Fence Straddlers vs. Demagogues

In the afterglow of yesterday’s monumental ruling on Prop 8 I’ve begun to see the stirrings of anger among progressives towards the overly careful Obama position on gay marriage. It’s unquestionably a fence-straddling position and a disappointingly outdated circa 2007-8 one at that. One hopes Obama will find some courage on this issue (we all know where he actually stands and is simply unwilling to engage this issue now for political reasons), but in the meantime advocates for marriage equality should be focusing their ire at the forces of reaction and retrenchment not obsessing on the caution of our allies (I’m looking at you John Aravosis).

The GOP has in recent months embraced every conceivable bogeyman in order to scare their base to the polls and many do so cynically for political advantage. From African American revanchists, communism, Islam, anchor babies and a general off-white menace, they’ve now once again begun to activate one of their old favorites -- those afflicted with The Gay. I think hearing Newt Gingrich this last week demagoguing both the “Ground Zero Mosque” and the Prop 8 decision (while cutely tying it in with the vote on Kagan today) put me over the top on this. Gingrich doesn’t really care about either of these issues, but he cynically knows it will energize the reptile brains of the Republican base for the fall elections.

Let’s stay focused on the true enemy and not tie ourselves in knots when our politicians act like politicians. There is no moral equivalence between our side being pussies and their side being evil. And, yes, Nate Silver is right when he tweets, “In 30 years time, the fact that the Barack Obama was opposed to gay marriage is going to look really silly.”

PS-I’m not against pressuring Obama from the left on this and tons of other issues, but I think some on the left lose all sense of proportion when their leaders are too cautious.

Republican Answer to the Debt: No More Recovery Act Signs

Suspiciously fashion-conscious and single Republican Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois came out to Morning Joe today to inform us he has finally decided what he wants to cut to get a handle on the deficit. Recall Schock was on months earlier and was challenged by Scarborough to tell him what he would cut (since he wouldn't shut up about the budget deficit) and he didn't really have an answer. Months have passed and Aaron is now ready to educate us on the path to fiscal sanity.



Even Pat Buchanan laughed at this. The worst part of this flimflammery, besides the point it does nothing to deal with debts or deficits (less than a sneeze to either) is the transparent cynicism of the Republican Study Committee trying to take away the signs that show Americans what the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act actually funded while going around the country saying the stimulus did nothing. I'm still not certain if Schock is dumb or cynical or a nice mix of both, but I do understand why he might want those ARRA signs taken down since they might be embarrassing the next time he shows up at a ground-breaking or ribbon-cutting in his district with the voice of Rachel Maddow ringing in his ears.

Muppet Guitarist Wants You to Vote Glenn Beck in 2012

Apparently Janice of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem wants you to help recruit Glenn Beck for President in 2012, if this video from Main Street Bites Back is any indication.

With this, their war on the NAACP, and their loses last night in Alabama in both the 2nd district and gubernatorial races, could it possibly be that the Tea Party movement has jumped the shark? They were the crazy, scary people of 2009, but it seems more and more they are the crazy, funny people of 2010.

His Armies Didn't Gather: Teabagger Loses Tonight in Alabama

YouTube celebrity and Tea Party favorite, Rick Barber, apparently didn't have a firm enough commitment from Presidents Washington and Lincoln to get the Republican vote out in Alabama's 2nd Congressional district runoff today. Maybe his supporters were too busy LARPing to make it to the polls. It wasn't even close -- Councilwoman Martha Washington Roby defeated him 61% to 39%. Maybe Barber can play dress up and do a Dodge Challenger ad.

Here's one of Barber's ads, filmed in his basement, to jog your memory.

Annals of Stupid, June 9th edition

Via Buzzfeed, we now have incontrovertible logic that the president is to blame for the Gulf oil spill. Quod erat demonstratum, McShitforbrains.

Goodbye, Blanche

Fingers crossed. Let's face it, we need a symbol. We need some catharsis after being screwed during the health care debate by Lieberman, Nelson, Lincoln and other Conservadems. None of the others are up this cycle, but we have Blanche and she is awful. Here's hoping that the senator from Walmart will finally leave the good people of Arkansas alone so they can have a chance to be represented by a real Democrat. Her future, on Fox News or K Street, awaits her.

You’ll Never Convince Your Crazy Uncle, So Why Waste Time Trying?

A brief rant. I am generally loathe to link to that fetid abyss of Washington media insider-ism known as Politico, but this article really appalled me more than usual and my object of derision isn’t the reporter so much as the whole point of this event and the White House staff/president that orchestrated it.

President Barack Obama battled with Senate Republicans in a tense closed-door meeting Tuesday, facing tough criticism from his GOP adversaries — including John McCain — on issues ranging from health care to border security.

Senators and other sources inside the meeting described the gathering as “testy” and “direct” — and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) accused Obama of acting two-faced by asking for GOP support on regulatory reform only to push forward with a bill supported mainly by Democrats. Others felt that the meeting may have made already tense relations between the two parties even worse.

"The more he talked, the more he got upset," Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said. “He needs to take a valium before he comes in and talks to Republicans and just calm down, and don’t take anything so seriously. If you disagree with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re attacking their motives — and he takes it that way and tends then to lecture and then gets upset.”

The White House said that Obama made a plea for bipartisanship on some of the country’s most pressing issues — and he urged Republicans to stand up to their base and compromise with the Democratic Party.

Assuming the president’s time is valuable, what is the point of attending an off-the-record, or at least media-excluded publicity event with your political opponents in an election year? Honestly, I’m looking for answers here. Does it help Obama? It’s not televised, so we don’t get to see him dissect his opponents as he did the House Republicans previously or even have a substantive public debate as was done (at times) at the Health Care Summit in February (or as is done almost daily with members of Congress inside the White House). Does it allow Republicans to leak to their media accomplices like Politico who write stories about how testy and “thin-skinned” Obama was? Check. Does it let John McCain pretend he’s still running for president? Check. Even McConnell, while he seemed to enjoy lunch and appreciated that the head of the executive branch had to trundle down to the Senate to visit the minority caucus on their own turf, admitted nothing was agreed to or could be agreed to at this meeting. Will it stop Republicans or creatures of the Washington media from saying Obama isn’t trying hard enough to work with Republicans? You are hilarious.

Look, I’m not against the parties having dialogue and as I mentioned they do so every day, but in an election year where the benefits of compromise are near zero and the opposing party’s base thinks you are the Anti-Christ, it would seem one could find a more productive use of the president’s time. Instead of trying to make Republicans comfortable with you, why not spend more time trying to get your base excited about voting in November?