Meghan McCain was back on The View on Monday after giving birth to a baby she and her Federalist husband named Liberty (of course), and McCain had an incredible epiphany to share with her fellow co-hosts: At the age of 36, she has finally realized it’s truly fucked up that many women in the U.S. don’t have paid family leave. Congrats, I guess?
“The whole time I was thinking, what a privilege it is to have this kind of maternity leave, and then, as I thought about it, the more angry I got that there weren’t women in the rest of America that had the same kind of luxury that I had working at The View,” McCain said. She continued: “Then I started getting more and more angry that conservatives in particular, given that we’re the party of family values, and that everything about our ideology sort of stems from the nucleus of the family, that we are leaving women in this country without the capacity and ability, unless you have an employer that allows you to to take care of your child, to heal physically, which is something that needs to happen.”
It took having a baby herself to open her eyes; it’s not like people have been screaming for decades that new parents need paid time off to care for a child. “I just think, maybe it takes personal experience sometimes to get on board,” she mused.
Of course McCain, who said she “did a lot of research” on this issue while on leave, supports very bad plans pushed by conservatives, like Marco Rubio’s proposal to have people use their Social Security benefits to pay for needed time off.
What “new” issue will McCain’s eyes be opened about next? I’m sure we’ll find out!
Wednesday is going to be “fun”—over the weekend, a group of Republican Senators led by Ted Cruz announced they would be joining Josh Hawley
in challenging Joe Biden’s victory. Via the New York Times:
Mr. Cruz and 10 other Republican senators have proposed the creation of an election commission to investigate claims of voter fraud in certain states within 10 days, and said they would vote to reject electors for Mr. Biden on Wednesday until one was formed. (There is little chance one will be.)
…
Mr. Cruz’s call to reject the election outcome is backed by Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, both of Tennessee; Mike Braun of Indiana; Steve Daines of Montana; Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; John Kennedy of Louisiana; James Lankford of Oklahoma; Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming; Roger Marshall of Kansas; and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
It’s obvious why Cruz and Hawley are doing this—this is the bone they’re throwing to Trump supporters in hopes that their future runs for president in 2024 won’t be derailed. Hard to believe that they would put their own personal ambitions and thirst for power above all else! But Mitch McConnell is not pleased, and neither are an increasingly vocal group of Republicans who are upset that their personal ambitions are now being threatened because some of their stupid colleagues are pulling a dangerous stunt. From the Washington Post:
McConnell has told others privately that he is frustrated by Hawley’s decision to challenge slates of Biden electors and force votes likely to divide Republicans, saying it will serve only to invite a political backlash from Trump supporters against GOP senators who vote to confirm Biden’s victory.
In an open letter to his constituents, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), a frequent Trump critic, went further, calling the effort to use the congressional process to reverse the election results a “dangerous ploy,” given that there is no evidence of widespread fraud. Instead, Sasse wrote, the effort is “designed to disenfranchise millions of Americans simply because they voted for someone in a different party.”
…
Late Saturday, Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) issued strongly worded condemnations of the efforts of their Republican colleagues to dispute the results. Romney wrote: “The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic. The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it.” And Toomey wrote that the push by Cruz, Hawley and others “directly undermines” the fundamental democratic right of people to elect their own leaders.
- One of Donald Trump’s final acts as president, aside from committing what to my eyes appear to be crimes, will be giving both Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes the Presidential Medal of Freedom. [Washington Post]
- It’s Nancy Pelosi, again! [CNN]
- We get it, you love guns, Lauren. [Politico]
- According to Senator David Perdue, who may not be in the Senate for much longer depending on the results of Tuesday’s runoff election, it’s “disgusting” that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger recorded his call with Donald Trump in which Donald Trump asked Raffensperger to throw the election his way. As for what was discussed on the call itself, here’s what Perdue had to say: ““I didn’t hear anything in that tape that the president hasn’t already said for weeks now since the November election.” [Politico]
- Yes.
- Julian Assange will not be coming to America. [New York Times]
- Some good news in the movement to end cash bail.