Republican Party

I have no idea why so many smart people are saying that anything that happened over the last few days changes this election, or destroys the Republican Party. Pay attention, people. that is not what is happening. The Republican Party has become the party that harbors racism, sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, hate, politically expedient willful ignorance about all things science, classism, anything anti-PC, and dedicated service to the demands of the wealthiest Americans. Most of that comes from the Tea Party the rest comes from the elite in the party. In this way, the Republican Party…
When I first heard that Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for President, was scheduled to appear on The Dr. Oz Show, my first thought was, basically, “Of course he is. What took him so long?” After all, it’s a crank pairing made in heaven. Given that, I considered it my skeptical blogging duty at least to watch the show, even if I never actually blogged about it. So I dutifully set my DVR to record it, and, after I got home from work, did my evening bike ride and ate dinner, I settled down in front of the television to see if this appearance would be as bad as I predicted in my mind. I’m…
During the political battle last year over the recently implemented California law SB 277, which eliminates nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates and then later during the campaign for the Republican nomination for President, I used a term regarding antivaccine views. That term was “antivaccine dog whistle.” In politics, as you probably now, a “dog whistle” is a term for coded messages that sound like advocating principles with broad acceptance but to a certain subgroup are recognized as code for something else. The analogy is obvious. Just as humans can’t hear much of a dog…
I've seen it said again and again that the Trump nomination will be a debacle for the Republicans. The Republican party will fall apart, become small, become insignificant. Clinton will easily crush trump. We're done. Ding dong. But this is all wrong. The Republican Party is in power in more state houses than ever, and in most cases, are solid in those state houses. There are more Republican governors than Democratic governors, and this is a recent phenomenon never seen before. Most are pretty solid. Even the much maligned Walker of Wisconsin could not be gotten rid of when he messed with…
[Note: Since this was written, Donald Trump won Indiana and Ted Cruz has suspended his campaign. This is why I changed the title of this post on Tuesday night. Meet your presumptive nominee, Republicans.] I haven’t written anything about Donald Trump and vaccines in a while. When last I did write about him, I enumerated his long, sordid history of making ridiculously pseudoscientific antivaccine statements linking vaccines to autism dating back at least to 2007. That was when I first discovered him and referred to him as the latest celebrity antivaccinationist drinking the Kool Aid of vaccine…
Remember that strikingly inept poll analysis about the Tea Party movement from The New York Times last month? Well, the new Washington Post-ABC News poll addresses the same topic, and the Post's analysis seems to actually be rooted in reality: The conservative "tea party" movement appeals almost exclusively to supporters of the Republican Party, bolstering the view that the tea party divides the GOP even as it has energized its base. That conclusion, backed by numbers from a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, also suggests that the tea party may have little room for growth. Most Americans --…
Actually, I should say that this is a very dumb analysis of a poll. The New York Times is really promoting its new NYT/CBS poll right now; as I write this, the top headline on the Times' homepage reads "Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Educated." When I first saw that headline and read the email news alert that the Times sent out, I did agree that these appeared to be interesting and surprising findings. And, as I read the article, my interest--and then skepticism--continued to grow. According to the article, these "Tea Party supporters" are "wealthier and more well-educated…
Oh boy, it was a real scorcher in our nation's capital today... at least by April standards! With temperatures in some locales surpassing 90 degrees, several area daily high temperature records were broken. As I sweated through the day, I got to thinking: where are all of those oh-so-clever political cartoonists and global-warming-denying Republican politicians who just a couple of months ago were incessantly using February's record-breaking snows to "mock" the idea of global warming? (Bueller...? Bueller...? Bueller...?) The fact is that this is largely an irrelevant*** question (well,…
The Republican party today moved another step closer to becoming just the regional party of the South by losing one of its most respected members, Senator Arlen Specter (PA). Citing the Republicans' notable swing to the right in recent years, Specter announced earlier that he would be switching parties to join the Democrats. His switch will give the Democrats a filibuster-proof 60-vote supermajority in the Senate, assuming the courts uphold Al Franken's victory in the Minnesota Senate race. Without a doubt, this is a positive development. Fears that the Democrats will have "too much power…
What can I even say about this? From the Austin American-Statesman: At a hearing Thursday of the House Committee on Human Services, [Texas State Representative Gary] Elkins and other members of the panel considered more than two dozen bills related to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Three hours into the hearing, Elkins asked: "What's Medicaid?" The Houston Republican continued: "I know I hear it -- I really don't know what it is. I know that's a big shock to everybody here in the audience, OK." And, for the win.... Medicaid, for the record, is the federal-state health…
Today we learned that the Republican Party spent an almost unfathomable $150,000 in the month of September alone on clothes and makeup for Sarah "Joe Sixpack" Palin. This is a breathtaking figure, and the irony is certainly delicious. However, I can't escape the feeling that something here is still missing. Now, if only I could find some sort of aphorism to really get at the heart of this situation....
Barack Obama swept all three Democratic contests yesterday, winning the popular vote convincingly in Louisiana (57-36), Washington (68-31), and Nebraska (68-32). In case there were still any doubts about his broad appeal, for the record that's a largely African-American Southern state (Louisiana), a white progressive West Coast state (Washington), and a white conservative red state (Nebraska). This means that Obama and Hillary Clinton are virtually tied in delegate counts, with Clinton holding a small advantage if preliminary superdelegate counts are included, and Obama holding a larger…
On the morning after Super Tuesday, the dust has mostly settled, although all results aren't set in stone quite yet. There weren't any huge surprises last night, so there's no need to go into a detailed accounting here (at least not right now), but for a little more, The New York Times has a nice, succinct analysis of where the presidential races stand after last night. (The Times also has a nice graphical summary of last night's results.) As expected, McCain widened his lead in the Republican race, although he didn't win big enough to claim the prize just yet. Huckabee did surprisingly…
Last night, Barack Obama won the South Carolina Democratic Primary with 55% of the vote, doubling second place finisher Hillary Clinton's 27% share of the vote. John Edwards came in third with a disappointing 18% of the vote. Nobody should have expected Obama not to win South Carolina, but a victory of almost 30 points was not widely anticipated. He needed a big victory to gain some momentum going into Super Tuesday (February 5th), and he certainly got that last night. While Clinton still seems to be the favorite candidate of the Establishment, the numbers tell a different story. Last…
Although it feels like the 2008 Presidential Election has been going on for ages, it only officially kicks off tonight with the Iowa Caucuses. According to a recent poll, the main issues on the minds of Democratic caucus-goers will be Iraq (28%), health care (22%), and the economy (20%). Despite the pressing nature of all of these issues, the number one issue on the minds of Republicans when they go to their caucus will be immigration. While I don't think I'll ever understand this irrational obsession that some conservatives have with immigration, I can offer at least one reason why this…
On Monday, Mike the Mad Biologist posted about the sheer idiocy of "choice-based health care," which seems to be so en vogue today in the Republican party and elsewhere. He writes: One of the most ridiculous ideas to come down the pike is the notion that most people, who are woefully ignorant of medicine and biology (e.g., the massive misunderstandings about antibiotics and infectious disease), will actually make intelligent decisions regarding their own healthcare. In fact, I bet most people would do worse than flipping a coin in many situations. That's before you get to the roughly…
Along with thousands of other bloggers, I'm observing the inaugural Blog Action Day by blogging about the environment today. We heard some good news out of California on Saturday. Going against pressure from his own party and particularly from the National Rifle Association (NRA), governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law AB 821 (the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act), which outlawed the use of lead ammunition by large game hunters in California within the range of the highly endangered condor. Although their numbers in the wild are slowly increasing, these majestic birds are still…
Uh oh, it looks like there's trouble in paradise. From Roll Call (subscription required): Frustration among House Republicans over sluggish fundraising, staff strife and other internal operations at the National Republican Congressional Committee came to a head this month -- with Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) demanding that changes be made. The tension reached a boiling point in early September during a meeting between GOP leaders and NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) that resulted in Cole threatening to resign from his post. [...] Cole, whom sources described as defensive and taken…
Political campaigning can be a cynical business, but this takes things to a whole new level. Check out this ad by Republican Timothy Hugo of the Virginia House of Delegates. The ad quotes "others" as saying that Democrat Rex Simmons ran "the most cowardly campaign I have ever seen.... Rex was spreading lies..... Rex has been lying to voters the entire campaign." But, that's not the shocking part. In the ad, the only source given for this is "www.raisingkaine.com", the progressive political blog Raising Kaine. The issue, though, is that none of those comments ever appeared on www.…
While thousands march today in protest of modern day racial injustice, it's pretty difficult to not be aware of the Jena Six. Certainly all of the Democratic presidential candidates are. Apparently, though, staying up to date on current events isn't a prerequisite for the Republicans. Asked about the Jena Six case today on his way into a San Antonio fundraiser, [Fred] Thompson said, "I don't know anything about it." Thompson's comments come as he and his Republican colleagues are taking increasing flack for ignoring minority voters, particularly for skipping out on forums aimed at black and…