Pink Elephants

They're on the rise, and damned if I can understand why.  Jonathan Capehart in the Washington Post's PostPartisan blog:

Gay men, lesbians and bisexuals who self-identified to exit pollsters made up 3 percent of those casting ballots in House races on Tuesday, and 31 percent of them voted Republican. By itself, that number is amazing, especially when you consider that way too many people think being gay and voting Democratic are one in the same. But that percentage is ominous news for a White House viewed with suspicion by many gay men and lesbians, because that's four percentage points higher than the change election of 2008.

Self-identified gays have been slowly sidling up to the GOP for a while now. In the 2008 presidential race, they made up four percent of the vote and gave 27 percent of their votes to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) against then-Sen. Barack Obama. In the 2006 midterm elections, when the House and Senate flipped to Democratic control, gays made up three percent of the electorate with the Republicans snagging 24 percent of their ballots. And in the 2004 presidential elections, President George W. Bush got 23 percent of the gay vote. They comprised four percent of those polled.

Why do gays vote for the Republican Party?  Come to think of it, why do poor people, unemployed people, old people, single parents, minimum-wage workers, and anybody else who's not a fucking millionaire, vote for the GOP?  The party of Sally Kern, Sarah Palin, and John "Filibuster" McCain, to name but a few. 

The Texas GOP, like that of many other states, actually wants to recriminalize sodomy, among other choice proposals.

Did any Jews vote for Hitler?  Did any blacks vote for George Wallace?  Given that the river of human stupidity is an ever-flowing stream, I sure wonder. 

Sigh.  Kinda makes you feel like just giving up on the human race sometimes, ya know what I mean?  

Your Head Trucker now believes it will be twenty years before we see equality all across the nation:  DADT repealed, and DOMA.  ENDA enacted, and UAFA, and marriage equality in every state.

Twenty years:  remember you heard it from Russ right here.  Mark your calendars, and drop me a postcard when 2030 rolls around.  If the gay Republican kapos will let you have a postage stamp.

Tell me I'm wrong.  Please.

But first ask your friends who they voted for . . . and see if they hesitate to answer.

Election 2010: The Bad News and the Good News

First, the bad news, from People for the American Way:



Second, the good news, from Gay Politics:

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund today announced that more openly LGBT candidates won election to public office in the U.S. in 2010 than in any year in America’s history. At least 106 of the group’s record-breaking 164 endorsed candidates were winners [including:]

– David Cicilline’s election to Congress. The Providence, R.I. mayor will be the fourth openly gay member of the U.S. House of Representatives, joining Reps. Tammy Baldwin, Barney Frank and Jared Polis, who each won reelection.

– Jim Gray’s election as mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, the state’s second-largest city.

– Nickie Antonio’s election to the Ohio House. Antonio will be the first openly LGBT person to serve in the state legislature.

– Marcus Brandon’s election to the North Carolina House. Brandon will be the state’s only openly gay state legislator and one of just five out African Americans to serve as state lawmakers.

– Victoria Kolakowski’s election as a Superior Court judge in Alameda County. Kolakowski becomes the first openly transgender judge in America.

– Kevin Lembo’s election as Connecticut State Comptroller. Lembo joins just a handful of openly LGBT candidates to have been elected to statewide positions.

– Laurie Jinkins’ election to the Washington State House. Jinkins is Washington’s first openly lesbian state legislator, and could help her gay colleagues pass a marriage equality bill in the next legislative session.

– Maryland’s and California’s expanded LGBT state legislative caucuses. Each will include seven openly gay and lesbian lawmakers. In Maryland, the caucus is poised to help pass marriage equality legislation, which the reelected Gov. Martin O’Malley has vowed to sign.

Republican Roadblock - Now What?

The President's press conference after the election; transcript here.



Rachel Maddow:



Nicholas Kristoff:

On my blog, a Times reader named Eddie asked about President Obama: “Where is the man I voted for?”

“Does he ever sweat?” Eddie continued. “We’re in desperate times and I don’t see a man who is really affected by it.” He concluded: “We need a committed, passionate person to lead a country . . . not a Sunday school teacher taking cautious, baby steps.”

Well, it’s time for Mr. Obama to sweat like a racehorse. My feeling is that the country has gone too far on blaming its economic distress on Mr. Obama, failing to give him credit for averting another Great Depression among other achievements. But it seems as if Michelle and I may be the only ones who think that way. . . .

Mr. Obama has a far better product to sell than Tea Partiers like Mr. DeMint. But Mr. Obama needs to connect better with American voters. He needs to lose the cool and start sweating — and slugging.

Maureen Dowd:

Barack Obama became president by brilliantly telling his own story. To stay president, he will need to show he can understand our story.

At first it was exciting that Obama was the sort of brainy, cultivated Democrat who would be at home in a “West Wing” episode.

But now he acts like he really thinks he’s on “West Wing,” gliding through an imaginary, amber-lit set where his righteous self-regard is bound to be rewarded by the end of the hour.

Hey, dude, you’re a politician. Act like one. . . .

One top aide told me that the president — who perversely tried to marginalize a once-captivated press corps — was beginning to realize that he had not used his charm as effectively as he could have.

His inner circle believed too much in the power of the Aura and in protecting the Brand. They didn’t think they needed to sell anything or fight back when the crazies started sliming them. They didn’t care that the average citizen needed an M.B.A. to understand the financial plan and a Ph.D. to fathom what the health care plan would mean.

Because Obama stayed above it all on health care and delegated to Max Baucus, he missed the moment in August of 2009 when Sarah Palin and the Tea Party got oxygen with their loopy rants on death panels. It never occurred to the Icon that such wildness and gullibility would trump lofty rationality.

As the president tries to ride the Tea Party tiger, let’s hope for this change: that he puts some audacity in his audacity.

David Mixner:

What is very clear is that is the national strategy of a delaying votes on our action items for freedom over the last two years turned out to be disastrous mistake. Many of us urgently begged for our President and our national organizations not to delay action or we would face a new Congress. Well, that is exactly what happened although no one could have forecast the landslide that took place.

Legislation: The prospects of passing ENDA and repealing DOMA and DADT are slim to none. No matter what the military report says in December the Republicans in Congress are not about to allow LGBT citizens into the military. Our only hope is that the Department of Justice will drop its appeal (yeah, right) or the President issues a stop loss order. I wouldn't hold our collective breath. Although we 'control' the Senate remember this is more a Senate of the Ben Nelsons and Max Baucuses then of our liberal friends. Nothing can get done without their support. Our opportunities have mostly vanished with our inaction over the last two years and we face a tough new world. If the courts continue to side with us, expect the 'constitutional marriage amendment' to be revived and we could be in trouble. . . .

As we continue with the dialogue about what is next we should be respectful of all of our brothers and sisters. There is a lot to discuss. None of us has all the answers but we are doomed if we don't carefully reflect on election day and what is next.

What I Say:  Your Head Trucker has nothing to add to the above.  Except that it's very ironic from a historical point of view that even as China by slow steps becomes more wealthy and more open, the United States seems to be moving in exactly the opposite direction:  repressive, insular, intolerant, and closed off.  Is it possible that we have already passed the high-water mark for gay rights in this country?

And like many of you, I'm sure, I'm totally disgusted and heartbroken over the way Obama gamed us in the 2008 election. So much pretty talk: all hat and no cattle, as we say down here in Texas.

BTW, Butthead Perry walked to an easy victory in the Texas governor's race Tuesday, by about a 2 to 1 margin statewide, with a voter turnout of only 36 percent. Ninety percent of my neighbors here in this rural, Bible-believing county voted for the asshole, and it was pretty much the same story for all the other Republican candidates. Which was only to be expected.

Some days, I just want to get in my truck and drive and drive and drive.

But there's nowhere to go, not really.  Assholes are everywhere, so you might as well just stay home.

I Remember, So I'm Voting

And remember, brethren - God Watches How You Vote!



Joe Jervis's exegesis on this bullshit sermon is priceless:

Because one day you'll be standing before Jeebus and have to account for your actions when he asks, "Why did you vote for a leader who's attempting to redefine my institution of marriage?" And if your answer is "because that leader was good on jobs and the economy," you are TOTALLY getting your ass sent to hell. Apparently Jeebus doesn't care too much whether you fed the poor or healed the sick. Blah, blah, BORING. What will get you ushered into Everlasting Glory, clearly, is spending your time on Earth with your Holy Boots on the necks of the heathens. Prai$e Hi$ Name! Vote GOP!

VOTE, DAMN IT!

This guy is going to vote tomorrow - why aren't you?


You really want the assholes to be in charge of your life?  Get your ass up off the couch and VOTE, fucker. 

David Mixner:

No one has been more gravely disappointed and, at times livid, with the practically non-existent record of President Obama on LGBT equal rights. Over and over again I have held this administration's feet to the fire in an effort to force them to move forward in our struggle for freedom. As we all know by now, those pleas often have fallen on deaf ears. Our disappointment, anger and frustration is totally justified.

What is not justified is to allow those emotions to intrude on our ability to be intelligent voters this election day. We cannot and should not shoot ourselves in the collective foot because of the administration's actions.

Why is it important to vote? Let's get right down to it: If the House and Senate fall into Republican Tea Party hands on November 2nd, the LGBT community will be facing the most hostile United States Congress in our history. The election of these bonafide Teabagging wing-nuts could cause chaos, fear and intimidation in our political process. Their ascendancy to power would validate some truly dark and despicable forces operating in American politics. If we think it is hard to achieve equal rights now just try and do it in a Tea Party dominated Congress.

Mike Signorile:

In recent weeks I've heard some of you call in and say you're not voting, sitting this one out because you're unhappy with the White House or Congress. Others have said they'll vote for a lesser candidate, pretty much giving their vote to a Republican in a close election. But I have said on the show for quite a while now, no matter how angry you are at President Obama or disappointed with the Democratic leadership -- and I've been one of the biggest critics around -- it is imperative that you get out and vote for the Democrats and against the tea party-backed Republicans.

The Republican Party would like nothing better than to see the discontent in the Democratic base help them install truly the most extreme lot of candidates we have seen in many years. We've exposed the tea party as nothing more than a reconfiguration of all the religious zealots, moral crusaders, racists and bigots who've been around for years. Do not attempt to punish the President or the Democrats by punishing yourself. This country has been in a very precarious state for a long time, in which the political winds can usher in something radical and extreme very quickly. Bad economic times are always an opportunity for those who seek to do that. We have demanded and will demand full accountability by the Democrats and President -- who is not on the ballot until 2012 -- but don't do it by giving power to your enemies. As David Mixner says . . . vote as if your life depends on it, because it does.

Keith Olbermann kicks ass and names names:

The [objective is] to elect a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get: backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the 1930's, or backward to hanging union organizers, or backward to the trusts and the robber barons. Result? The Tea Party. Vote backward, vote Tea Party.

And if you are somehow indifferent to what is planned for next Tuesday, it is nothing short of an attempted use of democracy to end this democracy. To buy America wholesale and pave over the freedoms and the care we take of one another, which have combined to make us the envy of the world. You do not think your freedom is at stake next Tuesday?

Think again.  And if you city boys don't know how to use a gun, you'd fucking well better VOTE tomorrow, goddammit.



You do know what he means, don't you?