Adam Nagourney/NY Times:
Once a winning primary issue as well as a powerful wedge issue wielded against Democrats, opposing same-sex marriage has grown far more complicated for Republicans. While it could offer conservative candidates a way to break through a crowded primary field, it looms as a liability with general election voters, particularly independent ones, who are more supportive of same-sex marriage than more conservative Republicans.
Maggie Haberman/NY Times:
Ian Reisner, one of the two gay hoteliers facing boycott calls for hosting an event for Senator Ted Cruz, who is adamantly opposed to gay marriage, apologized to the gay community for showing “poor judgment.”
Mr. Reisner put the apology on Facebook, where a page calling for a boycott of his properties, the gay-friendly OUT NYC hotel and his Fire Island Pines holdings, had gotten more than 8,200 “likes” by Sunday evening.
“I am shaken to my bones by the e-mails, texts, postings and phone calls of the past few days. I made a terrible mistake,” wrote Mr. Reisner.
More politics and policy below the fold.
Josh Rogan/Bloomberg covers W's critique of Obama's foreign policy. Yes, the man who screwed up the middle east has a few things to say:
Bush said that Obama’s plan to lift sanctions on Iran with a promise that they could snap back in place at any time was not plausible. He also said the deal would be bad for American national security in the long term: “You think the Middle East is chaotic now? Imagine what it looks like for our grandchildren. That’s how Americans should view the deal.” ...
Obama promised to degrade and destroy Islamic State's forces but then didn’t develop a strategy to complete the mission, Bush said. He said that if you have a military goal and you mean it, “you call in your military and say ‘What’s your plan?’ ” He indirectly touted his own decision to surge troops to Iraq in 2007, by saying, “When the plan wasn’t working in Iraq, we changed.”
“In order to be an effective president ... when you say something you have to mean it,” he said. “You gotta kill em.”
He was wise to have kept quiet. These remarks are not wise.
Governing:
Common Core has become a toxic brand, the most contentious issue on the education landscape, reviled by partisans at both ends of the political spectrum.
That doesn’t mean it’s going away.
For all the pushback against the Common Core -- a set of standards that outline the content and skills students are expected to master at each grade level -- more than 40 states are still on board. Efforts to repeal the Common Core this year in Arkansas and Mississippi, for instance, led instead to commissions that will study the issue.
See also the
Vox piece linked in
Saturday's APR.
Business Insider:
[Chris] Christie may indeed be gearing up for a run, but his image has unquestionably been tarnished in recent months and its going to be a major obstacle for his campaign.
Business Insider examined the results from both the Quinnipiac and FDU polls since Christie took office in January 2010. His approval rose steadily in the first few months of his administration. It made a dramatic climb in late 2012, after Christie was praised for his handling of Hurricane Sandy.
While Christie's approval rating began to return to Earth in early 2013, it took a nosedive at the start of last year and has never recovered. This drop in Christie's numbers coincided with the emergence of the "Bridgegate" scandal, which consists of accusations that the governor may have caused a traffic jam in a town next to the George Washington Bridge in order to get revenge on a political rival.
The nominee could be Jeb Bush, or maybe Marco Rubio. Or even Scott Walker. But it won't be Chris Christie.
Brian Beutler:
Reformers wanted to allow doctors to bill Medicare for providing end-of-life counseling to sick and elderly patients. They also wanted to increase incentives for doctors to incorporate comparative effectiveness research findings into their practices. Taken together, reform foes alleged, Obamacare would leave the most infirm patients without access to potentially lifesaving treatments, and they would die avoidably.
This was Palin’s death panel, which she drew from the work of reactionary health reform foes in the conservative movement. It was a lie, but an effective one. Democrats in the Senate eliminated the end-of-life counseling reimbursement provision—an eminently humane incentive for physicians to help patients make crucial treatment decisions ahead of anticipated health crises—from their health reform bill.
Jeb Bush has forgotten this history, apparently—or if he hasn’t forgotten it, then he just picked one hell of a fight. The former Florida governor has made no secret of his opposition to Obamacare, but only last week did he reveal that he might like the law a little bit more if it had kept these “death panels,” and turbocharged them. Bush almost certainly wasn't intending to take a stand against the right-wing fanatics in his party, but with his comments, he's stumbled heedlessly into a very ugly conflict with them anyway.
That's our GOP. Only a decade or so behind the times.
A just released Quinnipiac poll (link here) shows support for WH position on Iran deal. That, despite doubts.
Supporting the agreement are Democrats 76 - 15 percent and independent voters 60 - 33 percent, with Republicans opposed 56 - 37 percent.
The letter from Republican senators to Iranian leaders was not appropriate, American voters say 53 - 40 percent. It will hurt rather than help negotiations, voters say 37 - 8 percent, while 48 percent say it will make no difference.
Voters support 65 - 24 percent making any Iran agreement subject to congressional approval.
Voters back 77 - 13 percent a negotiated settlement rather than military intervention to limit Iran's nuclear program.
"Better to sit down and negotiate than to flex muscle and isolate. Americans are worried about Iran, but not enough to send in the troops," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.