Wow. Democrats outraised Republicans $397mil to $385mil, and still got our butts kicked. Thanks for that, Terry McAuliffe: even when we at the grassroots and netroots gave you and your cronies every opportunity to win, the feckless Democratic hackocracy still managed to bicker, fritter, and whimper their way to another crushing defeat. Look, the Republicans don’t have better ideas than us. They don’t have better "val-yooz." They don’t have better, smoother, more qualified candidates than we do. But their hacks are way better than ours. If our team isn’t out-messaging the GOP every day, they’re not spending our money well — that is, the grassroots’. And as someone who worked to raise some scratch for my party, that hurts to say. There are thousands, maybe millions of people who went way out of their way to win this election: traveling way out of state, giving away money, making phone calls until their ears hurt and their voices cracked, losing sleep, getting up at 5am to drive folks to the polls, canvassing in potentially hostile neighborhoods in all weather, etc etc etc. So it really peeves me to hear folks talk about the need to "purge liberalism’s ranks of the MoveOn/Michael [...]
Romney Honors Religious Extremist
Romney underlined his disdain for separation of church and state, and burnished his fundamentalist religious credentials, yesterday by offering fulsome praise for Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns, Bush’s new nominee for Secretary of Agriculture. "I extend my most sincere congratulations to Governor Johanns on his appointment as President Bush’s Secretary of Agriculture," Romney said, speaking as ViceChairman of the Republican Governor’s Association. "He is an experienced and dedicated publicservant who will be a fervent advocate for our nation’s farmers andtheir families," he added. Johanns has gained national noteriety for using state resources to promote fundamentalist Christians. In 1999, for example, he established "March for Jesus Day" in Nebraska. He also proclaimed "Back to the Bible" day for the state. Johanns has said he would sign similar proclamations for other religious groups, so long as they were not faiths "I personally don’t agree with" according to the Lincoln Journal Star.
Of trees and menorahs
Every December, there’s a huge fight somewhere over "holiday displays" on public property (hat tip to How Appealing for the link). The argument usually runs something like this: Can we have a Christmas tree? If we have a tree can we call it a "Christmas tree," or does it have to be called a "Holiday tree" (as deposed CA ex-Gov. Gray Davis called it)? Can we put a menorah near the tree? How tall can it be? etc. etc…. This is all undoubtedly playing out in a city hall, public square, or courthouse near you, and the people on all sides of the debate care a great deal about it. But why? After all, the prophet Jeremiah describes a tree cut from the forest and adorned with silver and gold as a "worthless" custom, which has led some to conclude that setting up a Christmas tree borders on idolatry – in any event, as Charlie Brown annually reminds us, a tree has little if any connection to the "meaning of Christmas." And Chanukah is a relatively minor holiday in the Jewish calendar (yet there’s no movement that I’m aware of to display a shofar at City Hall during the High [...]
