I say Arnold lets him die. Although with all that liberal influence he's started to surround himself with these days perhaps he'll find himself inclined to commute.
It's a tough call. But I'm gonna come down on the side of he says (start Ahnuld voice)"We have to send a clear message to da' children about accountability for one's actions". (end voice) He lets him die.
Posted by snark at December 9, 2005 12:59 PMBullshit. Have you forgotten Bob Dornan? He got booted in the height of Republican power. We fight them everywhere they are because that is where we are too. We don't concede an inch. I lived there for close to 40 years and I can assure you, there are plenty of sensible liberals there.
If you are not motivating them to the polls sufficiently, you might want to consider rethinking the abandonment strategy.
Posted by Dilapidus at December 9, 2005 01:16 PMDilipidus --I can assure you, there are plenty of sensible liberals there. Yes, 28%. With 48% supporting GWB right now and 25% voting their racism.
When Cox's district demonstrates the demographic change that Dornan's did by the time he lost, then we've got a chance there. Until then, why waste precious resources to lose?
Posted by Marie at December 9, 2005 01:38 PMMarie,
Maybe the national party should "keep their powder dry" or save their resources in a "hopeless district" but that's not what Howard Dean has been speaking for.
Fight the bastards in EVERY district and make them use their own precious resources to take seats the think they own. Maybe local activists can put up some money to make the race real. I can't agree to abandon ANY district for money. Money can be raised. These morons are self destructive and we CAN win some unexpected races if we TRY.
28% is bad. However, maybe with effort, we can make it 38%, or 45%. It may not win, but it will keep them nervous and edgy. When they are feeling that way, they make mistakes. Concede nothing!
Posted by DeminNewJ at December 9, 2005 03:26 PMTuesday’s special election for Cox’s seat in the House reconfirms that southwest Orange County is home to rich, white racists.
On the surface of things, I agree with you. But on a deeper level, I don't think that the 949 is that different from the rest of white, suburban America.
The rulers were using the myths of the aggrieved tribe to divide the ruled peoples long before Columbus sailed. I live in relatively enlightened LA County and the same ideas are prevalent here. I often hear white people referring to people whose families have been in the country for five generations as "Mexicans" and other labels that all translate as "them" or "not us."
We need to acknowledge that this tactic works and develop counter tactics. We should not expect changes to be large or quick. We should expect to fail. We should do it anyhow.
Posted by James E. Powell at December 9, 2005 04:15 PMOn the Tookie Williams clemency request.
American politics can be very strange. If the current governor of California were a Democrat, especially an unprincipled hack like Davis, Williams wouldn't have a snowball's chance of getting clemency. It wouldn't even be considered publicly. With a Republican desperate to find somebody, anybody, that likes him, Williams has a small chance of staying alive.
This is the kind of situation that illustrates one of the horrible, immoralities of the death penalty: it's got more to do with politicians holding onto their phoney baloney jobs than anything else.
But then, killing people in order to convince the voters of one's manliness is an American political disease. Viz: the Iraq War, Clinton's infamous and morally repugnant execution of a mentally retarded man, the Gulf War, the invasion of Panama, the invasion of Grenada, bombing Khaddafi's house, etc., etc.
We Americans, as a collective whole, are a mean-spirited and small-minded branch of the human race.
Posted by James E. Powell at December 9, 2005 04:23 PMThe Democrats should fight them everywhere-- but with better candidates. Young was FAR from a bad candidate, but that isn't good enough. We need candidates who will INSPIRE people so they CAN'T WAIT to rush out to the polls and vote. I don't think this district is that much more Republican than the 2nd CD in Ohio. The Democrats had a much more compelling candidate there and, even in losing, they have set themselves up for future competiveness.
Posted by Howie at December 9, 2005 08:48 PMWhat has not been reported in the M$M is that over 60,000 of those votes were absentee ballots. I don't have the exact numbers, but Campbell received over 30,000 absentee ballot votes. It's tough to make up that many votes with a total "turnout" of a little over 90,000. (approximate numbers from memory) I can't reconcile the discrepancy in my figures, but I seem to recall the physical voter turnout was less than 20,000 voters.
A general election turnout would level the playing field, but we still have to focus on evening out the GOP edge in absentee ballots to be competitive.
Posted by Gary Boatwright at December 9, 2005 09:47 PMThis was also Steve Young's first political race. How many pols win the first time out? He also was up against the shortened time frame of a special election and had to start from scratch, with no help whatsoever from the DCCC.
It was actually quite an accomplishment for a political neophyte when you consider how much he was outspent by both Campbell and Gilchrist. Steve is seriously considering staying in the race for next November. If he makes a commitment soon ten months could make all the difference in the world.
Posted by Gary Boatwright at December 9, 2005 09:52 PM"We Americans, as a collective whole, are a mean-spirited and small-minded branch of the human race."
George Soros or somebody needs to fund a "Diplomacy Corps" -- an initiative wherein decent Americans (like us) are sent abroad to show the rest of the world that we aren't all a bunch of pigs.
Posted by gator at December 9, 2005 10:02 PMMarie,
The OC Weekly, Laguna Beach, Practically the entire surf industry, Kevin Drum, UCI... like most rich communities, it's got a strong racist undercurrent, but the 949 area code is as diverse as it gets around here.
He just did not deliver the right message to bring them out of the woodwork.
D
Posted by Dilapidus at December 10, 2005 12:17 AM
Laguna Beach, Practically the entire surf industry...strong racist undercurrent
Interesting observation, I was under the impression that surfing communities had a strong pro-enviromental undertone to them and were somewhat more liberal than other well-to-do towns because of this. Is racism another undertone of "surf towns" pulling them in a more conservative direction, or was my earlier infomation on the enviromental liberalism of surf towns more wishful thinking by writers on lefty blogs.
Or is it possible that the local viewpoint varies widely depending on which town that your in? I am interested in feedback for I have spent some time in California in the past and surf towns have always interested me. Any observations and especally relivant links would be appreciated. : )
Posted by rlp at December 10, 2005 09:17 AMWhile surfers do tend to prefer clean waves, 'clean' also refers to the color of one's skin. We here in SoCal get to hear about the 'surf wars' between white kids and everyone else who wants to surf in the same places. It hasn't gotten deadly yet - but it might!
Posted by pessimist at December 10, 2005 10:11 AMAfter living there for years, I spent a period of time just before I left during which I frequently added the line to my return address, "Intellectual Wastelands, USA."
That should give you some idea...
Posted by Anon at December 10, 2005 10:11 AMAfter living there for years, I spent a period of time just before I left during which I frequently added the line to my return address, "Intellectual Wastelands, USA."
That should give you some idea...
Posted by An_Anon at December 10, 2005 10:13 AMAfter living there for years, I spent a period of time just before I left during which I frequently added the following line to my return address, "Intellectual Wastelands, USA."
That should give you some idea...
Posted by An_Anon at December 10, 2005 10:14 AMMy apologies for the dupes. The comment, when I hit "enter," kept returning a server error and did not appear to post.
Posted by An_Anon at December 10, 2005 10:32 AMAfter someone started braying about the Democratic candidate being 'crushed' in this election, I pointed out that according to registration numbers, the 48th is 27% Democratic and the Dem candidate got close to 28% of the vote. Clearly a stunning defeat. One could as easily say that the 48th is 50% registered Republican but that party's candidate got less than 45% of the vote. I haven't seen any breakdown of actual vote by party, but I wonder whether the 19% unaffiliated constituted the bulk of the AI candidate's support. That, plus the 2% registered AI, plus the 5% missing from the Rep candidate roughly equals the 26% the AI candidate received. It should also be noted that nearly 75% of the electorate declined to vote, whatever that means.
Posted by JeffCO at December 10, 2005 10:35 AMAh, the quest for clean waves-in other words, clean waves is another case of NIMBY, or in this case, scince we're talking about the ocean, not in my front yard.
Posted by rlp at December 10, 2005 12:25 PM