Thank you, Texas State Senator Wendy Davis (D-Ft. Worth):
A bill that opponents claimed would virtually ban abortion in Texas failed to pass late Tuesday after lawmakers missed a deadline by just minutes.
[snip]Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, acting as Senate president, initially said the voting began just before midnight, NBCDFW.com reported, and several reports suggested that the bill had been passed and would go to Gov. Rick Perry.
But Dewhurst later announced that the vote had been held too late. At 3 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET), he said that the session had expired and the bill could not be “signed in the presence of the Senate … and therefore cannot be enrolled.”
“It’s been fun, but see you soon,” he added.
Dewhurst’s taunting “see you soon” isn’t an idle threat: They’ll be back to ban abortion, and in comments to local reporters, Dewhurst signaled how they’ll characterize the opposition:
“An unruly mob, using Occupy Wall Street tactics, disrupted the Senate from protecting unborn babies,” he said.
Dewhurst hinted that Governor Rick “Goodhair” Perry will call another special session to get the bill passed.
The ongoing War on Women circus in Texas will continue as states that need to suppress voting to give Republicans a fighting chance will use the assist from the Republican faction of the SCOTUS to enact new measures to make it harder for minorities and young people to cast ballots. This can’t possibly backfire on the GOP, can it?
Derelict
As someone wiser than myself pointed out, under the new regime the only course that those who are denied the vote will have is to elect new officials to change the local laws.
Neat catch-22, eh?
Betty Cracker
@Derelict: That’s the idea, but here’s why I think they lose: By trying to keep minorities and young people from voting, the GOP is elevating the vote from a boring old civic duty to a subversive act. The new hurdles will undoubtedly succeed in keeping some people from voting, but how many more will it inspire who might not have bothered before?
PsiFighter37
Does this have any shot of helping us out statewide, or is Texas too stupid to use this as a wake up call?
Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.)
Dickwad. That should be his nickname, Leiutenant Governor David Dickwad.
I pray that every one of the unworthy hordes the Republicans would shut out of the voting booth see and understand just what the Republicans are doing and what they think of those unwashed, unworthy layabouts. The one guy in Texas who put it best let himself slip when he was talking to a reporter, saying something like, “We aren’t too interested in seeing Black people vote if they’re going to keep voting 9-1 for Democrats.” This is a quote we need to staple to the forehead of every fucking Republican in the U.S. for the next 20 years.
Matt McIrvin
Well, a white minority hung onto power in South Africa for quite a long time.
pillsy
Cry some more, you sick son of a bitch.
Omnes Omnibus
Can and will. Every GOP dominated state legislature seems to be going this route. People will get riled up and stand in line for hours to vote, etc. You can call me a starry-eyed optimist, but this shit is looks more like the death throes of a dying way of viewing the world than anything else.
Vote every election and donate to local organizations that help register voters, GOTV, and fight when voting is suppressed.
Another Bot Splainer
@PsiFighter37: From what I read, she would have been Gerrymandered out of her seat but for the VRA. After yesterday the Lege can just redistrict. So they’ll just disappear her.
cvstoner
It will indeed eventually backfire at the voting booth. But by then they will have stacked the courts with enough radical conservatives and have twisted everything else to the point that it will no longer matter.
Ash Can
According to the LGF commentariat and the sundry sources they cited, the time stamp on the vote was tampered with, which is a felony under Texas law. I am, of course, not holding my breath for any investigations.
Anton Sirius
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.):
As I said last night, when they threw out the rulebook to end Davis’ filibuster they invited that kind of chaos. But the GOP is the party of taking no responsibility for their own actions, so whaddayagonnado.
Omnes Omnibus
@cvstoner: So, give up or violent revolution? Given your predictions, those are the only options, aren’t they?
MomSense
YeeHaw! David “dickwad” Dewhurst bless his heart. Wendy Davis is a star and she had an incredible assist by the other Senators who used every procedure possible to slow them down and by the Texans in the Rotunda who were watching. Seeing those people in that twisting line around the Rotunda yelling “shame” was so brilliant- like something out of Shakespeare’s imagination!
Betty Cracker
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s exactly what happened in Florida. Governor Bat Boy cut early voting almost in half and banned Sunday voting specifically to eliminate black churches’ traditional “Souls to the Polls” programs, which had benefited then-Senator Obama in 2008. Then we had people standing in line for 12 hours in 2012.
A study done later found that the deliberate election day chaos resulted in 200K people not voting in FL because they weren’t willing to deal with the lines, but Obama still won by the thinnest of margins. I wonder how many the GOP obstruction inspired? I know I would have stood in line for three days if necessary, and I’m not alone in that.
PaulW
That unruly mob was more legal and more keen on the public interest than the GOP bullies trying their damnedest to screw everybody who’s not them.
scav
Unruly mobs using Occupy Wall Street tactics? With all that footage of Tea Party Town-meetings? Poor Dears.
Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.)
I found the quote. It’s some weasel named Ken Emanuelson who, when asked what Republicans were going to do to get Black people to vote, said, “I’m going to be real honest with you. The Republican Party doesn’t want black people to vote if they are going to vote 9-to-1 for Democrats.”
This is something that Democrats need to beat into the skulls of Americans so relentlessly that in a year and a half, it’s the first thing anybody thinks when they hear the word “Republican”. We need to make Ken Emanuelson the icon of the Republican Party.
beltane
@Matt McIrvin: They held on for a while but they did not hold on forever. And the universe is notoriously stingy in churning out people like Nelson Mandela. Our own white supremacist establishment shouldn’t count on fate being so kind to them.
Gin & Tonic
@Matt McIrvin: Until it didn’t.
MomSense
I guess women do have ways of shutting that whole thing down! Go Texas women!!
cleek
they… held a vote to determine if a vote could be held on the topic of a vote about whether or not they should include the category “a-sexual”, in the list of non-excluded categories section of the bylaws that were previously adopted by means of hand signals and smile-counting, from voting on the topic of the next chant to sing?
beltane
@cleek: And a great cloud of patchouli hung over the whole proceedings.
Xenos
@cleek: Robby Robertson’s Rules of Order.
Scott S.
An unruly mob, using Occupy Wall Street tactics, disrupted the Senate from protecting unborn babies.
Whereas the Republicans in the Lege were an unruly, lying, cowardly mob, using illegal tactics, disrupting the lives of their constituents and attempting to harm both babies and the mothers carrying them.
Dewhurst should be in prison for that timestamp stunt.
Anya
The Voting Rights Act was renewed in 2006 by votes of 390-33 and 98-0. It was overturned yesterday by a vote of 5-4. If Roe vs Wade comes to a vote, how many think it won’t be overturned? Unless one of those fuckers dies soon (preferably, of a painful death) we’re screwed.
Let’s hope what Wendy Davis started leads to turning Texas blue.
MattF
Yeah, I’m wondering about the backfire potential myself. ‘If only the colored would vote the right way– ‘…
daveNYC
@pillsy: You have to admit that he manages to hit a lot of read meat catchphrases in a fairly short sentence.
Emma
I’ve been thinking about this for a while now and I’ve come to the conclusion that either the Democratic party creates a mechanism/group specifically devoted to combating the Republican memes by scorched Earth tactics if necessary or we are screwed for another 200 years.
The Republicans depend on us to let this happen. We try to play by the rules. We don’t expose their personal hypocrisy because “the personal is out of bounds.” In the meantime they have raised a generation of professional liars and co-opted the press.
I’m happy this morning but not optimistic, if that makes sense.
Kay
People here probably have figured this out, but the voter restrictions that will now go through in Texas were targeted at the Latino vote.
Awareness really helps in voter education, and people (nationally) don’t connect the VRA with Latinos, so that would be the 1st challenge, making that connection.
If the new voting restrictions go through, and the Democratic minority in a leg can’t stop them, they should try to ADD early vote opportunities. Early vote is popular with the non-wingnut public.
Linda Featheringill
@Kay:
Adding early voting opportunities:
Very practical suggestion. Thanks.
raven
“Texas” – The Electric Flag
Kay
@Linda Featheringill:
You were in OH, so you know how important early vote is.
The other thing we had to do was remind people that they are part of a coalition, so for example if they’re a white rural voter with a driver’s license, and they vote “labor” they are going to lose statewide if the minority voter in an urban area can’t vote.
That was amazingly difficult to get people to recognize, although I’d think they would get it.
Poopyman
@Emma: I agree 100%. And I’m not confident that the American public can get riled enough to take to the polls without being distracted by the next shiny object. It’s dawned on me that that is what the media has been shaped to do during the last 40 years, ever since the network news departments became profit centers.
I think it’ll take a constant and protracted GOTV effort, which is going to take $$$ and a lot of people’s time
RobertDSC-PowerMac G5 Dual
As always, fuck you, GOP. Glad the Texas women got the bill blocked.
Violet
@Kay:
Not many “labor” votes in Texas. Labor is a dirty word.
So, so proud of Wendy Davis. I hope she’s considering running for a higher office. The Dems could use someone willing to fight. I’d love to see her run for Governor.
nemesis
No, it cant backfire on the TX gop. They will continue their reign of terror.
Dismantling the VRA is a game changer on a macro level.
Blahs, browns, poors – each group can now be further disenfranchised. The only difference is today it is completely legal to do so.
Reaching out to Latino’s? Moderating on social issues? No longer necessary.
The gop is once again the relevent powerhouse of US politics. The Kock brothers will have their way with us soon enough.
amk
@Kay:
Excellent point. No one wants their vote not to ‘count’.
NotMax
Somebody has to say it.
In the skewed worldview of the GOP absolutists, ‘those’ people are the likeliest to avail themselves of abortion services, and least likely to vote for the Republicans. (Whether statistics totally concur is irrelevant in that GOP worldview, as has been amply demonstrated too many times to list.)
Ipso facto, as the demographic trends are inexorable, oughtn’t that same GOP be encouraging safe, accessible and affordable abortion services?
(Yes, I’m well aware of the ‘base’ and the evangelicals’ sway re: abortion. Just playing devil’s advocate.)
Emma
@Poopyman: I’m not either. The American people are curiously apathetic. Even my flaming right-winger father has told me than in any other country people would be out on the streets over some of these shenanigans.
Elizabelle
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.):
There was a drum circle involved?
gelfling545
@PsiFighter37: I think, or maybe I just hope, that the citizens of TX may look at this and see that maybe the GOP and the conservative agenda can be stopped, even if only here or there for periods of time and see it as worthwhile to follow the lead of these women & Ms Davis to get out and behave like “an Occupy Wall Street Mob” to let these people know they have to be accountable to the citizens and may propose but not impose.
raven
From the NYT
“While most experts expect battles over voting restrictions in the coming years, they say that ultimately those efforts cannot hold back the wave of change that will bring about a multiethnic South.
“All the voter suppression measures in the world aren’t going to be enough to eventually stem this rising tide,” said Representative David E. Price, a veteran North Carolina Democrat and a political scientist by training.”
Violet
The Today Show covered the story in its first 30 minute block this morning–second story. Used footage from the live feed last night.
After the news networks’ pathetic non-journalism, non-coverage of this event, it’s interesting to see them give it such prominence. I thought they might bury the story.
Elizabelle
@nemesis:
The Eeyorism on this blog drives me nuts sometimes.
There, there.
VRA decision (1) made Democrats’ work harder, but not impossible and (2) might backfire; will certainly give traction to voter registration, voter mobilization, and voter protection efforts.
And how bad would it be if — as a result — we could get all gerrymandering out of the hands of the political party in power and into the hands of an actual nonpartisan citizens’ commission, as they have done in California?
More fairly drawn districts would reward consensus-building candidates, not the political extremists who win in the party primary.
raven
@Violet: Joe did too, then he went on to explain that these laws are meant to protect us from Kermit Gosnell.
GregB
Does anyone remember when all of the political analysis predicted that the South would stay strongly Republican because there was higher population growth in many Southern states?
By the way, it was known that former Chief Justice Rehnquist added the three gold stripes to his robes. Any chance Justice Roberts will throw out the old black robes and start wearing a white sheet?
bill d
That’s my state senator. The republicans tried like hell to get that seat, ran a pediatrician against her and all the ads had all of these fawning sick kids slobbering all over him, didn’t work.
Very proud of her.
Baud
It was like watching Katniss in the Hunger Games
rikyrah
The Dems ran out the clock in Texas on that draconian anti-abortion law.
Of course, the GOP tried to lie and cheat and say that it passed…because, that’s WHO THEY ARE.
BUT, TWITTER, WAS A GAME CHANGER ONCE AGAIN
………………………………………………..
– snip –
http://www.businessinsider.com/texas-abortion-bill-timestampgate-2013-6
Ash Can
@NotMax: This doesn’t happen because, in that exact skewed GOP worldview, the actual issue isn’t abortion at all — it’s controlling women and keeping them in their place. If the issue really were abortion, you’d see Republicans falling all over themselves to positively drown this nation in contraceptives and scream 24/7 that it’s a mortal sin, un-American, un-Republican, and un-conservative not to use them. The reason we don’t, and will never, see this is that abortion is not the real issue.
nemesis
@Linda Featheringill:
Thats why, where beneficial, state gop legislators will eliminate early voting IF data shows that minorities will vote heavily using early voting. Any and all voting techniques are subject to elimination.
Broken voting machines in minority districts, few or no voting machines in minority districts, no Sunday voting, no same day registration to vote, restricted voting hours, restrictive voting locations, deliberately confusing ballots, electronic voting machine fraud, intentionally slow issuance of voter ID cards, incomplete Voter ID databases, defunding of state and federal voter registration activities….
Butch
@nemesis: I’ve also been thinking that there’s something too “hope springs eternal” about the constant predictions that this or that action by the GOP will be THE THING that does the party in. At least here in the UP, there’s a big, big block of voters who vote Republican just ‘cuz and nothing will ever happen to change it.
raven
@Butch: That shit cuts both ways.
LittlePig
@Elizabelle: I’m hopeful it was scare the living bejesus out of a lot of folks that need to hie their asses down to vote.
And you’re right, it’s a second order fight in the state leges now. I expect saner states will take the California route. Here in Peckerwoodistan, though, it’s “North 1, South 0 – Halftime” as the bumper stickers say….
Nina
I think filibusters make terrific television. As networks realize this, and as politicians realize this, we ought to see more. How much money is Wendy Davis going to pull in after this?
I wonder how many state reps across the country are looking at how much money she hauled in and doing the math. 13 hours of talking about a controversial subject > 4 weeks worth of gladhanding and rubber chicken dinners…
Once they realize that filibustering is in their own self-interest, we ought to see more. Good. It’s about time that taking a stand was adequately rewarded.
oldster
So how do we send money to Wendy Davis?
jayjaybear
Countdown to cameras and smartphones being banned from the Lege chambers in 3…2…1…
nemesis
@Elizabelle: Far be it from me to cause you discomfort.
Cling to your “we can beat this” attitude. Make sure you blame yourself and fellow Dems when we get shellacked in 2014. Thats how us Dems roll, amirite?
And you somehow make an argument, well not really an argument, just a feeble unicorn wish, that gerrymandering will be effected by VRA in a positive way? Thats delusional. If there is change, its years in the future. Today, next election, these is chaos and conservative success.
Poopyman
Winning Texas is going to be a hard slog. Of the 254 counties, 227 went for Romney. It’ll take many boots on the ground if you don’t want to wait for the GOP die-off.
Kay
@raven:
He should tell his fellow Republicans. GOP state officeholders were all over the news yesterday celebrating the demise of the VRA.
Baud
@nemesis:
You are well-nymed.
ellennelle
this should be the dems’ rejoinder to dewhurst’s line:
a blind, tyrannical gang, using gestapo tactics, is disrupting the people’s attempt to protect women.
Ash Can
@nemesis: Spoken like a true teabagger. Sorry; you just outed yourself.
Hey, everybody, look! A teabagger troll!
ellennelle
@Emma:
those other countries don’t have faux news to snewz them to sleep with the republican alternate reality.
beltane
@ellennelle: It’s not that people in other countries aren’t subjected to propaganda masquerading as TV news, it’s that people in other countries are generally more aware that all the nice, perky people they see on their TV are lying to them all the time. Americans are extremely naive when it comes to these things.
quannlace
No, trying to save Texas women from smug, vicious bastards like you. So, Sen. Davis, during her filibuster read real stories sent in from women, some truly tragic. And this moron has the gall to say ‘It’s been fun.” He gives a rat’s ass for women’s health.
Shakezula
TEXAS IS THE ROOTINEST, TOOTINEST, SHOOTINEST STATE IN THE UNION AND TEXAS WILL USE EXTREME FORCE TO PROTECT ITS FREEDOOMS AND MAYBE IF TEXAS DOESN’T LIKE THE WAY THE US IS GOING IT WILL TAKE ITS BALLS AND SECEDED, BUT IF WOMEN RAISE THEIR VOICES TEXAS WILL HIDE UNDER THE BED LIKE A DOG DURING A THUNDERSTORM!
YEEEEHAAAA!
See you soon indeed, Lt. Gov. Fuckhurst.
quannlace
Regarding voter suppression. I suppose they can justify voter ID laws with the old canard of voter fraud. But what justification can you give for stopping early voting and cutting voting hours?
scav
@quannlace: the old standby would be cost, no?
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Poopyman: I will keep saying this, but if Democrats really want to do something for 2014 and 2016, we need as many people as possible to start coming to Texas, convincing Latinos to register to vote, and getting everyone who can to vote.
Kay
@quannlace:
The budget. Although they’ll spend millions on putting new restrictions in and changing rules in the 2 weeks before voting, not to mention all the litigation over them not counting provisional ballots for any reason they can possibly come up.
We had a year of litigation in Ohio over a county judge race over provisional ballots. It had two tracks, state court and federal court. I cannot imagine what it cost. The Democrat eventually won.
Citizen_X
TX GOP: ALWAYS TURNING BACK THE CLOCK
LAC
Wow…look at that – the definition of a hero, Senator Wendy Davis. And she is still in the USA. Bravo!! Thank God for some good news from yesterday.
Vote like your life depends on it…because it does!! Every election – and if some fuck in a Grateful Dead T-shit tells you it doesn’t matter, man, because they are all alike, hippy push him aside on your way in.
and “nemesis”? Somebody put their jacking off to
X-Men comic books to good use for a poster name…
Kay
@quannlace:
There is going to be a LOT of litigation. Democrats will sue on the state constitutions in state court and on equal protection issues in federal court. That’s just the pre-election litigation. Provisional ballots are like a litigation machine, because they create conditions that allow discretion by pollworkers and bds of election.
Democrats even have a “star” litigator in Ohio. He’s constantly in court. He’s locally famous.
Maybe Roberts was trying for full employment for election lawyers.
nemesis
@Ash Can: You havent a fucking clue. Ive been here for a couple of years. Frankly, I cant imagine what has caused me to be id’ed as a troll, but you can fuck off.
Its beyond childish to be the first to yell troll at whatever you fantasize.
nemesis
@quannlace: Justification? Hell, just make up something. Its not like gop excuse-making is ever rational.
piratedan
@Ash Can: THAT.. THIS!! If this was about the babies, where the fuck are the prenatal care provisions? Where are the educational/financial inducements to encourage that these “children” are brought to term? Where are the protocols established for how a woman who doesn’t want the child have for donating their child? Where is the legislation that allows the “morning after pill” to be sold so that a woman doesn’t have to wait to terminate an unwanted pregnancy?
There’s one thing going on here, and it sure as fuck isn’t about abortion.
nemesis
@LAC:
What the hell are you talking about? You seem to know comic books. Cool. I have no idea what you are talking about. And it seems that my negative take on the repercussions of the VRA judgements are not being well received. Thats cool too.
Tone in DC
@nemesis:
Uhh… If that’s how you really think, I hear Toronto is pretty this time of year. Save some time, beat the rush.
Forum Transmitted Disease
Signs so far point to “no”, The GOP is doing just fine. Much better than they should be, given how little support their policies – well, save the one of “fuck that black guy in the White House” – have among mainstream America.
But “fuck that black guy in the White House” and a total breakdown in Democratic party machinery throughout the country has left them sitting pretty.
Poopyman
@scav: No, the old standby is “because we can”.
nemesis
@Tone in DC: Thanks for the advice, even though I didnt ask for it. Loads of really testy, well-meaning, but soon to be disappointed folks here. We are gonna hurt in 2014. It because of VRA, not because Im in a miserable mood over the decision.
And I will be moving to Canada and Mexico for retirement. Then you may have this country and all the rw fucksticks all to yourselves.
Tone in DC
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.):
I am very glad that you found that name. This gas-hole is Karl Rove in waiting.
Elie
Its important not to get too high or too low. I think it would be a mistake to adopt their scorched earth approaches. Name calling, lying and abuse is not our way and puts us in a place where we do not represent the right things. The tenet of civil disobedience holds that you hold them to their own highest standard and that your own behavior is above reproach. To become what they are defeats us. We can do this from a place of strength and righteousness and we have proven – (oh how short memories are here), that doing things the right way, being fair, respecting the rules of the system that we are trying to sustain – frankly – works. Is it without struggle or pain? NO. But we must keep ourselves uplifed from our best place, not our worst. Believe me — I am no saint and I have dark fantasies about things I would like to do to Clarence Thomas. None of these fantasies would do what is needed.
If we joing together and work together to put things right again, we strengthen our system and ourselves. No one becomes strong from easy times. Lets stick together and stride forward with confidence and optimism. This is our country and we fight for ALL its people.
scav
@Poopyman: true, especially for the underlying reason. My suggestion was indeed The just for pretty Public consumption one.
WaterGIrl
@nemesis: This is where I start hoping that President Obama and the DOJ will bring a gun to a knife fight with some universal voting standards for federal elections.
gene108
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.):
In all the hysteria about registering Mickey Mouse to vote, ACORN’s underlying problem is it made a point to register Democratic voters.
If people would just cock up and give Republicans the one Party rule they so desperately crave, we would avoid a lot of the political gridlock that’s plaguing this country.
Felinious Wench
@nemesis: I suspect unlimited corporate cash will be the game changer.
grandpa john
@Emma: Exactly, The democratic party has themselves to blame as much as the Reps. When the leadership at the national level decide to get off their asses in their comfortable positions, and realize that politics starts at the state and local level, and that to maintain national control, they must first gain control of state governments and actively work to establish a strong presence in ALL states, then we can put a stop to the current outrageous bullshit.People are not going to vote for dems unless they are presented with a strong argument to do so. and we can’t afford to just sit on our asses and wait for rep overreach to destroy their party
Dean’s 50 state strategy was working until the democratic pols at the national level decided that he was getting too much positive reviews and decided to remove him.
The democratic party on the national level is just as full of self promoting assholes as the republican party
Hoodie
@nemesis: Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. This is far from the end. The SC ruling on Section 4 of the VRA is total shit, but more because of what it says about the state of the Court than because of any long term effect it will have on voting. Roberts sealed his fate as one of the shittiest CJ’s in history when he pinched off this turd, for which he is being universally panned in the legal community. Shelby v. Holder is the worst piece of naked judicial activism in recent history, and he was stupid enough to write the opinion himself.
As far as long term effect, however, there are just too many demographic, cultural and institutional barriers to re-creating Jim Crow or any other type of blatant apartheid in any large scale in the US (which is not to say it can’t happen in certain locales for certain periods of time). One court ruling isn’t going to help them all that much as California continues to invade Nevada, Arizona, Texas, etc. They already have lost Washington, Oregon and Colorado.
Your luck, the neoconfederates will follow you to Mexico, just like they did when they lost the last war.
grandpa john
@GregB: Well they were right about that, except they didn’t seem to realize that the growth would be in the minority groups.Read an article somewhere last night about that. of the top eleven states with the most growth in Latino populatlion , 9 of them are southern states.
nemesis
@Hoodie: Good analysis. I wish I was as optimistic as you are. Clearly, I believe short term we have serious problems with allowing and counting all votes. Mexico or any other country prly wont be a rw dipshit free zone, but Im willing to take my chances.
Elie
@grandpa john:
I agree that the Democratic state and local infrastructure needs to be rebuilt in many places, including my home in the Northwest. I am going to be a precinct captain on my return after our move and we have 19 openings for that important role in motivating people’s involvement. Why so many vacancies. A bunch of old farts (I am old, just in case anyone cares, but not a fart), had the organization in a death grip that excluded new participants with new ideas and energy. Much of it was just petty bullshit – not even ideological issues — just “Joes is in charge and he always does it this way” kind of shit. So your point is well taken but I must remind you and everyone here — when that person like me calls you or comes to your door asking for you to get involved in Democratic issues locally, please help and join up instead of waiting to do the full breadth of your political activity just in the voting booth. No more bitching about these state results if each of you isn’t putting some effort in getting this shifted on a local level. There is a hell of a lot of work to do because, as you already know, these somsabitches have been doing a lot of damage down local.
So stop the hand wringing and get to work – locally.
nemesis
@Felinious Wench: Citizens United and VRA make impressive bookends.
Bobby Thomson
That’s Wendy BAMF Davis.
grandpa john
@nemesis: Which simply points to the significance of having control of state and local governing by having strong state and local organizations, something that the republicans have known for some time and Democrats for some reason have a mental block about. Howard Dean recognized it and it was working until dems at the national level pulled the plug
Ted & Hellen
This woman is an awesome hero.
Note to the Democratic sackless wonders in Congress: THIS is how you fight the madness.
Could her ovaries be cloned and transplanted into Dem scrotums inside the Beltway?
Elie
@grandpa john:
I would think that what makes VRA an impossible issue for Republicans is the sheer scope of their challenge. Before, they had a focus on primarily discouraging black vote turn out — which of course, they will continue to do, but holy smoke, they have to discourage all these other “brown” people and naturalized immigrants too.. and holy smoke, what does that do to the whole immigration reform thing and Ruh Roh —
This is not going to be easy for them and our job is to make it harder for them, make them use up resources in every direction – courts, elections, yes, even make them lose fucking business where we can tie up their moneyed supporters. We want them to look like they are — ugly, bloodied and way past their time… we will do this. they know it too — once the nervous laughter and hoohahs die, they will see it plainly.
grandpa john
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): actually they need to do that for all states with rep dominated governments.
Why do democrats never seem to remember the old addage;
“All politics are local”
Ted & Hellen
@Emma:
Perhaps you could share some of your deep and valuable thinking with establishment Dems like O.
The national Dems should have done this 30 years ago. The fact that that CHOSE not to is very revealing.
Wake up.
Elie
@Ted & Hellen:
I think its wonderful that she is LOCAL. She is the best of the best when you are building local Democratic base power and confidence – she is a local heroine that the locals can see for themselves and get to know. She is the best of the best… and people like her will help us change the others as we increase the strength around her to build the constituency for the change and progress she represents. Also do not forget those women in the gallery cheering her on — each one of those women is a golden starter and connector to more who connect to more as Democrats build their power in Texas…
slag
@MomSense: I LOLed.
Ted & Hellen
@Elie:
This old canard. Name calling, lying, and abuse is not necessary. What IS necessary is the will to simply speak the truth and stand up/push for progressive/liberal policies/actions unrelentingly. And this is what the establishment Dems in Washington refuse to do.
grandpa john
@Elie: Yeah , well I am an old fart also, (75) and the changes I have seen in the lastfew years are astounding, I thought we had resolved these problems years ago, but now I see the party of retrograde history bringing them all back again, because cultural differences is all they have to run on. The GOP is totally brain dead when it comes to living and functioning in the 21st century.
As to helping I do what I can but I live in SC and am surrounded by the neo-neanderthals.
Paul in KY
@bill d: Next time you see her, please give her a hug for me.
Paul in KY
@Elie: I don’t want to adopt their cheating tactics, I just want Democrats (running for office) that are unafraid to ‘call a duck a duck’ and specifically point out all the ways the Repubs are conciously trying to fuck over the 99%.
FDR & Harry Truman certainly didn’t mince words, neither did LBJ when he went after them.
Paul in KY
@Ted & Hellen: One of your 1st posts that made sense & wasn’t a stupid putdown of something (some members of Congress might disagree with that).
Kudos!
Elie
@grandpa john:
I feel your pain to some extent in Whatcom County WA where I live. Our area is a mixture of educated townies and rural homies and we have a lot of scary right wingers of all stripes as well. Still you have to start somewhere and you do what you can. Just attending meetings and voicing your opinion helps. It is really hard to get something going if you can’t get anyone to join you..
Ted & Hellen
@Paul in KY:
Yes, because no other commenters or front pagers at BJ ever “put down” anything.
It’s the direction in which I aim my put downs you don’t care for.
Oh well…
LAC
@nemesis: Maybe you should take your fucking emo baggage, pack it up real good, find a hostel, and take two seconals. Kinda fucking tired of the pathological need to piss on things by concern trolls like you. We got work to do and you need to step off.
@Ted& Helen – wow, you are making sense. It is mindboggling day. :-)
cvstoner
@Omnes Omnibus: I think history has shown that once “totalitarianism fever” takes hold of a government, there’s not much you can do except move, or ride it out.
Elie
@nemesis:
Moving to Canada or Mexico!
Great news!
Thanks for sharing.
LAC
@Paul in KY: It doesn’t take compliments well. Approach with care. :)
TenguPhule
@Derelict: Or arranging for the elite Right to have steady diet of IEDs.
Because at this rate it may soon come to that.
sherparick
It appears that the Movement Conservative, Federalist Majority, on the Roberts’ court channeling the spirit of Chief Justice Roger Taney, of Dred Scott fame, has driven Reagan Appellate court appointment Richard Posner into the Shrillsphere:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_breakfast_table/features/2013/supreme_court_2013/the_supreme_court_and_the_voting_rights_act_striking_down_the_law_is_all.html
Posner, who will bear a heavy burden in Purgatory for his role is emasculating U.S. Anti-Trust law these last 40 years, is truly one of the few principled classical liberals.
Ben Cisco
And the cowards start up their shit, right on cue:
Video: http://www.nbcdfw.com/video/#!/news/local/Man-Lights-Firebombs-Outside-State-Senators-Office/143594886
Elie
@Ben Cisco:
This is a compliment (albeit dangerous). These folks always do this stuff when you get the goods on them. Cowards who won’t face their opposition cleanly. She must not be deterred nor we.
Paul in KY
@Ted & Hellen: Their’s (IMO) are more artful than yours tend to be.
burnspbesq
@nemesis:
None of which can succeed if we make up our minds that it won’t.
Remember Franklin’s famous comment at the end of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when someone asked what kind of government had been formed?
“A republic … if you can keep it.”
It’s time to step up and keep it. If you can’t be bothered …
Mark B.
@Ben Cisco: That story is from 2012. So she’s been facing things like this for quite some time, but as far as I know, her office wasn’t firebombed last night, that was in March of last year.
Ben Cisco
@Mark B.: So I see…my apologies for the inference.
Mobile Grumpy Code Monkey
@Poopyman:
Yup. There’s a reason the Lege is overwhelmingly Republican and reactionary. It’s not just about getting people to vote; it’s about changing attitudes that have been held for generations. I don’t expect Texas to turn blue for at least another twenty years at the earliest.
Doesn’t mean we should give up, just that we should be prepared to put up with a lot of shit before things change.
Ted & Hellen
@Paul in KY:
Sorry.
kc
Wendy Davis kicks ASS.