Thursday, February 21, 2013

Did President Obama drop a Prop. 8 hint on ABC 7 News in San Fran (VIDEO)



Via Greg Sargent (heck his whole piece comes from Greg Sargent):

In an interview with an ABC News affiliate in San Francisco, President Obama made his most extensive comments yet on the question of whether his administration will weigh in with a friend-of-the-court brief on the Proposition 8 case set to be heard by the Supreme Court. He said:

“The Solicitor General is still looking at this. I have to make sure that I’m not interjecting myself too much into this process, particularly when we’re not a party to the case. I can tell you, though, obviously, my personal view, which is that I think that same-sex couples should have the same rights and be treated like everybody else. And that’s something I feel very strongly about and my administration is acting on wherever we can.”
This is more encouraging than not. It shows that the administration is very actively considering taking this step. What’s more, Obama reiterated the view, spelled out in his Inaugural Address, that full equality before the law is the ultimate goal of his administration, stressed that he feels “very strongly” about it, and underscored that his administration is acting to bring this about “wherever we can.” Obviously, filing a brief in the Prop 8 case — one that forcefully articulates the view that Prop 8 is unconstitutional — falls into that category. It is something his administration can, in fact, do. And since the Court gives weight to the views of Solicitors General, doing it could help bring about a broad Supreme Court ruling that would put state laws banning gay marriage on the road to extinction — bringing us closer to the full equality that Obama himself articulated as a paramount moral goal.

At the same time, by saying that this is something his Solicitor General is examining, even as he noted the need to avoid interjecting himself into the case, Obama was also signaling that this process is unfolding as it’s supposed to: With the Solicitor General making this determination independently, on the merits. An optimistic reading of this is that it could give the Solicitor General the breathing room he needs to expound on the administration’s views of Prop 8 even if gay marriage opponents will inevitably cast such a move as political.

Chris Matthews wonders what happened to the Republican Party of the 1960s (VIDEO)

I keep saying it, saying it and saying it. The Republican Party's last hope...as in last hope to continue existing as a Party is to dump the John Birch Society retreads (aka, the Tea Party) and grasp onto their proud heritage from the Eisenhowers of the world. For the GOP to survive, the Eisenhower Wing has to lead.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Meanwhile, one of the Eisenhower Wing's potential leaders has dumped the party to become a Democrat...and more than likely, the Governor of Florida once again.

GOP, consider this your final warning...

Coming off John McCain's rather rambunctious Town Hall, we now have this:

Immigration reform’s chances in the House are looking bleaker after one of the top Republicans tasked with shepherding a bill to passage ruled out a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), chair of the Judiciary Committee that will mark up any House legislation on the issue, told NPR this week that he will not support a bill that eventually grants citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in America.

“People have a pathway to citizenship right now: It’s to abide by the immigration laws, and if they have a family relationship, if they have a job skill that allows them to do that, they can obtain citizenship,” Goodlatte said. “But simply someone who broke the law, came here, [to] say, ‘I’ll give you citizenship now,’ that I don’t think is going to happen.”

Okay, for one thing...before you panic too much over this: don't. This doucebag Bob Goodlatte is not the only person in charge of Immigration reform. He's just in charge of it in the House. There is this thing called the Senate, which will have a pathway to Citizenship, and there will be a Conference Committee, so my guess is it gets stuck back in there somehow.

But in the end, it goes back to what I said before.

Republicans, this is your final warning.

This is your last chance...by which I mean, your last chance to survive as a party.

Believe it or not, as Democrats, the purely craven political calculation here (i.e., if we were thinking like you) is to have this bill fail, and have your fingerprints all over it.

That's the best case scenario for us. You kill Comprehensive Immigration Reform, and leave an entire emerging (and young) majority of Latinos in Democratic Hands for generations to come, and you Republicans become the 21 Century Version of the Whig Party.

And it's this close to happening.

Fortunately, we Democrats give a @#$% about Governing...so we might ultimately save you from yourselves.

But it's time for Latinos to flex their muscles yet again. It's time for you to participate in the other, less fun side of electoral politics...the flooding of phone calls to various Congressional Offices.

I've heard it from the President, I've heard it from Latino Groups: a pathway to Citizenship is a must.

Well, time to let 'em know it's a dealbreaker...LOUDLY.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Something to keep an eye on...



TPM has more on the story, but if you're a Republican, you are sweating bullets right now.

Think about it.  If you are a GOP Pol, you know your future, in fact the entire future of the party comes down to how well you behave on Immigration reform.  With more and more Latinos coming of age, and more and more of your own base dying off, the trend appears that starting with the 2016 Presidential Election, the old Republican Party will not see power for a generation.

Yeah, that bad.

The solution is simple, come up with a massive Immigration Reform plan.  Behave well.  Show the Latino/Hispanic population of this country that you don't hate them.  And for a majority of the GOP Caucus in the House and Senate, that's absolutely true.  They don't hate Latinos/Hispanics.

Problem is, the base of the Party does.  They genuinely hate Latinos and Hispanics, and want to see the lot of them,  legal or no, bounced from the country.  Heck, they probably want to see speaking Spanish turned into some kind of felony.

This Town Hall was on a border state, which has been reliably Republican.  It has a massively unpopular (and massively unconstitutional) Immigration Bill that's unpopular everywhere...except among the people of that Town Hall.

The people of Arizona, moreso the Republicans of Arizona know that they're staring into the eyes of death (of their party).  They know that young Latinos will not rest until the white, racist, anti-Immigrant GOP is burned to the ground, and yet this is how they react??

I want to see how McCain reacts when he gets back to town, but in my mind, knowing how ultimately spineless McCain is, the odds of us getting comprehensive Immigration reform this year or any time before 2014 just took a hit.

Bad news for our friends and neighbors, but very good news if you're a Democrat.  The Republicans are going to destroy themselves and hand you power as they do it.

President Obama Speaks on the impact of the Sequester (VIDEO)