Michael Tomasky: “How stupid does the Senate background-check vote look now, I ask the pundits and others who thought it was dumb politics for Obama and the Democrats to push for a vote that they obviously knew they were going to lose. I’d say not very stupid at all. The nosedive taken in the polls by a number of senators who voted against the bill, most of them in red states, makes public sentiment here crystal clear. And now, for the first time since arguably right after the Reagan assassination attempt–a damn long time, in other words–legislators in Washington are feeling political heat on guns that isn’t coming from the NRA. This bill will come back to the Senate, maybe before the August recess, and it already seems possible and maybe even likely to have 60 votes next time.”
A new Time/CNN poll finds that when given a choice, 61% of Americans say they are more concerned about the government enacting new anti-terrorism policies that restrict civil liberties, compared to 31% who say they are more concerned about the government failing to enact strong new anti-terrorism policies.
44% of self-identified Republicans say that “in the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties.” That makes 44% of the Republican base traitors.