Day: April 2, 2013
Limbaugh Conservatism Versus O’Reilly Conservatism
There are various ways to describe the civil war rising inside the Republican Party: insiders versus outsiders, pragmatists versus true-believers, establishment versus Tea Party. Here’s another: Bill O’Reilly conservatives versus Rush Limbaugh conservatives. … O’Reilly and Limbaugh are both conservative; they both idealize an older, pre-lapsarian America that they believe leftists want to destroy in the name of progress. The difference is that Limbaugh’s conservative vision is more static and more personal. For O’Reilly, traditional morality is not an abstract, coherent set of beliefs; it’s the folk wisdom of ordinary people at any given moment, and it can change.
— Peter Beinhart, in the Daily Beast.
Gingrich: Obama is Best Gun Salesman Around
No one has done more for gun ownership than Barack Obama. If you look at the number of people who have bought guns since he became president, he has been the most successful salesman for people having the right to bear arms in modern history.
— Newt Gingrich, in an interview with Newsmax.
Most Think U.S. Government is Not Doing Enough for the Environment
47%
Of Americans tilt toward the view that the government is doing too little to protect the environment, while 16% say it is doing too much and 35% say the government’s efforts on the environment are about right.
Republican Senator Doesn’t Cite Gay Relatives in His Support for Marriage Equality
Many people who change their minds from being against marriage equality to being for it chalk up their “evolving” to knowing someone personally who is gay. Such was the case for Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who recently revealed that a) his son is gay, and b) he thinks gay people should be able to marry the person they love.
Another Republican senator, Mark Kirk of Illinois, has now stepped forward to endorse marriage equality, but for more compelling reasons. In a short blog post, Kirk laid out his position simply.
One wonders if Portman, unlike Kirk, would have seen the light if not for the personal interest of actually knowing and loving a gay person, and wanting his son to be happy
When I climbed the Capitol steps in January, I promised myself that I would return to the Senate with an open mind and greater respect for others.
Same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage. Our time on this Earth is limited, I know that better than most. Life comes down to who you love and who loves you back– government has no place in the middle.
Climbing those steps was difficult for Kirk because he is recovering from the stroke he suffered in January of 2012.
GOP N.C. House Leader Says Voting Is among ‘Things You Just Shouldn’t Do on Sundays’
Obama won North Carolina in 2008 with just 14,000 votes. He lost the state in 2012 by 92,000 votes.
The GOP gained control of both houses of the N.C. legislature in 2010 for the first time since the 1870s. In 2012, the party achieved veto-proof majorities, which is all but irrelevant since the newly elected governor, Pat McCrory, the former crypto-moderate mayor of Charlotte, is also a Republican.
In a classic example of Big Government Republican thinking, when asked to defend ending Sunday voting, N.C. GOP House Majority Leader Edgar Starnes explained that there were “some things you just shouldn’t do on Sundays.”
