Last week I wrote a post noting that I was thankful that I didn’t have to write the standard “what it means” analysis post after every election, mainly because if freed me from having to flagrantly twist the election results to support my agenda.
Case in point – this release from the National Organization for Marriage, via Good As You, hailing the Republican victory in the special election in Hawaii:
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) President Brian Brown reacts to the victory of Charles Djou in Hawaii’s special election with the following statement:
“Charles Djou’s victory shows that when it comes to marriage there are no red or blue states, only Americans who believe in the common sense idea that marriage is the union of husband and wife. The National Organization for Marriage reached out to 100,000 likely primary voters in the last days of the campaign to inform Hawaii voters that Charles Djou would protect the people’s right to vote for marriage. Djou is the first GOP Congressman to be elected from the district in 20 years, and he defeated two openly pro-gay marriage candidates. Djou is Hawaii’s Scott Brown. He won because he refused to concede that a seat in Congress belongs to any politician or political party. It’s the people’s seat and the people of Hawaii have once again spoken for marriage.”
That is how you try to frame it so that it bolsters your agenda. In contrast, this is how you explain it if you are being accurate:
Charles Djou, a Republican city councilmember from Honolulu, has won the special congressional election in Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District vacated by Democrat Neil Abercrombie, who resigned to focus on his gubernatorial campaign.
Djou won when the top two Democrats — former Rep. Ed Case and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa — refused to make way for the other and insisted on staying in the race. The resulting split of the Democratic vote allowed Djou to win the seat with just under 40 percent of the vote. Hanabusa received 31 percent and Case 28 percent.
There were two Democrats in the race, both of whom refused to drop out. They ended up getting 59% of the vote, but split it, thereby allowing Djou to win with 40%.
Does NOM really believe that anyone is buying their laughably ridiculous self-serving spin on this?
