Be afraid

Sensuous Curmudgeon and PZ are both having fun poking through the background of Kansas gubernatorial candidate Joan Heffington. Heffington forthrightly calls for creationism to be taught in public schools, and pledged to demand advocates offer a âbiblical and constitutional reason exist for the passage of any new law." Yeesh.

PZ responds to this development:

Quick, somebody reassure me that she's a fringe candidate without a prayer of getting into office. Please. It's Monday, the day is painful enough.

i-e0d5f2559f0aa1a5bf418aef511239c0-__chartfx70_temp_CFV0719_0136541691D.pngYes, she's a fringe candidate without a prayer of getting into public office. But that's not good news, because Sam Brownback (Sam Brownback!) is going to whomp her in the primary, and looks likely to waltz through the general election.
Sam Brownback is six different sorts of bad news. A creationist? Yep. A theocrat who bunked with The Family in their infamous C Street house? Yep. A man willing to use anti-semitism to win a Senate seat? Yep. A homophobe? Yep. A manimal fetishist? My yes. A forced pregnancy advocate? Heck yeah.

Right now, Brownback is leading his Democratic rival for the Kansas governorship by a 2-1 margin. There are some things about that poll's internal demographics that look hinky, but I believe that Brownback has vastly greater name recognition than Tom Holland. So why not drop some cash on Tom Holland for Governor, and do your part to keep Brownback out of the halls of power.

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The US gets the government it deserves.

I wish we could just stand in flowing ice-water and flog ourselves bloody with birch branches as penance. It would hurt less and the stripes heal in a few weeks.

Electing Brownback is a beating that will take years to get through, and many more years to undo the damage. It is no longer a question of why do they hate America. The question is: why do we hate ourselves and why isn't a good birching penance enough?

It's true, Heffington seems to be quite marginal at the moment. But you must admit she's great blogging material. I'm looking forward to a tight race. Come on, Josh -- creationist entertainment is what Kansas is all about.

My sense of humor betrays me, I usually secretly root for these kinds of candidates. PZ Myers, in fact, I think, introduced me to my favorite ever, I think his name was Glen Moon, and his last name was probably for his ancestral planet.

By Marion Delgado (not verified) on 19 Jul 2010 #permalink