Wacko right-wing extremists in Tennessee once again counted their chickens before they hatched. Today the city of Nashville went to the polls for a special election to decide if the metro government should go "English Only."
The wingnuts thought it was in the bag, proving one more time they have no idea what the hell’s going on in the real world.
I am proud to say the Anti-English Only side is headed for victory big time!
I have to admit I did not expect a victory, despite the fact that Nashville is an island of Blue in a Red state.
The wingnuts talked a big game. They claimed the polls and the conservative churches were on their side. Led by deluded egomaniac Metro Councilman Eric Crafton, the "English Only" side forced the issue into a special election because they thought the low turnout would translate into an easy victory because the good guys would have no time to organize.
Wrong!
A huge congratulations to the entire "Nashville For All" campaign, which organized almost overnight to fight this thing. They were crazy fast and crazy effective at mobilizing our side. And kudos to Nashville Mayor Karl Dean for taking a leading role in these efforts.
By making this a special election rather than waiting for the next scheduled election day, the wingnuts forced Metro Nashville to spend somewhere between $300,000 and $500,000 despite the fact that the city is strapped for cash in this economic crisis.
Financially, just having the vote was a disaster for the city.
But had the wingnuts won, it would have been worse. Not only would we be embarrassed on a national stage, but new businesses would have avoided our city as backwards and racist. And of course the whole damn thing was unconstitutional to start with, so the courts would have tossed it out eventually -- but only after the damage was done and the city had racked up huge legal bills.
This is another surprise victory for Democrats and progressives in Tennessee. Just one week ago, state Republicans humiliated themselves by losing the vote for Speaker of the State House despite finally winning control of the full State Legislature.
Wow -- I am so thrilled and so relieved that my city dodged this bullet. Go, Nashville! We’ll lead this state back into the light yet!