Month: November 2012
Obama Tweet Breaks Record
636,558
Number of retweets, setting a Twitter record, for a post by Pres. Obama that said, “Four more years” with a Twitpic of him and First Lady Michelle Obama embracing.
Time For Mitch McConnell to Get a New Hobby
McConnell realizes he can count to two.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) famously declared that the most important goal of the Republican party for the past few years was to make Barack Obama a one-term president.
But even after tirelessly obstructing each and every initiative put forward by the president; and with the economy improving despite every Republican attempt — including having rightwing CEOs threaten their employees that they would cut jobs if Obama won — to keep it in the Bush recession; and causing such inertia in Congress that its approval numbers nearly imperil democracy…even after all this, McConnell failed in his number one goal.
So with your help, we’d like to develop some new goals for Mitch. Please leave your suggestions in the comments.
- Have surgery to remove turtle chin
- Read a book on how to govern, and what the point of being in the Senate is
- Announce you will not run for re-election in 2014
- Announce that you will retire early to spend more time with your family
- Announce that you are actually stepping down today and then go back to your old Kentucky home and never be heard from again
California Democrats Gain in Sacramento, Super Majorities in the Legislature Said to Be in Reach
Nearly bankrupt both in funding and ideas, the California Republican Party suffered another round of defeats as Democrats gained seats in both the Assembly and the state Senate in voting yesterday:
Democrats were within striking distance of a supermajority in the state Senate late Tuesday, and were drawing near in the Assembly as well, moving the party closer to unilateral power to raise taxes.
The potential gains, a result of sweeping changes in California’s political system, captivated the Capitol on a night in which there also were unprecedented battles within the state’s congressional delegation.
If the Democrats achieve a supermajority, as party leaders believed likely, it would mark the first time either party has captured two-thirds of the seats in the Senate or Assembly in 34 years. It takes a two-thirds vote in each house to approve tax increases, which would have to be signed by the governor. Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) claimed early Wednesday to have achieved a supermajority in his chamber.
Two Vile Tea Partyists, Allen West and Joe Walsh, Defeated – But a Third, Michele Bachmann Clings to Power
[The] House will remain under control of Republicans, who also added a seat, increasing the majority they won in 2010.
Republicans picked up two House seats in North Carolina and beat a Democrat in Kentucky, as they looked to widen their advantage.
Analysts watched to see if conservative Tea Party candidates continue to gain stature in this election, or if disillusionment among voters over gridlock in Congress takes its toll on their movement. Tea Party stars such as Allen West, of Florida, and Joe Walsh, of Illinois, were defeated and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota remained locked in a tight race.
Reports this morning indicate that Bachmann has won reelection.
Senate Adds Record Number of Women
Voters responded to the Republicans’ War on Women by sending more troops into the field. Women elected to the U.S. Senate yesterday include senators-elect Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc.; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; and Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska.
Sen.-elect Baldwin will be the first openly gay U.S. senator, and Sen.-elect Hirono will be the first Japanese native to serve in the upper body.
If we’ve got the count right, that means there will be 20 women in the Senate in 113th Congress. Technically, that still leaves a deficit of at least 31 women members in the world’s most exclusive club, but it is progress nonetheless.
Gay Civil Rights Pass Ballot Test for the First Time – Marriage Equality Passes in Maine and Maryland
Leaving aside the propriety of Americans voting on whether to protect the civil rights of other Americans, here is some good news on marriage equality:
In a historic turnaround, the ballot box is showing America’s shifting attitudes about same-sex marriage. After gay marriage rights died at the polls dozens of times in the past, on Tuesday they passed in at least two states.
Rarely do popular votes reflect such dramatic social changes…
But the win was hard fought and the margin of victory was small.
“We’ve lost at the ballot box 32 times,” said Paul Guequierre of Human Rights Campaign. “History was made tonight” …
“It’s hard to overstate the national significance of this vote,” Marc Solomon, campaign director at Freedom to Marry, said of the Maine referendum.
In Maryland, where just 51.9% of voters approved gay marriage rights, “It was a little bit pins and needles,” said Human Rights Campaign’s Kevin Nix. “It was going to be a close call all along.”
Whew. Yes We Did. Again!
Thank you America, or at least 59,631,249 of you.
