Friday, March 4, 2016

Kentucky's Media-influenced special elections loom

Republican voters in 4 Kentucky House districts are sure not to miss the special elections this coming Tuesday, March 8. But what about you???

It's not like the Kentucky Democratic Party is doing a thing to defend the seats it has, but at least labor unions and the individual Democratic candidates are. Will this be enough to overcome the right-wing media? Or will Kentucky plunge further into debt and decay at the hands of corrupt Republican bosses? See, that's the beauty of Republican corruption: It gives us an excuse to use big words like that.

It's conceivable that the GOP could win all 4 elections, bringing the Kentucky House to a 50/50 tie. Nobody expects the Democrats to win all 4, but if they did, they'd enjoy a surmountable but commanding 54 to 46 edge.

The Democrats must also overcome the Republicans' astounding 25-to-1 cash advantage. That figure doesn't even count the money that nominally nonpartisan Tea Party groups have on hand from their heroin sales. In addition, the House was gerrymandered to favor Republicans. House Democrats had a part in redistricting, but of course they decided to play nice in the hopes Republicans might start playing nice.

On the plus side, Matt Bevin and Donald Trump aren't exactly doing their party any favors. Furthermore, one of the 4 Republicans running in the special elections has come out against unconstitutional "right-to-work" laws, so the GOP won't be able to pass their priority legislation this year - maybe not ever, since higher voter turnout or further party embarrassment could gut GOP gains in November.

But most of the Republican Party today is living debris, and shouldn't be allowed out of their cages unsupervised. So we have to keep the latest Republican jackboot from dropping. Do your job, Media. And I don't mean just quoting a candidate saying "bubble gum."