Greg Dworkin

Greg Dworkin https://www.dailykos.com/user/Greg Dworkin/rss/index.xml News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Sun, 20 Jun 2021 19:58:34 +0000 Sun, 20 Jun 2021 19:58:34 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Joe Manchin, Juneteenth and the ongoing insurrection https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/6/19/2035991/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Joe-Manchin-Juneteenth-and-the-ongoing-insurrection <p><a href="https://www.theuprising.info/p/14-votes-against-juneteenth-a-racist" target="_blank">Hunter Walker</a>/The Uprising:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>14 Votes Against Juneteenth: A Racist Act In The Halls Of Congress</strong></p> <p>There is currently a fight going on in this country over whether we should celebrate the end of slavery. Yes, you read that right. A small number of elected officials and pundits are actually debating whether it is acceptable to have a holiday commemorating the American Emancipation.</p> <p>Yesterday, President Biden signed a law proclaiming Juneteenth a federal holiday. The legislation was sent to Biden’s desk with the support of<span> </span><em>almost<span> </span></em>every member of Congress. However, in the House, 14 Republicans voted against the measure and two others didn’t vote at all.</p> <p>Many people in the public sphere are already<span> </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/16/politics/republicans-voted-against-juneteenth-bill/index.html">highlighting this</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1405650225906294786">condemning it</a><span> </span>while stopping just short of calling it by its name. But this is not a subjective matter.<span> </span><strong>Refusing to celebrate the end of slavery is racism. Something this simple and awful needs to be easily recognized for what it is.</strong></p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Repeating the truth about January 6 is tedious, even exhausting. But the people lying about, downplaying, defending, and apologizing for it appear inexhaustible. So the choices are (1) keep repeating the truth, shooting down lies and conspiracy theories, or (2) conceding to them.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Nicholas Grossman (@NGrossman81) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/NGrossman81/status/1405926970244972548?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;June 18, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Repeating the truth about January 6 is tedious, even exhausting. But the people lying about, downplaying, defending, and apologizing for it appear inexhaustible. So the choices are (1) keep repeating the truth, shooting down lies and conspiracy theories, or (2) conceding to them.</p>— Nicholas Grossman (@NGrossman81) <a href="https://twitter.com/NGrossman81/status/1405926970244972548?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2035991 Sat, 19 Jun 2021 11:30:10 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: ACA is here to stay, it will never die. Guess it had to be that way ... https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/6/18/2035787/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-ACA-is-here-to-stay-it-will-never-die-Guess-it-had-to-be-that-way <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <div> <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/17/upshot/obamacare-supreme-court-decision.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">NY Times:</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Obamacare Is Here to Stay. Brace for New Health Care Battles.</strong></p> <p>The era of existential fights over Obamacare has ended.</p> <p>The Affordable Care Act has<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/17/us/obamacare-supreme-court.html?">survived</a><span> </span>its third major Supreme Court challenge — what Justice Samuel Alito described in his dissenting<span> </span><a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-840_6jfm.pdf#page=26" target="_blank">opinion</a><span> </span>as an “epic trilogy.” The law has gone from a 5-4 majority in its favor in the first case to Thursday’s 7-2 split. The decision secures the health law as a major legacy of the Obama era — the largest expansion of health coverage in decades — after years of hard-fought and politically painful battles.</p> <p>Obamacare enjoys higher-than-ever public support, with<span> </span><a href="https://www.kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/5-charts-about-public-opinion-on-the-affordable-care-act-and-the-supreme-court/" target="_blank">most Americans</a><span> </span>now favoring the law. Enrollment in the health law’s programs is at a<span> </span><a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20210607.367870/full/" target="_blank">record high</a>. Democrats have moved from defending the 2010 law to expanding its benefits. While Obamacare remains a dirty word in some Republican circles, its repeal is no longer a focus of the party or a galvanizing issue among its voters.</p> </blockquote> <p><span>ACA is here to stay, it will never die</span></p> <p><span>Guess it had to be that way, but I don't know why</span></p> <p><span>I don't care what the people say</span></p> <p><span>ACA is here to stay </span></p> </div> </div> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2035787 Fri, 18 Jun 2021 11:30:08 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: If the GOP was betting on Jan. 6 going away, it's a bad bet https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/6/16/2035436/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-If-the-GOP-was-betting-on-Jan-6-going-away-it-s-a-bad-bet <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-emails-doj-election-fraud-claims/2021/06/15/638ab654-cdc9-11eb-8014-2f3926ca24d9_story.html" target="_blank">WaPo</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>New emails detail Trump’s efforts to have Justice Department take up his false election-fraud claims</span></strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>On the same day as the electoral college met to certify the election results — which was also the day Trump announced that William P. Barr would be stepping down as attorney general — his assistant sent Rosen an email with a list of complaints concerning the way the election had been carried out in Antrim County, Mich.</p> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>The file included a<span> </span>so-called“forensic analysis” of the Dominion Voting Systems machines the county employed, alleging they were “intentionally and purposefully” calibrated to create fraudulent results. It also included “talking points” that could be used to counter any arguments “against us.”</p> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <p>Trump was involved. Here are the receipts.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2035436 Wed, 16 Jun 2021 11:30:17 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The international landscape is shifting. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/6/14/2035049/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-international-landscape-is-shifting <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-shadow-g7/2021/06/12/9b1166e4-c9ec-11eb-93fa-9053a95eb9f2_story.html" target="_blank">WaPo:</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>Trump’s shadow still looms over cloudy skies at G-7 summit</span></strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p><span>Matthew P. Goodman, senior vice president for economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that to reassure the Europeans, “Biden has to show he’s confident, that the U.S. is back, that the U.S. is ready to do what it needs to do domestically.”</span></p> <p>“We will not slide back into Trumpism — that’s the message he needs to try to convey, and that’s a tough message, especially this early into his administration,” Goodman said.</p> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>Appearing with Macron on Saturday, Biden gestured to the French leader when asked by reporters if America is back.</p> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>“Yeah, definitely,” Macron responded.</p> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says on CNN now that she could gauge as soon as tomorrow whether there are three more votes in the Senate to pass Jan. 6 commission — or whether it’s time for a select committee.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1404075606447472647?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;June 13, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says on CNN now that she could gauge as soon as tomorrow whether there are three more votes in the Senate to pass Jan. 6 commission — or whether it’s time for a select committee.</p>— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) <a href="https://twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1404075606447472647?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2035049 Mon, 14 Jun 2021 11:30:08 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Trump really did need to be impeached ... and should have been convicted https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/6/12/2034827/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Trump-really-did-need-to-be-impeached-and-should-have-been-convicted <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/11/us/politics/democrats-trump-leak-investigations.html" target="_blank">NY Times:</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Justice Dept. watchdog and Senate Democrats promise to investigate secret seizure of lawmakers’ data.</strong></p> <p>The Justice Department’s independent inspector general opened an inquiry on Friday into the Trump administration’s secret seizure of data from House Democrats and reporters as prosecutors sought to hunt down the sources of leaks of classified information.</p> <p>In a statement, Michael E. Horowitz, the inspector general, announced he would review the department’s use of subpoenas and other legal maneuvers to secretly access communications records of Democratic lawmakers, aides, and at least one family member,<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/us/politics/justice-department-leaks-trump-administration.html">which was first reported on Thursday by The New York Times</a>.</p> <p>Mr. Horowitz also said he will look at other recently disclosed actions to secretly seize data about reporters. The Biden Justice Department in recent weeks has disclosed that prosecutors during the Trump administration also sought and obtained phone records for journalists at The Washington Post, CNN, and The New York Times and then sought to stop the information from becoming public.</p> </blockquote> <p><span>Well, it sure looks like Democrats did the right thing by impeaching Trump. And as for Rs not convicting him—boy, did they screw up.</span></p> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Bipartisanship is like a healthy relationship. It only works if you are dealing w/ someone who has same fundamental values. If you are with someone who lies, cheats, is abusive to those you care about, and is unwilling to be held accountable, then the relationship doesn’t work.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/matthewjdowd/status/1403318574568124421?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;June 11, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Bipartisanship is like a healthy relationship. It only works if you are dealing w/ someone who has same fundamental values. If you are with someone who lies, cheats, is abusive to those you care about, and is unwilling to be held accountable, then the relationship doesn’t work.</p>— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) <a href="https://twitter.com/matthewjdowd/status/1403318574568124421?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2034827 Sat, 12 Jun 2021 11:30:12 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The strains on democracy are showing https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/6/11/2034585/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-strains-on-democracy-are-showing <p><a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2021/06/10/political-violence-capitol-riot-political-parties/" target="_blank">Seth Masket</a>/Denver Post:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>Will political parties protect us from violence, or make it worse?</span></strong></p> <p>This country has experienced some significant political violence over the past year, and we may be staring down some more in the near future. We’re also experiencing historic heights in partisanship. A vital question for us right now is whether America’s political parties will help us or make the violence worse.</p> <p>Parties, that is, actually play a pretty prominent role in the political culture of a country, and can affect levels of political violence. How might this work?</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;WATCH: Sicknick&amp;#39;s partner says GOP protecting Trump by blocking Jan. 6 commission &lt;a href="https://t.co/6pIS0I8LLg"&gt;https://t.co/6pIS0I8LLg&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://t.co/msINvon2Uk"&gt;pic.twitter.com/msINvon2Uk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; The Hill (@thehill) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1402942386947428353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;June 10, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>WATCH: Sicknick's partner says GOP protecting Trump by blocking Jan. 6 commission <a href="https://t.co/6pIS0I8LLg">https://t.co/6pIS0I8LLg</a> <a href="https://t.co/msINvon2Uk">pic.twitter.com/msINvon2Uk</a></p>— The Hill (@thehill) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1402942386947428353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2034585 Fri, 11 Jun 2021 11:30:18 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: January 6 remains a compelling news narrative, and a major issue https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/6/9/2034222/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-January-6-remains-a-compelling-news-narrative-and-a-major-issue <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/06/08/very-conspicuous-holes-first-big-jan-6-report/" target="_blank">Aaron Blake</a>/WaPo:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>The very conspicuous holes in the first big Jan. 6 report</span></strong></p> <p><span>The first report, though, reinforces the limits of what Congress can produce without an agreement on a specialized and powerful commission. It is narrowly tailored toward bureaucratic problems with the response, but even inside of that limited scope, it strains to avoid much of anything amounting to a politically contentious finding. The report also notes that its authors struggled to gain full compliance from the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as from key officials in the House and U.S. Capitol Police.</span></p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;The info flow/expectation setting w medium info Ds on this was problematic &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/MTPFirstRead?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@MTPFirstRead&lt;/a&gt; &amp;gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;“HR 1 designed as a messaging bill....&lt;br&gt;&nbsp;&lt;br&gt;And now Democrats have an activist base that’s upset and disappointed – over a bill that never had a chance for passage in a 50-50 Senate”&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/jmartNYT/status/1402249152248045569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;June 8, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The info flow/expectation setting w medium info Ds on this was problematic <a href="https://twitter.com/MTPFirstRead?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MTPFirstRead</a> ><br><br>“HR 1 designed as a messaging bill....<br> <br>And now Democrats have an activist base that’s upset and disappointed – over a bill that never had a chance for passage in a 50-50 Senate”</p>— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) <a href="https://twitter.com/jmartNYT/status/1402249152248045569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2034222 Wed, 09 Jun 2021 11:30:03 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The GOP is and remains a toxic organization. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/6/7/2033910/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-GOP-is-and-remains-a-toxic-organization <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/06/gop-superspreaders-trumps-contagion/" target="_blank">EJ Dionne/</a>WaPo:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>The GOP superspreaders of Trump’s contagion</span></strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <div> <p>Donald Trump took his campaign against American democracy to North Carolina<span> </span><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-returns-stage-speech-north-carolina-gop/story?id=78107039" target="_blank" title="">on Saturday</a><span> </span>and offered a rambling, grievance-laden harangue that ought to catalyze Republican leaders to repudiate a man whose lies, bigotry and irrationality are turning their party into a moral sinkhole.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Fat chance, I know. But Republicans should watch Trump’s 90-minute diatribe in its entirety. They might realize that tying their fate to a washed-up demagogue and the extremists he cultivates is not only an affront to decency. It could also be a colossal political mistake.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <div> <p>Most Washington Republicans say they want to “move on” from Trump. But they avoid anything that might offend his delicate sensibilities or those of his supporters.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Sorry, guys, but you won’t be able to “move on” to the responsible governing you purport to believe in until you confront the anti-democratic virus in your party and the vile man spreading the contagion.</p> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2033910 Mon, 07 Jun 2021 11:30:08 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The new normal is not the old normal https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/6/5/2033654/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-new-normal-is-not-the-old-normal <p><a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/normal-life-after-pandemic" target="_blank" title="">Molly Jong-Fast/</a>Vanity Fair:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Why Is It So Hard to Return to Normal?</strong></p> <p><span style="text-align:start">But the problem with “getting back to normal” seems to be two-fold. One problem is that some people don’t want to go back to normal. As Anders Melin and Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou noted in<span> </span></span><a title="">Bloomberg,</a><span style="text-align:start"><span> </span>“A May survey of 1,000 U.S. adults showed that 39% would consider quitting if their employers weren’t flexible about remote work.” Working from home has created a culture of families that eat lunch together, of pets that enjoy midday strolls, of life that is just a little bit calmer. My husband, who used to spend one week a month in California for work, no longer makes his regular cross-country trips. As<span> </span></span><a>Sigal Samuel</a><span style="text-align:start"><span> </span></span><a>writes for Vox,</a><span style="text-align:start"><span> </span>“The pandemic has proven that remote work is totally feasible for many jobs, validating people’s suspicions that our standard model of office work is arbitrary, unnecessarily taxing, and ultimately exploitative, sometimes forcing people to choose between their well-being and their career.” Why go back to the elements of normal life which were, in themselves, completely pointless?</span></p> </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2033654 Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:30:07 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The Big Lie goes local https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/6/4/2033504/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup <p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/06/republican-state-legislatures-changes/619086/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share" target="_blank">Ronald Brownstein/</a>Atlantic:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Watch What’s Happening in Red States</strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <p><em>In states where Republicans control the legislature, American life is rapidly changing.</em></p> <p><span>This surge of polarizing legislation is being driven largely by a combination of confidence and fear. Many observers believe that Republican legislators feel emboldened after Democrats in the 2020 election failed to record the state legislative gains they expected. In 2018, as part of the recoil from Trump, Democrats made significant gains in state legislatures,<span> </span></span><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/State_legislative_elections,_2018">winning control of six legislative chambers and netting more than 300 seats nationwide</a><span>, many in the white-collar suburbs of major metro areas. But despite unprecedented investment in local races, and Biden’s win at the presidential level, the party did not flip any additional chambers last year;<span> </span></span><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Election_results,_2020:_State_legislative_seats_that_changed_party_control">Republicans, on net, gained back about half as many seats</a><span><span> </span>as they had lost two years earlier and<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/partisan-composition.aspx">came out of the election with control</a><span><span> </span>of both legislative chambers in 30 states, compared with just 18 for Democrats (with one additional state divided and Nebraska officially nonpartisan).</span></p> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;ICYMI new UCLA research shows CA’s Covid lockdowns, mask mandates &amp;amp; social distancing protected its economy far better than looser policies did in states such as TX, FL &amp;amp; IN. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Overall, U.S. GDP shrank 3.5% last year, vs 2.8% for CA.&lt;a href="https://t.co/d7cX8A6V57"&gt;https://t.co/d7cX8A6V57&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Margot Roosevelt (@margotroosevelt) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/margotroosevelt/status/1400510307022217220?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;June 3, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>ICYMI new UCLA research shows CA’s Covid lockdowns, mask mandates & social distancing protected its economy far better than looser policies did in states such as TX, FL & IN. <br><br>Overall, U.S. GDP shrank 3.5% last year, vs 2.8% for CA.<a href="https://t.co/d7cX8A6V57">https://t.co/d7cX8A6V57</a></p>— Margot Roosevelt (@margotroosevelt) <a href="https://twitter.com/margotroosevelt/status/1400510307022217220?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2033504 Fri, 04 Jun 2021 11:30:07 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Democracy on a knife's edge https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/6/2/2033146/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Democracy-on-a-knife-s-edge <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/01/frantic-warning-100-leading-experts-our-democracy-is-grave-danger/" target="_blank" title="">Greg Sargent</a>/<em>WaPo</em>:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>A frantic warning from 100 leading experts: Our democracy is in grave danger</span></strong></p> <p>Democrats can’t say they weren’t warned.</p> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <div> <p>With yet another GOP effort to restrict voting<span> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/31/republicans-are-fighting-against-democracy-future/?itid=lk_inline_manual_3" target="_blank">underway in Texas</a>, President Biden is now<span> </span><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/05/29/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-texas-senate-bill-7/">calling on</a><span> </span>Congress to act in the face of the Republican “assault on democracy.” Importantly, Biden cast that attack as aimed at “Black and Brown Americans,” meriting federal legislation in response.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <div> <p>That is a welcome escalation. But it remains unclear whether 50 Senate Democrats will ever prove willing to reform or end the filibuster, and more to the point, whether Biden<span> </span><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/05/biden-manchin-gop-voting-rights/619003/">will put real muscle</a><span> </span>behind<span> </span><em>that</em><span> </span>cause. If not, such protections will never, ever pass.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Now, in a striking intervention, more than 100 scholars of democracy<span> </span><a href="https://www.newamerica.org/political-reform/statements/statement-of-concern/" title="">have signed a new public statement of principles</a><span> </span>that seeks to make the stakes unambiguously, jarringly clear: On the line is nothing less than the future of our democracy itself.</p> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Excellent thread excavating the some of the real reasons this new statement from democracy scholars is so important. Note the idea that history&amp;#39;s judgment cannot come to our rescue here: &lt;a href="https://t.co/ooI6J5ArLr"&gt;https://t.co/ooI6J5ArLr&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1399801133284085763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;June 1, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Excellent thread excavating the some of the real reasons this new statement from democracy scholars is so important. Note the idea that history's judgment cannot come to our rescue here: <a href="https://t.co/ooI6J5ArLr">https://t.co/ooI6J5ArLr</a></p>— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1399801133284085763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2033146 Wed, 02 Jun 2021 11:30:09 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Memorial Day Weekend Update https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/31/2032826/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Memorial-Day-Weekend-Update <p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/29/politics/hispanics-biden-bounce-analysis/index.html" target="_blank" title="">Harry Enten/</a>CNN:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Biden is getting a big bounce with Hispanics</strong></p> <p>Hispanic voters were one of President Joe Biden's<span> </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/12/politics/trump-hispanic-vote/index.html" target="_blank" title="">biggest weaknesses</a><span> </span>in the 2020 election. Although sources differ on his exact margin, Biden's advantage with Hispanics was the worst for a Democratic presidential nominee since 2004 -- even as he had the strongest performance overall for a Democrat since 2008.</p> <div>A look at recent history and polling reveals, however, that Biden may be primed for a comeback among Hispanics for a simple reason: He's now the incumbent.</div> <div>Take a look at<span> </span><a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/350129/biden-congress-approval-ratings-steady.aspx" target="_blank">Gallup polling</a><span> </span>during the Biden presidency. Aggregating all the polls it has conducted so far (in order to get a large sample size), Biden's approval rating with Hispanics stands at 72% compared to a 55% overall approval rating.</div> <ul> </ul> <div>That 72% is a clear improvement from how Biden did in the election with Hispanics. Biden won 65% of Hispanics, according to the<span> </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/national-results" target="_blank" title="">network exit polls</a>. An estimate from the Democratic firm<span> </span><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/ka9n5gzxwotfu1a/wh2020_public_release_crosstabs.xlsx?dl=0" target="_blank" title="">Catalist</a><span> </span>(which lines up well with what we saw in pre-election polls) had Biden taking 61% of Hispanics. So this Gallup data suggests Biden's support may be up anywhere from 7 to 11 points from the election.</div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;&amp;quot;Our officers are hurting right now. People need to know that those Capitol officers that they walk by every day — they want a commission. ... They&amp;#39;re leaving faster than they&amp;#39;re being replaced.&amp;quot; — &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/BarbaraComstock?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@BarbaraComstock&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MTP?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#MTP&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IfItsSunday?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#IfItsSunday&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1398992172746215429?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 30, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>"Our officers are hurting right now. People need to know that those Capitol officers that they walk by every day — they want a commission. ... They're leaving faster than they're being replaced." — <a href="https://twitter.com/BarbaraComstock?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BarbaraComstock</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MTP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MTP</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IfItsSunday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IfItsSunday</a></p>— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1398992172746215429?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2032826 Mon, 31 May 2021 11:30:15 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The anti-democracy, pro-coup Republicans, unmasked https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/29/2032628/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-anti-democracy-pro-coup-Republicans-unmasked <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/28/lisa-murkowski-shaming-mitch-mcconnell/" target="_blank" title="">Greg Sargent</a>/WaPo:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>A GOP senator’s angry shaming of Mitch McConnell demands more from Democrats</span></strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <div> <p>In an extraordinary<span> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/alanhe/status/1398089733276942350/photo/1" title="">nine-minute session</a><span> </span>with reporters, Murkowski<span> </span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/january-6-commission-murkowski-mcconnell_n_60b046e4e4b0c5658f91cff4" title="">called on</a><span> </span>McConnell to stop placing “short-term political gain” before the need to grapple with what really happened on Jan. 6. At stake are the “principles of democracy we hold so dear,” which must be valued “beyond just one election cycle.”</p> </div> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <div> <p>It didn’t work, of course. Senate Republicans just<span> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1398311766665437190" target="_blank" title="">successfully filibustered</a><span> </span>the commission. A couple more Republicans voted for it than expected, but still, virtually all voted against even allowing it to be debated.</p> </div> </div> <div></div> <div> <div> <p>Murkowski did a good job shedding light on the problem we now face. But here’s the thing: In the end, only Democrats can begin to solve that problem.</p> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p>It’s crystal clear that the only thing the GOP cares about is power, and absolutely nothing else.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2032628 Sat, 29 May 2021 11:30:15 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The lack of character is why Republicans are losers https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/28/2032461/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-lack-of-character-is-why-Republicans-are-losers <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/26/how-populism-could-help-democrats-blunt-gop-midterms/" target="_blank">James Hohmann/</a>WaPo:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>How populism could help Democrats blunt the GOP in midterms</span></strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>Public and private polling underscores the potential peril. But those polls also point to a potential solution for Democrats: Borrow from the populist playbook that Donald Trump ran on but never implemented.</p> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>The hurdle that Democrats confront was evident to Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg when he<span> </span><a href="https://democracycorps.com/uncategorized/trumps-engaged-party-defining-the-battle-for-2022/" title="">surveyed</a><span> </span>registered voters this month in 11 states and 13 congressional districts that will be battlegrounds in 2022. What most struck Greenberg was the high level of engagement among Trump loyalists. Republican interest in what’s happening in Washington predictably dropped after the presidential election — but not nearly as much as among President Biden’s supporters. And it remains higher than at a comparable point in 2017, the last midterm cycle.</p> <p>…</p> <p><span>The most fascinating numbers — with hints about how Democrats could respond — come from a recent internal poll by the National Republican Congressional Committee that’s been circulating among GOP lawmakers and was</span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-struggle-to-define-a-new-governing-coalition-as-trump-closes-grip-on-party/2021/05/23/07bce926-b98a-11eb-96b9-e949d5397de9_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_10"><span> </span>obtained</a><span><span> </span>by The Post. In battleground House districts, 3 in 4 voters agreed with these populist, class-conscious statements: “The power of a few elites and special interests rigs the system against regular people” and “Government is run by the wealthy and big corporations that [are] only looking out for themselves, not us.”</span></p> </div> </div> </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2032461 Fri, 28 May 2021 11:30:20 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The legacy of George Floyd continues to unfold. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/26/2032156/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-legacy-of-George-Floyd-continues-to-unfold <p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/05/george-floyds-murder-changed-how-americans-views-police/618992/" target="_blank">David A Graham/</a>Atlantic:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>George Floyd’s Murder Changed Americans’ Views on Policing</strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <p><em>But will those shifts lead to lasting reforms?</em></p> <p><span>The most significant changes have come among white Americans, with reactions diverging based on partisanship. Black Americans didn’t require any epiphanies on race in the United States: They live it, and<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/are-americans-more-pessimistic-about-raceor-more-realistic/399569/">polls have long shown</a><span><span> </span>that Black people, while hopeful about the future of the country, hold a more negative—or more realistic—view of race relations.</span></p> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;🇺🇸🌎 Reminder on the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder that his death sparked a debate about racism and police brutality not just in the U.S. — but internationally. &lt;a href="https://t.co/jI3VnutzOJ"&gt;pic.twitter.com/jI3VnutzOJ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Michael Knigge (@kniggem) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/kniggem/status/1397339793021931520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 25, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>🇺🇸🌎 Reminder on the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder that his death sparked a debate about racism and police brutality not just in the U.S. — but internationally. <a href="https://t.co/jI3VnutzOJ">pic.twitter.com/jI3VnutzOJ</a></p>— Michael Knigge (@kniggem) <a href="https://twitter.com/kniggem/status/1397339793021931520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2032156 Wed, 26 May 2021 11:30:08 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Why people believe what they read, even when it's not true https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/24/2031816/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Why-people-believe-what-they-read-even-when-it-s-not-true <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-struggle-to-define-a-new-governing-coalition-as-trump-closes-grip-on-party/2021/05/23/07bce926-b98a-11eb-96b9-e949d5397de9_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter" target="_blank">WaPo</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>Republicans struggle to define a new governing coalition as Trump closes grip on party</span></strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>A new generation of Trumpist acolytes — such as Missouri attorney Mark McCloskey, who became famous for<span> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/19/missouri-mark-mccloskey-senate-campaign/?itid=lk_inline_manual_14">drawing a gun on Black Lives Matters protesters<span> </span></a>— have announced their intention to run for high office with a set of Trump issues that motivate them. McCloskey has announced plans to run for the Senate.</p> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>The moves pose a threat to the party’s efforts to reclaim moderate, largely college-educated voters whom were turned off by Trump, while muddying the party’s efforts to shift the national focus to the less popular parts of Democratic policies. They also mark a continued repudiation of the orthodoxy that last restored Republicans to power and governed the party for two generations.</p> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>Republican leaders have been alarmed by GOP-leaning voters moving away from the traditional conservative political conversation. Some even showed<span> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/25/biden-100-days-poll/?itid=lk_inline_manual_17">early support for parts of President Biden’s policy agenda</a>, including another round of government checks for Americans, which Trump also supported, and plans for a massive infrastructure spending bill paid for with tax increases.</p> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <div></div> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p><span>When you limit yourself by not seeing power as an end in itself, you write wrongheaded stuff about policy. </span></p> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2031816 Mon, 24 May 2021 11:30:08 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The lies Republicans are telling themselves and us https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/22/2031540/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-lies-Republicans-are-telling-themselves-and-us <p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/05/road-political-violence/618929/" target="_blank">Peter Wehner/</a>Atlantic:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Trump Is Marching Down the Road to Political Violence</strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <p><em>The Republican Party must counteract lies rather than indulge them.</em></p> <p>A<span>t the beginning of</span><span> </span>last week, former President Donald Trump<span> </span><a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/desk/desk-x3nk392q9z/">referred</a><span> </span>to the 2020 election as the “greatest Election Fraud in the history of our Country.” By the end of the week, he had<span> </span><a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/desk/desk-qt8ayyzxe7/">issued a statement</a><span> </span>saying, “As our Country is being destroyed, both inside and out, the Presidential Election of 2020 will go down as THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY!”</p> <p>What else is new? These are the ravings of a 74-year-old sociopath, isolated and banned from social media, living in Mar-a-Lago, where he is<span> </span><a href="https://www.tmz.com/2021/03/28/donald-trump-wedding-speech-mar-a-lago-biden-administration/">crashing wedding parties</a><span> </span>and delivering rambling monologues.</p> <p><span>Or at least, that would be the right way to look at things, if not for the fact that the GOP remains fully in Trump’s thrall, with its leadership more committed than ever to spreading his foundational lies and conspiracy theories. Under Trump’s sway, the Republican Party is becoming more fanatical, venturing even further into a world of illusion.</span></p> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;british tourists visit washington, circa 1812 &lt;a href="https://t.co/yfVLjT6Iel"&gt;pic.twitter.com/yfVLjT6Iel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; gg 🙊🙈🙉 (@gina_goldberg) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/gina_goldberg/status/1394974283126870017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 19, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>british tourists visit washington, circa 1812 <a href="https://t.co/yfVLjT6Iel">pic.twitter.com/yfVLjT6Iel</a></p>— gg 🙊🙈🙉 (@gina_goldberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/gina_goldberg/status/1394974283126870017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2031540 Sat, 22 May 2021 11:30:16 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The two issues are still the pandemic and defending democracy https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/21/2031403/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-two-issues-are-still-the-pandemic-and-defending-democracy <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/20/republicans-offer-vile-new-excuse-opposing-jan-6-commission/" target="_blank">Greg Sargent/</a>WaPo:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>Republicans offer a vile new excuse for opposing a Jan. 6 commission</span></strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <div> <div> <p>With Republicans gearing up to kill a commission to examine the Jan. 6 insurrection, they have offered a barrage of comically weak excuses. They say the commission is “<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/554317-mcconnell-says-he-opposes-slanted-jan-6-commission-bill">slanted</a>,” that its work<span> </span><a href="https://www.axios.com/jan-6-commission-senate-republicans-longshot-2c42d37a-2bbc-4211-b615-d2c90fd0461e.html">will overlap</a><span> </span>with other investigations, that its mission fails to target left-wing “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/18/us/joe-biden-news-today#kevin-mccarthy-capitol-riot-commission">political violence</a>” and that Democrats are<span> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/burgessev/status/1395087735229145092">driven</a><span> </span>only by politics.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Now, with debate beginning in the Senate over the bill creating a commission that<span> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mcconnell-comes-out-against-jan-6-commission-imperiling-its-chances-of-becoming-law/2021/05/19/60de1f52-b8b3-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_4" target="_blank">passed the House late Wednesday</a>, Republicans are offering a vile new excuse. It somehow manages to be both candid and evasive at the same time.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Yet this excuse also reveals how deep flaws in our public discussion of this whole matter — by neutral media and Democrats alike — unwittingly enable GOP spin.</p> <p>The new excuse is that we shouldn’t be wasting our time re-litigating the 2020 election.<span> </span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;If you think 1/6 was largely peaceful, if you think Antifa/BLM dressed up and did it, if you think President Trump did nothing to incite it, then fine, let’s have an independent bipartisan commission and find out.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/prchovanec/status/1395379235418779649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 20, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>If you think 1/6 was largely peaceful, if you think Antifa/BLM dressed up and did it, if you think President Trump did nothing to incite it, then fine, let’s have an independent bipartisan commission and find out.</p>— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) <a href="https://twitter.com/prchovanec/status/1395379235418779649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2031403 Fri, 21 May 2021 11:30:04 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Vaccinations and insurrection https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/19/2031056/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Vaccinations-and-insurrection <p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mccarthy-opposes-bipartisan-commission-investigate-jan-6-capitol-attack-n1267743" target="_blank">NBC News</a>:</p> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>McCarthy opposes bipartisan commission to investigate Jan. 6 Capitol attack</strong></p> <div> <div><em>The House is set to vote on the measure to create the panel Wednesday. McCarthy argued that multiple investigations into the riot already exist.</em></div> <div></div> <div> <p>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that the vote will move forward.</p> <p>"I am very pleased that we have a bipartisan bill to come to the floor," the California Democrat told NBC News, calling it "disappointing but not surprising that the cowardice on the part of some on the Republican side — not to want to find the truth."</p> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <p>Nancy Pelosi called McCarthy’s bluff (he assumed she would not compromise) and now he’s stuck. </p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;So, to review:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;McCarthy bolts from Katko-negotiated Jan. 6 bill. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;House GOP expects upwards of 20 defections when bill gets to the floor.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;McConnell now says he’s undecided and signals he wants to look at it more.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1394720210326802433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 18, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>So, to review:<br><br>McCarthy bolts from Katko-negotiated Jan. 6 bill. <br><br>House GOP expects upwards of 20 defections when bill gets to the floor.<br><br>McConnell now says he’s undecided and signals he wants to look at it more.</p>— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1394720210326802433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2031056 Wed, 19 May 2021 11:30:16 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The consequences of decisions made because of optics https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/17/2030733/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-consequences-of-decisions-made-because-of-optics <p><a href="https://www.mischiefsoffaction.com/post/ousting-liz-cheney" target="_blank">Casey Burgat</a>/Mischiefs of Faction:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span><span>Why Republicans are Ousting Liz Cheney</span></span></strong></p> <p style="text-align:left !important"><span style="text-align:left !important">But, why is this happening now?  …</span></p> <p style="text-align:left !important">The answer to the why now question stems from a big misconception about political leaders in Washington: they only are leaders if they have followers. Leaders hold their jobs so long as a majority of the caucus lets them. If they no longer serve the party’s goals—political, electoral, messaging—they are usually forced out, often with a resignation that says they want to spend more time with their families. One need to look no further back than the forced resignations of former Speakers Boehner and Ryan.</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;The 2020 elections were run w/ integrity, the results certified by the county &amp;amp; state were accurate, &amp;amp; the 2 independent audits conducted by the County are the true final word on the subject. We know auditing. The Senate Cyber Ninja audit is not a real audit. &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/azsenateaudit?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#azsenateaudit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/maricopacounty/status/1393273947513266177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 14, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The 2020 elections were run w/ integrity, the results certified by the county & state were accurate, & the 2 independent audits conducted by the County are the true final word on the subject. We know auditing. The Senate Cyber Ninja audit is not a real audit. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/azsenateaudit?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#azsenateaudit</a></p>— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) <a href="https://twitter.com/maricopacounty/status/1393273947513266177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2030733 Mon, 17 May 2021 11:30:16 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The Jan. 6 insurrection still looms large https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/15/2030490/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-Jan-6-insurrection-still-looms-large <p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/somebody-should-tell-kevin-mccarthy-that-trump-is-still-lying-about-the-2020-election" target="_blank">Susan B. Glasser</a>/New Yorker:</p> <blockquote> <div> <p><strong>Somebody Should Tell Kevin McCarthy That Trump Is Still Lying About the 2020 Election</strong></p> </div> <div style="text-align:inherit"> <div><em>What the House Minority Leader’s role in ousting Liz Cheney tells us about the troubled future of the Republic.</em></div> <div> <p>All of this made McCarthy’s answer to the very first question from reporters truly remarkable. Asked if he accepted the legitimacy of Biden’s win, McCarthy responded, “I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the Presidential election. I think that is all over with.” There was no follow-up to this statement, no instant fact check. No one, as far as I can tell, laughed out loud. The press conference moved on, as press conferences do. McCarthy and his Senate counterpart, Mitch McConnell, talked about Biden’s proposed infrastructure bill and their opposition to tax increases to pay for it—a “non-starter,” McCarthy said. They talked about the threat of inflation, blaming it on the trillions of public dollars that Biden and the Democrats want to pump into the economy. It all sounded like Washington as usual.</p> <p>Except for one thing: what McCarthy said on the White House driveway was not true—not even close to true. In fact, the continued questioning of the legitimacy of Biden’s election by Trump and the Party that embraces him is why getting back to Washington as usual, six full months after the Presidential election that Trump lost to Biden by seven million votes and a decisive Electoral College majority, is nowhere close to happening.</p> </div> </div> </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2030490 Sat, 15 May 2021 11:30:17 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Reaching a pandemic milestone https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/14/2030338/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Reaching-a-pandemic-milestone <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/13/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases#cdc-masks-guidance" target="_blank">NY Times:</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Vaccinated Americans now may go without masks in most places, the C.D.C. said.</strong></p> <p>The advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention comes as welcome news to Americans who have tired of restrictions and marks a watershed moment in the pandemic. Masks ignited controversy in communities across the United States, symbolizing a bitter partisan divide over approaches to the pandemic and a badge of political affiliation.</p> <p>Permission to stop using them now offers an incentive to the many millions who are still holding out on vaccination. As of Wednesday, about 154 million people<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html?name=styln-coronavirus-schools-reopening&region=TOP_BANNER&block=storyline_menu_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&variant=1_Show&is_new=false">have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine</a>, but only about one-third of the nation, some 117.6 million people, have been fully vaccinated.</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;CDC says because I am fully vaccinated I don’t have to wear pants&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Andy Cobb (@AndyCobb) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/AndyCobb/status/1392909881087197185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 13, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>CDC says because I am fully vaccinated I don’t have to wear pants</p>— Andy Cobb (@AndyCobb) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndyCobb/status/1392909881087197185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> <p>Your mileage may vary.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2030338 Fri, 14 May 2021 11:30:10 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The threat to democracy is coming from within the House https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/12/2029933/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-threat-to-democracy-is-coming-from-within-the-House <p><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-11/trump-isn-t-the-biggest-republican-threat?sref=QFk2DceC" target="_blank">Jonathan Bernstein/</a>Bloomberg:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Trump Isn’t the Biggest Republican Threat</strong></p> <div> <p><em>It’s not fear of their defeated nominee that’s turning the GOP into the party of subverting elections.</em></p> <p><span>Third, and most important:<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-04/why-republican-politicians-stick-with-trump?sref=rMMJuv3g" target="_blank">Whatever</a><span><span> </span>the motives, what Republicans are up to is a huge threat to the republic. I’m mostly not talking about making it harder to vote, although that certainly weakens democracy. The real threat is that Trump, joined by many other elected Republicans, attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election result. And that since then, those in the party who stood up for the rule of law have been marginalized. That’s why</span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-04-05/what-will-georgia-s-election-law-really-do?sref=rMMJuv3g" target="_blank"> the Georgia election law is a big deal</a><span>; that’s why purging Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney from the Republican House leadership is a big deal. That’s why the<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-05-10/arizona-election-audit-gop-fraud-fantasies-live-on" target="_blank">joke of an “audit”</a><span> of election counts in Arizona is a big deal. It’s the single most important story in U.S. politics right now.</span></p> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Jan 6 happened. Keep that in mind as the GOP gets rid of Liz Cheney in a leadership role for saying it did. &lt;a href="https://t.co/LO6j7Theex"&gt;https://t.co/LO6j7Theex&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Greg Dworkin (@DemFromCT) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/DemFromCT/status/1392086830040895492?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 11, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Jan 6 happened. Keep that in mind as the GOP gets rid of Liz Cheney in a leadership role for saying it did. <a href="https://t.co/LO6j7Theex">https://t.co/LO6j7Theex</a></p>— Greg Dworkin (@DemFromCT) <a href="https://twitter.com/DemFromCT/status/1392086830040895492?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2029933 Wed, 12 May 2021 11:30:03 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Things are heating up in the GOP https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/10/2029726/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Things-are-heating-up-in-the-GOP <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/mccarthy-formally-endorses-stefanik-for-cheneys-leadership-spot/2021/05/09/fd389eee-b0df-11eb-a980-a60af976ed44_story.html" target="_blank">WaPo</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>McCarthy formally endorses Stefanik for Cheney’s leadership spot</span></strong></p> <p><span>It is the first time that McCarthy has officially endorsed Stefanik as a replacement for Cheney, though<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.axios.com/iz-cheney-kevin-mccarthy-hot-mic-9ac0f8b7-c4ab-4c26-9d1d-1466505ae10b.html">Axios reported</a><span><span> </span>last week that the GOP leader had said he had “had it with her” — meaning Cheney — during an off-air conversation with Fox News’s Steve Doocy that was caught on a live microphone.</span></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/09/hogan-circular-firing-squad-gop-486206" target="_blank">Politico:</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Larry Hogan decries 'circular firing squad' within GOP</strong></p> <p><em>Maryland's governor said the party has had a terrible four years.</em></p> <p>Hogan said he was alarmed that more members of his party haven't spoken out about Trump's role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, saying many members are still afraid to criticize the former president at risk of being attacked from within the party.</p> </blockquote> <p>Stay tuned. We know Liz Cheney has lost this battle but the war is far from over.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2029726 Mon, 10 May 2021 11:30:04 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Vaccinations are slowly building, helping us turn a corner https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/8/2029488/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Vaccinations-are-slowly-building-helping-us-turn-a-corner <p><a href="https://thebulwark.com/anti-vaccine-and-anti-democracy/" target="_blank">Brian Karem</a>/Bulwark:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Anti-Vaccine and Anti-Democracy</strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"><em>Two big national problems rolled into one.</em></div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div style="text-align:start"> <div style="text-align:left"><span> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Anti-Vaccine%20and%20Anti-Democracy&url=https%3A%2F%2Fthebulwark.com%2Fanti-vaccine-and-anti-democracy%2F&via=BulwarkOnline"><span class="sr-only">Share on Twitter</span></a><a href="mailto:?subject=Anti-Vaccine%20and%20Anti-Democracy&body=Check%20it%20out%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fthebulwark.com%2Fanti-vaccine-and-anti-democracy%2F"><span class="sr-only">Share via email</span></a><a href="https://thebulwark.com/anti-vaccine-and-anti-democracy/#"><span class="sr-only">Print</span></a>It appears we face two large crises in the United States. We actually are facing only one.</div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>The first is the public health crisis. As more of us get our coronavirus vaccinations, it is becoming increasingly apparent that tens of millions of people are refusing to get a shot. So although COVID cases will likely drop significantly,<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/health/covid-herd-immunity-vaccine.html">we may not reach the vaccination level necessary for herd immunity</a>—and therefore COVID could dangerously linger in some form for years to come.</p> <p>The second crisis is the anti-democratic movement. We’ve been dealing with this for years, but it reached a dangerous new peak this year. Tens of millions of people believe lies about the 2020 election and continue to support the former president who instigated the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.</p> <p>These are not two separate problems.</p> <p>In each case, public persuasion, using vetted facts, seems to be having very little effect. The public health challenge of the next few months can’t be disentangled from the political problem of the next few years.</p> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Folks, if you&amp;#39;re following Arizona audit coverage, keep in mind: The AZ fight against the 11/3 results has been on blast for six months. Six months. And it is far from over.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/brahmresnik/status/1390775817567805442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 7, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Folks, if you're following Arizona audit coverage, keep in mind: The AZ fight against the 11/3 results has been on blast for six months. Six months. And it is far from over.</p>— Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) <a href="https://twitter.com/brahmresnik/status/1390775817567805442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2029488 Sat, 08 May 2021 11:30:09 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Liz Cheney realizes she's lost the battle but still needs to speak out https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/7/2029326/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Liz-Cheney-realizes-she-s-lost-the-battle-but-still-needs-to-speak-out <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/05/liz-cheney-republican-party-turning-point/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiossneakpeek&stream=top" target="_blank">Liz Cheney</a>/WaPo:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>The GOP is at a turning point. History is watching us.</span></strong></p> <p><span>History is watching. Our children are watching. We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. I am committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be.</span></p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;I don&amp;#39;t think people appreciate that the US is in a little two-year window between being ruled by vicious lying authoritarian morons the last time and being ruled by vicious lying authoritarian morons the next time. Take some big breaths, cause we&amp;#39;re going back under soon.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; David Roberts (@drvolts) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/drvolts/status/1390371224455286784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 6, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>I don't think people appreciate that the US is in a little two-year window between being ruled by vicious lying authoritarian morons the last time and being ruled by vicious lying authoritarian morons the next time. Take some big breaths, cause we're going back under soon.</p>— David Roberts (@drvolts) <a href="https://twitter.com/drvolts/status/1390371224455286784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2029326 Fri, 07 May 2021 11:30:08 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The pandemic is changing its contours https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/5/2028866/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-pandemic-is-changing-its-contours <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/05/03/vaccine-hesitant-americans-change-minds-debeaumont-foundation/" target="_blank">WaPo:</a></p> <blockquote> <p style="text-align:start"><span><strong>The coronavirus vaccine skeptics who changed their minds</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align:start"><em>The White House and public health experts study the Americans who went from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on shots</em></p> <p style="text-align:start">Simmons, Bergner and Greenaway are among the growing number of vaccine skeptics turned vaccinated Americans, a sign of hope amid the<span> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/21/vaccinations-downturn-jj-pause-soft-demand/?itid=lk_inline_manual_9" target="_blank">slowing</a><span> </span>pace of vaccinations nationwide.<strong><span> </span></strong>Almost half of all adults have yet to receive a first shot although they are now eligible, and the rolling rate of new shots has dropped to its lowest level since mid-March.</p> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>The emergence of these mind-changers suggests that at least some vaccine-wary Americans are willing to reconsider when their concerns are addressed by those they regard as credible.</p> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;A lot of this makes sense. A lot of propaganda about “liberal elites” and scare-mongering about scientists appeals to the haunting fear a good chunk of Republicans have that they’re stupid, which causes them to get defensive and say they know better. &lt;a href="https://t.co/inVpucddOd"&gt;https://t.co/inVpucddOd&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/AmandaMarcotte/status/1389535659933765634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 4, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>A lot of this makes sense. A lot of propaganda about “liberal elites” and scare-mongering about scientists appeals to the haunting fear a good chunk of Republicans have that they’re stupid, which causes them to get defensive and say they know better. <a href="https://t.co/inVpucddOd">https://t.co/inVpucddOd</a></p>— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmandaMarcotte/status/1389535659933765634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2028866 Wed, 05 May 2021 11:30:11 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Insurrection lingers in the body politic like a chronic wound https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/3/2028593/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Insurrection-lingers-in-the-body-politic-like-a-chronic-wound <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div> <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/the-politicians-who-tried-to-overturn-an-election--and-the-local-news-team-that-wont-let-anyone-forget-it/2021/05/01/cc8764f6-a91e-11eb-8d25-7b30e74923ea_story.html" target="_blank">Margaret Sullivan</a>/WaPo:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>The politicians who tried to overturn an election — and the local news team that won’t let anyone forget it</span></strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <div> <p>The journalists at<span> </span><a href="https://www.witf.org/">WITF</a>, an all-news public radio station in Harrisburg, Pa., made a perfectly reasonable decision a few months ago.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>They decided they wouldn’t shrug off the damaging lies of election denialism.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>They wouldn’t do what too many in Big Journalism have done in recent months: shove into the memory hole the undemocratic efforts by some Republican elected officials to delegitimize or overturn the 2020 presidential election.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <div> <p>Too many Sunday news shows repeatedly book the likes of Kevin McCarthy, Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson without reminding viewers how these members of Congress tried to undo the results of the election — and encouraged the Trumpian lies about election fraud that led to the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol less than four months ago. A rare exception is CNN’s “State of the Union,” which hasn’t booked a single member of the so-called<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/07/us/elections/electoral-college-biden-objectors.html">Sedition Caucus</a><span> </span>since January.</p> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2028593 Mon, 03 May 2021 11:30:05 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: More of the Biden address aftermath https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/5/1/2028387/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-More-of-the-Biden-address-aftermath <p><a href="https://www.thesgnl.com/2021/04/biden-popularity-david-hopkins/" target="_blank" title="">Graham Vyse interviewing David A Hopkins</a>/The Signal:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Right Place, Right Time</strong></p> <p><em><span>What makes sense of Joe Biden's popularity? David A. Hopkins on the challenge of holding majority support in a divided country.</span></em></p> <p><strong>David A. Hopkins</strong><span>, a professor of political science at Boston College, says Biden may be hitting the upper limit of what his popularity could be, given today’s climate of political polarization. “The default is that half the country likes you and half the country hates you,” Hopkins says. Biden’s current levels may also be temporary, Hopkins says, since presidents tend to enjoy a “honeymoon” of public approval in their first few months, after which their support tends to diminish. But Hopkin notes that Biden is “making some conscious choices to try to keep away from controversy and avoid alienating Americans unnecessarily, proposing policies he thinks will get broad support.” He isn’t foregrounding an issue like healthcare reform, which inevitably divides the country, and he’s ramped up COVID vaccinations and signed<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.thesgnl.com/2021/03/relief-legislation-dean-baker/">$1.9 trillion</a><span><span> </span>in pandemic relief and economic stimulus at an unusual moment when Americans support government action to address a national crisis. As that crisis wanes, Hopkins says, Biden’s longer-term popularity will depend, as U.S. presidential popularity has historically depended, on optimism about the country and its economy being headed in the right direction.</span></p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;If you prefer Spanish text to 822862 (vacuna) and you will get a reply in Spanish!&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/WHCOS/status/1388290019002044416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 1, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>If you prefer Spanish text to 822862 (vacuna) and you will get a reply in Spanish!</p>— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) <a href="https://twitter.com/WHCOS/status/1388290019002044416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <p>It works! We are moving from mass vaccination to boutique arrangement.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2028387 Sat, 01 May 2021 11:30:08 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Biden's speech makes waves https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/30/2028148/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Biden-s-speech-makes-waves <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <p><a href="https://thebulwark.com/enemies-foreign-and-domestic/" target="_blank">Carrie Cordero</a>/Bulwark:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Enemies Foreign and Domestic</strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"><em>Democracy preservation should be at the top of the list of national security priorities Is it?</em></div> <div style="text-align:start"><span style="text-align:start">Preserving U.S. democracy has always been a core national security interest; it just didn’t necessarily need to be said out loud until the country entered 2021 facing the upending of American lives, families and democracy itself in the wake of the Trump presidency, its handling of the pandemic, and then the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Efforts by political actors to cast doubt on the outcome of the November 2020 presidential election, willingness to exploit American’s fears about their liberty by flouting science and public health guidance to protect against the spread of the pandemic, and renewed efforts to make it harder for underrepresented communities to vote, are the most recent examples of the toxic brew of nationalism and truth abandonment threatening the United States’s ability to thrive</span></div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Important context when you see people throwing 10-year budget numbers around:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;The federal government is projected to spend *$61 trillion* on autopilot over that time frame. GDP for the next decade is projected to be $279 trillion, per CBO.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/1387379671529103360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 28, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Important context when you see people throwing 10-year budget numbers around:<br><br>The federal government is projected to spend *$61 trillion* on autopilot over that time frame. GDP for the next decade is projected to be $279 trillion, per CBO.</p>— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) <a href="https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/1387379671529103360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2028148 Fri, 30 Apr 2021 11:30:05 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The first 100 days look pretty good, but the global pandemic rages on https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/26/2027534/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-first-100-days-look-pretty-good-but-the-global-pandemic-rages-on <p><a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-04-25/in-first-100-days-biden-combines-progressive-goals-reassuring-manner" target="_blank">David Lauter</a>/LA Times:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>In his first 100 days, ‘Uncle Joe’ Biden combines progressive goals and a reassuring manner</strong></p> <p>As his presidency nears its 100th day, the blank spots are filling in. The resulting image is one most observers did not expect based on Biden’s largely centrist, four-decade record.</p> <p>“A couple of months before the election ... did I think he would be a transformational president? I would have laughed at that idea,” said Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher.</p> <p>“I would have been mistaken.”</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;“I don&amp;#39;t have to think about what Joe Biden is doing every day,” said a North Carolina man who voted for Biden. “The best thing about Joe Biden is I don&amp;#39;t have to think about Joe Biden.” &lt;a href="https://t.co/NWtezHRMj1"&gt;https://t.co/NWtezHRMj1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Monica Alba (@albamonica) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/albamonica/status/1386305561067593735?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 25, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>“I don't have to think about what Joe Biden is doing every day,” said a North Carolina man who voted for Biden. “The best thing about Joe Biden is I don't have to think about Joe Biden.” <a href="https://t.co/NWtezHRMj1">https://t.co/NWtezHRMj1</a></p>— Monica Alba (@albamonica) <a href="https://twitter.com/albamonica/status/1386305561067593735?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2027534 Mon, 26 Apr 2021 11:30:15 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The price of the Big Lie is growing https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/24/2027386/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-price-of-the-Big-Lie-is-growing <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/opinion/trump-gop.html?smid=tw-share" target="_blank">David Brooks</a>/NY Times:</p> <blockquote> <div style="text-align:start"> <p><strong>The G.O.P. Is Getting Even Worse</strong></p> </div> <p><em>Trumpians are having a venomous panic attack.</em></p> <p>It’s as if the Trump base felt some security when their man was at the top, and that’s now gone. Maybe Trump was the restraining force.</p> <p>What’s happening can only be called a venomous panic attack. Since the election, large swaths of the Trumpian right have decided America is facing a crisis like never before and they are the small army of warriors fighting with Alamo-level desperation to ensure the survival of the country as they conceive it.</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;If David Brooks is scared of the GOP, respectable white people are, too. That, my friend, is a good place for a republican democracy to be. THREAD. &lt;a href="https://t.co/LXfMEtWwl3"&gt;https://t.co/LXfMEtWwl3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; John Stoehr&amp;#39;s Editorial Board (@johnastoehr) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/johnastoehr/status/1385661848758849544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 23, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>If David Brooks is scared of the GOP, respectable white people are, too. That, my friend, is a good place for a republican democracy to be. THREAD. <a href="https://t.co/LXfMEtWwl3">https://t.co/LXfMEtWwl3</a></p>— John Stoehr's Editorial Board (@johnastoehr) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnastoehr/status/1385661848758849544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2027386 Sat, 24 Apr 2021 11:30:11 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Vaccine hesitancy and how to reach the subgroups most hesitant https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/23/2027225/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Vaccine-hesitancy-and-how-to-reach-the-subgroups-most-hesitant <p><a href="https://www.prri.org/research/prri-ifyc-covid-vaccine-religion-report/" target="_blank">PRRI</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>Religious Identities and the Race Against the Virus: Engaging Faith Communities on COVID-19 Vaccination</span></strong></p> <p><em>Faith-based approaches are influential among vaccine hesitant communities</em><strong>.</strong><span> </span>More than one in four (26%) Americans who are hesitant to get a COVID-19 vaccine, and even 8% of those who are resistant to getting a vaccine, report that at least one of six faith-based approaches supporting vaccinations would make them more likely to get vaccinated...</p> <p><span>These faith-based approaches include: A religious leader encouraging vaccine acceptance, a religious leader getting a vaccine, religious communities holding information forums, learning that a fellow religious community member received a vaccine, a nearby religious congregation serving as a vaccination site, and religious communities providing vaccine appointment assistance.</span></p> <ul> </ul> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;The Senate just unanimously confirmed Deanne Criswell to be FEMA Administrator.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;She&amp;#39;s led NYC’s emergency management office for years and will be instrumental in helping this country respond to COVID and tackle the climate crisis.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;And she&amp;#39;s the first woman to lead the agency!&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1385380387145371652?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 22, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The Senate just unanimously confirmed Deanne Criswell to be FEMA Administrator.<br><br>She's led NYC’s emergency management office for years and will be instrumental in helping this country respond to COVID and tackle the climate crisis.<br><br>And she's the first woman to lead the agency!</p>— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1385380387145371652?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2027225 Fri, 23 Apr 2021 11:30:30 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Farewell to Fritz Mondale, who told the truth in ways today's pols won't https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/21/2026738/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Farewell-to-Fritz-Mondale-who-told-the-truth-in-ways-today-s-pols-won-t <p>It’s too early for the best punditry to weigh in on Derek Chauvin’s guilty findings, but if we can’t have justice, we at least have some accountability.</p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="und" dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;a href="https://t.co/HtppM5EfD4"&gt;pic.twitter.com/HtppM5EfD4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; mike luckovich (@mluckovichajc) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/mluckovichajc/status/1384619457939705856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 20, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://t.co/HtppM5EfD4">pic.twitter.com/HtppM5EfD4</a></p>— mike luckovich (@mluckovichajc) <a href="https://twitter.com/mluckovichajc/status/1384619457939705856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2026738 Wed, 21 Apr 2021 11:30:04 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: More J&J fallout; the White Supremacist caucus (dis)organizes itself https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/19/2026454/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-More-J-amp-J-fallout-the-White-Supremacist-caucus-dis-organizes-itself <p><a href="https://politi.co/2RxFr2j" target="_blank">Politico Playbook:</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Fury over 'Anglo-Saxon' caucus</strong></p> <p><strong>A CONGRESSIONAL WHITE CAUCUS?:<span> </span></strong><span>Reports that Reps.<span> </span></span><strong>MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE<span> </span></strong><span>(R-Ga.) and<span> </span></span><strong>PAUL GOSAR<span> </span></strong><span>(R-Ariz.) are planning to launch a House caucus based on “uniquely Anglo-Saxon” (read: “white people”) traditions has GOP leaders and Democrats protesting the embrace of blatant racism by some in the chamber. All eyes are on House Republican Leader<span> </span></span><strong>KEVIN MCCARTHY,</strong><span><span> </span>who last night tweeted his disapproval of the proposed new group — but who will no doubt be called on to do more to stop it entirely.<span> </span></span><strong><em>More on this below, including why this situation might be more complicated for McCarthy than it appears. ...</em></strong></p> <p><strong>One problem for McCarthy:</strong><span><span> </span>MTG has already been stripped of her committee assignments for controversial remarks in her past. So she has nothing to lose in bucking him.</span></p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;If only someone in a position of power could have put a Senate-passed immigration reform bill on the House floor &lt;a href="https://t.co/nS2f1iif9t"&gt;https://t.co/nS2f1iif9t&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Bill Scher (@billscher) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/billscher/status/1383782633818128384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 18, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>If only someone in a position of power could have put a Senate-passed immigration reform bill on the House floor <a href="https://t.co/nS2f1iif9t">https://t.co/nS2f1iif9t</a></p>— Bill Scher (@billscher) <a href="https://twitter.com/billscher/status/1383782633818128384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2026454 Mon, 19 Apr 2021 11:30:15 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Coronavirus cases rise as vaccination accelerates https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/17/2026288/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Coronavirus-cases-rise-as-vaccination-accelerates <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/opinion/fdr-new-deal.html" target="_blank">Jamelle Bouie</a>/NY Times:</p> <blockquote> <div style="text-align:start"> <p><strong>F.D.R. Didn’t Just Fix the Economy</strong></p> </div> <p><em>He saved democracy itself.</em></p> <p>The New Deal was more than a recovery program for the economy. It was, as the historian Eric Rauchway argues in his new book, “Why the New Deal Matters,” a recovery program for American democracy.</p> <p>“I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people,” Franklin Roosevelt<span> </span><a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-accepting-the-presidential-nomination-the-democratic-national-convention-chicago-1" target="_blank">declared</a><span> </span>at the 1932 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.</p> <p>Roosevelt had broken tradition to accept his party’s nomination and deliver a speech in person. And in that speech, he promised a program based on the “simple moral principle” that the “welfare and the soundness of a nation depend first upon what the great mass of the people wish and need” and second on “whether or not they are getting it.”</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Some big intra-Democratic-party debates about health policy priorities for the year seem to be underway. A thread on why filling the Medicaid coverage gap should top the list—and come ahead of expansions of Medicare.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Matt Fiedler (@MattAFiedler) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/MattAFiedler/status/1382711259704000512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 15, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Some big intra-Democratic-party debates about health policy priorities for the year seem to be underway. A thread on why filling the Medicaid coverage gap should top the list—and come ahead of expansions of Medicare.</p>— Matt Fiedler (@MattAFiedler) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattAFiedler/status/1382711259704000512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2026288 Sat, 17 Apr 2021 11:30:12 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Vaccine fallout and withdrawal effects https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/16/2026066/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Vaccine-fallout-and-withdrawal-effects <p><a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2021/04/17/why-americas-white-evangelicals-shy-away-from-covid-jabs" target="_blank">Economist:</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>Why America’s white evangelicals shy away from covid jabs</span></strong></p> <p><em>And what can be done to change their minds</em></p> <p>Why the stubborn hesitancy? One reason may be that evangelicals overwhelmingly denounce abortion, and some are concerned about the jab’s connection with the practice. The vaccines currently distributed in America were developed and tested using cell lines from aborted fetal tissue. This has not stopped the Vatican from endorsing their use. But some evangelicals may believe the (false) idea that the vaccines use recently aborted fetuses or require continual abortions.</p> <p>Another concern relates to the Bible. According to some interpretations, the Book of Revelation describes the end of days: a beast will force his mark on people. Some worry that the vaccine is this mark.</p> <p>Evangelicals are more likely than non-evangelicals to worry about side effects from covid-19 and childhood vaccines, according to the Understanding America Study, a survey from the University of Southern California. They are also more likely to believe, wrongly, that covid-19 vaccines are not effective in preventing infection. And evangelicals tend to rely on media sources that feed their fears.</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;OK, this is good news at least. Perceptions of Moderna and Pfizer don&amp;#39;t seem to have been affected much. &lt;a href="https://t.co/Sg49MsgeL6"&gt;https://t.co/Sg49MsgeL6&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1382709442278481927?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 15, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>OK, this is good news at least. Perceptions of Moderna and Pfizer don't seem to have been affected much. <a href="https://t.co/Sg49MsgeL6">https://t.co/Sg49MsgeL6</a></p>— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) <a href="https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1382709442278481927?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2026066 Fri, 16 Apr 2021 11:30:14 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Confused about the J&J vaccine pause? Here are some expert opinions https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/14/2025719/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Confused-about-the-J-amp-J-vaccine-pause-Here-are-some-expert-opinions <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/13/what-to-know-jj-vaccine-blood-clots-cvst/" target="_blank">WaPo:</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>What you should do if you’ve received the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine</span></strong></p> <p><em>Problems are so far very rare, but there are symptoms to watch for and questions to ask if you’re worried</em></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <p>So what should you look for if you are one of the 6.8 million people who have received Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine, or are scheduled to receive it soon?</p> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <p>First, health officials said the women’s symptoms appeared to begin between six and 13 days after vaccination, with a median of nine days. That’s important because the vaccine<span> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/03/29/vaccine-appointment-what-to-know/?itid=lk_inline_manual_9" target="_blank">commonly causes</a><span> </span>some flu-like symptoms — including headache, body aches and fatigue — within 24 to 36 hours. Those common symptoms do not appear to signal a clotting issue.</p> </div> </blockquote> <div> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> </div> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Here’s what you need to know about the Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson vaccine pause: &lt;a href="https://t.co/hsegQLUztG"&gt;pic.twitter.com/hsegQLUztG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1382116035751464960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 13, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Here’s what you need to know about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause: <a href="https://t.co/hsegQLUztG">pic.twitter.com/hsegQLUztG</a></p>— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1382116035751464960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 13, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2025719 Wed, 14 Apr 2021 11:30:15 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The business of America is protecting business https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/12/2025415/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-business-of-America-is-protecting-business <p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-legislature-voting-elections-bebf2e47ba46a28d4905906265e54fe7?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP" target="_blank">AP:</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Business faces tricky path navigating post-Trump politics</strong></p> <p style="text-align:start">For more than a half-century, the voice emerging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s monolithic, Beaux Arts-styled building near the White House was predictable: It was the embodiment of American business and, more specifically, a shared set of interests with the Republican Party.</p> <p style="text-align:start">The party’s bond with corporate America, however, is fraying.</p> <p style="text-align:start">Fissures have burst open over the GOP’s embrace of conspiracy theories and rejection of mainstream climate science, as well as its dismissal of the 2020 election outcome. The most recent flashpoint was in Georgia, where a new Republican-backed law restricting voting rights<span> </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/mlb-legislature-boycotts-voting-rights-elections-adaa1758fb58df19a12cd05c453840b0">drew harsh criticism</a><span> </span>from Delta Air Lines and Coca Cola, whose headquarters are in the state, and resulted in Major League Baseball pulling the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta.</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;CONFIRMED: First-of-its-kind call between more than 100 top corporate leaders on Saturday focused on how to respond to proposed changes in state voting laws. Participants included top leaders of airlines, media, law, investment.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Ed O&amp;#39;Keefe (@edokeefe) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/edokeefe/status/1381362593017819141?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 11, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>CONFIRMED: First-of-its-kind call between more than 100 top corporate leaders on Saturday focused on how to respond to proposed changes in state voting laws. Participants included top leaders of airlines, media, law, investment.</p>— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) <a href="https://twitter.com/edokeefe/status/1381362593017819141?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2025415 Mon, 12 Apr 2021 11:30:09 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Fox News and Tucker Carlson's push on white supremacy gets more scrutiny https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/10/2025173/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Fox-News-and-Tucker-Carlson-s-push-on-white-supremacy-gets-more-scrutiny <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/us/politics/trump-republicans-issues.html?smid=tw-share" target="_blank">NY Times:</a></p> <blockquote> <div style="text-align:start"> <p><strong>How a Defeated Trump Is Making a Muddle of the G.O.P.</strong></p> </div> <p><em>The former president’s instincts for red-meat political fights over governing and policymaking have left party leaders in a state of confusion over what they stand for.</em></p> <p>As G.O.P. leaders and donors gather for a party retreat in Palm Beach this weekend, with a side trip to Mar-a-Lago for a reception with Mr. Trump on Saturday night, the former president’s pervasive influence in Republican circles has revealed a party thoroughly animated by a defeated incumbent — a bizarre turn of events in American politics.</p> <p>Barred from Twitter, quietly disdained by many Republican officials and reduced to receiving supplicants in his tropical exile in Florida, Mr. Trump has found ways to exert an almost gravitational hold on a leaderless party just three months after the assault on the Capitol that his critics hoped would marginalize the man and taint his legacy.</p> </blockquote> <p>They aren’t confused. They are white supremacists with a cable network backing them. </p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Tucker Carlson is the only powerful figure who consistently challenges elite dogma—on both cultural and economic questions. That is why they try to destroy him. Don’t fall for it this time, or any other.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance1/status/1380611143656484870?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 9, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Tucker Carlson is the only powerful figure who consistently challenges elite dogma—on both cultural and economic questions. That is why they try to destroy him. Don’t fall for it this time, or any other.</p>— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance1/status/1380611143656484870?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2025173 Sat, 10 Apr 2021 11:30:04 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Every day, things get worse for Matt Gaetz https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/9/2025039/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Every-day-things-get-worse-for-Matt-Gaetz <p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/gaetz-paid-accused-sex-trafficker-who-then-venmod-teen" target="_blank">Daily Beast</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Gaetz Paid Accused Sex Trafficker, Who Then Venmo’d Teen</strong></p> <p>In two late-night Venmo transactions in May 2018, Rep. Matt Gaetz sent his friend, the accused sex trafficker<span> </span><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-creepy-disturbing-case-that-ensnared-matt-gaetz">Joel Greenberg</a>, $900. The next morning, over the course of eight minutes, Greenberg used the same app to send three young women varying sums of money. In total, the transactions amounted to $900.</p> <p>The memo field for the first of<span> </span><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-strange-friendship-that-may-bring-down-matt-gaetz">Gaetz’s transactions to Greenberg</a><span> </span>was titled “Test.” In the second, the Florida GOP congressman wrote “hit up ___.” But instead of a blank, Gaetz wrote a nickname for one of the recipients. (The Daily Beast is not sharing that nickname because the teenager had only turned 18 less than six months before.) When Greenberg then made his Venmo payments to these three young women, he described the money as being for “Tuition,” “School,” and “School.”</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;BREAKING Politico: The legal peril Matt Gaetz is facing appeared to increase sharply after a court hearing indicated that former Seminole County, FL tax collector Joel Greenberg is likely cooperating with federal prosecutors. &lt;a href="https://t.co/s0q9qaWVKu"&gt;https://t.co/s0q9qaWVKu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1380210097045966848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 8, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>BREAKING Politico: The legal peril Matt Gaetz is facing appeared to increase sharply after a court hearing indicated that former Seminole County, FL tax collector Joel Greenberg is likely cooperating with federal prosecutors. <a href="https://t.co/s0q9qaWVKu">https://t.co/s0q9qaWVKu</a></p>— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) <a href="https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1380210097045966848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2025039 Fri, 09 Apr 2021 11:30:16 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The pandemic, past and present, is driving the news https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/7/2024724/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-pandemic-past-and-present-is-driving-the-news <p><a href="https://thebulwark.com/we-need-a-9-11-commission-for-covid/" target="_blank">A.B. Stoddard/</a>The Bulwark:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>We Need a 9/11 Commission for COVID</strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"><em>Deborah Birx’s attempt to whitewash her actions shows why we need a full accounting of what the Trump administration did.</em></div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div style="text-align:start"> <div style="text-align:left"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthebulwark.com%2Fwe-need-a-9-11-commission-for-covid%2F"><span class="sr-only">Share on Facebook</span></a><a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=We%20Need%20a%209%2F11%20Commission%20for%20COVID&url=https%3A%2F%2Fthebulwark.com%2Fwe-need-a-9-11-commission-for-covid%2F&via=BulwarkOnline"><span class="sr-only">Share on Twitte</span></a><a href="mailto:?subject=We%20Need%20a%209%2F11%20Commission%20for%20COVID&body=Check%20it%20out%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fthebulwark.com%2Fwe-need-a-9-11-commission-for-covid%2F"><span class="sr-only">Share via email</span></a><a href="https://thebulwark.com/we-need-a-9-11-commission-for-covid/#"><span class="sr-only">Print</span></a></div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>Dr. Deborah Birx’s attempts to rehabilitate her reputation haven’t told us anything we didn’t already know. In her CNN documentary interview, Birx went full shock-and-awe by saying, essentially, that something like 80 percent of our COVID fatalities could have been prevented.</p> <p>But everyone in America who was paying attention understood—by the middle of the spring of 2020, at the latest—that then-President Trump was pursuing a policy of acceptable mass death. This was a policy choice, cloaked in lies and denial, that was designed in a misbegotten effort to protect the economy for the sole purpose of helping Trump’s re-election prospects.</p> <p>Hundreds of thousands of Americans died—needlessly—as a result.</p> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;kind of seems like republicans are going to whip themselves into a frenzy about the “wokes” while democrats pass another multi-trillion dollar spending bill&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/jbouie/status/1379493695448346625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 6, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>kind of seems like republicans are going to whip themselves into a frenzy about the “wokes” while democrats pass another multi-trillion dollar spending bill</p>— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) <a href="https://twitter.com/jbouie/status/1379493695448346625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2024724 Wed, 07 Apr 2021 11:30:12 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Between Brian Kemp and Matt Gaetz, meet the modern Republican party https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/5/2024363/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Between-Brian-Kemp-and-Matt-Gaetz-meet-the-modern-Republican-party <p><a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/04/georgia-republicans-working-hard-to-sabotage-a-2022-comeback.html" target="_blank">Ed Kilgore/</a>New York:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Georgia Republicans Working Hard to Sabotage a 2022 Comeback</strong></p> <p>All this obnoxious activity was obviously the product of Trump’s election-fraud claims, since there were no documented cases of problems with Georgia’s 2020 elections other than the aforementioned long lines. So the Georgia GOP was very conspicuously exposing itself as doing bad things in a bad cause.</p> <p>Eventually, legislators took out some of the most offensive pieces of the final election bill, but they had so mishandled it all that nobody noticed or cared. As Kemp went on-camera to spin the legislation he was about to sign as a triumph for voting rights and election security, a Black legislator tapped on his door to see what he was doing and was promptly wrestled out of the Georgia State Capitol by white state troopers and charged with two<span> </span><em>felonies:</em></p> </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2024363 Mon, 05 Apr 2021 11:30:05 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Baseball takes a stand https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/3/2024177/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Baseball-takes-a-stand <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div> <p><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/02/mlb-all-star-game-georgia-478960" target="_blank">Politico:</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>MLB moves All-Star Game from Georgia over new voting law</strong></p> <p><em>"Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred wrote.</em></p> <p>Major League Baseball is moving its All-Star Game out of Atlanta after Georgia enacted new voting restrictions last week, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced in a statement Friday.</p> <p>"Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” Manfred wrote in the statement. “Over the last week, we have engaged in thoughtful conversations with Clubs, former and current players, the Players Association, and The Players Alliance, among others, to listen to their views. I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft.”</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> </div> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Major League Baseball will relocate from Atlanta GA to another host city this season’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft &amp;quot;to demonstrate our values as a sport&amp;quot; bc MLB &amp;quot;fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,&amp;quot; Commish says&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1378063224629821445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 2, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Major League Baseball will relocate from Atlanta GA to another host city this season’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft "to demonstrate our values as a sport" bc MLB "fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box," Commish says</p>— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) <a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1378063224629821445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2024177 Sat, 03 Apr 2021 11:30:02 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Biden is making government work for you again https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/4/2/2023985/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Biden-is-making-government-work-for-you-again <p><a href="https://stoehr.substack.com/p/joe-biden-will-never-look-like-a" target="_blank">John Stoehr/</a>Editorial board:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Joe Biden will never look like a radical</strong></p> <p><em>We are seeing the revival of economics as statecraft.</em></p> <p>Last week, after the president said, “I want to change the paradigm,” Rick Perlstein, a historian of the political right, told the<span> </span><em>Times</em>: “The story is him turning his back on the ideological direction that he helped lead the Democratic Party into.” Oh God, is Ted Cruz right?</p> <p>Hardly. The president is, more than anything else, a pragmatist. He’s someone whose commitment to political ideology is limited by, or even defined by, its utility. This has not always been a good thing. During the great white backlash against Black political power in the 1970s, it was practical to oppose the racial integration of public schools. And so Biden did. But being a pragmatist is now a good thing. The old<span> </span><em>conservative</em><span> </span>assumptions, the ones he embraced as a frugal Senate Democrat, are no longer working. Maintaining them makes things worse. That he’s cooperating with actual democratic socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t mean he’s a radical under the guise of being a bore. It just means they’re offering options.</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;After I got the shot, I left Javits Center in such a good mood. I realize now I had some sort of contact high from experiencing something communal and in public that worked, and did exactly what they said it was going to do. Haven&amp;#39;t seen anything like that in years, literally.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1377723681263255554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;April 1, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>After I got the shot, I left Javits Center in such a good mood. I realize now I had some sort of contact high from experiencing something communal and in public that worked, and did exactly what they said it was going to do. Haven't seen anything like that in years, literally.</p>— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) <a href="https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1377723681263255554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2023985 Fri, 02 Apr 2021 11:30:12 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Voting rights take center stage along with pandemic reckoning https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/3/31/2023654/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Voting-rights-take-center-stage-along-with-pandemic-reckoning <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gop-is-facing-a-sickness-deeper-than-the-coronavirus/2021/03/29/6addd488-90cd-11eb-9668-89be11273c09_story.html" target="_blank">Michael Gerson/</a>WaPo:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>The GOP is facing a sickness deeper than the coronavirus</span></strong></p> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>It is the sign of a sickness deeper than covid-19 that the defiance of public health guidance has become a political selling point in the Republican Party.</p> </div> <div> <p>Consider the case of South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem. Speaking last month to the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference, she stirred some presidential buzz for her proud resistance to basic virus control measures even at the height of the pandemic. “Now let me be clear, covid didn’t crush the economy, government crushed the economy,” Noem<span> </span><a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/kristi-noem-cpac-2021-speech-transcript">told the conference</a>. “South Dakota is the only state in America that never ordered a single business or church to close. We never instituted a shelter in place order. We never mandated that people wear masks.”</p> </div> </div> <div style="text-align:start"> <div> <p>Noem continued: “We have to show people how arbitrary these restrictions are, and the coercion, the force and the anti-liberty steps that government takes to enforce them.”</p> </div> </div> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Okay, Wicker, Cawthorn, Salazar (even tho it wasn&amp;#39;t tied to the ARP), what other GOPs have gotten caught trying to bogart credit for Biden&amp;#39;s relief policies they opposed? &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stolenreliefvalor?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#stolenreliefvalor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1377006498405027848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;March 30, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Okay, Wicker, Cawthorn, Salazar (even tho it wasn't tied to the ARP), what other GOPs have gotten caught trying to bogart credit for Biden's relief policies they opposed? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stolenreliefvalor?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#stolenreliefvalor</a></p>— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) <a href="https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1377006498405027848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2023654 Wed, 31 Mar 2021 11:30:17 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Both the election and the pandemic go on and on and on... https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/3/29/2023357/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Both-the-election-and-the-pandemic-go-on-and-on-and-on <p><a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/03/rita-hart-accused-of-trying-to-oust-mariannette-miller-meeks.html" target="_blank">Ben Jacobs</a>/New York:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Now a Democrat Is Accused of Trying to Overturn the Election</strong></p> <p>But this isn’t just a legal debate about election processes, it’s also a political one that even some Democrats appear uncomfortable with, and it’s one that Democrats are losing in the court of public opinion. Dean Philips, a two-term representative from Minnesota, tweeted on Monday, “Losing a House election by six votes is painful for Democrats. But overturning it in the House would be even more painful for America. Just because a majority can, does not mean a majority should.”</p> <p>For Republicans, it is a gift that keeps giving. It is an issue that energizes base voters, is perfect fodder for Fox News segments and<span> </span><em>Wall Street Journal</em><span> </span>editorials, without alienating any swing voters and helps memory-hole the ugly aftermath of the 2020 election. For Democrats, with a slim House majority, every seat in Congress is valuable — even if it’s one like Iowa’s Second, due to come under the knife in redistricting. The question is whether it is worth giving up the moral high ground that Trump handed them.</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Important thread. This is why what happened in Georgia is so important. The lesson many Repubs seem to have taken from 2020 was not, “don’t try to overturn the election results,” but, “let’s make sure the system is set up so we can actually execute the overturning next time.” &lt;a href="https://t.co/eNtbu7gW9m"&gt;https://t.co/eNtbu7gW9m&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Perry Bacon Jr. (@perrybaconjr) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/perrybaconjr/status/1376198231399469070?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;March 28, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Important thread. This is why what happened in Georgia is so important. The lesson many Repubs seem to have taken from 2020 was not, “don’t try to overturn the election results,” but, “let’s make sure the system is set up so we can actually execute the overturning next time.” <a href="https://t.co/eNtbu7gW9m">https://t.co/eNtbu7gW9m</a></p>— Perry Bacon Jr. (@perrybaconjr) <a href="https://twitter.com/perrybaconjr/status/1376198231399469070?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2023357 Mon, 29 Mar 2021 11:30:15 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: we still have a pandemic to deal with, even if DC reporters are bored https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/3/27/2022933/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-we-still-have-a-pandemic-to-deal-with-even-if-DC-reporters-are-bored <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2021/03/25/biden-pandemic-questions/" target="_blank"> Elahe Izadi and Paul Farhi/</a>WaPo:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><span>Not a single reporter at Biden’s first presidential news conference asked about the pandemic</span></strong></p> <p><span>Instead, Biden was asked at least 10 times about</span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-border-surge/2021/03/20/21824e94-8818-11eb-8a8b-5cf82c3dffe4_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_5" target="_blank"><span> </span>the surge of migrants</a><span><span> </span>at the U.S.-Mexico border, which has lately dominated news coverage, and been portrayed as a major crisis for his administration. (Some immigration experts<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/23/theres-no-migrant-surge-us-southern-border-heres-data/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5" target="_blank">say the migration numbers match a seasonal pattern</a><span><span> </span>and the coverage is overblown.)</span></p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Yesterday&amp;#39;s &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PresidentBiden?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#PresidentBiden&lt;/a&gt; press conference had very few questions on economy, so here is a synopsis on the &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BuildBackBetter?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#BuildBackBetter&lt;/a&gt; plan with a focus on &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Infrastructure?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#Infrastructure&lt;/a&gt; and possible &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TaxReform?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#TaxReform&lt;/a&gt; as a way to pay for it&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Robert Wolf (@robertwolf32) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/robertwolf32/status/1375419619649982471?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;March 26, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Yesterday's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PresidentBiden?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PresidentBiden</a> press conference had very few questions on economy, so here is a synopsis on the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BuildBackBetter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BuildBackBetter</a> plan with a focus on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Infrastructure?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Infrastructure</a> and possible <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TaxReform?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TaxReform</a> as a way to pay for it</p>— Robert Wolf (@robertwolf32) <a href="https://twitter.com/robertwolf32/status/1375419619649982471?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2022933 Sat, 27 Mar 2021 11:30:17 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The press conference showcased a competent and confident president https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/3/26/2022897/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-press-conference-showcased-a-competent-and-confident-president <p><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/03/25/biden-press-conference-filibuster-2024-immigration-crisis-column/7001145002/" target="_blank">Jill Lawrence and David Mastio/</a>USA Today:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Joe Biden's first press conference answers at least one question</strong></p> <p><span>It struck me as brilliant, intentional or not, for Biden to stop in mid-answer to an immigration question and say, “I don’t know how much detail you want about immigration.” Message: He's paying attention and knows the fine points. Same when he started an answer by calling something an "important point to understand" then immediately added, "I know you understand it, I don't mean to say it that way, an important point to focus on." He was talking to Yamiche Alcindor, the Black PBS reporter who got<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/03/30/trump_vs_pbss_yamiche_alcindor_you_should_be_saying_congratulations_instead_of_snarky_comments.html" target="_blank">so much grief from Donald Trump</a><span>. I took his rephrasing as an on-the-fly realization that he sounded patronizing, and didn’t mean to. </span></p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Best moment of &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@POTUS&lt;/a&gt; presser: Biden calls the GOP efforts in states across the nation to pass voter suppression bills &amp;quot;sick&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;despicable.&amp;quot;&lt;a href="https://t.co/22B75Qerea"&gt;pic.twitter.com/22B75Qerea&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; David Corn (@DavidCornDC) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/DavidCornDC/status/1375153744606851074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;March 25, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Best moment of <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> presser: Biden calls the GOP efforts in states across the nation to pass voter suppression bills "sick" and "despicable."<a href="https://t.co/22B75Qerea">pic.twitter.com/22B75Qerea</a></p>— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidCornDC/status/1375153744606851074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2022897 Fri, 26 Mar 2021 11:30:07 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The high cost of doing nothing on guns https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/3/24/2022500/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-The-high-cost-of-doing-nothing-on-guns <p><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/03/23/covid-boulder-shooting-atlanta-normal-not-good-enough-column/6964824002/" target="_blank">Matthew Dowd</a>/USA Today:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>After Boulder shooting, Atlanta and COVID-19, getting back to 'normal' isn't good enough</strong></p> <p><em>Republicans are focusing on the myth of voter fraud and ignoring the truth of gun violence. Let's not return to that normal. Let's make America better.</em></p> <p>The tragic loss of life in the shootings in the Atlanta area and in Boulder, Colorado, is a reminder of how the “normal” isn’t something any of us should want. These shootings had become all too common before the pandemic and are once again reminding us of the lack of leadership that had and has become the norm in America. Long before COVID-19, we watched as many Republican politicians refused to make lessening gun violence a priority and shine light on the hate that exists toward others in America. And today we see the same.</p> </blockquote> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;The lesson of Sandy Hook is that no act of violence, no matter how horrific, no matter how innocent the victims, will spur Republicans to act as good faith partners in even the most modest gun control measures supported by the vast majority of Americans.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/Lollardfish/status/1374330072191107073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;March 23, 2021&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; "><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The lesson of Sandy Hook is that no act of violence, no matter how horrific, no matter how innocent the victims, will spur Republicans to act as good faith partners in even the most modest gun control measures supported by the vast majority of Americans.</p>— David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lollardfish/status/1374330072191107073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2021</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up AbbreviatedPunditRoundUp APR _2022500 Wed, 24 Mar 2021 11:30:03 +0000