Do political scandals matter anymore? - by Molly Jong-Fast

She closes her “Wait, What?” newsletter (found at The Atlantic) with:

During the four years of Trump’s administration, the Republican base was trained to accept the unacceptable—to support their guy, because the other guy was somehow worse. Every scandal made the MAGA core of the party more intractable when, in normal life, it would have done the opposite. We won’t ultimately know until the midterms are over, and all the votes are counted, whether the latest string of GOP scandals have had any effect on the candidates in question. But it’s pretty easy to guess where all this is going. Of course, I hope I’m wrong.

Evangelical Christians Reckoning

Wouldn’t we all be thrilled to learn how Evangelical Christians reconcile their professed faith with their electoral actions.

From an outsider’s point of view, it seems:

  • Believing in Trump is more important than belief in family values or even common decency.

  • Belief in Herschel Walker’s potential Senate vote trumps any care for unborn children or, for that matter, honesty, intelligence, or non-violence against women.

  • Animal welfare is secondary to electing Dr. Oz’s.

Please let us understand how the teachings of Jesus Christ (who had some pretty great things to say whether you are a Christian or not) can be ignored if they conflict in any way with regaining control of the Senate and regaining a complete grip on power.

Have the Christian Nationalists who have taken the helm of the Republican party abandoned all integrity?

Nuremberg supposedly taught us that the end does not justify the means.

Less than 5 weeks & reproductive rights are on the line

As PA State Senator Steve Santarsiero says:

While abortion is currently safe and legal in Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth is dangerously close to passing a constitutional amendment leading to a ban on abortion in PA.  The first step happened in July, when Senate Bill 106 passed the full Senate. I am ardently opposed to this bill, and I voted NO.

The next step in the process is for voters to elect the members of the 2023-24 General Assembly in the election on November 8, 2022.  Then, an identical bill to SB 106 must be passed by the new General Assembly, before appearing as a referendum for voters on the ballot. 

The majority of Pennsylvanians support a woman’s right to make her own reproductive health decisions and Governor Wolf has made clear he will veto any legislation restricting access to abortion here in Pennsylvania.  However, an amendment to the state constitution does not require the Governor’s signature. Senate Republicans are doing an end-run around the Governor to place the abortion ban constitutional amendment on the ballot for a municipal primary election when they know the fewest number of people will vote.

This is unacceptable.   We have come too far to turn back the clock now.  I will continue to fight to protect women’s reproductive rights and I will continue to vote against any measure to ban access to abortion in Pennsylvania.