Reply #12: Speaker Williams is the kind of moderate Republican Tennessee used to be noted for.

[Fly by night]

I had the pleasure of meeting with him last year to obtain his support for the TN Voter Confidence Act, which bans DREs in favor of paper ballots and mandatory audits. (The bill passed the House on a 92-3 vote and the Senate on a 32-0 vote.) Speaker Williams was most gracious and gave me much more time than I expected. He also stood up on the House floor last year to decry the Republicans' latest anti-choice bill as nothing more than crude, cynical politics.

I am so happy that he is our new Speaker. We have been expecting that a Republican-controlled House would neuter or rescind the Voter Confidence Act. I'm much less worried about that now.

The scene at the House was just the sort of grunt-fest you would expect from the knuckle-draggers who have captured our state Republican Party. The boos didn't just come from the galley -- they also came from the mouths of Rethug legislators on the House floor.

K&R for a chance to return moderation to our disloyal opposition here in the Orange State.