Update [2008-11-07, 11: 35 AM]: Just as I published this, Tulsa area Daily Kos diarist Droogie posted “What’s the matter with Oklahoma” where an important question is sure to get a lively and equally important debate.

On several fronts, Oklahoma once again became the shame of the nation Tuesday night. Obama got a lower percentage of votes here than any other state in the nation. Republicans took over leadership in the state legislature (for the part two years, the power has been shared equally between Ds and Rs), where they will be free-er to gut civil rights and promote nativism, making our state yet poorer financially and socially.

And in notable individual races, from corrupt Jim Inhofe to American Taliban charter member Sally Kern, Republicans who shame Oklahoma world-wide were handily re-elected.

Although many Oklahomans will proudly claim the title of reddest state, in the real world, things are moving forward and we are lagging behind, and rapidly gaining the unhelpful notoriety as the country’s idiot child. Thankfully, Obama is not vindictive against his opponents in the way George W. Bush has been and we will receive the benefit of new progressive policies and legislation without prejudice (W clearly thought he was only president of those who voted for him).

One of the sadder parts of election night in Oklahoma was seeing Jim Roth’s political career get derailed. I have also heard good things about his opponent, and I hope she does a good job. But she got the job, perhaps through no fault of her own, through homophobia and dirty politics.

A postcard with inflamatory information about Roth’s sexual orientation (he is openly gay) and his political history was sent throughout Oklahoma, and I suspect had a lot to do with his losing the race, despite being endorsed by no less than the arch-conservative Oklahoman.

This postcard was sent out by a group who used Roth’s homosexuality to malign his character, and misrepresent his values. Not that any of it would affect his decisions on the Corporation Commission, if he’s gay, he’s evil, and must be crushed.

He gave a lovely concession speech, which is worth watching if you are not already acquainted with Roth. I can only hope that Obama supporter Brad Henry, who originally appointed Roth to the Corporation Commission, will mention him to the President-Elect. It would serve Oklahoma right to lose yet another gifted progressive to an out of state future. Oklahoma already has a serious brain drain, and likely now it will only speed up.

The following Republicans are up for re-election in 2010. The netroots will be watching them and posting about any shenanigans.

1. Richard Shelby of Alabama
2. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
3. John McCain of Arizona
4. Mel Martinez of Florida
5. Johnny Isakson of Georgia
6. Mike Crapo of Idaho
7. Chuck Grassley of Iowa
8. Jim Bunning of Kentucky
9. David Vitter of Louisiana
10. Kit Bond of Missouri
11. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire
12. Richard Burr of North Carolina
13. George Voinovich of Ohio
14. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma
15. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania
16. Jim DeMint of South Carolina
17. John Thune of South Dakota
18. Bob Bennett of Utah

and others may choose to retire (after all, actual governing is hard work). So, the fun starts again pretty soon.

Sarah Palin is a pathetic, mush-for-brains dolt. I used to think she was monumentally dumb and incurious, but had political instincts that could compensate enough for her to succeed in her corrupt career path for the foreseeable future (like George W. Bush did). She does have a special talent, all right, and is hereby awarded first prize in the contest to be the 21st Century icon of proud Republican know-nothings.

This is Sarah Palin, from a speech supposedly made to demonstrate “Commitment To Children With Special Needs”

This is a matter of how we prioritize the money that we spend. We’ve got a three trillion dollar budget, and Congress spends some 18 billion dollars a year on earmarks for political pet projects. That’s more than the shortfall to fully fund the IDEA. And where does a lot of that earmark money end up? It goes to projects having little or nothing to do with the public good — things like fruit fly research…

As any half-functional high-schooler knows, much of what we know about the causes and treatment of genetic disorders (like Down Syndrome, which Palin’s youngest child has) is grounded in research on fruit flies.

If this is the path Christianity is on, and it certainly seems to be (with apologies to my intellectual Christian friends who are sadly in the minority of their faith), then, thanks to the principles of evolution, it will be extinct in a couple of generations. Good riddance. That level of stupid simply cannot sustain itself.

A science blog, BiochemicalSoul, said this:

To decry research in [condescending and amazed tone] “the fruit fly” is a testament to the true idiocy of this woman and to the failure of our public education system. In fact, her own father, Chuck Heath, was a biology teacher – obviously a complete failure of a biology teacher.

(Well Palin herself has been a failure in passing on her values — abstinence outside of marriage — to her children, so there you go: epic FAIL.)

But I liked what Newsweek’s Richard Wolfe said: “This is the most mindless, ignorant, uninformed comment that we have seen from Governor Palin so far, and there’s been a lot of competition for that prize.”

So, yeah, Sarah’s a winner of many prizes. Now go back to Wasilla with your crown and STFU.

Update:

Mithras looks ahead to Palin’s designs on 2012, in a very fun, snarky read:

All this just goes to prove one thing: John McCain used to be a maverick, but isn’t any longer. Sarah Palin is the true maverick. She’s so mavericky, she realized McCain was no longer a maverick a millisecond after the convention, long before anyone else. She’s the ultimate maverick, immune to coercion, restraint, prudence, education, facts, intelligence and common sense. She goes her own way. That’s just what the country is hungering for: A combination of early-Alzheimer’s Reagan and George W. Bush circa Katrina.

And found at Crooks & Liars:

In fact, irony of all ironies, fruit fly research has actually aided in understanding a genetic component or predisposition towards autism.

Mccain and Palin and their ilk don’t laugh. They patronize. They don’t smile, they snicker. They don’t debate, they denigrate. They don’t talk, they condescend. They don’t argue, they ridicule. There is a nastiness, a mean-spiritedness, a smug certitude, and a profound and baseless arrogance seething from both of them. These aren’t leaders. They’re not even grownups.

A friend changed her email sig with this quote, which I tracked down to Michael Seitzman: John McCain Naked.

Of course, it also reflects the general tone of the Republican Party these days. Except, when it gets even worse.

Anyway, I’m featuring it in the sidebar for the next couple of weeks.

It also crystalizes my post category “The Great Divide.” I’ll be so glad when we can start healing that divide, very soon.

There’s ALL kind of riots going on in St. Paul. This is the big effing LOL variety:

Check out gay activist/journalist/radio host Mike Signorile with our very own lovely right-wing nutjob Sally Kern!

He interviewed her, but hasn’t got it up yet. I can’t WAIT to hear her demented thoughts about Sarah Palin! Will update here when it’s available.

He’s also got some other great shit from the convention:

• McCain’s 94-year old mother complaining that “they won’t let me talk.”
• Mike sticking a mic up to Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum’s ugly mouth. Yuck, I don’t know if I can stomach listening to it after that visual!

Update: Well, doesn’t look like the full interview will be posted. It was played on his show on Sirius radio, and he did share a 2-1/2 minute clip. At the very end, Sally referred to her previous encounter with him, not realizing she was talking to the same guy.

Update below.

Well just about the whole world started asking that question this morning (followed swiftly by “What the heck was he thinking???”). And, thanks to the netroots, we didn’t have long to wait for the answer.

As is often the case, Down With Tyranny! was on the ball with the nuts and bolts.

At least he’ll win Alaska (unless they give reindeer the vote).

Palin will be a more difficult target. It’s funny that for all McCain’s carping about Obama’s supposed lack of experience, Palin really has none whatsoever. I mean, talk about a “readiness gap!” Of course, she had more judgment than McCain himself– having praised Obama’s energy plan. (She has now tried to scrub her praise for Obama’s energy plan from her website, very 1984 creepy.) CNBC, which had been all gung ho on Willard was in shock. “This is utter madness, absolutely insane,” said political analyst Greg Valliere, who then ran down McCain’s age and all of his health problems. “This woman makes Dan Quayle look reasonable.” When asked about Valliere’s assessment, John Harwood responded, “[it's] basically a nightmare scenario for the Republican ticket.” On the other hand, this will sure up McCain’s recent slide in Alaska.

Palin, proud daughter of Alaska’s pork machine:

Although the McCain campaign is busily re-writing history to make Palin sound like she opposed the corrupt earmarks that have landed Ted Stevens and Don Young in hot water– particularly their “Bridge to Nowhere” that McCain is always railing against– Palin was always a big supporter of the Bridges to Nowhere and all the criminal pork Young and Stevens were bringing back to Alaska. In 2006, when she was trying to make the leap from runner up in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant and mayor of Wasilla (population 8,471) to gubernatorial contender, she was asked how she felt about the Bridges to Nowhere. According to the October 5th, 2006 Anchorage Daily News she replied. “I do support the infrastructure projects that are on tap here in the state of Alaska that our congressional delegations worked hard for.” In fact, she then started complaining that the federal money for the two horrible projects weren’t coming in fast enough!

In fact, Palin has always been a pork-crazed maniac, the kind of straw man McCain loves to bash on the stump. This year Alaska received nearly $100 million more In pork than any other state ($379,669,715). According to the Senate Lobbying Disclosure Database, Palin employs the lobbying firm Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates to seek earmarks for the state of Alaska. You think the vetters missed that when they were looking into her past? If so they also missed this: According to that same Senate Lobbying Disclosure Database, Palin paid the lobbying firm of Hoffman Silver Gilman & Blasco to lobby on behalf of the City of Wasilla while she was mayor and according to Citizens Against Government Waste, in 2000 the City of Wasilla received a $1 million transportation earmark for the Wasilla Intermodal Facility for bus and bus related facilities while Wasilla’s Life Quest Community Mental Health Center gobbled up a $500,000 earmark, same amount as the town’s emergency shelter, although less than the $600,000 earmark for the Wasilla city bus facility. Meanwhile Wasilla received a $1 million earmark for the Wasilla Regional Dispatch Center, a $1.5 million earmark for water and sewer improvements, and a $2.6 million transportation earmark for an alternative route project. And back then only 5,000 people lived there. Now that’s pork. So, as inexperienced as she is about everything else, she sure knows how to rook the federal government out of boucoup taxpayer dollars. I wonder if McCain will still be screamin’ and hollerin’ about earmarks and Bridges to Nowhere now that she’s on his ticket.

Update: An Alaskan blogger provides quit the primer on Sarah Palin’s political “experience” as a “reformer.”

Wasilla has a population of about 5500 people, and 1979 occupied housing units.  This is where your potential Vice President was two short years ago.  Can you imagine her negotiating a nuclear non-proliferation treaty?  Discussing foreign policy?  Understanding non-Alaskan issues?  Frankly, I don’t even know if she’s ever been out of the country.  She may ‘get’ Alaska, but there are only a half a million people here.  Don’t get me wrong….I love Alaska with all my heart.  I’m just saying.

This blogger also a provides a digest version of “Troopergate,” the pending ethics investigation of Sarah Palin for abuse of office.

So, if McCain had made his selection six months ago, the squeaky-clean governor meme would have made a little more sense.  But, Sarah Palin is currently under an ethics investigation by the Alaska state legislature.  The details of this investigation read like a trashy novel, and I suspect that the players will soon have newfound celebrity on the national stage.  I’ll try to explain for all you non-Alaskans who suddenly have good reason to want to know more about Sarah Palin.

Our own ultra-conservative stalwart is one of the few GOP members in high office willing to show their face at RNC, though doing so means swallowing his pride .

Sen. Jim Inhofe says he has made peace with John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, whom Inhofe has sparred with in the past over global warming and other issues.

Inhofe, R-Okla., once predicted that McCain could not win the GOP nomination, reasoning that his background on some issues would not sit well with activist conservatives.

And here’s a fine example of delusional thinking:

“And later on, I ran into John in the cloak room and he said: ‘Look, Jimmy, we’ve had our differences of opinion…but I’m going to be president and you’re going to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and we’re going to need each other.”

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Dream on, you old fogies!

I hate to gloat while people are being publicly embarrassed, but really, Republicans just beg for it with their hypocrisy and sleazy politicking to save themselves at any cost to actual victims, or the country.

Craig’s `wide Stance’ Enters Lexicon - New York Times
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Among the most famous excuses ever given for questionable behavior, ”I have a wide stance” must fall somewhere between the schoolchild’s favorite ”the dog ate my homework” and President Clinton’s ”I didn’t inhale.”

But Sen. Larry Craig’s contention — made just after his arrest in a restroom sex sting — has permeated the public consciousness, showing up as more than just the punch line to late-night talk show jokes.

The online Urban Dictionary defines ”wide stance” as a euphemism for a closeted homosexual. David Kurtz of the blog ”Talking Points Memo” called Craig’s wide stance claim ”The Best Legal Defense of 2007.” And Beau Jarvis, who writes about wine, travel and food on the blog ”Basic Juice,” notes that the phrase has become less than innocent and proposes ”cleansing” it by using it to describe a well-balanced wine.

h/t to Americablog.com

Van Taylor wants you to know
Van is mad at Murtha for something he didn’t actually say. The Miami Sun-Sentinel misquoted him and no one checked the quote (sounds like bloggers have taken over, doesn’t it?) before running with it.

Van Taylor, the Republican candidate for the District 17 House seet, and the only R candidate who is an Iraq vet, is joining the swiftboating of John Murtha for his position on the war.

Of course the whole campaign is politically motivated and fueled by lies and distortion — else it wouldn’t be “swiftboating” but of course we can’t count on the media to clarify things for voters.

Fortunately, there’s a local blogger who takes on this task for the district. Nate Nance publishes the blog Common Sense, and tirelessly covers this race. If you live in this area, you should bookmark Common Sense and check it regularly. If you have local news that Nate might be interested in writing about, he’s got his email posted. And of course, use his comments to get a local dialog started — a civil, respectful one, of course, regardless of your political persuasion..