They're all saying that Jake Ellzey's six-point win over Trump-endorsed Susan Wright in the U.S. House special in Texas's 6th demonstrates the "limits" of a Trump endorsement, but I say it demonstrates nothing of the kind. Both candidates are cut from the same pro-Trump cloth, and Mr. Trump's endorsement of Ms. Wright always seemed half-hearted. And this election was still All About Trump, as Mr. Ellzey proved by reaching out to the district's Democrats at the last minute. My advice? Jana Sanchez has repeatedly proven she can't win that district, so the establishment should get behind Shawn Lassiter in 2022. But establishment Democrats never learn -- you don't win tough races with the "electable"; you win with the fierce.
House Minority Leader/Speaker wannabe Kevin McCarthy says that "(t)he threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state." And once again, this is complete projection! Republicans want a "permanent pandemic state," as they've already shown us by a) trashing vaccines and b) not getting them when it would have made a difference, and Republicans can only win when they foment chaos and drama. Welcome to another exciting edition of "I Never Thought I'd Hate a Republican House Leader More Than That Last One."
Ho hum, our "liberal" media can't get enough of bashing ice cream corporation Ben & Jerry's for refusing to sell their wares on the West Bank. A lot of folks are very pro-boycotting when folks boycott something they hate, but when folks boycott things they like, they're suddenly all WHATZ ABOUTZ TEH FREEDUMZ!!!!!! Which is, naturally, what they say when folks boycott Ben & Jerry's. And, you know, boycotting actually has an honorable history; these idiots probably would have been tut-tutting the Montgomery bus boycott back in the day. And as we learned from Colin Kaepernick, some folks' attraction to non-violence seems very issue-specific. Now please excuse me while I go get some Peanut Butter Fudge Core.
I laughed out loud when I heard that some Missourians are actually wearing disguises when they go to the doctor to get their COVID vaccine! After all, I've got a reputation as an asshole to uphold! All I can say to folks wearing Groucho Marx glasses to their COVID appointments is that if you want to get the vaccine and your friends don't want you to get it, maybe you need new friends. And chances are somebody will want to be your friend! Not everyone is as fed up with Teh Stupid as I am, and plenty of people have more compassion than I do.
George P. Bush, after all that sucking up he did to Donald Trump, has failed to secure the coveted Trump endorsement in the Texas Attorney General race; the winner, such as he is, is incumbent Ken Paxton. One supposes there's only so much sucking up you can do to the Bigly Man before even he gets grossed out by it, as Josh Mandel will find out in Ohio. I'm a little surprised that he's puffed up Mr. Paxton, though, since Mr. Paxton failed to get the election overturned, and you know how well the Bigly Man takes failure. Possibly he finds Mr. Paxton, who's been under federal indictment on securities fraud charges almost since he's been in office, a kindred spirit.
Finally, what did we learn from the first day of the January 6 hearings? "What We Already Know," says William Rivers Pitt at TruthOut, "It Was a GOP Riot." Trigger warning: paragraphs six through 11 describe some of the Capitol police's testimony, which will, among other things, remind us that right-wingers' support of police is very, very issue-specific: they support them when they execute Black folks without even charging them with a crime, but not so much when they oppose Capitol rioters. And they accuse liberals of similar issue-specificity without evidence. For example, anyone who reads my writings on the issue and says "he wants to abolish the police" can't read worth a damn.
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