Tuesday Reads: On Wisconsin
Posted: April 5, 2016 Filed under: morning reads, U.S. Politics | Tags: historical photos, Wisconsin primary 64 Comments
Hubert Humphrey and John Kennedy as votes are counted in the Wisconsin Primary, 1960
Good Morning!!
I hate to keep complaining about my health issues, but I’m moving so slowly this morning that I thought I’d give you guys a quick update so you’d know why it has been taking me so to get my posts written. I have been struggling with a cold and sinus infection that just won’t go away. It’s been weeks–maybe close to 2 months. I haven’t really kept track. For about 10 days, my sinuses were so swollen that my upper and lower teeth ached on the left side.
Last Tuesday, I went to a hospital walk-in clinic. It turned out that my blood pressure was very high, and I ended up having to stay in the hospital overnight while they tried to stabilize it and figure out what was going on with my sinuses. I had every test you could imagine–a chest X-ray, EKG, blood and oxygen tests for heart function, an echocardiogram, a CAT scan of my sinuses, and I wore a heart monitor while I was there.
The doctors were reluctant to give me an antibiotic, but they finally decided to give me a Z-pack because I had been sick for so long. They also gave me some blood pressure medication. I came home on Wednesday evening and by Thursday afternoon I felt dramatically better. On Friday and Saturday I felt great–I felt like me again for the first time in a long time. But on Sunday the symptoms started coming back. It hasn’t gotten to the point that my teeth hurt yet, but I obviously need more antibiotics.
I’m seeing a physician’s assistant tomorrow, and I hope I can convince her to give me a prescription. Of course the main focus is going to be on my blood pressure, so I’m trying to prepare myself to be assertive enough to get the help I need.
On top of all that, it snowed here on Sunday and Monday! I’m just hoping the snow will melt today. The sun is out, but it isn’t going to get much above freezing. If it doesn’t melt, I plan to go out this afternoon and try to back the car out of the driveway without shoveling it.
Anyway, I hope you guys don’t mind my sharing this. It has actually made me feel a little better to put it into words. Now on to today’s reads.
George Wallace won 1/3 of the Democratic primary votes in Wisconsin in 1964.
Yesterday we got exciting news from the Supreme Court on voting rights. Here’s some background from The Atlantic: One Person, One Vote, Eight Justices.
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously turned back a legal effort to reinterpret the “one person, one vote” constitutional rule Monday, ruling that states may rely on total population when drawing their legislative districts.
The case, Evenwel v. Abbott, was brought by two Texas voters, Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger, who challenged the apportionment of Texas Senate districts. With the exception of the U.S. Senate, every American legislative body is apportioned by total population under the “one person, one vote” rule first outlined by the Court in the 1960s.
Evenwel and Pfenninger argued that counting non-voters—children, the mentally disabled, disenfranchised prisoners, and non-citizens—broke that rule and diluted their political power in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Cause. Many observers, including my colleague Garrett Epps, notedthat Evenwel’s interpretation would redraw the American political map in favor of a whiter, older, and more conservative electorate.
“In agreement with Texas and the United States, we reject appellants’ attempt to locate a voter-equality mandate in the Equal Protection Clause,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the majority. “As history, precedent, and practice demonstrate, it is plainly permissible for jurisdictions to measure equalization by the total population of state and local legislative districts.”
The Supreme Court first forced states to draw their legislative districts with roughly equal populations inside them in two landmark decisions: Baker v. Carr in 1962 andReynolds v. Sims in 1964. The two decisions enshrined the one-person, one-vote rule in American constitutional law.
More at the link.
Eugene McCarthy after winning the Wisconsin primary in 1968
Analysis by Rick Hasan at the Election Law Blog: Breaking/Analysis: Big Victory for Voting Rights as #SCOTUS Rejects Plaintiffs’ Claim in Evenwel One Person, One Vote Case.
Justice Ginsburg wrote the opinion for the Court, and it is clear (as I had been saying) that Justice Scalia’s death did not affect the outcome of this case. It was clear from the oral argument that, despite what some said, this was not a case where the Court was likely to divide 4-4. Ed Blum’s position in this case to require voter population was not only at odds with historical practice, it was not practically possible given the data that we have, and it would have led to terrible outcomes, including making it basically impossible to also comply with Voting Rights Act requirements for districts.
Justice Ginsburg’s opinion holds that districting using total population was consistent with constitutional history, the Court’s own decisions, and longstanding practice. A long section of Justice Ginsburg’s opinion recounts constitutional history, and relies on the fact that for purposes of apportioning Congressional seats among states, total population, not total voters, must be used. Plaintiffs’ argument in Evenwel was inconsistent with this practice. As to the Court’s own precedents, Justice Ginsburg acknowledged language supporting both total voters and total population as possible bases, but Court’s practice has been to look at total population in its cases. Further, that is the practice that states uniformly use, despite the occasional case such as Burns v. Richardson, allowing Hawaii to use a registered voter level.
Finally, Justice Ginsburg gives a sound policy reason for a total population rule. In key language, she writes that “Nonvoters have an important stake in many policy debates—children,, their parents, even their grandparents, for example, have a stake in a strong public-education system—and in receiving constituent services, such as help navigating public-benefits bureaucracies. By ensuring that each representative is subject to requests and suggestions from the same number of constituents, total population apportionment promotes equitable and effective representation.” A footnote following this states that even though constituents “have no constitutional right to equal access to the their elected representatives,” a state “certainly has an interest in taking reasonable, nondiscriminatory steps to facilitate access for all its residents.”
Perhaps the most important aspect of Justice Ginsburg’s opinion, and especially notable because it attracted the votes of not just the liberals but also Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kennedy, is the Court’s refusal to give Texas the green light to use total voters if it wants in the next round of redistricting. The Court simply put the issue off for another day. It is hard to stress enough what a victory this is for liberal supporters of voting rights. Many of us thought Burns already gave Texas this power. The fact that the Court leaves that issue open will serve as a deterrent for states like Texas to try to use total voters in the next round of redistricting, because it will guarantee major litigation on the question.
Much more at the link.
George McGovern after winning the Wisconsin primary in 1972.
Today is the Wisconsin primary, and Bernie Sanders is expected to win. FiveThirtyEight gives him a 72 percent chance of winning and only a 28 percent chance for Hillary Clinton to pull an upset. Of course those are probabilities and the few polls that have been taken show a somewhat closer race. The Real Clear Politics poll average is 47.9 for Bernie, 45.3 for Hillary. Al Giordano is projecting a 16 point win for Bernie, but even if he does that well, he won’t get enough pledged delegates out of Wisconsin to cut Hillary’s lead by much.
After today, there won’t be another primary until New York votes on April 19. There is a caucus in Wyoing on April 9, and Sanders will probably win that.
Yesterday, the Clinton and Sanders campaign settled on a date for the Brooklyn debate that Bernie has been demanding since New Hampshire. It will be on April 14 on CNN with {gag} Wolf Blitzer as moderator.
As I’m sure you’re aware, there has been a silly dispute about this completely unnecessary “debate.” The Sanders campaign played games for several days, first accusing Clinton of being afraid to to debate him and then turning down four different dates and times offered by her campaign. But yesterday, NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio played the trump card (pun intended) by offering to smooth the way for Sanders to arrange his oh so busy schedule. The Daily Mail reports:
The Brooklyn debate that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have been squabbling over for the last week is finally a go.
The Sanders campaign announced this evening that it had accepted an offer from CNN to debate on the evening of April 14 – a date that Clinton had been pushing for but the senator rejected.
CNN separately announced that the primetime smackdown would be held from 9-11 PM next Thursday at the Duggal Greenhouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard….
Sanders’ campaign said this morning it could not do April 14, though it originally said would be acceptable, because it was the only evening it could secure a permit for a Washington Square rally in New York City.
Clinton backer and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio then offered to wield his power to settle the boiling dispute between the Democratic presidential candidates today.
De Blasio said on Twitter: ‘Let’s make @NY1 4/14 BKLYN debate happen. @BernieSanders: I’ll help you secure any permit you need to ensure your NYC rally can happen too.’
Hahahahaha! It was an offer Bernie couldn’t refuse.
Jimmy Carter, winner of the Wisconsin primary, 1976
More from Dana Millbank: Sanders is losing the pillow fight with Clinton.
This particular rhetorical showdown was not a back-and-forth about issues, appropriately enough, but an argument about whether to debate — and when, and where. It began Jan. 30, when the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign challenged Hillary Clinton to debate him in Brooklyn on April 14.
Clinton suggested the Democrats instead debate in Pennsylvania, on Long Island or in Upstate New York. Sanders accused Clinton of ducking.
Clinton proposed a New York debate on the evening of April 4 — but the Sanders campaign rejected the idea as “ludicrous” because the NCAA basketball championship would be later that night and Syracuse might be playing.
Clinton proposed they debate on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on April 15, but Sanders rejected that, too.
Clinton even acquiesced to the original Sanders demand and offered to debate April 14 in Brooklyn. Sorry, Sanders said. He now had a rally scheduled for that night — and the permit, his campaign said, had been hard to get.
The Sanders campaign countered Sunday by suggesting four other nights — one of them on a weekend, which it previously had said was unacceptable. Clinton summarily rejected those days.
But then Bill de Blasio stepped in, and made Bernie look like a dope.
Sanders late Monday acquiesced to debate on the very day and in the very place he proposed two months ago. He could rally another time at his preferred venue, New York’s Washington Square Park — which, by coincidence, was the site Saturday of the International Pillow Fight, in which hundreds of strangers playfully thumped each other with feather-filled sacks.
This is oddly appropriate, because the Democratic nominating contest generally, like the Great Debate Debate, has come to resemble a pillow fight — a lot of commotion and feathers flying, but the blows don’t have much impact. Sanders long ago ceased to have a meaningful chance of winning the nomination; he would need to win 57 percent of the remaining delegates (or 67 percent, if you include uncommitted superdelegates), which, under the Democrats’ system of assigning delegates in proportion to the vote, simply isn’t going to happen.
Millbank claims that in order to win, Sanders would have to attack Clinton’s character and that Sanders “refuses” to do that. Of course he has been doing just that by insinuation for a very long time; but that doesn’t fit the media narrative, so Millbank can’t admit that Bernie’s personal attacks are not working.
Michael Dukakis, winner of the Wisconsin Primary, 1988.
The Sanders campaign is still failing badly in its choice of official surrogates. Again and again we’ve seen Bernie’s celebrity supporters put their feet in their mouths while doing their best to help win him votes. Cornell West, Killer Mike, Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry, they’ve all managed to insult African American voters by minimizing their importance and attacking President Obama, and discounting all Southern Democrats as part of “the Confederacy.
Yesterday, Susan Sarandon’s former partner Tim Robbins weighed in when he introduced Sanders at the Wisconsin Rally. Philip Bump at The Washington Post: Tim Robbins’s very bad take on why Bernie Sanders is undersold.
After the Southern primaries,” he said, “you had called the election” — apparently referring to the media. “And who’s fooling who? Winning South Carolina in the Democratic primary is about as significant as winning Guam. No Democrat is going to win in the general election. Why do these victories have so much significance?”
This is a not-uncommon argument among supporters of Sanders. Yes, Hillary Clinton is winning. But she’s winning largely because she ran up big margins in Southern states. That, the argument goes, bodes poorly for the general, since those Southern states usually vote Republican.
This is a bad argument that borders on insulting.
First of all, South Carolina has a lot more people than Guam. Among the other bits of data one can point out about the 2016 Democratic primary is that Clinton has received far more votes than Sanders — 2.5 million more. Among those is a margin of about 175,000 more votes in the state of South Carolina, a margin that by itself is larger than the population of Guam.
Which means that Clinton came away from South Carolina with a net delegate haul of plus-25 — she earned 25 more delegates than did Sanders. In the Democrats’ proportional system, that’s a big margin. It’s a margin that Sanders has only managed once, in the Washington caucuses late last month. So in that sense, South Carolina matters a lot more than Guam.
More at the link. It’s not just a stupid and insulting argument; it’s a racist argument. There, I’ve said it. It’s what I believe.
Bill Clinton, winner of the 1990 Wisconsin primary
I have more links that I want to share; I’ll put some in the comment thread. What stories are you following today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
An interesting piece on Sanders’ surrogates from The Daily Beast:
Bernie Sanders: From the Guys Who Brought You George W. Bush
I think Wisconsin will be close enough for Hillary to maintain her delegate lead. She’s pulling way ahead of him in California. I’m still hoping New York puts it away for her and we can find some one to primary his ass from the party so we can get a real Democrat senator from Vermont instead of a lying sandbagger.
Hear, hear!
She will probably still be ahead by 200 pledged delegates after today.
Everyone should read Bernie’s interview with the NY Daily News. It’s almost as embarrassing as Trump’s interview with the NYT. After all this time, Bernie has no idea how to get his proposals implemented.
Must read by Melissa at Shakesville: Holy Mackerel
And that’s just one of the stunning moments in this god-awful Sanders interview.
Whoa, I’d tell you the guy is a real stiff.
Dude knows absolutely nothing about bank regulations. Shame on his lecturing lying trifling ass!
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/04/bernie-sanders-break-up-banks
The correct answer is that the congress makes the regs, the president signs it into law, and if it has to do with banks, the Law delegates the responsibility to the Fed.
If my first year money and banking class or macro econ class can’t answer that, they’d fail the course.
I just logged in just to talk about that interview. Holy Ravioli!!!
Bernie Sanders can express himself better that Donald Trump but he is really as ignorant. Trump actually has an excuse: He hasn’t really thought about policy until like yesterday, but Sanders has been in Congress for 3 decades and still doesn’t know anything about anything.
After Trump interviews with the Washingtonpost and the NYTimes, all these yakkers on TV went on and on for days about Trump ignorance on issues, here there’s nothing.
Plenty of people making fun of him on Twitter.
The guy whose entire platform is breaking banks and police Wallstreet doesn’t anything on that issue? This is so embarrassing. On cable TV they are skipping that interview just like they don’t want to push him about releasing his taxes.
BB, I feel your pain. Had the same symptoms a few weeks ago.
Bernie is getting on my last nerve. His surrogates are assholes. And for someone running on the “issues only” he doesn’t seem to have a clue on solutions. He just went after Hillary again on the donors, The implication is that she is “on the take”.
Repulsive man.
Do you mean blood pressure or sinus?
Both!
Really? Thank you for telling me that. I sure hope I can get it all resolved. I’m kind of afraid to shovel, frankly. I’m going to try driving my car out over the snow this afternoon.
Got an antibiotic good for 6 days. Cleared up the infection. Blood pressure went down as well. Hang in there.
Sorry you ended up in hospital. Having had it for 6 or 8 weeks, isn’t a good thing either. I have to watch my BP, hypertension, and heart stuff. But having that kind of pain will shoot it right up there. I wet my wash cloth, and put in micro for 1 minute, then lay in on another face towel over my sinuses, when I do have problems.
Get better BB, glad that z pack helped a little…
http://www.people.com/article/doris-day-92-birthday-squirrely-photo
Happy 92nd birthday to Doris Day!
Wow!
I saw that and thought about posting it for JJ. I know she is a huge classic movie buff and Doris Day is one of the few remaining Mega Stars from the Hollywood Glory Days. Doris Day is one of my favorites of all time and at 92 she is still beautiful.
She’s a great activist for animals too.
I’ve always loved the old Doris Day movies.
Last night I revisited the 2008 Democratic Primary between Hillary and Obama, it was a much closer race than this race. And unlike the current situation with Bernie there was actually a very good chance at this point in 2008 that Hillary could have won enough delegates to clinch the nomination. The odds against Bernie are astronomical and sometime soon he and his supporters will have to come to grips with it.
I’ve also decided that instead of torturing myself like I did 2 weeks ago watching the returns from the West, tonight I’m going to watch a movie and drink a couple of beers instead. 🙂 I will likely check in on the results a few times, but I’m not spending tonight aggravated over what, in the long run, amounts to nothing. I’d recommend that all SkyDancers do the same.
I don’t plan to focus on the results either. I will probably see what’s being discussed on Twitter throughout the afternoon and night.
I think that’s a great decision.
Yup…………..relax.
Great twitter account to follow via Susie Madrak:
https://twitter.com/FactCheckBernie
Fact Checker
Bernie Sanders’s false claim that he has released his full federal tax returns
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/04/05/bernie-sanderss-false-claim-that-he-has-released-his-full-federal-tax-returns/
Dude lies like Trump’s cheap hair rug.
I read that, how he can continue the personal attacks on Hillary is beyond me. Clearly the story is that there is a Millionaire running as leader of the Revolution. Oh, my! BerNARD Sanders needs to release the tax returns pronto.
I know. The BernieBros refuse to believe he got it any way other than planting crops in a nice communal farm too.
Sending healing thoughts and energy your way 🙂
Thank you Joyce!
I feel your pain. I had a sinus infection that made my teeth hurt so bad I was thinking I would have to have one or two pulled out. I treated mine with AlkaSeltzer cold med, saline spray into the nose and echinacea. One doctor told me that it takes a couple of weeks or more of antibiotics to reach the sinus area and I don’t react well to antibiotics so I chose this route. In less than two weeks I was so much better. Hope you are better soon.
Thanks. I’ve been doing all that and more already. I’ve even been flushing out my sinuses twice a day. That helps a lot but only for a few hours.
The CAT scan showed a huge amount of swelling in my sinuses. The Dr. at the hospital thought I’d probably have to go to an ENT. I’m hoping they can refer me when I go to the clinic tomorrow.
I’ll see what happens.
The only time I’ve ever had high blood pressure was when I had a sinus infection. It was high enough that it scared the doctor, so she put me on a list for a 24 monitor. I took the 5day/6pill broad spectrum anti-biotic and conquered the infection. By the time the BP monitor was available my blood pressure was right back down to 120/68. I think anytime you are coughing also raises BP. (… my experience/observation anyway)
If your sinus infections are caused by allergies, you might want to begin the allergy shot process. I’ve been troubled by sinuses for many years. As I’ve aged it got worse with 4+ infections a year. Finally my Doc suggest a visit to the ENT. They tested for allergies and as it turns out I’m allergic to my dog, my cats, grass, mold, pollen, dust and even some foods. I began a weekly allergy shot about 18 months ago and I’m so much better it’s remarkable. I’ve only had one sinus infection in the past year. It took about a year for the shots to really begin to make a difference, but they’ve made a huge difference in the quality of my life.
You can do the saline nasal/sinus rinse even every couple of hours, if you can stand to. It is temporary, but helps.
Sounds very appropriate that you should see an ENT if your CT scan was that bad. Hope your recover soon!
… that should be 24 HOUR monitor!
Jonathan Capehart : 9 things Bernie Sanders should’ve known about but didn’t in that Daily News interview
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/04/05/9-things-bernie-sanders-shouldve-known-about-but-didnt-in-that-daily-news-interview/
Wouldn’t you like to hear Hillary’s answers to those questions? The difference would be astounding!
This is an excellent recap of Bernie’s train wreck of an interview.
Iceland’s PM resigned:
BREAKING: First World Leader Has Been Forced To Resign Amid Panama Papers Scandal, Despite… http://bipartisan.report/2016/04/05/breaking-first-world-leader-has-been-forced-to-resign-amid-panama-papers-scandal-despite-saying-he-wouldnt/ …
The Fix
Bernie Sanders isn’t catching Hillary Clinton. Because, math. Chris Cillizza
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/04/05/bernie-sanders-isnt-catching-hillary-clinton-because-math/?tid=sm_tw
Oh gosh, I hope the PA gives you what you need, bostonboomer. I’m sending good thoughts your way.
Thank you for finding these photos of Wisconsin primary winners. I had forgotten (or never knew) that Wallace won 1/3 of the primary votes in 1964.
Thank you.
I’m sorry for what you have been going through, bb. I know sinus infections are caused by viruses so that’s why they are reluctant to prescribe antibiotics but my doc says if it doesn’t get better after a week or so, you probably have a secondary, bacterial infection and that’s where the antibiotics will help. Once the weather gets better you’ll be able to start walking more and hopefully that will help you get your blood pressure under control but in the meantime it’s good that you are on some corrective medication. I really hope you start feeling better and please, please, please do not shovel the snow. It’s going to warm up in a couple days and it will melt on its own. Hugs, bb.
Thanks. I’ve already had this for at least 6 weeks. I got tested for pneumonia and all the tests on my heart were normal. Only the CAT scan on my sinuses showed massive inflammation. There has to be something bacterial going on. I improved temporarily on the short course of antibiotics. I’m getting pretty desperate, because I live here alone and I’m barely functioning.
Someone in one of the comments mentioned allergies. Do you have down filled anything? Pillows, comforters, furniture? I was plagued with sinus problems many years ago and finally went for expensive (even if it’s covered by insurance) allergy testing and discovered that I was allergic to feathers. I got rid of everything with down in my house and noticed an improvement almost immediately.
I’m sorry for what you are going through. I would love to go up there to help you but I messed up my knee again. Isn’t aging just fucking awesome?
I have some allergies. I’m allergic to dust, so kind of hard to deal with that, lol. I honestly think there is something wrong in my nose and/or sinuses. As a child I breathed through my mouth at night a lot. My parents took me to ENT docs, but they never could find anything wrong. But I was reading recently that some people have smaller sinus passages or something. I probably can’t afford a lot of specialists. The co-pays on my insurance are very high.
I’m having a knee problem too, can you believe it?
I’m getting around OK. It’s just that I don’t have much energy, and I have a hard time concentrating when I write.
Get better soon, bb!
BB,
Get well soon.
Ditto! And thanks for the update.
Thanks everyone! I really appreciate it.
I don’t know if anyone else already share this but I was prety excited when my sister forwarded it to me:
http://www.vibe.com/2016/04/hillary-clinton-black-girls-rock/?utm_source=share-email&utm_medium=button
Thanks for sharing. It must have been a neat moment in a wonderful evening.
From the comments:
The rest of it is excellent too.
She should get sainthood too, IMO!
Boston Boomer, I certainly hope that you feel better soon, and that you get very capable medical treatment.
I’m not looking forward to the coverage tonight, because not only will Sanders likely win, it is the only primary state, so the media will go on and on and on about it. New York and Pennsylvania will be the key races.
It has been so obvious that Sanders couldn’t do any of what he was promising, for political and economic reasons. It is appalling that the major media has basically just taken him at face value, as if anything you say is what you will be able to do. It is all nonsense, and damaging for many reasons, not the least of which is that millions of people now think that free college tuition, breaking up banks, a tax on every wall street transaction, single payer health care, are all things that a president could do, if only he or she had the will to do it. It is the stuff of demagogues and carnival barkers
You’re so right, William. If one has a plan but has no ideas about implementing it, that’s not a plan-that’s a wish list.
Bernie has a wish list, and you know what they say about wishes.
I’m not sure! But I do know what they say about ifs and buts, if that is close enough. 🙂
Another Bernie surrogate goes rogue. Nina Turner compares the support of Congresspeople for Hillary to support for slavery.
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The full transcript here.
http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/the-last-word/2016-04-04
That is egregiously false. And if a white person said that they’d be roasted.