Hey baby, what's your sign? WAPO's political analysis
Wed Apr 11, 2007 at 05:05:08 PM PDT
In tracking votes on key federal legislation, it's important for all of us to take a hard look at party and state and political affiliations. We doublecheck who's been crossing the aisle for key votes, hoping against hope to see signs of early Republican defections from the Bush cabal. Hey, maybe there will be a diary in there somewhere, if you've got the stones to throw your own junior political analysis into the blogosphere.
Me? I've been slow about jumping into the analytical fray, but no longer! According to the Washington Post, it's incredibly super-informative to look at the legislator's astrological sign as a key indicator of their legislative intent. More on WAPO's hardhitting take on the Senate after the jump...
It's been hard the last few days watching the grueling online debate about the highly anticipated WAPO webpage redesign, featuring (gasp!) more white space. Of course, if you follow the theory that the less you see of their paper's editorial stance, the better, it's just all gravy- since they have unapologetically made it harder to find just about anything on their webpage.
Still, I discovered that even after the shakeup, a google search for the "iraq war funding bill" will take you directly to WAPO's coverage on the Senate passage of HR 1591, complete with a handy link to the roll call for details about the vote. To help those of us who are scoring at home, the WAPO provides a couple of different ways to sort how individual Senators voted- by party, by state, by region, by gender,etc.
As an analytical lightweight, I was pleased to discover that the Washington Post is also including some very helpful numbers about how our Senators voted, organized by their "boomer status".
Boomer status Yes No Not Voting
Baby boomer 26 19 1
Pre-boomer 25 28 1
Total 51 47 2
That's the breakdown on the Iraq War funding bill- really helpful, isn't it? If checking for D's or R's is too hard, looking at the old fart/ young fart ratio may be the way to go. Now, thanks to the Post, if the geriatric set in the Senate gets up early and votes to sell Hawaii to QVC before the young swinger Senators get in, we'll know! If they vote order 400 million dollars in Huggable Hangers for the military, we will all quickly be able to see that their voting pattern indicates a disturbing trend in senior Senators' policy- away from Hawaii and towards better organized military lockers. Thanks, Washington Post!
That's not all the WAPO has to offer us on the critical Iraq War funding vote. Can the stars tell us how our Senators are going to vote? You betcha! Look to those Senate Libras for a big whopping clue about how Reid's party unity is working so far- they're with us on the big issues.
Astrological sign Yes No Not Voting
Aquarius 4 5 1
Aries 2 3 0
Cancer 3 5 0
Capricorn 3 3 1
Gemini 4 1 0
Leo 3 2 0
Libra 8 1 0
Pisces 4 5 0
Sagittarius 5 4 0
Scorpio 8 5 0
Taurus 4 6 0
Virgo 3 7 0
Total 51 47 2
That's right, Reid has cemented an astrological coalition among all the Senate Librans- Jeff Bingaman, Maria Cantwell, Ben Cardin, Chuck Hagel, Blanche Lincoln, Patty Murray, Bill Nelson and Sheldon Whitehouse. According to Wikipedia, we can always look to the Librans for important stuff coming from their keyword: "I balance". (Hey wait, that's two words. Note to self- must correct Wikipedia.) Important Libran traits include being "Co-operative, fair, lazy, partnerships, balance, grace, charm, debative, open-minded, social, ideas." Dana Milbank- there's a column in there somewhere! How about "Democratic Libran Ideals- Fair and Balanced"? Or "Lady Librans in the Senate- Charming and Graceful"?
Now- which Libran wasn't on board with Reid for this historic vote? Trent Lott, that's who. That suggests that Lott may NOT be on board with Reid's Libran coalition. (It also suggests that he might have kidney or back problems, according to Wikipedia.) Wow- thank you, Washington Post! From now on, if I suggest that Bob Woodward (an Aries) has a natural affinity for the political stance of Orrin Hatch (also an Aries) I will be standing on solid political ground.
Without their very special brand of hard-hitting, white-space journalism, I would never have been clued into this stuff. But then, it's always the traditional media that comes through for us. Without them, where would all us blogger types be? That's right, wandering aimlessly into the information highway, about to get smollocked by oncoming blog-traffic.
Now, where did I leave my pajama top? It's the one with lil fishies on it, cuz I'm a Pisces...
Permalink | 14 comments