11 August, 2008

Versimilitude of Voters and Vermin Verified

When the ship begins to sink, the rats will flee. Or so the story goes.

Well, some voters are smart enough to follow suit:

Well before Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain rose to the top of their parties, a partisan shift was under way at the local and state level. For more than three years starting in 2005, there has been a reduction in the number of voters who register with the Republican Party and a rise among voters who affiliate with Democrats and, almost as often, with no party at all.

While the implications of the changing landscape for Obama and McCain are far from clear, voting experts say the registration numbers may signal the beginning of a move away from Republicans that could affect local, state and national politics over several election cycles. Already, there has been a sharp reversal for Republicans in many statehouses and governor's mansions.

In several states, including the traditional battlegrounds of Nevada and Iowa, Democrats have surprised their own party officials with significant registration gains. In both of those states, there are now more registered Democrats than Republicans, a flip from 2004. No states have switched to the Republicans over the same period, according to data from 26 of the 29 states in which voters register by party. (Three of the states did not have complete data.)

My goodness, imagine that. Being the party of ignorant, raving, criminal fuckwits can actually lose you voters in the long run. A-fucking-mazing.

Just so we're clear, I count myself as one of the vermin. I jumped the great ship Independent for the Democratic this year when I realized that there was no use in voting independently - all of the tolerable candidates are bunched up in the Democratic party. Might as well face facts, eh?

I just hope this trend continues. It's nice to believe that my fellow Americans have at least some small sense of self-preservation here. Besides, it's entertaining as hell. I do so love watching sane conservatives flee an insane group of outrageous fuckwits.

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