Last month beleaguered GOP Sen. John Ensign announced that he wouldn't seek reelection in 2012. But today his aides revealed that Ensign will resign tomorrow.Ensign has fallen under investigation by the ethics committee in the wake of an alleged sexual relationship with an aide and accusations that he steered business to her lobbyist husband. His departure could clear the way for Nevada's Republican governor to appoint Rep. Dean Heller (R) to the seat, giving the GOP an incumbent in 2012.
I am touching ALL of the Flying Spaghetti Monster's noodly appendages in joy as the networks have just declared Sen. Harry Reid as the winner in Nevada's freakazoid Senate race. Never before (I don't think) have I loathed a political candidate so fiercely with every gay fiber of my being as I do Sharron Angle. (OK, maybe Ruben Diaz.) Congratulations in particular go out to the Nevada Stonewall Democrats who battled so fiercely for Reid. Woo AND hoo, y'all! I can't wait to hear Joy Behar's victory jokes on tomorrow's View.
The two final polls in Sen. Harry Reid's battle against Sharron Angle show him only 1-3 points behind, which is essentially a tie in the famed "margin of error" game. Nate Silver continues to call the seat as "likely GOP." This is the race that will have the nation up very late tomorrow night.
Speaking to a Nevada church, Sharron Angle got all caught up in Jeebus and denounced social programs, abortion, divorce, and gay marriage as the "wicked ways" that are destroying America."I confess that we are a nation who has killed our children. I confess that we are a nation who has walked away from the family and allowed divorce even among our ranks. We have walked away from the biblical definition of marriage; one man, one woman, the two become one flesh," Angle said. "We as a nation have been walking away from our constitutional freedom and relying on government instead to take care of the widow and the orphan...we're saying 'well, the government we have all these programs now, aid for families with dependent children and medicare and social security."According to Angle, "the people" should help their needy, not the government.
The ad was widely seen as an effort to hurt the campaign of incumbent Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat, who is working hard to turn out Latino voters. Mr. de Posoda, who has long worked with the Republican Party, said he didn’t like either candidate but acknowledged that a Latino boycott would hurt Mr. Reid’s chances. Democrats from President Barack Obama on down condemned his effort. “I think it is terrible,’” Mr. Obama said Tuesday during a roundtable with reporters from Spanish-language outlets. “It is a cynical political ploy to try to drive Latino votes to benefit a Republican candidate in Nevada who would never vote for immigration reform.” Mr. de Posoda argues that politicians take Latino votes for granted and have failed to deliver on promises including enacting comprehensive immigration legislation. To teach them a lesson, his ads argue, Latinos should stay home on Election Day. After complaints from Nevada Democrats and some Republicans, Univision said it would not run the spots, called “Don’t Vote.”You think you've seen it all, and then this.
Here's the full quote from Sharron Angle:"So that’s what we want is a secure and sovereign nation and, you know, I don’t know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me. I don’t know that. [Note: it's the Hispanic Student Union. The whole room is Hispanic teenagers.] What we know, what we know about ourselves is that we are a melting pot in this country. My grandchildren are evidence of that. I’m evidence of that. I’ve been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada State Assembly."The above-linked reporter says he "has no idea" what Angle means about being the first Asian legislator. Angle continues to maintain a slim polling lead over Harry Reid.
In a case highly similar to that of Atlanta's "Bishop" Eddie Long, a pastor in Las Vegas has been arrested and charged with 11 felony counts of molesting teenage boys. According to police, Pastor Billy Eskstine McCurdy used biblical verses to coerce the boys into sex.North Las Vegas police arrested Billy Eckstine McCurdy, 57, following an eight-month investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted teen boys at his home. McCurdy is the pastor at Revival Temple Church of God in Christ at the intersection of Tonopah and Vegas drives. At the church Friday night, men in all black suits said no church officials were prepared to comment on the arrest. The new charges involve two teen boys who said McCurdy forced them into sexual relationships with him. They told police he used his position in the church and Bible scriptures to force them into sex acts, authorities said. Both boys testified at a grand jury, which indicted McCurdy Thursday on six counts of sexual assault and five counts of open or gross lewdness. He was being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail.Police expect other victims to come forward. Five years ago a similar charge was brought against McCurdy, but the case was dropped because prosecutors felt they could not prove their case. Back then McCurdy's parishioners rallied behind him. The historically black (and virulently anti-gay) Church of God in Christ (COGIC) has long been accused of covering up sexual misconduct by its pastors.
