Daily Clips: October 30th, 2015
This Republican field has achieved full “Palinization”: So says Charles Pierce, who argues that the “Palinization of conservative rhetoric is now complete.” By this, he means that candidates can avoid any serious policy questions by simply saying “Liberal media!” While the 2012 field was “a completely undisciplined wing nut buffet,” Pierce argues that 2016’s current crop “is spinning even further out of control.”
Why is Hillary so eager to leave big issues in state hands? Marijuana, the death penalty, immigration, same-sex marriage…you name it and Clinton “has adopted a stance of convenient federalism, deferring to the states rather than choosing to nudge them in the right direction.”
Too true. I pointed towards her pragmatic progressivism yesterday with regard to capital punishment, saying that, in general, it’s a good strategy for getting the presidential nomination. However, Beutler warns her that “if she isn’t willing to get out in front of contentious state-based concerns, I imagine many of those efforts will falter or stagnate on her watch.”
Bernie Sanders’ not-so-radical marijuana idea: This week, Bernie called for the US federal government to lift its prohibition on the devil’s lettuce. Unlike Hillary (as we mentioned in the above article), the Vermont Senator must be applauded for his unfaltering leadership on messy issues. But these “radical ideas” are actually quite mainstream. As this article notes, “when Americans are polled on specific issues, majorities tend to agree with him on matters from taxation to family leave.”
1 in 2 working Americans make less than $30,000 a year: Nothing to say here. We must do all we can to change this pathetic reality.
