E.J. Dionne uses data from a couple of political scientists to show that there is no up-for-grabs centrist bloc of independent voters. Independents mostly lean one way or the other; those who don’t pay no attention to politics and almost never vote. Other findings: Republicans more than Democrats no longer consider themselves centrist, and political polarization has increased over the past 40 years:
People rate their own side about the same as they used to. On a 100-degree “feeling thermometer,” Americans gave their own party a moderately warm 71 degrees in 1978 and 70 degrees in 2012. But over the same years, their sentiments toward the opposing party turned ice-cold, plummeting from 47 degrees to 30 degrees.
Some eyebrows were raised but not much more was said about a GOP Congressional delegation meeting with some top Putin aides ahead of Trump’s secret meeting with the Russian tyrant. Why doesn’t the media want to show them bowing and scraping to Putin’s flunkies? I guess because it’s just so damn liberal.
Liberals assume Roe v. Wade is on the chopping block now that Anthony Kennedy has retired from SCOTUS, but Slate’s William Saletan, who has followed the issue’s public polling for years, points to history to argue it might not be that straightforward. He shows this all with numbers, but it boils down to the fact that a significant number of pro-lifers are priority-issue voters all the time, but when they first got their 5-4 majority — with the appointment of Kennedy, ironically — it made preserving Roe a higher priority among liberals, which caused the court to back away.
A “senior White House official” says EPA bigwig Scott Pruitt is on thin ice with Trump now that more than a dozen active investigations are looking into his behavior. This seems untrue to me. It sounds more like a frustrated staffer, unable to get Trump to listen to his warnings, is going the more effective route of letting the media tell him that.
If you have Venezuela in the “Who Will America Invade First” pool, you apparently just missed collecting on your bet last year. The AP reported that Trump fixated on attacking Venezuela last August, and it took days to talk him down.
Wrestling coaches-turned-Republican politicians seems to be a demographic over-represented on the sex scandal front. Tea Party honcho Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio has been cited in an Ohio State wrestling team scandal concerning a handsy team doctor who liked to shower with the athletes. This happened when Jordan was an assistant coach and, while he claims to know nothing about it, several former athletes said he was told about their concerns and did nothing.
Confrontation may make you feel good, but here’s something that produces more lasting results: Outing the neo-Nazis who take part in their activities and informing their employers — especially when, as in this case, the employee holds a high security clearance at a defense contractor.
Speaking of harassment, add “Representing an Election District” to the list of things you can’t do while black. Janelle Bynum, who is running for her second term in the Oregon State House of Representatives, spent two hours canvassing the community of Clackamas, near Portland. She was met by a police officer after a call from a suspicious neighbor. In a class response, Bynum posted a selfie with the responding officer and phoned the woman who had called the cops, who apologized for the misunderstanding. White Americans simply have no idea what harassment is really like.