Arizona Voters Do Not Fail to Disappoint

Pima County acquitted itself fairly well yesterday. The rest of the state, unfortunately, not so much.

Governor: Jan Brewer bravely overcame the revelations that she is (1) in bed with the private Prison industry, and (2) a blithering idiot, to beat Terry Goddard, although at 53%-40% it wasn't quite the trouncing I expected. Her first priority is to scrounge money from dedicated funds to move into the state's general fund, but, luckily, one of the few bright spots in the statewide balloting was the defeat of initiatives that would have let her raid the land conservation and early childhood development funds.

Senate: Walnuts McCain stomped Democrat (nee Republican) Rodney Glassman, surprising exactly no one. I am not at all sure that Glassman would have been better for Arizona so much as a different flavor of sleazy.

US House: Still undecided! Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords are currently clinging to leads of a couple thousand votes with about 350,000 left to be counted. Most of the yet-to-be-counteds are from Pima (hopeful!) and Maricopa (brrrr!) counties, which might end up canceling each other out. We hope.

AZ Attorney General: Noted dim bulb Tom Horne edged out a Democrat I'd never heard of but who, I thought, had at least a coin flip's chance of having a few more brain cells to rub together than Horne does on any given day. The bright spot? He's no longer in charge of what passes for an education department. The dark spot? Tucson Unified School District has been in his sights for a long time for having the temerity to offer Latino heritage and culture classes to their Latino-majority student body, even after Arizona passed a law explicitly aimed at making ethnic studies programs Tom Horne doesn't like illegal. And now he's the chief prosecutor in the state? Have fun with that, TUSD!

Secretary of State, otherwise known as Lieutenant Governor: Republican Ken Bennett in a wash, meaning that if Jan-Jan resigns or just plain forgets to come in to work for a year or so, the governorship stays in Republican hands. Which does not bode well for the future, considering that noted white supremacist-consorting, private prisons lackey Russell Pearce is the new president of the state senate.

Prop 106 (Fuck Healthcare): I must say that I'm impressed with the drive and determination of Arizona voters. Not content to be at the bottom of national rankings for education and children-in-poverty levels (we recently passed Alabama to claim that title), the voters made sure that we will soon be at the bottom for healthcare as well. Prop 106, which passed by 130,000 votes, amends the state constitution to say no Arizonan is required to buy health insurance or participate in a health plan. Yeah, we'll see.

Prop 107 (Fuck Nonwhite Nonmales): The voters decided even more resoundingly to make affirmative action illegal. There are still many questions about whether this will end programs designed to keep female and nonwhite students in college (despite the fact that Arizona universities and colleges currently do not consider race or gender in admissions). Tom Horne is undoubtedly lining up the lawsuits as we speak.

Prop 203 (Medical Marijuana): Barely losing at the moment.

Well, at least Ken Buck and Sharron Angle won't be haunting Capitol Hill. Unfortunately, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio will, and, saddest of all, Russ Feingold will be watching this one from the bench. I remember how the morning after Election Day 1994 felt. This feels worse.

We Are All Cavorting with Terriers Now

Election dribs 'n' drabs...

*Atheist-baitin' Liddy Dole lost in North Carolina, but Michelle "Investigate Unamerican Activities" Bachmann (MN) and Ted "I'm Not Really a Convicted Felon Until My Appeals Are Rejected" Stevens (AK) both won. Will Sarah Palin appoint herself to fill his seat after the Senate kicks him to the curb? A nation waits.

* Michelle (Obama). Honey. I think you are made of awesome with awesome sauce and awesome sprinkles on top, but can we talk about that dress? Are you sure black widow was the most appropriate theme for the evening?

* Hearing Gene Robinson's voice quaver while talking about being grateful his parents lived to see this day, set over footage of jubilant, tearful people at black churches and a historically black college, put tears in my own eyes.

* The massive rally in Grant Park gave me chills. I was so proud of Sweet Home Chicago and the great scene they painted for the nation and the world.

* Where the hell was Rachel? MSNBC has the hottest rising star in the punditry, so for their coverage they put her... at the off-camera end of the table? She chimed in occasionally, but it wasn't anywhere close to the frequency I had been hoping for. I guess the world simply hasn't had enough *headdesk* moments courtesy of Chris Matthews.

* I know the nets are probably under pressure to be the first to legitimately call the election as soon as the last poll closes in the last relevant state, but Keith? Those of us who can do the math in our heads have already gone ahead and done that, so show some respect for people in the west who haven't voted yet and knock off calling the election over based on likely outcomes. Not his classiest moment.

* Awesome turnout across the country. 90% in Virginia and Colorado! That's crazy and amazing.

* The world is happy.

President Obama.

Wow. An electoral landslide and an electric rally in Chicago, and an acceptance speech that will be held as the gold standard for decades. The summing up of the speech via summing, through the eyes of 106-year-old Ann Nixon Cooper, the past century of America's responses to challenge, crisis, and injustice, was brilliant.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

The speech was a fitting bookend to John McCain's gracious and classy concession speech, which was itself a necessary prologue to Obama's words. McCain quickly shushed the crowd that booed in response to Obama's name, quickly and repeatedly and with growing exasperation until it sunk in and they went silent. Had he conducted his campaign with that level of dignity and measured reason, the outcome might well have been different. Let us hope that, with defeat, the straight-talking John McCain will re-emerge from the evangelical, uber-conservative-pandering pod person he turned into while on his presidential job interview, and will deliver on his promise to work with the new administration to fix the bushels of problems the country faces.

Obama called America to once again rise to the challenge, pitch in, sacrifice, work, and come together for a common good. That's not socialism, by the way, but simply the social contract required by a civilized society. We have been drowned out and shouted down by power-hungry ideologues for far too long. It's time to get to work.

While We're at It

Oh, like you were going to get any work done today. I uncovered one of the secrets of ceramic-era lithic technological organization along the Mogollon Rim before 11:00 this morning, so I don't feel so bad about bringing you the finest Election Day videos anywhere.

Watch this and then read about the LDS response here.

Did You Really Think Election Day Would Go by Without a Maddow Embed?

Is this your Firefox homepage yet? It should be.

Voting is Patriotic

These nice kick-ass ladies would like to remind you to vote today.

My voting saga is short and sweet. I like to think I'm too rational for superstition, but after rolling out of bed I threw on my favorite t-shirt (Dropkick Murphys Boxing Club) and favorite thrift-store hiking shorts and favorite long-sleeved henley just to make sure. The line was barely poking out the door at the polling place, the poll workers were pleasant and efficient, nobody was grumpy, and I was out the door in under half an hour.

If you're one of the intrepid souls who waited five, six, eight hours to vote early on your day off, or will be doing so today, I salute you. The rest of my day is now free to decide on snacks for watching the returns.

In Which We Fret Over the Convention

Not because of the speeches, so much, since we've somehow managed to miss everything major except for the recaps--give us a break; it's coming on September and the magic number is 26--but because our girl hero is looking a bit winded and in need of some buttered noodles and a nap.

We want a well-rested, happy Rachel, and, despite our constant swooning at her feet, worry a bit about the toll the skyrocketing career and back-to-back convention coverage might be taking on her home life. When does she get to see her girlfriend? Seriously.

As noted many, many times before in this space, we are certifiably insane.

Speaking of which, the live panel in front of screaming fans is a dead ringer for ESPN's College Gameday coverage, with the inevitable result that Pat Buchanan has become Lee Corso, gleefully flapping and shouting stuff designed to prod the crowd into a hailstorm of booing and make his co-panelists stare at him as if he were the insane guy at the bus stop.

Clinton's speech--at least, uh, according to the *cough* transcript (the Cubs came back to score seven in the top of the eighth! I was busy!)--was good and, hopefully, should be enough of a kick in the shorts to the idiotic PUMAs to get their heads out of their asses. I look forward to Biden's speech--which I will watch live, honest--in the hopes that he'll come out blazing.

After These Lovely Fermented Possum Brain Hors d'Oeuvres, the Main Course is Sure to be Lovely

So it's Obama, apparently and finally, please-Jesus-hopefully bringing the Democratic nominating process to a close, letting us snort awake from a restless series of disturbing images just long enough to roll over and fall into the nice deep nightmare of the next five months. The primaries were soaked in a distressing amount of sexism and racism, exposing America yet again as a place where racism is not Tony Snow's distant memory but an active enough force for one in five Kentucky voters to tell pollsters that they're voting against Obama solely because he's black, a place where young women claim they're not feminists because feminism is no longer either required or useful while another woman stands up in public to ask John McCain how he's going to "beat the bitch" and the only response is raucous laughter.

Now we get to see a bunch of collective head explosions as Clinton supporters who swore they'd either vote for McCain or stay home should Obama get the nomination begin to weigh the relative merits of clinging to principle and choosing political expediency. I understand the frustration at feeling undercut, of having been undercut by the patriarchy one more damn time, but at the same time I would hope that the specter of a John McCain presidency would be enough to outweigh any compulsion to cast a fuck-you vote for the opposition. Just as I would expect Obama supporters to vote for Clinton were the situation reversed. Hey, I was an Edwards girl, so I'm equally disillusioned by certain things that have emanated from both the Obama and Clinton camps, was equally optimistic about others, and have always been firmly committed to keeping McCain out of the White House. There may be a time to take your ball and go home, but this ain't it.

Here we go, then, with the general election. You think the primaries were ugly? The Repubs have been biding their time, sharpening two sets of knives. The dick-handled sexism knives are going back into the box under the bed, for now; you can be certain the hood-handled racism knives are getting an extra kiss from the stone, the dog whistles getting a final tuning. How far have we come as a nation since July 9, 1868? We get to find out this summer. I'm not optimistic.

Hmmm.

Clinton on the comeback trail last night, sorta, although Obama's lead in the delegate count didn't suffer significantly. Hmmm. Rumblings about a Clinton-Obama ticket in the fall. Would I be okay with that? I think I might, should Clinton pull it out via superdelegates. I think I would be far more optimistic about that scenario had Douchebag McCain not locked up the GOP side.

The first person I talked to this morning about the returns sighed and said at least McCain is the least of the Republican evils. As the words fought with each other to jump out of my mouth first, clogging up between my teeth like the Three Stooges trying to exit an elevator simultaneously, the person continued, "well, at least he's pro-choice." The subsequent choking noise I made was enough to dislodge the three key words needed to respond to just about any media-fueled characterization of John McCain, those being No! He's! Not!

He's not? No. No matter what you think you heard he is, he's not.

No, he's absolutely not pro-choice; in fact, he's in favor of a constitutional abortion ban. He's not a straight talker when it comes to the lunatics who have come out in support of him, including not only the race-baiting talk radio host in Ohio but, now, insane apocalyptic bomb-Iran-to-bring-Jesus-back preacher John Hagee. John McCain doesn't pander to the religious right? Think again. He's in favor of teaching Intelligent Design in the schools. He's opposed to full civil rights for gay people. And he's in favor of war, war, and more war as the only diplomatic option the US will ever need for anything. Period.

But Straight-Talking Maverick has been pounded into people's heads for so long that their automatic association with McCain is agrees with my position on this, actually, until they take a moment to think about it and then, belatedly, realize that he's fully and diametrically opposed to my position, actually. Is there any issue on which he's not in lockstep with the right wing? Used to be two, but then came that grinding make the Bush-tax-cuts-permanent moment. Now the only thing left is his eminently reasonable support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants currently living and working in the US. Hey, I'm totally there with him--that's the one thing he has managed not to be a total conservative douchebag tool about. But if I'm a one-issue voter, regrettably for Mr. McCain and probably for me, that ain't it.

So McCain has to be defeated at all costs. McCain, who just now finished up a tasty lunch and ceremonial endorsement befitting a visiting head of state with George Bush at the White House, must be defeated. I haven't seen a poll since Monday, if I recall correctly, but at that point Obama putatively defeated McCain something like 55%-45%, with Clinton and McCain polling in a dead heat. Does adding Obama to a Clinton ticket pull her numbers up closer to his, or does the presence of Clinton anywhere on the ticket sink it?

That's not a rhetorical question for me. I absolutely do not share the visceral loathing many people seem to exhibit when Clinton's name is mentioned. Policywise there hasn't been a hell of a lot of difference between Clinton's and Obama's Senate voting records, although her yes vote on the Kyl-Lieberman Iran resolution is pretty much a deal-breaker for me on its own, and more than pretty much when taken together with her original AUMF vote. Then again, Obama didn't vote on that one, so, well, what the fuck's the deal on that? Obama offers a personal magnetism she does not, and no one disputes that the man could orate the hide off a yak and come away without the slightest whiff of lanolin about him. I confess to continuing to worry that even continuing to address the notion of electability advances the meme that she doesn't have it. But I gotta address it and wonder about it. It seemed impossible four years ago that the stakes could be any higher. But they are. John McCain would be an unprecedented disaster for this country. There can be no doubt surrounding the ticket the Democrats send out to combat him. I would really prefer an utter lack of personal doubt to go along with it.

Super Two-Step Tuesday

By the time the dust settles at the end of the night, the Democratic nomination may be settled as well. Let me say again that I really don't want to have to dislike either potential Dem nominee, but godDAMmit, Hillary, your campaign's little oopsie moments are pissing me off more than Barack's have. Sunday you asserted that no, Obama's not a Muslim... "as far as I know." Yesterday you said that only you and John McCain have a lifetime of experience to bring to the White House, while Obama has only a single speech from 2002. And yesterday a campaign call from your official Ohio number, in a "slip of the tongue," referred to Obama as "Osama bin Laden." Not just "Osama" or "Barack Osama"--which would have been tasteless but, oh, what's the word... oh yeah, plausible as a slip of the tongue--but the full, stand-alone Osama bin Laden. Nice.

On the plus side, perhaps, as you're feeling the momentum inexorably swing Obama's way, you're simply doing your duty as batting practice pitcher for him, lobbing in the 50-mph-gopher balls so he can work the kinks out of his swing enough to groove the real fastballs of a presidential campaign into the left field bleachers. Either that or to improve his quicks so he can spin away from the ones that will be coming directly at his head.

The only upside is that the Democratic mutual feeding frenzy will be over soon. I hope.

And then the Republican slime machine will kick into full gear and we'll be astonished at how wistfully we're remembering the Clinton-Obama jabs that suddenly look like gentle swishes with an ostrich feather in comparison.

Nader Unsatisfied With Disaster Foisted on Country the First Time Around, Acts to Remedy Situation

Oh, Ralph. You rapscallion. Not content to have gummed up the works to the extent that they spat out George W. as the winner in 2000? It's understandable. I mean, those of us who thought about issues enough to see actual leadership and incisive intelligence behind Gore.2000's facade of dull pedantry were pleased about the Democratic candidate that year, but it's nothing compared to the hope-tinged passion Obama is stirring in 2008 breasts. And the likely Republican nominee is a certified loon with a foul temper who promises wars and wars and wars.

The stakes are even higher now, Ralph. So who can blame your not being able to resist leaping into the race? You have the chance to cement your name into history. President McCain would totally paint your name on a couple of bomb bomb bombs, just as a classy thank you, and generations--generations!--of draft-age kids would co-opt your name as a verb. Aw, dude. I just fucking got Nadered. Tehran, here I come.

(hat tip, who else? Top!Secret G-woman)

SuperDuperDelegates

In a predictable bit of political expediency, the upstart who's hanging onto front-runner status by the slenderest of margins wants the superdelegates to echo the popular vote, while the establishment candidate in second place wants them to pony up on patronage obligations.

Obama himself weighed in on Friday, telling reporters that voters should determine whom superdelegates support, even as his campaign actively courted them.

"My strong belief is that if we end up with the most states and the most pledged delegates, and the most voters in the country, then it would be problematic for political insiders to overturn the judgment of the voters," he said. "I think that should be the guiding approach to determining who will be the nominee."

Clinton, speaking to reporters on Saturday, argued that superdelegates should make up their own minds and pointedly noted that Obama has the endorsements of superdelegates John Kerry and Edward Kennedy, both senators from Massachusetts, a state whose primary Clinton won.

"Superdelegates are by design supposed to exercise independent judgment," she said. "If Sen. Obama and his campaign continue to push this position, which is to the contrary of what the definition of superdelegates has historically been, I will look forward to receiving the support of Sen. Kerry and Sen. Kennedy."

Will they stick to their guns if their positions reverse? Stay tuned. At some point over the weekend, the superdelegate I saw interviewed claimed confusion on the issue of exactly which constituency he should echo with his vote--his whole state, or just his congressional district? It feels like a no-brainer to me; if you're a governor or senator, you vote the way your state voted overall, but if you're a representative you follow your district. If you're none of the above and aren't actually an elected official but just a party hack, you follow the nationwide popular vote. Anything else undermines both the process and what the Democratic Party is supposed to stand for.

Bye, Mittens

Romney's out as of today, freeing up McCain and Huckabee to decide whether to make their temporary alliance of convenience a more permanent gig. Let us hope the absence of a common enemy makes them remember that they really don't like each other that much after all.

Superdelegates? Ah Shite

After yesterday's primaries and caucuses, Clinton holds a four-point lead over Obama in the number of delegates each has won... and an 87-point lead in the superdelegates. Arooo? you might rightly ask in your best befuddled Scooby-voice. Superdelegates? Yes. Those would be the additional delegates peculiar to the Democratic Party, composed of all Dem members of Congress, all Dem governors, and assorted party hacks. They get awarded to the candidates just like regular delegates do... but they get to decide which candidate they're going to, rather than being assigned on the basis of votes cast by, you know, the voting public.

Howard Dean gamely explained this all away on Air America last night, serving up a line of bullshit that went like this: You know, these superdelegates are all people who were voted into their positions by the voters, so it's not a subversion of the democratic process in any way. Uh, okay, Howard. The little problem I see with that line of reasoning is that the people serving as superdelegates campaigned for and were voted into specific offices such as representative or senator or governor. No one voted for them for the express purpose of giving them the power to award nomination points to the presidential candidate of their personal choosing, particularly when that choice runs counter to the expressed will of the majority of the people casting votes in the primaries.

The upshot is that either Clinton or Obama could very well win the popular vote but lose the nomination by virtue of superdelegates--the very definition of Party Establishment--aligning themselves with the other candidate. And because most of the elected representatives, senators, and governors in this country, even the Democratic ones, are overwhelmingly white, male, and moneyed, well, where does that leave hopelessly idealistic notions of representative government or even the power of the ballot box? The concept of superdelegates does not square with a party that gives even lip service to populism. It smacks of elitism and is the stuff of a ruling class that doesn't trust the rabble to make decisions. If it comes down to superdelegates being in the position of tipping the nomination to one side or the other, will they have the integrity to follow the votes of the people they claim to represent?

Apres Obama, Le Deluge des Uh-Ohs

Hmmmm. Clinton took Arizona, which I wasn't expecting because I didn't pay attention to the rest of the state. I'm pretty sure Obama took Tucson. His end-of-the-night "Our Time Has Come" speech in Chicago was electrifying (two part YouTube presentation below):

Barack Obama. Orator Laureate of the U.S. Is it any wonder all the kids are doing backflips for him? Hell, I'm old and jaded and he's gotten me to believe.

But even before the goosebumps receded, alarm bells were sounding ever so faintly in the back of my head, and most of them were labeled "McCain/Huckabee '08." Those two camps are increasingly looking past their ideological differences to focus on the one thing they can agree on, which is a deep loathing of Mittens Romney. And that would give us a GOP ticket that would allow a lot of people to hold their noses, gaze fixedly at their candidate, and avert their eyes from his running mate.

Think about it. Huckabee brings in the evangelical vote and might be the widget that justifies a vote in the minds of Republicans who don't think McCain's a true conservative (behold the power of a meme completely in contradiction to the man's actual voting record) but are counting on him working himself into a coronary before the first hundred days are up. And GOPers who aren't necessarily enamored with the idea of a Bible-based state but do salivate at the possibility of a new Hundred Years' War can look past the Baptist minister on the ticket, since, after all, he's only the VP. Add to those Republicans the independents who also don't believe McCain's a true conservative but think that's a positive, and are willing to overlook everything Mike Huckabee has ever said except those bits about us needing to be better stewards of the environment, and we might have trouble.

Who fights this combination the best? I gotta think it's Obama. McCain's "maverick" label, despite being a steaming load of bullshit, will be enough for independent and Democratic voters who hate Clinton to convince themselves that it's really not so bad to vote Republican this time around. And Obama has the unassailable moral standing to confront Bomb Bomb on the current war, and the next war he wants to start, and the several lurking beyond that.

Can Clinton pull it off? I am not optimistic. Could Obama really pull it off against a more bombs-more bibles ticket that just might be the ticket away from guilt the not-ready-yet crowd is secretly pining for? I want him to. I want to jump on that hope train and settle back with a drink and watch the country trundle by on the track back to the America he promises. I don't know if I believe in my fellow voters enough to count on it yet.

Super Monday

The day between Super Sunday and Super Duper Tuesday is given over to Super Bowl post-hash and primary pre-hash.

Super Bowl: The game? Eli needs to locate all the guys on the competition committee who voted to do away with the "in the grasp" rule and buy them puppies. The pre-game? Only watched a few minutes of Red!Carpet!Coverage, which was more than enough to confirm that Fox programmers and most of the "fans" in Glendale are idiots.

Ryan Seacrest: Who do you think's going to win today?
John Krasinski: Well, it would be really awkward to say I think the Giants are going to win since I'm wearing this Patriots cap.
Ryan Seacrest: Oh. I guess I'm not tall enough to see that.
Fans: shriek, shriek.

Super Duper Tuesday: Michele Obama is supposed to be in Tucson today, but I haven't heard where or when. Given that it's (1) cold and (2) pouring rain, I hope it's someplace inside on high ground. The streets went into raging river mode right on schedule, so I don't know what her turnout's going to be.

In other primary news, if I had cast an early ballot for John Edwards, I would be mightily pissed off right now. As it is, I am perplexed about the effect early voting might have on the primaries. What happens to the early votes for candidates who drop out before a state's actual primary date? Do they dissipate into the ether? This is a big reason why I wish Edwards had stuck it out the extra week just to see what might happen in states like Illinois and California. I know you take the risk when you go with the early ballot--your candidate might drop a bombshell that would make you withdraw your support, or might drop out altogether--but it seems that something as essential to the well-being of the republic shouldn't be subject to the same kind of risk as, say, going with the early-decision option when you apply to college.

Two More Down

Even the pathologically focused St. Rudy of 9/11 couldn't ignore the tapping of reality against his noggin any more, so he's out of the race. This is very disappointing, as it saddles Mittens Romney with the sole responsibility of providing moments of high comedy from the GOP side.

After yesterday's Florida primary, John "Bomb Bomb Iran" McCain is looking like a front-runner. This is troubling because too many people fall back on the "maverick" meme rather than examining the man's actual voting record or even every other word that falls out of his mouth, which might make this election way the hell closer than it needs to be, even with Obama as the Dem nominee. The best tactic against McCain may be casting him as the Hundred Years' War candidate. He's certainly not doing much to dispel those perceptions so far.

On the Democratic side, John Edwards dropped as well. I was surprised that he didn't hang on through Super Tuesday to see if he might pick up enough delegates to have some sway in deciding the eventual nominee. Will he end up on the ticket? Probably not. Some major policy role in the new administration would be nice.

Values Voters

In honor of the GOP Florida primary today, some actual political content. It's a bit out of date as these things go, but hey, (1) Huckabee's still in the race, and (2) nothing says "Values Voters" like Florida. And vice versa.

Ahhhhhhhh

I remember waking up on the morning after the 1994 election in a daze,
processing that the sun was still coming up and the sky was still blue,
but that the country I had known before was completely different.
Twelve years after the advent of the Contract On With America, I am in a different daze, hardly daring to believe that we actually won and have the opportunity to change things back to some semblance of decency.

It's so nice to know that most of Europe is celebrating with us, although Der Spiegel sounds the cautionary note that the Dems may be looking for greater European involvement in resolving both Iraq and Afghanistan.

In other news, I stopped by Albertson's on the way to work to pick up celebratory donuts. As I was leaving I saw a big old Dodge pickup pull into the handicapped spot. The driver hopped out, popped his tailgate down, and... pulled an Albertson's shopping cart out of the truck and carefully wheeled it into the cart corral.

I'll take my signs and portents where I can find them. Perhaps it is a new day in America.

Election Posthash

Mostly good news from the elections, both in Arizona and nationwide. We got the House back and have a shot at the Senate. We in Arizona will get to go into any bar or restaurant we choose without having to worry about coming out smelling like an overflowing ashtray.

Prop 107, which would have amended the AZ Constitution to ban not only same-sex marriage but also civil unions and any other contractual relationship between two unmarried people intended to provide some of the protections of marriage, was very narrowly defeated. On the surface, it's great, at least until the next election when it inevitably creeps back onto the ballot. The underlying bits bother me.

2006 General Election (Unofficial Results) Produced by the Arizona Secretary of State's Office	PROPOSITION 107 Protect Marriage Arizona

County	Yes	No	Totals	Polls	Polls Reporting	Percent of Polls
Apache	6,715	6,897	13,612	45	45	100.0
Cochise	17,588	13,962	31,550	64	64	100.0
Coconino	13,144	19,152	32,296	85	84	98.8
Gila	7,610	6,951	14,561	39	39	100.0
Graham	5,008	2,257	7,265	18	18	100.0
Greenlee	1,077	834	1,911	8	8	100.0
La Paz	1,833	1,703	3,536	12	12	100.0
Maricopa	301,876	316,264	618,140	1,142	1,142	100.0
Mohave	20,768	15,575	36,343	73	73	100.0
Navajo	12,120	9,584	21,704	70	70	100.0
Pima	94,502	127,356	221,858	409	409	100.0
Pinal	27,241	25,387	52,628	74	74	100.0
Santa Cruz	3,469	4,199	7,668	24	24	100.0
Yavapai	27,113	24,983	52,096	104	104	100.0
Yuma	11,167	8,726	19,893	42	42	100.0
Total	551,231	583,830	1,135,061	2,209	2,208	100.0%
Percentage	48.6	51.4

The proposition lost in only five counties. Granted, three of those are the population centers of the state, but hey, so much for that live-and-let-live independent mindset the denizens of the great western frontier so love to tout. Yeah, I'm a little bitter this morning. Add in the landslide victories for three rather nasty anti-immigrant propositions and I'm appalled to be a resident of this state.

Give people the chance to anonymously gobsmack somebody else and they'll take it. Think making English the "official language" of Arizona is going to stop illegal immigration? Think denying illegals bail, or preventing them from collecting civil damages in lawsuits will stop the tide? If you do, you're nuts. And if you know full well that none of those measures will do a damn thing to stop illegal immigration but you voted for them anyway out of vindictiveness, hey, you're a swell human being.

Jesus.

Seven other states merrily passed their own anti-gay marriage amendments. South Dakota Amendment C (no gay marriage, no civil unions): passed, 52%. Colorado Amendment 43 (no gay marriage): passed, 56%. For good measure, Coloradans also rejected Referendum I, which would have explicitly extended certain rights to gay couples, such as hospital visits and funeral arrangements.

That's correct. 53% of Colorado voters decided that gay couples should not have the automatic right to visit their partners in the ICU or to make funeral arrangements for them after they die. Chew on that for a moment.

Wisconsin Referendum 1 (no gay marriage, no civil unions): passed, 58%. Virigina Prop 1 (no gay marriage, no civil unions): passed, 59%. Idaho Amendment HJR 2 (no gay marriage, no civil unions): passed, 63%. South Carolina Amendment 1 (no gay marriage): passed, 78%. Tennessee Constitutional Amendment on Marriage (no gay marriage): passed, 81%.

Ultimately, it's all about power. Can't live with the knowledge that a couple of guys in Massachusetts wear rings that look an awful lot like the ones you and your wife sport? Then vote not only to keep Arizona gays from getting their own set, but, while you're at it, make sure they can't spend considerable sums of money to hire lawyers to draw up legal documents giving them the right to determine inheritance, share healthcare benefits, and, god forbid, make end-of-life medical decisions, oh yeah, as long as blood relations don't make too much of a stink or hospital personnel don't decide to ignore those documents on principle. That'll show those faggots, eh, buddy?

There's a mild debate simmering over on dKos about this. More than a few commenters argue that we pushed for too much too soon, that we should acquiesce and stroke the religious conservatives, caps in hand, mewlingly taking whatever small scraps of civil rights they can extend to us without gagging. We have to be patient, we have to wait until people are ready to let 10% of the population, tops, share the same rights and responsibilities that they do.

I call bullshit on that. Ellen Goodman said this way back in 2000:

But postwar generations have learned that you cannot wait until people, comfortable with their old narrow beliefs, become mysteriously ready for change.

It's those who step up, speak out, get out of the closet and do not quake at consequences who challenge old ideas with new realities. They change our world.

Seven more states are preparing to write bigotry into their constitutions, into those documents that were intended to preserve people's freedoms, not deny them. This is what my country thinks of people like me. This is what my country thinks of me.

Maybe tomorrow I'll feel more like celebrating. Today, not so much.