Thursday Open Thread [3.28.13]

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The Week: "Most members of the Republican Party hope that the Supreme Court will not use the two gay-marriage cases it heard this week to issue a broad ruling affirming the constitutional right of gays and lesbians to marry. However, top officials in the GOP are reportedly praying for precisely that outcome, calculating that it would be the most effective way to remove gay marriage as a political liability." Well, if these top officials are hoping for that outcome (which I don't think will happen), then they are foolish and not very smart politicos. For if that does happen, guess what the social conservative base of the Republican Party does? They flip out. More so than usual. They will demand from the GOP complete and total obedience to their outrage. They will want the Congressional Republicans to immediately introduce a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage and attach it as an amendment to everything that moves in the House and Senate. Opposition to gay marriage will become the most important issue on the GOP voter's mind. Now, the GOP will then be faced with two choices: 1) tell these bigoted voters to go f*ck themselves because the Supreme Court has ruled and that is the end of that; or 2) say yes Master yes Master like they have done so many times before. Which do you think the oh-so-courageous GOP does?

The Polling Report [3.28.13]

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A small sampling of polls showing a close race in Virginia for governor, a blowout in New Jersey, a tightening Senate primary in Massachusetts, and yet another poll showing that pretty much every single American alive today supports background checks.

Wednesday Open Thread [3.27.13]

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Ross Douthat imagines the state of our politics today if the Iraq War never happened:
[T]ake away Iraq’s imprint on our politics, and America might well have still elected a Democrat to replace George W. Bush. But because of Iraq, the Democratic majority that did come to power in 2006 and 2008 has been more aggressive on public policy, less defensive in the culture war, and more proficient in the art of base mobilization than a hypothetical Clinton Restoration would have been – and their Republican opposition has been more ideologically bunkered-down, less nimble and less inclined to woo the center, than the G.O.P. might have been absent the trauma of Iraq.
Without Iraq, there is no Obama presidency. Obama would not have been able to distinquish himself from Clinton in the primaries and would have lost to her. Perhaps even more importantly, there would have been no Howard Dean. Thus, while Hillary would have gone on to beat John McCain due to the 2008 economic collapse, the Democratic Party would be a moderate mess, as the progressive take over of the party in 2005 would not have happened, and the 2006 retaking of Congress probably does not happen (although it would have in 2008).

Short and Sweet Spin from DP

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I am not a reader of the right wing downstate "Delaware Politics." But I have the blog on my Google Reader RSS Feed so I can see when and what they post, and every once and a while, they will post something that piques my interest. Like David Anderson's reaction to the repeal of the Death Penalty in the Senate yesterday. Now, keep in my mind when reading this that David Anderson is supposedly a professed devout Christian, and he relies on those beliefs constantly to inform his opinions on women's healthcare, women's rights, abortion, homosexuality, marriage equality, contraception, education, the First Amendment, and I could go on and on and on. I am not saying there is anyting wrong with relying upon your religion to inform your political beliefs. But David does. And this is what he said....
After giving up on changing the sentences for current death row murderers, the Senate passed over bipartisan and law enforcement opposition to repeal the state death penalty. The bill goes on the House. 3 Republicans crossed over to support the bill, led by the Minority Leader.
Anderson then goes on to list the votes of the entire Senate, like I did yesterday. After reading this, I cannot tell if David is happy or said that death penalty repeal was passed by the Senate. There is no celebration, but there is no ranting and raving either. Given the comments from Don Ayotte and others on that post (reacting with the typical reserve, calm and discretion that is representative of the Teabagger movement(/snark)), I wonder if David is purposefully masking his true thoughts here for fear that he will offend his rabid readers.

A message from Lt. Governor Matt Denn

"With all the excitement yesterday in Washington, it is important to remember that there will be a vote here in Delaware this year on marriage equality, and although we are optimistic, the outcome of that vote is anything but certain. You can volunteer to help win the vote by visiting Equality Delaware at www.equalitydelaware.org (I am proud to have been a long-time member of its Advisory Board). I have found that one of the most compelling ways to convince legislators that marriage equality is the right thing to do is to share why you decided it was right, so if you want to share a story here about why you decided to support marriage equality, I will pass it along."

10 Democratic Senators are still either silent about or against Marriage Equality. Of course Tom Carper is one of them.

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Huffington Post had up as their lead banner story earlier this evening the pictures of 10 Senate Democrats who are still either opposed to marriage equality or who are silent on it, despite the avalanche of Democratic politicians who are rushing to be on the right side of history recently, namely their colleagues Claire McCaskill, Mark Begich and Mark Warner recently. The stunning facial features of our Senior Senator was among the pictures of the 10. Come inside to see what HuffPo had to say about Senator Carper.....

Tuesday Open Thread [3.26.13]

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It will be a historic day at the Supreme Court over the next two days as the Court hears arguments in two cases affecting marriage equality in this country. Today, the Court will consider whether California's ban on same-sex marriage, a law known as Prop 8 or Prop Hate, which was passed by referendum in 2008, is unconstitutional. Tomorrow, the Court will consider whether the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.

Monday Open Thread [3.25.13]

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Molly Ball asks "Has Obama Turned a Generation of Voters Into Lifelong Democrats?," -- and answers in the affirmative.
The under-30 vote went nearly as strongly for Obama as it had before: Obama got 66 percent of the under-30 vote in 2008 and 60 percent in 2012, the best youth-vote showings for any presidential candidate since 1971, when the voting age was lowered to 18. Against the by-now-familiar backdrop of massive Obama rallies on college campuses, liberal youth might just seem like the normal order of things. But there’s nothing natural about it. Ronald Reagan came within a point of capturing the under‑30 vote in his 1980 presidential election, then won it by 19 points in 1984, giving the lie to the idea that kids are inherently liberal. Now some Democrats hope Obama’s repeat success with young voters signals the arrival of a cohort whose members will vote Democratic for the rest of their lives. “These are voters who are in their formative years, politically,” Joel Benenson, the lead pollster for the Obama campaign, told me excitedly in the days after the election. “People frequently maintain the partisan identity that shapes their entry point into politics. What’s happening now is something people will hang on to for decades to come.” Could Benenson be right? Has Obama turned an entire generation of voters into lifelong Democrats? The answer, according to political scientists who study partisanship, may well be yes.