Tuesday Open Thread [3.31.15]

First Read: “The political battle lines have now been drawn in the first cultural fight of this very early presidential contest, with all the major Republicans backing Indiana’s controversial religious-liberty law, and with Hillary Clinton opposing it. But there are some differences among the GOP candidates: Jeb Bush states that Indiana’s law is being misunderstood and it’s not discriminatory, while Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio flat-out argue that people of faith (and by extension, the companies they own) should be able to live out their lives according to their religious beliefs.”

“Yesterday, we wrote that the Indiana law has produced a split between two major parts of today’s Republican Party — social conservatives and big business. Well, we know which side the GOP candidates are on. They’re with social conservatives.”

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“I’m going to get my economic policy from Milton Friedman and others like that, not from the Pope. And as it relates to social doctrine, I do think where my faith comes into play is most as it relates to the most vulnerable in our society.” — Jeb Bush, quoted by National Journal, on the extent to which his Catholic faith informs his policy-making. So helping the poor is economic policy, rather than social policy. Interesting.

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Bloomberg: “A direct comparison of the Gallup approval ratings between the last two U.S. presidents shows that President Obama has enjoyed significantly higher approval ratings than his predecessor, George W. Bush, at the same juncture in their time in office.”

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A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that by a nearly 2 to 1 margin, Americans support the notion of striking a deal with Iran that restricts the nation’s nuclear program in exchange for loosening sanctions.

“But the survey — released hours before Tuesday’s negotiating deadline — also finds few Americans are hopeful that such an agreement will be effective. Nearly six in 10 say they are not confident that a deal will prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, unchanged from 15 months ago, when the United States, France, Britain, Germany, China and Russia reached an interim agreement with Iran aimed at sealing a long-term deal.”

So while the GOP may freak the fuck out, remember that they desire war and the death of thousands of Americans so as to line defense contractor pockets. Remember that they do not represent the American people.

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The New York Times on Indiana Discrimination Law:

Religious-freedom laws, which were originally intended to protect religious minorities from burdensome laws or regulations, have become increasingly invoked by conservative Christian groups as gay rights in general — and marriage equality in particular — found greater acceptance nationally. Besides Indiana, 19 states have adopted such laws, but the laws in the other states apply to disputes between individuals and the government; Indiana’s law also applies to disputes between private citizens […] If Mr. Pence is genuinely concerned about why people may be misunderstanding the law, he could start by looking in the mirror. Under persistent questioning on ABC News’s “This Week” on Sunday morning, Mr. Pence insisted that the law “is not about discrimination,” but about “empowering people.”

That claim is impossible to square with his refusal to consider a statewide law protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination (about a dozen Indiana cities, including most of the largest ones, already have such laws).