Making Up For A Lost Weekend

Alright, there was no Cocktail of the Week. Drink a beer for chrissakes. To make up for this negligence, I'm cleaning out the BaT inbox in like a Junior Leaguer tossing last season's wardrobe ...

Alabama Democrats Come to Their Senses

Patricia Todd will become the first openly gay member of the Alabama Legislature. It took a narrow vote of the state's Democratic Executive Committee to overturn a subcommittee to decision to strip Todd of the nomination after she -- and her opponent -- violated an obscure party rule that hasn't been enforced in more than 30 years.

This cause was less about Todd's sexuality, however, and more about her skin color. She is white; she was elected to represent a minority-majority House district. Even the executive committee vote was almost completely split by race. Of the 90 or so black committee members, less than a dozen voted to uphold the people's vote.

Kudos to state Rep. Alvin Holmes, who I have disagreed with numerous times over the years, for his courage in speaking out for Todd. Holmes was the only black person to do so during the debate.

"Selective prosecution has been done to black people in Alabama more than any other person in this state," said Montgomery Rep. Alvin Holmes, the lone black member to speak for Todd during debate. "Unless someone can show the 59 votes Todd received were illegal votes, there's no way you can deny her the seat."

Joe Reed, who thinks of himself as a party boss, didn't hide the Todd challenge was racially motivated. Reed, who is also black, should be thinking to himself right now: "So this is how we lost the state to the Republicans. ... Well, this and abortion and gun control and running someone from Massachusetts for president all the time."

The decision was seen by many as a rebuff of Joe Reed, the Alabama Democratic Conference chairman and party power broker whom many considered one of the main forces behind the Hendricks challenge. ...

"I don't apologize in regard to trying to preserve a black seat," Reed said. "That's why I drew the (district) lines. This is a setback, a little bit, for that. But we'll live with it."

Ah, yes, Joe, democracy's a b*tch, ain't it?

Joe Biden Speaks the Truth?

With his past honesty issues, who knows if this is an original Joe Biden thought, but ...

Apparently, the Delaware senator thinks he can appeal to Red State voters, because, like them, he's from a slave state. No, seriously, that's what he said.

"Better than anybody else," Biden said, when asked on "Fox News Sunday" to rate his chances of winning Southern states.

"You don't know my state," he said. "My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state."

We've covered this before at BaT. Yes, Delaware was a slave state. So was Connecticut. And Massachusetts. And New Hampshire. And New York. And many others well into the 1800s. I'm not sure where the senator was trying to go with this, but it's a no-win argument. Maybe he should tell everyone Neil Kinnock actually said it.

Etc., Etc.

Pluto has left the building. PJS has more.

The great Leslie Jordan has won an Emmy. Boi from Troy has more.

A 9-11 hero receives some overdue recognition.

With Ernesto threatening to hit the United States with hurricane force (possibly twice), Hurricane Central is back up and running.