Day: December 3, 2015

Copeland has a point. If he was running as a Democrat, (instead of the guy who is next in line to be Governor) he could easily say, "Hell, yes I support the $15.05 minimum wage." But his political career isn't about values, it is about not saying shit that someone might not like.

The GOP wants the angry, motivated, energetically racist Trump voters - but without Trump. They might get there if Cruz comes through as some at DL have predicted. In Cruz you have a slightly more polished politician with all the same tough guy swagger, and stridently anti-PC bravado. But where does that leave down-ticket Republicans? If the NRSC has anything to do with it, it leaves them transformed into an army of Junior Trumps, tweeting angry nonsense and rolling up the electoral spoils.

Yesterday, Robert Costa and Philip Rucker reported that the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee wrote a seven page confidential memo that “urges candidates to adopt many of Trump’s tactics, issues and approaches — right down to adjusting the way they dress and how they use Twitter.” If you can’t beat him, join him.

Rick Klein says our political system has failed on gun violence: “Are the responses just timed Tweets at this point, tweaked with a new detail or two? From one side of the aisle, ‘thoughts and prayers’ and a call for a focus on mental health. From the other, ‘this must change’ and a push for gun control, of course. The nation looks to politicians for guidance and help in understanding, if not fixing, tragic circumstances. On this count, when it comes to mass shootings and their aftermath, the political class has failed.” “If anything, the responses we’ve come to expect now only add to a nation’s numbness. But the simple fact is that politicians and candidates aren’t feeling voter pressure to change their responses or their policy positions. Part of the ritual now is the numbness, followed by the forgetfulness.”