“I like Ted Cruz more than most of my Republican colleagues do. And I hate Ted Cruz.” - Al Franken
Yeah, that was a masterful stroke, I have to admit. The Republicans destroyed unions, and then managed to blame Democrats for the loss of union protections. Impressive they managed to pull that off, does who how willing to lie the Republicans are, and how willing to believe lies the public is.
Hawley secured my vote for “Biggest Douche in the Universe” when – after the Capitol had just been invaded and Members had fled for their lives – he insisted on going forward with his baseless objection to Pennsylvania’s electors. Complete asshole.
He needs to be reminded now and then.
Andy fucking Biggs gave tours to the 1/6 crown the week before.
Thanks be that he’s no longer my rep due to redistricting (I now have a dem! Woot!) but he kept his job.
eta oh we were talking senators. Carry on! AZ has one and one half Democrats as senators. 
I believe there are Republican women who are outwardly against abortion because of the enormous social and religious pressure, but who, in the privacy of the ballot box, support abortion access. That’s my theory for Kansas, and most recently Michigan. The assumption is that all Republican women are pro-birth and I don’t think that assumption holds.
I agree. I also think those women will vote pro-choice if pro-choice is the only or primary thing being voted on. So “No” on the Kansas amendment and the like, but they still support various QOP candidates (because there are other reasons to do that), particularly if they finesse their abortions.
Here’s an excellent This American Life episodes diving deep into Ohio gerrymandering
I’ve long heard that Ted Cruz is the kind of guy who, if he was on fire, the other Senators wouldn’t put it out; instead, they’d look for some flammable substance and use it instead.
Even his daughter doesn’t seem to like him very much.
Indeed, the Legion of Douche is a large and powerful caucus. Vance will fit right in.
That’s my bad, man. Lo siento.
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My wife went to Western for her master’s degree; if she read this, there’d be a For Sale sign in the yard faster than two shakes of a lamb’s tail…
The scariest thing about Vance is that it is Peter Thiel who is his puppetmaster. And Peter Thiel is explicitly anti-democracy.
“I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
“In our time, the great task for libertarians is to find an escape from politics in all its forms—from the totalitarian and fundamentalist catastrophes to the unthinking demos that guides so-called ‘social democracy.’ . . . The fate of our world may depend on the effort of a single person who builds or propagates the machinery of freedom that makes the world safe for capitalism.”
- Peter Thiel (The Education of a Libertarian | Cato Unbound)
That is, indeed, terrifying. It would be terrifying at any rate, but the sheer fact that they can say it all out loud and in public, with no discernible negative effect shatters any hope I may have remaining for my fellow man.
And those people simply cannot be convinced, otherwise. Hold the facts right under their nose, and they will simply “reason” that it is untrue because it doesn’t fit their narrative, or deny that it was said, outright. The Playbook of the Right now states that “reality” only exists as they see fit, and the drooling masses have taken it, hook, line, and sinker.
Bolding mine. I believe Mr. Thiel misspelled “the ultrarich”.
Royalty is such a better system to propagate than is democracy. What could we all have been thinking these last 400 years. How foolish of us to roll back the powers of our betters!
Some context regarding Mr Thiel and the anti democratic movement that quite influential in the Republican party.
Dark enlightenment - Neoreactionary movement - RationalWiki
Pocket post… deleted
Yes that was a sneaky one that sounds reasonable at first but deeper analysis reveals its hidden agenda. A shame.
And only one community even has legislation allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections, Yellow Springs, Ohio’s crunchiest little town. This smells of conservative state government punishing liberal municipalities. How dare they try to home-rule themselves! It’s another example of language that sounds reasonable until you look into it more.
Home rule is pretty much a dead letter in Ohio anyway. On abortion, guns, fracking, residency rules for municipal employees… if a city or town wants to do something the GOP supermajority in the General Assembly doesn’t like, you can be assured they’ll forget all their pieties about respect for local government.