Idaho: stepping forward...into the past! [View All]

[IDemo]

Bucking the nationwide trend last night, Idaho's Republican voters were able to cling to their prized title of "Reddest State" by winning both US House seats, the governorship, and numerous state seats. Jesusland didn't prevail completely in the slightly bluer zone of Ada County, however. Voters here rejected a ballot proposal to allow the City of Boise to place a Ten Commandments monument in a city park. Oh well, I'm sure we haven't seen the last of such efforts from Brandi Swindell (or Bambi, as I call her).

Our new governor, Butch Otter, has a drunk driving arrest, a tight jeans contest win, and a $80,000 fine from the EPA for destroying wetlands habitat on his riverside acreage.

Our new District 1 representative, Bill Sali, was so combative in the Idaho statehouse that he prompted a fellow Republican to claim he would like to pitch him off the upper balcony. And the Republican speaker, Bruce Newcomb, said of Sali:"That idiot is an absolute idiot. He hasn't got an ounce of empathy in his entire body, and you can quote me in the newspaper." Sali caused a walkout earlier this year by claiming erroneously that abortion increased the likelihood of breast cancer, bringing House Minority Leader and cancer survivor Wendy Jacquet to tears. He repeated those claims along with a throng of supporters a week ago on the statehouse steps.

And just to make absolutely sure that the marriage licenses of heterosexual couples do not spontaneously combust due the threat posed by others enjoying the embrace of marriage, Idaho voters swept in HJR2 by a 63 to 37 percent ratio, banning (shudder) gay marriage.

Apologies to Firesign Theater for the headline, and to the nation for last night!