Mitch McConnell doesn’t want voters thinking he’s planning to resume government shutdown brinkmanship if Republicans win the Senate. Shutdown is a loaded and unpopular word. So he’s putting it in legis-speak to give himself some deniability. But that’s exactly what he’s promising to do if becomes Senate majority leader. He told as much to Politico on his campaign bus a few days ago, and he’s been caught saying it privately a couple of months ago to a group of high-dollar GOP donors on an audio recording published today by The Nation. This kind of cynical gambit relies on the lack of sophistication of voters and a compliant press corps. Probably not a bad gamble.
Bill Kristol happily embracing the stereotype of the armchair bomber pilot without a clue.
ESPN now says it regrets that weird segment yesterday on whether Michael Sam’s teammates are showering with him.
Jon Stewart returned from vacation last night and got to riff on Ferguson for the first time: “Race is there, and it is a constant. You’re tired of hearing about it? Imagine how fucking exhausting it is living it.” Watch.
A woman in Congress finally opens up about what skeezebags men in Congress can be.
The Republican Party’s remarkable change of course on Obamacare has happened just slowly enough over the past few months that it hasn’t yet registered in the broader political consciousness. But it’s real and profound, as Dylan Scott reports.
The NRA tweets about kids having fun at the shooting range after 9-year-old’s fatal Uzi accident.
Legal experts confirm that Bob McDonnell’s extraordinary legal defense that he and his wife could not have committed conspiracy because they’re weren’t even speaking to each other is in fact extraordinary.
A good piece linking that awful Uzi accident involving a 9-year old girl and what is called “gun tourism.” It includes a bit more about where that incident happened: “The dusty outdoor range calls itself the Bullets and Burgers Adventure and touts its “Desert Storm atmosphere.” You get the idea.