There Is A War On Women! And We Are Losing!

The right goes out of its way to make a mockery of the phrase 'War on Women.' They are desperate to spread the word that the real war is being waged by the left because by claiming there is a movement against us we are creating victims out of women, instead of heroes. In their conflated logic, either we can promote all women to equality or just celebrate those who have already made it there. This makes as much sense as the rest of their rhetoric so I will just leave it right there. In their desperate attempt to protect American women in this war, the Regressive Party is presently attempting to pass a law that is literally unconstitutional. Although the Supreme Court held in its Roe V Wade decision that abortions were legal and the states could not decide until the time that the fetus could be deemed 'viable,' it offered no specificity on the term. Six years later, in Colautti V Franklin the court told the states (and has not since changed its opinion):  

“[N]either the legislature nor the courts may proclaim one of the elements entering into the ascertainment of viability—be it weeks of gestation or fetal weight or any other single factor—as the determinant of when the State has a compelling interest in the life or health of the fetus.

Abortions after 20 weeks make up 1% of those performed annually. They are done out of necessity, not on a whim. Women have these procedures because they have been determined necessary by the doctor and the patient after having discussed health concerns. Many birth defects cannot even be detected until 20 weeks with an ultrasound. And most insurance companies will not even pay for ultrasounds until 20 weeks so the line is drawn right there, isn't it? What if you can't have a doctors appointment until the very day of your 20 weeks? What if you cannot get in until the following week? What if the doctor tells you on the day of your 20th week that your child has a birth defect and you have to decide immediately? Do you have time to go home and discuss options with your family? Will the doctor perform the surgery that very day? The obvious answer is: NO. Of course, no intelligent person is having this discussion and only irrational people are screaming about nonsense meant to distract anyone from having  meaningful reflection on the human beings (those which are already actually alive) who are left in these situations and what we would be allowing them to go through if this bullshit passes Congress.

These are the women who have 20+ week abortions

All rational discussions can only begin right here: Abortions are a legal medical procedure. Once you begin in the correct frame of mind, a thoughtful human being has a lot of questions to ask themselves and, more importantly, their society:

Why is it that in America we have had legal and safe abortions for over 40 years and have had to fight so hard to maintain that right? Why are our 'representatives' allowed to create laws to limit and restrict our rights? Why are they allowed to go on a witch hunt and determine Planned Parenthood is the purveyor of all evil in the country and attack them so blatantly? None of the funding for abortions is paid for by federal funds. That reminder comes up every time that we have the Planned Parenthood argument. Although it is an important aside to this specific argument, it also begs the question: Why? It is a legal right. Why are they allowed to deny funding of a legally legitimate health care procedure?

Why are states allowed to pass laws to create a waiting period? and consent? and limit where a procedure can be performed? and dictate the policies of the hospitals/clinics performing the surgeries? and force women to listen to an ultrasound or read specific literature? 

The answers are simple. And tragic. 

Roe V Wade was decided by the Supreme Court in 1973. The objective of the anti-choice activists and politicians has been very singular ever since: Have it overturned. They take every opportunity they can find to challenge any aspect of the ruling they think there is a precedent for (or they can have a state create for them) and their steadfast objective has been successful. The Supreme Court has repeatedly allowed the cases to come before it and each time they have the verbiage and the meanings behind those rulings have made the statues more hazy. The Regressives, if nothing else, are masters of word play and repeatedly concoct ways to dismantle the ruling one piece at a time.

In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled on Planned Parenthood of SE Pennsylvania V Casey, where three centrist judges (Kennedy, O'Connor and Souter) wrote a joint opinion which remind us of something that will be true for as long as radicals try to limit women's rights:

"The Constitution serves human values and while the effect of reliance on Roe cannot be exactly measured, neither can the certain costs of overruling Roe for people who have ordered their thinking and living around that case be dismissed.

Although reflection of the opinion quote above can give us all pause and remind us of the truths about objectives, ultimately the Supreme Court decision in Casey created so many holes in the language of Roe V Wade that the entire 23 years since have offered voice to every radical who wanted to find a way to let semantics dictate our rights.

Those presently running for President are falling all over themselves trying to prove that they are the most ardent supporter of the anti-choice movement. This hearing on Congress, no doubt, is a great opportunity for three of them in the Senate to take the spotlight off of Trump for a minute. And the governors can use this time to boast about their own records.

Jeb Bush was able pass a law in Florida where women seeking abortions needed to get consent. Described here, he even went out of his way to stop abortions by women who had been raped (yes, she needed consent from her rapist):

"... involving a 22-year-old rape victim who was both pregnant and developmentally disabled, Bush asked a court to appoint a guardian to represent the woman's fetus. The woman had been raped while living in state-supervised facilities, but did not have the mental capacity to identify her attacker.

And for a child whose parental consent would come from the State ... In 2005, Bush fought to prevent a pregnant 13-year-old girl, who was a ward of the state, from having an abortion. He was overruled by a judge, and CNN later reported that Bush's "abortion activism shocked some state officials who believed he was reaching beyond the powers of his office." 

Jeb Bush, I feel it is important to point out, is a perfect example of why this rhetoric around abortion rights is, indeed, a part of a War on Women. In 1995 he wrote, Profiles in Character, a book meant to explain that society's ills are due to our neglecting our own responsibilities by giving them to the government (its quite contrived but this begins their discussion about why we should have small government so the rich can pay fewer taxes - the latter part, of course, is always omitted from the argument). Society was failing because of the number of unwed pregnancies and the offense here was, quite clearly, society's tolerance of female promiscuity. There is a place for women and in his dark world, it is clear that he thinks its his job to get us back there:

"One of the reasons more young women are giving birth out of wedlock and more young men are walking away from their paternal obligations is that there is no longer a stigma attached to this behavior, no reason to feel shame. Many of these young women and young men look around and see their friends engaged in the same irresponsible conduct. Their parents and neighbors have become ineffective at attaching some sense of ridicule to this behavior. There was a time when neighbors and communities would frown on out of wedlock births and when public condemnation was enough of a stimulus for one to be careful.

Yep. This prefaced his signing a law requiring women to put an ad in the local newspaper listing all of the men she had slept with before being allowed to put her child up for adoption. The notice had to contain a physical description, including, but not limited to age, race, hair and eye color, and approximate height and weight of the mother and of any person the mother reasonably believes may be the father; the child's date of birth; and any date and city, including county and state in which the city is located, in which the conception may have occurred. This had to run every week for a month. No War on Women here. Not from a man who wants to deny funding for your abortions and embarrass you out of even having an adoption. Nothing here but good old fashioned care for unborn 'children.'

In last weeks debate Chris Christie beamed over his own record of having defunded Planned Parenthood and voting against it each of the 8 years since. Glorious! Although this account is actually misleading (I know, you are shocked), it is telling of his role in the War on Women. He eliminated $7.5 million for women's health care funding, none of which went to abortions. 

I live in Ohio. 74% of Ohioans are opposed to shutting down Planned Parenthood. That won't stop our governor and current Presidential candidate, John Kasich, from sticking anti-choice legislation in bills that have nothing to do with health care so no one notices. He has already cut half of the states clinics. This fall he is expected to sign a new bill which will ban women from choosing to terminate because of a prenatal diagnosis of Down's Syndrome. PAUSE. This bill is actually trying to tell women what their reasoning can be for an abortion. If that is not offensive enough for you, consider what precedent that sets. Remember, that is what all of the states have been trying all along: set a precedent to take to the Supreme Court.

Kasich obviously doesn't care about representing 74% of his constituents. This is pervasive with candidates on the right. Even though only the radicals on the right support anti-choice legislation, the candidates will continue to fight. If it is something their electorate does not support then why do they overwhelmingly vote against women's issues? 

BECAUSE THERE IS A FUCKING WAR ON WOMEN. God. Damn. 

Don't allow people to confuse the discussion by throwing a word like 'feminazi' in a sentence or pretending to give a shit about 'life.' We live in a society where the women's movement hasn't moved much at all. We live in a society that accepts condemnation for those who fight for our rights. We live in a society that tells itself the rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment aren't necessarily attributable to women. Does that sound like bullshit? Is this Mean Progressive being dramatic?Then why have we still not passed the Equal Rights Amendment in nearly 100 years?

Every opportunity that we have had to make a stand and ignored it while hoping others will step up and do their part brought us to this moment. And do not be mistaken, THIS MOMENT is crucial. The House has managed to get enough votes to defund Planned Parenthood. This is a lot more than their usual antics. It is an imperative that this be stopped. Please go to this site and fill in the blanks. It takes only a moment.

Click Here

Go to this site and sign up. I get emails whenever anything big is going on and that is how I know to inform you all. If you ever miss one of my posts (why would anyone ever do that? wink) you will still be able to get information on what is going on.

Click Here

Please donate to them if you can. They have been fighting too hard for too long just for the fucking right to care for our nation's women. They deserve all of the support they can get. 

Donate Here

There are a number of things we can all do to protect this sacred women's health institution which take no time at all. They are outlined here. The most important, however, is to make more women (and men) aware of the movement and the truths behind the stories the media has managed to either mangle or ignore altogether. We Are Losing This War. And that is unacceptable. 

Finally, make it your mission to find 5 (or more) women and make sure they understand how important this is. Make them understand this is not just another rhetorical gesture. Their rights are seriously on the line. And, if you can keep their attention long enough, explain to them the rights they think they have that they really don't. We have to begin moving this conversation along. I can bitch about it to you all every day, but you already know. Ranting isn't going to be enough. We need to make all women as angry as we are. Let's go!


Did you make it all the way to the bottom? I love you :)

Kiss Kiss.
Mean Progressive

Are Temper Tantrums A Good Campaign Strategy?

Not gonna lie ... I cannot think of a single physical torture anyone could lay on me that would make me vote for a Republican. However, just watching from the outside, I feel confident that I would not vote for a Democrat or Independent who behaved the way those on the right have behaved this week. What must those in the center be thinking? Honestly!

This was the headline on Mike Huckabee's blog today where he railed over SCOTUS' decision on marriage equality. So, ummm... if you were, say, President, and you decided to resist and reject the judiciary, wouldn't that make you a tyrant? Moron.

He said the court was out of control yesterday, too. When they upheld the Affordable Care Act (say those three words in your head - wonder why they needed to give it another name?) he just wanted to lose his mind. This Christian will not abide living in a country where everyone has access to affordable healthcare. God. Dammit!




Ted Cruz had a fit yesterday, too. He, along with the rest of the GOP hopefuls, cannot interpret what the court ruling said. They all believe that they are going to be able to get rid of Obamacare. Never mind what they said in the ruling. No. Really. You have to have something to rail about, right?

Teddy hasn't commented yet on today's ruling. But last week he did tell a congregation, oops sorry, I mean conference attendees, "I would encourage everyone here to be lifting up in prayer the court that they not engage in an act of lawless judicial activism." So I assume he will be upset. Dick.

Bobby Jindals reply to Obamacare being upheld is almost comical. Its comical in the way that I like to laugh at people who are really assholes and say nonsense, not like a funny joke or anything. He was really pissed off because the Supreme Court didn't take away healthcare from millions of people based on semantics. Jindal demanded that the Supreme Court does not have the final say in the land . because ... yeah.

Of course, Mister Christian was all aflutter over SCOTUS' support of marriage equality today. It is curious. Im not kidding. I cannot have a rational discussion with someone and come out of it understanding how in the FUCK your religious liberties are diminished by another persons happiness.

I don't want to bark too loudly. Maybe they don't realize what they sound like to rational people. I just hope enough of them are paying attention. Good Gravy!

Dear Media: Grow Up!

America has been given yet another opportunity to begin sincere dialogue about the problems we have with racism in our society. We have them at least once a month now. The reason we know about the events is because you report them to us. Then, tragically, you turn every single event into something fantastical that can get you ratings. 

Every. Single. Time.

I feel confident that the reason you ignore important discussions is because you know that most Americans don't want to hear it. They are quite content in their little bubbles where societal issues don't affect them. You fear they will turn the channel and watch some other network give them 24/7 nonsense. As a journalistic outfit, can you not just accept that and do your job? Can you not make it important to give America the information that they need?

Today Marc Maron's podcast, WTF, had an interview with President Obama. The interview was a revelation. We were offered thoughtful and candid reflections from our leader about the issues of race in America. These are issues that are traditionally ignored by those in leadership because they don't want to offend anyone in their base or be called out for saying something insensitive. We finally had a deep conversation with our President. You are all telling us that he used the N- word. Are you fucking kidding me? It literally gave me a vision of you sitting at your desk in third grade, raising your hand with your mouth  making an 'ooo' and begging the teacher to call your name so you can say, "Ooohhhh, teacher, Johnny said the N- word."

GROW UP!

Here is the podcast

The entire point of his having said it was to point out that just because those in society don't hear the words use as often doesn't mean the same supremacy that used to allow it doesn't still exist. He gave you something to tell us. If you truly were journalists the discussion would have started right there. You have plenty of news clips you could've shown of many politicians and pundits on the right using coded language to incite their base.

Here. Let me get you started. Take these videos and begin the dialogue in our discourse regarding why it is still acceptable for Americans to be full of hate and believe that racism is still a part of our political world.

Last week offered us plenty of opportunities to sincerely discuss race with the comments coming from the right. Their inability to empathize about how hurtful the Confederate flag would be to the descendents of slaves while supporting the people who see the flag as a proud symbol of their heritage (a heritage of their ancestors fighting for the right to maintain slavery) should be profound enough, but it was ignored and offered to us as just a matter of fact.

Here we have Lindsey Graham explaining why the Confederate Flag is an important symbol of the South and then he literally waves his hands as if to say 'over there' and says they have an "African American memorial." The memorial is, obviously, a throw away. And the pain the flag causes and its symbolism adopted by racist groups is, too.

Remember Charles Murray? The white trash piece of shit who wrote the Bell Curve? Right. The guy who wrote about how whites are genetically predisposed to superiority over blacks. Just this year in an interview Jeb Bush was questioned about solving the issues of income disparity and he went into a talk about welfare and, without encouragement, went into explaining how his ideas are shaped by Charles Murray. The rest of his answer was about welfare, and because of who he quoted, he was obviously talking about black people being the problem.

Rick Santorum telling a group of white people about how its not fair to give the black people welfare money that white people earn.

Instead of focusing on the President reminding us that racism exists, maybe give America an opportunity to reflect on why it is still deemed socially acceptable. Just last week Donald Trump, while kicking off a campaign to be our President offered us a nice look into the mentality:

Mike Huckabee is forever condemning the President for fighting against the Jews and Christians. This is his dog whistle reminder to their racist base who need to hear reminders about the rumors they started about President Obama being a Muslim and means to support Jihadists. He tells us that everything the President does is against the Jews and Christians (just like Jihadists).

 Here he tells us he was proud to have a black President and now he realizes that Obama doesn't want America to succeed. They are always telling their base that the President is sincerely trying to ruin the country.

The Chinese (all of them, apparently) lack imagination and are thieves

Maybe you could just discuss this for a single moment (from earlier this year):

Oh. By the way. Here is a journalist who gets it. Maybe give him a call and ask how its done. Editorializing is, in fact, necessary sometimes. If you do not editorialize you offer the Republican faithful only the dog whistles they are being sent without offering any rationality or asking thoughtful Americans to consider why they are hearing things they find offensive.

It is unfathomable that you all get to call yourselves journalists and then behave as if you are either employed by a tabloid or the Fox cable channel with the word 'news' in its title. 

As often as the politicians on the right offer us examples of how large swaths of human beings can be immediately dismissed or worse, you never find it important to report on that. You are literally complicit in the racism so pervasive in our society when you give a voice to the racist actors and do not either condemn them or ask your audience for reflection. 

The GOP Field of Presidential Hopefuls is Genuinely Orgasmic [VIDEO]

I have struggled for years now trying to figure out how my President, who has been such a respectful and patient leader has been maligned repeatedly by the right and America has allowed it to go on. At the same time, those who are saying the nastiest things about President Obama and are doing nothing positive for the country while trying to dismantle every means of progress we have made over the last 6 years, are supporting people in efforts to succeed this presidency that would make an absolute joke of our country.

We are still trying to get over 8 years of having looked like we were not only capable as a citizenry to elect a leader who could represent us in the world with sincere diplomacy and tact but who would go out of their way to embarrass us whenever possible. We finally have someone who can maintain respectful dialogue with foreign leaders. He has actual ideas about how to make our country better. He has the capacity to build relationships with people who oppose him in hopes of moving America forward. But those on the right refuse to cooperate. At all. And those are the same people the GOP want us to consider to replace him? How can it even be a close contest? How can anyone take this group of jackasses seriously?

Last night Jon Stewart, sadly, showed us just how far its gone. When the career of any comedian can legitimately be propelled by bringing serious attention to the embarrassment of those who are hoping to lead our country, that says a lot.

That was hysterical! And sad. Comedians used to be able to exaggerate rumors or have a little bit of fun poking at our politicians. They are now, basically, able to make us laugh at ourselves. We are the ones who are giving these assholes a voice. We are the society that gets a kick out of watching a meaningless piece of shit fire people on a television show with a singular agenda of Donald Trump entertaining himself.

When Mike Huckabee talks on the stump I get pissed. Every time. He hates everyone and wraps his hatred up in a flag and a Bible. But I understand that the GOP has worked very hard to create a base who are just simple minded enough to believe that shit. When Scott Walker or John Kasich are discussed I realize that most people in America don't pay close enough attention to their work as governors to understand that they are way farther right than the real conservative base is. And I know the GOP will try to take advantage of that. They will hope to serve us one of their more 'centrist' candidates after all of the Bible desecrating sons of bitches are able to cancel one another out. I even understand that the GOP will try to give us Jeb Bush ... just because. Conservatives are pretty easy. Here. Its a Bush. You have elected them exclusively for the last 25 years. Have another one.

Donald Trump is something else though. This is taking things too far. The other GOP hopefuls at least tried to sound like viable candidates when they kicked off their campaigns. They didn't want America to really know that they hate just about every section of America and are only trying to appeal to the teabaggers. He managed to ramble on for about an hour telling us how rich he is. Repeatedly. I will bet that if someone did a search there would be no campaign speech in history that used the words "I" or "me" or "my" more often than he did.

Trump's ego is being given an opportunity to run for President of the United States because he can afford to pay for his own campaign. He concluded yesterday by taking an actual shit on my country by saying the "American dream is dead."

Damn Straight the American dream is dead, motherfucker, just not for the reasons you cited.

Can I have my fucking country back!?!?

Really??

My President

One day, thoughtful historians will chronicle the eight years of President Obama as having been remarkable for many reasons. He walked into the White House during a time when the economy was a disaster and the country was in two wars. His administration was the one who finally caught Osama bin Laden. Against the most absurd opposition, he managed to bring Americans universal healthcare. The auto industry was revitalized under his guidance. This President has been able to display an exceptional gift for thoughtful diplomacy. Against profound Republican resistance, several bills to help Veterans were able to pass and be approved by the President. The list of his accomplishments seems never-ending. The thing that people seem to miss is the fact that he is making good on many of his campaign promises. History will be able to recount every attempt, even if unsuccessful, of a leader who aspired to represent the legacy he meant to create.

At present, much of the narrative around the President is nonsensical rhetoric. Those condemning him have never acknowledged his having had a single accomplishment. The opposition literally determined upon his inauguration that they would derail all of the President's efforts. To just consider half of his accomplishments in light of that fact is remarkable. They have willfully and deliberately hurt this country in order to postpone votes to move the economy forward. They have endangered suicidal veterans by voting against a bill for them. They have endangered children presently being trafficked in the sex trade IN AMERICA because they demand the bill include a denial of their right to terminate any pregnancies that come of their experience. One of the loudest opponents to the President, who believes himself worthy of the same title, actually read a Dr Seuss book in the Senate during a filibuster attempt to keep Americas citizens from having healthcare. Their childish dissent, while demanding Americas exceptionalism, will be remembered as one of the most shameful aspects of American history, to be sure.

As for me, I love my President. There will never be a leader who will do every single thing that I want, I know that. And I certainly don't want the job so I will have to entrust the country I love to someone who is up for the challenge. I can go back to each of our Presidents through Reagan and see that their egos ran for office and determined their actions and defined their character while in office. I can say that I am sure this is not the case with President Obama. He has a humility and grace that I have never seen in a leader. It is unimaginable how much stress the job of President is to any person who takes the job seriously (lets not pretend that all who get the job or aspire toward it do), but to add on top of that the amount of blatant disrespect he is paid every day with every action and you have to be in awe of this man and his strength. As much as the 'representatives' on the right want to ruin him, they are going out of their way to show history what a profound grace he embodies. Those of us who are true patriots are offered sincere pride in America with President Obama at the helm.

This picture was on my Facebook page on Easter. I giggled, at first. It is so sweet and funny. He manages to have a sense of humor through all he has endured. It is also hopeful. He is standing next to a childhood image looking up at the Washington Monument. We are offered a vision of an innocent hope for our country. I love him. And history will, too.

And The Clowns Now Have a Ringleader!

I don't know. The GOP has never failed to leave me open jawed with a shaking head from the gaggle of goons they offer us every 4 years for the presidency. I consider myself a reasonable person. But I am also naive. Every time my naivete tells me that there is no way in hell [fill in the blank] will even make it through the primaries. Then every time I feel a little more detached from the country I love because it is, quite obviously, peopled with dupes and morons. This year is different, though. Somehow the GOP has managed to outdo themselves. This time the hopefuls have been repeatedly called a clown car. There is no better way to explain it.

We have Huckabee and his sincere hate for women. We have Ted Cruz who has promised to take us all back to the 12th century with both his fire and his brimstone. We are getting an opportunity to be reminded just how awful the Bush legacy is and, after six months, Jeb has finally decided that he would like to carry on those proud accomplishments. They are trying to give us Carly Fiorina because she has ovaries, I believe. And there's Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon who is the black man they will offer us this time because the GOP sincerely believes the rest of America is as stupid as their base. For the same reason, apparently, we are also getting a chance to consider Marco Rubio. He is of Cuban heritage and his parents came here to escape Fidel Castro. Except they didn't. Its all just so ridiculous. And, even though most have been running their campaigns for months now, so far we know about little more about them than a universal hatred for President Obama and Secretary Clinton, who have apparently ruined the country. Fabulous.

Today Donald Trump decided he would run, as well. He has fooled us before and tried to convince us that he was going to do it and then changed his mind. But he managed to get attention and I'm sure that is all he wanted. He has his own reality TV show for Christ's sake. He is a ridiculous human being who sincerely promoted the idea of President Obama having fooled us all with a fake birth certificate. He has managed to perpetuate the hateful narrative coming from the far right from a celebrity of his own egotistical creation having nothing to do with politics.

The only people who would actually consider him a viable candidate are the people he pays to support him and the teabaggers who will follow anyone who offers them a platform based solely on hate. Are we supposed to take seriously a man who wants to run our country and demands he can handle this economy he mocks after having filed bankruptcy four times? Or maybe we want our Commander In Chief to have nothing but pained aggression toward women who join the military and all but condone their being raped for having joined in the first place? Are we supposed to hope that the person who holds the veto pen to decide on the laws meant to protect our citizens to have spent many tens of thousands of dollars of his own money to advertise in the New York newspapers to have children be given the death penalty for a crime, it just so turns out, they had nothing to do with? This, the same man who had a public temper tantrum when those grown children finally won a settlement from the city who had abused their rights, with the help of his provocation.

I admit. I am one of those people who sits and whines every 4 years just thinking about what a tragic place we would all be in if whomever I hate most that time gets the job and I will have to end up leaving the country. I don't know how much I have ever really planned on doing it, though. This time my daughter is grown and on her own and my house is paid off. I honestly think that would be it for me. There are plenty of reasons to love my country, but if enough people come together to vote for him (while factoring in all of the bullshit that would have to happen at the polls) and he ends up leading this country, Im gone. I will take Mitt Romney's brilliant advice and self-deport. I'm thinking England. If I'm not mistaken, I'm destined to end up with Jason Statham. So I am going to go get started on making that happen. I'm sure he's been wondering where I am.


Kiss Kiss ... Mean Progressive

Read My Lips: No New Bushes

I am a woman. And a Liberal. As such, I am outraged and disgusted by the entire Conservative field of Presidential hopefuls for 2016. For some reason, however, Jeb Bush is the most offensive to me. All of the other candidates on the right are overtly pandering to the radicals of their party by repeating hateful rhetoric for all who don't meet their restricted standards for 'patriots.' Jeb is waiting for them to whittle the field because they will all count one another out and leave him alone as the more centrist candidate. Of course, those of us who actually pay attention know there is nothing centrist about him (or Walker, Kasich or any of the others who will be peddled out later). He, like the rest, has shown actual disdain for women.

Last week Jeb Bush was publicly outed for having written a book and passing a law in the 90s to literally shame unwed mothers. He responded by telling America that he had evolved. An evolution of ideas and understandings is a beautiful thing; I dare say it means one is being Progressive. And it is something he managed to prove the Conservatives are still unable to do in his response. As he is seemingly unaware, having put the world 'evolved' into his sentence didn't actually mean that he has. The remaining part of the quote was, "In fact, since 1995 ... this book was a book about cultural indicators [and] the country has moved in the wrong direction. We have a 40-plus percent out-of-wedlock birth rate."

Right. Jeb not only failed to back track on his position, he managed to wax poetic about his own prophetic insistence on where our culture was headed. He fails to even consider that maybe his idea of a perfect family might be just a bit narrow. He believes that a family is incomplete and children cannot have "lives of purpose and meaning" in a single parent home. I feel pretty confident that my daughter, who is now grown and in her senior year of college, would disagree. I bet there are scores of millions of children who would disagree. Of course, my child was never arrested for public intoxication or trying to illegally obtain prescription drugs, either. So I guess there are some lessons Jeb could've taught my daughter that she missed out on. I'll just have to hope she turns out okay in the end.

A lot has been made about Jeb Bush or Secretary Clinton potentially being nominated as a part of a dynasty. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. We had Theodore Roosevelt and then Franklin D. If we could have then had Eleanor, the niece of Theodore and wife of Franklin, that would've been a beautiful revelation for the country. On myriad levels. I imagine we would be a much healthier nation if that could've happened. But, of course, it never did so having fantasies about where we could be now is irrelevant. The Bush legacy, however, is a terrifying prospect. Honestly.

I'm sorry, but if you enter a campaign with a running mate who cannot spell the word 'potato(e?)' history cannot be expected to remember you kindly. Are we meant to have already forgotten all about George H W Bush's failed presidency where he waited less than 18 months for his proposal to negate his campaign slogan of "No New Taxes"? Or his veto of the Civil Rights Act of 1990? And then, I suppose, we should also forget the fact that the first war in Iraq was his creation and offered a singular objective for Bush 43 to complete once the Supreme Court and Florida (ehem) handed him to us as our President.

The George W Bush presidency. Sigh. Do I have to? 9/11. Iraq war. Katrina. That funny 'lock box' came up empty. Deregulating banks. I can't do this. Remembering him gives me hives (not kidding). Here follow this link if you are made of stronger metal than I obviously am.

Jeb Bush seems to want us to forget about his family legacy. He tells us he is his own man. But he also told us that those advising him on foreign policy were many who had advised his father and his brother. And, possibly even more terrifying, in May, when asked who would be on his team of advisers he listed his brother George. Absolutely! Have a quiet moment with that vision.

Jeb's arrogance has been acknowledged repeatedly during the last six months with his unwillingness to answer questions and behaving as if he has already won the nomination. It must be pretty profound if he thinks he is going to tell America that he wants his brother to help him on foreign policy and believe that we will not begin crawling out of our own skin. Or, just maybe there is something to the recent scientific breakthrough of the 'stupid gene.'

No matter the reason, I feel confident that his own legacy as a governor and that of his family will keep him away from the general election. I doubt he will even make it through the primaries, either. Then we can have more time to bathe in the insanity of the nominees who have even less tact than Jeb and who you don't even have to search for sound bites to embarrass. Won't that be fun?