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50 - 49 = Scandalous Robbery!
This is exceptionally awesome given the predilection of the Tennessee state GOP to be composed almost entirely of racist, juvenile asshats.
In an extraordinary move in the opening session of the state legislature this afternoon, Republican Kent Williams won speakership of the House, beating veteran Democrat Jimmy Naifeh and Republican leader Jason Mumpower, who was widely expected to get the post.Shortly after, Williams voted for Democrat Lois DeBerry for speaker pro tem, the number two position, illustrating his willingness to power-share with Democrats who elected him to the speakership.
Williams, while a dark horse candidate, was not completely unexpected. There had been rumors weeks before that Williams, who had supported Naifeh as speaker in the past, might defect from the Republicans.
The election of Williams was what Democrats called the "nuclear option:" electing a Republican who was friendly to Democrats, creating coalitions between the parties. As recently as Monday, Mumpower had dismissed such talk, saying that Republicans were united.
Afterward, Naifeh acknowledged that the move was likely to anger Republicans, but said he thought Democrats and Republicans could continue to work together," he said.
"Emotions are high right now, and I would hope that we would be able to have a good session," Naifeh said.
As the vote took place, the House chamber at moments erupted into near bedlam, with spectators raining down boos, hisses and angry shouts, all of which was quickly quieted when Naifeh threatened to have unruly audience members removed from the chamber.
Williams has been administered the oath of office, and speaking from the well, says "it's time to end the infighting and the bickering." Boos came from the gallery.
For those wanting the shorter version: post-election, the Tennessee state house became 50 Republicans and 49 Democrats. The Republicans decided to make a batshit right-wing nutjob speaker. All 49 Democrats voted to make a moderate Republican the speaker instead... and said moderate Republican vote along with them. Shorter, shorter version: fuck you, right-wing Republicans.
I try to limit myself from doing this, but this is certainly a hilarious occasion: please go enjoy the lunatics at Free Republic wailing about this. If you want a perfect example of how the hard right of the Republican Party is and hopefully will be for some time completely lost in the wilderness of their own denial, there's nothing better than the repeated screaming that Democrats "stole" control of the Tennessee state house by... winning a vote for a Republican.
"Those douchebags from two months ago: Where are they now?"
Sarah Palin's little pitty party with a right-wing pundit was the inspiration for this week's comic, but the last 24 hours have put a lot of focus on Joe the Plumber, who has apparently decided to spend every second of his fifteen minutes to challenge the validity of Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection by existing. In the time between his quote in the comic and press time, Joe has gone over to Israel, where his first major war reportage has been to spend two minutes whining about how there shouldn't be war coverage. Meanwhile, the 146-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer is going to go bankrupt. I suppose you can't blame Pajamas Media for their little stunt; clearly hiring Joe to basically pretend he's Jack Bauer with a doctor's note has gotten them the attention they so desired. But yeah, score one for the journalists who desire nothing but the destruction of actual journalism.
And then, there is her. Palin might actually take a record in historical revisionism, with her rabid supporters savagely attacking any and all notions that she was a pathetic stunt that quite clearly cost John McCain the election. As luck would have it, the Beast's annual 50 Most Loathsome People just came out, and I don't really think her place on the list is much of a spoiler. That said... what they said. 'Nuff said.
Finally, now that vacations are over I'm back in Atlanta and ready to ship books, signed prints, and whatnot to you all. Please consider supporting this cartoon and its artist. I don't press this over and over, but I guess with the start of the year this would be a good time to emphasize what a lot of my fellow cartoonists are also saying: the financial climate right now, as you might have noticed, is utter shit. A lot of them are struggling to keep the clients they have, and others like me are unable to find clients at all. It never, never, never hurts to send an e-mail or letter to the editors of your local alt-weekly or newspaper and tell them how great you think mine or anyone else's work is. That's the best way for a cartoonist to get and or keep getting paid. Thanks, guys!