Happy Birthday Niki!!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back! Blogging will return to my regular schedule which means reading (yes, I'm talking to you Niki) will (can?) return to your regular schedule. Hooray! So, what has happened since I last wrote that Republicans were being demographically relegated to the second tier? In descending order of importance...

1. Michael Jackson died
2. Torby died
3. Teddy Kennedy died
4. *Rough year*
5. Walter Cronkite died
6. Frank McCourt died
7. Enough with the death...
8. Zachary visited Swaziland and got a real job teaching social studies in Corvallis, Oregon
9. Joshua got married
10. Democrats couldn't pass any of their big agenda pieces through congress...
11. ... because Republicans are ridiculous obstructionists...
12. ... and because Democrats aren't willing to play hardball. Yet.

Hmmm, sadly, it looks like all that happened was people and pets died, I started something new, and the political system fell apart. So, as my first post back, I'm implementing something I've learned from teaching: soliciting interaction!

In comments, let's hear from you: What happened since May, 2009?

Republicans

Just one more reason people can't take Republicans seriously:

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This guy's supposed to be a Congressman?!?!?

The proof is in the party affiliation. With the exception of frequent churchgoers, self-identified conservatives, and voters over the age of 65, the Republican party lost 6-10% in all demographic areas. Yikes.

Michael Steele vs Rush Limbaugh

The Republican Party is going through a rough time right now. Democrats have cleaned up in the last two elections, George Bush 'n Company ruined the party by enacting a lot of their economic principles (tax cuts, tax cuts, and more tax cuts in addition to relaxed regulation) and starting two wars, demographic trends all point toward the Democratic Party, and the Republicans are facing a party with a clear, decisive, and influential leader in Barack Obama. In such tough times it's only natural that some intraparty squabbling would occur.

The most recent spat, however, is between two prominent figures. Michael Steele, the recently-elected head of the Republican National Committee, called out Rush Limbaugh as "incendiary," "ugly," an "entertainer" and not the de facto leader of the Republican Party. In the course of 24 hours, he issued an apology after Limbaugh ripped him a new one on his show. It amazes me how high level elected officials in the Republican Party kiss Limbaugh's ass. He's a drug-addicted radio talk show host who lies and distorts facts on a daily basis. That's it! Yet time and time again an Republican elected official criticizes Limbaugh and within hours reverses course and apologizes. Weak tea folks.

Democratic Majority?

As far as these things go, you can probably just add this to the list of trendy polls. I'm sure there are millions of people out there ready to switch back to Republicanism as soon as the bad taste from W gets washed from their mouths and the honeymoon with Obama wears off, but Gallup just released a poll that says only five states have Republican majorities: Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Alaska, and Nebraska. That's not many electoral votes. Like I said, this will most certainly change, but it's a long, steep climb back for the Republican Party.

Al Franken

Today the elections folks up in Minnesota formally anointed Al Franken as their next senator. Hooray! Of course, there will be more court challenges, but at this point it looks pretty concrete... er, more like written in concrete that is quickly drying. That puts the final total, at least assuming Illinois ends up with a Democrat to replace Obama, at 59 Democrats, 41 Republicans.

Libertarian Presidential Debate

On Tuesday I was browsing through the Washington Post and happened upon a press release that went something like this: Bob Barr and Mike Gravel! Live! In Person! Libertarian Presidential Debate!

I thought, "Well, that's better than lying on a cold bench in Dupont Circle." (It surprising how quickly you can feel like a person without a home.) So off I went to the debate.

You political junkies out there probably noticed the missing name: Ron Paul. He is the star of Libertarian politics (though he's still a Republican) and, just recently, he broke the one million vote mark in the Republican Primary election. He even has $5 million in his campaign fund. That said, he was no where to be found at this debate.

Honestly the event wasn't that interesting. I met Anthony, a first year law student at George Mason who considers himself a Libertarian and works at a think tank whose aim is make our voting system more equitable. I met Jessica, a writer for an online magazine who was sent to get a story on how the Libertarian Party could be to the Republicans in '08 what Nader was to the Democrats in '00. And I met the campaign manager of a Virginia congressional candidate who, quite frankly, was weird.

The big takeaway was a new perspective on why I like the Democratic Party: it seems like we're simply not as extreme. The Republicans all vie for the following titles: Hates Terrorists the MOST; Hates Taxes the MOST; Hates Environmentalists the MOST; Wants to Drill in ANWR the MOST; Is the LEAST PUSSY OF US ALLLLLLLL; etc. You get the point. The Libertarians were the same way. It was a competition to see who could mention state's rights and the constitution the most. There was a specific question about who promised to close which federal agencies. It's all so extreme. Perhaps it's due to my perspective, but Democrats don't seem to have those extreme positions. Can you think of any?