This week at progressive state blogs is designed specifically to focus attention on the writing and analysis of people focused on their home turf. Let me know via comments or Kosmail if you have a favorite state- or city-based blog you think I should be watching. Here is last Saturday's edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or endorsement of—its contents. |
At Eclectablog of Michigan, LOLGOP writes—This is how you attack Donald Trump:
Tuesday night at the Center for Popular Democracy, Elizabeth Warren gave the longform version of the argument she’ll be making against Donald Trump.
If it were a mixtape of her best rhymes, here’s the standout verse:
For all we know he could be paying zero taxes today. And he is proud of it. Two weeks ago he was more than happy to dodge taxes because he doesn’t want to throw his money, quote, ‘down the drain.’
Donald Trump likes being a billionaire but he doesn’t think that the rules that apply to everyone else, should apply to him. But let’s be clear Donald Trump didn’t get rich on his own.
His businesses rely on roads and bridges paid for by the rest of us. His businesses rely on workers that are educated by the rest of us. They rely on police and firefighters who protect the rest of us and are supported by the rest of us. Donald Trump and his businesses are protected by a world-class military that defends us abroad and keeps us safe at home and the rest of us pay to support.
Warren debuted this attack in 2012, and it now has an edge that matches the appalling greed Donald Trump wears like a bad weave. Democrats tend to abandon their successful frames but Warren is keen the logic that we need to change brains by repeating and nurturing ideas that appeal to core progressive morality. [...]
At Democratic Diva of Arizona, Krista writes—Candidate’s Boyfriend in Danger of Being Overshadowed by Qualified Women:
It’s been a great year for women, right? I mean, Emerge Arizona has 16 women running for office in 2016, and then there’s that whole woman-about-to-become-President-of-the-free-world thing. As an Emerge AZ alumna and Emerge AZ board member for nine years, I have a lot to be grateful for. Things are so awesome, our work here is practically done. We can go home and take a nap, and won’t that be nice?
But then… this:
Le sigh.
Really, Capitol Times? Reducing Athena Salman’s accomplishments to being about who she’s dating and not how she’s qualified to run for office? Seriously, we can’t get this shit right. I can’t even figure out why this is news. Primaries are a part of the process, and I can’t imagine Representative Celeste Plumlee is running scared because she was left to “fend” for herself. She is going to run a good campaign because that was what she was trained to do, and she had a successful first year in the legislature on which to run.
As for Athena, since the Cap Times glossed over Athena’s accomplishments, let’s get a few things straight. Athena is qualified to run for office because of her experience in building coalitions, her activism and strategy in registering under-represented voters, and her work in student government, NOT because she’s dating a lawmaker. [...]
At Juanita Jean’s of Texas, Juanita Jean Herownself writes—Fire That Sumbitch:
You know how we were promised that the Veteran’s Affairs was going to clean up their act?
So you can now remember how that didn’t happen because we have a partisan hack heading the VA again?
Pretty soon we’re going to need a Secretary in Charge of Firing the VA Secretary.
Look, the Disneyland quote was one of the least offensive things this guy has said.
The new matrix for success at the VA is that patients are given a survey saying how they liked the service. Of damn course veterans who get seen are happy. They get health care. Veterans who are dying while waiting to be seen don’t get a damn survey. Holy crap, what is wrong with you people? I’m not smart and even I figured that out.
Putting a pretty face and nice comments on an agency that is treating our veterans like scum is deplorable. President Barack Obama should not fire Secretary McDonald. Instead, he should stroll over to the VA office and kick the sumbitch in the crotch and THEN fire him.
Mr. President, I don’t care if you put a Republican in the job, just so long he’s competent. This is a a horror.
This snot nosed hissy fit was brought to you by a veteran sitting across the table from me for breakfast this morning.
At Blue Oregon, Elleanor Chin writes—Support Patient Care and Confidentiality at Hillsboro School Based Health Center:
Tomorrow night (May 24, 2016) the Hillsboro School Board will consider a proposal to provide contraceptive health care in addition to other primary care. However, the proposal before the board requires parental consent to provide contraceptive care to minors. In addition, the Board is already under pressure not to provide comprehensive reproductive health care at all.
Objecting to “handing out contraceptives” at Hillsboro’s School-Based Health Center (SBHC) comes down to opposing comprehensive preventative health care for teens. Hillsboro School Board has already concluded that offering health care services at Century High School’s campus, in partnership with Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center (VGMHC), is beneficial to the student population and the community as a whole, particularly underserved and vulnerable members of the community. [ ...]
There is no reason to deny a full spectrum of health services, under the same confidentiality guidelines protecting minors seeking healthcare elsewhere. On April 1, the Hillsboro Tribune ran a guest opinion, by Hillsboro resident Lynn Harris asserting that Hillsboro’s School Board should interfere in the specifics of health care offered at the SBHC on narrow, ideological grounds. In support of her argument she offered a number of misleading, unsupported claims about public health.
Harris assumes that teens and families who disagree with her specific views on sexuality are not learning or teaching “morality” and “the vast majority” of families will effectively provide all of the education and resources needed for reproductive health. Whatever Harris’ grounds for judging the private sexual morality and parenting behavior of others, the School Board should not be in the business of endorsing or proliferating those views.
At The Mudflats of Alaska, Shannyn Moore writes—Time To Clean Up The SB21 Cash Spill:
About a decade ago I had a conversation with someone I had voted for. I wasn’t real happy with his broken campaign promises, and, I realize this may be a shocker, but I let my disappointment be known. I think Pop Moore describes me as “subtle like a chainsaw.” I don’t know what I was expecting, but here was the response, “Sometimes you have to let go of your principles and ideals.”
I’ve been rolling that around in my head ever since. I realize you and I have the luxury of our “principles and ideals” while watching both the local and countrywide clown shows that serve as politics. Or is it reality TV? Maybe it is impossible to be a politician and hold on to the things that make sense, that serve the majority, that promote our social fabric and well being. There are few examples of lawmakers who don’t give up all the ideals they held in their quest to become public servants in the first place; but those are an endangered species hunted by redistricting boards and party pimps.
This week the Alaska Senate blew up the legislative session when it gutted the compromise bill to fix Senate Bill 21 — the oil wealth giveaway passed in 2013 — that is so much worse than we thought it was. (This is the part where another columnist would say ‘I told you so’, but I won’t because I wanted to be so wrong.) The oil companies told us it “fixed” our “complex” oil tax credit system. I guess it did — if by fixed you mean Alaska expects to pay the oil industry $700 million more in tax credits than we get in production taxes. Put it this way, if they were “fixing” your dog you would have a litter of puppies on the way and be paying the vet to both deliver them and get her spayed.
We were told SB 21 would protect the state at low oil prices. Instead, we will be allowing BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon to write off losses for years to come. This problem was even recognized by the Senate Oil & Gas Working Group, a group organized by the Republican Senate Majority. This working group included the head of the Alaska Oil & Gas Association Kara Moriarty, head of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, Rebecca Logan, the Senate Finance Co-Chair Anna MacKinnon, Senate Resources Chair Cathy Giessel, and five other senators. Yet for some reason, when an amendment was offered to accept the working group’s recommendation to fix the problem, every member of the Republican Senate Majority voted against it. Cost to Alaskans — $720 million.
At fortboise of Idaho, Tom von Alten writes—Triple Match:
If the real Newt Gingrich would stand up, would anyone notice? Maybe the students in one of the classes he's teaching, if he's still doing that. But after the 1990s "Contract With America" turned into a contract on Bill Clinton, and the impeachment debacle (all those closeted sex offenders outraged at Bill's pecadillos) led to his being deposed from Speaker of the House, he seemed done for. His revival as a seeming viable candidate in 2012 was a big surprise, but just the set-up for 15 minutes of infamy after yet another political implosion.
Today's Republican spam-bag has a fundraiser from him, offering to triple-match my donations. It's under the subject that worked on me to open the message: "My announcement..." but then disappointed. What announcement? Nothing I can see in the message other than he wants me to send money. I have no reason to search the headlines on Newt's behalf. (Perhaps he's joining the ranks of cuckolded Republicans now professing support for Donald Trump? Not news.) The email is just a couple of tired, fact-free talking points, culminating in the punchline that we cannot afford another Democrat in the White House.
That depends on what the meaning of "afford" is. You can (and should, please do) argue about causality and every other factor under the sun about why history is what it is, but the record shows that:
"The U.S. economy has performed better when the President of the United States is a Democrat rather than a Republican, almost regardless of how one measures performance. For many measures, including real GDP growth (on which we focus), the performance gap is large and significant."
So sayeth Alan S. Bliner and Mar W. Watson of the Woodrow Wilson School and Department of Economics at Princeton University in the abstract to their July 2015 paper,Presidents and the U.S. Economy: An Econometric Exploration (with my emphasis added).
At Plunderbund of Ohio, John Michael Spinelli writes—Recovery Growth Report: Gov. John Kasich Isn’t ‘Making Ohio Great Again’:
We reported recently that Ohio has entered its 41st straight month of not even breaking even with the national job creation average. Worse still, the Buckeye State is still tens of thousands of jobs short of bringing state workers back to work in the numbers prior to President George W. Bush’s ‘Great Recession’ kicked virtually all states, especially Ohio, in the gut. [...]
Another report out today on where growth and job creation is happening post-Great Recession shows that Gov. Kasich is a long way from making Ohio great again. The Economic Innovation Group, the same outfit whose report on where America is distressed showed that three of Ohio’s top ten cities are also on the list of top ten distressed cities—Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo [...]
Gov. Kasich once enjoyed talking about his “Ohio miracle” during his first term, but that PR narrative was quickly dropped when the so-called “headwinds from Washington” excuse didn’t get track as the real reason Ohio continued to perform in the bottom half of states. Another reason was the miracle was easily debunked, and it slept with the fishes throughout his long and ultimately unsuccessful second run for the White House.
At Intelligent Discontent of Montana, Don Pogreba writes—Trump-Zinke: A GOP Dream Ticket:
It’s time for the presumptive Republican nominee for President to move to the important question of who might be his running mate.
Where a typical candidate for President seeks to balance her appeal, whether it’s geographic, ideological, or demographic, Trump is so enamored with Trump that he’s only going to want to maximize the Trumpiness of his running mate. And who in American politics today is more Trumpy than Ryan Zinke?
While some will talk about the need for a woman to balance his misogynist attitudes or a Latino to obviate his horrific racism and xenophobia, Donald Trump should give serious thought to selecting a running mate who reflects his unmatched self-regard and absolutely willingness to put self-promotion ahead of the truth.
Is there any better candidate for Trump than a first term member of the House who seemed to seriously believe he was a legitimate candidate to become Speaker of the House? Any better partner than a man whose ego is already legend in the hardly humble halls of the Montana Senate and US House of Representatives? Any better choice than someone so venal that he jumped on the Trump bandwagon the moment it gained real momentum? Any better choice than a man who, like Trump, seems capable of believing that two contradictory statements can both be true at the same time and whose ability to flip flop on every political issue is legendary?
At Blue in the Blue Grass of Kentucky, Yellow Dog writes—This is the Immigrant the Trumpies Want to Deport:
I single him out not because he's unusual, but because he's typical. All "real Americans" are immigrants or descendants of immigrants. There is no such thing as an American who is not an immigrant or the descendants of immigrants.
As I have said before, the only people on this continent with the right to demand deportation of immigrants are full-blooded natives, who have a genuine grievance against the interlopers who have ruined their home.
This young man is us. We are him and we always have been. It's silly to say immigrants are the best of America, because immigrants are all of America.
From the Herald:
As 2nd Lt. Alix Schoelcher Idrache stood at attention during the commencement ceremony at West Point, New York, on Saturday, he was overcome with emotion. Tears rolled down both cheeks, but his gloved left hand held firm on his white, gold and black "cover," the dress headgear that Army cadets wear.
The photograph of Idrache, by Army Staff Sgt. Vito T. Bryant, was published Tuesday on the Facebook page of West Point's U.S. Military Academy, and it almost immediately went viral. Part of that is Idrache's background: He worked his way through one of the nation's most prestigious military schools after immigrating to the United States from Haiti, earning his citizenship and serving for two years as an enlisted soldier with the Maryland Army National Guard, according to Army records.
"I woke up this morning and found my face all over Facebook and with it myriad of amazing comments about my accomplishments," Idrache wrote Tuesday on Facebook. "I am humbled and shocked at the same time. Thank you for giving me a shot at the American Dream and may God bless America, the greatest country on earth."
At Show Me Progress of Missouri, Michael Bersin writes—Cheap partisan thieves masquerading as a professional campaign
Over the years in covering government and politics for this blog I’ve taken somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 images. Obviously most of those images don’t make it into a post, but a lot do. I tend to remember most, if not all, of the images I’ve taken (yes, even for that large a number) because, well, because. From time to time a newspaper, magazine or other news outlet will contact us and ask for permission to use my images for one of their stories. We’ve always granted such for legitimate news sources (Did you see what we did there?) provided that they credit the photographer and the blog.
The are other times that we discover our images have been appropriated by campaigns for their attack ads. This is one of those times.
In June of 2013 I covered Secretary of State Jason Kander (D) in Warrensburg. I shot several hundred stills. One of those stills made it into a blog post. In February of 2014 we were contacted by Governing magazine’s Corporate Creative Director, asking for permission to use one of my images of Jason Kander for an April 2014 article in their magazine. We granted permission with the proviso they credit me and Show Me Progress. They agreed. They published the article and left off the photo credit.
Fast forward to this week. We noted my 2013 photo of Jason Kander in a post attacking him on a web site associated with Roy Blunt’s (r) campaign. The photo was credited to Governing magazine. [...]
Here’s the thing. If Roy Blunt’s attack dogs had asked permission we wouldn’t have granted it. Mostly because they’re the kind of political operation, even with their millions of cash on hand, that’s too cheap ass or lazy to pay a photographer take a few stock images of another public figure when he’s at a public event. Show up. It’s easy enough to do. We do it all the time.
Roy Blunt (r) deserves to lose for a lot of reasons, this one is just icing on the cake.
At Colorado Pols, Colorado Pols writes—Trump Clinches GOP Presidential Nomination
playtime is now officially over:
Donald Trump has reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination for president.
His triumph completes an unlikely rise that has upended the political landscape and sets the stage for a bitter fall campaign.
Trump was put over the top in the Associated Press delegate count by a small number of the party’s unbound delegates who told the AP on Thursday they will support him at the convention.
Controversial firebrand billionaire Donald Trump has been the presumptive GOP presidential nominee for some weeks now after his last two primary opponents, Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, recognized the inevitable and bowed out. But it’s always more impactful when the technical threshold is reached, which appears to be the case today.
Whatever happens between now and November, you can’t deny the historic implications of this moment.
Probably very bad implications, but for today you can just kind of stand in awe of what has happened to the once-grand (and still enormously powerful) Republican Party. Whether Trump wins or loses, the Grand Old Party will never be the same again.
At Bleeding Heartland of Iowa, desmoinesdem writes—Three hopes for the Des Moines Register's new chief politics reporter Jason Noble:
Congratulations are in order for Jason Noble, whom the Des Moines Register hired as chief political reporter after conducting a national search. Noble joined the Register in 2011, having previously covered the Missouri statehouse for the Kansas City Star. He wrote most of the Register’s articles about Michele Bachmann before the 2012 Iowa caucuses and reported on Jeb Bush’s Iowa campaign last year. Since March 2015, Noble has been on the "Reality Check" beat, checking the accuracy of political or policy statements for the Register and occasionally for Politifact. He also produced the 10-part Three Tickets podcast series about the history of the Iowa caucuses.
I’m excited to see how Noble approaches what he called "the best job in journalism." The Register has a massive agenda-setting role, not just for other Iowa media. The paper’s reporting on this year’s U.S. Senate race will be watched closely by the national press corps. As Noble puts his stamp on his new position, I hope he will:
Focus his attention on things that have happened.
This statement may seem as obvious as saying, "Only facts can be fact checked." But the Register has sometimes devoted an excessive amount of space to curtain-raisers by the chief political reporter. Every column inch speculating about "X things to watch for at Y" is space Noble can’t use to dig deeper into things newsmakers on his beat have already said or done. There will always be an opportunity to write about "X key moments from Y" after the big event.
Report stories no one tried to get into the paper.
In a job less focused on covering day-to-day news, I hope Noble will have the time and flexibility to write more deep dives, such as last year’s multi-part look at the finances of the Central Iowa Expo in Boone.
I can only imagine how many story pitches Noble already receives from political operatives. Now that he’s been promoted, those will proliferate, and while some will be worth pursuing, hunting for different newsworthy angles could add more value. That could mean pulling back the curtain on unpleasant campaign tactics by candidates and their allies, or holding newsmakers accountable for promises that dominated news cycles of the past.