So who've they gone for?
Christine O'Donnell beat a long-term congressman for the Republican candidacy. The woman whose main interests are guns, opposing abortion and - the pressing issue of our times - the fight against masturbation.
The then leader of Christian lobby group Savior's Alliance for Lifting the Truth, O'Donnell took part in an MTV series, Sex in the 90s. "The Bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery. So you can't masturbate without lust," she told the programme. "The reason that you don't tell [people] that masturbation is the answer to Aids and all these other problems that come with sex outside of marriage is because, again, it is not addressing the issue. You're just gonna create somebody who is toying with his sexuality. Pardon the pun."
O'Donnell, meanwhile, has questioned the focus on apparent untruths on her CV, such as claims she had a masters degree when she was in fact still awaiting the award of the bachelor's equivalent, due to unpaid university fees.
Ah, what a delightful whiff of the 1950s. When life was simple and the greatest threat facing the US was communists with boxes of Kleenex weakening the moral fibre of the nation.
People in the States seem terrified of the Tea Party and their house-trained Republican counterparts, partly because they decided that Obama's election was the signal to be as disruptive and undemocratic as possible. I'm more relaxed. I think that most Americans are pretty mainstream. The more Tea Party candidates take over the Republicans, the more people will vote Democrat: the Republicans are making themselves unelectable by being captured by their mad fringe.
The O'Donnell case is the perfect example. The US is swinging Republican at the moment, and her mainstream Republican rival could have won the currently Democratic Senatorial seat - but she can't. The Dems must be jubilant every time one of these loons gets the candidacy. Interestingly, the American primary system lets all citizens vote in party elections, so hopefully Dems are voting for these weirdos to make the real elections even easier for them.
Problem solved. Or it would be if other candidates were sane: only one of the 48 Republican candidates accepts that climate change is happening - and he's the guy who just lost the primary to O'Donnell.
1 comment:
"The more Tea Party candidates take over the Republicans, the more people will vote Democrat..."
From your blog to the goddesses' ears (eyes?), Vole. Here in the trenches, I'm not so optimistic.
And allow me to correct your "every citizen can vote" in US primaries statement. It varies state by state. Here in Tennysee we have open primaries where any registered voter can indeed vote, but one must choose whether they are voting in the Dem or Repug primary. That means that "Independent" candidates must usually be affiliated with one of the two major parties on the local ballots (I suppose they can be cross-listed). Furthermore, our Green Party gubernatorial party had to be identified as an "Independent" on the ballot -- so those inclined to vote Green would have to do their homework to know who to support.
Many other states require voters to register their affiliation with a particular party; and frequently then only registered Democrats can vote in Democratic primaries, etc.
And, as you point out, there is no mental competency requirement for anyone choosing to run for public office.
I really do need to look into whatever Norwegian citizenship claims I can make thanks to my paternal lineage...
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