Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Election Night: The Morning After
The bad news: The Ohio reform measures got smacked down -- largely because of traitor DINOs within Ohio's Democratic Party leadership (which is yet another reason to be suspicious of their wanting Sherrod Brown over Paul Hackett), Kansas passed a law mandating the undermining of scientific education, billionaire Bloomberg bought himself another few years in the mayor's seat in New York City for only $100 million, and Texas declared open season on gay people. The good news: Democratic victories in St. Paul, Virginia, New Jersey and even in places like Asheville, North Carolina (which elected its first black mayor). Gay rights wins in Maine. Smacking down the creationists-in-disguise in Dover, Pennsylvania. And every single one of Arnold's propositions went down in defeat. And now that Virginia's wildly popular Democratic governor Mark Warner, who is barred by law from seeking another term, is soon to be looking for a new gig, I think he should run for the Democratic nomination in 2008 and thus spare us the prospect of a Clinton-Biden ticket.
There's mixed news from Detroit: the mayor was re-elected (he's been taking care of his family and cronies instead of the city), but the staggeringly incompetent city clerk won't be ruining any more elections.
This was Al D'amato's stronghold for decades. Combined with Corzine's romp and Maine's protection of gay rights — hell, even Bloomberg's win (because B. didn't exactly run as a conservative) — further emphasizes that far from being a liability, liberalism is the dominant philosophy in the Northeast, the richest and best educated area in the country.
Yes, he's an affable, charismatic fellow who helped get his state out of the financial ditch his predecessor left it in.
And, yes, if the alternative includes Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry (or any other Senator besides Barbara Boxer), or especially Bill "The Chameleon" Richardson, sure.
But there have to be better alternatives.
* Al Gore would be an excellent choice.
* John Edwards would do.
* Wes Clark is well-qualified, even though I have reservations about professional military men serving in the presidency.
* Howard Dean has been deepened by the experience of running a presidential campaign and would do. His style needs work to connect with voters in the South and West.
I'm sure we could think of many more.
Best of all, let's declare that the First American Republic ended in 2000, and let Bill Clinton have one term, possibly two without congressional twits sabotaging every effort to set things right.
I'd like Al Gore best, but alas, he's been unfairly saddled with the "loser" tag (more importantly, the entrenched DLC/Blue Doggers hate him) -- though with skillful campaigning, he could overcome it: "When I was in the White House with Bill Clinton, America was at peace, people had jobs, and the debtload run up by the Republicans Reagan and the first Bush was well on its way to being paid off. Terrorism was dealt with effectively, Saddam was boxed up and a threat to no one and the rival factions in Iraq were contained, and 120,000 more people were alive then that aren't alive now.
We can bring these good times back. Give me a chance, and I'll show you how."
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