There are a couple of things about the recent elections that truly puzzle me. Perhaps someone out there can enlighten me, or at least give me a little insight.
- How is it that a state that overwhelmingly re-elected a rather liberal Democrat governor, and just as overwhelmingly rejected his conservative Republican opponent, and nearly elected — with only about a 3% margin — a very liberal Democrat senator, turn around and seriously overwhelmingly approve, with an 80% majority, an amendment to the state constitution that is so incredibly ultra-conservative? I don’t get it. Who are these people?? Is there a whole block of voters out there who only voted for Amendment 1 but not for any of the candidates or any other issues? Or are the people of Tennessee that double-minded; center-to-left leaning in candidates but far-right on issues… Too weird.
- How did Nancy Pelosi become Speaker of the House just by being re-elected as Congresswoman, and without a vote of the new House? I thought one had to be elected by peers into that office, but she’s de facto Speaker. When was that decided?? Don’t get me wrong, I think its great that a woman is now Speaker of the House, third in line to the White House (though I’d rather it be someone not so liberal-minded as Pelosi, but whatever). I just can’t figure out how she got the gig.
Anyone…? Anyone…? Bueller…?
I don’t understand point one either. Washington state’s legislature is heavily controlled by extreme liberals yet this past session they passed bill that placed a ban on gay marriage. I think they were just trying to placate the religious right.
On question 2, Ms Peloci IS the defacto Speaker until an official vote is taken on the floor of the house November 16. The official and final vote will be taken January 3rd or 4th. The two other congressman vying for the job, Hoyer and Murtha, are not given a very good chance by the left wing pundits.
So there you go Bueller!
Link Dump
Told ya Well I guess this is supposed to be the time where I congratulate Bob Corker on his hard-fought campaign victory, but I’m not. I have a hard time congratulating someone who wins when the contest is on a…
A “rather Liberal Democrat”? The guy who fixed the budget by across the board cuts in all departments besides education. The guy who reduced the number of enrollees on our state healthcare plan. The guy who hasn’t raised any taxes?
The reason Bredesen was overwhelmingly re-elected were two-fold. First, he didn’t raise any taxes. Second, he didn’t touch any hot-button cultural issues. He didn’t oppose the gay marriage amendment, granted, he didn’t sign it, but that is because Governors have no business signing those. He didn’t take on Southern heritage by banning confederate flags or any other monument to Southern failure. He didn’t do anything in regards to abortion.
There are plenty of Democrats, especially rural and African American voters, who voted for the Gay Marriage ban. This idea that Gay Marriage amendments would drive out this enormous wave of Ultra-conservative voters who won’t vote Democrat on the state level only works if those Democrats actively work against the amendment. They didn’t, therefore voters weren’t going to punish them for it “just because”. The Rove strategy failed…time to think of some new ideas.
Ah, Bredesen acted like a moderate Republican and that’s how he got re-elected. 🙂
Seriously, though, thank you Sean. I honestly don’t know that much about Bredesen’s voting record; I came by my opinion by listening to him talk the last two years. I can’t point to any one thing he said that led me to it; just the whole of it together.
I don’t believe a bunch of “ultra-conservatives” came out of the wood-work to vote on just this one issue. But I still cannot wrap my brain around the Tennessee voter and the diparity I see between the passage of this amendment and the closeness of the Ford/Corker race. Perhaps its too many years spent in liberal Hollywood, where anything that even faintly smelled conservative, even just moderate, and they ripped it to shreds. I can’t see this kind of amendment passing in California. Perhaps I just mistake Davidson County for all of Tennessee. I’m just not used to a state that varies sooo widely from one end to the other.
Vic — see, this is why I need my big brother living nearby! To teach me the stuff I never paid enough attention to in school to actually learn it. When are you moving to Nashville??
Just because some voters are Dem or “liberal” doesn’t mean they endorse ALL of the gay agenda (gay marriage). There are plenty of people who consider themselves Dem/liberal who also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. On the flip side, there are plenty of Repubs/conservatives who are not evangelical Christians. Stereotypes don’t fit everyone. I have Jewish friends who vote straight Republican because they are fiscally conservative and the social issues just aren’t important to them. Come to think of it, they probably would have voted for Coker but against the Marriage Amendment.
Nancy Pelosi… 3rd in line… terrifying.
Republicans lost the Reagan Democrat. Majority isn’t hard left or hard right..they’re moderate.Doesn’t matter how good and pure and right you are if you dont win.There’s no litmus test for being a Republican.