National

President Obama: Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Murphy, filing in for Governor Markell. Well, I guess filing in is not the correct term anymore. Governor Markell is obviously delegating this task to his cabinet more often: Come inside for West Wing Week and Governor Markell's recent appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

I never knew this, but with the anniversary of the right wing assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this past week, Historian Michael Beschloss released this photograph: "RFK chartered the plane bringing MLK's remains back to Atlanta--here he & Ethel console Mrs. King in her bedroom."

We've got a lot of national polls this week on a host of issues, from immigration to gun control to job creation, spending cuts, and raising revenue, and on each the Democrats' and the President's positions are preferred, in some cases overwhelmingly, by the majority of Americans. Their respective job approvals are higher than that of their Republican counterparts. So why is it that Republicans like Speaker Boehner and Congressman Paul Ryan, or basically any Republican in front of a microphone or a camera, say that the American people want what they are selling. It never fails. It is what they always say. Are they just lying because our cowardly limp press will never challenge them on it? Or are they trying to move polls to their favor by repeating a lie?

"She's brilliant and she's dedicated, she's tough. She also happens to be, by far, the best looking attorney general." -- President Obama, quoted by the Washington Post, on California Attorney General Kamala Harris (D). Yes, it was a comment, and yes, a compliment, on Harris' appearance. But it is also a joke. He said it to get a laugh and a cheer. He obviously did not say it to belittle her, as some who are yelling sexism are saying. To the contrary, he said as a joke, or a bonus, after he listed Harris' true and most relevant characteristics.

Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas opposes gun control because gay marriage leads to bestiality.

In fact, I had this discussion with some wonderful, caring Democrats earlier this week on the issue of, well, they said "surely you could agree to limit the number of rounds in a magazine, couldn't you? How would that be problematic?" [...] And I pointed out, well, once you make it ten, then why would you draw the line at ten? What's wrong with nine? Or eleven? And the problem is once you draw that limit ; it's kind of like marriage when you say it's not a man and a woman any more, then why not have three men and one woman, or four women and one man, or why not somebody has a love for an animal? There is no clear place to draw the line once you eliminate the traditional marriage and it's the same once you start putting limits on what guns can be used, then it's just really easy to have laws that make them all illegal.

You know, I get that conservatives, by their very nature and by definition, are supposed to fight change. That's their role. And I understand that opposing these very popular, very sane and very reasonable changes in our society can be very difficult, especially when you have no logical or understandable reason for it, which is why these insane conservatives often sound insane and delusional. It is because they have no logical or rational reason to oppose these changes. But they must oppose them, because they are conservatives, and so they have to come up with a reason. The problem for today's conservatives is that they let the very dim bulbs of their movement speak too often. Gohmert. Steven King. Sarah Palin. Michele Bachmann. They speak way too often. Probably because the smart and intelligent conservatives are way too embarrassed to be speaking out against change anymore.

PPP did their weekly national poll this week on Conspiracy Theories. This is sometimes cringe-worthy, but pretty hysterical. Take a look at the state of mind of Americans:

Pandora mentioned this in the open thread yesterday, but I think it deserves more attention. For we here at Delaware Liberal are ready to criticize the both Congressman John Carney and Senator Tom Carper for their centrist corporatist tendencies on any given day, we should at least recognize them when they do what we want. But first, allow me to put on my cynical and analytical hat and note that both waited until it was absolutely clear that there would be no negative political and electoral ramifications for coming out (pun intended) in support of marriage equality. Indeed, I suspect they both acted this week because it became clear that there would be negative political and electoral ramifications for not supporting marriage equality in this deeply blue state. While I do respect an 'evolution' of position on this issue since I myself was once a "yes civil unions no gay marriage" kind of guy, I also admire someone who just came out and said he was for marriage equality, period. That was Chris Coons in 2010. I am glad Carney and Carper saw fit to join him.