently facing an uphill battle against Tea Party darling Marco Rubio in the senate primary, may do one of three things, apparently! He may drop out of the race! He may keep fighting to get the Rublican nomination! He may quit the primary race to run as an independent in the fall! Basically, no one has a clue what the guy's doing, all they know is that he might (or might not, whatever) do something!
That could very well be the extent of interesting goings-on that I feel like talking about.
I sorta feel like complaining about Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown, and other CA big shots, but I'll do them later. Probably. Now I just need to remember how to post this from my phone. Hmmmmm....
Sent via mobile device.
Anyway, my point is, for Republicans to gain 11 seats in the Senate, they need to take EVERY SINGLE competitive Dem seat, AND hold EVERY competitive R seat. This would include things like winning Patty Murray's current seat in Washington, Barbara Boxer's seat, and the seats vacated by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Ken Salazar. Some of these are more do-able than others, but getting all of them while fighting it out in NH, FL, MO, GA (and a whole host of others) starts getting tricky. So, basically: shut up, Dick Morris.
What else is going on that I can cover, hmmm? Well, Charlie Crist (Florida's governor), who is currently facing an uphill battle against Tea Party darling Marco Rubio in the senate primary, may do one of three things, apparently! He may drop out of the race! He may keep fighting to get the Rublican nomination! He may quit the primary race to run as an independent in the fall! Basically, no one has a clue what the guy's doing, all they know is that he might (or might not, whatever) do something!
That could very well be the extent of interesting goings-on that I feel like talking about.
I sorta feel like complaining about Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown, and other CA big shots, but I'll do them later. Probably. Now I just need to remember how to post this from my phone. Hmmmmm....
Sent via mobile device.
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