"Rebranding" BS

Earlier this month, we noted the lower House of Congress' failure to ensure equal access to military family benefits. Yes, you read that right. The G-O-TEA led House could not even agree to that.

Rep. Dina Titus (D-Paradise) has been working on this issue for some time. And finally, she succeeded this month at securing a committee vote for her legislation as an amendment to a related veterans' bill. It then lost by one vote.

Obviously, Rep. Titus was upset. However, she's not alone on this.



And she isn't stopping on this one issue. Yesterday, Rep. Titus joined Rep. Steven Horsford (D-North Las Vegas) in signing a discharge petition for ENDA. And as of today, Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colorado) now has 75 signatures for his ENDA discharge petition.

The catch? All 75 of those signatures are from Democrats. And House Republican "leaders" just canceled all remaining work days until after the election. How sweet. So right after Congress returns from summer recess, the House will essentially enjoy a fall recess. We wonder where else one can find so many paid vacation days.

Unfortunately for millions of LGBTQ American workers, it's far from easy to even feel safe at work. Rep. Polis has amended the House version of ENDA to close any & all loopholes opened by the US Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision. Even though President Obama did sign an executive order forbidding federal contractors from engaging in employment discrimination, that still leaves millions of LGBTQ Americans throughout the nation who simply have the misfortune of living in a state without a state level ENDA and working for a company without any federal contracts.

Last November, the US Senate passed ENDA on a broad, bipartisan 64-32 vote of approval. Yet since then, the House has refused to take it up. Just like House Republican "leaders'" blithe dismissal of military equality legislation, they've been awfully swift in shooting down any & all attempts at bringing ENDA to the House floor.

Last November, the Republican Party's internal culture war burst onto national media headlines when Liz Cheney nearly disowned her sister in preparation for a US Senate campaign in Wyoming. Yet while Liz Cheney later abandoned her diastrous attempt at electoral politics to return to the cozy confines of the Northern Virginia DC suburbs, her sister Mary Cheney continues to plead with her party to make peace with the 21st century. Unfortunately for her and other Republican campaign consultants hoping to "revamp the party's image", the 21st Century Know Nothings continue pulling the G-O-TEA in more of a 19th century direction.



They're still struggling to accept marriage equality. They're still attacking transgender Americans with reckless abandon. They won't allow a floor vote on ENDA. And they can't even allow equal access to military spousal benefits. And we're supposed to believe "Republican rebranding" is real?

Sure, it's real... Bull$h!+.

FAIL Family Feud

Every so often, this happens. Worlds collide. Feuds erupt. And the "political media" behave like Hollywood paparazzi.

We're seeing it again today. But this time, there's an interesting policy twist. And that's (the only reason) why we're talking about it here.

No, we're not talking about Kanye West's bizarre tirade against President Obama. Rather, we're looking at the fast erupting Cheney family feud.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his family are back in the headlines today after his daughter, Liz Cheney, went on "Fox News Sunday" to promote her Wyoming US Senate campaign. When Liz stated her opposition to marriage equality on national TV, that sparked the anger of the Former Vice President's other daughter, Mary Cheney. Even his daughter-in-law and Mary's wife, Heather Poe, joined the fray!

Things erupted on Sunday when Mary Cheney, a lesbian, and her wife were at home watching “Fox News Sunday” — their usual weekend ritual. Liz Cheney appeared on the show and said that she opposed same-sex marriage, describing it as “just an area where we disagree,” referring to her sister. Taken aback and hurt, Mary Cheney took to her Facebook page to blast back: “Liz — this isn’t just an issue on which we disagree you’re just wrong — and on the wrong side of history.”

But then Mary Cheney’s wife, Heather Poe, went further, touching on Liz Cheney’s relocation from Northern Virginia to Wyoming to seek office. (Liz Cheney is already battling accusations of carpetbagging in the race.)

“I can’t help but wonder how Liz would feel if as she moved from state to state, she discovered that her family was protected in one but not the other,” Ms. Poe wrote on her Facebook page. “Yes, Liz,” she added, “in fifteen states and the District of Columbia you are my sister-in-law.”

The feud reveals tensions not just within the family but in the Republican Party more broadly as it seeks to respond to both a changing America and an energized, fervently conservative base.

We never thought we would say this, but Liz Cheney’s "Fox News Sunday" fiasco may be even worse than Governor Brian Sandoval's (R-Dios Mio) Univision Las Vegas interview in April that made news for all the wrong reasons. Governor Sandoval had wanted to use it to celebrate his (late) embrace of comprehensive immigration reform, but it instead grabbed headlines because he reiterated his opposition to marriage equality. Yet as awful as that convoluted statement on civil rights was, it pales in comparison to a TV interview sparking a family feud that's reminding the entire nation of the Republican Party's Culture War full of FAIL.

While the Cheney family feud may be the story everyone is talking about, it gives us a chance to notice what other prominent Republicans are saying about LGBTQ Americans. In Michigan, they're tapping discredited "experts" to lie "testify" in court about LGBTQ families. In Indiana, they're pushing a marriage ban that most voters there oppose. In Illinois, they're planning a massive exorcism in a last ditch effort to stop marriage equality (no, really). And in Colorado & California, they're still attacking transgender youth.

And let's not forget who's setting the example from on top. On Capitol Hill, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Burnt to a Crisp) still leads the way in H8... And in FAIL.

Just a day after House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) claimed the LGBT workplace protections are “unnecessary,” he [made] sure that an anti-gay group has a place to meet on Capitol Hill.

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an Illinois-based group that believes homosexuality is a “deviation” from sexual norms comparable to pornography, promiscuity, and incest, and it has been directly responsible for exporting American homophobia to countries like Russia, organizing trips for anti-gay leaders like the National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown to go speak with Russian lawmakers. They had planned a meeting today in a Senate office building that features three anti-gay voices: Austin Ruse of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), Janice Shaw Crouse of Concerned Women for America, and Steven Mosher of the Population Research Institute. The session, called “The Family in America,” is specifically geared toward sharing lessons learned from successful anti-gay campaigns in other countries — like Russia.

On Thursday, Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, who represents WCF’s home state of Illinois, realized that his office had booked the space being used for this anti-gay symposium and canceled access to the meeting room. A spokesman for Kirk’s office told BuzzFeed that the Senator “doesn’t affiliate with groups that discriminate.” As of Friday morning, it seemed that the event would not be able to proceed.

That was, at least, until Speaker Boehner stepped in and secured new meeting space for the group on the Hill.

So not only did the House Speaker diss LGBTQ workers while lying about ENDA, but he also intervened to save space on Capitol Hill for a H8 group meeting! He supposedly has no time for comprehensive immigration reform, but he always seems to make time to spread the message of bigotry. How precious (NOT).

And Republicans wonder why Senator Harry Reid (D-Fierce) is telling them to pull themselves together? Their behavior has been sickening, but not in a good way. Perhaps "spreppy" is a better description.

The Cheney family feud is really just the surface of the larger G-O-TEA Culture War FAIL. It remains to be seen how many more Republican politicians embarrass themselves and each other on TV before they realize just how FAIL-o-rific their support for discrimination is.