WASHINGTON, D.C. — Troubled by dwindling membership and numerous setbacks, the 155 year-old Republican Party filed for financial, intellectual and moral bankruptcy and announced its reorganization as a tax-exempt church. The new GOP will be officially called The First Church Of Jesus Loves America And Latter Day Lower Taxes Anti Foreigner Old Time Heterosexual Do As I say Not As I Do Affluence Ministry Hoop N’ Hollerin’ Revival Gun Lovin’ Banker’s Club Outreach Hootenanny, Inc but will still use the name “Republican Party” for most functions.
Statement from California Democratic Party Chairman
John Burton on today’s California Supreme Court ruling on Proposition 8
Today’s decision, while heart-breaking, doesn’t end the historic struggle for marriage equality. It renews our dedication to making sure all California families can again enjoy the dignity, commitment and responsibility of marriage.
I commend the California Supreme Court for validating the rights of the 18,000 lesbian and gay couples who married last year before Proposition 8 passed. These couples and their children will continue to enjoy the full security and legal protection of marriage.
Within the next few years, I know California will restore legal, civil marriages for gay and lesbian couples. The California Democratic Party will play a leading role in ending marriage discrimination in California and I look forward to the day when that happens.
by George Lakoff
California Voters Set the Democrats Free: Will They Act?
Hooray! The outrageous propositions 1 A-E have been crushed by voters who just can’t take any more.
California voters have rejected the nonfunctional minority-rule government that has bankrupted the state, along with the governor who led the state into bankruptcy.
The voters want a functional democracy, and that means majority rule. No more blackmail by a 1/3 plus 1 Republican minority.
In short, the voters have given the Democrats a new freedom – if they will only take it.
Former Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes said Thursday said today that she will not run for state Senate in 2010, potentially clearing the way for Kern County Supervisor Michael Rubio’s ascent to the upper house. Reyes, a Fresno Democrat, had been expected to run for the seat of Sen. Dean Florez, who is running for lieutenant governor. But she told the Fresno Bee that instead she’ll be working for the California Endowment. “I have put all my political plans on hold,” Reyes said . “I have made a commitment to the California Endowment to help increase the health and welfare of the people in Fresno and the Valley.”
Assemblyman Juan Arambula, considered another potential candidate, has said he is not interested in running.
Anti-tax organizers of “tea parties” around the country have tried to keep out fringe elements like birth certificate conspiracy theorists and potentially embarrassing national politicians like Michael Steele and David Vitter. But Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times Monday that the “movement” is of a piece with the Republican party of the past decade or so:
Republicans have become embarrassing to watch. And it doesn’t feel right to make fun of crazy people. Better, perhaps, to focus on the real policy debates, which are all among Democrats.
But here’s the thing: the G.O.P. looked as crazy 10 or 15 years ago as it does now. That didn’t stop Republicans from taking control of both Congress and the White House. And they could return to power if the Democrats stumble. So it behooves us to look closely at the state of what is, after all, one of our nation’s two great political parties.
The tea parties, he points out, are funded by typical Republican billionaires and promoted by Fox News. The crazy attacks that spring up at them resemble the ones levied at Clinton. Krugman doesn’t say how, in his opinion, the GOP will once again take power. But, he concludes, “we can only hope that Republicans have moved on by the time that happens.”
Even as the Democratic Party rides an Obama-fueled wave of youth, enthusiasm and “change,” the Democrats of California look to be bucking the trend: They’re preparing to elect former state Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, 77, the iconic, battle-scarred veteran of state politics, as their party leader.
It’s a move not without controversy: The powerful former legislator, who first held the job of party chairman 36 years ago, is to his fans a colorful idol of progressive politics and to his critics the very symbol of old school, insider machine politics.
Burton, a grizzled survivor of California’s often-brutal mano a mano politics, termed out of the state Senate in 2004 and emerged earlier this year from political retirement to become the overwhelming favorite for the $133,639-a-year post as the state party head.
“I have charmed them all … or bullied them,” says Burton with a laugh. “People know who I am. They know what I can do.”
Statement from California Democratic Party Chairman
Find Out Who Is Buying Our Government
