Two critically important things happened in the last 36 hours that light a Bonfire of the Vanities for the GOP in 2024. In Alabama, a Democrat running almost solely on a platform of rights to an abortion pulled an upset and won a seat in the AL state legislature. And today in the Supreme court, seditionist chickensh*t Josh Roadrunner Hawley’s momma figure, his wife, argued the abortion pill case.
Here’s how those two things come together, and why they’re important. In blood red Alabama, a Democrat won a special election running exclusively on abortion rights. You can write this off as a one-off if you like. But I prefer to think about how many far right, anti abortion GOP state house incumbents may be running into a buzz saw in November?
IN the Supreme Court, Josh Hawley’s wife got her head handed to her today. I mean, other than chrome dome Alito, she couldn’t find a friend. The conservatives in the SCOTUS are still rubbing softening cream on the scars on their ass from the Dobbs decision. They clearly have no interest in making another f*ck up decision further restricting women’s rights further. They desperately need an off ramp, and standing is it. They’ll rule against the suit on the issue of standing. Mainly, none of the ass wipes that filed the lawsuit could prove that they had been either personally or professionally injured by the FDA decision. Which is something that both the circuit court and appellate court should have already figured out.
Bur here’s the thing. Ever since the SCOTUS used Dobbs to overturn Roe, abortion has been a high grade military cluster bomb with bomblets going off in every venue where abortion was on the ballot, even in deep red states. As a result, the GOP incumbents have had to start doing a tap dance between the far right demands, and the unyielding demands of the general electorate.
And even the far right SCITUS is fed up with the far right bullsh*t. Trump touted them as the answer to every ill for the far right, without ever considering the more practical realpolitik that the justices have to balance against in their decisions.
Chief Justice Roberts has already sent a loud signal that the Supreme Court is closed for business with these far right pipe dreams by sending a letter to the Judicial Council, to stop the practice of judge shopping by forcing all suits filed to go through the district wheel, no matter where they were filed. My guess is that we’ll have an unusually quick SCOTUS decision on the abortion pill case just to hammer home the point.
But why this case is so critical to November is the implications for 2024. Right now pretty much everybody in the GOP wants the abortion issue to just disappear and go away. They can’t put down a foot without stepping on a landmine, and there is already rumbling in the media that the GOP is already making disaster plans for a November bloodletting.
And if it happens, the GOP, in whatever feeble autopsy report they come up with in 2025 won’t be able to blame Trump. At least not entirely. Who the GOP can blame for a 2024 electoral debacle will be the far right state controlled legislatures. because they’re playing to their far right Evangelical bases, and they don’t give a sh*t about national politics.
Because there is no longer a unified strategy or purpose in the GOP. The national GOP is desperate to minimize any mention of abortion going into the 2024 election. But the GOP controlled state legislators don’t give a sh*t about that, they’re playing to their base for an easy reelection in November.
And even worse are the far right fringe groups of the Evangelical right that feel emboldened by the Dobbs decision, and the 6-3 conservative bent to the Supreme Court. You can’t even turn around these days without far right GOP legislatures either producing, or threatening to produce far right bills restricting everything from in vitro fertilization to contraception. And every goddamned one of those is guaranteed to provoke national media attention, only only to enrage and provoke the pro choice arm into a feeding frenzy.
Juno the Counselor put it perfectly in Beetlejuice put it perfectly when she told the Maitlins, Boy! you really screwed up! You let Beetlejuice out, and you didn’t put him back! And that’s what 50 years of ideological slavery to the far right Evangelicals has done to the GOP. Created the perfect storm.
Sweety Jesus, the GOP can’t even control their House caucus, much less anything else. And the far right Evangelicals in the state legislatures are not going to back off to help the national GOP. They are going to continue to push far right abortion bills, and the far right Evangelical groups are going to continue to push far right suits attempting to restrict reproductive rights in the courts.
And the national GOP, including the RNC can stop it or control it. Dr. Frankenstein let the monster off of the table, and now its rampaging through the countryside. And they have no way of getting the beast back on the table again. At least not in time.
I can’t stop thinking about the Alabama special election today. The Democrat won. And there are abortion rights initiatives on the ballot in critical swing states like Nevada, Ohio, Florida and Arizona. The far right zealots are going to keep those initiatives front and center for the November election, and if past experience is any guideline, they are going to damn well ensure a 3nd Biden term in the White House. You lie down with wolves, you wake up with toothmarks.
I thank you for the privilege of your time.
Of note: AL legislature is GOP gerrymandered to ppiss-all.And SCOTUS Justices asked about “standing”, who was harmed, in the mifeprestone case. They may want to undercut the FDA, especially over this. But they remember getting screwed over “stabding” in that wedding cake fiasco.
Apparently the Comstock Act is being brought up and despite the fact it was set aside in 1930, alito and thomas are licking their chops wanting to call that the law of the land. I’m not sure if they’ll use that to stop mifepristone from being mailed but it is thought they may use it or rule on it in the future. If they rule on the Comstock Act favorably, all women but particularly women of breeding age are f*cked.
Question is, could they rule that the current case doesn’t have standing, however, still declare Comstock to be the law of the land? Don’t trust them!