The Republican establishment isn’t pleased with Rush Limbaugh

Rush’s attempt to increase his ratings and get noticed again do hurt Republicans…beating up on a college student is not good optics.
A senior Republican strategist • In response to Rush Limbaugh’s calling a pro-contraception college student a “slut” and a “prostitute” earlier this week. What we find interesting is that the speaker in question is identified by the Washington Post as “a senior party strategist granted anonymity to speak candidly out of wariness of crossing Limbaugh publicly.” This speaks not only to the enormous power Limbaugh wields amongst the Republican base, but also the sense of legitimacy that the GOP establishment continues to bestow upon him by refusing to denounce his statements publicly. To his credit, Rick Santorum, who’s as anti-contraception as anybody, called Limbaugh’s comments “absurd.” source

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

» Why? Well, these statements in opposition to placing female soldiers on the front lines of battle may have had something to do with it. Or maybe it’s his opposition to abortion, or his opposition to contraception. Santorum may be aware of this deficit he faces: As Molly Ball at The Atlantic notes, “Santorum began his speech by thanking his mother, his wife, and his eldest daughter at length, emphasizing their professional bona fides. He seemed to be implicitly going out of his way to assure women he took a modern view of their place in the workplace and role in society.”

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

In 1988, 10% of Americans supported equal marriage rights. Now, after twenty-three years of rather intense political struggles, proponents of gay rights can plausibly claim a mandate. Polling over the last eight months strongly suggests that a majority of Americans—51% in the latest CNN poll—support same-sex marriage, and while public policy regrettably hasn’t caught up with public opinion yet, this is nonetheless a huge milestone for the gay rights movement, and civil rights as a whole. The aforementioned CNN poll was the fourth in eight months implying majority support.

2009 two years ago, opponents of gay marriage outweighed supporters by 11%
2012 in a year and a half, gay marriage advocates will outnumber opponents by 16% (if current trends continue)
4% per-year increase in support for gay marriage since 2008; usually, it’s usually around 1-2% per year source

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

history Sweden has some of the broadest, furthest-reaching sexual assault laws of any country in the world, partly due to a history that favors womens’ rights.
result Sexual assault cases are reported in Sweden more than anywhere in the European Union – and the culture encourages high degrees of equality in gender roles.
reaction “Sometimes we lawyers joke that soon you have to have a written permission before you can have sex,” said Bengt Hesselberg, a Swedish lawyer. LOL, funny guy.

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Mar 2012 17:34