To quote the late great Jackie Gleason, How sweet it is. Tuesday's Democratic electoral victories were sweet, and our quote of the week really reflects that.
This is a quote we Livingston County Democrats have heard directed at us for many years, and I believe it was first put forth by an editor at the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus who once ran for the state House of Representatives as a Republican. Something to do with local Democrats can hold their meetings in a phone booth. But when you consider more than 42,000 people in the Livingston County voted for President Barack Obama, and Supreme Court Justice Diane Marie Hathaway actually beat incumbent rightwing Republican Cliff Taylor in the county it will have to be a big phone booth.
Perhaps we can lend that phone booth to the Michigan Republican Party since we have not needed it for a few years.
"We Republicans are caucusing in a phone booth."I'm enthused that we will rebuild our party but it's going to take some time." -- Republican Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson. Gongwer November 6, 2008.
7 comments:
Nice talk. But according to today's newspaper, Livingston County's percentage of votes for McCain was higher than anywhere else in the state...except for Ottawa, which is really red. And while Obama did relatively well, your legislative candidates got clobbered by as much as they usually do.
If you consider 35-40 percent of the vote to be a success, then my guess is that the Republicans can rest easy.
They better not rest too much.
Well thank you, who-ever-you-are. The vote in Livingston County for Sen. McCain may be higher than anywhere else in the state, but that is irrelevant. In order to make progress you have to improve, and we did that. The vote for President Obama on Tuesday was higher than it was for Sen. Kerry in 2004.
I consider 40 percent and an increase over the last election success. Good, let the Republicans rest easy, but if that was the case then why did they blow all that money on billboards and TV ads saying the county has the lowest tax rate in the state?
The county deserves more than one stale voice.
I can understand trying to put the best spin on it, but you conveniently ignore the fates of Anderson, Alexander and Lucas. Their results indicate that Obama's relative success was an aberration. After all, how many times can you expect the first black candidate to run for president in the wake of a Republican with nearly the lowest approval ratings in history?
What you call irrelevant is merely brave talk that ignores the facts. Republicans still rule the roost here...but it was nice to see that some broke ranks to vote for Obama. But then they went right back to the GOP for Congress, state House and local races.
You can dismiss the facts all you want...they are still facts.
If you are happy with one out of three votes, then, yes, I think the Republicans can rest easy.
OK, so what race do we use to measure success? How about like everybody else does and use the top of the ticket. After all, that's a race in Livingston County every voter can vote in. I can't vote in the 66th District race. Minor party candidates use the top of the ticket to determine ballot statues, so why shouldn’t we?
The racial make up of President Obama is irrelevant here in Livingston County with a black population of less than 1 percent. I can also point to the popularity of Rogers and Denby as reasons for their success. The Rogers family name is well-known here in the county, and despite both Alexander and Anderson running a much better campaign, the Rogers brothers coasted on their names.
Cindy Denby was born and raised in the county has been a local elected official for 16 years. That name recognition helps. I never even met Scott Lucas.
I never said the Republicans did not "rule roost here." I said we made progress. That's a fact, not spin. I'm certainly not happy with "one out of three votes," and that is ignoring the Supreme Court race. I'm also not happy with the fact Republicans "rule" here because I live her. We deserve better. Let Republicans rest easy. We have out worked them in the last two elections , and we will continue to do so. In the near future it will begin to show further down the tic
Good points. If you are going to be rational and logical, then it won't be any fun to yank your chain.
One point. I don't think you were suggesting anything negative by it, but I wanted to explain my remarks about Obama's race.
It was an historic election given that a man of the moment captured the nation's imagination. To his credit, he was not a black candidate, but he was a candidate who happened to be black.
But his skin color makes it historic and monumental, given that just 45 years ago, a man of his skin color wasn't even allowed to vote. Now he's president-elect. Civil rights leaders of the '60s were weeping in joy and saying they never thought it could happen in their lifetimes.
It's amazing and I doubt you will see those dynamics again.
So it's my opinion that despite Obama's performance, you really didn't make that much progress...you didn't do much more than hold your own in the other elections.
But you are right to point to the Hathaway election (although Democrats have won judicial races here before). And, yes, you shouldn't just sit back because the odds are formidable.
Thank you, that was nice of you to say. I like to think I'm always ration and logical. Of course on occasion I am snarky and insulting. I have no problem with people yanking my chain, even when I'm being called names. Although, I prefer those name to be names like that I'm stupid and dumb; and not stuff like I'm a child molester or a communist. I like enjoy persuasive writing, or I would not operate a blog. If people take the time to comment here, I feel they deserve a response.
Thanks for the comments on Obama, and I agree. But the fact is no matter who won it would have been an historic election. I'm not so sure we will not see those dynamics again. I believe one day soon we will have a woman president. If I'm not mistaken, African-Americans were allowed to vote, at least in theory, before women.
I disagree on your point about progress. I agree it's small, but it is progress. Sometime you take two steps forward and one step back, but it's still one step. Yes, we have won judicial races before, but rarely is it a statewide one and unseating an incumbent that was clearly a Republican. When you talk about somebody like Theresa Brennen, that's a person who was born here, went to school here and continued to work and practice law here.
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