{"id":16007,"date":"2022-12-19T02:10:56","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T12:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=16007"},"modified":"2022-12-19T02:10:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T12:10:58","slug":"the-georgia-runoff-herschel-walker-as-werewolf-and-hawaiis-jacob-batalon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2022\/12\/19\/the-georgia-runoff-herschel-walker-as-werewolf-and-hawaiis-jacob-batalon\/","title":{"rendered":"The Georgia Runoff,\u00a0 Herschel Walker As Werewolf, And Hawaii\u2019s Jacob Batalon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

by Emil Guillermo
<\/em>
<\/strong>Now that Georgia has given the Democrats its 51st Senate seat, the news is good for the 50th state.

The Democrats will now have a real functioning majority and that means power. Dems will be able to move all appointees, judicial and non-judicial appointees, as well as tough policy matters, with a new sense of speed.

Also getting a boost in the leadership ranks is Hawaii\u2019s Sen. Brian Schatz. Re-elected by more than 71 percentage points in November, Schatz is now deputy conference secretary as well as Chief Deputy Whip.

That\u2019s the difference winning Georgia makes.

And Georgia happened because people took notice of Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI).

<\/strong>There are an estimated 133,000 AAPI voters in Georgia, but as this runoff shows, we can help coalitions win big politically.

<\/strong>Just watching the results come in on TV, you could feel the excitement of the race between Sen. Raphael Warnock and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker.

<\/strong>I know, sounds strange, a senator and a football player. The TV graphics couldn\u2019t keep up with the drama.It was Warnock at the jump, but then at 5:42 pm Pacific, Walker goes up by about 9,000 votes and takes a 50.2% to 49.8% lead.

<\/strong>Republicans could be heard around the U.S. saying, \u201cFREEZE THAT!\u201dBy 6:12 pm, Warnock had come within less than 1,000 votes and it was tied with Walker at 50%.

<\/strong>Oh no\u2013we don\u2019t want another runoff!

By 6:20 pm, with 79% of the vote, Warnock was back on top by 32,000 votes, to take a 50.6% lead to Walker\u2019s 49.4%.

That\u2019s how it would go all night. People often disdain the horserace coverage, but this was the horserace in real time. It showed the importance of every vote.

Walker would take back the lead when more same-day votes from rural areas, with white, less educated, more Trumpy voters, gave the football player support.

<\/strong>And then Warnock came roaring back when all the Atlanta area votes, the Black votes, and the suburban Atlanta votes were counted.

<\/strong>By the end of the night, with 100% of the vote in, 3,518,244 votes were counted, according to the Georgia Secretary of State website on election night at 9:54 pm Pacific.

<\/strong>Warnock had 90,134 more votes, 1,804,189. Or 51.28%. <\/strong>Walker had 1,714,055, or 48.7%.

<\/strong>Democracy won. We didn\u2019t need another runoff!

By Dec. 7, the final count grew to Warnock with 51.37% of the vote (1,816,096).

<\/strong>Walker had 48.63% and 1,719,483 votes. <\/strong>A 102, 041 vote margin. <\/strong>Shows you just what a precarious situation our country is in.

<\/strong>Walker, a handpicked Trump celebratory clone whom even Dave Chappelle has called \u201cobservably stupid,\u201d should have lost by several hundred thousand votes given all his negative qualities.

Instead Walker, who should have been rejected as a candidate in the first place, came within 102,041 votes of the U.S. Senate.

<\/strong>That\u2019s not much of a margin between Rev. Warnock, a pastor at MLK\u2019s Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Walker, the known philanderer, abortion hypocrite, and alleged domestic abuser.

But that\u2019s how necessary it was to get as many of those 133,000 AAPI voters as possible. Data from the\u00a0Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund exit poll\u00a0showed that AAPI support for Warnock grew from 60.1% in November to 78.1% in the runoff.

That\u2019s almost equal to the margin of the Warnock victory.

The\u00a0AALDEF poll<\/a>\u00a0also indicates AAPI voters were motivated in the runoff by health care issues and abortion access. Warnock needed us and we showed up as part of the coalition of voters who made democracy work few weeks ago.

<\/strong>Walker managed to acquit himself by doing a very non-Trumpy thing. He conceded. That should be a thing among Republicans, but since Trump, it hasn\u2019t been. Walker was a good loser. He showed humility. He even thanked his wife, Julie, who he said has \u201cbeen through a tough time.\u201d

Understatement of the year.

<\/strong>And then Walker said, \u201cI don\u2019t want any of you to stop dreaming. I don\u2019t want you to stop believing in America. I want you to believe in America and continue to believe in the Constitution and in our elected officials.\u201d

It was a humbling moment you wouldn\u2019t have seen from Walker\u2019s mentor, Donald Trump, who has been silent since the last of his big bets in the midterm elections crashed and burned. What a day for the twice-impeached former president. On the day his company, the Trump Organization, was convicted of tax fraud, the last of his top eight hand-picked midterm candidates goes down.

By comparison, Warnock showed why he was the night\u2019s ultimate choice. He said the people have spoken and said \u201ca vote is a kind of prayer, for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children. Voting is faith put into action.\u201d

He spoke about his MLK roots, John Lewis, and his own mother: \u201cShe grew up in the 1950s in Waycross, Georgia, picking somebody else\u2019s cotton, and somebody else\u2019s tobacco. But tonight, she helped pick her youngest son to be a United States Senator.\u201d

It spoke of the journey all BIPOC communities have made to be part of this country and to enter spaces where heretofore we would not have been welcome.

<\/strong>Warnock had our back. If you\u2019re going to win in a diverse America, you\u2019d better not forget us. The Warnock blueprint? He made sure his message got to AAPI voters in translated ads in Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Korean. In his election night speech, Warnock said, \u201cI just want you to know I see you.\u201dAnd Warnock really did.

<\/strong>Maybe now so will others in the political realm. Because AAPIs were a big part of the coalition that gave Democrats their 51st vote in the Senate.

<\/strong>AAPI voters were that margin of victory.

Anti-Walker Omen–Reginald The Vampire?
<\/strong>And then again, maybe there was a Hawaii reason that Warnock won.

Last week, President Obama added to the list of why Herschel Walker was unfit for public office.

Obama mocked Walker saying the footballer was talking about issues of great importance to Georgia and the nation \u201clike whether it\u2019s better to be a vampire or a werewolf.\u201d To which Obama confessed he had that debate himself when he was seven.

\u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned,\u201d Obama said, \u201cHe can be anything he wants to be except a United States Senator.\u201d

Obama got laughs, but immediately, I wondered whether Obama was making it all up. Walker talking vampires or werewolves?

It\u2019s true.

\u201cYeah, I was watching a stupid movie late night,\u201d Walker said about a movie on vampires in a TV news clip. \u201cLet me tell you something I found out. A werewolf can kill a vampire. Did you know that? So, I don\u2019t want to be a vampire anymore, I want to be a werewolf.\u201d

Yes, we don\u2019t mind a little joking around. But this is for real.

The sad thing is Walker is more credible on this issue than he is when he parrots the anti-Biden talking points handed to him by Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp.

Walker is only sincere when he says he wants to be a werewolf. And that choice is clearly wrong.

You\u2019ve got to be a vampire. Have you seen \u201cReginald the Vampire\u201d?

Filipino Vampire Star<\/strong>
The star of \u201cReginald the Vampire\u201d is a bald, fat and unlovable Filipino American character who works at a slushie store, and who in an unusual set of circumstances, becomes both loveable and a vampire.

A Filipino American Vampire? I am drawn to this show more than your new season of HBO\u2019s \u201cThe White Lotus.\u201d

And it\u2019s all because of Jacob Batalon, the guy who plays Reginald.

I am admittedly late in the game singing the praises of Batalon. Forgive me, I love \u201cSpider-Man,\u201d but I got lost in the franchise somewhere around Kirsten Dunst.

So I missed the emergence of Batalon as the bestfriend of Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man, and didn\u2019t realize the young actor was a \u201cthing.\u201d

Batalon is what you\u2019d call a plus-sized Filipino from Hawaii, who in real life loves his loco moco and ukulele.

This year, by accident, while watching the World Cup, there were numerous ads heralding a show with a bald, fat Asian guy. And of course, that always perks up my interest. Then I find out he\u2019s Filipino, and the star.

I only know general stuff about vampires. They hate garlic. Filipinos love garlic. But the metaphor of a Filipino vampire works for me. We look forever young and never age. But Batalon is also different by being a fat vampire. The organization of vampires must want him out.

And that\u2019s what makes Reginald so endearing. He\u2019s a nice guy trapped by his fangs. He just needs your blood.

And he looks like you or your cousin. (Maybe because he is. Batalon went to Damien Memorial High and Kapi\u2019olani Community College before heading to New York to study acting).

And now he\u2019s Reginald and I\u2019m hooked.

The show\u2019s on the SyFy channel on Wednesdays. And, coincidence of coincidence, Batalon and I share the same birthday.\u00a0On top of that, it\u2019s created by a guy I knew from college.

To Harley Peyton and Jacob Batalon, a toast of my reddest, thickest,\u00a0homemade cran-beet juice, for their show and the runoff.

We know who won election night in Georgia. And it wasn\u2019t the werewolves.

NOTE: I will talk about this column and wish you a Merry Christmas on \u201cEmil Amok\u2019s Takeout,\u201d my AAPI micro-talk show. Live @2p Pacific. Livestream on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>; my\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0channel; and\u00a0Twitter.<\/a>\u00a0Catch the recordings on\u00a0www.amok.com<\/a>.

EMIL GUILLERMO<\/strong> is an award-winning journalist and commentator. In Hawaii, he was on the editorial board of the Advertiser and a columnist for the Star-Bulletin.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Emil GuillermoNow that Georgia has given the Democrats its 51st Senate seat, the 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