My granddad, the "anchor baby"

My grandfather loved to tell stories. It's one of the things I remember best and most fondly about him, and it's a trait I seem to have inherited. Whether you had heard the story before or not, he often delighted in telling us about the time he watched the Hindenburg fly over New York City on its fateful journey to Lakehurst, or used a borrowed limousine and his tan complexion to masquerade as a Saudi prince at Manhattan's exclusive nightclubs, or once answered the phone "Yankee Stadium, third base," only to learn the person on the other end was Admiral Chester Nimitz. I don't know how much was true and how much was exaggerated, but I do know he lived an extraordinary life and that he loved sharing it with his family.

Ernie Stevens,
notorious "anchor
baby"

It's funny, though. Of the dozens of Granddad's stories I must have heard hundreds of times, he never told me the one about being a terrorist plant bent on destroying America from within. Obviously that's because such a concept is completely absurd -- my grandfather was born in Pennsylvania, served in the Army Air Corps in World War II, married a farm girl from Kansas and became a successful accountant for major U.S. corporations. But though he voted Republican all his life (one of the only disagreements he and I ever had was over FDR), many on the right now believe my grandfather was somehow a dangerous individual who didn't even deserve American citizenship.

You see, though he probably never heard the term in his life, my grandfather was an "anchor baby." Born in America to non-U.S. citizens in 1921, the Fourteenth Amendment granted him birthright citizenship in the U.S. rather than forcing him to take the nationality of his parents. Now, however, Republican leaders like sens. Glenn McConnell, John Kyl and South Carolina's own Lindsey Graham (with Fox News' predictable support/guidance) are actually trying to change the Constitution to eliminate the clause which allowed my grandfather to be an American.

Michigan Republican wants to register, regulate reporters

Republican lawmakers across the country seem to have been supporting more and more efforts lately which directly contradict the Constitution. Now that much of the GOP establishment has established the news media as one of their favorite punching bags, I suppose it was only a matter of time before a Republican legislator tried to go after the First Amendment itself.

A Michigan lawmaker wants to register reporters to ensure they’re credible and have “good moral character.” State Sen. Bruce Patterson ... says the general public is being overwhelmed by an increasing number of media outlets -- traditional, online and citizen generated -- and an even greater amount of misinformation. “Legitimate media sources are critically important to our government,” he said.

Palin was against robocalls, until she started making them

Remember when Sarah Palin used to give actual interviews to the media other than Fox? I know it's been a while, but try to think back -- all the way back to October 2008, when Palin told reporters the McCain campaign's automated robocalls "irritate" voters, and that she wouldn't use them if she called the shots.

Palin said that if she had her way, the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee would not be flooding battleground states with automated phone calls tying Barack Obama to former radical William Ayers, as they have done over the last week.

Calling robocalls "kind of draining out there in terms of Americans' attention span," Palin went on to say voters "get a bit irritated with just being inundated" by the pre-recorded campaign calls. No kidding.

GOP official caught breaking SC campaign laws

South Carolina isn't exactly unfamiliar with boneheaded politicians who think they can get away with anything, and it looks like Republican state Treasurer Converse Chellis and his deputy, GOP operative Scott Malyerck, are no different. It seems Chellis and Malyerck visited the Spartanburg Herald-Journal last week to meet with the editors about a possible endorsement in the June 8 primary election. But in a blunder that would make Mark Sanford proud, Chellis may have instead exposed serious violations of state law during his interview with editor Lane Filler:

About 20 minutes into the sit-down, Chellis was summarizing what his agency does on a day-to-day basis. He explained how his agency functions for several minutes, ending with an explanation of what Malyerck's department does, at which point alarms started chiming.

"You work for the Treasurer's Office?" [Filler] asked Malyerck.

Malyerck: "Yes."

[Filler]: "Then what are you doing here?"

Sarah Palin advocates a theocracy, and isn't laughed off the stage

I've written before about Sarah Palin's vast misunderstanding of the Founding Fathers and the First Amendment in particular, but this is starting to get a little ridiculous. At an evangelical women's conference in St. Louis Friday night (which didn't allow press), the former half-term governor yet again distorted the Framers' beliefs to suggest they would support a theocracy, as she apparently does. Greg Sargent of The Plum Line obtained a transcript of Palin's speech:

I beg you, Women of Joy, to bring light and be involved, loving America and praying for her. Really, it is our solemn duty. Praying for true spiritual awakening to overcome deterioration. That is where God wants us to be. Lest anyone try to convince you that God should be separated from the state, our Founding Fathers, they were believers. And George Washington, he saw faith in God as basic to life.

GOP environmental group asks "What Would Reagan Do?" on climate change

Ronald Reagan's cult appeal has reached an almost mythical status in the Republican Party. During the 2008 GOP primary, every candidate argued ad nauseum over who was more like the Gipper. Last fall, Republican National Committee members proposed a conservative purity test based on Reagan's "unity principle," that "someone who agreed with him 8 out of 10 times was his friend, not his opponent." Of course Reagan would have failed the test, but don't tell the RNC.

Especially on teevee, it seems like nearly everyone on the right is asking "What Would Reagan Do?" about every political issue du jour. When the compromise climate bill hits the Senate next week, it will undoubtedly face fierce opposition from many conservatives. Some may use Reagan to illustrate their disapproval. But a Republican environmental group (yes, it sounds like an oxymoron) is using Reagan's own words to challenge the GOP consensus on climate change and energy legislation.

Jim DeMint tries to pass the buck on the C Street cover-up

Over the past year there's been a fair amount of coverage on the C Street House, which is owned and operated by the secretive religious group The Family. Several conservative members of Congress live at the house, paying about $950 a month for upscale accommodations just blocks away from the Capitol. According to the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, that's about half the market value of apartments in that area.

It also might break congressional ethics rules. CREW has filed an ethics complaint against several C Street residents, including Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN), laying out their argument here:

The House and Senate gift rules specifically include “lodging” as a prohibited gift. ... In addition, members may not accept gifts offered to members of Congress because of their official positions. As only members of Congress appear to live in the C Street House, it seems likely that it is because of their positions that they are permitted to live there and are offered below market rent.