Funmurphys: the Blog

Election Day Plus 1

This was an election where neither party deserved a win (IMHO, at least) but the electorate decided in the aggregate to throw the bums out and give the other bums a chance. The Republicans ran the way they governed -- not well. I can't recall any mention about the economy and how it's booming. The Democrats weren't much better, but they were better enough to win back the House and maybe even the Senate. It's my hope this doesn't spark a Republican search for purity but learning, as in learning from their mistakes.

I went to bed with Jim Talent winning and Amendment 2 losing, and awoke to find Talent lost and Amendment 2 won. While Amendment 2 won't actually change anything, Talent's loss will.

The minimum wage increase passed handily. We can all feel good about ourselves now. Too bad for the people priced out of the job market by this (maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.) Yeah, I know the supporters got people with big pointy heads to say this wouldn't affect employment, but can you name any commodity that when you raise the price on it people buy more of it?

What I don't understand is how slow the election returns came in for Missouri. This year voting was either touch screen or opti-scan, both of which log the votes immediately. We should have results seconds after the polls close. Instead, as I write this, there are 68 precincts still not reporting. Did the horse and buggy breakdown?

I feel virtuous today - I voted against a tax on other people (Amendment 3) and voted for 2 taxes on myself - one for the Parkway school district, and one for the Special school district. I would have voted for the tobacco tax (Amendment 3) if the backers had just been honest. I might not be alone in that (hint, hint).

Poll workers must have gotten a commision on touch screen voters because they were really pushing it hard. Glenn Reynolds would be so proud of me -- I voted using the new pen and paper method - the same one I took standardized tests in school with 30 years ago. I did so only because the line was so much shorter for the optiscan than the touch screen.

No word on whether Red Villa voted in this election.

I expect "Mission Accomplished" banners to be hung up in newsrooms across the country. No word if the newsrooms can put 2 and 2 together.

In similar news, Nicaraguans have returned Daniel Ortega to power. The tagline of this blog, The Triumph of Hope Over Experience was certainly in evidence yesterday.