In the course of one week, Kansas Republicans have managed an accomplishment you rarely see in politics: they managed to cite Dred Scott for support in a court brief, and had a member of Kansas House leadership call out the profundity of Adolf Hitler.
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“Great quote from Hitler in the video,” Speaker Pro Tem Peggy Mast, R-Emporia, the No. 3 Republican in the Kansas House, posted to her Facebook page Thursday morning. “Please listen to it closely. His words are profound! Let’s start using discernment.”
Mast later took to Facebook to clarify her post, saying she wasn’t trying to glamorize Hitler, just that she wanted to use her words to show that Planned Parenthood was the moral equivalent of Hitler.
Mast is not running for re-election, having retired this year. Her actions, however, weren’t the only time this week that Kansas Republicans found themselves stepping into hot water.
Earlier in the week it came to light that the Kansas Solicitor’s office, representing Attorney General Derrick Schmidt, cited the Dred Scott decision for standing on an abortion law case.
The case, which is cited as a means to justify Kansas current laws resulted in some real discussion — and eventually an apology from the attorney general.
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Kansas Attorney General Schmidt has apologized for the state’s citation of the infamous Dred Scott decision in support of its argument in an abortion case this week.
Schmidt’s office withdrew the filing Wednesday afternoon and issued a statement in which he apologized for the citation of the 1857 case, which found that black people were not entitled to U.S. citizenship.
“Neither the State nor its attorneys believe or were arguing that Dred Scott was correctly decided,” Schmidt said in a statement. “Nonetheless, the reference to that case was obviously inappropriate, and as soon as I became aware of it today, I ordered the State’s brief withdrawn.”
While Republicans are having a bad week on messaging, several have stepped forward with a new message — that attacking Republicans on any grounds of party divide are the “worst of partisan politics”. In Salina, Kansas and Newton, Kansas, house of representative members chastised their opponents for attacks from a “purely partisan perspective” .
The deflection seems to be a state wide response to concerns that the Republican brand may not be as solid as it was a few years ago; and that voters may want something different.
The problems this week have led some Republicans to denounce each other, denounce their presidential candidate, or denounce issues — but no one is denouncing the nature of the national party or brand just yet. Some hope to recapture it in a “moderate agenda”, others view the brand as simply too close to their identity.
But in a week where Trump questions whether or not elections are legitimate, a state body cites Dred Scott, a Secretary of State contends there is massive voter fraud, an election officer gets caught in a sex scandal, and the leader of the house cites Hitler, many Democrats receiving contact urging them to not fall prey to a “partisan agenda” may wonder whether or not those who refuse to denounce the reckless, out of control agenda in Topeka may be the kind of partisan problem they are trying to rid themselves of in November.
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