MetaFilter posts tagged with Republican

Not a threat but rather a tribute to marriage

Navelgazer — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:01:21 -0800

Conservative Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) came out in favor of marriage equality today, in an interview on CNN and an Op-Ed in the Columbus Dispatch. This reversal comes via Portman's son, who came out as a gay man to his parents two years ago. Reaction has been mixed.

Republicans and the unlikely bedfellows of marriage equality

corb — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 07:57:27 -0800

The national Republican Party still continues to oppose same-sex marriage, one of the factors of social conservatism that lost it the youth vote in the 2012 election and may have caused Romney's defeat. Many Republicans, however, have been arguing for a sea change to revitalize the party. They may have found it, in an unlikely appeal that "The party of Lincoln should stand with our best tradition of equality and support full civil marriage for all Americans.". A large number of prominent Republicans have signed onto an amicus brief opposing same-sex marriage bans in the Proposition 8 case currently before the Supreme Court - and some believe that the Republican support may allow the justices the political and legal support to rule for national marriage equality.

No Lawful Status

Secret Life of Gravy — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 13:20:34 -0800

Coming this summer: North Carolina [will be] the only state that will clearly mark all people who are not U.S. citizens – everyone from business executives with “green cards” to students on visas – with a newly designed driver’s license. However, Republicans are trying to block the issuing of driver's licenses to immigrants who have qualified for a two-year reprieve from deportation. Those immigrants have been deemed by the federal government and the state attorney general’s office as being lawfully present in the U.S. Why is this happening now? For the first time in more than a century, North Carolina has a Republican governor, a conservative majority on the state Supreme Court and Republicans controlling both legislative chambers. Other recent proposed or passed legislation of interest: The harshest cuts in unemployment benefits in the country. Making female nipple exposure a felony punishable by imprisonment. Firing all the members of the states' regulatory bodies, including all the members of the Utilities Commission, the Coastal Resources Commission, the Environmental Management Commission, and the Wildlife Resources Commission.

Say it ain't so, Joe (although it's unsurprising that it is)

jaduncan — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 03:57:34 -0800

Joe Arpaio has followed the NRA's suggestion and tasked a 3,500 man volunteer armed posse with patrols of 59 elementary, middle and high schools in the Phoenix area. The journalist details his experience of posse training, and the article notes that the same force may previously have been involved in the shooting of a surrendering burglar. History bonus: there's already too much Arpaio previously on Mefi to individually detail.

Civil War hero Robert Smalls seized the opportunity to be free

Blasdelb — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:40:18 -0800

Robert Smalls sat at the conference table next to Frederick Douglass as they tried to convince President Abraham Lincoln that African Americans should be allowed to fight for their own freedom. He served five terms in Congress. He ran a newspaper and helped found a state Republican Party.

But first, he had to win his freedom.

"the political soap opera that is today's Republican Party"

andoatnp — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 07:08:26 -0800

"Why Obama Is Giving Up on Right-Leaning Whites: For decades, Democrats shaped their policies around fears of the culturally conservative white voters to the GOP. But Obama’s winning coalition has altered that calculus."
"Original Sin: Why the GOP is and will continue to be the party of white people"
"The Future Of The Republican Party Is By The Pool At The Biltmore: The talk at the Miami hotel where Jeb Bush works, and Marco Rubio works out, is of the next president. But can the young senator get out from under Jeb’s shadow?"

Voyage of the Damned Old Party.

markkraft — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 12:59:26 -0800

"This is all out of Lord of the Flies and Karl Rove is Piggy and we’re supposed to all chase him around with spikes and throw him on a fire?" An assortment of popular conservative pundits are trapped on a luxury cruise with well-heeled members of their audience, right after losing the election. One question hangs in the air: who is responsible for this loss?! Hilarity ensues.

Project Right Side

zarq — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 10:49:17 -0800

During his tenure as George W. Bush's campaign manager and later as chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Ken Mehlman helped push an anti-gay agenda which eventually led to legislation that banned same-sex marriage in 21 states. He came out of the closet in 2010. Since then, he's openly supported gay marriage. Now, his newest endeavor, Project Right Side, is trying to attract conservatives to the fight for marriage equality. He discusses the non-profit's goals in a WSJ editorial: Making the Same-Sex Case. Same-sex marriage laws in the US, state by state. Huffington Post: ...Mehlman has... fundraised for marriage equality initiatives and has publicly spoken out in favor of such measures.

Pity the Billionaire

shivohum — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 20:17:37 -0800

Pity the Billionaire (YT): Thomas Frank discusses how the American right pulled off a massive coup and successfully branded itself the party of rebellion and protest in the wake of the financial crisis.

Is the GOP still a national party?

latkes — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:39:34 -0800

Is the GOP still a national party?

Politicopsychopathology

j03 — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 23:19:37 -0800

According to Adorno, in psychoanalysis only the exaggerations are true. If you wished to characterize the Democrats and the Republicans in terms of true exaggerations, you might say that the Republicans have become the Party of Psychosis while the Democrats have become the Party of Neurosis. The Republicans are psychotic because they have lost contact with reality, and orient their behavior not toward realities but toward fantasies. The Democrats are neurotic because they are aim-inhibited, as an old-fashioned shrink might say: their anxieties, hang-ups, and insecurities mean that they can’t attain satisfaction, since in a basic way they won’t even allow themselves to know what they want.

Sher Valenzuela, First State Manufacturing, received millions in government business loans

cashman — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 20:20:53 -0800

Small business owner and candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Delaware Sher Valenzuela is slated to speak at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday as part of a platform meant to suggest business owners build businesses on their own with no assistance from government. The problem is that Valenzuela received millions of dollars in taxpayer funds as business loans from the US government, along with other government assistance. One Reddit user noticed the url for the full name of Valenzuela's First State Manufacturing business was unregistered, and remedied that with full details. The website's timeline chronicles how Valenzuela's business got loans from the US Small Business Administration to rent space, expand inventory, conduct assessments, and relocate. Valenzuela's company got a factory funded by a 1.8 million dollar 504 SBA loan (p. 24) and she even did a commercial for the SBA proudly noting the receipt of the funds and assistance.

The Definitive Guide to the Medicare Debate

reenum — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:38:10 -0800

Jonathan Cohn compares the effects on Medicare from the Affordable Care Act with the proposals being promoted by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

Paul Ryan as Romney's running-mate

Rhaomi — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 05:18:26 -0800

Paul Ryan. Seven-term congressman for Wisconsin's 1st District. Chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee. Architect of the controversial Ryan Budget -- a "Path to Prosperity" [PDF - video - CBO] that would slash trillions from the federal budget, sharply curtail taxes on the wealthy, and transform Medicare into a private voucher system. Proponent (vid) -- and renouncer -- of Ayn Rand 's Objectivism. Social Security beneficiary. Hunter. Weinermobile driver. And as of this morning, the 2012 Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States of America. Romney's selection of Ryan, widely seen as an overture to his disaffected conservative base, promises an election framed by titanic questions of economic and social equity. President Obama has already declared his vehement opposition to Ryan's policies, saying in April:

"It is a Trojan Horse. Disguised as deficit reduction plans, it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It is thinly veiled social Darwinism. It is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everybody who’s willing to work for it; a place where prosperity doesn’t trickle down from the top, but grows outward from the heart of the middle class. And by gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that’s built to last -- education and training, research and development, our infrastructure -- it is a prescription for decline."

It was not the first run-in between the president and the congressman, as the two exchanged sharp words in Obama's visit to the House GOP retreat and the 2010 healthcare roundtable. Ryan also delivered the Republican response to Obama's 2011 State of the Union address. Though Ryan's plans are celebrated as bold and necessary steps in conservative circles, not all agree with his aims. A wide swath of Georgetown faculty concurred with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in their moral criticism of the Ryan budget, writing:

In short, your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her call to selfishness and her antagonism toward religion are antithetical to the Gospel values of compassion and love.

Ryan argues his support of Rand is limited to broad individualist ideals, but the implications of the Path to Prosperity echo the harsher rhetoric of the political right in recent years. After today's VP rollout on the deck of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, Va., comes a swing-state bus tour, the Republican National Convention in Tampa on August 27th, and a looming debate with current veep Joe Biden in September. The race? It is on. More: Paul Ryan - On The Issues Interest group scores PolitiFact profile A Reddit-backed effort to defeat Ryan at home TDS on the Ryan budget (part two)

I'm Senator and I Know It

the young rope-rider — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:45:15 -0800

No more "Hunger Games" in our District! [autoplaying music] Running for State Senate in Brooklyn on the Republican and Conservative tickets, Mindy Myers, 22 and an Orthodox Jew, is the self-proclaimed Diva of the District. In an interview with City and State she says “I’m trying to attract a young crowd and recruit more young people," [...] "People in politics are out of touch with the younger generation, who are not voting, are not registered.” Note that in NY state, candidates can run on more than one party line due to fusion voting.

A modest tax proposal.

jaduncan — Sun, 27 May 2012 19:19:04 -0800

Kansas passes Tax Act meaning that business owners are not taxed at all on income derived from business profits. "Who will still be paying Kansas income tax? Only three groups: 1) employees, 2) some retirees and 3) individuals whose investments are so modest that they cannot afford to create a trust or partnership to shelter their investment income." The $3.7bn pa cost of the tax cuts is said to create the risk of a $2.5bn pa deficit by 2018.

Off The Rails

cashman — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:05:46 -0800

"Let's just say it. The Republicans are the problem." "The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges."

The Conservative Teen

reenum — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:38:11 -0800

Presenting for your perusal: "The Conservative Teen", a new magazine designed to instill the right values in today's youth.

LOVE ME

furiousxgeorge — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:05:55 -0800

Artist Bas Van Oerle presents a series of propaganda posters for the 2012 Republican presidential contenders. Ron Paul For The Youth Vote. Fields of Santorum. Love Me Romney. Join The Cosmonewts.

The Republican "brand" is collapsing

reenum — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:19:13 -0800

According to a report by Democracy Corps, the Republican "brand" in US politics is collapsing.

They're coming for our jobs.

darkstar — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 08:48:05 -0800

Arizona's Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, a Republican border-security hawk and a leading candidate for Congress has been accused, along with his attorney, of threatening to deport a Mexican former lover when the man refused to agree to not disclose the relationship. Babeu is an ally of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, also having exonerated Arpaio of wrongdoing in a recent investigation for corruption, while alleging some of Arpaio's top aides were guilty of mismanagement and misconduct. Babeu is also on record suggesting that DOJ chief Eric Holder has perjured himself because Holder's top aides knew about the gun-walking scandal known as "Fast and Furious", while Holder claims he knew nothing of it.

The End of the Christian Right?

reenum — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:49:05 -0800

Historian Michael Kazin says that we are witnessing the end of the Religious Right's influence in American politics. Peter Montgomery of Alternet says not to declare the Christian Right dead quite yet.

Maureen Walsh's Moment

hermitosis — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:13:05 -0800

Republican state rep. Maureen Walsh (WA, 16th District) gives a heartbreakingly earnest speech on behalf of marriage equality.

The courting behavior of the male Newt.

markkraft — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:27:08 -0800

The rise and fall (...and rise and fall) of Newt Gingrich. With just two days to go before the all-important South Carolina Republican primary, Newt Gingrich seems to have shaken off the spectre of past failures, is leading Mitt Romney in the most recent polls, and is on the verge of an amazing political comeback... assuming you overlook his ex-wife's new claims, set to air today, of Gingrich wanting -- and potentially having -- an open marriage.

A Million Wisconsinites Petition to Recall Scott Walker

flex — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:32:05 -0800

A Million Wisconsinites Petition to Recall Scott Walker: "Petitions with the names of 1 million Wisconsinites were submitted to state elections officials today, in a move that will jump-start the process of removing the nation’s most notorious antilabor governor from office... In all, close to 2 million signatures were submitted Tuesday, building the historic in-the-streets popular uprising that rocked Wisconsin in 2012 into a electoral uprising that has the potential to rock the politics not just of the state but of the nation in 2012. The movement to oust Walker will have secured the support of a higher percentage of eligible voters than has ever before sought to recall an American governor." "Petitions were also filed to recall four Republican state senators: Terry Moulton in northwest Wisconsin, Pam Galloway in north-central Wisconsin, Van Wangaard in southeast Wisconsin and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Walker's legislative point man in the struggle last year over the governor's move last year to strip collective bargaining rights from state, county and municipal employees and teachers. If just one of the four senators is recalled and removed, control of the chamber will shift from the Republicans to the Democrats—who picked up two seats in recall elections last summer." previously: Wisconsin recall efforts fall short amid corruption fears last year's protests in Wisconsin - previously here, here, here, and here more previously: here and here and here