Tabby Thursday
Steven L. Taylor
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Thursday, March 12, 2026
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8 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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I’ve a sneaky suspicion the autopen device does not work with black Sharpies.
Naturally, this is a communistdemonratchineseiranianhoax to make El Taco look bad.
When Joe Rogan says that he’s just a dumb guy, I wish more people would realize that it’s not self-deprecating humor, it’s just an accurate assessment.
OK, I’m against Sharia. I think religion should be kept separate from the workings of government, and government should not be a tool to enforce religious edicts. But I don’t think that is what is meant by Texas MAGA politicians running against Sharia. I suspect they use it to mean boogeyman coming to take your privileges. The largest ethnic group in Texas is Hispanic, and the largest religious group are Catholics. About 25% of Texans are White and Protestant (half fundamentalists and half main line.) The fervor of Christian Nationalism (or Texasism) is probably driven by consciousness of minority status and concern about future demographics.
@Slugger:
Sharia is just the Arabic word for “law”, it varies depending on jurisdiction.
In the U.S., it’s mostly just used for family law like ante-nuptial agreements about inheritance or about how property is divided after divorce, which Islam has some ideas about.
The autopen thing always reminds me of Republicans saying Obama couldn’t speak without a teleprompter, while reading off a teleprompter. Also ignoring the examples of Obama being brilliant ex temp.
@Gustopher:
Here’s Paul Campos quoting Adam Serwer on the “gullicism” of the Right. He also links to Rick Perlstein’s 2012 essay “on the symbiotic relationship between right wing politics and profitable grifting to those prone to paranoid styling (which) remains the classic treatment of the subject.” going back to Richard Viguerie. Education correlates with left/right for reasons more basic than just differing socioeconomic class.
Also, Romney is often raised as the example of the moderate, sensible ™ Republicans we need to get back to. Serwer reminds us what an utterly shameless liar Romney was.
@Kathy:
Poking around the internet, contemporary autopens appear to work with any sort of drawing instrument: pencil, pen, markers, even crayons. Other points of interest:
– At least by rumor, Truman was the first President to use an autopen
– During the Bush II administration, the DOJ issued an opinion that a Presidentially-authorized subordinate using an autopen to sign a document is constitutionally acceptable
– Both Obama and Biden authorized an autopen signature in a situation where there was a deadline and they were traveling
@Michael Cain:
I figure a president signs an awful lot of things every day, and using a machine to do it for them is perfectly sensible.