Ja, det kom et tilbakeslag for de reaksjonære republikanerne, som på under to år har klart å avkle seg ganske grundig når det gjelder hvor de har sine prioriteter.
I Mississippi avviste befolkningen forslaget om at "life begins at conception" med et stort flertall.
Og ulike lovforslag for å underminere fagforeninger ble også tilbakevist. Kanskje mest interessant er utviklingen i Arizona, der delstatssenator Pearce tapte, etter å ha strukket folks begrep av demokrati til nye begrepshorisonter.
Denne senatoren ble valgt inn på en tidevannsbølge av støtte, av velgere som hadde slukt propagandaen i 2010 med åpent gap og lukket sinn. Etterhvert som tiden gikk begynte de å forstå hva de hadde sagt ja til. Senatoren samarbeidet med den beryktede Sheriff Arpaio (verdt en google), men forsøkte å gjennomføre en Volksstürm av delstaten, inntil han på tirsdag kveld snudde seg og skjønte at folket ikke fulgte ham lenger.
Pearce stod bl.a. bak et lovforslag som forbød menneskerettighetsadvokater fra å være i delstatskongressens kammer.
På Dailykos har en kvinne som har fulgt senatorens karriere satt en rant på Pearce som sier alt, og som gir oss et lite bilde av hvor totalt av skaftet amerikanerne har vært en stund. Det er fortsatt slik at intet land i verden har en forfatning som kommer i nærheten av USAs, men også slik at de som roper høyest om å forsvare samme har forstått den minst.
Pearce drew up a blacklist that prohibited human rights advocates from entering the legislative chambers. He banned the public from the Senate's press conferences. He seemed not to give a damn when his policies, including SB 1070, pushed Arizona's economy into the shitter, saying it's a "myth" that the state's image was damaged! He ignored the public's will and went after education and healthcare with a vengeance, even kicking 100 people off a life-saving organ transplant list. He said they would "die anyway." At the same time they were gutting schools and healthcare, Pearce and the other GOP greed-heads passed huge corporate tax breaks.
Believing he had a mandate to push through even more drastic immigration dumbfuckery, Pearce introduce five extremely racist bills last session. They were so radical that 70 Arizona CEOs sent the Senator a letter asking him to quit acting like such a douchebag, because the cloud of bigotry he cast over the entire state was hurting tourism and business in general. In March the foundation of hate cracked completely when the GOP-dominated, veto-proof Senate rejected all of Pearce's immigration bills.
The worm had started to turn, but it appears Pearce didn't learn anything. He brought the same level of arrogance to the recall campaign. But when the media shone a light on his deceptive tactics, and voters saw the real Russell Pearce, they sent him packing.
Pearce, og mange med ham i ulike delstater, var villige redskap i det kuppet som ALEC har forsøkt å gjennomføre. Den organisasjonen, nevnt her tidligere, hadde detaljerte lovforslag klare til innføring i alle delstater der det ble republikansk overvekt etter seneste landsvalg.
Noen av Pearces forsøk på å forhindre at han skulle bli "recalled" (gjenkalt).
spread bogus media stories saying the recall was corrupt;
took out fake Twitter and Facebook accounts in the name of his Republican challenger Jerry Lewis to make Lewis sound like a liberal;
placed campaign signs around Mesa that dishonestly portrayed the recall organizers as open-border activists;
lied about the costs of immigration, and ranted nonstop that strict anti-Mexican measures are needed to keep immigrants from taking over Arizona, even as studies showed immigration is down 40 percent;
tried, unsuccessfully, to stop the recall in court using sham arguments;
said the recall was funded by "outside extremists," when 70% of challenger Lewis's donations came from District 18, while nearly 90% of contributions to Pearce were from out of the District and Arizona;
recruited and funded a sham candidate, Olivia Cortes, whose Hispanic name, the Senator's toadies believed, would siphon anti-Pearce votes from Lewis;
and just two days before the election, the goons robocalled Democratic and Hispanic households in District 18, urging them to protest the lack of a Democrat on the ballot by writing in their own candidate, thus stealing progressive votes from Lewis!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/08/1034299/-Lies-deceptions-backfire:-Arizona-Senator-Pearce-DEFEATED!?via=siderec
