Tag Archives: GOP

Political Rants

Knocking it out old-school in the fighting 22nd

Unlike many past election years, I haven’t been keeping close track of the state of play in Democratic or Republican primary contests for my Congressional District. Part of the reason for this is the redistricting debacle that New York State recently put itself through. The short version goes like this: the Democratic majority tried to implement a kind of lopsided gerrymander that would likely have flipped three seats into the Democratic column. That map was struck down by a circuit court in Maryland, and New York went with a more “equitable” version.

I have made my opinion on redistricting clear in previous posts, but to summarize: I don’t believe in unilateral disarmament. Red states are gerrymandering the living hell out of their congressional and legislative maps, adding dozens of safe GOP seats nationwide, ignoring court orders that don’t suit them, etc. Democrat-led states, on the other hand, are acting like boy scouts, implementing non partisan redistricting commissions, deferring to the courts, etc. The result may very well be permanent Republican crazy-ass rule. But Democrats can take heart in having been good little girls and boys.

What’s my number?

Okay, so … for a while, my residence was in the 19th district. I was getting invited to meet and greets with Antonio Delgado, the incumbent in that district who has since been named Lieutenant Governor by Kathy Hochul. Then came the court decision, and now I’m back in the 22nd, currently represented by the inimitable Claudia Tenney, the only NY Republican in Congress to vote against the recent bill protecting marriage equality. As I believe I’ve mentioned before, Claudia has decided to run in another district, as the new 22nd is a bit bluer than the old one, now that it includes Syracuse.

With Tenney off trying to gain a seat in the new 23rd, a beet-red southern tier district that stretches to Lake Erie, I am not at all clear on who will be running for the 22nd on the Republican side. I mean, I can read Ballotopedia like anyone else, so I know that Brandon Williams and Steven Wells are vying for the GOP nod. What I don’t know is who the hell they are. Wells seems to be harping on immigration, the Biden Crisis at the border, etc., wheras Williams appears to be a COVID skeptic, anti-lockdown corporatist.

Party of Roosevelt, Jackson, Kennedy, and Wallace

The Democrats in the primary race have been shooting me postcards for a few weeks. I’ve heard from Francis Conole, a dude who looks to be seven feet tall, Sam Roberts, a guy who was particularly good at getting his picture taken with Democratic leadership, and Sarah Klee Hood, who actually stopped by my house when I wasn’t there. Hood may be the best organized one – she was going door-to-door, after all. I have no sense, though, that the party leadership has any preference between these three.

What about policy? Conole seems like one of those Dem party pragmatists, like Anthony Brindisi was – you know, “common sense” solutions, etc. He does pay lip service to universal healthcare, or “greater access” to healthcare – that’s more like what he’s claiming. Then there’s the campaign finance question – apparently a crypto billionaire is bankrolling Mr. Conole to some extent. Not a particularly encouraging sign. Roberts has some very thin details on his policy page – mostly generalities about jobs, conservation, supporting policing, and – yes – “access” to healthcare.

Sarah Klee Hood, on the other hand, appears to support single payer and has posted info-graphics to explain its merits. Not bad.

Divide and conquer

Primaries in New York State are always confusing. They break up some local races from federal and some state races, strangely. For instance, primaries for congressional seats and state senate seats are held on August 23; the gubernatorial primary was held in June. They probably do this to confuse voters, but whatever.

Make your voice heard … even when that means just voting.

luv u,

jp

Check out our political opinion podcast, Strange Sound.
Political Rants

Handmaid’s tale.

Probably the most amazing thing about the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation process is the degree to which she and all of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee insist that there’s no underlying agenda behind her nomination, even though that agenda has been the most consistently central motivating force in GOP politics for the last four decades. That’s no exaggeration – this has been their core mission since the dawn of the Regan era. It’s been a relentless push over the course of forty years on the part of conservative politicians, political action groups, and the obscenely rich funders who back them, quietly and not so quietly. And yet they all sit in that Senate committee room and attempt to gaslight the American public, making stirring speeches about the roles of the coordinate branches of government and the crucial distinction between politics and civics, assuring us that they’re only interested in applying constitutional principles in a fair and measured way.

If you believe that, then you might be interested in this nice bridge I have for sale. Make no mistake: Barrett is an extremist, and a relatively young one at that – if she is confirmed, which seems more than likely, she will probably serve on that court for forty years or more. That means bloodcurdlingly reactionary decisions on a range of issues, from reproductive rights to same-sex marriage to the constitutionality of the ACA to the outcome of elections. Judge Barrett could not even acknowledge long settled statutory prohibitions on voter intimidation, nor her thoughts on the peaceful transfer of power following a national election. There are issues that she does have an opinion on; she has made that very clear in the form of open letters in publications, speeches, and other means. But we’re expected to believe that those opinions will not play a role in her jurisprudence. My. Smoking. Ass.

We’ve been here before, folks, right? Republican nominees being tight lipped about the very things that put them in front of that committee in the first place. We know that she was chosen by the Federalist Society and others, who pushed her forward for Trump, and our insane clown president of course signed off on the appointment. She has the votes … I’m certain that’s partly why Mitch McConnell is moving forward with this now. So why the hell not just say what you think, expound on the depredations of available abortion services (and birth control), and then flip everyone off? She should then do a little dance out of the room – when McConnell calls the vote, it will be all over. Sure, other things can happen …. but will they? The GOP has the power, and they will use it. It’s to the point where we’re placing a Taliban-like religious extremist on the court – one whose secret society group, People of Praise, had her referring to herself as a handmaid. Seriously, people? We can’t do better than this?

We’re facing a 6-3 Supreme Court, and we have to encourage leaders on the center-left to do the right things to counteract their antidemocratic powers. I’ll talk about some specifics on Strange Sound, so be sure to tune in.

luv u,

jp

Check out our political opinion podcast, Strange Sound.
Political Rants

Donnie in Nixonland.

Our president offered a little fascist theater performance this week. The resulting spectacle was simultaneously ludicrous and terrifying, as most reality television tends to be (at least for anyone who is sane). Pumped up by his most reactionary advisors – Barr, Stephen Miller, etc. – the Cheeseburgler-in-Chief waddled out to the microphone to deliver a Miller-esque train wreck of a statement, then waddled over to St. John’s Church, freshly cleared by the 82nd Airborne, to have his photo taken while awkwardly clasping a bible. (Not clear that he was happy with the tome they handed him, perhaps preferring an edition with “Holy Bible” written in enormous gold letters on the cover.) This sorry spectacle was had at the cost of gassing, pelting, and beating thousands of peaceful protesters, journalists, and bystanders in an effort to drive them back from the vicinity of the White House.

What did the president gain from this effort? A badly produced propaganda video featuring scenes from his baby elephant walk to the church. (And I mean really bad, like every video they’ve ever made, starting with that laughable intro reel they ran at the 2016 GOP Convention.) He obviously wants to take advantage of the national anti-racist uprising to push a law and order narrative similar to the one used by Richard Nixon and George Wallace in 1968. This sounds a bit like the work of Steve Bannon, though perhaps not clever enough … more Miller’s or Barr’s speed. Honestly, they have little else to run on this year. They obviously blew the COVID-19 crisis, the economy is in the toilet, and Trump shows no interest in expanding his appeal beyond people in white hoods.

Here’s the problem with the 1968 strategy: It’s not 1968. At that time, the ruling party had been in power for eight years. The Vietnam war, vastly expanded by LBJ, was at its peak of violence, and young people in particular were in open revolt over the killing, the draft, etc. It was a much more openly, deeply racist country back then as well, and many Black Americans were only just beginning to get the franchise. What’s more, Nixon was the challenger, not the president. The “I’m going to clean up this mess” gambit doesn’t work if you’re the incumbent. For that to fly, you need to be calling out a party in power whose coalition is divided and hostile to their office holders. That’s not to say that the law and order tactic won’t work – nothing is beyond the scope of possibility these days. But if Trump is once again walking in the footsteps of Richard Nixon, he might want to be careful where he steps.

More than seven hundred billion dollars appropriated this year to spend on the U.S. military, and Trump uses them to liberate Lafayette Park. Worth it?

luv u,

jp

Check out our political opinion podcast, Strange Sound.