The universe of people hyping Jeb 2016 has little overlap with the universe of people who talk to actual GOP primary voters.
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) December 2, 2014
Yes, I’m being sarcastic, but “news”. It’s official, per the Washington Post — we won’t have Rob Portman to kick around in 2016:
… The Ohio Republican, a seasoned politician and favorite of the GOP establishment, could have made a credible contender for the White House. But Portman said that with the new Republican majority in the Senate, he sees “a real opportunity over the next two years to break the gridlock in Washington.”…
Portman has considerable cachet within the Republican establishment. As vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee over the past two years, Portman helped recruit several star Senate challengers. Popular with major party donors, Portman raised millions of dollars for the party’s Senate efforts and enhanced his national finance network. He also played an important role in bringing the 2016 Republican National Convention to Cleveland.
Portman has been considered a reliable conservative on most issues, although last year he reversed his position on same-sex marriage, which put him out of step with his party’s orthodoxy. Portman decided to support same-sex marriage after his son, Will, told his parents that he was gay.
Cynical translation: He’s made himself unpalatable to the GOP “base” (in every sense) primary voters, but the Permanent Party still holds a hope he might deign to serve as VP to whichever bombthrowing loon draws the lucky top card.
.@daveweigel For me, the Portman '16 campaign brought back that sense of promise & possibility I hadn't felt since Mitch Daniels '12.
— David S. Bernstein (@dbernstein) December 2, 2014
Speaking of vice-presidential prospects, sounds like Martin O’Malley is picking up his game, per the Baltimore Sun:
Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski told a group of Hillary Clinton supporters gathered in Baltimore County on Monday that Maryland would provide a “groundswell of grassroots” support for the former Secretary of State should she decide to run for president in 2016.
“We need Hillary,” the Maryland Democrat and Senate Appropriations Committee chairwoman told about 100 people gathered at Goucher College for a fundraiser organized by the Ready for Hillary PAC, the group laying the groundwork for her possible candidacy…
Not mentioned by Mikulski or anyone else on stage was Martin O’Malley, Maryland’s outgoing governor who is also weighing a run for president in 2016. The fundraiser was expected to draw several other high profile Democrats — many of whom have worked closely with the O’Malley administration for years — but only Mikulski showed…
Early signs of support for Clinton among the congressional delegation that knows O’Malley best demonstrates the challenge the governor faces as he contemplates a possible White House run. Polls in early primary states show Clinton eclipsing O’Malley, despite his repeated appearances for congressional and gubernatorial candidates in the run up to this year’s midterm elections…
And back on the “Right” (wrong) side of the aisle, the Talivangelicals are fighting with the Glibertarians, again/still, per Dave Weigel at Bloomberg Politics:
… “Online gambling websites are preying on every kid with a smartphone or a tablet,” warned Huckabee. “This is frankly one of the most important topics that I don’t hear anybody talking about.”
It’s very likely that Huckabee believes this. It’s also simply true that he’s endorsing Sheldon Adelson’s lobbying stance… the Coalition [to Stop Internet Gambling] is an Adelson front group, as has been known for most of 2014. Its less-than-secret mission is to bring social conservatives like Huckabee—and his viewers—into the trenches, to pass the Restoration of America’s Wire Act, ban Internet gambling, and thereby direct more profits to brick-and-mortar casinos. Like—oh, let’s just pick one at random—the Venetian.
Huckabee’s fresh enthusiasm for this cause sets him against his eternal intra-Republican Party enemies, the libertarians—or, as he calls them, the “faux-cons.” Opposition to the online gambling ban has been fomented and endorsed by the likes of FreedomWorks, Grover Norquist, Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty (through president John Tate), and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “This bill allows the federal government to take a heavy hand in regulating the Internet, opening the door for increased Internet regulation in the future,” those groups’ leaders said in a letter to legislators this year…
Upon this topic I think we can all agree: Root for injuries.
M. Bouffant
Y’ask me, no one but indigenous Americans should be allowed to profit from gambling in this country.
Gawdamighty, how effing stupid is that fat slob? Does he think you can just put a dollar bill in a slot on the iPhone? How do these “kids” pay their on-line bookies w/o credit cards?
Major Major Major Major
Just got this in the email.
I’m a little excited.
Alison
Worst West Side Story reboot idea.
It really is pretty sad that Portman simply supporting marriage equality might be enough to make him persona non grata among so many GOPers. Like…seriously, they’ve got to give up the ghost on that eventually. Though I do wonder, if SCOTUS goes the way we hope next year (or whenever), will that make them finally let it go, or just dig in their heels even more?
Alison
@Major Major Major Major: Woo! Congrats :)
jl
Fifty GOP hopefuls, or FIGHT!
That is my motto. I want a whole gang of goofballs up there on the stage or I ain’t watching the first primary GOP debate. I do have standards.
Major Major Major Major
@Alison: All us gays ever wanted was to get the same form e-mails everybody else gets :)
Despite all his other sins, Justice Kennedy will still have a place in the civil rights pantheon. So will Senator Kennedy, for borking Bork and bringing us (inadvertently) said Justice, among many other awesome accomplishments (ADA, etc.).
I love reading Scalia’s butthurt dissents in case after case (Romer, Lawrence, Windsor, etc.) where he proves Kennedy right by saying “what’s next, more gay rights??” and is correct.
wasabi gasp
Press Huckabee for a position on facesitting.
Alison
@Major Major Major Major: Haha :) Yeah, I mean…I don’t even want to get married, but the idea that if I did want to, I could do so (in my state, that is), is important. Plus, I know I’m in a minority and most people do want it, and no one should be denied something so intrinsic to most people’s happiness…
Major Major Major Major
@Alison: When I came out to my parents in the late 90’s my dad asked me how I felt about gay marriage. I was like, eh, I don’t think I’ll ever get married. (I was young.)
Turns out not getting married costs you a shitload of money, among other penalties like a lack of hospital visitation rights and various international travel rights. Plus I’m finally gonna get to say ‘husband’!
Alison
@Major Major Major Major: Yeah, it would be nice if all of those rights weren’t tied to marriage, but that would be a way bigger battle to fight.
I don’t have those worries because I’m not now nor do I plan in the foreseeable future (or beyond) to be in a relationship, but again, I want my fellow queers to have the comfort and happiness and recognition they want. When straight people say “well, you have civil unions, why isn’t that good enough” I’m like…okay then, how about civil unions for everyone? None of them seem to suggest that one :P
Major Major Major Major
@Alison: I’m fine with legal recognition of basically any relationship consenting adults want to get into, to be honest. There should be something like ‘marriage’ for just a really close life-long friend, for instance, and poly relationships don’t ping my badness-radar at all as long as everybody’s on the same page. But we’re a pair-bonding species, and while that doesn’t mean we’re necessarily monogamous it means we still tend to have a primary partner. There’s a conservative argument that pair-bonding is good for society… a legal argument that it’s good for business… a liberal argument that it’s good for couples…
Xenos
@Major Major Major Major: Congŕatulations and Best Wishes! May you have many decades of love and togetherness!
And throw some credit to Margaret Marshall, whose career in public service and justice was inspired by meeting Teddy’s brother Bobby during his trip to South Africa. It is amazing how a few indefatigable, slightly crazy people, fighting the good fight, can change the world.
Anne Laurie
@Major Major Major Major: CONGRATULATIONS!
Alison
@Major Major Major Major: Yeah, I mean…however people want to match up shouldn’t really be the state’s business, so long as, like you said, everyone is adult and consenting and all that. And if we could get some of the marriage benefits – pardon the pun – decoupled from the rite, that would be smart. But that’s where the conservatives get antsy, because all of those benefits were always used as some kind of carrot, I guess. But they’re always worried about the supposed sanctity and yet don’t seem to mind people who get married just so they can get the tax deduction and see each other in the hospital or whatnot.
Go try to figure out the conservative mind. No wait, don’t, your brain will start crying.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
Kennedy has one more vote to cast before he deserves a seat on the gay pantheon. And please don’t ignore the four libs who allowed Kennedy to be the fifth vote.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
And congratulations!
Baud
My money is on the Televangelicals.
balconesfault
Is there any major Republican figure who supports marriage equality who doesn’t have a close relative who is gay?
Mike J
@Baud: Every election the republican base tries to outcrazy itself, and in every election the money guys give them the most boring white guy they can find for the general. Of course when they wheel out Mr. Bland, his sanity isn’t compared to actual humans. He’s only got to appear sane compared to the loons in the primaries.
Baud
@balconesfault:
I can’t think of any. But why should they? All indications are that the issue neither gains Democrats votes or costs the GOP any.
raven
A couple of years ago my buddy died of pancreatic cancer. His wife and daughters followed his wishes and had him buried in a shallow grave on their rural Georgia property. One of his daughters legally married her Australian partner but they had to go back to the land-down-under because she still can’t get residency. This is an article about “Finding My Father’s Grave.”
Baud
@Mike J:
Yeah, they’re all about marketing. Libertarians exist to fool liberals ad young white males. They are nowhere close to exercising power in the GOP. See Rand Paul’s scuttling of NSA reform for the most recent example.
p.a.
@Major Major Major Major: Congrats! Marrying up? (Major Major Major Colonel?)
Betty Cracker
@Major Major Major Major: Congrats!
@raven: What a lovely tribute.
raven
@Betty Cracker: Isn’t it a crime that this woman has had to leave the country to be with the person she loves? She also recently went to Tanzania to teach kids and is part of this fundraiser for The World Youth Education Trust in case anyone is interested in dropping a few beans.
Betty Cracker
@raven: It is a crime — one that will soon by rectified, I hope. Your friend’s daughter sounds like a wonderful person and a credit to her father.
JPL
@Major Major Major Major: How wonderful and congrats to the happy couple.
CarolDuhart2
Congrats, Major, Major, Major. Personal question: just picking up the license or are you going to have the ceremony then and there?
One thing you have to remember: you are having an anniversary during Christmas Season. Try not to forget you have an anniversary as well as the holiday. No combination gifts, please.
satby
@Major Major Major Major: Congrats Major Major Major and best wishes!
Amir Khalid
@Major Major Major Major:
Will there be wedding pictures? Congratulations.
debbie
On a Columbus, Ohio radio newscast this morning: Portman’s taking himself out of the race will vault Kasich “a little bit” in the rankings.
He’ll still look like a boob, no matter how little or how much he’s vaulted.
Denali
@Raven,
Thank you for sharing this story about your friend.
Citizen_X
@Major Major Major Major: Congrats to you and the soon-to-be Mr. Major Major Major Major!
cmorenc
@Annie Laurie:
Putting O’Malley on the ’16 democratic ticket would assure the dems of carrying the crucial swing state of Maryland. Putting Biden on the ’08 and ’12 ticket was key to carrying Delaware, and without Dick Cheney in ’00 and ’04 the GOP might never have carried Wyoming…
rikyrah
@Major Major Major Major:
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Tenar Darell
@Major Major Major Major: That’s really wonderful to see. Congratulations!