Few news stories have brought me more joy recently than reading about the Republican Tea Party activist, Matt Bevin, and his unanticipated win in the Kentucky gubernatorial race.
However, the cherry on top of this Schadenfreude sundae has got to be Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo’s entertaining election night sermon (hat-tip, Victory Girls).
The rant was rich in biblical references. At one point, Stumbo actually says, “We can’t let them [Republicans] make people believe we are not Godly people”. Personally, I think the booing that occurred during the 2012 Democratic Party convention when “God” was inserted into the platform is a more likely root cause for that particular belief.
Interestingly, Bevin’s win is partially attributable to voter unhappiness with the Affordable Care Act…which shows that the Tea Party is more robustly alive than Obamacare.
The Kentucky win was only one of many solid wins for conservative principles this November.
The Republicans in Virginia held on to the state senate by handily winning a key contest.
Republican state Sen. Frank Wagner defeated Democrat Gary McCollum Tuesday in a state Senate contest that Republicans needed to help keep control of the upper chamber….The State Senate Race between Wagner and McCollum was one of the three most costly Senate races in Virginia. Wagner beat McCollum by 54 percent to 46 percent for the seat in Senate.
Houston voters rejected a “nondiscrimination” ordinance by a wide margin:
Houston voters rejected on Tuesday an LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination ordinance in their city by a wide margin, dashing the hopes of LGBT rights supporters after a chain of victories on same-sex marriage.The Associated Press and other media outlets called the race a couple hours after polls closed in Houston at 7 p.m. Central Time. Houston residents cast their votes on the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, which came to them on the ballot as Proposition 1.According to the unofficial report from Harris County, the numbers were 39 percent “yes” and 61 percent “no” with 100 percent of precincts reporting in a low turnout election.
I suspect many voters recalled the LGBT-bullying of small pizza joints, bakeries and flower shops owned by hard-working Christians. Perhaps those who want nondiscrimination rules shouldn’t practice discrimination next time?
Plans to legalize marijuana in Ohio went up in smoke…in part because of marijuana activists.
The sheer size of Tuesday’s crushing electoral defeat of marijuana legalization in the Buckeye State surprised political experts inside and out of Ohio. Despite a $20 million campaign, the proposed constitutional amendment, known as Issue 3, lost. Amid its smoking wreckage, six reasons emerge to explain what happened to Issue 3 — and what happens next.With 99% of precincts reporting, the amendment was defeated 64% to 36%….Marijuana activists always squabble over legalization initiatives. One reason that a 2010 proposition lost in California was because the marijuana farmers in the state’s “emerald triangle” voted it down by 70%. Marijuana activists in Ohio were almost uniformly opposed to the measure. Many of them have been fighting The Man on marijuana for years, and the prospect of wealthy investors suddenly swooping down to throw money at the issue and then cashing in on the Green Rush was galling.
And while this election night may be quickly forgotten in the excitement over the 2016 vote, the taste of the sweet schadenfreude may linger long enough to inspire even more enthusiastic efforts by conservatives over the next 12 months.
Perhaps then we can look forward to a banana-split serving size of schadenfreude?
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