The Pill Saves Lives! (Or, maxomai revives an old blog) | #ThePillKills? #ThePillSaves!

Six years ago I started the blog "The Pill Saves Lives" to record the stories of women whose lives were saved -- literally or otherwise -- by birth control pills. This was in reaction to the American Life League's "The Pill Kills" day. I had big dreams, but the blog was never touched again after the first day...until yesterday when Jackie emailed me her story. You can read her story here.

Jackie reached out to me for a reason. It turns out that the pro-life movement is back at it, this time trying to promote #ThePillKills on social media. There is, of course, a counter-movement to promote #ThePillSaves. I've decided to promote the old blog again --- now with some new content --- to highlight the ways that the pill has made people's lives better.

Eric Cantor resigns as House Majority Leader; Kevin McCarthy Wants to Replace Him. Some take-aways.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his primary last night in a stunning upset that is guaranteed, barring nuclear war, to be the story of the week. He is resigning as House Majority Leader, and California Congressman Kevin McCarthy is running to replace him.

Here are my observations on the matter:

1. Cantor was simply out-hustled. Cantor was a good fit for his district, but Brat sold himself to GOP primary voters as a better, more conservative fit, and he seized every opportunity to do it. Brat ran TV ads outlining his anti-immigration stance, where Cantor pulled his punches to avoid alienating Hispanic voters nationwide. Brat reached out to pro-gun groups such as Gun Owners of America, and Cantor didn't even bother to answer their candidate surveys. Needless to say, those groups campaigned for Brat.


2. Gerrymandering bit Cantor in the ass. Primary voters, including myself, are ideologues, but they're also partisan. Brat wouldn't have been able to sell himself as a better fit if primary voters thought there was a reasonable chance that he'd lose to the Democratic candidate. Cantor's district is so deep-red (R+10) that even a completely unprepared upstart is likely to beat a well-funded Democrat. (Note: this isn't a prediction of how the general election will go. There's been no polling of Brat vs. Trammell yet. Until those numbers show up, take any prediction with a grain of salt.)


3. To the extent that this shakes up the Washington GOP establishment, it does so by moving that establishment to the left. The Tea Party just lost its most senior member of the House, and John Boehner just lost his chief GOP opponent for Speaker of the House. This gives Boehner a lot more room to maneuver going forward. It will be interesting to see how he uses that room.


4. On the other hand, this doesn't change the Democrats' chances to win control of the House by much. Those chances are still dismal in 2014, somewhat better in 2016, and really not great at all unless the Democrats take control of most of the state legislatures in 2018 and 2020.


5. Cantor's loss demonstrates the importance of having a good pollster on his side. He thought he was going to win by 2-to-1. If he knew the race was this close, Cantor would have pulled out the plugs to get out the vote. He didn't, and it cost him.