Sorry if I'm not enjoying this:
The nation watched on Tuesday -- and into Wednesday -- as Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis and hundreds of impassioned reproductive rights advocates stalled proceedings and ultimately defeated controversial abortion legislation....It's not just that the GOP is ultimately going to win:
"I am overwhelmed, honestly," Davis said after standing for nearly 13 hours to filibuster Senate Bill 5, the abortion legislation....
Republican senators made a last-ditch effort to approve SB 5, voting 19-10, but by then the clock had ticked past midnight. Under the terms of the state Constitution, the special session had ended, and the bill could not be signed, enrolled or sent to the governor....
Republicans, who control both the state Senate and House, will likely have a second chance at the bill. The governor, who called the special session and put the abortion bill on the agenda, may now call a second special session and once again tell lawmakers to consider the bill, known as Senate Bill 5. Political analysts said the bill will likely pass if a second special session is called, not only because of the large number of Republicans supporting it, but because the increased time will limit the delaying tactics that can be tried by Democrats.It's that Davis herself almost certainly became a lame duck as of yesterday:
RT @kimsoutherngirl: We cheer Wendy Davis today, but TX GOP going ahd w/ plan to redistrict her out of Senate. Thanks 2 #SCOTUS decision...
— Jodi Jacobson (@jljacobson) June 26, 2013
Yup:
Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis ... likely would have lost her seat in 2012 to redistricting if not for the Voting Rights Act that was gutted Tuesday by the U.S. Supreme Court.In Red America, the SOBs always win.
MSNBC's Zachary Roth reported earlier this month that Republican leaders in Texas tried to slice up Davis' Fort Worth district in 2011 and move thousands of black and Hispanic voters into neighboring districts. But Davis challenged the move in federal court under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act....
The future of Davis' Senate district is unclear now that the Supreme Court has removed the legislature's biggest obstacle to redistricting.
"With today's decision, the state's voter ID law will take effect immediately," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement on Tuesday. "Redistricting maps passed by the Legislature may also take effect without approval from the federal government."
The problem isn't that they always win in the Red States.
ReplyDeleteIt's that they're still winning in the Purple ones.
And they're also turning formerly solid Blue States, like WI, Purple.
We are a nation of fucking hateful idiots, willing to cut off our noses to spite our faces - or, at least enough of us are, to not only stop progress, but start to reverse it.
Normally I'm at least as pessimistic as Steve, especially as to the political prospects in my benighted Tx. And, indeed, the SOB's may succeed in redistricting Wendy Davis out of the State Senate - but they may not. They've been trying that on Lloyd Doggett's US House district for a decade now, & Lloyd's still in office. It may turn out that the VRA gutting will finally retire them both, and our other decent pols with them. However, for the first time in 20 years, I think the Tx D's have a combination of inspiration (thanks to Davis and her fellow D's in the state House & Senate) and organization (thanks in large part to combative & humorous state party chair Gilberto Hinojosa and an infusion of some serious money from the Obama organization among others) - a combination which, if maintained, should at least ensure that we can put up a plenty respectable fight. That in itself would be a sizable improvement, whatever its long-term ramifications.
ReplyDeleteIs there, at last, only one Texas democrat with a spine? If one person can filibuster for 13 hours, what if 10 senators started a filibuster?
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