Jonestown for Democrats
Liberals follow Gray into the big nowhere
Fortunately, much of the Democratic base is so much smarter than its leadership. Exit polling reveals much of it just plain refused to buy this crap and outright refused to lift a finger, or punch a chad, to save Davis. Twenty-five percent of Democrats voted to fire the Guv. The wheels of Miguel Contreras’ and the County Labor Federation’s much-vaunted multimillion-dollar get-out-the-vote machine flew off when it crashed head-on with the rank and file. Half of union households voted for the recall, 4 of 10 directly for Schwarzenegger. Black turnout was disproportionately low, and 30 percent of African-Americans voted to can the governor. So did half of Latinos and more than 40 percent of women, gays and lesbians. One out of four liberals also went with the Terminator.
This is all good news. Not because Schwarzenegger has been elected. (Nor is his election necessarily bad news. We shall see in the days and months to come if he can fulfill any of his outsider rhetoric or if he will indeed turn out to be one more business-as-usual Republican.) But for the moment, let the Democratic Party and its "progressive" satellites deeply, richly and slowly feel the painful consequences of allying with and defending — to death itself — the likes of Gray Davis. The harder the Democrats now have to work to hold on to constituencies they’d rather take for granted, so much the better. One day they may actually get it.
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