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Arizona Going Birther?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 21, 2010 Comment (64)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Members of the Arizona state House have made a strong bid for this year's coveted "nuttiest legislative body" award, voting to enshrine birtherism as state policy (would that make it the state's official neurosis?). Phoenix's KPHO TV station reports that the Arizona House voted 31-22 in favor of legislation (they added it as an amendment to a separate bill) requiring that presidential candidates submit proper documentation proving that they are constitutionally eligible for the office in order to get on the state's ballot. In other words Barack Obama seeking reelection in 2012 would have to show the state his birth certificate or not be on the ballot.
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Gun Control Squabble Kills D.C. Voting Rights Push
Tweet Share on Facebook April 20, 2010 Comment (15)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
You would have thought that a Democratic president and large Democratic congressional majorities would have cleared the way to secure fundamental rights for the more than half a million Americans living in the capital of the free world. But you would be wrong.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced today that that chamber won't consider a bill which would grant the District of Columbia a voting congressional representative. They won't bring it to the floor this week and probably not this year. Sorry, D.C. residents, you'll have to remain sub-citizens for the time being. But your money remains good--we'll continue to take those tax dollars, thanks very much. And you're welcome to keep sending your sons and daughters into the armed forces.
Hoyer, one of the few good guys in this fight, pronounced himself "profoundly disappointed" and he should be. And a large number of his colleagues, especially voting rights supporters more interested in using the issue as a proxy for gun control squabbles, should be deeply ashamed of themselves.
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'Wall Street' vs. 'Bailout' and the Politics of Financial Reform
Tweet Share on Facebook April 20, 2010 Comment (5)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The political dynamics of financial reform, which the Senate could start considering as early as this week, are interesting for the starkly different ways the two parties appear to be reading the issue. Each side seems to think they can score big political points here. What it looks like it will come down to is how this bill gets defined. Republicans want to call it a "bailout" bill, while Democrats are training their fire on Wall Street.
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Sarah Palin Lags in 2012 Fundraising Primary
Tweet Share on Facebook April 19, 2010 Comment (8)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The latest campaign finance numbers coming various maybe-presidential candidates has produced more data points to support the theory that Sarah Palin is less interested in being a presidential candidate than in being a political celebrity. Politico reported last week that Palin's Sarah PAC raised less than those of some of her possible rivals for the 2012 GOP nomination. Palin's roughly $400,000 raised lagged behind potential rivals Tim Pawlenty ($567,000, according to the PAC's FEC filing) and Mitt Romney ($1.624 million, according to the FEC report, including an impressive $950,000 in March alone). All three were ahead of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee ($278,000 for the first quarter) and were dwarfed by Newt Gingrich, who raised $2.7 million for his 527 committee, which is a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison because it operates under different fundraising rules.
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Bob McDonnell's Confederate History Month is Un-American
Tweet Share on Facebook April 7, 2010 Comment (34)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Why does Bob McDonnell hate America? The Virginia governor has gotten some deserved opprobrium for his recent declaration that April is "Confederate History Month." Specifically, people from across the ideological spectrum correctly object to his omission of slavery from his proclamation, apparently because he doesn't think that slavery was a "significant" issue for Virginia during the Civil War. Perhaps the good governor should follow his own proclamation and study history: the war was about slavery, and the commonwealth had nearly half a million slaves in 1860, according to historian Robert Mackey. And as Mackey notes, their Confederate heritage was "the lash, servitude, and a century of virtual slavery after 1865."
The problem here of course is the enduring romanticization of the Confederacy. Let's not forget what it was: an armed insurrection aimed at destroying the United States of America.
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Making Political Sport of President Obama's First Pitch
Tweet Share on Facebook April 5, 2010 Comment (8)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
President Obama is set to throw out the ceremonial first pitch to kick off the Washington Nationals' season opener (against the National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies) this afternoon. And this being Washington, where people issue statements about everything and often don't wait for events to happen before reacting to them, you can be sure that different folks have statements ready about the august event. Here's my guess at what we can expect in the wake of the southpaw-in-chief's first pitch of the season:
