Good morning, #nerdland! Whether or not you are actress Kerry Washington, thank you for watching our debut yesterday! (If you missed any part of it, you can find every segment here.) Today's show is still cooking, but that doesn't mean we haven't made time to check out what's happening. Here's what we're reading:
The GOP won the payroll tax extension fight! So says Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), because "more than half the Republicans voted for it." Yes, but a greater percentage of House Democrats voted for it, and most Republican Senators opposed it after the House voted. Victory!
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat tries to punch holes in the alleged liberal abortion mantra, "safe, legal and rare."
The Times also profiles a Rhode Island priest who rails against contraception and President Obama from the pulpit.
"Soccer moms" are so 1996. Politico attempts to coin another meme: "birth control moms."
Mother Jones profiles Melissa's fellow New Orleans resident, actor and food-justice advocate Wendell Pierce.
We'd missed the Daily Caller column from earlier this week asking, "What Are Women For?". Feministe blogger Jill Filipovic had an answer.
Meet Peta Lindsay, a 27-year-old Black woman who is running for President as a socialist.
And do you remember this John McCain "Complete the Danged Fence" presidential campaign ad from 2008? Remember the Arizona sheriff whom he was walking alongside?
Paul Babeu is now famous for something else: allegations that he threatened his Mexican ex-boyfriend with deportation should their affair ever be revealed. The Pinal County Sheriff, who is running for Congress, revealed he was gay, but denied the allegations. (And he resigned as Mitt Romney's Arizona co-chair. So no new ad, I'm guessing.)