Republican Gives Wingnuts the Middle Finger in Tennessee

Unless he has a clear track record of siding with Dems

and his constituents know about it, this guy is toast when he comes up for re-election.

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by: redstateblues @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 00:17:33 AM UTC

Of course, Wonkette has a better scoop than Kos

http://wonkette.com/405417/ten...

and re: the point of redstateblues:

And full credit is due to the new Speaker Kent Williams, who candidly acknowledged in his address that he would likely be kicked out of the Republican party and lose his next election.

I'm not as sweet as I used to be.

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by: Jambalaya @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 01:35:53 AM UTC

That makes sense

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by: redstateblues @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 01:54:06 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Umm

Sounds like the Democrats rolled over and elected themselves a Republican Speaker.

I guess that's a great victory to anyone who looks up to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

To me?  Well, not so much.

Today, you're either going to get better or you're going to get worse, but you're never going to be the same.  Which one will it be?  --Joseph V. Paterno

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by: Ralphie @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 01:54:09 AM UTC

yes, all Republicans are exactly the same

good point!

I'm not as sweet as I used to be.

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by: Jambalaya @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 01:57:27 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Most people

Would have tried to flip one Republican vote and get a speaker of their own.

Only Democrats would engage in a circle jerk like this.

Today, you're either going to get better or you're going to get worse, but you're never going to be the same.  Which one will it be?  --Joseph V. Paterno

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by: Ralphie @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 02:03:41 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

oh, this guy, who is beholden to Dems for his position, is not "a speaker of their own"?

I'm not as sweet as I used to be.

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by: Jambalaya @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 02:10:05 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Wow, principles before politics

And the righties still don't get it.  

"Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth." Paul Krugman, 9/2010

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by: parsingreality @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 02:13:18 AM UTC

A lot of the lefties commenting above don't get it either

I'm with you, I take this as someone who does not want to see the GOP dragged off into wingnutville.

Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!

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by: DavidThi808 @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 03:43:27 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I agree...

Stop the presses...

Seriously - although I don't agree with Republicans on a lot of things, I think we need an effective, rational, sane opposition party.  Without that, the Democrats will just run open-loop and smoke-filled-rooms will completely run the show (instead of the 90% that they do now).

Not to mention - I actually have civil libertarian sympathies with the concept of limited government intervention in private lives.  I wish one of the major parties would agree with me on that... the Republicans want to monitor who I sleep with (perverts!) and the Democrats want to hand over my Constitutional intellectual property rights to the highest bidder (toadies!).

The party with the highest potential of being that is actually the Republican party, but they are currently too wrapped around the finger of the American Ayatollahs Religious Right.

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by: G Pulviczek @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 04:21:40 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I/P rights issue?

Just want to know what you're talking about there...

"We're below sharks and contract killers." -- Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), speaking on Congress's 9% approval rating

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by: Phoenix Rising @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 19:13:34 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

DMCA

The Dems are in bed with Hollywood / MPAA / RIAA in extending copyright indefinitely.  Disney got their big money adapting public-domain works, and then turned around and got laws passed prohibiting their own works from ever passing into the public domain.  And it's not just Disney.

Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution says, in part:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

The Democrats are intent on working with big business media to make that "limited time" effectively unlimited.

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by: G Pulviczek @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 21:06:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Okay, just checking

Though it's not like the Republicans were anti-DMCA or against Copyright extension.

There have been a few noises, mostly from the newer Progressive community, on reining in copyright terms, but I wouldn't count on much.

"We're below sharks and contract killers." -- Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), speaking on Congress's 9% approval rating

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by: Phoenix Rising @ Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 21:51:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

And frankly

patent reform has to take front seat there.  Copyright reforms would be a welcome tweak once the real problem is handled.

"Apple denies that, based on their common meaning, the words 'app store' together denote a store for apps"
-- Legal filing by Apple Computer

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by: cdsmith @ Thu Jan 15, 2009 at 07:21:46 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Software patents are even worse now

The patent office is now saying no to everything so only the large companies with a staff of attorneys can go through appeal after appeal to get one approved.

It's gone from a way to protect the little guy to one more way to protect the big corporations.

Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!

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by: DavidThi808 @ Sat Jan 17, 2009 at 16:21:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]