They're Taking Lloyd Doggett Away From Me!!!

[mermaid]

Damn Repukes in Texas!!
Bastards with their illegal re-districting map are taking Lloyd Doggett away from me!!
They moved his district in such a way that I no longer live in his District...and my district is one that snakes all the way down from Southeast Austin to Mexico...about 250 miles away!!

Even if Doggett wins next time out, he will no longer be my congressman, and that's WRONG!! Doggett is the man I ELECTED...and I WANT...to represent me!

All's I can say is I better not end up "represented" by some freaking Repuke!!

I hope the Dems fight this illegal map in court and win! I want Lloyd back, dammit!!

-Disenfranchised Texas Democrat Voter

[Clete]

1. I feel for you.

The same thing happened to me in 2002. They took my most wonderful Congressperson, Lois Capps, away and gave me Bill Thomas instead. :puke:

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. Except that the Democrats did that to you

[Clete]

18. I know and it sucks.

)-:

[PlanetBev]

21. Yeah, Clete

I'm just south of you, living down here in Thousand Oaks with Tom McClintock. Bummer having Lois Capps taken away from you.

[Clete]

24. You have McClintock?

Damn, I wish I could drive south and you could drive north and we could meet. My schedule right now doesn't allow it. We could commiserate though. :loveya:

[BlueCollar]

2. Fret not my fellow Texas Dem...

This fight ain't over yet...

:evilgrin:

[mermaid]

3. Not As Bad As I Thought....

Well, I got a look at the new map today...not as bad for ME, personally, as I thought. I'll be, under the new map, about 1 mile inside District 25...that's the one that goes from Southeast Austin all the way down to Mexico in a real thin line...BUT...the margins on my new district are 72.5% Dem, 27.5% Repuke...so, at least I'll not end up "represented" by a Repuke!
Likely as not, we won't be represented by anyone from Austin, unfortunately...but at least we're not likely to end up "represented" by a Repuke...that woulda REALLY pissed me off!
I guess the Repukes figgered they screwed with Travis County the best they could...and there was no way to dilute South and East Austin sufficiently...so they used it as a dumping ground for hundreds of thousands of minority Democrats in that thin line snaking all the way to Mexico, in order to get them OUT of districts the Repukes think they can actually win.
Apparently, the strategy of the Repukes is to create this Latino Democrat stronghold, and point to it when the map gets challenged uner the Voting Rights Act...and at the same time, they have effectively disenfranchised Austin entirely.
Meanwhile, Williamson County, to our north...a Repuke stronghold of assholes who think they are better than everybody else...THEY get ALL of their county in one district...while the Democrat stronghold of Travis gets broken up into THREE districts.
I knew we were getting the screw job in Travis...as soon as I realized there were representatives from EVERY PART of the state on the conference committee on redisticting...EXCEPT...no representative from Travis County.
The new map sucks...hope it don't stand up and gets tossed in court...but, even if it doesn't...at least it isn't quite as bad as I thought for ME, PERSONALLY...at least I will still be represented by a good, honest Democrat and not a lying, hypocritical jackass Repuke!!

[jsaro]

6. It's called crack and pack

That's the strategy -- crack up opposition voting blocks, like Travis County, and pack all the opposition party votes into as few contorted, misshapened districts as possible. The Dems have done it to them in the past. They figure it's payback time, and they have the power to do it. Let's hope that the Voting Rights Act prohibits this particular monstrosity. The real irritant is that they've already gerrymandered the districts. It's a criminal waste of resources to put the state through this again. If the legal challenge succeeds, look for Redistricting, Part Trois, in 2005. Since when did criminal wasting of resources bother them, as long as they're doing it?

Why does anyone vote for these people?

[thinkahead]

4. They are taking your VOTE from you

and handing it to a Republican, because it suits their political purposes. It is outright vote stealing and they do it in broad daylight.

[jsaro]

5. What about me? I got Lamar Alexander 2 years ago!

I moved to Austin two years ago, and Lloyd Doggett was my congressman -- yay! But I live in Westlake, which was gerrymandered in 2001 into Lamar Alexander's San Antonio district. So my congressman is a gun lovin' dolt!

But let me tell you, life goes on. Karma's a bitch. As evil as this redistricting is, it's all part of a larger cycle. They'll get theirs, at least if the country doesn't go totally down the tubes in the next five years. I'm optimistic, although it's sure damn hard these days.

[Lurking Dem]

9. Lamar Alexander is a TN Senator.

That would be one hell of a district!

Do you mean Lamar Smith?

[jsaro]

11. Yeah, Lamar Smith

Brain hiccup there, sorry about that. :crazy:

[Lurking Dem]

13. That's what ya get

for posting at 6 in the morning! :+

[SharonAnn]

20. Wow, that's good. I was afraid there were two of him. He's my

senator here in Tennessee, along with the very liberal Bill Frist.

Actually, compared to Frist, Lamar seems like a liberal!

[mermaid]

14. Wow!! I didn't Know There WERE Democrats in Westlake...

LOL....

[jsaro]

16. I know what you mean, believe me!

The majority are Repukes, I know, but there are lots of mad liberal soocer moms (and dads) out here across Town Lake (especially in Rollingwood). It's not bad enough we have Lamar SMITH, we also have the ambitious, sniveling toady Todd Baxter as our State Rep. Blech!

[mermaid]

17. Wow...I Feel For Ya...

But, hey...it could be worse...you could have Jeff Wentworth as your State Rep...

I dunno what these new lines do for our state Reps...I'm hoping I'm still in Eddie Rodriguez's district....

Wentworth is awful damn close to me, though...and if they drew the lines wrong, I might end up "represented" in Austin by Wentworth!
:puke: :vomit: :throwup: :spew:

Dunno which, if any, of those will give me the emoticon I want, soo sorry about that....

[jsaro]

19. State Rep lines wil not change

Mermaid, the current redistricting fiasco only relates to the U.S. Congressional seats. There will be no change in the State Rep or Senate districts. Now that they have a majority in both Texas houses, the Repukes will leave that alone. It's all about power, and humiliating the opposition, dontcha know?

Jane

[kentuck]

8. So all those trips to Oklahoma and New Mexico were for naught?

The Repubs always have more persistence than the Dems, don't they? Just like Orrin Hatch will keep bringing up his Court appointees until he is victorious...

[BlueCollar]

10. All locked up...

no agreement in the Senate...tried to get it done and couldn't...they reconvene Sunday...IF everyone shows up...4 republicans don't want to co-operate...

[GOPisEvil]

12. These evil bastards can't even agree on which evil plan to use.

Quote of the Week: "We're just praying the Democrats will leave again, to take the heat off all of us." State Rep. John Smithee (R-Amarillo) watching from the sidelines as his own party leaders embarrass and abuse each other. (Taken from the Austin Chronicle, Vol. 23, No. 6 - October 10, 2003)

Edit - link to the new map: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared/texas/legislature/1003/1010travismap.html

If I don't move I stay in District 10 - Lloyd's district. :eyes:

[mermaid]

15. ???WTF???

You say that as if it were a bad thing?? With the eyes, I mean...
Do you not like Doggett...or is it, rather, you don't like Doggett's chances of winning his new District?? You aren't really making yourself very clear here...

I personally do not like Lloyd's chances in his new District, being a 60/40 Repuke/Dem split demographically...but I've already emailed my soon-to-be former Congressman to offer my support to help in his re-election campaign, even if I will no longer be a constituent...if for no other reason than the assistance his office has given me in dealing with Federal matters thru the years. Damn, I'm gonna miss Lloyd!!
Well, at least I oughta get a Dem...since there's no incumbent, maybe I could talk Eddie Rodriguez (my current State Representative) to run for District 25.....Eddie'd be allright with me if I can't have Lloyd....

[burr]

22. I don't know what to say...

Sorry this is happening? It happened when we in the Bush states put Gore over the top with the popular vote, but our votes didn't matter. It happened to me when I thought I was electing a Democrat to the Senate, but then Zell Miller voted with the Republicans every chance he got. And I felt this way when I was a campaign worker for Nathan Deal in 1994, but then he switched parties a year later.

Those who are disenfranchised don't want sympathy from Democrats, we want them to fight for our right to have our votes count. And we want our party to include these principles in the platform and to never give them up!

[mermaid]

23. Very Well Said

Burr!
I'm not looking for sympathy here...I'm issuing a call to arms!!

This post was merely intended to be a wake-up call, to let my fellow DUers know what is being done to us here in Austin...and to make a stink and a fuss about it...because Austin has now been, for all intents and purposes, disenfranchised!

Disgusting!

Fifteenth-largest metro area in the United states, and likely the largest metro area that will most likely not now be sending one of our own to Washington!

Think you can't be next??

Don't put it past the Repukes!!

:puke: