At least one of my votes didn’t go in the toilet
I first want to congratulate Brian Liss for his win in District 13. He made the smart move by (pretending) to be a Republican on the ballot. Brian is actually an indy constitutionalist, but hey, who votes for them? I also was happy to see Marking getting over 6% of the vote. While this isn’t a victory for indies, I was glad to see that someone who virtually spent no money was able to garner that many votes (over 16,000).
Was there some shockers tonight? Sure, let’s go over them.
First off, I am amazed how completely uninformed voters are in our state. It baffles my fucking mind. But I must also admit, our choices this year were bleak. Very bleak. While most of the Republicans running were wingnut crazies, they were organized, the Democrats were uninformed, unorganized and blatantly lazy.
• Measure 13. In the last week or so, I had the feeling they would lose. When the hospital lobby dumped thousands of dollars into the No Campaign, I knew it would be a done deal. I just never realized they would win by so much. Who really cares? People who smoke pot will continue to do so. Nothing will change and the war on drugs will never be won. Not in the ballot box and not on the streets. If you need to smoke pot to relieve pain, continue to do so. Marijuana use may be illegal, but it is not immoral, God created it. Carry on.
• What was not a surprise was the smoking ban. People hate second hand smoke. Done deal.
• The biggest shockers of the night? Steve Hickey and Jenna Haggar. Not sure how they pulled it off but I am sure it was a combination of anti-union, anti-abortion rhetoric. Can’t wait for these two to embarrass the shit out of us in Pierre. So will Jenna get her own place now and move out of her parent’s basement?
• The Mark Johnston win does not surprise me. Jerstad has been running off the rails for years. You could have put Bozo the clown up against her and he would have won. What most people don’t know is that Mark isn’t much better. He is executive with Sanford Health. Yippee! This won’t be good for healthcare rights of regular South Dakotans. Mark is also a weasel. When I was helping with the sales tax petition in SF, Mark was an opponent and he got an editorial published in the Argus Leader under his name that was probably written by councilor Vernon Brown. I don’t trust him farther then I can spit.
• And the hits keep coming. Shawn Tornow getting elected also shocks me. This is a guy who was fired from the city attorney’s office for his nefarious deeds and his ignorance of constitutional rights. Yeah, he’ll make a great lawmaker.
• Herseth-Sandlin lost as I predicted. What is sad, is that a majority of South Dakotans trust a wealthy, uneducated, law-breaking, (welfare) farmer over a Georgetown graduate. South Dakota ranks 50th on many levels, but we now rank #1 on political ignorance. Noem as our US Congresswoman makes me sick to my stomach. What is even more sad is that I am watching Noem read her prepared acceptance speech instead of saying it from the heart. But that is hard to do when you do not have one.
I will tell you that I am giddy about one thing though, Republicans may have some big majorities now, so let’s see what direction the ‘Party of No’ will take our country and state. Hold on tight. If you think things are bad now, hunker down, because our economy is going to go from stomach acid to sloppy turds real quick.
I will leave you with a funny screenshot (one more reason why our POS local newspaper should not be endorsing candidates) they can’t even understand the difference between vote percentages and precinct percentages.
I dedicate this song to South Dakota voters
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgSPaXgAdzE[/youtube]