The Country Wins

Last week Bill Maher said, "if Obama wins, the country wins - if Romney wins, comedy wins" so, guess what?  Uh-huh. Alright Lady Liberty, you can come out now;

OK, time for all the wingnuts to climb back inside the clown car and follow the Republican Circus Crazy Train into the sunset.

The only winner from the national wingnut brigade, crazy-eyes Michelle Bachmann, will continue representing her state.  I suppose her constituency is as coo-coo as she is - and that's saying something.

It was a good day for the country overall.

• Elizabeth Warren beat up out tea-party pretty boy, Scott Brown in the Massachusetts senate race.
• Open lesbian, Tammy Baldwin is heading for the Senate to represent Wisconsin.  Unfortunately, Paul Ryan (Romney's VP choice) will return to his seat in the House also representing WI.  He hedged his bets. Too bad that, but can't win' 'em all.
• Another gift, Alan Grayson took back his Florida seat after losing the last time round.  Outspoken and always ready to educate the rightwing stoopid, he will be another refreshing change in Congress.
• Marriage equality succeeded in 4 states, NOM and DOMA suffered severe losses across the board, and the loons opposed to abortion (and knew more about women's bodies than women did) went down in flames.

Shenanigans & dirty tricks:

• Targeting democrats and minorities with mailers giving the wrong polling place and date which, when discovered, were promptly corrected by local media, word of mouth, and phone calls.
• Creating bottlenecks for voters (you know who they are!) by limiting voting machines in areas of high progressive/Democratic turnout. Think Florida & Ohio. Word got out early and some waited on long lines for 4 hours or more to cast their ballot. But they would not be denied, they eventually voted, and that's what counts.
• Rigging or tweaking voting machines so if the voter didn't push the correct button in the proper sequence, their vote was voided, or in some cases switched to the other party.  That one was caught early on election day. No details yet. There is a YT video, however.
• Photo ID was demanded in states that do not have voter ID laws. While some voters complied, others refused and demanded to cast their ballot.  To avoid mass publicity the poll workers allowed those who refused, to vote anyway.

The majority of schemes the Republicans concocted to fool or deny voters access to the polls, in the end were all for naught and showed them to be the whining, childish cowards they are.

While the media insisted that Obama's base of young people, minorities, and elderly had eroded, it was these very people who discovered and warned about the tricks listed above. 

I was always told as a child that 'cheaters never win and are usually found out'.  Maybe it's Karma.

Results of many local races, (including my state of Delaware where most progressive candidates won easily) show that things are changing in the US. Religious bigotry and overt disdain for those who disagree with the ultra-conservative agenda lost in almost every instance.

There is a dangerous Nor'easter, already named Athena,  heading our way - New Jersey and New York are in its path, too (prayers ascend for everyone in harms way) - but I'm feeling pretty good today.

And so it goes.
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