TGIF Tabs
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, September 6, 2024
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27 comments
- This isn’t really a policy answer.
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor 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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Looks like Georgia officials ae going to charge the Patents of the Apalachee Highschool shooter like they did in Michigan.
Linky
The “proof of citizenship” is the so-called “SAVE” legislation that Trump is pushing for, the poison pill the GOP wants to attach to any continuing resolution. The functional equivalent of a poll tax. We maybe heading into another of these now perennial stupid shutdown dramas.
Gee, thanks Vance. Both of my parents were deceased when my last kid was born. Wouldn’t it have been kinda weird to leave the stroller in the cemetery?
I disagree that it’s like 2016. Trump hadn’t quite taken over the GOP yet, and there was much more resistance to Trump from within the party than there would be today. When the Access Hollywood tape broke, there was pretty widespread condemnation by party leaders and officials, with some (like Speaker Paul Ryan) rescinding their endorsement. Today, with him as an insurrectionist, adjudicated rapist, convicted felon, and more, the entire party is devoted to defending him at every turn and spreading the most egregious lies and conspiracy theories.
Part of the reason is that in 2016, most people didn’t think Trump was going to win, and, whether they said so outright or not, the party was thinking ahead to how they were going to rebuild after his supposedly inevitable defeat. Now, pretty much everyone accepts that Trump could win. Then there’s the fact that he’s taken over the entire party apparatus, the RNC literally run by his daughter-in-law, and everyone who once put up any resistance–including latecomers like Liz Cheney–have either left or been expelled. He may not achieve his goal of becoming dictator of America, but he is already the dictator of the Republican Party. This is anything like 2016.
@charontwo:
Every single one of which has been the Republicans’ fault.
Vance’s “answer” isn’t one. What if there’s no family nearby? What if the family nearby cannot or will not help out? What if the extended family members are still working themselves and can’t provide free daycare?
Vance has said that his MIL has helped out a bunch…it’s that Republican thing where they assume their own experience is transmissible to everyone else, seamlessly. Their lack of imagination that anyone, anywhere, might have differing circumstances is annoying AF.
If you think Vance’s “answer” on child care was devoid of substance, you should hear Trump’s.
If Biden had rambled on for two minutes like that, stories decrying his obvious mental decline would be front page of the NYT and WaPo and leading every national newscast. But it’s Trump, so you probably didn’t even hear about it until just now.
@Kylopod: That’s fair. Still, I was thinking as much about the way the stories are being covered as anything else.
@Mikey: I saw it on Twitter and should have thought to include it.
But, your assessment is correct.
@Jen:
Vance has a lot of opinions about kids: about those who can’t have them or decide not to, how to raise them, who should provide daycare.
One could surmise, given his repeated on-going obsession, he’s perhaps a bit of a eugenics aficionado. It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
@Mikey:
I could not understand what he was saying, but there is a transcript in the replies:
https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/1831782932522098764
@charontwo: Da’F–k?
I heard a clip of his speech to whoever yesterday. Every word was slightly slurred. It was surreal.
@charontwo:
Scroll down the replies to that, come to this:
https://x.com/mrsivyarias/status/1831826707793519096
etc., etc. until this:
Quoted at length because I understand a lot of you all refuse to be able to access Twitter so can not follow the link.
@Joe:
I don’t hear real well and always use closed captions if available.
Between that and lack of patience I never listen to podcasts.
@Mikey, @Steven L. Taylor, @charontwo, @Joe:
Sweet baby Jeebus?! Could you all please stop commenting on stuff as I’m writing the post about it! It’s just unfair!
(I hope you all caught the /s at the end of that sentence)
I’ve just spilled a lot of pixels on that which are sure to delite most of our readers and lead to others calling me a “Trump Deranged Liberal Apologist because whatabout….”
Read it here: https://outsidethebeltway.com/wheres-the-line-between-paraphrasing-and-sanewashing/
@Jen:
Vance’s answer is a lot of words designed to obscure the actual correct answer:
“We prefer not to do anything at all.” It’s the functional equivalent of what “thoughts and prayers” do for mass shootings.
I’m sure that JD Vance will favor giving grandma and grandpa extra votes on election day for their child care services. Maybe the grandparents can use the extra ballots to ensure that the Trump/Vance ticket never gets near the Oval Office.
My grandmother on my mothers side died when I was very young. I have been told that I met her but I have no memory of that encounter. Her husband who smoked like a chimney died of emphysema when I was 12 or 13.
When my mom was institutionalized while suffering from schizophrenia in the early ’60s my brother (8) and sister (6) and I (13) along with our father lived with his parents, both in their ’70s, and my dad’s sister, for at least a year.
It was a stressful situation for all.
(It just struck me that at that time my grandfather was younger than I am today. A concept that I find it difficult to wrap my head around.)
@Mister Bluster: Yes, it is an unrealistic nonsensical response. My Dad’s parents were already deceased when my parents married and my Mom had parents that were unhealthy enough that we took care of them when I was a child. So much for that idea.
On the “not a policy answer” on the JD Vance quote, I disagree. The policy is clear: No, there is nothing we can or will do on child care expense. You’re on your own.
“You must have lots of children, or you’re a comunistsocialist and hate America! And you must do it on your own. We won’t help you get a living wage. We won’t help you to pay for child care. We won’t even help you with a child tax credit. Any of that would be socialisum!!1!!!!11!! We won’t help you to pay for assisted reproduction, in fact we will ban IVF because ABORTION11!!11!!1. We will help by banning contraceptives. What are you going to do, stop having sex with your spouse you PERVERT!!1!!”
The obvious solution Vance has in mind is that girls will get married and have kids by their late teens, so grandmothers, being still in their early 40s, will still be young enough to help. As an added bonus the grandmothers will also still be in practice for changing diapers since their youngest will only be a couple years out of them. (I wish this were as sarcastic as I intended it to be, but maybe I’m too on the nose)
@Matt Bernius: It is aubject worthy of ongoing and repeated attention!
@Erik: It is the vision that he is cleaving to, whether he consciously realizes it or not.
@just nutha: It occurred to me later that typical conservative responses to questions about problems with childcare have centered around admonitions that people who can’t afford to raise their children shouldn’t be having any. Should Vance’s comment be taken as seeing The Right as needing to shift toward the center? What will the MAGAts think?*
*Trick question. The MAGAts generally don’t seem to do much thinking in any meaningful sense of the word. If they did…
…nope, not gonna go there. Wouldn’t be prudent.
You mean the childless cat people who serve no purpose in society? /sarc
We’re going to lose herd immunity to easily preventable stuff in my lifetime and I likely have about 10 to 15 years left.
Even if they are less than 10% of the total pop, anti-vaxxers might doom us all.
Harris should be all over this. What kind of world does J.D. Vance live in, that grandparents would routinely be both available to care for little kids full-time and capable of doing so? No jobs, no disabilities, no other major health issues — but young enough to be effective caregivers — but also not employed? And not preoccupied with caring for their aging parents?
Sounds like “trust kiddies” to me. J.D. says, if you’re not wealthy, suck it up — but don’t stop having babies! Just don’t expect any help. Because America.