Delaware Dem

Friday Open Thread [4.3.15]

Ed Kilgore:

[C]onservatives have little choice but to accept legal and political setbacks over marriage equality, but they’re making it as clear as ever that given the opportunity they’d reverse those trends, ban gay marriage all over again and probably bring back the sodomy laws to boot. Look at the huge field of Republican proto-candidates for president. Do any of them actually support marriage equality? Sure, they’ll not talk about it or mumble about it being a state matter or engage in various other evasions, but they’re a long way from “surrendering.” And that’s even more obvious on the abortion issue where (a) the only meaningful difference among 99% of Republican politicians is about whether 99% or 100% of abortions should be banned; (b) Republican controlled state governments are beavering away at new restrictions that strike mainly at the availability of any abortion services; and (c) the right to choose hangs by a thread in a Supreme Court that any Republican President would be lynched for failing to tilt with his or her next appointment into a reversal of Roe v. Wade.

All this weepy talk of being attacked while trying to surrender also misses the even more obvious point that conservatives are hardly impotent politically; they do sorta control Congress and a majority of states.

So no, there’s no real “surrender” going on here, and Lord knows conservatives aren’t withdrawing from political combat[.] What they are doing is better understood as a strategic retreat: unable to outlaw or (increasingly) even to stigmatize gay behavior as a matter of law, they’re working to protect private discrimination. It’s what a big part of their constituency expects of them, and it’s the obvious next front—not some sort of Appomattox—in the culture wars.

That is why we progressives must be relentless in destroying anyone and everyone we find to be a bigot. There must be no mercy.

Continue Reading »

Thursday Open Thread [4.2.15]

NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–REPUBLICAN PRIMARY–Washington Post-ABC News: Bush 20, Cruz 13, Walker 12, Paul 9, Huckabee 8, Carson 7, Rubio 7, Christie 6, Perry 2, Santorum 2, Fiorina 1, Graham 1, Jindal 1, Kasich 1

CRUZMENTUM!!!! Another poll from PPP also finds Cruz skyrocketing into the high teens at 16%.

NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–Washington Post-ABC News: Clinton 54, Bush 40; Clinton 58, Cruz 37; Clinton 55, Walker 38; Clinton 55, Rubio 38

Those are 49 state numbers right there.

Continue Reading »

Monday Open Thread [3.30.15]

In the event that Iran and the members of P5+1 group reach a preliminary agreement on Iran’s nuclear program this week, we can expect a release of sound and fury from conservatives about how it sets the world on fire. To prepare yourself for making your own determination about the value of any such agreement, read Jeffrey Goldberg’s list of the five questions you should ask.

Continue Reading »

Sunday Open Thread [3.29.15]

Scott Walker is the best candidate to bridge both the Establishment and the Tea Party. But he just did something that will give a huge opening to Ted Cruz.

“Likely GOP presidential candidate Scott Walker told a private gathering of New Hampshire business leaders earlier this month that he supports providing some illegal immigrants with a pathway to citizenship,” the Washington Post reports.

“The position would mark a significant shift from away from the hardline ‘no amnesty’ stance Walker has taken in public in recent weeks. The Wisconsin governor also told the small group that illegal immigrants seeking citizenship should not receive preferential treatment over applicants who are already in line, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak about it publicly.”

Remember, allowing any illegal to stay here is amnesty and unacceptable. The Tea Party cannot have that.

Continue Reading »