March 31, 2015

Jeb Bush is working it hard these days, pandering to every fringe group he possibly can while walking away from the mainstream.

I think it's worth considering Bibi Netanyahu's tactics when you listen to him bless Indiana's right-to-discriminate bill, because I guarantee you that if he wins the nomination he'll be telling everyone he didn't really mean that thing that he said during the primaries.

In GOP-land, you say whatever you have to say to get the nomination, then lie about moving to the center in order to get elected. Then as soon as you're elected, you go right back to pandering to all the far-right groups who bought you that nomination in the first place.

But even with all that, this is pretty stupid.

"I think Governor Pence has done the right thing," says Bush. "Florida has a law like this. Bill Clinton signed a law like this at the federal level."

Stop right there, because that's lie number one. The part every one of these conservatives is intentionally leaving out of their blessings is the part where they forget that Indiana's law reaches much farther than the Federal RFRA or many other state laws.

Here is the fundamental difference. This law permits any for-profit entity to use this law to defend themselves in all cases, including those where government is not a party. It specifically bars people from filing discrimination lawsuits, too.

That stretches to groups that go far beyond LGBT folks. Christians could discriminate against Muslims, against atheists, against anyone they didn't like for any reason. It's a free pass to discriminate as much as they want.

Jeb's next comment is even worse than his first one. "This is simply allowing people of faith space to be able to express their beliefs, to be able to be people of conscience. I think once the facts are established, people aren't going to see this as discriminatory at all."

Tell me. How is this any different than Rand Paul wanting to repeal the Civil Rights Act? Do you suppose we're going to see someone from the Church of Venerated White Folks discriminating against black people because their religious faith dictates that they're superior beings? Will Scientologists be allowed to claim someone they don't like is a Thetan?

Good old Jeb, shape-shifting in order to suck up to the religious right. I hope his candidacy goes down in flames.

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