Two-Thirds Of Americans Want KBJ Confirmed. Guess Those GOP Attacks Worked Just Great!
She's also tied for highest support of any Supreme Court justice.
A new national poll from Marquette University Law School found that two-thirds of Americans — a nice round 66 percent — support the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Thirty-four percent were opposed, and we guess the poll rounded off the "no opinion" option since that's not listed.
Also too, the pollsters say that Jackson is seen as “very qualified” by 46 percent of respondents, and as “somewhat qualified” by 42 percent, although 12 percent see her as “not qualified,” and we're going to be generous and assume that's because they think no Biden nominee could be, instead of the real reason, which is "because racist."
Jackson had near-unanimous (95 percent) support from self-identified Democrats, while Republicans opposed her by 71 percent to 29 percent. Independents tracked pretty closely to the overall results, with 67 percent supporting her nomination, and 32 percent opposed.
And here's an infonugget that we fully expect rightwing Republicans to either rationalize away or ignore altogether:
Those interviewed after the Senate confirmations hearings began were somewhat more likely to say they supported her confirmation: Jackson was supported by 64% of those interviewed before the hearings and by 72% after hearings had begun. Prior to the hearings, 44% said Jackson was very qualified, while after hearings began 52% said she was very qualified.
Guess all those screamy distortions of Jackson's record as a judge in child pornography cases didn't swing opinion against Jackson, although the poll didn't ask respondents specifically why they supported or opposed her; we can imagine that the attacks may well have riled up the Republican base in ways that didn't show up in this data set.
Also interesting: For all the rightwing fulminations that it was terribly horribly unfair of Joe Biden to say he was following through on his campaign pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Court, including a mention of Jackson's race and gender tended to elicit more support:
To test the connection of race and gender with views of Jackson, a random half of respondents were asked a question that described her as “nominated to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court,” while the other random half were asked a question that described her as “nominated to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court.”
When Jackson’s race and gender were mentioned, 69% supported her confirmation, compared to 62% when race and gender were not mentioned.
However, the pollsters add the caveat that the difference is "not statistically significant, given the size of the difference and the sample size." A similar question that attempted to see whether mentioning Jackson's race and gender affected perceptions of her qualifications for the Court showed even less difference.
Not too surprisingly, Jackson had the highest level of support — 86 percent — from Black respondents, although 76 percent of Hispanics and 59 percent of white respondents also supported her.
Women (69 percent support) were more likely to support Jackson's confirmation than men (61 percent support), too.
In terms of political outlook, the results seem a little surprising. As you'd expect, folks who say they're "very conservative" strongly opposed Jackson (27 percent support, 72 percent oppose). But those who describe themselves as "somewhat conservative," while mostly opposing her confirmation, were a bit more evenly split, with 45 percent supporting Jackson and 54 percent opposing her. The diehard wingnuts will no doubt call for a purge.
Moderates supported Jackson by 69 percent to 30 percent, while there was almost no difference between "somewhat" and "very" liberal respondents, who supported her by 92 percent and 94 percent, respectively.
Charles Franklin, director of the poll, told USA Today that the high level of bipartisan support for Jackson was a contrast to polling on actual issues coming before the Court, where partisan differences tend to be much sharper. With nearly a third of Republicans supporting Jackson, Franklin said, "Joe Biden would love to get 29 percent of the Republican Party." Well, heck, man, not if you say it out loud like that.
In a different poll, taken prior to Jackson's confirmation hearings in the Senate, the Gallup Organization found that Jackson tied for the highest initial support for a Supreme Court nominee, with 58 percent of those polled saying they'd vote in favor of her nomination, 30 percent saying they'd vote against, and 12 percent having no opinion.
Wait, who did she tie with for that high level of initial support? Weirdly, that'd be John Roberts, who garnered 59 percent support back in 2005. Go figure! More recently, Roberts had the highest job approval of anyone in government, too.
America is a weird place.
OPEN THREAD.
[Marquette Law School Poll / USA Today / Gallup Poll]
Yr Wonkette is entirely funded by reader donations. If you can, please show your support with a monthly $5 or $10 donation. We love you so much there's no margin of error.
Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons.
Biden Shitcans Jerk GOP Losers From Fitness Council And They Will Not Shut Up
WNBA star and famous cook man take their spots.
The Biden administration Wednesday gave the heave-ho to two candidates for US Senate who'd been serving on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, because the Hatch Act prohibits government employees from running for office. Former NFL star Herschel Walker is embarrassing himself in the Georgia US Senate race, while Dr. Mehmet Oz is running for the GOP nomination in Pennsylvania, although he lives in New Jersey.
They're running!
Strap Yourselves In, Folks: Herschel Walker’s Gonna Explain Evolution To You
PA Senate Candidate Dr. Oz Promises To Do A Crap Job If Elected
The two will be replaced by a couple of actual role models, two-time WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne of the Washington Mystics pro basketball concern, and José Andrés, the chef and philanthropist who founded World Central Kitchen and regularly gives EVERYBODY eat in crisis areas around the world, including, most recently, Ukraine.
Delle Donne and Andrés will serve as co-chairs of the Council, which promotes "healthy, accessible eating and physical activity for all Americans, regardless of background or ability,” according to a White House statement.
Presidential assistant Gautam Raghavan wrote terse notes to Walker and Oz Wednesday to let them know they needed to go, saying,
On behalf of President Biden, I am writing to request your resignation as a Member of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition. Please submit your resignation to me by the close of business today. Should we not receive your resignation, your position with the Council will be terminated effective 6 p.m. tonight.
The letter didn't mention the Hatch Act; maybe it should have, if only to head off the predictable hissy from Oz, who took to Twitter to insist wild Russian weightlifters and synchronized swimmers couldn't drag him from his very important job, because he's too principled to knuckle under to tyranny!
Clearly, Joe Biden can\u2019t be around anyone who doesn\u2019t completely fall in line with his fear-mongering authoritarian one-size-fits-all COVID handling. I am proud of my service and will not resign.pic.twitter.com/EP1vHWATp4— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@Dr. Mehmet Oz) 1648071503
President Trump appointed me to two terms on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition. The White House just emailed me demanding my resignation by the end of the day.
Clearly, Joe Biden can’t be around anyone who doesn’t completely fall in line with his fear-mongering authoritarian one-size-fits-all COVID handling. I am proud of my service and will not resign.
Again, Hatch Act. We're assuming someone must have told him it had nothing to do with his political bravery. Then again, it's not like Trump appointees have ever thought laws applied to them anyway.
Oz continued his battle for attention Thursday with this very good meme!
Fauci Thursday thoughts (probably)pic.twitter.com/KxwpRd3cAu— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@Dr. Mehmet Oz) 1648148677
This is truly a smart and good meme, because Dr. Mehmet Oz sold good patriotic lifesaving snake oil on the Oprah Winfrey show, while Dr. Fauci tyrannically asked Americans to get vaccinated against a deadly pandemic and to wear masks on their faces, which liberty-loving human beings simply cannot do.
Walker also bitched about it, don't care.
On Twitter, both Andrés and Delle Donne said they were honored to accept the appointment and that they looked forward to working together. Andres said he was
excited to get to work putting nutrition at the heart of creating a healthy, prosperous & more equitable future for America and the world, where food brings us together to build #longertables
And Delle Donne wrote that she looked forward "to building awareness around the best ways to take care of our minds and bodies."
Then we bet they both said in DMs that Dr. Oz was a quack and a wanker, the end.
Yr Wonkette is kept in peak condition by generous donations from you, our readers. If you can, drop and give us $5 or $10 a month so we can keep bringing you the Snark of Champions.
No, Really, What's Up With Idaho?
Some good news and some full on WTF news.
As we mentioned in our weirdass Idaho story yesterday, Idaho is having a bit of a moment just now. Let's review: In just the past two weeks, Yr Wonkette has featured these steaming nuggets of Pure Idaho Weird — and half of them involve the state legislature!
- Idaho House votes to jail Idaho librarians for Sex Books
- Idaho House votes to impose life sentences on parents and doctors of trans kids
- North Idaho GOP tries to take over county Democratic Party, install sweaty antisemite as chair.
- Idaho legislature passes Texas-style abortion bill
- Ammon Bundy goes to bat for parents' right to let baby starve.
- Tucson "rape camp" frauder not really helping child custody dispute.
Happily we have some updates on a few of those, and they don't all suck, so let's take a look-see!
Yay! Librarians Can Keep Promoting Degeneracy!
Yr Doktor Zoom just loves his Boise Library and its exclamation point.
After the state House passed a bill that would have allowed librarians and libraries to be criminally charged for "disseminating materials harmful to minors," the state Senate leadership told reporters last week the bill wouldn't get a hearing in the Senate, effectively killing any chance of the bill moving forward. State Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder said at a virtual luncheon with reporters, "I do not see the chamber picking this one up. I do not see it getting a hearing in committee. I think it’s very appropriately numbered, 666.”
"We don’t really tell our chairmen what to put in their drawer or not to put in their drawer. [...] But there are a lot of bills, probably moreso than normal, that are in drawers around our side of the building. I think most of them will stay there. So I don’t think you’ll see some of the craziness that the House seems to like to do get very far in the Senate."
At the same meeting, Winder said he didn't expect that another crazy House bill — HB 675, which would prohibit gender-affirming care for trans kids — would proceed, either. And as our next newspotato indicates, he was right! [Idaho Press]
Senate Kills Anti-Trans Bill Too
This week, Idaho Senate Republicans issued a statement that they will not consider HB 675, which would have banned gender-affirming care for trans kids and would have imposed life sentences in prison for doctors who provided such care, as well as parents who approved it. The Republicans were very careful to make clear that they absolutely oppose "any and all gender reassignment and surgical manipulation of the natural sex of minors," but said the House's bill went too far because it
undermines parental rights and allows the government to interfere in parents’ medical decision-making authority for their children. [...]
We believe in parents’ rights and that the best decisions regarding medical treatment options for children are made by parents, with the benefit of their physician’s advice and expertise.
Hating on trans people is all well and good, and Idaho Republicans are happy to do it, but only if that only hurts trans people themselves, like trying to ban trans athletes. Interfering with parents' decisions about their kids' healthcare, however, is more than they're ready to do, unless a woman wants to terminate a pregnancy. In that case, she needs to become a parent, and after that, Republicans don't care one way or the other about her or her brat. [Idaho Statesman]
Kootenai Dems Foil GOP Ratfuckery
In North Idaho, Republicans came up with a kooky plan by to take over the Democratic Party in Kootenai County. The place is already a GOP stronghold, but one of the brain geniuses in the county Republican leadership was recorded talking up a plan to infiltrate the Democrats by running Republicans for Democratic precinct captains in May's primary. Luckily, a non-insane GOP guy shared the recording with the media, and Kootenai Democrats chair Evan Koch wrote this week that
In less than 48 hours we identified and recruited the real Democrats needed to save our Central Committee. They turned out and committed to run in most every open precinct. In fact, many people contacted us to volunteer before being asked.
Only nineteen Republicans filed to run for Democratic precinct captain and now their names and precincts are in the public record. Although this attempted insurgence is a clear concern, it will not threaten control of the committee.
Hooray for local journalism, and hooray for local activism, too! [Kootenai County Democrats]
Ammon Bundy Has HAD IT With You Sheeple, Also Baby Is Safe Now
In that weirdass case where professional rightwing liberty provocateur (and independent candidate for governor) Ammon Bundy tried to mobilize people to make Idaho CPS return a malnourished baby to his parents, it seems the baby's family has decided to let the state take care of the 10-month-old, at least for a while. The Idaho Statesman reports the baby's grandfather, Diego Rodriguez, a Bundy adviser, said the parents "are giving custody of (the baby) to the state." No word on any details there; but that seems at least a temporary end to the saga. We'd also note that Rodriguez's blog, which had been railing about authorities "kidnapping" the child and CPS and local police engaging in "child trafficking," hasn't posted any updated outrage since Wednesday. [Idaho Statesman]
Rightwing internet talkshow guy Stew Peters said on his Thursday show that he'd received email from Rodriguez saying the judge had ordered that the baby be cared for by the state, and that Rodriguez was planning a "legal review" with his attorneys. The show also featured an interview with Idaho Lt. Gov Janice McGeachin, with more talk of how the poor baby had been "ripped away from the arms of his mother," talk of the state as "abductionists" and so on. (We're not linking, because the video includes the names and photos of medical and law enforcement personnel and a CPS social worker involved in the case.)
Very early Monday morning, Ammon Bundy posted to YouTube a video in which he again said the parents were "perfect" and that the state was lying in order to take the child away, accusing the judge of having "taken hundreds of children," which probably shouldn't be too surprising since she's a family court judge and Idaho has more than 400,000 minors in foster care, with between 1,800 and 1,900 child maltreatment victims reported each year between 2016 and 2019.
Bundy said the next hearing would be held April 8, and again claimed that the only problem was that the parents had "missed an appointment," and denied the doctors' concerns that the baby was malnourished. (Instead, Bundy insisted the baby had only gone to the hospital because he was "throwing up" a lot.)
Bundy then offered some great advice from a guy who wants to be governor:
The lesson we learn here is that you don't, don't take your kids to the hospital. Don't take your loved one to the hospital. You can't afford it. [...] There's a good chance that the state will get involved if you take your child to the hospital. This just proves it.
Bundy speculated about some "pretty eerie connections that are going on in timing" in the case, explained that the judge is a "very wicked woman, I mean very, very wicked, very wicked" who simply wanted to "destroy the family" as family court judges generally do. Finally, he reached his big conclusion:
You don't own your children. If you think you do, if you think you own 'em, that they're your children, you're a damn fool, because the state owns them, and they take them when they want, how they want, when they want. So don't you dare think that you're the one who has rights to your children. Don't you dare think that, don't even act like in any way that you do have those rights. We haven't defended them enough, and now they're taking our little children.
You know, we probably could have pointed out to him that most people regard their children as human beings that they have a moral obligation to care for and raise well, not as possessions, but Ammon Bundy never asks us about anything.
Here's Wingnut Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin Being Very Persuasive
Finally, a master class on how to interview a wingnut who won't give a straight answer, from KTVB Boise reporter Brian Holmes. He tried to get Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin on the record about a pretty simple question: When she sent a recorded video to be played at white suprempacist Nick Fuentes's "America First" hatefest, was she aware of Fuentes's racist beliefs? And if she did know, why did she go ahead and participate?
The interview aired February 28, but went viral this week when it was retwote by journalist Sergio Olmos. It's really very good: McGeachin tries to avoid the questions, and Holmes refuses to chase after her attempts to distract her.
We've cued the video up to the actual interview, but go right ahead and watch the whole report, if you need context on this shitbird Fuentes.
There's a full transcript of the interview at KTVB, and this post is already way too long, so we'll just focus in on McGeachin's brilliant hair-splitting: OK, maybe she'd heard of Fuentes, but she sent a video to express her views, not his, so why does anyone even care what he thinks? Also, she insists, it's totally unfair to ask her about the views of someone whose conference she participated in, because that's guilt by association and the media only pulls that on conservatives.
She perhaps has never heard of Jeremiah Wright or Bill Ayers.
Still, we guess McGeachin has a point: We're always hearing about how bad it supposedly is when Republicans speak at neo-Nazi conferences. But why doesn't the media ever report on Democrats speaking at neo-Nazi conferences? We just never hear about that, for some reason. [KTVB-TV]
Yr Wonkette is funded entirely by reader donations. If you can, please help out with a monthly $5 or $10 donation, so Dok can save up for his Idaho-to-Oregon escape fund.
Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons.
Which To Burn First, The Confederate Flag Or This Ginormous Blunt?
Meet Gary Chambers. He's running for US Senate in Louisiana, and he rules.
Gary Chambers may not have a very good chance in his campaign for the US Senate seat currently disgraced by Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-Louisiana). Chambers may not manage to replace Kennedy in the Senate, but he's already a better human being: You'd never see Gary Chambers descend to the skeezy depths of red-baiting and bullshit that are Kennedy's stock in trade. But that may damn Chambers by faint praise, since the same could be said of a two-by-four.
What we're getting at here is that you might really enjoy this Washington Post profile of Chambers (link should get you past the paywall), who has an underdog's enthusiasm for stirring shit up and calling attention to issues that need attention.
Also, a couple of his campaign ads are pretty brilliant, which no one's ever going to say about Kennedy.
In one, which debuted in January, Chambers smokes weed and offers a blunt assessment of the need for criminal justice reform and the legalization of weed, calling attention to racial disparities in prosecutions and sentencing for marijuana crimes.
Every 37 seconds someone is arrested for possession of marijuana. Since 2010, state and local police have arrested an estimated 7.3 million Americans for violating marijuana laws, over half of all drug arrests. Black people are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana laws than white people. States waste $3.7 billion enforcing marijuana laws every year. Most of the people police are arresting aren't dealers, but rather people with small mounts of pot — just like me.
In a snickering review that may have been written under the influence of Scooby Snacks, Rolling Stone takes pains to point out that a Chambers spokesperson confirmed the "absolutely massive blunt" was real, and that Chambers is "doing his own stunts" in the ad. In a Twitter post, Chambers explained he hoped the ad
works to not only destigmatize the use of marijuana, but also forces a new conversation that creates the pathway to legalize this beneficial drug, and forgive those who were arrested due to outdated ideology.
Chambers's other viral ad, "Scars and Bars," is even more visually stunning. Like "37 Seconds," it was written by his communications consultant Erick Sanchez, and cost less than $500 to make. In it, Chambers douses a Confederate flag with gasoline as he recalls the 1872 election of P.B.S. Pinchback, who would have been Louisiana's first Black US senator, but never took his seat due to false accusations of voter fraud.
Here in Louisiana and all over the South, Jim Crow never really left, and the remnants of the Confederacy remain. [...] The attacks against Black people, our right to vote and participate in this democracy are methodical. Gerrymandered districts are a byproduct of the Confederacy.
As the video shows him flicking a lighter and setting the traitor flag on fire, Chambers says in voiceover,
Our system isn't broken, it's designed to do exactly what it's doing, which is producing measurable inequity. One in 13 Black Americans are deprived of the right to vote. One in nine Black Americans do not have health insurance. One in three Black children live in poverty.
The flag, fully engulfed, falls to the ground, and Chambers says,
It's time to burn what remains of the Confederacy down. I do believe the South will rise again. But this time, It'll be on our terms.
Is that a beautiful ad or what? Chambers told the Post that his campaign's biggest single day of fundraising — a "six-figure day" — came in the 24 hours after the ad was released. Oh, yes, and also the threats, because egad he burned the flag of a country that ceased to be 157 years ago.
In one, the writer says, “Come to my house and burn it and it will be the last thing you ever burn.”
Chambers isn't especially worried by such talk, and noted that he generally keeps a handgun close, and that
The only way we’re gonna change this country is to tell the truth about it. And if it makes you upset that I burned a Confederate flag, you’re part of the problem.
Why yes, we like Mr. Chambers quite a bit.
Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher is a fan, calling the Confederate flag spot "the most striking primary ad I’ve perhaps ever seen in my life ... Without that ad, we wouldn’t be talking about him." And here we are, talking too.
That said, Chambers will have a hell of a time making headway against Kennedy, who has all the advantages of incumbency and a big fat pile of money — $11 million — to spend this fall. Louisiana has that weirdass "top two primary" or "jungle primary" system, where everybody runs in the general election, and if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, there's a runoff between the top two candidates in December. The last time he ran, in 2016, Kennedy easily won reelection, with 60 percent of the vote and no runoff. There's little reason to think Louisiana voters are dissatisfied with Kennedy's aw-shucks cornpone simple country lawyer schtick, and his voters don't care that the old phony went to Vanderbilt, U of Virginia Law, and freaking Oxford.
Kennedy dismisses Chambers as
a “woke activist” and “Nancy Pelosi’s socialist dream candidate” who likes to smoke “the Devil’s lettuce.”
See? Folksy! Also, fuck him.
For his part, Chambers says the race is winnable, or at least he wants to shake things up for future Louisiana Democrats:
“If I lose an election, but Louisiana ends up in the next year electing a Democrat, a Black Democratic governor in 2023 and then follow that up by sending somebody else to the U.S. Senate later, that’s a win,” says Chambers. “This thing isn’t about me. This is about making sure that the opportunity exists for somebody to get there.”
We wish Mr. Chambers all the luck in his effort to smoke Kennedy, and if you want to help him out, here's his campaign website.
OPEN THREAD.
[WaPo / Gary Chambers for US Senate]
Yr Wonkette is funded entirely by reader donations. If you can, please give $5 or $10 a month to help us keep this thing going, whatever this thing is!