Why I love Dahlia Lithwick —
Long after the time had passed for male GOP officials to stop, to just stop, pretending they know or understand anything about female anatomy, reproductive organs, medical emergencies and basic preventative health care, they have continued to talk. They have continued to talk and talk and talk even when the massive blowback after the Dobbs decision proved it was an error; Kansas proved it was an error; and after the surprise election of Pat Ryan in a New York special election proved it was an error. Every time a Republican man opens his mouth to talk about women’s bodies, ten new female voters get their wings. Yet somehow, they cannot seem to stop themselves! …
… One analysis of the Kansas’ voter registration list showed that in the week after Dobbs, more than 70 percent of newly registered voters in that state were women. Those numbers, according to an Upshot analysis of 10 states with available voter registration data, show consistently higher registration for women after the Dobbs leak in May. As Jennifer Rubin recently noted, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that, “62 percent of women registering since Dobbs registered as Democrats, 15 percent as Republicans and that 54 percent were younger than 25.” And a Pew Research Center poll indicates that “a majority of registered voters (56 percent) say the issue of abortion will be very important in their midterm vote, up from 43 percent in March.” Tom Bonier, CEO Of TargetSmart recently posted on Twitter: “We are seeing early signs of what could lead to a huge increase in women voting in November. …This surge is young and female.” Both Mitch McConnell and RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel are panicking about the GOP’s odds in Congress, directly connected to fundraising around abortion.
See also Persuadable voters are breaking for the Democrats, NBC News poll finds.
Lithwick also discusses Sam Alito.
It is surely the very textbook definition of “privilege” to find yourself unbothered by protests, polling numbers, and voter registration data. Justice Samuel Alito actually laughed in the face of outraged females who called out the bad history, bad economics, and bad medicine in his leaked draft opinion—their complaints were numerous and well-founded, yet he didn’t change a thing.
Margaret Talbot has a long article about Alito at the New Yorker, Justice Alito’s Crusade Against a Secular America Isn’t Over. Alito is angry, Talbot says, and the article is a search for the source of the anger. It concludes, “In the end, Alito may be angry for the same reasons that many conservatives of his demographic are angry—because they find their values increasingly contested; because they feel less culturally authoritative than they once were; because they want to exclude whom they want to exclude, and resent it when others push back.”
Update: Paul Waldman writes that the great Republican abortion backtrack has begun.
Here are the new rules: First, stop saying you’re “100 percent pro-life.” That might be what Republican primary voters once wanted to hear, but now it’s radioactive.
Next, make the absurd and unsupportable claim that nothing has really changed when it comes to abortion. Instead, say that the realization of a decades-long Republican goal is less a legal revolution than an opportunity for some heartfelt, respectful conversation.
Then, stress your deep commitment to the welfare of all women. Stop talking about any particular pieces of legislation or constitutional amendments to ban abortion that you used to support. And if you have to say anything at all about policies and particulars, talk about the exceptions to abortion bans you support — even if you didn’t used to support them.
Finally, say Democrats are the real extremists by pretending that they support babies being aborted literally during delivery, something that, by the way, never happens.
Waldman says the award for fastest U-turn on abortion, so far, goes to Blake Masters of Arizona. Masters scrubbed his website of his positions on abortion.
In other news — Over the weekend a U.S. district court judge said she would hold a hearing on Donald Trump’s request for a special master to review the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago. Trump is still arguing a lot of it is “privileged.” Today the DoJ informed the judged that it had already reviewed all of the documents. An FBI “filter team” that routinely does this stuff has reviewed everything seized from Trump and determined which documents shouldn’t be part of a criminal investigation. This includes communications that might fall under lawyer-client privilege.
Alito, Roberts, Kavanaugh, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Barrett are ALL current or former members of the Federalist Society.
Alito, Thomas, Barrett, and Roberts are ALL fervent Dominionist Catholics. Kavanaugh is also Catholic but I perceive him to be of the follower type who will be easy for Alito and Roberts to keep in line.
Sam Alito is no more or less angry than he has been in entire adult life. What he is now is someone who has taken a large taste of power and he wants more. He sees the door open to imposing his White Christian Supremacist dogma on all Americans. He thinks he can do it and he is yet to be proven incorrect.
“I am woman hear me roar in numbers to big to ignore.” Let's hope!
On the "Special Master", the FBI has been through everything they said today. So that ship has sailed unless the judge demands the FBI "unsee" what they have seen. TFG will demand that the entire investigation halt until the defense has litigated every scrap of paper, and the judge has to consider national security, so that won't happen.
I predicted she'd toss the request for a Special Master, and it looks like I was wrong. I hope the judge only allows the SM to overrule the determination in select instances if the SM feels something is Attorney-Client. My guess is that Trump doesn't know what might implicate him (or others) in J6, and he'd like to limit the view of the FBI to stuff labeled "Top Secret." I don't see a basis for that.
I think Garland may frame the prosecution around the importance of the stuff that was taken – all of it, including the first batch FPOTUS turned in. IF some of that stuff was "hot" – and a risk to national security if discovered by our enemies, I think Garland will charge. There's an interesting problem – Garland will have to prove the stuff was sensitive without divulging contents in court. If the stuff was all insignificant memorabilia (which isn't what's being reported), charges won't be filed. But if ANY of the stuff is nuclear weapons, nuclear power (specifics), secret weapons, specific to sources (spies), or specific to methods, I think Garland will charge.
There's a process – charge – try the case – get a verdict – sentence. TFG has played games in court for decades – always civil, with no risk of jail. If he gets charged, they take away his passport. He's trapped on a treadmill that takes him to the other three stages. There's no off-ramp, no out-of-court settlement. If he's found guilty, they will take him into custody then – appeals all the way to the USSC will happen while his fat a$$ sits in jail. IMO, the goal now for TFG is to not get charged.
Which brings me to the issue of violence and threats of violence. One idiot tried to storm the FBI castle and got shot dead. Others have not lined up to be the second martyr. Miss Lindey predicted riots if TFG is charged. Maybe. But it will be too late – no way the DoJ will drop charges because cultists start shooting. No WAY! The echoes of J6 will be clear – if there is violence, DJT will not call them off, discourage them or criticize them. Nobody will miss the significance of the silence – months before jury selection.
I suggested that even if TFG is convicted, the judge is likely to go easy on him in sentencing, but all bets are off it people die in Trump-sponsored insurrection(s).
I'm curious… maybe I missed something some time back, but what does TFG stand for? I know to whom you are referring but I can't figure it out. I might want to use that moniker myself in some future comment.
I remember when republicans would vilify Sharia law. It was the worst thing that could happen to this country. Yet the law they bring is quite similar, based on law from male dominated primitive societies. I cannot read about Alito and not think of the modern women trying to survive in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Women forced to live in a culture long outdated for most. Alito will continue to try to fit our modern society into a rule book designed for one long past. A classic case of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. All these people ever want for is a big enough hammer. Our job is to make sure they never get one.
Well said, and Lilith supports you.
Agreed. I have long felt that theocracy is the core goal of the radical right. On a core level the only difference between that and the ISIS Caliphate and is the "religion", which in my view is nothing more than a difference in what name the humans choose to apply to the notion of deity that they have created. This name, that name; this prophet, that prophet; this sacred text, that sacred text. Same same on the deep level.
An old dream I once had may turn out to become even better than I'd dreamt!
That when the RepubliKKKLANs successfully reverse Roe, it wouldn't turn out looking like a dog which finally caught the car it's been chasing for years.
In other words, not the look of a victory.
But instead, the dog has not just that "run-down" look, but also a "run-over" look.
But what happened's even better than that!
The GQP's D-O-G got run over after catching the car.
And on Election Day this year, if enough D's show-up and we keep the House, while increasing the number of D's in the Senate, that run-over GQP D-O-G will also look like it's been run-over in the reverse gear position, too!!!
Went to the right so far, they are now stuck in a muddy ditch without a shovel. Nothing to eat but that mangled dog. Just don't have a lick of sense. They are too uppity to learn from mistakes they only know how to deny.
Now where did I put my tiny violin.
"Every time a Republican man….ten new female voters get their wings" – love it, and well said.