Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
What’s up, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada?
This election is still not decided. That seems to be the trend from now on. I do remember the year that the Presidency’s fate was decided in Florida, or in the Supreme Court, or by bits of “hanging chad”. That was the year that Wanda Sykes did a stand up routine that included the words, “F&%k Florida!”. She has a way of summing things up.
I’ve been horrified by the Republican candidate for Governor of Arizona. She is an election denier, a 45 supporter, and she openly made jokes when Paul Pelosi’s skull was fractured by a nutcase in California. That was her most egregious episode and I had a visceral reaction to her words and behavior. People like that seriously make me wonder about our future, especially when people line up to vote for the likes of her. I’m watching the numbers carefully and, at the moment, she is behind Democrat Katie Hobbs by a slim margin.
Slim margins prevail in Georgia and in Nevada – both states are holding candidates who will decide control of the Senate. I don’t know much about the Republican candidate in Nevada, but in Georgia? The two men running could not be more different. One is a guy who makes a big deal out of having the equivalent of a junior ranger badge, and who believes that Georgia’s good air goes to China where they dirty it up and send it back to Georgia, and who thinks that we already have enough trees so we shouldn’t spend money on the environment. These statements don’t seem to have affected the nearly two million people who voted for him to represent them in the Senate. Maybe the accusations of domestic violence don’t bother them either. I’m sure Raphael Warnock has some skeletons in his closet, but so far none have caught the press’s attention. He has been a people’s advocate in Georgia for many years, and that’s good enough for me.
In Nevada another 45 endorsee is running against the incumbent Democrat, Catherine Cortez Masto. As of this morning, she is 821 votes behind him, with thousands of votes yet to be released. I’ll stay tuned to Nevada’s results as they slowly get posted.
I notice that some of 45’s endorsed candidates didn’t do as well hoped or expected. When Joe Biden said that Democracy was on this ballot, I believed him. Part of me feels good about most of the election results. Part of me is still curious about how the Republican party will be rescued from the ravages of 2016 – 2020. Or, if there is any hope for reason or decency to prevail among its ranks. I know some good Republican people who are worried about the fate of their party and I feel for them.
My Democratic party is far from perfect. Polls show that many people don’t think we are as focused on the economy and inflation as we should be, and that Republicans would do a better job at fighting economic problems. These same people say that while reproductive rights and climate change (Democrat’s stronghold) are important, Republicans would do a better job handling the equally important issues of crime and immigration. Some of my Republican friends flat out can’t stand Joe Biden while I wonder, what’s not to like? Then I have to admit that I like the man, but I hope he doesn’t run again, thus making room for someone younger to step in…
I was told early on that one should not get involved in discussions about politics or religion. But the older I get the more I believe that these discussions need to be held reasonably and respectfully. I may be a Democrat but half of my country isn’t. That matters.