Complaints About the Republican Party IV

[Winslow]

Of course, this:

...is hardly analogous to threatening your employees' jobs unless health insurance reform is repealed.

Nor is it analogous to corporations that give money to hate groups.

Rainbow cookies don't lobby for the death penalty for gays in Uganda.

It's one thing to make a statement. It's quite another to give money or make threats.

[Dreadstar]

Chick-fil-A may have done ok with its anti-marriage equality stance, but they're fairly concentrated in the south and who knows what the longterm effects have been since Mike Huckabee's Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.

But I agree. It's a very risky move. I'm ok with it when it's a position that I like, but it's not that likely to make me shop there more often or for a long time. OTOH, I'll stop shopping at places fairly readily.



I disagree. I give Papa John's props for being the first (that I know of) to include something to make the crust edible, but I don't think much of their pizza either. I like both Domino's (now that they've masked their crust with garlic seasoning) and Hungry Howie's better. I haven't had Pizza Hut in about a decade so I have no idea there.

But there are a couple local places that are much better than all of the above so we usually go there or to Mellow Mushroom.

Ah, Mellow Mushroom. They should be tapping the Mad Elf very soon...

[Nick Soapdish]

Speaking of Chick-fil-A, they've declared war on Christmas, to use FOX's term.



None of the usual suspects have called for a boycott yet.

And they claim to be Christians. *shakes head*

I'm going to have to tease a friend about that. His wife manages one and he's been mildly annoyed by stores going all PC with "holidays" instead of "Christmas"

I don't know about "better off," but something tells me that a lot of people's opinions about Papa John's politicizing itself over Obamacare are the mirror image of their own opinions about Nabisco's gay pride Oreo ad from six months ago. The folks who thought Nabisco was taking a bold stance are willing to boycott Papa Johns, and the folks who were outraged by the rainbow Oreo ad are now defending Papa Johns' free speech.

People aren't offended by companies taking stances on big issues; they're offended when those stances disagree with their own personal beliefs.

That's pretty much it. But I didn't buy any more Oreos because of that. (A SextupleStuf Oreo ... *drools*) And ... well, this is a bad example because I don't get Papa John's anyway. But I don't go to Chick-fil-A anymore - even for their fries and milkshakes (which wasn't all that often either). I don't plan to go to the Hurricane Wings & Grill despite it having been (sorta) recommended to me.

[Charles RB]

at least there's some fallout

Papa John's, Applebee's And Others Pay Huge Price For Anti-Obamacare Politicking

That is a very good sign (especially after the "SUPPORT CHIK-A-FIL" shite).

[worstblogever]

Well, here's someone who's had some complaints about the Republican Party making it pretty clear how he feels.

Former Republican governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, has registered with the Democratic Party. Which, kind of makes sense, considering he endorsed Obama at the 2012 DNC. Looks like current Florida governor Rick Scott knows what he's facing down in two years.

[finfangfool]

As someone who tends to vote Democrat I'm not sure I want moderate Republicans who've been pushed out of their party by Tea Party types flocking to the party. I suppose it's better than them forming a third party though, they'd probably pick off some centrist Democrats and probably look like an attractive alternative to the far-right wackjobs who've lost House and Senate seats for the Republicans with talk of contraception and rape and Democrats who don't seem to want to stand up for their principles (or anything else) most of the time. OK, I've changed my own mind. Welcome to the Party, Crist.

[the4thpip]

Well, here's someone who's had some complaints about the Republican Party making it pretty clear how he feels.

Former Republican governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, has registered with the Democratic Party. Which, kind of makes sense, considering he endorsed Obama at the 2012 DNC. Looks like current Florida governor Rick Scott knows what he's facing down in two years.

So... is America ready for a closeted buy rather obviously gay vice presidential candidate?

[the4thpip]

Sometimes I just love Anderson Cooper.

(video where he confronts one of the Republicans who voted against the UN disabilities act)

[Matt Algren]

So... is America ready for a closeted buy rather obviously gay vice presidential candidate?

Given how many skeletons he surely has in his soon-to-be vacated closet, I doubt it.

[dupont2005]

Well, here's someone who's had some complaints about the Republican Party making it pretty clear how he feels.

Former Republican governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, has registered with the Democratic Party. Which, kind of makes sense, considering he endorsed Obama at the 2012 DNC. Looks like current Florida governor Rick Scott knows what he's facing down in two years.

I read about this earlier. I am not familiar with this guy though. Is he actually left leaning in his policies? From the one short article I read they speculated he switched sides because he had not found success with the GOP. I hope we don't end up with another blue dog helping the teabaggers.

[7thangel]

Michigan state Reubs stay winning

Michigan Republicans sneak through legislation to limit women’s access to abortion services during Right to Work madness

While you were looking over THERE…

While the spotlight and media attention was focused on the outrageous anti-worker legislation that Republicans jammed through the legislature last Thursday, they also made sure to throw in some equally outrageous attacks in their War on Women. Bills were passed as part of their overhaul of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan that include prohibitions on access to abortion for Michigan women. Additionally, they passed a bill that will force ALL women covered by health insurance in Michigan to purchase separate riders covering abortion services.

S.B. 613 was referred to the Insurance Committee — Prevents abortion coverage by an insurance policies in the health insurance exchange created by the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”.) This is part of the overhaul of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

S.B. 614 was referred to the Insurance Committee — Forces women to buy a separate rider for abortion coverage for any insurance policy purchased in Michigan. From the Senate Fiscal Agency’s analysis, the bill will:

Prohibit a licensee or registrant, or a health facility or agency, from accepting reimbursement from a qualified health plan, policy, certificate, or contract for elective abortion services unless the reimbursement were from an optional rider.

House Substitute for S.B. 1293 was passed by both chambers and given “immediate effect” — Revises the insurance code of 1956 to prevent abortion coverage by an insurance policies in the health insurance exchange created by the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) and forces women to buy a separate rider for abortion coverage. This is part of the overhaul of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

House Substitute for S.B. 1294 was passed by both chambers and given “immediate effect” — Amends the nonprofit health care corporation reform act to prevent abortion coverage by an insurance policies in the health insurance exchange created by the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) and forces women to buy a separate rider for abortion coverage. This is part of the overhaul of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

I spoke with Rana Elmir, the Communications Director for the ACLU, about this she told me that these laws, passed while nobody was paying attention, are an egregious assault on the ability of Michigan women to have access to safe and legal abortions. “No woman plans for an unplanned pregnacy,” Elmir said. “What’s worse is that insurance companies aren’t even required to provide riders. So women who are covered by existing health insurance may not even have that option.

The ACLU of Michigan has taken to the twitters using the hashtag #coverme and tweeting directly to target BCBSM and their CEO. Follow the ACLU’s action on this and other issues at their blog HERE.

All of this is being done now, during the lame duck session, because Republicans know they don’t have the votes to jam these bills through after the new legislators elected in November are sworn in. It’s against the will of most of Michigan and assault on our state’s women. Period.

[Iangould]

The ever-more-absurd Senator Rand Paul is calling for the federal government to declare the drought in the Mississippi basin a natural disaster. Because, you know, small government is only for "those people".

He's also proposing a gutless and hypocritical stand on taxes, something he probably learned from his dad's avid pursuit of earmarks for his distrrict.

SEN. RAND PAUL: I have yet another thought on how we can fix this. Why don't we let the Democrats pass whatever they want? If they are the party of higher taxes, all the Republicans vote present and let the Democrats raise taxes as high as they want to raise them, let Democrats in the Senate raise taxes, let the president sign it and then make them own the tax increase. And when the economy stalls, when the economy sputters, when people lose their jobs, they know which party to blame, the party of high taxes. Let's don't be the party of just almost as high taxes.

not to mention he oter doesn'r know what voting "present" actually means or is simply lying.

[Spike-X]

I read about this earlier. I am not familiar with this guy though. Is he actually left leaning in his policies?

If only there was a way to find out.

[Matt Algren]

If only there was a way to find out.

That site really needs to update their design.

[Nick Soapdish]

That is a very good sign (especially after the "SUPPORT CHIK-A-FIL" shite).

I don't know about "very good". It's something, but I have no idea how much the YouGov Brand Index score translates into something meaningful like sales. One of those groups (Darden, which had Olive Garden, Red Lobster and others) said that they had reduced their earnings estimate for the quarter ending on 11/25 due to bad publicity and Sandy, but those were both in the last month of the quarter. And Exxon has an even worse score (0.5), but has been doing just fine, albeit in a radically different business.

I read about this earlier. I am not familiar with this guy though. Is he actually left leaning in his policies? From the one short article I read they speculated he switched sides because he had not found success with the GOP. I hope we don't end up with another blue dog helping the teabaggers.

No, not really. But he doesn't hate government which makes him a bad fit for the GOP.