– The distinction between the nuns on a bus and the bishops making demands is quite telling.
– The wingnuts sure know their history.
– Men aren’t going extinct.
– The City of Seattle is supporting a court challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Queue the Red Cross telethon raising money for victims of recent wild fires. Mike Myers cringes as Kanye West breaks script and blurts out:
Black People don’t care for Mitt Romney.
That would pretty much summarize the response Mitt Romney got during his speech before the NAACP today:
(You can watch the whole awkward Romney speech here.)
Says CNN correspondent Jim Acosta:
I have to tell you… I’ve been covering the Romney campaign for a year now[….] I have not heard that kind of sustained booing for Mitt Romney during the course of this campaign. […] This was, perhaps, one of the most negative reactions Mitt Romney has had in the course of his 2012 presidential campaigns.
Here are some photos of the audience reaction.
Last night, the twittersphere was all a-tweet with the hash tag #ThingsRomneyShouldntSayToNAACP. You know, things like
Freedom of Teach @FreedomofTeach
My wife drives a couple of Cadillacs, so we have that in common. #ThingsRomneyShouldntSayToNAACP
Er. D.-OBAMA2012 @esd2000
#ThingsRomneyShouldntSayToTheNAACP I’m a big fan of the Basketball contests you guys all love.
Shrink’g Mdl Class @alohaGOP
“I had a dream too – but mine came true, obviously.” #fakelaugh #ThingsRomneyShouldntSayToNAACP
Who knew the #OneThingRomneyReallyShouldntHaveSaid is written into his day-to-day stump speech.
(BTW: You can follow my twitter feed here.)
Walking through downtown the other night I came across a couple looking like they were on a date. When I passed them, they were trying to figure out the boot on their car. I’ve seen boots on cars before, but I think this was the first time I’ve seen people trying to figure out what to do about one.
It got me thinking about some consequences of the boot. I’ll reiterate my position, that I’m generally supportive, but worried about some of the consequences to people who can least afford to pay their parking tickets. That didn’t appear to be the case here, so I’ll ignore it and focus on the consequences a few rungs up the economic ladder.
This couple may look elsewhere for their next date. And they might be less likely to come downtown (I obviously don’t know where they’re from) generally in the future. On the other hand, parking is still tight downtown, so whoever parks in that spot next probably is more likely to pay for their space before the boot gets used. Or maybe they’ll learn their lesson and pay for their spot. And when they get a ticket, they’ll pay it promptly, and won’t have this problem.
As you may know, our state’s Attorney General, Rob McKenna takes credit for co-founding the state attorneys general lawsuit against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Apparently, McKenna lost control of the lawsuit, because he repeatedly claimed that he only wanted the “mandate” and the Medicaid provisions thrown out. Indeed, his own official web site claimed that, “This suit will not ‘overturn’ or ‘repeal’ the new health care reform legislation.”
His co-conspirators colleagues saw it differently. The lawsuit ended up asking the courts to strike down the entire law.
So…remember a couple of Thursdays ago when the Supreme Court found the PPACA “mandate” constitutional? That very day, McKenna gave a press conference in has capacity as Attorney General and as one of the instigators of the ill-fated lawsuit against PPACA. Here is a excerpt from the Q&A (video here):
Jim Brunner: Do you support Congress repealing this law […]?
Rob McKenna: This law is not going to be repealed…
Jim Bruner: Do you support it being repealed?
Rob McKenna: No. There are a number of provisions in this law that ought to be maintained.
Okay…he had to be asked a second time when he tried giving a non-answer the first time, but…pretty clear answer, no?
Yesterday, McKenna further “clarified” his position when speaking before Chamber of Commerce in Yakima :
…McKenna said the reports were a misinterpretation by “Seattle media” and that his position on the Affordable Care Act hasn’t changed.
“I wish I had been better prepared with a better articulated response than the one I gave at the press conference,” McKenna told the luncheon audience after an attendee accused him of changing his stance. “Frankly I didn’t think we were going to lose so I wasn’t ready for that question.”
McKenna insisted he was only asked whether Congress would go forward with repealing the act, not whether he thinks it should be repealed.
Huh. The media clearly reported that McKenna didn’t want Congress to repeal the PPACA. So…um, now, under criticism on the other side of the Mountains, McKenna claims the “Seattle Media” misinterpreted him? So…he is suggesting to a more conservative audience that he believes it should be repealed?
So…to further “clarify” exactly how McKenna feels, his campaign manager, Randy Peeple points out:
…McKenna’s position has not changed and that his [forthcoming] op-ed will not be calling for repeal of the health-care law. Instead, he said McKenna will more fully lay out the parts of the law he still has concerns with and how he’d responsibly approach them as governor.
McKenna has continued to warn about the expense of the law’s Medicaid expansion and has said its individual mandate is problematic despite the court’s ruling. (At his June 28 news conference, however, McKenna said the mandate should remain in place “for now” because it is so closely tied to key positive parts of the health-care law.)
So…the “mandate” is problematic (East) but he wants it to remain in place (West).
Come on. He’s just fucking with everyone now!
Please join us tonight for an evening of politics and conversation over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.
We meet every Tuesday at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm. Some people show up earlier for Dinner.
Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities and Vancouver, WA chapters meet, and Thursday night Drinking Liberally Bremerton meets. Next Monday there are meetings of the Olympia and Yakima chapters.
With 227 chapters of Living Liberally, including eleven in Washington state and four more in Oregon, chances are excellent there’s a chapter near you.
Gubernatorial, gubernatorial, and US Senate loser Dino Rossi will get to fill in the rest of Cheryl Pflug’s term in the Washington State Senate until the election. I mean fine and all, she resigned and if he wants it, sure. But is this really necessary? There’s probably not going to be a special session between now and then. And I don’t know the constituent services at the legislative level, but can’t this sort of thing be done by one of the representatives? Is anyone in the 5th district feeling more represented because a lame duck has been appointed to a caretaker role?
– Seriously, Seattle. Stand on the right; walk on the left. I don’t know why we can’t master that one.
– Mitt Romney Venn Diagrams may be the perfect combination of political nerd and math nerd.
– Shaun is having a fundraiser.
– Any questions Goldy asks would be considered abrasive by our differential press corps and political class.
– Big money donors are hilariously out of touch [h/t].
– Seventeen magazine isn’t going to use airbrushing. Or at least will explain when it is.
Last week’s contest was won by milwhcky. It was Montpellier, France.
This week’s contest is related to a TV show or a movie, good luck!
Zephaniah 1:2
I, the Lord, now promise to destroy everything on this earth.
Discuss.
Jacob Sullum writes in Reason about the reasons to be skeptical of the recent reports claiming that Obama will have a shift in drug policy in his second term. Jesse Walker has also written about it here and Mike Riggs here. The reality is that Obama could be doing more to move us away from waging a war on drugs, but he’s not. He hasn’t even been able to keep the promise he made on the campaign trail about respecting state medical marijuana laws.
These “leaked reports” feel like a half-assed attempt to pander to the left-leaning folks like myself who are considering supporting Gary Johnson over Obama’s horrendous record on all types of civil liberty issues. And they’re also very detached from what the reality is very likely to be in November. Both Washington and Colorado have full legalization initiatives on the ballot, and both are ahead in the polls. And Oregon may join them.
If any of these initiatives pass – and Obama wins a second term – we’ll know pretty quickly whether or not he’s going to “pivot” on the drug war. The federal government has the power to shut down any state marijuana regulations, but despite what Marc Ambinder claims about Obama’s powerlessness, his DOJ clearly has some discretion about what it considers a priority, and Obama is certainly free to appoint someone to head up the DEA who actually knows if heroin is a more dangerous drug than marijuana. Even if Obama doesn’t take a position in favor of legalizing marijuana at the federal level, he can take the position that he’ll tolerate a state’s voters making it the law. If he’s not taking that position, there’s no pivot.
Do you have an offshore bank account?
The Health Care Killing Floors:
Maddow: Ron Paul not out until Nebraska sings.
Obama kicks off a campaign tour.
Pap: The fracking industry’s dirty secrets.
Tom: The Good, The Bad and the Very Very Nasicornously Ugly!
Growing Up:
The Daily Show explains Wall Street.
Alyona: Rhode Island’s new disclosure act.
Young Turks: Conservative Judge says GOP has become ‘goofy’.
Slate News: Ron Paul’s new crusade.
Sam Seder: Florida Congressman Bill Young (R) pulls a McKenna; tells minimum wage worker to, “Get a job”.
The Onion Week in Review.
Romney’s Romper Room:
Obama likes the kid’s hair.
Sam Seder: Rush Limbaugh, “The country went downhill when we let women vote!.
Young Turks: Anti-tax movement burned in Colorado fire.
Thom: more of The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.
Mother Pitt:
White House: West Wing Week.
Maddow: Thaddeus McCotter resigns… weirdly.
Young Turks: Koch brothers helped by ear marks from tea party Congressman.
Thom: Will RI disclosure bill keep out the super PACs?
Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.
I assume most people reading this blog are already registered to vote. But if you’re not, and you’re eligible in Washington, go here. As Shaun says, “Don’t suppress your own vote!” You’ve got until Monday.
If you’d have told me a Washington State city had the 4th worst gap between the rich and poor, my first guess would have been Seattle. Maybe Tacoma or Everett. Possibly one of the gaudy suburbs has a large needy population hit by the economic downturn. So I was surprised to read:
Using the Gini Index, a statistical measure that determines the amount of economic equality within a community, Cle Elum was ranked the least equal of any Washington community, and fourth most unequal in the nation, in terms of the gap between the wealthiest and poorest residents.
The article doesn’t do much to explain why that might be the case. It may have something to do with the housing bust in a former drive until you can buy community. But that still doesn’t explain the wealthy part of the equation.
Eager to share our brilliant political commentary and blunt media criticism, but too genteel to link to horsesass.org? Well, good news, ladies: we also answer to HASeattle.com, because, you know, whatever. You're welcome!