Tag: GOP

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Gov. Huntsman: “All Americans should be treated equally under the law”

Wow. This is pretty amazing AND important.

In an article for the American Conservative, former Utah governor and presidential candidate Jon Huntsman writes that “the marketplace of ideas will render us irrelevant, and soon, if we are not honest about our time and place in history.” Huntsman underscores the importance of Republicans to embrace marriage equality:

While serving as governor of Utah, I pushed for civil unions and expanded reciprocal benefits for gay citizens. I did so not because of political pressure—indeed, at the time 70 percent of Utahns were opposed—but because as governor my role was to work for everybody, even those who didn’t have access to a powerful lobby. Civil unions, I believed, were a practical step that would bring all citizens more fully into the fabric of a state they already were—and always had been—a part of.

That was four years ago. Today we have an opportunity to do more: conservatives should start to lead again and push their states to join the nine others that allow all their citizens to marry. I’ve been married for 29 years. My marriage has been the greatest joy of my life. There is nothing conservative about denying other Americans the ability to forge that same relationship with the person they love.

All Americans should be treated equally by the law, whether they marry in a church, another religious institution, or a town hall. This does not mean that any religious group would be forced by the state to recognize relationships that run counter to their conscience. Civil equality is compatible with, and indeed promotes, freedom of conscience.

I often write that I’m in many ways a moderate Democrat. I like to see compromise on some issues and see the government come together to solve problems. That’s why I can’t get behind a GOP candidate that runs far to the right of the political spectrum to get their party’s votes and then try to pretend they represent me.

That being said, Gov. Huntsman showed himself to be a fair, smart and moderate Republican in the last campaign cycle that when I watched and listened to him, I thought – “if I had to have a Republican president, I could deal with this guy.” Of course, he wasn’t nearly “far right” enough for the GOP and he had to drop out of the race. Mittens got the nod, and the rest is history.

I think Gov. Huntsman is being honest with his party about marriage equality. It is the law of the land in many states now, with more to follow. This is the course of history.

Time to get with it, GOP kids. Or soon you could be as outdated as the KKK.

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Florida: Gov. Rick Scott announces expansion in Medicaid

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has outraged Tea Party members after announcing his new – completely different – position on Obamacare:

Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday he supports expanding Medicaid and funneling billions of federal dollars to Florida, a significant policy reversal that could bring health care coverage to 1 million additional Floridians. “While the federal government is committed to pay 100 percent of the cost, I cannot, in good conscience, deny Floridians the needed access to health care,” Scott said at a hastily called news conference at the Governor’s Mansion.

Scott, a former hospital executive, spoke with unusual directness about helping the “poorest and weakest” Floridians — a stunning about-face for a small-government Republican who was one of the loudest voices in an aggressive, and ultimately unsuccessful, legal strategy to kill a law he derided as “Obamacare.”

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US Senate: GOP Senators make history, first to filibuster Sec. of Defense nominee

In what is truly an ironic twist, GOP US Senate members are filibustering the nomination of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense over concerns of “national security” that have nothing to do with Chuck Hagel.

From Think Progress:

Senate Republicans today chose to uphold a filibuster against Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel, despite many of them previously pledging that they would be willing to allow him to be confirmed.

Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and John Cornyn (R-TX) all voted against cloture, despite their pleas during the Bush administration that a president’s Cabinet nominees should receive an up-or-down vote.

Four Republicans, Sens. Thad Cochran (R-MS), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Mike Johanns (R-NE), voted to break the filibuster. The final vote was 58-40, with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) voting present, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) not voting at all, and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) voting “no” as a procedural move so that he can bring another vote to the floor at a later date.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had originally scheduled the cloture vote for tomorrow morning, but surprised many by pushing it up to this afternoon. Earlier today, Reid took to the Senate floor to lambaste his Republican colleagues for delaying an up-or-down vote on Hagel, the first filibuster of a Secretary of Defense nominee.

Just so I’m seeing this clearly – the Republican senators are concerned about national security, so they decided to block having a Secretary of Defense based on nothing he’s done?

Do I have this right?

Hey Americans – you feel safer now?

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Donald Trump vs Karl Rove – “Karl Rove is a total loser”

Reality television celeb Donald Trump on Thursday tweeted a few tart tongued messages on Twitter aimed at Karl Rove, whose new group to find electable Republican candidates has set off an intra-party feud.

In his tweets, Trump made it clear that he’s siding with the tea party faction in the quarrel, calling Rove a “total loser” and questioning the wisdom of donating money to Rove’s new group, the “Conservative Victory Project.”

(via TPM)

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Hurricane Sandy emergency aid bill approved in House

The House has approved a dramatically scaled back aid package for those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The size of the bill was cut to only $9.6B. The original bill was for $60B.

67 Republicans voted against the bill.

The House plans to vote again later this month on a $51 billion package in relief aid to state governments still rebuilding after the storm.

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Anti-gay Sen. Jim DeMint resigns to head up Heritage Foundation

Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina is stepping down in January to take the helm as president of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that spends its $80 million annual budget fighting everything from raising taxes to marriage equality to giving ex-convicts the right to vote.

The Wall Street Journal reports that DeMint’s departure means that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will name a successor who will then run on their own during a special 2014 election.

DeMint, a former US Rep. elected to the Senate in 2004 and reelected during the Tea Party surge of 2010, has made homophobia a hallmark of his Senate career: he has consistently said gay marriage will destroy society and even went so far as to say that gay people and single women shouldn’t be teachers, a remark he lated defended. 

(source)

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Poll: Republicans will bear more blame if “fiscal cliff” failure

Republicans will shoulder more blame than President Barack Obama if Congress fails to pass legislation to prevent automatic spending cuts and tax increases, known as the “fiscal cliff,” according to a new poll.

Fifty-three percent of adults said Republicans in Congress will be “more to blame” if an agreement is not reached, according to a new survey conducted by the Washington Post and the Pew Research Center Nov. 29-Dec. 2.

Only 27 percent of respondents placed more blame on the president and 12 percent faulted both the president and the GOP.

A party breakdown of respondents shows blame directed at the opposing party. But among Independents, Republicans received 52 percent of blame and the president received 21 percent.

A CNN/ORC International survey released last week indicated more Americans would blame the GOP in Congress (45%) rather than Obama (34%) if the fiscal cliff provisions actually go into effect next year.

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Pennsylvania: GOP State Rep. Mike Fleck comes out

Pennslyvania Republican State Rep. Mike Fleck comes out

Pennsylvania state Rep. Mike Fleck came out yesterday, one year after separating from his wife. Fleck now becomes the nation’s only openly gay Republican state legislator. Via Politics PA:

In a deeply personal story by the Huntingdon Daily News (subscription), Fleck, a devout Christian, explained the difficult road to his announcement. “Coming out is hard enough, but doing it in the public eye is definitely something I never anticipated,” he said. “I’m still the exact same person and I’m still a Republican and, most importantly, I’m still a person of faith trying to live life as a servant of God and the public. The only difference now is that I will also be doing so as honestly as I know how.”

He said his party affiliation remains strong. “The Republican party is all about the government needing to stay out of people’s lives,” Fleck said. “I’m not a one-issue person and it’s not a one-issue party.” Fleck, 39, has a resume that would impress Republicans anywhere. An Eagle Scout by age 18, he graduated from Liberty University in 1995 and worked professionally for the Boy Scouts of America as a district executive in Huntingdon County from 1999 to 2004.

Fleck also said that he tried religious therapy to rid himself of same-sex desires, but to no avail. “I sought out treatment from a Christian counselor, but when that didn’t work out, I engaged a secular therapist who told me point blank that I was gay and that I was too caught up in being the perfect Christian rather than actually being authentic and honest,” he said.

As for his ex-wife, Fleck said she remains his best-friend. “My wife and I became closer than ever [after I came out to her], but it was bittersweet as we both concluded that the marriage was over,” he said.

The above-linked story notes that Fleck has not yet had to vote on any LGBT-related issues.

Last month Democrat Brian Sims was elected as Pennsylvania’s first openly gay legislator.

(source)

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Fox News ends interview after guest calls Fox News “a wing of the Republican Party”

Author and Pulitzer prize winner Tom Ricks had his time cut short on Fox News after pointing out that Fox News’s coverage of the Benghazi attacks has been inordinately heavy during an interview with the conservative network on Monday.

Ricks, who has written extensively on the American military, called Fox an “operating as a wing of Republican Party” that “hyped” the Benghazi attack as a faux-scandal.

Later, a “news staffer” told Ricks that he was rude while he was on air. Ricks’ segment, according to an interview he gave with the New York Times, was about “half as long as planned.” 

“I had told the producer before I went on that I thought the Benghazi story had been hyped. So it should have been no surprise when I said it and the anchor pushed back that I defended my view,” Ricks told Politico. Ricks also told the New York Times that he was going to discuss the “lack of combat readiness of some Army units” but he never got the opportunity,. “They seemed to lose interest in that,” he said.

(via ThinkProgress)

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George P. Bush, son of Jeb Bush, files paperwork to run for Texas office

George Prescott Bush, the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the nephew of former Texas governor and ex-President George W. Bush, has filed preliminary paperwork to run for office in the Lone Star state in 2014. Given his family ties plus the Republican landscape of Texas politics, he stands to become a prominent voice in the next generation of Republican leaders.

His father Jeb Bush recently sent out a email to his own supporters looking for donations for George Bush v3.0.

“The office that George is considering running for is Land Commissioner which overseas the mineral rights, commercial real estate owned and sovereign submerged lands of the State of Texas as well as veterans affairs and historic archives,” he wrote.

Land commissioner is a less high-profile position than governor or lieutenant governor, but is considered a strong stepping stone for Texas pols, hoping to run for higher office statewide. David Dewhurst, now the state’s lieutenant governor, among others, began in the land commissioner position.

Apparently part of the approach is to find a position that won’t require a drawn out primary with an opponent. So, the young George is definitely looking for the right fight to begin a political career.

Considering his family name plus his hispanic heritage, plus he’s fairly handsome, he may be part of a new, young line of GOP names to follow.

Read more at Politico