Emphasis Added

Friday, November 07, 2003

Short Takes

It's been a busy week and I have a lot of catching up to do on the political issues. Here are a few tidbits I've been chewing around and haven't had time to set down.

Democratic losses in Mississippi and Kentucky. Too bad about Kentucky, because Chandler seemed pretty good. But is it news that Dems are not a winning party in the South? And, moreover, does it matter? Republicans elected all but three Presidents between 1860 and 1932 without, for the most part, carrying a single Southern state. Demographics have changed somewhat since then, of course, but contesting the South can't be a big part of the Democratic national strategy until such time as the Southern white working class realizes for itself how it's being played for suckers by GOP fatcats who share none of their values or interests. This has been the historical lot of these folks since Colonial times and before - pawns led around by religious mumbo-jumbo and prejudice, while exploited economically up, down and sideways. As John Edwards pointed out in the debate the other night in the exchange with Howard Dean, Southerners don't need outsiders to tell them that. But they do need to wake up, and until they do, the Democrats need to stick to the values and message that resonates with the majority of voters in states they can win.
"Partial Birth Abortion" ban: It didn't take the courts long to slap this one down, did it? The problem for the foetus-fascists is that if abortion is really part of every American's fundamental right to privacy, then you can't nibble at the edges. Just because a particular medical procedure is gruesome in the details doesn't make it anyone else's business if the woman and her doctor decide that's what's in her best interests.
Canadian drug import ban: I'm counting on all the free-market, free-traders on the other side of the aisle to stand up and howl about this one, which is out-and-out protectionism at the expense of a huge number of American citizens and state governments to benefit a single arrogant industry. Rarely are economic libertarian principles so well aligned with the true public interest - but that doesn't matter when the power-brokers are bought and paid for by drug company lobbyists.
Bush on "democracy." Amazing how Mr. Moral Clarity can find something to praise about the corrupt autocracies of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco because they happen to be less of our enemies than other states in the Middle East. I'm all for liberalizing the forms of governments in those places, provided that's what the people there want, but please - can we call a spade a bloody shovel here? Paradoxically, it seems like Iran is the country that was making the greatest strides towards representative government - at least until that moronic "axis of evil" comment strengthened the hand of the Ayatollahs and broke the momentum of the reformers.
Mayor Street. Controversial mayor John Street won re-election back in my old hometown of Philly, much to the consternation of frequent EA commenter Brian Duffy. Hey Duff, it sucks to live under the regime of a corrupt thug who has no problem saying that he's totally opposed to your interests and values, eh? Imagine how you'd feel if Katz won a majority of the votes but couldn't take office because of a court case. Best to just "get over it."

12:11:17 PM

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