'The Stupidity Burns' and other thoughts ...
There has been so much information zooming past us in the news cycle of the last few days (continuing intelligence leaks; an epic court battle over medication abortion; rioting in France) that it’s easy to underestimate the significance of what happened in the Tennessee House of Representatives.
The decision by that legislative body to remove two of its members over a relatively minor violation of the lower chamber’s rules has broader implications and has given a boost to Democrats nationally, as they ponder the spectacle of renominating an unsteady, incumbent 80-something president, and while polls show only 37% of Dems themselves want him to seek reelection.
In case you’ve been living in a cave for the last 10 days, three members of the Tennessee House staged a demonstration in the House chambers against inaction on gun control in the wake of a deadly shooting rampage at a Nashville school that claimed the lives of three children, three adults and the shooter.
In staging the demonstration, the three lawmakers violated House rules by “speaking out of turn,” Republican leaders said. If indeed the lawmakers spoke when they shouldn’t have, then they should have been sanctioned — perhaps even censured — but a vote to expel was just plain foolish. Still, the tally seemed to confirm what many people of color think about the Tennessee legislature — that it’s essentially a racist body.
The two young Black lawmakers were expelled, while the white woman legislator who took part in the demonstration but did not use a bullhorn was not. The Tennessee Republicans insist their action had nothing to do with race, but even if such were the case, how on earth could they be so blind to the optics of sparing the white woman and exiling the uppity Black men?
So what did the Republicans who voted for expulsion accomplish? They made themselves look like racists and for what? They only succeeded in temporarily banishing the two lawmakers whose municipal bodies promptly reappointed them to fill the unexpired vacancies created by their own expulsions.
Worse yet, Republicans made national heroes out of the two Justins (Jones and Pearson), a pair of obscure state legislators scarcely known outside of their home state. Moreover, they raised awareness of Republican efforts to stymie reasonable gun control measures — e.g. universal background checks and limits on military-style weapons of war — that most Americans support.
And of course, in a case of the dog finally catching the car, the GOP grossly miscalculated the impact on public opinion of the Dobbs decision reversing Roe V. Wade, especially among the younger demographic whose voting habits are just emerging.
Some GOP presidential hopefuls are struggling to even explain the issue. Witness this “word salad” from South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott:
When you consider the state of the economy and the middling popularity of the incumbent Democratic president, Republicans should be flying pretty high. Instead, they’re struggling with race, gun control, abortion and what to do about the elephant in the room: Donald Trump, whose approvals are worse even than Biden’s.
As former Republican commentator Charlie Sykes of the Bulwark observed, “The stupidity. It burns.”
Other news of note:
My latest CTNewsJunkie op-ed on corporate welfare for newspapers. It pains me to say it, but requiring the government to advertise legal notices in newspapers has got to stop:
Time To End Newspaper Publication Requirement For Towns - CTNJ
The Boston Globe has a take on the local angle to the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman arrested yesterday in connection with a leak of purported highly classified documents around the war in Ukraine and other topics:
Jack Teixeira, suspect in documents leak probe, recalled as history buff with keen interest in military - Boston.com
Suspect in Leaked Documents Expected in Court in Boston - NY Times
Other stories I’m following:
Supreme Court asked to preserve abortion pill access rules - Associated Press
Supreme Court Faces Swift New Abortion Test With Mifepristone Case - WSJ
Owner of IT biz arrested in Cash App founder's stabbing death - CNN
And, right on cue:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene defends alleged US intel leaker Jack Teixeira - NY Post
In my neck of the woods, at the Lee, Massachusetts, diner made famous by Norman Rockwell in his iconic painting “The Runaway”:
After working at Joe's Diner for five decades, Margaret MacDowell, at 71, isn't quitting anytime soon - Berkshire Eagle
What is a 21 year old doing having access to such sensitive materials?? Baffles the mind…