Biden’s Rising Evangelical Support

While the vast majority of white evangelicals continue to display their abject moral bankruptcy through their support of Donald Trump - a thoroughly immoral individual - some are beginning to shift towards Joe Biden a Catholic for whom his religious beliefs actual mean something. While not large, the shift has instilled panic in the Trump campaign whose game plan is to garner even higher margins of support among those who voted for Trump in 2016 even as Trump continues to alienate the remainder of Americans. The defections among white Catholics who voted fro Trump in 2016 are even larger despite Trump's efforts to paint Biden as a pro-abortion radical. A piece in Politico looks at Trump's growing problems with the so-called religious conservatives. Here are article highlights:

It was June 10, 2008. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama had gathered with dozens of evangelical leaders — many of them fixtures of the religious right — at the urging of campaign aides. If he could offer genuine glimpses of his own abiding faith, they insisted he could chisel away at the conservative Christian voting bloc.

The strategy worked. Obama’s campaign stops at churches, sermonlike speeches and his professed belief in Jesus Christ earned him 24 percent of the white evangelical vote — doubling Democrats’ support among young white evangelicals and gaining 3 percentage points with the overall demographic from the 2004 election.

Now, allies of President Donald Trump worry his 2020 opponent, Joe Biden, can do the same — snatching a slice of a critical voting bloc from Trump when he can least afford departures from his base.

Biden, a lifelong Roman Catholic, has performed better in recent polling among white evangelicals — and other religious groups — than Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton did in 2016 and is widely perceived as more religious than the current White House occupant. A Pew Research study conducted earlier this year showed that a majority of U.S. adults (63 percent) think Trump is “not at all” or “not too religious,” versus 55 percent who said they believed Biden is somewhat or very religious.

Many conservative evangelical leaders have argued that Biden’s positions on cultural issues — like abortion, judges and religious freedom — are disqualifying. Still, anxiety is growing inside Trump’s orbit about the former vice president’s ability to peel off Christian voters who supported Trump in 2016, including the 81 percent of white evangelicals he carried, according to eight administration officials, White House allies and people involved with the Trump campaign.

Such an outcome could deal a fatal blow to [Trump's] the president’s reelection, which largely hinges on expanding his support among religious voters to compensate for enthusiasm gaps elsewhere.

“Here’s the problem for Trump: He needs to be at 81 percent or north to win reelection. Any slippage and he doesn’t get a second term, and that’s where Joe Biden comes into play,” said David Brody, chief political analyst at the Christian Broadcasting Network. “In this environment, with everything from the coronavirus to George Floyd and Trump calling himself the ‘law-and-order president,’ Biden could potentially pick off a percent or 2 from that 81 percent number.”

Some of Biden’s campaign appearances and debate answers have been infused with religious undertones, and his campaign reportedly hosts a weekly call with faith leaders to crowdsource policy and personnel suggestions.

At a CNN town hall in February, Biden said his faith “gives me some reason to have hope and purpose” and praised the “ultimate act of Christian charity” shown by members of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., after they forgave a white supremacist who murdered nine members of their congregation in a 2014 mass shooting.

In an op-ed last December that included references to Scripture and Pope Francis’ second encyclical “Laudato Si,” Biden described “the core concepts of decency, fair play and virtue” that he learned through his Catholic upbringing as guiding principles in his political career.

Even Trump allies recognize Biden has an opening to strike the empathetic and compassionate tone that Trump eschewed in many of his comments about the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide protests over racial inequality.

The president's law-and-order mantra arrived at an already perilous time for his campaign, which has witnessed a steady erosion in support for Trump across key religious demographics and a leftward shift in voter attitudes on issues of race and criminal justice. Trump has already seen double-digit declines in his support from white Catholics, white evangelicals and white mainline Protestants since April — unsettling trends that triggered his recent overtures to conservative Christians, including his visit to St. John’s and an executive order on religious freedom that he signed earlier this month.

“There are evangelicals who didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 who will in 2020, but there are plenty of white evangelicals who are disappointed in his administration’s response to coronavirus and are embracing — for the first time ever — some belief in systemic racism,” said John Fea, a history professor at Messiah College. “They are the ones who are just dying for a reason not to vote for Trump.”

“The Supreme Court decision has caused some evangelicals to lose faith in the political playbook that says justices and judges can deliver what we care about,” said Fea, noting that one of Trump’s main appeals to white evangelicals is his record on judicial appointments and his promise to continue appointing conservative judges.

“It’s not going to have a big effect on evangelical support for Trump, but in the mix of all these other things it does add up,” he added.

Fea, who teaches in Mechanicsburg, Pa., added that “hardscrabble working-class Catholics” in the Philadelphia suburbs and across Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan should be a primary target for the Biden campaign. He noted that although Trump won the Catholic vote by a 7-point margin four years ago, his support has wavered far more with Catholic voters than it has with white evangelicals, providing his opponent a ripe opportunity.

“In some ways, just the fact that he is Joe Biden from Scranton, Pa., is going to win him Catholic votes in those states,” Fea said.

Is McConnell Trying to Lose the GOP Senate Majority

Mitch "the Grim Reaper" McConnell - huge tax cuts to the
wealthy, but no concern for working Americans.

More than 26 million Americans have lost their jobs, America's GDP dropped 4.8% in the first calendar quarter, and consumer and business spending has dropped significantly, and states and localities are teetering financially as the coronavirus pandemic continues.  Meanwhile, Sen. David Perdue, a Georgia Republican, is sounding the alarm that Georgia is in play and could go blue.  Yet what is Mitch "the Grim Reaper" McConnell's top priority? Having the Senate back in session to work on judicial nominees, no doubt to appoint more far right, anti-LGBT and anti-abortion ideologues to the federal bench. Considering more spending and aid to states and localities - and by extension, thousands and thousands of public employees - is seemingly nowhere on McConnell's radar. A column in the Washington Post by a former Republican looks at McConnell's bizarre priorities that seem to want states to implement draconian employee layoffs further driving up the ranks of the unemployed while dangerously cutting necessary public services.  Here are column highlights:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) first suggested that instead of receiving any more federal funding, state and local governments should go bankrupt — which would entail layoffs and pay cuts for firefighters, police, public health officials and other critical personnel. Now comes word that when the Senate returns to the Capitol . . . . it will focus “not on the coronavirus but instead on judicial nominations that have long been a priority for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell," NBC News reports.

Let’s review where things stand. The economy shrank by 4.8 percent in the first quarter, which includes only a couple of weeks of coronavirus-related disruption. The second quarter’s GDP in all likelihood will look like something from the Great Depression (as much as a 30 percent drop, according to some experts).

The Post also reports, “Spending by Americans tumbled 7.6 percent, and business investment shrank 8.6 percent, according to the Commerce Department report, which gives the first comprehensive look at how painful the economic fallout from the pandemic has been.” We are buying groceries, but not much of anything else. McConnell and Republicans seem to have learned nothing from economic history: It took three years to climb out of the Great Recession and more than a decade to recover from the Great Depression of the 1930s. Economists say the government was too slow to act and too stingy with aid in the past, mistakes that should not be repeated now.

So McConnell’s response to all this is to tell states to go bankrupt and confirm judges just as matters are about to get much worse for state and local employees. (The Post reports: “Some local governments have already started laying off or furloughing thousands of their workers, and the numbers are likely to grow markedly in the absence of federal aid. . . . Between 300,000 and 1 million public-sector workers could soon be out of a job or sent home without pay.”) The only jobs McConnell seems anxious to fill are lifetime federal judges.

McConnell’s indifference to the burgeoning train wreck in state and local government, we see in poll after poll, is out of sync with voters’ desire for more government involvement and federal aid. The latest Morning Consult poll shows that "74 percent of registered voters, including 84 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of Republicans, agreed that the federal government should be responsible for providing financial support to states during the coronavirus pandemic.” Note, that’s 65 percent of Republicans.

It’s not clear this is even popular in Kentucky, where McConnell is standing for reelection. The University of Kentucky is already laying off and furloughing employees, and the state assembly is cutting libraries and forgoing raises for public K-12 teachers. In Louisville . . . . If no solution is worked out by October 1, the mayor said they will have to consider [laying] off about 1,000 city employees which equals about 20% of all city workers.”

His Democratic opponent, Amy McGrath, is pummeling McConnell for his willingness to bail out large corporations but not his state’s teachers, firefighters, health-care workers, etc. . . . One wonders how Republican incumbents already facing tough reelection races (e.g. Susan Collins of Maine, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Martha McSally of Arizona) are going to explain this to laid-off first responders, teachers, nurses at city hospitals, librarians and others. Even if McConnell tried, it would be hard to come up with a position and set of priorities more likely to enrage his members’ constituents.

Virginia GOP Offered Puckett Job Before He Resigned from Virginia Senate

Puckett - a whore by any other name

As the investigation into the GOP's bribing of Sen. Phillip P. Puckett to resign from the Virginia Senate in exchange for a Tobacco Commission job and a judgeship for his daughter continues, it is beginning to appear that GOP denials about the bribery scheme are - surprise, surprise not true.  Some pesky e-mails disclose that the scheme predated Puckett's resignation after all.  The Washington Post reports on the continuing disclosures.  Here are excerpts:

The head of the state tobacco commission warned that the panel would create the appearance of “manipulating” power in the Virginia Senate if it announced that it was hiring Sen. Phillip P. Puckett on the same day he gave up his seat, according to e-mails released Thursday.

Tim Pfohl, interim executive director of the commission, said in a June 5 e-mail to Puckett, a Democrat from rural Russell County, that he had begged Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott) to delay making it known that Puckett was getting a top staff job with the commission. Kilgore is chairman of the commission.

“Phillip: Terry spoke to us today about announcing your role w/ the Commission in conjunction with what he said is your intention to announce your Senate plans tomorrow,” Pfohl wrote. “I implored him to ‘decouple’ those announcements for the sake of the appearance of the Commission manipulating the Senate balance of power and starting WW3 w/ the Governor’s administration.”

Pfohl went on to say that the commission’s executive committee still planned to meet a few days later to give Puckett the job.

“I mention all this so you know what’s being planned on our end to give this the most defensible appearance of due process,” Pfohl added.

The message is among 74 pages of e-mails that The Washington Post obtained Thursday under a Freedom of Information Act request.

The e-mail messages indicated that the commission was creating the post especially for Puckett, who was asked to help come up with his own job description. The position was to come with state employee benefits, a cell phone and possibly a car, according to the e-mails. The salary was not specified.

Puckett and Kilgore did not respond to messages seeking comment Thursday night. Nor did Puckett’s attorney, Thomas Bondurant. Kilgore’s attorney, Thomas Cullen, declined to comment.

The e-mail trail regarding the job offer begins on May 29, when Pfohl sent a message to Ned Stephenson, the commission’s deputy director. It indicates that Kilgore wanted to tailor a job at the commission to Puckett.  

Obviously, Puckett is a sleaze bag and one can only hope that his daughter does not get her promised judicial appointment.  Meanwhile, let's hope the feds make Terry Kilgore's life - and political future - a living hell.

Southwest Virginia Judgeship Scandals Impact Virginia Senate

One of the drawbacks of Virginia's judicial appointment system is that too often individuals gain judicial appointments based on either who they are related to or due to political cronyism (and how much money one has contributed to politicians).  A case in point is the drama surrounding the Virginia Senate where the GOP regained control of the chamber by bribing a Democrat Senator to abruptly resign with a plum job and a judgeship for his daughter.  Now, the would be GOP candidate for the now open seat has his own judgeship problems, this time involving his sister.  A column in the Richmond Times Dispatch looks at the two scandals.  Here are excerpts:

The Republican candidate in a snap election in Southwest Virginia that will decide control of the state Senate faces the same potential ethical headache that supposedly triggered the resignation of a Democrat, temporarily tipping the chamber to the GOP.

Del. Ben Chafin, like former Sen. Phillip Puckett, has a judge problem.

Chafin’s sister and former law partner is Teresa Chafin, a judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals. She joined the intermediate court in 2012, a year before her brother was elected to the House of Delegates. She faces reconfirmation by the legislature in 2020, when he could be starting his second full, four-year term in the Senate.

Puckett’s daughter, Martha Ketron, is seeking a juvenile and domestic relations court judgeship to which she was temporarily appointed by the local circuit court. He quit the Senate on June 9 because her nomination had been stalled by Republicans. The GOP floor leader said it’s wrong to pick as judges the relatives of sitting senators. Puckett now finds himself ensnared in a federal corruption investigation.

By doing away with an evenly divided, 20-20 Senate, you do away with Democratic control. For that 21st seat, Republicans had to find a weak link. Puckett was among the weakest.

Supposedly to save his daughter’s judicial ambitions, Puckett surrendered, in midterm, a seat in deeply red territory. Puckett practically handed it to Republicans, leaving at the worst time for his party: the finale of the budget and health care fight, when neither side could spare a vote.

It appeared Puckett might get something in return: a high-paying job as the second-in-command of the Republican-controlled tobacco board.

It underwrites new and existing businesses across the tobacco belt with millions of dollars from Virginia’s share of the national settlement with cigarette makers. That board members have access to piles of cash makes them very popular in the economically ailing region — and even more powerful.

Such coziness apparently aroused the suspicions of federal prosecutors. They are now investigating the circumstances surrounding Puckett’s resignation.

The job-and-judgeship imbroglio is at least the third public corruption investigation in Virginia since 2011. The first led to the conviction of Phil Hamilton, vice chairman of the House budget committee; the second, to the indictments of former Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen.

Just ahead of the mass meeting at which Chafin was nominated, a subpoena for correspondence and records was issued to the tobacco board, according to legal and political sources.

It would apply to the agency’s overseers. Among them: Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott. . . .

Kilgore is lawyering up, hiring Thomas Cullen, a former federal prosecutor in Roanoke. Cullen is the son of the head of McGuireWoods, the Richmond legal behemoth in which Kilgore’s twin brother, Jerry is a partner. The firm is representing Jonnie R. Williams Sr., the diet-pill impresario who showered the McDonnells with thousands of dollars in unreported gifts, allegedly in return for favorable treatment from the state.

Puckett, too, has counsel: Tom Bondurant Jr., a former U.S. attorney in Roanoke. He was lead prosecutor in Operation Big Coon Dog, in which 16 people, including several public officials, were convicted of bribery and fraud in the misuse of federal disaster funds in Buchanan County in 2002.

Twelve years on, another dog is snarling in Southwest Virginia. It’s the latest alarm over the way politicians are doing business in Richmond.

Sadly, in many ways Virginia's legislature still operates on a corrupt 19th century model where members of the General Assemble act more like Boss Hogg or Boss Tweed than Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.  Corruption and cronyism is the name of the game.

Justice Department Investigating Senator Puckett's Resignation

Sen. Puckett - For Sale to the highest bidder

The Virginia GOP regained control of the Virginia State Senate by bribing Senator Phillip P. Puckett, D-Russell, with a proposed job on the state tobacco commission and a judicial appointment of his daughter.  The result of the bribe was Puckett's resignation and the tipping of the Senate back into GOP hands at least until a replacement can be elected in a special election.  Particularly shocking is the Virginia GOP's offering of a judgeship as part of the deal.  Apparently, the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI smell something foul.  As the Richmond Times Dispatch reports, the feds are investigating the circumstances of what has to be one of the most blatant bribery situations in recent memory.  Here are story excerpts:

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the circumstances surrounding the recent resignation of state Sen. Phillip P. Puckett, D-Russell, including his alleged consideration for a job on the state tobacco commission and the pending judicial appointment of his daughter in Southwest Virginia.

Sources familiar with the probe, speaking on condition of anonymity, said representatives of the FBI and United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia have been conducting interviews, including with elected officials who may have knowledge of the chain of events.

One source said a grand jury will convene in Abingdon next week to hear testimony on the matter.

Puckett chose to leave office before his term expired and in the midst of a protracted partisan stalemate in the General Assembly over the budget and Medicaid expansion.

Puckett's resignation, effective Monday, June 9, came at a pivotal time, effectively tilting the balance of power in the Virginia Senate to Republicans. The GOP’s new 20-19 edge paved the way for the Senate to join GOP-controlled House to pass a budget last week with an amendment that could scuttle Democrats' hopes of expanding Medicaid.

FBI spokeswoman Dee Rybiski said Wednesday the bureau will neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.

In the 40 member Senate, approving a judge would require 21 votes. Before Puckett's resignation, Democrats held 20 votes and Republicans held 20 votes, meaning that at least one Republican would have to join all Democrats to approve her appointment.

In interviews, Del. Terry G. Kilgore, R-Scott, chairman of the tobacco commission, acknowledged that he had spoken to Puckett before his resignation about taking a job with the commission.

The commission is entrusted with awarding millions in tobacco settlement money to smoking cessation and economic development projects in former tobacco growing communities. The job would have fattened Puckett's state pension, calculating his retirement benefit based on a full-time job that pays much more than the $18,000 a year paid to part-time state senators.

In his statement at the time, Puckett described as “incorrect” reports that he had resigned to take a job with the commission. “I have never been officially offered a job by the Tobacco Commission,” he stated.

But Kilgore had scheduled a meeting of the commission's executive committee for the Wednesday following Puckett's resignation, to consider hiring him for the job of deputy director.

Calls for Investigation Increase Over Bribes Accepted by Senator Puckett

Phillip "I'm a Sleazy Whore" Puckett

Usually it is the Republicans who sell themselves out as if they were cheap tawdry whores to the highest bidder.  Sadly, Virginia State Senator Phillip P. Puckett (D-Russell) has proved that the Republicans do not have a monopoly on those  who are sleazy whores and willing to sell their souls and morality for the right price.  Of course, Puckett prostituted himself in exchange for a six figure job and a judgeship for his daughter promised by Republicans. It goes without saying that Puckett needs to be investigated for accepting bribes.  As for his daughter, if she accepts an appointment engineered by the GOP controlled House of Delegates she will have provided prima facie evidence that she is unfit for judicial office.  Adding to the irony is the fact that one of the engineers of Puckett's self-prostitution is Terry Kilgore, brother of closeted failed gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore (Kilgore set mu gaydar off even more than Ralph Reed).  Here are highlights from the Washington Post (per statements made on Rachel Maddow's show, the FBI may be about to investigate the apparent bribery):

Republicans appear to have outmaneuvered Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a state budget standoff by persuading a Democratic senator to resign his seat, at least temporarily giving the GOP control of the chamber and possibly dooming the governor’s push to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

Sen. Phillip P. Puckett (D-Russell) will announce his resignation Monday, effective immediately, paving the way to appoint his daughter to a judgeship and Puckett to the job of deputy director of the state tobacco commission, three people familiar with the plan said Sunday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
 
The news prompted outrage among Democrats — and accusations that Republicans were trying to buy the Senate with job offers in order to thwart McAuliffe’s proposal to expand health coverage to 400,000 low-income Virginians.

Del. Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) said Republicans were unable to win the policy argument about Medicaid expansion, so they have resorted to other means.

In a statement, McAuliffe (D) acknowledged that Puckett’s resignation had created “uncertainty” for his plan to expand the federal-state health program for the poor to 400,000 uninsured Virginians. But he contended that he still had a majority of the Senate on his side.

Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott), chairman of the commission, confirmed that its executive committee is expected to meet and consider appointing him, perhaps this week.

Kilgore disputed the notion that Puckett was resigning in exchange for the tobacco commission job, but he said the resignation made Puckett available to take the position, which involves awarding economic development grants funded by the national tobacco litigation settlement. Puckett’s salary would be determined by the commission, Kilgore said.

Puckett’s exit does not immediately sink McAuliffe’s chances in the Senate because three moderate Republicans in that chamber support expansion. But some of McAuliffe’s Senate allies have recently signaled their discomfort with the idea of letting the Medicaid push trigger a government shutdown.

And the resignation will come as two prominent Democrats are out of Virginia. Saslaw is in California visiting his newborn grandchild. Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) is leaving on Thursday on a trip to South Africa that is expected to last through June 24. But she said she will return earlier if she is needed.

A pox on Puckett and his daughter.  I truly hoe a corruption investigation ensues and that BOTH their careers end up going down the proverbial toilet.

Filibuster Reform - A Return to Democracy in the Senate?

Some have decried the Democrat's use of the so-called "nuclear option" which removed the 60 vote requirement to move legislation forward in the United States Senate.   Rush Limbaugh, always the demagogue equated it with rape.  But the reality is that since Barack Obama's election in 2008, Republicans have shamelessly used a 60 vote filibuster rule to block nominations and judicial appointments that otherwise had the votes for passage.  It has been and endless scene of obstructionism.  Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives the so-called "Hastert Rule" - which requires majority support of the majority party - has been used for similar effect to kill legislation that has majority vote support.  These rules make a mockery of the vision for government crafted by the Founding Fathers.  The New York Times opines on the end of a significant portion of the 60 vote filibuster rule.  Here are excerpts:

For five years, Senate Republicans have refused to allow confirmation votes on dozens of perfectly qualified candidates nominated by President Obama for government positions. They tried to nullify entire federal agencies by denying them leaders. They abused Senate rules past the point of tolerance or responsibility. And so they were left enraged and threatening revenge on Thursday when a majority did the only logical thing and stripped away their power to block the president’s nominees. 

In a 52-to-48 vote that substantially altered the balance of power in Washington, the Senate changed its most infuriating rule and effectively ended the filibuster on executive and judicial appointments. From now on, if any senator tries to filibuster a presidential nominee, that filibuster can be stopped with a simple majority, not the 60-vote requirement of the past. That means a return to the democratic process of giving nominees an up-or-down vote, allowing them to be either confirmed or rejected by a simple majority.

This vote was long overdue. “I have waited 18 years for this moment,” said Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa. 

It would have been unthinkable just a few months ago, when the majority leader, Harry Reid, was still holding out hope for a long-lasting deal with Republicans and insisting that federal judges, because of their lifetime appointments, should still be subject to supermajority thresholds. But Mr. Reid, along with all but three Senate Democrats, was pushed to act by the Republicans’ refusal to allow any appointments to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, just because they wanted to keep a conservative majority on that important court. 

Republicans warned that the rule change could haunt the Democrats if they lost the White House and the Senate. But the Constitution gives presidents the right to nominate top officials in their administration and name judges, and it says nothing about the ability of a Senate minority to stop them. (The practice barely existed before the 1970s.) From now on, voters will have to understand that presidents are likely to get their way on nominations if their party controls the Senate. 

Given the extreme degree of Republican obstruction during the Obama administration, the Democrats had little choice but to change the filibuster rule. As Mr. Reid noted on the floor, half of all filibusters waged against nominations in Senate history have occurred since Mr. Obama was elected. Twenty of his district court nominees were filibustered; only three such filibusters took place before he took office.
[T]he vote may lead to broader filibuster changes. A proposal by several younger Democratic senators to require “talking filibusters” — forcing objecting lawmakers to stand up at length and make their cases — may well gain steam now, and it could finally spell an end to logjams that have prevented important legislation from reaching votes.

Today’s vote was an appropriate use of that power, and it was necessary to turn the Senate back into a functioning legislative body.