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Indiana GOP Candidate: 'No one has the guts' to let poor people 'wither and die'
By Molly Hogin on Thursday, July 24, 2014
In an effort to perpetuate untrue stereotypes that people who receive government assistance are lazy and unmotivated, Indiana’s GOP candidate for State Rep. John Johnston reached a new level of offensive when he suggested that instead of helping poor people, we just let them die. His comment came amidst an online rant in which he not only expressed his frustration that “no one has the guts to just let [poor people] wither and die,” he also accused those on government assistance of being “less motivated to get a job” and “simply happy enough that they will do nothing.”
From The Raw Story:
The candidate made the comments in a discussion thread on the Mad Mac page, which covers local politics.
“For almost three generations people, in some cases, have been given handouts,” Johnston said during the discussion. “They have been ‘enabled’ so much that their paradigm in life is simply being given the stuff of life, however meager.”
“What you see is a setting for a life of misery is life to them never-the-less,” he continued. “No one has the guts to just let them wither and die. No one who wants votes is willing to call a spade a spade. As long as the Dems can get their votes the enabling will continue. The Republicans need their votes and dare not cut the fiscal tether. It is really a political Catch-22.”
“The voters are the ones in charge,” Johnston said. “(H)owever when only 10-11 percent show up to vote, not much will change. People simply are not hurting enough, or simply happy enough that they will do nothing. consequently the dole continues.”
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AZ Rep. Adam Kwasman Mistakes YMCA Campers for Migrants
By Molly Hogin on Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Republican State Rep. Adam Kwasman took time out of his legislative duties and congressional campaign to join protestors in Oracle, Arizona awaiting buses full of migrant children. When Rep. Kwasman saw a bus filled with children, he took the opportunity to describe to reporters the “fear on their faces” and tweet that it is “the abrogation of the rule of law.” Only, the bus wasn’t full of migrant children. It filled with YMCA kids on their way to summer camp. -
Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams has the answer to a Blue South
By Molly Hogin on Tuesday, July 22, 2014From the Daily Kos:
By Egberto Willies
Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams is not very well-known nationally. She has been on a few news segments for the traditional media but none of those appearances have garnered her national recognition commensurate with her accomplishments.
It is obvious she was well aware of that when she gave her speech at Netroots Nation. “I want to start by telling you a story which I need to do. Because you have now heard from a list of very exciting people and you have no idea who I am or why I am here. So, I am going to tell you why.”
Abrams went on to tell her story. She grew up in Mississippi. Her father was from the poor side of town. Her mother was from the side of town that was even poorer. “Her family was the family poor people made fun of,” Abrams said.
Her mother was a second grade dropout. The woman that her mother cleaned for insisted that her mother go back to school. A caring teacher had placed in her records that if the little girl ever came back to school, she should not be held back because she was intelligent. Good people did good things for a good girl who society disregarded. Ultimately, her mother graduated as valedictorian of her class and completed several college and graduate degrees. Her father, who was dyslexic, taught himself to read and graduated from college.
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2020 war room: Inside the secret plan to beat GOP gerrymandering
By Molly Hogin on Monday, July 21, 2014From the Daily Kos:
By Ian Reifowitz
Image from Bill Marsh, New York Times
What a great title, huh? At Netroots Nation in Detroit, there was a panel by that name, and it did not disappoint. Moderator Tom Bonier began by laying out how Republicans approach gerrymandering, and elections in general:
If you can't win fair, change the rules.
And that's pretty accurate. Republicans do this on any number of fronts, from voter suppression tactics such as reducing the number of days people can vote, making it harder or impossible to register and vote on the same day, purging the voter rolls in ways that throw legitimate voters off the rolls, and demanding voters show government-issued photo ID (although gun permits are allowed in Texas, naturally, but not college ID's). In addition to these, Republicans have excelled in mastering the redistricting process by gerrymandering districts at the local, state, and federal level.
The two sides don't do it to anywhere near the same degree, however. In the runup to the 2010 elections, Republicans developed a $30 million plan called REDMAP to aid in their attempt to flip state legislatures and thus gerrymander districts going forward. As you can see above, it worked.
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DLCC TO HOST PANEL AT NETROOTS NATION: '2020 War Room: Inside the Plan to Beat GOP Gerrymandering'
By Molly Hogin on Tuesday, July 15, 2014DETROIT, MI: Join us at Netroots Nation for an inside look at the Democratic strategy to fight back against GOP gerrymandering. Armed with cutting-edge data and strong progressive messaging, the panel will discuss the DLCC’s four-cycle, 50-state strategy to erase Republicans’ gerrymandering advantage and win the 2020 redistricting cycle. The panel will be moderated by Tom Bonier of Clarity Campaign Labs, and will also include Georgia House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams, Michigan State Senator Jim Ananich, and Executive Director of the DLCC Michael Sargeant as panelists. The panel will take place on July 17, 2014 at 10:30 AM EDT in Room 141 of the COBO Center in Detroit, MI.
The full webcast of the panel is available here.
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DLCC TO HOST PANEL AT NETROOTS NATION: '2020 War Room: Inside the Plan to Beat GOP Gerrymandering'
By Molly Hogin on Tuesday, July 15, 2014DETROIT, MI: Join us at Netroots Nation for an inside look at the Democratic strategy to fight back against GOP gerrymandering. Armed with cutting-edge data and strong progressive messaging, the panel will discuss the DLCC’s four-cycle, 50-state strategy to erase Republicans’ gerrymandering advantage and win the 2020 redistricting cycle. The panel will be moderated by Tom Bonier of Clarity Campaign Labs, and will also include Georgia House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams, Michigan State Senator Jim Ananich, and Executive Director of the DLCC Michael Sargeant as panelists. The panel will take place on July 17, 2014 at 10:30 AM EDT in Room 141 of the COBO Center in Detroit, MI.
The full webcast of the panel is available here.
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New Hampshire GOP Rep.: Spanish language will "end our 250 years as a Republic"
By Molly Hogin on Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Republican Rep. Bob Elliott took to his Facebook page to call for a “complete closing of all American borders” in order to prevent the US from becoming a country where “the majority of people speak Spanish” while at the same time being “Islamic within the next 20 years.”Rep. Elliot continued his paranoid Facebook rant, suggesting a “major Revolution of the masses in the coming election” to throw the Obama administration out of office and elect a new Congress that “handles the number one priority, illegal immigration.”
Rep. Elliot’s outburst continued with the notion that shunning the Nation’s Spanish speakers and Islamic immigrants would make “it possible to regain America’s lost title of being the greatest country in the world.”
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NH GOPer Accuses Federal Gov't of Spying via Traffic Cameras
By Geoffrey Montes on Wednesday, June 25, 2014New Hampshire state Representative Steve Beaudoin (R-Rochester) recently took to his Facebook page to spread the claim that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using traffic cameras to spy on New Hampshire residents. From Miscellany Blue:"Were the Spaulding Turnpike cameras funded by DHS?" [Beaudoin] wrote on Facebook. "If the cameras are simple traffic cameras, why can’t you see a feed from them like every other traffic camera in the state?"
One visitor answered by posting a link to the Web site where you can, in fact, view the feeds. Former Rep. Fred Leonard (R-Rochester), who is certainly no Obama apologist, tried to explain that the height of the cameras makes it impossible to use them for license plate scanning or facial recognition. “I know this stuff because it’s what I do,” Leonard wrote.
"I don’t buy it," replied Beaudoin. "My source is irrefutable."
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Young Progressive Leaders Top '40 Under 40' List
By Geoffrey Montes on Thursday, May 22, 2014Democratic Leaders’ Work Shows Importance of Continued Youth Leadership in Politics Moving into 2014 Mid-Term Elections
Washington, DC – Each day this week, the Washington Post has released the names of honorees on its “40 under 40” list, which highlights nine young Democratic state legislators. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and the Young Democrats of America have joined to celebrate those young, Democratic state legislators who have been honored.
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Florida Lawmaker: Common Core Will Turn ‘Every One Of Your Children’ Gay
By Geoffrey Montes on Thursday, May 22, 2014
Florida state Rep. Charles Van Zant (R) recently revealed a homophobic conspiracy theory that the new educational standards known as Common Core will systematically turn students gay. From Think Progress:Common Core may not be a well-intentioned set of improved educational standards, as supporters would have you believe, but instead a trojan horse designed to turn every schoolchild in Florida, if not America, gay.
This ominous warning came at an anti-Common Core event in March courtesy of Florida state Rep. Charles Van Zant (R). Speaking at the “Operation Education Conference” in Orlando, Van Zant warned that officials implementing Common Core in Florida are “promoting as hard as they can any youth that is interested in the LGBT agenda.”
Their aim, Van Zant warned, was to “attract every one of your children to become as homosexual as they possibly can.” He then apologized to the crowd for having to be the bearer of bad news. “I really hate to bring you that news,” the Florida Republican said, “but you need to know.”
VAN ZANT: These people, that will now receive $220 million from the state of Florida unless this is stopped, will promote double-mindedness in state education and attract every one of your children to become as homosexual as they possibly can. I’m sorry to report that to you.
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AZ Rep. Adam Kwasman Mistakes YMCA Campers for Migrants
By Molly Hogin on Tuesday, July 22, 2014Republican State Rep. Adam Kwasman took time out of his legislative duties and congressional campaign to join protestors in Oracle, Arizona awaiting buses full of migrant children. When Rep. Kwasman saw a bus filled with children, he took the opportunity to describe to reporters the “fear on their faces” and tweet that it is “the abrogation of the rule of law.” Only, the bus wasn’t full of migrant children. It filled with YMCA kids on their way to summer camp. -
2020 war room: Inside the secret plan to beat GOP gerrymandering
By Molly Hogin on Monday, July 21, 2014From the Daily Kos:
By Ian Reifowitz
Image from Bill Marsh, New York Times
What a great title, huh? At Netroots Nation in Detroit, there was a panel by that name, and it did not disappoint. Moderator Tom Bonier began by laying out how Republicans approach gerrymandering, and elections in general:
If you can't win fair, change the rules.
And that's pretty accurate. Republicans do this on any number of fronts, from voter suppression tactics such as reducing the number of days people can vote, making it harder or impossible to register and vote on the same day, purging the voter rolls in ways that throw legitimate voters off the rolls, and demanding voters show government-issued photo ID (although gun permits are allowed in Texas, naturally, but not college ID's). In addition to these, Republicans have excelled in mastering the redistricting process by gerrymandering districts at the local, state, and federal level.
The two sides don't do it to anywhere near the same degree, however. In the runup to the 2010 elections, Republicans developed a $30 million plan called REDMAP to aid in their attempt to flip state legislatures and thus gerrymander districts going forward. As you can see above, it worked.
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North Carolina Republican calls Sadism, Pedophilia, Bestiality "Types of Sexual Orientation"
By Molly Hogin on Thursday, June 26, 2014
Previous WOTW inductee, North Carolina House Speaker Pro Temp Paul "Skip" Stam (R), strikes again. Amidst a debate over a charter school bill, Rep. Stam took the opportunity to pass out a handout titled “What Is A ‘Sexual Orientation’?” to his colleagues on the house floor, which included over 30 definitions including sexual sadism, pedophilia, and bestiality alongside homosexual/gay/lesbian.Rep. Stam not only disparaged an amendment to the bill that would prevent charter schools from discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender identity, he also equated sexual orientation with a long list of sexual disorders.
Rep. Marcus Brandon, the only openly gay member of the legislature, responded, “Pedophilia is not a sexuality, and we cannot continue in this body to keep calling things something [they’re] not. It’s offensive to a whole group of people”
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Arkansas Republican Equates Same-Sex Marriage to Bestiality
By Molly Hogin on Thursday, June 19, 2014
Republican Rep. Stephen Meeks, who opposes same-sex marriage, compared it to pedophilia and bestiality on Twitter. The disturbing tweet highlights Rep. Stephen Meeks’ anti-gay beliefs, which he attributes to his “Biblical view of civil unions and government’s role in it.”
Nor is this the first time Rep. Meeks has engaged in this sort of rhetoric. Nearly two years ago, he posted to his Facebook page that “It would be impossible to outlaw homosexuality” but we could “outlaw the practice of it, since we outlaw the practices of incest, pedophilia, prostitution.”
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Montana Republicans Call Bill to Combat Campus Rape a "Mood Killer"
By Molly Hogin on Wednesday, June 18, 2014
In California, lawmakers have drafted a bill that would require colleges to adopt an affirmative consent standard to help fight the college rape epidemic. SB 967, the Student Safety from Sexual Assault bill, would also implement prevention and outreach programs to combat sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.In the latest attack in the war on women, two Republicans in Montana balked at the bill, expressing their outrage that sexual consent would be a requirement by law. Republican State Rep. Mike Miller (Helmville) dismissed the bill as an intrusion and as "control" over "what happens in the bedroom." He shared on his Facebook page that the bill would be "tough to enforce" and that sexual consent was likely to be a case of "he said, she said."
Republican candidate Joe Dooling (East Helena) even went so far as to say that sexual consent from both parties is a "mood killer."
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AZ Rep. Adam Kwasman Mistakes YMCA Campers for Migrants
By Molly Hogin on Tuesday, July 22, 2014Republican State Rep. Adam Kwasman took time out of his legislative duties and congressional campaign to join protestors in Oracle, Arizona awaiting buses full of migrant children. When Rep. Kwasman saw a bus filled with children, he took the opportunity to describe to reporters the “fear on their faces” and tweet that it is “the abrogation of the rule of law.” Only, the bus wasn’t full of migrant children. It filled with YMCA kids on their way to summer camp. -
Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams has the answer to a Blue South
By Molly Hogin on Tuesday, July 22, 2014From the Daily Kos:
By Egberto Willies
Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams is not very well-known nationally. She has been on a few news segments for the traditional media but none of those appearances have garnered her national recognition commensurate with her accomplishments.
It is obvious she was well aware of that when she gave her speech at Netroots Nation. “I want to start by telling you a story which I need to do. Because you have now heard from a list of very exciting people and you have no idea who I am or why I am here. So, I am going to tell you why.”
Abrams went on to tell her story. She grew up in Mississippi. Her father was from the poor side of town. Her mother was from the side of town that was even poorer. “Her family was the family poor people made fun of,” Abrams said.
Her mother was a second grade dropout. The woman that her mother cleaned for insisted that her mother go back to school. A caring teacher had placed in her records that if the little girl ever came back to school, she should not be held back because she was intelligent. Good people did good things for a good girl who society disregarded. Ultimately, her mother graduated as valedictorian of her class and completed several college and graduate degrees. Her father, who was dyslexic, taught himself to read and graduated from college.
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DLCC Releases Flip Chart 2014, Offers Democratic Outlook for 2014 State Legislative Races
By Geoffrey Montes on Tuesday, July 1, 2014-- The DLCC’s Initial List of Legislative Chambers with Opportunities to Cut into Republican Majorities --
Washington, D.C. - In a press call earlier today, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) released its Flip Chart 2014, which is a list of legislative chambers where Democrats have the greatest opportunity to cut into Republican majorities and potentially “flip” the chambers to Democratic control. The full press call is available below:As extreme Republican legislatures continue taking aim at women's health, working families, immigrants, and equal rights, Democratic state legislative candidates and state caucuses have real opportunities to take control of chambers across the country in November. The DLCC’s Flip Chart is developed by assessing a chamber’s in-state political environment and the strength of Democratic campaigns, and is composed of two categories, Emerging Majorities and Chambers to Watch.
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Rhode Island Dems' supermajorities mathematically safe
By Nathan Thomas on Thursday, June 26, 2014The Providence Journal reports that Republicans are leaving nearly 70% of Rhode Island's 113 legislative seats uncontested this fall, making it mathematically certain that Democrats will return this fall with both their state Senate and state House supermajorities intact:
Both chambers are overwhelmingly Democrat, and as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, only 11 Republicans had surfaced as Senate candidates, including the two competing for the seat that North Kingstown Republican Sen. Dawson Hodgson is giving up to run for attorney general, and the 27 competing for House seats, including the two vying to replace Democrat Larry Valencia of Richmond.
A spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office said it is possible that not all cities and towns have provided the names of all their legislative candidates. If history repeats itself, not all of the potential candidates who threw their names into the ring will be able to collect all the signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot.
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4 years later, 'Essential Races' nominee takes Indiana House seat
By Geoffrey Montes on Tuesday, June 17, 2014Democrat Bionca Gambill has become the newest member of the Indiana House of Representatives, succeeding fellow Democrat Kreg Battles in District 45. In 2010, Gambill was such a strong candidate that the DLCC included her district in the cycle's "Essential Races," highlighting the matchup as one of the most crucial in the state. Although Gambill did not win that race, the DLCC is proud that she has now joined the legislature and believes she will contribute greatly to improving the lives of all Hoosiers. From the Greene County Daily World: