Ms Davis conducted a thirteen hour long filibuster yesterday, in order to thwart a nasty piece of anti-choice legislation that would have made it nearly impossible to get an abortion in the state of Texas. She was not allowed to lean on anything while filibustering, or take a bathroom break, or eat, either. She was told she would have to stay on topic, and she was given three "strikes" re the filibuster. The third time she broke one of the rules, the filibuster would end. When the GOP controlled state Senate saw Ms Davis might make it, and they would not be able to vote (the session ended at midnight Texas time last night) on SB5, they hastily claimed three bogus violations on her (two of which were she mentioned Planned Parenthood, which they claimed not germane, and another was when she had a colleague adjust the back brace she was wearing) and tried to organize a vote at about an hour and a half before midnight. The Dems stalled as long as they possibly with motion after motion until at about a quarter to midnight the GOP had had enough, broke the rules, and tried to organize a vote anyway.
The gallery crowd went ballistic, and made it nearly impossible for the Senate to conduct business. The vote happened and the Dems lost 19-10, but it was after midnight. The nasty GOP changed the time stamp on the legislation to two minutes before midnight, and claimed it had passed. But the thousands watching online and at the Capitol knew better, and the GOP finally had to call it a night, saying the session was over and SB5 was dead.
Asshat Gubner Haircut will most likely call a special session, and this drama will play out all over again, but as my friend Jill T said on friendface, "Ms Davis, I would like to buy you a drink."
Here is some of Ms Davis' story. And you all know Barbara Jordan and Molly Ivins were watching from the beyond, raisin' hell, and fighting with her.
(And, hey, do something to support Ms Davis today: Donate to Planned Parenthood here. I did!)
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And, then, of course the internets and friendface exploded at a couple of minutes after seven AM Cali time when Justice Kennedy killed DOMA. It went just as I predicted, scenario two on the chart I provided last week, a narrow victory on Prop 8, and a resounding victory on DOMA.
A great flipping day for our country and democracy. There are major battles still to be fought, on both these issues and many others, but the good guys won today. Big time.
It is going to be the greatest Pride evah! Enjoy it you crazy kids! Be safe and make out with like a dozen people each for me. I love you all,
Yup, forget about a new jobs bill, or working in good faith with Dems on Immigration reform. Forget about a new stimulus, which the country could definitely use -- think about all the jobs we could create rebuilding this country's crumbling infrastructure. Naw, forget about all that, because our fantastic GOP controlled House of Representatives and a clutch of their bff Republican Governor buddies really have our best interests at heart, especially the ladies in the house. Ladies!
Today, Mittens will win in a landslide, garnering around 40% of the vote. There will be a group of four men all between eleven and fifteen per cent, fighting for second.
I like the order for those four to be: Paul, Huntsman, Santorum, and Newt. Perry will finish in low single digits, but no one will drop out.
Remember, next is South Carolina, and that is where things always get nasty with GOP primaries, when the knives truly come out.
UPDATE (1/11/12): Gosh, I did v well, indeed. Got the order right except I shoulda flipped Newt and Santorum, and Paul got more of the vote than I expected. On to South Carolina! The 21st.
Today, I like Ron Paul (much to the GOP's chagrin) to win in Iowa today, followed by Mittens, with Santorum coming in third.
I expect Bachman will be tearfully bowing out of this race within the next forty-eight hours, or so. Gubner Haircut will have to do some soul-searching, too.
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UPDATE, 1/4/12:
Well, I did not do too badly in my predictions. I got the top three right (in the wrong order, though) and Bachmann is suspending as we speak, whilst Gubner Haircut is "reassessing", back in Texas.
Meanwhile, with Newt out to destroy Mittens, running cover for Santorum for the next month, Rick gets new life and gets his turn at the top of the not Mittens mountain.
Would rather Wacky Ron Paul just fricking go away. They only use him to show what an absolute loon he is and ignore him right after debates. The second they can "justifiably" drop him from the GOP debates, they will.
He is still crazier than a peach orchard boar and thankfully has absolutely no shot in hell of winning the GOP nomination or General Election (and Paul will not be a CongressCritter anymore, either, meaning he will be Fox News favorite Weirdo Righty Pundit to counterbalance Kucinich on the Left.) (h/t to Molly Ivins, natch, for the boar quote.)
Man, I am not scared of any of those bozos I saw the other night. And Gubner Goodhair do not scare me, either.
Bachman and Cain will be the Early Darlings, throwing batshit-crazy Red Meat to the tri-corner crowd but eventually the Money Men will weigh in and go with someone like Mittens or Goodhair. The GOP always goes with the "safe, respectable" White Dude.
(And to see Fox slobber all over these losers is really unseemly.)
Polling booths in Houston burned to a cinder. And here I was thinking White had a chance. Those ashes smell like Rove's Austin Clements for Governor office in 1986. And I am sure Rove has hooked Gubner Haircut up with some crack FBI agents who will investigate this and discover that the Democrats burned those booths down themselves!
