Cruz and Hannity, shrill, shrill shrill
by digby
Ted Cruz: Today was one of the darkest 24 hours in our nation’s history
Sean Hannity: I couldn’t have said it more eloquently
As dark as 9/11. As dark as December 7, 1941? As dark as November 22, 1963?
The only answer is a constitutional amendment affirming states’ rights. And stripping the Court of the right to issue rulings pertaining to marriage.
Or holding their breath until they turn blue, one or the other.
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For once we’re leaders on something besides violence
by digby
Countries where gay marriage is legal nationwide
Hey, rest of the world — if the US can do it, so can you. We’re famously behind the curve. If we can do it, you can too.
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How sweet the sound
by digby
I didn’t cry when the president started singing but I did choke up. I lost it when he hugged those beautiful little girls who lost their father.
"I know you were shot at the Church and you went to Heaven. I love you so much!" pic.twitter.com/nC4DT6ZUFV— Trymaine Lee (@trymainelee) June 26, 2015
My God. I’m undone.
Here’s Amazing grace…
Here’s the whole eulogy.
Walker going all in
by digby
Looks like Walker’s going to fight Huckabee and Santorum for that religious right vote with everything he has:
SCOTT WALKER calls for “an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to reaffirm the ability of the states to continue to define marriage.”
— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) June 26, 2015
States’ rights. Again. Smell the freedom.
Update: They all have different ideas about where to go from here, from reluctantly abiding by the ruling to civil disobedience, but they aren’t giving up on their retrograde views:
Bush: “I believe in traditional marriage.”
Walker: “The only alternative left is to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to reaffirm the ability of the states to continue to define marriage.”
Rubio: “I believe that marriage…should be between one man and one woman.”
Perry: “I’m a firm believer in traditional marriage… I fundamentally disagree with the court rewriting the law and assaulting the 10th Amendment.”
Jindal: “Marriage between a man and a woman was established by God, and no earthly court can alter that.”
Fiorina: “I do not agree that the Court can or should redefine marriage.”
Huckabee: “The only outcome worse than this flawed, failed decision would be for the President and Congress…to surrender in the face of this out-of-control act of unconstitutional, judicial tyranny.”
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Rueful relief on Obamacare
by digby
This quote, via Jared Bernstein, tells an interesting story:
“Atlanta resident Ted Souris, 62, describes himself as an “arch-conservative” who initially opposed the health law. He said hehad mixed feelings about the ruling. He receives what he calls “a pretty hefty subsidy” to buy insurance — he gets $460 and pays $115 a month for insurance.
“I’m so against Obama, and I hate that he has any kind of victory,” Souris said, “but it’s nice that I don’t have to worry” about affording health coverage.
He said that he doesn’t like getting what he calls “a government handout” but that the law — and the subsidy — allowed him to retire early and still have coverage. “I am glad I have the Affordable Care Act, and I appreciate that I got the subsidy.””
This is why Social Security must stay universal and why health insurance should be universal also. Some people simply will not support something from which they do not personally benefit. Indeed, I would guess that this person would actively oppose Obamacare if he didn’t.
Conservatives tend to have problems with empathy and imagination. (That’s one reason they are conservatives.) So, they can’t care about the troubles of other people and can’t imagine that they might someday be in need of the help they are denying others. It’s only when they are personally faced with a problem that government is needed to help solve that they will support it.
Still, I’m sure it took a lot for that guy to admit that he needed government help so that he could retire early. Bravo for him. At some point virtually everyone will know someone or will be someone who takes advantage of Obamacare subsidies. That’s when Republicans will argue for the government to keep it’s hands off their Obamacare.
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Desperation on the right
by digby
This is when we are allowed to laugh:
It’s time to start asking the question. It’s time to be cynical. It’s time to assume the worst of this government.
Has Supreme Court Justice John Roberts been blackmailed or intimidated?
I would put nothing by the Obama administration that lives and rules by the Chicago thug playbook.
Doubt me? On the same day that Justice Roberts and the Supremes upheld Obamacare – again – the key IRS watchdog reported to Congress that the IRS purposely destroyed evidence of a crime.
Is the idea implausible that this same Obama administration that orders IRS attacks, then orders destruction of key evidence, would stop at nothing to save Obama’s signature achievement? Is it impossible to believe that Obama and his socialist cabal that learned from Saul Alinsky that “the ends justify the means” would hold something over a Supreme Court justice’s head?
It’s time to ask the question loudly and boldly because something is clearly wrong in Washington, D.C.
Is that the purpose of government agencies like the IRS and the NSA that are abusing our rights – to listen to us, to watch us, to find something we’ve done wrong, and then use it to intimidate, harass, threaten or extort key political figures so that Obama can “fundamentally change America”?
Because something clearly smells rotten in Washington, D.C. Like “the mafia delivering a dead fish to your door” rotten. Conservatives just won national elections in a massive wave, a historic landslide. We control both houses of Congress; we control the Supreme Court, yet we continue to lose every key vote in Congress and every key Supreme Court ruling.
Suddenly when Republicans win elections, elections have no consequences. Doesn’t this seem odd? Doesn’t something smell rotten, like the fix is in?
What else have they got?
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Hallelujah!
by digby
If you would have told me 20 years ago (1995) that the Supreme Court would rule that gay people could marry in all 50 states I would have thought you were nuts.
Note to liberals: if this doesn’t give you hope that change can come — and come very quickly sometimes — then nothing will. But remember, there’s no guarantee that any such a right will not come under assault in future years in a million ways in the laboratories of democracy. We’ve certainly seen that happen often enough. It’s hard to imagine how they could do it, but I wouldn’t let my guard down.
But for today, it’s nothing but good news. Congratulations to everyone!
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Rule by tantrum
By Tom Sullivan
In response to yesterday’s Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare … again … expect Republican leaders to prescribe another thousand cuts. They’ll eventually “cure” America of Obamacare the way medieval barbers used bloodletting and leeches to cure patients. They’re just folksy, that way.
But first they will pitch a patented right wing hissy fit. If T-Party cannot have Torquemada for Chief Justice, it will at least try to inflict the kind of pain that (it believes) would make him smile:
Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) said that his SCOTUScare Act would make all nine justices and their employees join the national healthcare law’s exchanges.
“As the Supreme Court continues to ignore the letter of the law, it’s important that these six individuals understand the full impact of their decisions on the American people,” he said.
“That’s why I introduced the SCOTUScare Act to require the Supreme Court and all of its employees to sign up for ObamaCare,” Babin said.
“Trolling as Governance,” as Chris Hayes tweeted. This will be Obama’s Waterloo, dammit!
Indeed, throwing tantrums seems to be the best prominent conservatives can manage lately. Whether it is Bill O’Reilly declaring war over criticism of his network’s coverage of race, or Sen. Ted Cruz vowing … again … to repeal “every single word” of Obamacare.
They have not only a policy problem, but political and image problems. The tantrums keep landing them in corners they’ve painted themselves into. A new poll, for example, shows that Republican primary voters are uninterested in improving race relations at a time three-quarters of the rest of the country is focused on it:
One-third of likely Republican primary voters see race relations as unimportant to some degree, compared to only 9 percent of likely Democratic voters who feel that way.
“There is a tension Republicans are trying to navigate, and they are really stuck between a rock and a hard place,” said Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson.
“You have the majority of the public on one side, but the people who are actually going to vote for them in the primaries are less interested in this particular issue and may have different takes or alternate priorities altogether,” he said.
Plus, they need to learn to appeal to minorities before their old, white base becomes one. How’s that going, Donald Trump?
The would-be leaders of the future still can’t get their heads out of the past.
Red meat with salsa
by digby
So Trump is doing well in national polls of the GOP primary electorate right now. And if you watch Fox they are pretending not to know why. But come on. They love this stuff:
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” the candidate opined. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
On Wednesday, Univision condemned Trump’s remarks and announced that the network was ending its relationship with him.
“At Univision, we see first-hand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country,” a Univision statement said.
Trump responded on Wednesday by telling Fox News that he stood by his remarks about Mexicans, and he promised to sue Univision for breach of contract.
“That’s what’s happening!” he insisted to Fox News host Gretchen Carlson. “Do you think they’re sending their best and their finest over here?”
“Of course, they are criminals in many cases. Why would I change that statement?” Trump asked. “Ask the border guards who’s pouring in, and believe me, you won’t be happy when you find out. And by the way, that’s common sense. It’s common sense who is coming.”
The Republican billionaire added that he never called all Mexicans rapists and criminals: “I didn’t say it.”
Yeah, and nobody claimed he said that either. What he did say was bad enough.
being on the wrong side of Univision isn’t going to hurt him, that’s for sure. In fact, I’d expect another little bump in the polls.
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The poor boo-boos
by digby
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a lot of Republicans breathing huge sighs of relief over this [Obamacare ruling] because they have been totally beaten down and they think that anything that makes the American people unhappy is going to be blamed on them, and they would rather do whatever it takes to avoid that. So in this sense, the outcome probably isn’t any different regardless what the decision was. But that does in no way mitigate what’s happened at the Supreme Court. That is an absolute disaster.”
Awww. It doesn’t even matter anymore because everybody’s so mean to them all the time. They might as well just sit in the corner and have a good old fashioned cry.
Give him a bottle and put him to bed. He’s obviously over-tired.
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