Discussion for article #227057
This is something very few politicians ever do: The Right Thing.
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Well it might be the case but pretty hard to see that one issue would mean a 35 point loss.
Republicans are not too strong in Hawaii. To bring out their folk to cross over like that, does not seem very likely.
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Yeah, I call “self-serving BS” as well.
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It’s amazing some the sh*t that terrible pols will come up with as a reason for their “shellacking.” Gay marriage did him in?? In Hawaii? How about Neil Abercrombie did him in.
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My understanding of Hawaii politics is that Abercrombie was not much of a politician. He was focused on doing whatever he thought was the right thing at any given moment, regardless of who it upset. This cost him a lot of allies, yes, but from other Democrats, because Abercrombie’s a bit of a centrist.
I give him credit for taking the loss fairly gracefully, but hopefully he doesn’t say much more like this.
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Do we know what his opponent’s position on gay marriage is?
I think it is more likely that he really pissed off Dems by dishonoring the memory of Dan Inouye when he ignored Inouye’s dying request to appoint Coleen Hanabusa to Inouye’s vacant Senate seat. I am pretty sure the ghost of Inouye brought him down.
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I’m doubting that’s all there is to his getting destroyed in this primary, but it’s nice to see a politician do the right thing, even if it costs them an election.
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Since Hanabusa lost in the primary, it would seem that Abercrombie did the right thing there, too.
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I believe that’s true to a certain extent and yet, putting Schatz in for Hannabusa could also be seen as “doing the right thing” as well as on gay marriage. She was so wrong for Hawaii it was kinda scary. I also definitely think there’s some racial animus directed towards Abercrombie in addition to him being a twit who ended up burning bridges within his won party unnecessarily.
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Sometimes honesty comes with a very high price.
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Maybe so, but if that’s the case, Brian Schatz shouldn’t have stood a chance, either. And as it happens, Schatz has done damn well as Inouye’s replacement (and is more progressive than Hanabusa will ever be), so maybe Daniel’s ghost should have a cup of spectral STFU.
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Agreed. Abercrombie was a bomb-thrower in the House, and that’s the wrong kind of person to be a governor. At least Chrisco knew when to throw the moderates a bone.
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Hawaii voter here, and I can say flat-out that this is just stupid. Not even the House Republicans who voted in favor of gay marriage lost their seats. If the religious conservatives here can’t even manage to get out 1300 votes in a district where Republicans get a majority, in what sane world can they mobilize hordes of Democrats across the state - completely under the radar, with no public campaign? And for the record, Ige is in favor of gay marriage and helped shepherd it through the legislature.
I actually voted for Abercrombie, reluctantly, because Ige gave out practically nothing about his positions beyond presenting himself as a generic more-or-less liberal (which doesn’t tell you much in state issues). But now I’m very glad he lost.
Oh, and the Inouye’s ghost thing is bogus as well. There may be a few who opposed him because of that, but it’s not why he lost. He lost because of his personality and attitude, first and last.
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Doesn’t matter who the other guy is if religious voters were persuaded to go out to punish Abercrombie… The claim about Republican voters is something that can be checked when the data are looked at.
Do I hear a “McDaniel” lawsuit coming??
No.
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He was pro.
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There’s a pretty thorough examination of Abercrombie’s loss at
The article argues, in short, that “Abercrombie’s troubles were mostly a function of the budget crisis he inherited. No one wants to be in the position of having to both cut services and raise taxes, but the way he went about it managed to anger everyone.”
Interesting read.
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