Discussion for article #225920
anti-haole backlash?
More likely pro-Inouye sentimentality. Inouye was a state hero if not a state treasure. As a Japanese-American he was a Medal of Honor recipient who lost an arm fighting the Germans in Italy and represented Hawaii in the House and Senate continuously from the time Hawaii became a state until his death. When Abercrombie ignored his request to appoint Hanabusa to his seat and appointed his lieutenant governor Schatz instead, it ruffled a lot of feathers in Hawaii. So the two things are tied together, Much as Ford’s pardoning of Nixon cost him the next election, so Abercrombie’s ignoring of Inouye’s request is likely to cost him this one. And replacing Schatz with Hanabusa is just seen as honoring Inouye’s request.
1 Like
Makes sense.
I cannot stand career politicians
My first reaction was, Wow: TPM’s gone big time, sending its OWN REPORTER to an obscure, remote, hard-to-reach state to cover the trends more than a full quarter ahead of the mid-terms!
Then I thought, Jeez holey moley, not exactly the upper flattops of West Virginny or the invasive cesspits of Toledo, young master Strauss seems to have boondoggled his way into expense-account vacationland … sweet.
But it hit me: it’s the freaking MIDDLE OF THE HOTTEST SUMMER IN MEASURED AND REAL-TIME-RECORDED HUMAN HISTORY! WTF kind of H. E. hockey sticks must it have been for Strauss in the seething urban over-heated petri dishes of Honolulu and Hilo and Hanilea … poor slob. And that Josh Marshall - what a MONSTER!
But, on balance, I do feel better knowing that, from the perspective of a foxhole located smack in the middle of family vacations when the wee kinder and college cut-ups are all out of school and a huge percent of the work force is working on their tan and - thank gawd - as remote from the pollsters as possible avant le Deluge of September-October, TPM’s intrepid roving reportage squad is calling Hawaii too close to call in the massive ideological gap between ever so slightly sort of centrist-Dem Hawaii New Establishment and every so slightly sort of a teeny tiny bit off centrist-Dem Hawaii Established Establishment.
Now I can find the room to worry about Gaza genocide, the Ukraine at war, ebola with my toasted wheat germ, which CIA lie about spying on me and my government is least incredible, the lastest from Ole Miss in the War on Whitey, and whether the bridge I go to work over each morning is about to fall down.
1 Like
How could anyone in their right mind vote for a Republican is beyond me. The Republican controlled Congress, is the LOWEST rated Congress in 50 years, if not in history, they’re racist, white male sexist, incompetent lazy…WTF is wrong with you people in HI, are you NUTZ/
I grew up in Hawaii and my family was very involved in democratic party politics, particularly during the Vietnam war. There’s a unique kind of social conservatism there–nothing like what the term means here on the mainland, but the writer’s analysis of both race and generational causes to this split rings true to me.