Surprise: Two Of Hollywood's Favorite Representatives, Howard Berman & Mary Bono Mack, Defeated
from the he-can-go-hang-out-with-rick-boucher dept
While people who just got into Congressional issues during the SOPA fight may have thought that Rep. Lamar Smith was Hollywood’s favorite representative, that honor much more likely fell on Rep. Howard Berman — who, for many years was Hollywood’s guy in Congress (somewhat literally, as parts of Hollywood were covered by his district). There was, of course, no chance that Lamar Smith was going to lose his re-election campaign, as there were no serious challengers, but Berman was definitely a different story. Due to redistricting, his district was merged with another longterm Congressional Rep., Brad Sherman — and the two had to face off. It turns out that Berman lost and Sherman won. Sherman, not surprisingly, also tends to support the entertainment industry’s position on a lot of things, but never quite to the level of Berman over the years.
Another longterm favorite of the entertainment industry, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, who ushered in the ridiculous Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension and has been a regular supporter of the entertainment industry’s crazier plans, has lost out in a very tight race.
As for Smith, he won his election to no one’s surprise — but the margin was actually a lot lower than I expected. He took it with 60% of the vote. In 2008 he had 80% of the vote and in 2010, 69% of the vote. It may not have been enough to tip the election, but perhaps young people in his district voted for internet freedom.
Filed Under: brad sherman, congress, copyright, hollywood, howard berman, lamar smith, mary bono mack
Comments on “Surprise: Two Of Hollywood's Favorite Representatives, Howard Berman & Mary Bono Mack, Defeated”
They will just attempt to bribe……..sorry, donate to someone else.
like so many in Congress, he is out of date and out of touch with modern technology. true, he has people working it for him but it isn’t the same as understanding and using it competently yourself. the only thing he manages to do and i doubt if that is without a lot of help, is to carry out the wishes of his lords and masters in the entertainment industries.
Voted Against Lamar
I live in his district, am far from young, but definitely voted against him. I am libertarian, but lean right, but his antics clearly show him as in outer space.
Re: Voted Against Lamar
Another factor contributing to Lamar’s win may also come from redistricting. Mr. Smith has been my non-representative representative for as long as I’ve lived in Travis county. I didn’t get a chance to vote against him this go-around, which makes me wonder if some of the creative map scribbles were an attempt to get him away from some of the tech heavy areas around Austin.
Re: Voted Against Lamar
Lamar Smith is a true piece of shit !
I still wish I hadn’t been gerrymandered out of Lamar’s district. Overall the outlook’s not as bad as I feared it might be.
Anyone willing to lay odds that both Berman and Mack will land softly into a position funded by Hollywood, one way or another? Opening line is 100% chance.
Re: Re:
Can you still call it a bet if the odds of something happening are as close to 100% as to be indistinguishable though?
Seems to me something like that would be less of a bet, and more of an brain activity/child-level pattern recognition test.
Re: Re:
“Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), who lost to Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) on Tuesday, is being mentioned as a replacement for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/11/08/the-10-closest-states-in-election-2012/
Obama is darn lucky ...
… that his administration’s “six strikes” baby will not be implemented until after the election. I wonder if that’s what inspired its delay.
Any snafus with it would have really hurt him with his young core.
Is there any way to reverse that insanity like Sonny Bono Act, or that stuff remains forever?
Re: Aye, mate, it reeks of insanity
We should like to think that this madness won’t stand long; but as Chesterton noted, it’s the business of Liberals to make imbecilic mistakes like these, and the business of Conservatives to ensure that they never get fixed.
That Was The Week That Was [TW3]
That Was The Week That Was [TW3]
The Republican platform: “Life Begins at Rape” falters and . . . . .
Female voters in Indiana and Missouri discover their brain and vote properly — for a change!
Massachusetts’ voters rediscover their brain and vote for Prof. Elizabeth Warren over that random slitch, Scott-what’s-his-face!
Wisconsin voters finally use their brain and voted the intelligent, desirable dyke over that whackjob, Tommy “all Americans should be microchipped” Thompson!
Hallelujah ! !
Magic Underwear Guy Loses
Willard Mitt Romney’s career as a tax dodging, draft dodging, queen of debt creation evidently didn’t impress enough members of the electorate. Apparently Romney’s prime example of business acumen: putting a poor dog in a cage atop a speeding car and watching him crap over the car’s windows didn’t impress enough voters either.
The Challenge
An offer of a $1 million prize to Linda McMahon to wrestle Donald Trump in a “Stomp the Trump’s Rump” exhibition match. (Maybe NYC Mayor “Elizabeth Warren is a socialist” Bloomberg will put up the prize money?)
The lesson of the very close popular vote?
Un-privatize the national voting process — centralize it — and hire the McDonald’s Corporation to expedite it — if they can do fast food, then fast and efficient voting should be a real cinch for them!
Nineteen woman senators? It’s a good start . . . . .
No Problem!
Hollywood will simply buy a couple more.
the day lamar smith gets kicked the hell out of office, i’m throwing a party.
Erman
Moral of the story: be wary of representatives whose last names end in “erman”.
Good riddance. Too bad Lamar’s still in office, but 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. It’s not like I was able to do anything about it, unfortunately. I don’t live in his district and can’t clone myself several million times.
If young people were voting for internet freedom they would have rid us of the current administration and it’s take it down first DOJ.
Brothers and Sisters Unite
It is nice to see voters remembering those who played a large role in bad legislation and voted to get them out.
Yes many people are very unhappy with what Congress has been doing to the Internet where it has mainly been the big push of 15 million people who helped kill off SOPA and PIPA.
We should never forget though that this is a global fight and we do need to stand united. Even the Philippines got that damned Cybersecurity law currently suspended by their Supreme Court.
Careful what you wish for...
I just read in the LA Times that Berman is one of the top candidates to replace Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State next year.
They should ALL be defeated.