Beating Mark Sanford

You may remember state representative Jenny Horne from the passionate speech she gave after the Charleston shooting in which she pressed her fellow House members to vote to remove the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds.



I am happy to say that she plans to announce that she will run for the US House of Representatives, challenging good ole boy and dirtbag Mark Sanford.  Sanford, despite being a mediocre and not well liked governor, even after abandoning his post as governor for an illicit dalliance without informing staff -- or family -- of his whereabouts, was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2013.

Sanford is entertaining, true, but that he should be the only option on the republican side has even made South Carolina republicans turn up their noses.  Jenny Horne's primary challenge should be a welcome relief.

Here on the other side of the aisle, I read a few days ago that Elizabeth Colbert-Busch might step up to run as the "Democrat" against Sanford.  You may recall that she ran as a "Democrat" in 2013 against Sanford.  The quotation marks are because, although she had many good plans for education and business, she performed the SC two-step to avoid entirely issues that might get the other side riled up, like women's rights.  She actually had a 9-point lead in the polls soon before the election, despite a push poll alluding that she had had an abortion.  Some of us wonder about where that lead went, and assume that there well might have been some voting booth irregularities going on.

Mark Sanford, a stupid man who nonetheless is astute in advertising, chose to ignore Colbert Busch, at one point "debating" a poster of the evil Nancy Pelosi on the sidewalk outside MUSC.  In the actual debate there is a moment that I think sums up the contest. Colbert Busch finally got around to mentioning Sanford's going AWOL, which he pretended not to hear and then proceeded to talk past.  And when I think of Colbert Busch at the debate, all that comes to mind is, who on earth convinced her to wear that dowdy dress?

Which brings me to her stand on women's issues, which is basically, let's not talk about it.  She might have been a strong, intelligent woman who fought for issues that have been neglected too long in South Carolina; instead, she did the dance of the southern Democrats, the one where you try not to upset the other side and hope they might not notice.

Such a disappointment.

If this time around Colbert Busch decided, what the hell, let me run as a Democrat, she might prove a real challenge to Horne.  Because, while Horne has been on the right side of important issues like taking down the Confederate flag and even updating sex education in the schools, she has voted for the pending bill that would ban abortion at 20 weeks, as well as the bill that became law allowing guns in bars and restaurants.

I doubt that there will be that kind of contest.  If Colbert Busch decides to run, it is unlikely that she would say anything controversial.  She would bring little new to the race, and the same people who stayed away in 2013 will stay away in 2016:  young women, African Americans, Latinos, members of the LGBT community.  She would not be a new voice, merely an opponent echoing those same safe issues:  I'm good for business, I will improve the schools.  Not even a choice here in SC.  If you are running as a women who won't pose a threat to the status quo, they will eat you alive.

I hope I am wrong.  I would love to see a strong Colbert Busch, a woman who would really represent all the people who have been ignored here in SC for too long.  I would love to see her speak out for the rights of those many who are underserved, low income workers, people without health care, students who go to school in impoverished areas, women whose bodies continue to be on the auction block at every vote and every election.

So I guess we'll see.  To say Horne is an improvement over Sanford, well, that's an understatement.  But wouldn't it be swell if a Democrat got up and argued for all of us, and maybe didn't win, but gave Jenny some food for thought on some of those issues.  Of course, she has to beat Sanford first, and in that endeavor I am fully behind her.

Boehner's Illogic

I just heard Speaker of the House (sigh) John Boehner address the country.  Here is a picture:

Boehner propositions the President

If it sounds familiar, that's because it is.  When he says we must cut entitlements, folks, he's not talking about entitlements to ExxonMobile or ConAgra.  He's talking about our social security retirement age.

The thing he made clear in the midst of his usual obfuscation is that tax cuts for the wealthy 2% will never be on the table under his watch.

How can he do this?  Because he thinks Congress got a mandate along with the President.

I beg to differ.  I know it's confusing, but I think I understand how this bizarre situation with the Republican House happened.

Voters are pretty much stupid.  I'm talking statistically, since that's what we are doing these days.  If you were to do a study, you would find that most of your family, neighbors and co-workers don't know who their representatives are.  They might be able to give you a senator, especially if he just won or lost.  Today they could tell you the vice president's name, but probably not so much a month from now.  They certainly don't have a clue who Antonin Scalia is.

Because they have been accosted with signs and mailings and phone calls for the past month or more, they might be able to tell you the name of their representative in the US House.  Or maybe not.

Regardless, most voters would tell you they like their representative.  Their representative has been telling them that he is voting to cut their taxes and improve government services, and that sounds like a good deal.  He surely wouldn't lie to them.  So you have name recognition and slogans, and then you have people voting for the guy they remember, that seems to like them.

But most voters hate Congress.  Statistically, most voters approve of the Black Plague more than they approve of the job the 112th US Congress has done.  They hear that the debt is getting higher, and that their congressman is going to cut the debt so their children won't have to pay for it which is nice.  But when it comes down to who is preventing them from getting a better job, well, it's the government, and over the past two years, it seems that it's been "Congress."

So John Boehner, with a head for abstract concepts not much better than Paul Ryan's has turned out to be, has decided that, since there continues to be a republican House, the American people have given them the infamous "mandate," or, "I trust you guys, go for it."  Which means he is going to be continuing to do just what he has been doing, but in a more conciliatory tone of voice and with those sincere sad-dog eyes, and telling us that is what the American people want.

Of course, he adds, they really want Congress to work with President Obama since they gave him a mandate too.

And in Boehner's little head, what that comes down to is that it's time for Obama to agree to give the US House of Representatives what they want.

And so, folks, it's deja vu all over again, for another two years.

Still Crazy After All These Years

Amazing that on the same day that the Augusta National Golf Club announced that it has decided to welcome in the 21st century (12 years later) by accepting women into their private club, another member of the U.S. House of Representatives has reminded us that we are currently reliving the 50's.

Todd Akin of Missouri is currently challenging Claire McCaskill for her Senate seat.  He announced yesterday that he had been assured by an actual doctor that actual "legitimate rape" rarely occurs, because if a woman doesn't really want the sex, her body will reject the pregnancy.

Wow, and wow.

This would be comic if it didn't so completely represent the wild-eyed, right-wing republican mid-20th century, Mad Men mentality of a woman's place.  While fellow GOP reacted with horror, that horror has more to do with, "I can't believe he just said that" than "I can't believe he really believes that."

We have been assaulted by a sanctimonious GOP for too many years to doubt for one minute that Akin does not represent his fellow right-wingers.  Forcing a woman to proceed with a pregnancy in situations of rape has long been on the republican agenda.

But allow me to get personal here.  We all know a woman who has been raped.  We may not be aware of it, because for most rape victims, the rape is accompanied by shame, and so the crime is kept secret.  Teenagers afraid of rejection, adult women afraid they will lose their job, spouses trying to keep peace in the home by giving in, children, for God's sake, who are helpless in the face of this evil.

And instead of the help and support they deserve, they have been receiving sanctimonious false-Christian nonsense from the people we have elected to keep us safe and free.

I grew up in the 50's and 60's.  If you were a girl or woman, and you were assaulted sexually, it was a given that:  your skirt was too high or your hair was too long, you were somewhere you weren't supposed to be or you were out when you should have been home.

Women and girls get raped.  They don't deserve it.  They have a right to be protected from the consequences of that attack.  They deserve our help and support, so that they do not feel responsible for the attack.

So let's hope that, even with all the republican walk-back on Akin's idiotic comments, we women stop supporting those who believe we are irrelevant instruments in a pregnancy resulting from a rape.

And congratulations Augusta National.  Maybe someday the US Congress will join you in the 21st Century.