As 16 of the nation’s 21 GOP governors meet in Florida, they seem to be clear on the bleak status quo of the party nationally, if not on what to do about it. Said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (in photo): “We cannot compete, and prevail, as a majority governing party if we have a significant deficit, as we do, with women, where we have a large deficit with Hispanics, where we have a large deficit with African-American voters, where we have a large deficit with people of modest incomes and modest financial circumstances. Those are not factors that make up a formula for success going forward.” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said of voters: “They fired us with cause.” But Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour advised that things could be worse, as they were after Watergate: “I have looked down at the grave of the Republican Party, and this ain’t it.”
Meanwhile, Sarah Palin urged her fellow GOP governors to be reformers who “show the federal government the way.” She also said: “We are now the minority party, but let us not resolve to become the negative party, too eager to find fault or unwilling to help in this time of crisis and war. . . . Let us build our case with actions, not just with words.”
The people of California did not do anything drastic. They simply voted to enshrine the definition of natural marriage as one man and one woman in the state constitution. What does this victory mean? The people of California want to wrest control of the legal definition of marriage from the judiciary. The people of California want religious groups to be free to operate within their own value systems. People don’t want to unleash discrimination suits and other forms of legal harassment against religious bodies that hold that marriage is between a man and a woman. – Jennifer Roback Morse, the Ruth Institute, for National Review Online
How people can vote for the first African-American president in American history while simultaneously voting to discriminate against gays is testament to the incoherence of American politics and the lack of clear-cut philosophy guiding people’s choices. Discrimination against others just because you don’t like how they live their lives is against the very essence of the two pillars of America – liberty and equality.
I keep hearing about how this will right itself in the long run, that it’s just a matter of waiting until this new generation gets old enough and then gay rights will magically be “granted.” I hope that’s true. But to paraphrase a saying that’s been overused lately – in the long run all of today’s gay partners and gay parents will be dead. These soothing tones of “patience” and “don’t worry” don’t mean much when you consider that you only have one life to live. – digbysblog.blogspot.com
Nov. 4 was a good day for school bond issues throughout Kansas. Of at least 16 proposals that were on the ballot, 12 passed. In addition to Wichita’s $370 million bond issue, other bonds approved by voters were: Olathe, $68 million; DeSoto, $75 million; Baldwin City, $22.9 million; Anthony-Harper-Chaparral, $6.5 million (the larger of two bond issues on ballot); Sterling, $20.4 million; Manhattan, $97.5 million; Leavenworth, $57.8 million; Sabetha Wetmore, $8.3 million; Garden City, $97.5 million; Hugoton, $21 million; and Fowler, $2 million. Failed bond votes were Holton, $21.3 million; Marysville, $24 million; Herington, $29.9 million; and Anthony-Harper-Chaparral, $1.5 million. On a per-pupil basis, several of the approved bond issues were significantly larger than Wichita’s.
The percentage of the vote that Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, captured to win an eighth term last week was the second-highest in his congressional career, 64 percent to Democratic state Sen. Donald Betts’ 32 percent. Pretty impressive for a conservative Republican in a year when many voters in the country were hostile to his kind and hungry for change. Tiahrt won re-election by 63.5 percent in 2006, 66.1 percent in 2004, 61 percent in 2002, 54 percent in 2000, 58 percent in 1998 and 50 percent in 1996. Meanwhile, Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, won re-election last week with 56 percent of the vote and Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, lost to state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins. But neither Tiahrt’s nor Moore’s victories measured up to that of Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, whose 82 percent of the vote was the highest percentage of any Republican congressional candidate in the nation.
As 16 of the nation’s 21 GOP governors meet in Florida, they seem to be clear on the bleak status quo of the party nationally, if not on what to do about it. Said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (in photo): “We cannot compete, and prevail, as a majority governing party if we have a significant deficit, as we do, with women, where we have a large deficit with Hispanics, where we have a large deficit with African-American voters, where we have a large deficit with people of modest incomes and modest financial circumstances. Those are not factors that make up a formula for success going forward.” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said of voters: “They fired us with cause.” But Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour advised that things could be worse, as they were after Watergate: “I have looked down at the grave of the Republican Party, and this ain’t it.”
