Yeah, yeah, I'm still on hiatus. But I've got a few moments as I've reached a temporary stopping point. Via Kev I ran across this article and I thought this quote was on the money:

Self-described moderate or independent voters also indicate they shifted for reasons other than a lock-step move to the middle of the ideological spectrum. In fact, it's not even clear "centrists" are a unified group. Research suggests these voters are among the most ill-informed, volatile, and unpredictable groups. They are also not ideologically homogeneous, but in many ways what University of Virginia sociologist James Davison Hunter, speaking at a recent Pew Forum, called a "statistical phenomenon."

What ever would we do without these voters? They're not so much admirable pragmatists as avoidant, fickle-minded people most afraid of actual ideas, liberal or conservative. Sometimes, and this may be one of those times, they are the true saviors of democracy.

One of my contrarian joys is puncturing holes in the fallacy of a united, socially liberal and economically conservative moderate consensus.

Posts will resume December 1. I may or may not respond to comments before then.

Saturday Night Live got one absolutely right last night. And I can't really add anything to it.

So, the election results are in. For the first time in a few years, I did something abnormal for me; I deliberately stayed home and didn't vote.

Allow me to explain. As for the city of Houston issues, I really couldn't care less, because I know precisely what would have happened; had they failed, the bond issues would just have been back on the ballot in 6 months, and again and again until Bill White got what he wanted. How do I know? Katy ISD failed a bond issue 6 months ago and just pulled the same stunt, managing to get it passed the second time around.

As for congressional district? I had no interest.

As for the Governorship? I decided, at the end of the day, that I had no interest for the following reasons:
- Perry I can't stand.
- With Strayhorn, I don't know which Strayhorn I'm electing.
- Friedman was an appealing choice until he started talking about giving Willie Nelson a cabinet post.
- Bell? Much as I respect him personally, with respect to policy I think he's got his head up his arse.

So, what did that leave me? What obvious choice did I have? I could walk in and write my own name in for every post, and not vote in any of the various other minor mishmash, but at the end of the day, that has the precise same effect as what I did do - stay home.

Now, getting around to the larger election results... yeesh. It has long been my position that our government governs best when checks and balances are in place. My personal preference is for there to be a Republican control on the legislature (and thus the purse strings) and a Democrat in the Presidency.

Unfortunately, both parties screwed this up. In 2000, there was no way I could vote for Gore, and the same in 2004 for Kerry. This year, I'm equally disappointed with those who will likely be the leaders of the Democrats, because they're the shrill egomaniacs that make for poor policymakers and even worse representatives.

The Senate's undecided, the House went so that we get Nancy Freaking Pelosi as the Speakeress, and when all is said and done, what really gets accomplished? Best case, not a whole heck of a lot, worst case, the American public gets sold out on everything that really matters.

Will terrorists be emboldened? Well let's see. The Democrats are hell-bent on making Iraq into Vietnam, and their "phased withdrawal" plan looks a whole hell of a lot like Nixon's plan back when he was busy turning Vietnam into a disaster. Meanwhile, the public face of the terrorists in Iraq is gloating.

In Palestine? Democrats get elected, and Hamas is openly calling for attacks on Americans all of a sudden. Why? Because the Democrats are the cut-and-run party, and Bill Clinton never did call out Arafat for his support of terror, so Hamas probably expects Pelosi to do likewise and start trying appeasement there too.

So, score one for Democrats. They get the House, and the terrorists are definitely bolder now than they were before the election.

Oh, and I'm just waiting to see what Pelosi's stand on the border is going to be. Dobbs has been going on about the "War on the middle class" being waged by both political parties; I'm starting to think he's right.

Okay, I've gotten the last couple posts out of my system. Now back to the novel...

As most of you probably know, John Kerry has gotten in to some hot water for saying "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

To which some clever GIs respond:



Hilarious!

Truth be told, I believe that John Kerry meant what he now says that he meant. He meant that George W. Bush, who has a degree from Yale and an MBA from Harvard, Dick Cheney, who has a Master's Degree, and Condo Rice, who has a PhD, screwed up and sent us in to Iraq because they didn't get an education.

Slate's Bruce Reed informs of a stunning development in my former home state of Idaho:

State Sen. [and District 1 congressional candidate] Bill Sali, whom fellow Republicans describe with two words—"fricking" and "idiot"—has 39 percent; Democratic businessman Larry Grant is at 37 percent. In 2004, the district voted 68 percent for Bush.

The same poll also shows the Republican candidate for governor, retiring Rep. Butch Otter, in a dead heat with Democrat Jerry Brady, who lost by 15 points when he ran for governor in 2002. Otter and Brady are in a statistical tie in a state where one county voted for Bush 9-1.

Idaho is the second most solidly Republican state in the country, right after Utah. Bush nearly got 70% of the vote in the state in both 2000 and 2004 and in both elections the Democratic nominee won only a single county. According to a (Democratic) state rep I talked to, over 2/3 of the legislature is Republican. Republicans hold all but one statewide office and (at least right now) both senate and congressional seats.

And somehow even here Republicans have managed to screw it up. Stunning.

On a sidenote, Idaho has been mentioned as a state that is increasingly competitive because Republicans have abandoned their libertarian roots. It's worth noting that Butch Otter, the candidate struggling to become governor, was one of very few Republicans to vote against the Patriot Act.