If “Republicans want to ban birth control” should be the new “Democrats want to defund the police,” then what should be the new "Democrats are socialists?"
Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report would go even further.
In his right-wing tactic of jumping and stretching to wild conclusions, he would take the statistic that 86% of women who have abortions are unmarried*, and offer:
"Republicans want to ban unmarried people from having sex."
I think we should all just take a moment and thank President Biden for 21 consecutive days of dropping gas prices and the resulting decrease of inflation... (particularly if we were blaming him for the worldwide rise in gas prices and inflation prior). (LOL yes, I know-- the POTUS does not control gas prices yet I must have read oodles of articles dooming him for them).
Charlie, it is a mistake to dismiss Governor Newsom’s presidential ambitions or his chances of winning the Democratic nomination ( and maybe the presidency) in 2024 or 2028.
Governor Newsom has done a good job running the 5th largest economy in the world through pandemic, drought, flood, fire and other natural and man made disasters.
He is business friendly.
Socially liberal, but realistic.
He drives the ultra-liberal legislature crazy.
He is charming if not charismatic — a beautiful wife and children.
Track record, personality, picture perfect family and extraordinarily strong fund raising ability, centrist appeal and guaranteed California’s Electoral College motherlode.
Who knows? I don't blame her for not wanting to let her enemies define her. Even if she hadn't run or even if she had won the EC, I think we would have ended up with a smart Trump sooner or later. Remember too, if people had taken the trump threat seriously in 2016 and voted for her instead of Stein in those three states that cost he the electoral college by 77,000., she would have won, in spite of Comey's last minute empty email announcement. In fact, the comey announcement is probably where Trump got the idea that an empty Zelensky announcement would sink Biden, and then a little later an empty DOJ announcement would allow him to overturn the election.
If she had won, she would have spent the whole term taking incoming from the GOP, but they would not have been able to cause the damage they caused with Trump.
"In the view of many distraught Democrats, the country is facing a full-blown crisis on a range of fronts"
I'm sorry, but what crises am I supposed face on multiple fronts. I dislike that they overturned Roe and gutted some of the environmental laws. But I don't see these as crises. There is a chance that Trump may be be President again, which has made looking at the real-estate ads in Malta. But again it's not crises yet.
Regarding Tim's book: I just listened to the July 7 Dispatch Podcast with Tim and Jonah Goldberg. Very lively discussion; I highly recommend it. Tim was on fire!
"Great Premature Mentioners" - what a brilliant description! Also, Tim Miller's book "Why We Did It" is one the best political reads in years and a refreshingly honest history of our very screwed up times.
Grats to Tim, its a good book. Informative AND entertaining. I would write a glowing review but I am a lazy SOB.
In response to Charlies Frontrunner bit:
Today's GoP is a lot different than the GoP of as recent as 2003 or 2007, or 2012. They still had pretensions of normalcy at that point. That's all gone now. Look at the people who are winning nominations now.
Being a jerk, hypocrite, a liar, idiot, and a sociopath is no longer disqualifying--it almost seems required.
About contraception, great cartoon from the Baltimore Sun, a woman saying to a man in a car, pulled over by a cop: "Relax, I hid the contraceptive pills in the gun."
I live in Maryland, so don't have any say in VA's elections. I just really dislike how people jump on a bandwagon so quickly. How many people wanted Andrew Cuomo for president in 2020?
Personally, I think "The Republicans are coming for your birth control pills" reverberates with "The Democrats are comng for your guns" better. A variation is "Gini and the Supremes are going to take your birth control pills." A "ban" can be avoided; taking is permanent.
The easiest and most effective way to get assault weapons out of the hands of kids like the Highland Park shooter and the Uvalde shooter is to move assault weapons into "NFA firearm" territory. This basically puts them into the same category and enhanced-background check system as sound suppressors, machine guns, and short-barreled rifles/shotguns. The system is already in place, we just need to roll assault weapons into that system. People still have access, but they need to pass a minimum 4-month background check before they can accept their purchased NFA firearm.
And at the same time, forbid gun ownership to anyone involved in domestic violence. Some 60% of mass shooters have a domestic violence history. These two simple measures, taken together, would probably cut mass shooting incidents by 90%.
If “Republicans want to ban birth control” should be the new “Democrats want to defund the police,” then what should be the new "Democrats are socialists?"
Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report would go even further.
In his right-wing tactic of jumping and stretching to wild conclusions, he would take the statistic that 86% of women who have abortions are unmarried*, and offer:
"Republicans want to ban unmarried people from having sex."
*https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/14/upshot/who-gets-abortions-in-america.html.
I am soooo happy for Tim, I haven't started the book yet, but, will soon
( Life has been really busy/exhausting...lol)
Yeah, I keep telling myself to disregard the predictions, so many in the past have turned out to be wrong
Good News: Tim's book is #2. Really depressing news: Pete Hegseth's is #1.
I think we should all just take a moment and thank President Biden for 21 consecutive days of dropping gas prices and the resulting decrease of inflation... (particularly if we were blaming him for the worldwide rise in gas prices and inflation prior). (LOL yes, I know-- the POTUS does not control gas prices yet I must have read oodles of articles dooming him for them).
Charlie, it is a mistake to dismiss Governor Newsom’s presidential ambitions or his chances of winning the Democratic nomination ( and maybe the presidency) in 2024 or 2028.
Governor Newsom has done a good job running the 5th largest economy in the world through pandemic, drought, flood, fire and other natural and man made disasters.
He is business friendly.
Socially liberal, but realistic.
He drives the ultra-liberal legislature crazy.
He is charming if not charismatic — a beautiful wife and children.
Track record, personality, picture perfect family and extraordinarily strong fund raising ability, centrist appeal and guaranteed California’s Electoral College motherlode.
Polls well against Trump and DeSantis.
Who knows? I don't blame her for not wanting to let her enemies define her. Even if she hadn't run or even if she had won the EC, I think we would have ended up with a smart Trump sooner or later. Remember too, if people had taken the trump threat seriously in 2016 and voted for her instead of Stein in those three states that cost he the electoral college by 77,000., she would have won, in spite of Comey's last minute empty email announcement. In fact, the comey announcement is probably where Trump got the idea that an empty Zelensky announcement would sink Biden, and then a little later an empty DOJ announcement would allow him to overturn the election.
If she had won, she would have spent the whole term taking incoming from the GOP, but they would not have been able to cause the damage they caused with Trump.
Congrats, Tim.
"In the view of many distraught Democrats, the country is facing a full-blown crisis on a range of fronts"
I'm sorry, but what crises am I supposed face on multiple fronts. I dislike that they overturned Roe and gutted some of the environmental laws. But I don't see these as crises. There is a chance that Trump may be be President again, which has made looking at the real-estate ads in Malta. But again it's not crises yet.
Congrats to Tim!
Regarding Tim's book: I just listened to the July 7 Dispatch Podcast with Tim and Jonah Goldberg. Very lively discussion; I highly recommend it. Tim was on fire!
Thanks for this recommendation. I listened to the whole thing and it was WAS very lively! (...and I usually can't bear hour long podcasts...)
"Great Premature Mentioners" - what a brilliant description! Also, Tim Miller's book "Why We Did It" is one the best political reads in years and a refreshingly honest history of our very screwed up times.
Grats to Tim, its a good book. Informative AND entertaining. I would write a glowing review but I am a lazy SOB.
In response to Charlies Frontrunner bit:
Today's GoP is a lot different than the GoP of as recent as 2003 or 2007, or 2012. They still had pretensions of normalcy at that point. That's all gone now. Look at the people who are winning nominations now.
Being a jerk, hypocrite, a liar, idiot, and a sociopath is no longer disqualifying--it almost seems required.
About contraception, great cartoon from the Baltimore Sun, a woman saying to a man in a car, pulled over by a cop: "Relax, I hid the contraceptive pills in the gun."
https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0701-friday-editorial-cartoon-1-20220630-wcboym7qa5efflepi7zaixlolq-story.html
I live in Maryland, so don't have any say in VA's elections. I just really dislike how people jump on a bandwagon so quickly. How many people wanted Andrew Cuomo for president in 2020?
Personally, I think "The Republicans are coming for your birth control pills" reverberates with "The Democrats are comng for your guns" better. A variation is "Gini and the Supremes are going to take your birth control pills." A "ban" can be avoided; taking is permanent.
The easiest and most effective way to get assault weapons out of the hands of kids like the Highland Park shooter and the Uvalde shooter is to move assault weapons into "NFA firearm" territory. This basically puts them into the same category and enhanced-background check system as sound suppressors, machine guns, and short-barreled rifles/shotguns. The system is already in place, we just need to roll assault weapons into that system. People still have access, but they need to pass a minimum 4-month background check before they can accept their purchased NFA firearm.
That might work in theory, but no way you are going to get republican votes for something like that.
You might not even get this supreme court going along with it.
And at the same time, forbid gun ownership to anyone involved in domestic violence. Some 60% of mass shooters have a domestic violence history. These two simple measures, taken together, would probably cut mass shooting incidents by 90%.