Archive for June, 2013
Late Night Video — Same Old Party
That’s the name of this new video from the DNC — which appeared shortly after I was wondering whether the Dems can capitalize on the GOP’s failed rebranding. This is *quite* good! More like this please (and get your members to say this stuff in front of cameras) (approx. 2.25 minutes long)
Thursday Open Thread [6.27.13]
![Thursday Open Thread [6.27.13]](http://delawareliberal.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/def-thumb-240x180.jpg "Thursday Open Thread [6.27.13]")
Conventional wisdom holds that the Republicans will hold the House in 2014. Indeed, typically, the President’s party in the six year midterm suffers an average loss of 26 seats. The only time in recent memory that the President’s party has actually gained seats was in 1998, when the Democrats gained in the House as the backlash against the partisan impeachment of Bill Clinton began.
And even if the Dems won the national popular vote again as they did in 2012, the Republicans have been so ruthless and skilled in their gerrymandering efforts that it will take a Democratic popular vote win of at least 8 points to win the House by 1 seat. So there is reason why all the Vegas money is on the GOP keeping control of the House next year. But the first Democracy Corps Congressional Battleground survey of the competitive House races this year has some encouraging news for Democrats.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., June 27, 2013
Now the days dwindle down to a precious few two… Today and Sunday, and it’s a wrap for the first session of the 147th Delaware General Assembly. We are not in the denouement phase just yet, but we’re getting there. The Senate will give final approval to the Budget Bill today, the House will likely […]
![Thursday Daily Delawhere [6.27.13]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7409/9136098388_bc19020548_o.jpg "Thursday Daily Delawhere [6.27.13]")
Let’s check in on the GOP Rebranding Effort, shall we?
This week has been a banner one for the GOP, and its only Wednesday. First, with respect to reaching out to minorities, which the GOP HAS TO DO IF IT EVER WANTS TO WIN ANOTHER ELECTION AGAIN, we have their celebration of the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, and their zeal in passing as many Voting Restriction Laws as possible so as to prevent minorities from voting. As Bill Clinton rightly says, you can never vote for someone who doesn’t want you to vote in the first place. So Strike One for the GOP.
Second, on the same minority outreach issue, we have Speaker Boehner telling his Republican colleagues in the House that he will not bring the Senate Immigration Bill to the floor, which essentially means that the GOP will kill immigration reform. And that means what was a horrible Romney loss of 70-30 among Latinos in 2012 will grow to 90-10 in 2016 if not higher, which of course means the GOP will never again win the Presidency. Well, that is a little hyperbole on my part. I suppose if the GOP wins all of the white vote, and I mean all of it, 100%, it could win a close Bush-Gore repeat here and there between now and 2050, when whites will be a minority in America. So good job on that one, Boehner.
Third, we have all the GOP efforts to again discuss rape in the context of their shared zeal to end reproductive freedom in this country. The latest example is that idiot Texas State Representative saying on Monday that Rape Kits clean out the victim so as to prevent pregnancy when defending SB5’s lack of a exception for rape and incest victims. Yeah, ok. Send her back to biology class please, or at least have a detective explain to her what a Rape Kit is. Well, that was all in prelude to last night’s wonderful events where Texas State Senator Wendy Davis stood up for women’s rights and reproductive freedom and filibustered the bill until it was dead.
Well, on Twitter, very dumb conservative males have started using this hashtag: #SitDownWendy. That was in response to the hashtag in use last night in support of Senator Davis, #standwithwendy. Yes, the first thing you always do when trying to bridge the Gender Chasm and attract more women voters to your ideology and party is to tell another woman to sit down and shut up. It does wonders for the party image among women. Another conservative hashtag in use is #wendymakemeasandwhich. Nice.
So with the GOP going to great great pains to alienate minorities and women, the GOP better embrace homosexuality soon since they are going to need white men to start breeding with each other, not to mention advances in medical science, which they are also against.
But on that score… not so much. As those conservative Republicans who did speak out today in horror at the Supreme Court’s landmark marriage equality decisions made sure to attack homosexuality as a sin and classified gays as second class inferior citizens destined for Hellfire.
So good work, GOP. Really, we Democrats could not do a better job defining you all as out of touch discriminatory bigots than the job you are doing yourselves.
Paula Deen, voting rights and the ‘New South’
People have changed. That seems to be the imputes behind a divided Supreme Court’s decision to gut the Voting Rights Act. Some needs to introduce them to Paula Deen.
Wednesday Open Thread [6.26.13]
![Wednesday Open Thread [6.26.13]](http://delawareliberal.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DL.Thumbnail.png "Wednesday Open Thread [6.26.13]")
Last night was something pretty amazing to see. Texas State Senator Wendy Davis filibustered the unconstitutional and rape-approving Abortion Ban for nearly 13 hours, until the Republicans played some trickery to end it. You see, in Texas, when you filibuster a bill, your comments in filibustering have to be germane to the bill you are filibustering. So you cannot just stand up there and read the phone book. Seems like a fair rule. Well, it depends on how you apply it. The Republicans felt the term “Sonogram” was not germane to a discussion of abortion. Well, the chamber descended into chaos at that ruling, with the galley, packed with Davis’ supporters and supporters for women’s rights and reproductive freedom, began shouting “LET HER SPEAK” repeatedly, and would not shut up to let Lt. Governor Drew Dewhurst run the chamber. I passed out around there, but I gather that the Democrats filed motion after motion appealing the ruling, and I gather that they were successful in running out the clock to midnight. Under Texas law, the legislative session ends at midnight on the 25th of June, and no bill passed after that is considered a validly passed law. The Republicans, of course, ignored the law and passed the bill anyway. So expect court battles over that. For more info, see here.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 26, 2013
I’m disappointed that HB165(Jaques) passed, and will be signed by the Governor today. But the Senate also passed two bills sponsored by Sen. Townsend that will make that passage at least a little more palatable. SB 147 creates more of a partnership between charters and public schools, including the sharing of ‘best practices’. Here is the 17-4 roll call. SB 148:
promotes transparency in government spending relating to competitive grants administered by the Department of Education by requiring that the Department publish on its website the eligibility requirements, criteria and successful applications for every competitive grant it administers.
I believe that the Markell Administration has signed off on both bills. Seriously, you don’t see legislating of this quality very often in Dover. A lesson to legislators: If you know you’re gonna lose on an issue, at least try to get something positive out of it. Sometimes you succeed. And thanks to the Markell Administration for working with Sen. Townsend on this.
SS1/SB33(Ennis) got final Senate approval and heads to the Governor. Yay!! The two bitter holdouts who voted no were Bloviator Bonini and, wait for it, Pope Pompous I, formerly Monsignor Lavelle. To quote the parrot from ‘Aladdin’, “Why am I not surprised?”
Supreme Court DOMA and Prop 8 Watching Thread
The Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 on Wednesday that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstituional. Roberts dissents. Scalia dissents. DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment.
From the decision: “DOMA singles out a class of persons deemed by a State entitled ot recognition and protection to enhance their own liberty.”
Update on the Prop 8 case: The court does not reach the merits of this case, instead ruling that the Petitioners (the private citizens seeking to enforce Prop 8 after the State of California refuses to appeal the District Court’s ruling to the 9th Circuit) lacked standing to bring their appeal. That means that the District Court’s ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional is upheld, and that means same sex marriage is now once again legal in California.
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