Monday Open Thread [4.27.15]
Obama has been the funniest, most humorous President in history. We are going to miss that.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is introducing legislation to expand online voter registration, which would allow all eligible voters across the country to register online. This is a great idea that will never see the light of day in a Republican Congress, because, Republicans do not want you to vote, so they are not inclined to make it easier for you or anyone to register to vote.
New York Times: “Rick Santorum said he would never attend a same-sex wedding. Marco Rubio said he might attend one. Scott Walker actually went to a same-sex wedding reception, not to be confused with an actual same-sex wedding ceremony. Ted Cruz said he is firmly opposed to gay marriage, but would be comfortable if his daughter were gay. Republican presidential candidates are struggling to adjust to a rapidly changing legal, political and cultural landscape this primary season, as the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments Tuesday on whether same-sex marriage is a constitutionally protected right.”
You cannot be against gay marriage and win the Presidency in this country. Period. That is how far we have come in this country. Republicans really have to pray the Supreme Court rules for marriage equality come June. Because if not, they will be caught up in the backlash.
“Today’s Democratic Party has decided there is no room for Christians. There is a liberal fascism that is going after Christian believers.” — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), quoted by The Hill.
LOL. I am Christian, Mr. Cruz. I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ never said a damn thing about hating gays. He preached and taught and lived the example of compassion for the needy, the hundry, the sick, the elderly, and the poor. Jesus Christ was and is a liberal. So if you are a true Christian, a follower of Christ, you have a natural and welcome home in the Democratic Party.
If you a hate filled bigoted piece of shit who thinks your right to discriminate is superior to all other human rights just because a null and void Old Testament book says so, then yes, there is no room for you in the Democratic Party or in government or in society. We will actively seek to destroy you, and we do so in defense of those you would seek to oppress and sent away to concentration camps if you had your way.
Sen. Marco Rubio and other foes of a nuclear deal with Iran “are readying several poison-pill amendments — some of which could have broad appeal — aimed at unraveling the bipartisan compromise endorsed by President Obama,” Politico reports.
“The compromise legislation, which would allow Congress to review a nuclear accord and potentially reject it, has already survived one test, passing committee on a surprising 19-0 vote after sponsor Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) offered concessions to Democrats. But opponents say the administration has been too soft on Tehran, and they’re prepping another salvo that could scuttle the measure when it hits the floor this week.”
Well, the poison pill would kill Corker’s bill. It would not kill the Iranian Deal. Meanwhile, a new Quinnipiac poll finds American voters support the preliminary agreement with Iran to restrict that country’s nuclear program by a wide margin, 58% to 33%.
“In back-to-back interviews over the past 24 hours, conservative author Peter Schweizer admits he doesn’t have direct evidence that Hillary Clinton intervened to assist individuals and entities because they donated large sums of money to the Clinton Foundation,” NBC News reports.
“No, we don’t have direct evidence. But it warrants further investigation because, again… this is part of the broader pattern. You either have to come to the conclusion that these are all coincidences or something else is afoot.”
I am amazed that the New York Times, and a lot of other media, got duped by this guy. And I am pissed that I did not think up such a get rich quick scheme myself. I could have written a book filled with my partisan delusional speculation unsupported by fact too and made millions.
For seven years, the worst President in all history was wise to keep his mouth shut as his successor cleaned up his mess. But now, W speaks. And really, you have to think that Jeb Bush is not happy. Josh Rogan of Bloomberg:
Bush said that Obama’s plan to lift sanctions on Iran with a promise that they could snap back in place at any time was not plausible. He also said the deal would be bad for American national security in the long term: “You think the Middle East is chaotic now? Imagine what it looks like for our grandchildren. That’s how Americans should view the deal.” …
Obama promised to degrade and destroy Islamic State’s forces but then didn’t develop a strategy to complete the mission, Bush said. He said that if you have a military goal and you mean it, “you call in your military and say ‘What’s your plan?’ ” He indirectly touted his own decision to surge troops to Iraq in 2007, by saying, “When the plan wasn’t working in Iraq, we changed.”
So the man that is directly responsible for why the Middle East is chaotic now, the man directly responsible for Iran’s nuclear program, he has advice for anyone… anywhere? One of the great sins our country has committed is not indicting and convicting this war criminal when we had the chance.
“Today’s Democratic Party has decided there is no room for Christians. ” — Sen. Ted Cruz
Cruz, the master debater, should have been more precise in his language. “Today’s Democratic Party has decided there is no room for the single issue abortion voters and hate-filled, rage-aholics who we in the GOP call Christians.”
That would have been accurate.
“Today’s Democratic Party has decided there is no room for the single issue abortion voters and hate-filled, rage-aholics who we in the GOP call Christians.”
aka Evangelicals. They are not Christian. They just hijacked the name.
There are two electioneering philosophies at work. Ted Cruz is a fine example of the “how to get elected” philosophy that puts a premium on turning out “the base” at the expense of having a broad appeal across various interest groups. I don’t think you can win the White House with that strategy, and I think Cruz is smart enough to know it.
So he is running for something else. He is running to be the President of Wingnut America. That office comes with all the perks of high office with none of the responsibilities.
Walking the boards this weekend, I noticed the George Constanza look is in with young gay men. I’m not gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that) but I kind of like the look and may have to adopt it. Trying to maintain my youthful beach boy look lol
Here is some good news:
Hillary Clinton is making a big deal out of rebuilding state Democratic parties. That’s an important move that every Democrat of whatever stripe ought to be 100 percent behind.
She’s recently given the message to activists in Iowa and New Hampshire that this rebuilding effort—in part a renewal of the 50-state strategy promoted by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean when he was head of the Democratic National Committee, but jettisoned subsequently—will be a key part of her campaign. There’s obviously self-interest in that. But Gabriel Debenedetti reports that this won’t be typical party-building that sees presidential candidates hollowing out state parties for purposes of their own campaigns every four years. It will be an approach that can pay off locally for those states even when there is no presidential race underway:
Without blaming the president by name, Clinton’s team is telling early state officials and activists that they feel their pain—and that they’re here to help.
“For the last eight years there were a large number of people who were attracted to be involved in campaigns because of Barack Obama, and that didn’t necessarily translate into those folks being party activists for other candidates, which is what you’ve been seeing in the off-year elections,” said New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman Raymond Buckley, who saw Clinton last week. “We really need to be able to build something that is a permanent infrastructure, right from the precinct level.”
That’s precisely what’s needed. If Clinton, as seems likely, becomes the Democratic nominee, part of this strategy should be to twist arms at the DNC to use a portion of the money now expended on television advertising—that fewer and fewer people watch—on precinct building. An average of $5 million per state spent for year-round, face-to-face, door-to-door precinct building by people actually living in or near those precincts would go a long way toward changing the dynamic in midterm elections, as I’ve written about here.
Currently, vast numbers of precincts are not organized by Democrats at all, have no precinct leaders and no infrastructure. Presidential campaigns can motivate people to turn out to vote despite this. But after the election, everything goes dormant. The outside volunteers go home and so do the paid consultants … along with their software and their data. This adds to our midterm blues. This is, of course, not true everywhere. Models exist on how to do it right, taking into account the unique local dynamics. But the widespread lack of party organization and the attitudes of sinecure and entitlement taken by many of the supposed leaders who do run precincts are hurting us badly.
One element of a 176,000-precinct strategy is to recruit progressive candidates for the thousands of elected positions Democrats should be contesting, but often do not. That’s the way to build a deep bench of progressive people who will not just organize precincts but be candidates for county party executive committees, school boards, city councils, state legislatures, and higher. Such organizing is a key aspect of bending the party in a more progressive direction and matching a half-century of relentless local organizing by Republicans.
The Koch brothers and other ultra-wealthy rightists are funding candidates all the way down to the school board level. Fighting that requires a new methodology that is actually the old-fashioned way parties have organized locally, only now assisted by technology.