21 October 2013

Christie to drop appeal of Pro Gay Marriage Court Ruling in NJ

I think it's just possible that this event will be marked in history as the point at which national acceptance of same-sex marriage in the US was a fait accompli; no going back.  Here, in NYT.

17 October 2013

Damage to Republican Interests pretty obvious. . .

John McCain made pretty clear that the sane branch of the Republican party (a minority, but perhaps one in the ascendant right now) ... recognizes that the Shutdown and Debt Ceiling Fiasco were quite harmful to Republican interests overall. He said he "guarantees" it won't happen again. Obviously, that guarantee isn't worth the paper it isn't written on, but I suspect he's right nonetheless, at least until after the 2014 elections. They were burned; they will probably stay well away from the stove for a time, anyway. Many moderate and even not-so-moderate Repubs saw just how damaging the intransigence and unwillingness to work within the legislative framework on the part of the Tea Party Nutcases actually was; they will be less likely to go along with the Fringers next time.

Tea Party's unpatriotic ransom failure will have consequences

Here's my new "meme." 

Hey, Tea Party. Exactly what did you get for your ransom demand that cost the US economy $24 billion?  And that did lasting damage to the credit and prestige of our nation? Was it worth it? 

Of course, people in general have an amazing ability to rationalize failure. But failure is the only truly rational description of what they did, and the damage they did to our (and their) country is entirely on them. The president and Congressional democrats were absolutely right to refuse to negotiate with hostage takers. Especially hostage takers who had just come off of months and months of refusing repeated entreaties to engage in legitimate budget negotiations. 

And I really believe that the fact that they did this damage to our country for nothing will not be entirely forgotten in 2014.