I just read a story on Yahoo! News about Speaker Pelosi's last press conference. The story itself was pretty spare, but there were more than 6,000 comments. I didn't read them all. I couldn't. I found them too shocking. The level of information was so abysmal. The personal invective was so crude. And the spelling was so bad. It was a real eye-opener.
I have no idea why so many people are so fixated on whether or not Nancy Pelosi has had plastic surgery. But it was a frequent topic. Having seen the Speaker in strong sunlight, I certainly saw no evidence of it.
Calling her a witch and a bitch was also popular. Again, I'm sure none of these people have ever met Ms. Pelosi. I found her perfectly pleasant the time I did.
As reported earlier here on Calitics and elsewhere, California Assemblyman Dan Logue, after his recent failed attempt to kill the major provisions of Assembly Bill 32, California Landmark Clean Air legislation by a vote in the legislature, has begun an attempt to go the initiative route to repeal most of AB32. Logue and California Congressman Tom McClintock have been identified as two of several conservative who came up with the idea to repeal AB 32. Right off the bat they wanted the initiative to be referred to as a jobs bill. That did not fly and I recall reading Logue and company were considering legal action against Jerry Brown, Attorney General, because the office made very clear it was a air pollution bill. Now it gets more interesting.
To recap, in part, when Logue was asked by the NEW YORK TIMES who was funding the initiative, Logue refused to identify where the funding for the initiative was coming from. Shortly after the report was published, records were discovered by the press that indicated the financial sponsors of Logue's initiative, all two of them, were Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp, neither of them headquartered in California.
The good folks at the Field Poll have been quiet recently. Other than a poll about the national health care debate, they hadn't released much since back before the May 19 debacle at the end of April.
However, today, they've decided to present the Republicans with some solid evidence of their worst nightmare: an electorate controlled by minorities (PDF). Using some data from various sources the numbers are pretty much as you would expect, the numbers of Latinos and Asians in both the general populace and the voting booths are up, while the numbers of African-Americans and whites are down. Given the lengths that the Republicans have gone to alienate immigrants, these numbers cannot be good for them.
Of course, whites are still very over represented in the voting booths, but much of that is from one very discouraging fact. Despite all the hubub about Barack Obama activating the youth to engage, and get involved, the California electorate is now older than it was in 1978. Of course, much of this has to do with the fact that people live longer than they did in 1978. Medical technology and understanding of health has increased substantially. But while we have come a long way in activating young voters, there is always a lot of work yet to be done.
All news is not rosy when looking back over the last 30 years for the Democratic Party. For example, when loo9king at registration, the rapid increase of Decline to State Voters has come almost exclusively from the Democratic column. In 1978, Dem registration was at 56.6%, whereas it is now at 44.6%. DTS registration is up 12 points to 20, Republican registration is down 3.2 points to 31, and "Other" is up 3 points to 4.4.
Many voters simply don't take party affiliation as seriously as they used did back in 1978, and the Dems were always more of a big tent than the ideologically rigid GOP. And the DTS generally break towards the Dem candidate and/or position. So, perhaps this isn't that serious, but it certainly is stark.
But, in the main, let's see the GOP keep up this anti-immigrant thing, and see how it works for you as these patterns continue.
The primary reason Republicans continue to hold the state hostage and deny us a budget is they are afraid that if they vote for a necessary tax increase, they will face a primary challenge from within their party, either for their current seat or for another office in the future. All such a challenger would have to do is say "Joe Blow voted for a tax increase" and the challenger, flush with money from the Club for Growth, the Howard Jarvis Association, and the other usual suspects will take out the incumbent.
The only way to challenge that calculus is to suggest that these Republicans will face a greater backlash from voters than from other wingnuts. California voters, especially those in districts represented by Republicans, hold the most leverage in the current budget stalemate. And as the Conta Costa Times notes (h/t to Donald Lathbury), voters are starting to use that leverage as California turns on the Republicans:
Republican and Democratic members of the "Al-Costa Budget Coalition" -- self-described as a group of more than 40 schools and nonprofits serving the elderly, people with disabilities, families with health problems and other residents of Contra Costa County and the Tri-Valley area -- met this morning with Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-Livermore, to urge a resolution to the state budget impasse....
Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District board member Bill Morrison: "I'm a fiscally conservative Republican, but I cannot see any way out of this big hole we are in without some reasonable tax increases."...
Mt. Diablo Education Association President Mike Noce: "Assemblymember Houston has to represent his constitutents, and polls show that the majority of the people in this district support new revenues."
Houston is running for Contra Costa County Supervisor, a run that is being jeopardized by his participation in the Republicans' hostage crisis. CoCo voters are certainly going to think twice about entrusting their local government services to such a reckless individual.Correction: Houston already LOST that race in the June election, and isn't running for any other office. Which of course makes his adherence to the GOP hostage plan even more ridiculous.
California is ripe for this sort of thing across the state, especially in red districts. Voters in Fresno, south Orange County, and the exurbs all want good schools, hospitals, and roads. They understand that tax increases are necessary not just to balance the budget, but to maintain the middle-class, keep families afloat, and keep our economy alive. And they're no longer going to take this destruction of their state lying down.
Republican extremism has finally separated them not just from reality, but from their voters. Protests are the necessary first wave. Democrats need to be out in front and actively building support and backing candidates in these red districts, like Gary Pritchard.
Lathbury's parting shot is worth quoting:
If this thing has to be settled by the voters of California, expect Houston, along with Republican Assemblymember Greg Aghazarian, who's running to replace outgoing Democratic Senator Mike Machado, and possibly Senator Tom McClintock, who's running to replace disgraced Rep. John Doolittle, to be among the first casualties. Grover Norquist might not give two hoots about schools and health care, but many Republicans in our state are far less ideological. Indeed, the better question is, 'How much longer will they remain Republicans?'
