CNN is running a live feed from the Senate floor. Apparently, a convicted felon has seized control of a microphone and is giving a lengthy speech.
Off to the Airport
Everything packed, water in every room, doors propped open, bed made for Tunch, remembered to bring all the electronics cords, have the books for the flight, Ipod is charged, and I am off.
Maybe I will take some pics and we can play Where in the World is John Cole? At any rate, for now, I am hiding, like this fellow:
Napolitano to Homeland Security
Another pick for the Obama team:
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) has been chosen to serve as secretary of the vast and troubled Department of Homeland Security for President-elect Obama, Democratic officials said. Napolitano is a border governor who will now be responsible for immigration policy and border security, which are part of Homeland Security’s myriad functions.
I do not know much about her, but have found her manner on the news shows to be bland, competent, and reassuring. I expect her law enforcement background and understanding of the issues involving border states will be de-fang some of the renewed immigration hysteria we will soon experience. Other than that, I know little about her and have not much to add.
On the other hand, but does it seem like these picks are just being methodically rolled out with little or no fanfare, and that so far, other than the Clinton at State brouhaha, there has been nothing controversial or even really exciting? I like that.
They’re Coming For Your Kids!
AC/DC. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Also: open thread.
They’re Coming To Get Ya!
Via Sullivan, this DVD from the American Family Association:
Residents of the small Arkansas town of Eureka Springs noticed the homosexual community was growing. But they felt no threat. They went about their business as usual. Then, one day, they woke up to discover that their beloved Eureka Springs, a community which was known far and wide as a center for Christian entertainment–had changed. The City Council had been taken over by a small group of homosexual activists.
The Eureka Springs they knew is gone. It is now a national hub for homosexuals. Eureka Springs is becoming the San Francisco of Arkansas. The story of how this happened is told in the new AFA DVD “They’re Coming To Your Town.”
One of the first actions of the homosexual controlled City Council was to offer a “registry” where homosexuals could register their unofficial “marriage.” City Council member Joyce Zeller said the city will now be promoted, not as a Christian resort, but a city “selling peace, relaxation, history and sex.”
Oogedy-Boogedy! Yes, the existential threat to the way of life for the good folks of Eureka Springs is that people came to their town and… tried to form a family. Terrifying.
And before we forget, this gets back to the Kathleen Parker piece from yesterday- the AFA is the face of the GOP base, at least to those of us on the outside looking in. This is the real problem for the GOP. I can understand how people might not want things to change, especially core issues like marriage. But it isn’t just marriage- it is everything, and Kevin Drum neatly summed up the problem for the GOP:
There will always be plenty of votes for a culturally conservative party. That’s not the problem. The problem is the venomous, spittle-flecked, hardcore cultural conservatism that’s become the public face of the evangelical wing of the GOP. It’s the wing that doesn’t just support more stringent immigration laws, but that turns the issue into a hate fest against La Raza, losing 3 million Latino votes in the process. It’s the wing that isn’t just a little skittish about gay marriage, but that turns homophobia into a virtual litmus test, losing 6 million young voters in the process. It’s the wing that isn’t just religious, but that treats belief as a precondition to righteousness, losing 2 million secular voters in the process. It’s the wing that isn’t just nostalgic for old traditions, but that fetishizes the heartland as the only real America, losing 7 million urban voters in the process. It’s the wing that goes into a legislative frenzy over Terry Schiavo but six months later can barely rouse itself into more than a yawn over the destruction of New Orleans.
Now, the GOP didn’t lose all those votes solely because of their embrace of cultural victimhood. It was a Democratic year, after all, and the economy worked against them too. Still, exit polls suggest they had already lost most of this ground by 2006, and the economy had nothing to do with it back then. Conservative gains after 9/11 may have masked the problem for a while, but fundamentally these are voters who saw the Republican Party turn into a party of rabid identity politics and turned away in disgust. It’s probably cost them (so far) about 10 million votes, and in an era where 53-47 is considered a big victory, that’s a helluva deficit to make up elsewhere.
A party that merely wants to move more slowly and more deliberately than liberals in the cultural sphere wouldn’t have lost all those votes. But the real-life GOP, a party whose primary association in much of the public mind is with revulsion toward gays, immigrants, urban elites, and the non-churchgoing, did. That’s oogedy-boogedy.
And all the embrace of Sarah Palin did by the GOP base was solidify that perception. The GOP has decided that the route to electoral success is a divisive “us v. them” mentality. One small problem for the GOP- they included too many people in the “them” category. You would think a huge electoral loss to the “MOST LIBERALEST SENATOR EVER,” a black man named Hussein, would make them think about their strategy for a moment.
They’re Coming To Your Town!!
Not only can you get your very own burning cross from the American Family Association, but you can also order this handy DVD that let’s you in on a secret that we homosexuals are sworn to never reveal – that we have covert plans to take over every small town in America and implement the homosexual agenda**
Order your copy of “They’re Coming to Your Town” today!
(via)
**Homosexual agenda:
1. Get up at 6
2. Drink 2 cups of coffee
3. Get stuck in traffic on way to work
4. Work
5. Lunch
6. Work
7. Gym
8. Dinner
9. TV
10. Bed
11. Get up at 6
Department of Things I Didn’t Realize
Nate Silver, awesome poll analyzer at fivethirtyeight.com, is hot.
Just sayin’.