Bedtime Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
But if this be the night I go,
Inscribe my tomb “Vote Rubio.” 

…and other Republican prayers: http://nyr.kr/ZIi7bZ

WASHINGTON—Just after Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said having a gay son had caused him to reverse his opposition to gay marriage, Portman’s Republican colleagues began changing their positions on a variety of issues when they discovered that they, too, have families.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Speaker John Boehner said they realized they had wives and daughters, leading them to rethink their views on the Violence Against Women Act. “Having women in my life,” said Boehner, who has been married for thirty-seven years, “puts this thing in a whole new light.”

Continue reading: http://nyr.kr/10ROA0p

The news, on the front page of the Times this morning, that dozens of leading Republicans had signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the case of Proposition 8, the California gay-marriage ban, merited the A1 treatment that it received. Despite their party and their own past positions, Jon Huntsman, Meg Whitman, Ken Duberstein, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and others said that they supported a Constitutional right to same-sex marriage. This comes two days before the Obama Administration must decide whether it is ready to file a similar brief. In the most high-profile Supreme Court case of the year, with the future of how we view civil rights and treat our fellow-citizens at stake, someone had quietly engineered enough prominent conservatives from the opposition party to sign onto a legal brief supporting full equality for gay and lesbian Americans. That someone was Ken Mehlman, the openly gay former political director of the George W. Bush White House, the campaign manager for Bush’s 2004 reëlection campaign, and the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. 

Richard Socarides on Ken Mehlman’s gay-marriage mission: http://nyr.kr/Weh7Q1

Photograph by Chip Somodevilla/Getty.

In this week’s issue, Ryan Lizza asks if Eric Cantor, the Republican Majority Leader, can redeem his party and himself: http://nyr.kr/159MMST What do you think? Can the leadership of the House of Representatives transform the GOP?

Photograph by Christopher Morris.

(Source: newyorker.com)

(Source: newyorker.com)

John Cassidy on Congressional Republicans, “about to endorse another damaging economic idea that should be consigned to the history books: a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.” Continue reading: http://nyr.kr/WFsZZF

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Responding to reports that President Obama is considering signing as many as nineteen executive orders on gun control, Republicans in Congress unleashed a blistering attack on him today, accusing Mr. Obama of “cynically and systematically using his position as President to lead the country.” Continue reading: http://nyr.kr/UoXKzk

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Just hours after being sworn in at the U.S. Capitol, the freshman class of House Republicans said that they were disappointed that they failed to shut down the government on their first day in office. Read more: http://nyr.kr/13bszvU

Today, President Obama nominated Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary, adding “yet another intense political battle with Republicans to an already busy season for the White House.” Ryan Lizza considers whether the nomination will hurt Obama’s second term agenda:http://nyr.kr/13ee3me, and our Double Take blog revisits Connie Bruck’s 2008 profile of Hagel: http://nyr.kr/UCiFCu

Photograph by Mark Wilson/Getty.

Amy Davidson on how the cliff deal raises payroll taxes on low income & middle class—and internalizes GOP delusions: http://nyr.kr/WecEWG

Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty