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We just knew if we signed that law, if we provided the information, that more people if they saw that unborn child would, would make a decision to protect and keep the life of that unborn child.
— Gov. Scott Walker (R), defending his decision to sign a law in Wisconsin mandating ultrasounds for women before they get abortions, calling ultrasounds “just a cool thing out there,” Politico reports.
We are at the water’s edge of the argument that mainstream Christian teaching is hate speech, because today we’ve reached the point in our society where if you do not support same-sex marriage, you are labeled a homophobe and a hater. … So what’s the next step after that? After they’re done going after individuals, the next step is to argue that the teachings of mainstream Christianity, the catechism of the Catholic Church, is hate speech.
— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), telling the Christian Broadcasting Network that Christianity faces a “real and present danger” from same-sex marriage supporters who cast opponents as intolerant.
Catholic Republicans are developing a pope problem. Earlier this month, Francis recognized Palestinian statehood. This summer, he’s going to issue an encyclical condemning environmental degradation. And in September, just as the GOP primary race heats up, Francis will travel to Washington to address Congress on climate change. … Francis may be popular with the general public, but key Republican primary constituencies — hawks, climate-change skeptics and religious conservatives, including some Catholics, are wary of the pope’s progressivism.
The 2016 election may be the first one in which the political press is totally sidelined. Politicians now have a professional grasp of social media — Barack Obama just got his third Twitter account — and they don’t need media middlemen to communicate with voters. … What’s more, no journalist has the kind of celebrity and cultural credibility (as Tim Russert used to have) that once made interviews mandatory for aspiring presidents.
— Ryan Cooper, in the Week.
Sen. Rand Paul didn’t get the same backing from his Republican colleagues than the last time he talked his way through legislative deadlines – but that’s part of the point. This was a stunt that was about his 2016 candidacy, if the campaign merchandising push and online trolling of Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton didn’t make that clear. It shows, again, that Paul will inject a strain of national-security thinking into the GOP debates that will push his rivals in uncomfortable ways. It’s possible that his timing is off; the march of ISIS, with scenes of beheadings seared into memories, might change the tone of any discussion inside the Republican Party. But Rand standing alone will make him stand out, for better or worse.
— Rick Klein, on ABC News.
$15 million
Amount the super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid expects to collect through the end of June, the Wall Street Journal reports. “The group, Priorities USA Action, is shaking up its senior staff in hopes of jump-starting a fundraising operation that, five weeks after Mrs. Clinton entered the presidential race, has garnered only about $5 million in ‘hard commitments’ … Even if it meets its $15 million short-term expectation, the pro-Clinton group will raise far less than PACs backing some potential Republican rivals.”
For months, we have wondered how Gov. Chris Christie thinks he can win the presidency when New Jersey is in such rotten shape after his six years in office. Now we may have our answer: The man has lost touch with reality.
— Newark Star Ledger Editorial Board, in an op-ed piece in New Jersey’s largest newspaper. “He needs to pour himself a drink and ask himself the tough question: Why don’t people love me? It could be the rotten job market. Or the high property taxes. Or the crumbling transit system. Or the broken promise on pensions. Or the private jets. Or the Bridgegate indictments. And so on. … It’s no wonder that New Jersey is screaming a warning to the rest of the country. God forbid he gets a chance to make an even bigger mess on a larger stage.”
They threw $100 million dollars at us over the last four years and all sorts of attacks and I think we’re in a pretty good condition.
— Gov. Scott Walker (R), calling himself “probably the most scrutinized politician in America” as he walked into a meeting with lawmakers in Washington, CNN reports. “Walker touted his electoral track record, having won three elections in four years, including a recall election that he survived — making him the only governor in U.S. history to survive a recall effort.”
Right now, the Republican brand sucks. I promised Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, that I would stop saying the GOP sucks, and I will (except for this last time.)
– Rand Paul, quoted by the Washington Post from his forthcoming book Taking a Stand: Moving Beyond Partisan Politics.
