Listen, I’m certainly against the Hyde Amendment, and would like to see it repealed. But the Democrats were not going to use this healthcare bill to repeal it. Nor should they have–this should have remained a bill about healthcare and not become a platform for an abortion fight. To say that this is a horrible anti-choice bill simply because of a meaningless executive order reiterating what has been U.S. policy (if not settled law) since 1976 is misleading at best and outright intellectually dishonest at worst. Stupak was NOT given his way on this issue, but was given a way to back down and still save face. And I’ll take that over the alternative of the bill failing any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
And now we’re at a point where things are bad, really bad, worse than we have seen in most of our lifetimes. And even if the economy in general turns around today, it’s going to be a long time before things pick up for most of us, if, indeed, they ever do. I’m not trying to be depressing. That’s just the truth of the matter.
But that’s what I hear people agonizing about–what will I do for work? What if I lose my job? Where will we live? What will happen to my kids? And sometimes the terror is so deep they can’t even talk about it.
And what is our state legislature doing? The truth is, there’s not much they can do. But holy cow, if they’re not pulling out all the same old tricks, waving the red meat in front of the base, putting up legislation that hits all the right talking points for all the same old distractions.
Only to find that few of their constituents’ hearts are really in it.
Since it’s more important for the old guard to be gloating jackasses than to do actual Democratic outreach, they have completely missed the shift among some previously neutral or enthusiastic young people towards the TNDP. But because I am already an asshole, I will tell you straight up. Old guard, there’s some coalition building you could do with your young people, if you’d put down the “Oh my god, those idiots and their love for Chip Forrester. How can we run them out of the party this week?” People have come away from this year with the impression that there’s no support for candidates in small races, no support for people who aren’t in the “right” districts. If that’s not also your strategy, you might could find some new allies.
So here is my take on what happened. Liberal Tennessee bloggers took an ass-kicking for being passionate. Our message of unity for the party was minimized. And there were rumors that the attacks came from members of my own party although I have no proof of that. I have to tell you, I was really shocked and I hope that’s not true.
…
Let’s just say I had to take a break about what’s going on in this state’s party politics. The sad thing I’ve seen is that it’s almost like a frat keg party these days though and everyone who’s blasting back a bad draft beer isn’t anticipating the hangover their going to have tomorrow morning.
Because that’s what’s going to happen if we keep this up come election time.
We have to get it together, campers. So, some of us are taking our concerns offline which honestly, in some ways, means we are probably getting more done than fighting trolls. We shouldn’t feel that we have to do that though.
And there are new fresh faces and blogs out there that want to be a part of the big picture. I feel like, at times, I lost my line of vision on that. We need them.
And THEY haven’t taken their eyes off the prize. So make them welcome. I’m saying that to everyone. The TNDP and the folks who hate the TNDP right now who are still democrats. The mission should be about the principles of the party and not the personalities.
Anyone who thinks the issue with Democratic Institutions in Tennessee, from the TNDP down to the lowliest of lowly county parties falls on the shoulders of one man or woman is trying to deflect blame from someone who probably REALLY deserves it, that someone either being them, or someone they support. The truth of the matter is that they all have issues that have been around longer than I’ve been paying attention.
I could go on and on about all the crap that shoulda, coulda, woulda, but I’d just be rehashing posts from last November through February, so if you want to know what’s wrong, go back to those posts and apply it to just about everything that has a “Democratic” anything to it in this state, including myself.
In all seriousness, there have been some baby steps in the right direction, but from the TNDP and the Caucus organizations down to the county parties it’s just not happening fast enough.
Heck. Even Kleinheider says, “No More:” (Wait. What?! – Ed.)
But these voters, unlike their tea party activist manipulators, don’t give a damn about Edmund Burke, Ludwig Von Mises or Ayn Rand. They
want jobs and a government that makes sense to them — that’s it. As long as Democratic candidates don’t explicitly agitate their culturally conservative sensibilities and can deflect the appeals Republicans make on those hot-button social issues, these voters can be won over with economic arguments.
No more. No more. No more.
You think you can scare away Tennessee’s new breed of progressives? Go ahead, try. Sling your best mud and your best lies, you cowards. While you hide behind your anonymous troll pseudonyms, we’ll all be here (well, except for Kleinheider – he’s just right) out in the open working for the values, principles, and policy directions important to all Tennesseans and not just a select few.
The question facing Election Commissions in 97.8% of the counties in Tennessee is a much more practical, “What next?†Are they going to hang back and wait to see what happens in court…should any case appear, or are they going to start making plans to comply with the law? What about all the training that will be necessary for their employees? This stuff doesn’t just happen overnight. It seems to me that in order to be in compliance with the law, as it stands now, Election Commissions have to get going on this, no matter what happens or could potentially happen. So I decided to ask around and find out some answers.
Turns out, it’s not only been on their radar, they’ve been looking at solutions since the beginning of the delay debate. Shelby Co. budgeted money to deal with any shortfall that may from HAVA funding not that there should be any. Obviously, it sucks for the taxpayers that Shelby and some 92 other counties have spent scads of money on touch screen voting machines, but there are lots of lingering questions out there about these machines, and Diebold the company that makes the machines we have here in Shelby Co., hasn’t done ANYTHING to answer these questions.
These allegations would be less unsettling if there were some other mechanism than just the “word of the computer and its programmerâ€. Unfortunately, the idea of using a receipt printer or some such other device isn’t within the letter of the law, and to my knowledge, no such device is certified under the necessary standards. So, it looks like some unfortunate state is going to be buying a whole bunch of used touch screen voting machines from Tennessee Election Commissions…or not Turns out nobody wants these so the market may be saturated with these unwanted beasts. In short, we may just have to let them rot in some warehouse somewhere.
Of course, until Mr. Goins [Tennessee State Election Coordinator Mark Goins] makes a decision on whether to take this case to court, all of this is just speculation. It is good to know that, at least here in Shelby Co. someone’s thinking about the consequences and ready to deal with it when they become reality. I just hope, for the safety of our votes that we don’t have a long and costly legal fight on our hands.
Like the quote at the beginning of this post says, “It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting.
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