I love this summation of the GOP race to date….
Republican voters are now the political equivalent of Mitt Romney’s famously abused dog Seamus. Mitt has put voters on the roof of his car, and he’s driving for the nomination whether they like it or not. More accurately, he’s sputtering toward the nomination as the roof-bound electorate periodically poops on his parade.
via Mitt Romney has the GOP strapped to the roof of his car – The Week.
Filed under Politics
I’m not so sure they do remember that women vote….or they are planning to try to roll back that basic right next….
One of the reasons I’m blogging so seldom right now is that between the GOP Presidential Primary Campaign and the GOP War on Women, I am speechless at the stupidity of the GOP and really don’t see the point in commenting on a bunch of crazy old white men who think it is still 1952 and would obviously prefer to be having cocktails with Joe McCarthy and J Edgar Hoover…..
Then along comes a true rarity: A good column from Dana Milbank in the Washington Post….
It really has become obvious the GOP is starting to lose its War on Women- and its collective mind- when even DC insiders like Milbank recognize it and feel free to state it publicly….
The Republicans have really alienated women over the last few weeks with their drive back to the 1950’s. It’s becoming more and more obvious they are a bunch of rich, old, white men who want to keep their patriarchy alive- and feel threatened by uppity Gays, Blacks, Latinos, Asians and most especially Uppity, Slatternly Women- which to them seems to mean all women who aren’t their wives or, in some, but not all cases, their daughters…
They obviously seem to think women are all either sluts, who should have no rights, or Ladies, who should mindlessly support their husbands and do their bidding without question.
This is the 1950’s mindset they have and just assume everyone else has also….
Rush Limbaugh is justifiably catching hell right now for actually having the nerve- and stupidity- to concisely articulate the Republican position on women. It’s so obvious, he must be surprised at the blow back directed at him instead of Congress….
My favorite quote is from the female Oklahoma Lawmaker who said: “If I wanted the government in my womb, I’d f*#k a Senator.”
The Republicans are driving women over to the Democratic Party in droves with their intrusive anti-abortion legislation in Virginia- among other states- their anti contraception amendments in the Senate and the assault on Planned Parenthood and Women’s healthcare.
Can anything be more indicative of how out of touch the Republican Party is than the fact that we are actually discussing anti-contraception legislation in the 21st Century????
I’m starting to think there must be a lot more retro-closet cases than Ken Mehlman in the GOP if they are this afraid of “lady parts”…..
From Dana Milbank in the Washington Post:
When will Republicans stop their vagina monologue?
March is federally recognized as Women’s History Month, and Republicans have been celebrating the occasion in a most unusual style: with a burst of interest in women’s private parts.
On Thursday, the Senate took up an amendment proposed by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) that would allow employers to deny women birth-control coverage if the employer found contraception morally objectionable.
About 100 miles south of Washington on that same day, Virginia legislators passed a measure requiring a woman to be offered an ultrasound image of her fetus before aborting it. The legislation, which opponents say could also require some women who have miscarriages to be offered ultrasonic images of their dead fetuses, is the successor of a bill that would have required women to undergo an invasive “transvaginal ultrasound.”
Still on Thursday, the industrious Virginia House of Delegates also approved legislation bestowing rights on people, including a father, to bring a lawsuit over the death of the fetus.
On Wednesday, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, a powerful influence among Republican lawmakers, described as a “slut” the law-school student invited by House Democrats to testify in support of birth control. “It makes her a prostitute,” Limbaugh said of the woman, blocked last month by House Republicans from testifying on what became an all-male panel. “She wants to be paid to have sex.”
On Tuesday, Oklahomans held a protest at the state capitol to oppose a bill, passed by the state Senate and now being taken up by the House, that would bestow “personhood” on fetuses — one of many such efforts across the nation. Democrat Judy McIntyre, one of just four women in the 48-member state Senate, was so upset that, according to the Oklahoman newspaper, she held a protest sign proclaiming: “If I wanted the government in my womb, I’d [expletive] a senator.”
via Republicans do remember that women vote, right? – The Washington Post.
From the “Too Little, Too Late” Department….
As close as the Bush Elections were, firing up the Social Conservatives on anti-gay issues was probably enough to make Bush president….
You can’t be absolved of a sin that big with a simple “I’m sorry”….
Also, I strongly expect he’s only saying this now that he’s out of politics and has made his money because his former “friends” in the GOP have turned their backs on him and most Gay people detest him so much he can’t get a date, much less a husband….
What goes around, comes around…..
From ThinkProgress.org:
Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman has issued what may be his first public apology for his role in fomenting anti-gay sentiment during President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election bid:As for his role in the 2004 Bush campaign and its exploitation of marital politics, Mehlman is candid — and remorseful.“At a personal level, I wish I had spoken out against the effort,” he says. “As I’ve been involved in the fight for marriage equality, one of the things I’ve learned is how many people were harmed by the campaigns in which I was involved. I apologize to them and tell them I am sorry. While there have been recent victories, this could still be a long struggle in which there will be setbacks, and I’ll do my part to be helpful.”Eleven states voted on ballot measures banning same-sex marriage during the 2004 election, as conservatives hoped to bring out their base for the President. But political scientists have said that the turnout in those states “was no higher than in the 39 without them” and estimate that “the presence of these referendums likely had no effect on the outcome of the Bush-Kerry presidential contest.” Meanwhile, Mehlman — who came out as gay in 2010 — has worked to advance same-sex marriage in New York, Maryland, and New Hampshire.
The latest BofA ad….
My friend Kirk sent this to me and I thought it was cute, fun, accurate and worth sharing…
Filed under Politics
Back in the 1930’s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt foresaw today’s GOP and their tactics….
Filed under Politics, Social Security
This is a very thought provoking article that I recently read in the New York Times.
There is a lot to consider here and a lot to think about and discuss….
But one thing is clear: The Families Values crowd is blatantly out of touch with the reality of modern American life. Not just for Gays, but for Women…
They argue incessantly for the Nuclear Family, that is pretty much becoming a minority situation- just like the GOP.
And their recent attacks on birth control availability seems sheer madness in light of realities such as these….
Whether they like it or not, it’s not the 1950’s anymore and Ward and June Cleever are gone….
Abstinence Based Sex Education just isn’t realistic…
It’s time our social and political philosophies recognize this fact…
LORAIN, Ohio — It used to be called illegitimacy. Now it is the new normal. After steadily rising for five decades, the share of children born to unmarried women has crossed a threshold: more than half of births to American women under 30 occur outside marriage.
Once largely limited to poor women and minorities, motherhood without marriage has settled deeply into middle America. The fastest growth in the last two decades has occurred among white women in their 20s who have some college education but no four-year degree, according to Child Trends, a Washington research group that analyzed government data.
Among mothers of all ages, a majority — 59 percent in 2009 — are married when they have children. But the surge of births outside marriage among younger women — nearly two-thirds of children in the United States are born to mothers under 30 — is both a symbol of the transforming family and a hint of coming generational change.
One group still largely resists the trend: college graduates, who overwhelmingly marry before having children. That is turning family structure into a new class divide, with the economic and social rewards of marriage increasingly reserved for people with the most education.
via For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside Marriage – NYTimes.com.
Filed under Politics
This video is brilliant in its summation of how Public Education developed and where it went wrong by focusing on testing and suppressing creativity and collaboration…
I also love how it takes on over-medication of children to make them malleable….
Thanks, to my friend Robert Ward, for posting this on Facebook where I originally saw it…
It’s about 11 minutes long, but it’s well worth watching, contemplating and discussing…..
Filed under Education
And the latest Republican Hypocrite is: Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu
Not only Gay, but publicly anti-immigrant and dating a male Mexican Immigrant….
They are just going to love this in Arizona!
I somehow think his Congressional campaign just ended…
From TalkingPointsMemo, click the link at the bottom for full story and pictures:
Rising Republican star and well-known border hawk Sheriff Paul Babeu, who’s now running for Congress in Arizona, was hit Friday night with bombshell accusations from a Mexican immigrant who said he dated the sheriff for years and was threatened with deportation if he ever told anyone about their romance.
The Phoenix New Times newspaper broke the story on its website in a piece written by veteran journalist Monica Alonzo. The accusations came complete with text messages said to be between the two men as well as compromising photos purportedly of Babeu that are reminiscent of recent sex scandals that ended the careers of Congressmen Anthony Weiner and Chris Lee.
In one photo, Babeu is seen posing in front of a mirror in nothing but his underwear. In another, he has his hand inside the man’s partially unbuttoned shirt.
The newspaper identified the accuser only by his first name, Jose, citing his fear that the sheriff would try to challenge his immigration status.
Jose said he met Babeu through the dating website gay.com in 2006, before he became sheriff, according to the newspaper. Babeu was a police officer in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler at the time and was elected as sheriff of Pinal County in late 2008.
Beyond the romance, the newspaper also said Jose volunteered for Babeu’s campaign, maintaining his websites and social media accounts.
They were apparently together during Babeu’s fast rise to becoming a national figure in the fight against illegal immigration. The sheriff first burst onto the national stage in 2010 when he appeared alongside Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) in a now-famous television ad, calling on the federal government to complete “the danged fence” along the US-Mexican border.
More recently, Babeu has been a frequent guest for Fox News for immigration-related topics, including the ongoing Fast and Furious scandal. He has endorsed Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential primary, and touted as a co-chair of the candidate’s presidential campaign in Arizona. He even recorded robocalls for Romney that went out to voters in Iowa last year.
via Arizona Sheriff Rocked By Accusations Of Alleged Immigrant Ex-Boyfriend | TPMMuckraker.
And even more good news from Yahoo News!
Let’s have the Election today, before anything goes wrong…
I never under estimate the Democratic Party’s talent for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by doing something incredibly stupid….
For reference, see the 2010 Elections and how they embraced deficit reduction instead of a larger economic stimulus, screwed up the messaging on the Economic collapse and blew the chance to launch a new New Deal….
With fewer than nine months to go before Election Day, The Signal predicts that Barack Obama will win the presidential contest with 303 electoral votes to the Republican nominee’s 235.
How do we know? We don’t, of course. Campaigns and candidates evolve, and elections are dynamic events with more variables than can reasonably be distilled in an equation. But the data–based on a prediction engine created by Yahoo! scientists–suggest a second term is likely for the current president. This model does not use polls or prediction markets to directly gauge what voters are thinking. Instead, it forecasts the results of the Electoral College based on past elections, economic indicators, measures of state ideology, presidential approval ratings, incumbency, and a few other politically agnostic factors.
Filed under Politics
They have apparently learned a lot during this endless, ridiculous Primary…
And, since none of their current Candidates seem feasible, they have decided to put forth a new Candidate …
They just won’t tell you who it is…
They’ve learned that’s the only way he/she can survive the GOP Primary process, much less defeat President Obama….
From The Onion:
Filed under Politics
Lost in the 21st Century 