More positive news from US elections
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8:38 am, November 8th, 2012 - 36 comments
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Well, Fran O’Sullivan must be shaking her head in confusion – her endorsement of Mitt Romney somehow failed to get him over the line, or anywhere need it. Maybe she’ll find succor in these referenda results: 5 out of 5 states voted in favour of legalising marijuana (only medical some states). 4 out of 4 voted in favour of marriage equality (or against prohibitions on it). California has watered down its 3 strikes law. And Florida voted against banning public funds for abortion.
Seriously though, these results are great news for a more liberal America and will hopefully provide some momentum on this issues here as well.
Oh, and how’s this for binders full of women: the US Senate will have a record 20 women. The US has elected to Congress its first disabled woman, first open lesbian, and its first Asian woman* (all Democrats, of course). New Hampshire will have an all-female Congress delegation and a female governor. The ‘rape guys’ like Todd Atkin, Richard Mourdock, and Joe Walsh got their arses kicked.
*speaking of ethic diversity in the Senate, did you know that Obama was only the third African-American ever to be elected to the Senate? 2 others were selected in Reconstruction Mississippi by the State Senate and Roland Burris was appointed to replace Obama in 2008 – he is currently the only African-American in the Senate. The only black woman was Carol Moseley Braun, was also the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator and was later ambassador to New Zealand.
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Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
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New Hampshire is a very interesting case study. It used to be strong red and is still full of old money but is now strong blue
These are the important results, eddie. A pity the MSM doesn’t pay much more attention to the other things voted on, and less to the presidential circus.
A friend in California also reports (with much relief) that a referendum passed in California, which will prevent large, crippling cuts to public education.
Never mind our journalists or columnists.
The real entertainmnent is watching the indignation, sour grapes and hilarious squirming attempts at spin by F**ks News who are still trying to convince viwers that Obama didn’t really win, that he told lies, that there was substantial voter fraud, that Americans really preferred Romney…etc…..etc…..
Much better than the comedy channel.
Can’t wait to watch Jon Stewart and the Daily Show version. Jon will have a wealth of ready made comedic material to work with.
It’s surprising that some voters managed to get their vote in. Florida voters were going till almost counting time I heard. Probably it took a long time to cast each vote because they were also confronted with six pages of ballots in legalese. The Presidential vote is used to carry state business to the punters apparently.
Our referendums are now put into plain English but can still be confusing, so how can ordinary USA voters who are not lawyers follow this travesty of democracy. Especially the new immigrants who had their own translations but would likely have been no surer of meaning. There could be many different understandings coming from the translation also, apart from trying to express USA english legislation in other languages. We had that situation with the Maori and British versions of the Treaty.
“5 out of 5 states voted in favour of legalising marijuana (only medical some states)”
Actually 4 out of 6.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/07/marijuana-ballot-initiatives-colorado-legalization
Other good news include:
Bernie Sanders, the independent senator who calls himself a socialist, holds his Senate seat, while Elizabeth Warren snaffles Ted Kennedy’s old seat back for the Democrats from the republican male model, and ‘Joe the plumber’ got his butt kicked as well, in his House race.
The GOP still holds the HoR though, but that’s pretty much it.
Find the US voting system to be really Byzantine and archaic, with voting methods varying from county to county. Makes me grateful for living here.
Maybe on some wet day O’Sullivan will predict something correctly! Unfortunately for her, sheer wish fulfillment seldom realises itself.
one thing that I noticed was the difference between the two parties last night . the republicans were all old white men and their wives dressed in suits and ties (95%) where as the Obama crowd was a real representation of the real makeup of America white, black, Asian ,Hispanic and almost all were dressed in casual clothing . this was a great example of real people as opposed to those rich old white guys. What this says to me is that in the long term the Republicans base is decreasing (same as nationals) while the Democrats base is made up of regular people and growing.( hopefully the same as Labour and the Greens)
Do you mean ‘the difference between the two parties’ or the difference between the appearance of the people those parties have hoodwinked? And what the hell is going on when the popular vote is basically split down the middle (49%) on the question of having ‘Mitt the Romulan’ as the next frontpuppet President of the financiers and corporatists? I mean, I know the personage of the President doesn’t matter too much in a world of corporate and financial control, but still! And then there was the small detail of those 90 million people not voting.
Yep, noticed that too. 300m people, two thirds will be eligible to vote, and yet only 100m did.
Where your argument falls over is the fact that a lot of ethnic minorities are actually quite conservative and right wing. The left, in their obession with identity politics tend to overlook this, as well as the GOP elite. If and when the Republican Party embrace Latinos, appealing to their work ethic, and family values, then they will be unstoppable.
Where your argument breaks down Millsy is in what actually fucking happened. Look at how the demographics of the vote broke down. Wasn’t some sort of fluke mate. That’s the winning coalition, right there.
As for the GOP getting latino votes? they’ve been saying that for years and years and years and then they primary any critter who so much as talks about immigration reform. Why? Because they are racist shitheads in their DNA, and people notice that stuff.
Making voting easier will put an end to the right wing hegemony
Which is why plenty of Red states have put through stringent voter ID laws
Your analysis has merits, but the Republicans would have to stop advocating for illegal aliens to be shot, deported, put out of work on a regular basis.
Won’t happen until the Republicans stop taking advice of people like Rove, Dick Morris, Hannity and the Fox News set.
Don’t forget, Obama will probably be naming two Supreme Court justices in his term, which will impact the US for decades to come.
Elizabeth Warren ousted Scott Brown in Massachusetts for the US Senate. She’s a very impressive consumer rights advocate. Some have touted her as a potential nominee in 2016. Michelle Bachmann came within a gnat’s whisker of losing her district.
Elizabeth Warren was so impressive and dedicated a consumer advocate that Geithner, Summers and the other Golman Sachs lackeys froze her out of the White House.
Which tells me that she is one of the good guys.
This Is the Worst Election for Wall Street in Decades
Pete the tea party got all but annihilated! Thank god for that!
Except a lot of them got back into the H of R. Why do people keep voting them back to sabotage their own country?
The HoR is gerrymandered out the wazoo. Fixing that is a looong time project involving winning state governerships and houses.
One to watch will be Amy Klobuchar- 68% vote for Minnesota Senate in what is normally a 50/50 Red/Blue state. Very impressive.
Alan Grayson heads back to DC.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-11-06/news/os-election-alan-grayson-todd-long-20121106_1_alan-grayson-dan-webster-house-floor
That is bloody good news.
and an observation from Krugman:
Which country is he talking about? NZ, Australia or the US?
Well, he’s talking about the US but I figure it applies to conservatives and RWNJs in general.
Authoritarians in other words.
I am repatriating to the US within the next few months, so I will be posting from the US next year; I am looking forward to moving to the US for a change of lifestyle, jobs (many US states have lower unemployment, lower living costs and twice our GDP per capita), a better life; and a chance to study. Looking at the recent statistics, I don’t have faith in the National government and the loan system here has already de-facto denied me a loan for next year.
Maybe when things are better in New Zealand (and John Key is no longer Prime Minister) I could return, but that is a what if; because if I get a job in the US and a chance to study there should I really come back or just enjoy my life? I could help New Zealand more through investing money in New Zealand anyway. I will miss kiwiland, but so do the people leaving to Australia. It is just the opportunities here for young people are gone, and not just for young people (for old people too according to some politicians).
Fair enough…most of the best students I know are moving offshore too, and I doubt they’ll be back in a hurry. For many students it get one of the very few scholarships, or go overseas, or don’t study. The way things are set up now its better to go over to Australia for a few years until the Nats are gone.
Its a good thing we’re not bothering with a knowledge economy anymore…low wage it is…
Yep, low wage sucks. If I want to move ahead I need to study, can’t get that here. I fail to the see the point to cutting masters and post-graduate from the loan scheme either, but that is how National seems to float. The IMF statements on the failure of austerity have hit deaf ears in New Zealand, National just believes ‘cut, cut, cut’. 😉
We’ll miss you dude. Think of us and please visit The Standard as often as you can.
A few of us here are gonna sort this place out, so it can give you and your family a big welcome back.
My parents left ages ago, about the time National came to power. So I will be moving to some US state unknown soon, maybe somewhere warmer (or maybe colder). But I will still visit, depends when I get Internet (which is cheaper than here, so probably within a month or less).
I read Frans so called article how she calls her self a Journalist is beyond me more like a Tory fiction writer. She had obviously had not looked at any polls or she is as thick as oh I dunno ‘bat shit’ maybe.
Blame it on the wine collection.
So I have been told, after plying some on my internal sources (thanks, Duncan Garner for inspiring that phrase).