The Daily Blog

Pat Robertson: Decriminalize Marijuana (Yes, THAT Pat Robertson).

So, California voters defeat a ballot effort to legalize medical marijuana and now Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition and leader of the religious right, is advocating the repeal of criminal penalties for possessing small quantities of pot?

Something seems wrong.On his Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) show the other day, Robertson was talking about his long experience in prison ministry and the problem of locking up small-time offenders who then cost taxpayers to feed and house them. Which led to this monologue:

We’re locking up people that take a couple of puffs of marijuana and the next thing you know they’ve got 10 years — they’ve got mandatory sentences and these judges, they throw up their hand and say “What can we do? It’s mandatory sentences.” We’ve got to take a look at what we’re considering crimes, and that’s one of ‘em. I mean, I’m not exactly for the use of drugs, don’t get me wrong. But I just believe criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of just a few ounces of pot, and that kind of thing, I mean it’s costing us a fortune, and it’s ruining young people. The young people go into prisons, they go in as youths, and they come out as hardened criminals, and it’s not a good thing.

Drug reformers are shocked but of course celebrating, and are wondering if this augurs a shift in conservative thinking on the war on drugs.

“I suspect that Robertson has begun to realize that the War on Drugs is bad for family values,” Ilya Somin writes at The Volokh Conspiracy, a legal blog. “It will take a lot of good works to make up for all the ridiculous and offensive things that Robertson has said over the years. But helping to end the War on Drugs would be a good start.”As the recent defeat of California’s Proposition 19 shows, the opposition of social conservatives is one of the biggest political obstacles to curtailing drug prohibition. Hopefully, more conservatives will come to the same realization as Robertson and, before him, the far more intellectually respectable William F. Buckley.”

Pete Guither at DrugWarRant.com dares to hope “that a powerful coalition of Democratic voters, principled conservatives, libertarians … and Teapot Partiers” could change the political dynamic. “Not bad.”

But maybe not realistic. Robertson just doesn’t have that much pull with influential social conservatives anymore, and tends to be viewed as a kindly old uncle who can go on a little too long once he gets the microphone.

Then again, who knows? Maybe he’ll now come out for the other great libertarian cause, gay marriage. He’d have the younger generation of evangelicals supporting him on that one.

Obama Takes Responsibility for Voter Frustration.

WASHINGTON (Nov. 3) — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that voters frustrated by the pace of economic recovery dictated a Republican takeover of the House in midterm elections, adding, “As president I take responsibility” for a failure to restore job growth more quickly.

The president said he was eager to sit down with the leaders of both political parties “and figure out how we can move forward together.”

“It won’t be easy,” he said, noting the two parties differ profoundly in some key areas.He spoke at a White House news conference on the day after Republicans captured control of the House and cut deeply into the Democratic majority in the Senate.

The election was a humbling episode for the once-high-flying president, and the change showed during his news conference. Gone were his smiles and buoyant demeanor, replaced by somberness and an acknowledgment that his policies may have alienated some Americans.”I think people started looking at all this, and it felt as if government was getting much more intrusive into people’s lives than they were accustomed to,” he conceded. But he wasn’t talking surrender either.

“No one party will be able to dictate where we go from here,” he said, a clear warning to Republicans that he won’t simply bow to their demands for a sharply conservative switch in economic policy.

With his comments, Obama largely followed the lead of Republican leaders who said earlier in the day they were willing to compromise - within limits.With unemployment at 9.6 percent, both the president and the Republicans will be under pressure to compromise. Yet neither must lose faith with core supporters - the Republicans with the tea party activists who helped them win power, Obama with the voters whose support he will need in 2012.The president said the economy had begun a recovery since he took office but Americans became wary when they saw government bailouts of failing banks and two of the Big Three U.S. automakers.

Many Republicans campaigned by calling for repeal of the health care legislation Obama won from Congress, but the president said repeal was a nonstarter.

“If Republicans have some ideas” for cutting costs of health care or making other changes in the bill, he said he would be glad to take a look.

“There are going to be some examples of where we can tweak and make progress,” he said. “But I don’t think if you ask the American people, ‘should we stop trying to close the doughnut hole that helps seniors get prescription drugs, should we go back to where people with pre-existing conditions can’t get health insurance’ … I don’t think you’d have a strong vote from people saying, ‘Those are provisions I want to eliminate.’”

Marijuana Measure Loses in California; Tax Issues Vary by State.

California voters rejected Proposition 19, the measure that would have made the state the first in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana. Well-funded activists fought hard to pass Proposition 19 and end the state’s prohibition on pot, but California’s political and law enforcement establishment carried the day.

With 43 percent of precincts reporting, Prop 19 was trailing 55 percent to 45 percent late Tuesday night, leading analysts to project defeat. Proposition 19 would have allowed possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults over 21, and would have allowed local officials to tax it.Polls went back and forth in months leading up to the election, but in the final days, the “no” forces gathered steam.

Proponents of legalized marijuana said the ballot measure was a milestone and predicted it would be back on the ballot in 2012 in California and other states.

Otherwise, there were few discernible trends among the 142 initiatives and legislative measures on midterm ballots.
In Colorado, an initiative to block the new federal health care law was projected to lose. But voters in Oklahoma were on the verge of overwhelmingly approved a similar measure. Similarly, Oklahoma voters turned away from a measure to increase spending on public education, but voters in Massachusetts refused to cut their sales tax in half.

Marijuana:

California was the only state with a measure on recreational pot, but South Dakota and Arizona ballots included medical marijuana initiatives, South Dakota’s Measure 13 went down in flames, 63 percent to 37 percent. Arizona’s Proposition 203 was on the fence; the measure was 50 percent for, 50 percent against, with 92 percent of the precincts reporting late Tuesday night. There are currently 14 states, and the District of Columbia, with forms of medical marijuana laws.

Health care:

In several states, voters had a chance to weigh in on the debate over the future of the new health care laws. In Colorado, Amendment 63, which would create a constitutional right to a “health care choice,” trailed by a 55-45 margin. Arizona voters seem more receptive to Proposition 106, which would bar any law requiring a person to participate in a health care system. In early voting, Proposition 106 led 60-40 percent. And Oklahoma voters were soundly supporting the state’s proposed “Health Care Freedom” Amendment, State Question 756, by a margin of 65-35 percent with roughly one-third of the votes counted.

Taxes:

With the economy and unemployment a major talking point this election, several ballot measures around the country focused on taxes. In the state of Washington, Proposition 1098 sought to tax wealthy state residents in order to provide tax relief to small businesses and the middle class. But Washington voters turned it down 65 percent to 35 percent, with 59 percent of precincts counted, according to the Associated Press.

In Oklahoma, with a third of the precincts reporting, voters were rejecting by a margin of 80-20 percent a taxing measure called Helping Oklahoma Education Act. State Question 744, which would require the legislature to fund the state’s public school system on a par with per-student costs in neighboring states, was trailing. But voters in Massachusetts refused to roll back the Commonwealth’s sales tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent. With 70 percent of precincts reporting, the tax rollback measure was down 57-43 percent.

Other notable measures:

In California, via Proposition 23, voters in early returns were rejecting an attempt to put off greenhouse gas regulation in the Golden State until its economy turns around.

In Colorado, Amendment 62, a measure that would give fetuses constitutional rights from the moment of inception, went down to defeat, 70 percent to 30 percent.

In Missouri, voters appeared headed toward defeating dog-breeding restrictions. With roughly one-third of the precincts reporting, the measure to restrict puppy mills was trailing 58-42 percent.