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   From: void@void.void   
      
   aubrey.workman@gop.org wrote in news:sridq3$npn$1@dont-email.me:   
      
   > President Barack Obama promised unity. In his 2008 campaign, he said   
   > he would heal the nation’s political divides and end more than a   
   > decade of partisan rancor.   
   >   
   > To keep this promise, Obama needed allies, or at least partners, in   
   > the Republican Party. But they said no. If they could block Obama — if   
   > they could withhold support on anything significant he planned to do —   
   > then they could make him break his promise. Republicans would obstruct   
   > and Obama would get the blame. Which, you might remember, is what   
   > happened. By the 2010 midterm elections, Obama was a divisive   
   > president.   
   >   
   > Joe Biden, in his 2020 campaign for president, promised to get the   
   > coronavirus pandemic under control. With additional aid to working   
   > families and free distribution of multiple effective vaccines, he   
   > would lead the United States out of its ongoing public health crisis.   
   >   
   > I think you can see where this is going.   
   >   
   > Rather than work with him to vaccinate the country, Biden’s Republican   
   > opposition has, with only a few exceptions, done everything in its   
   > power to politicize vaccination and make refusal to cooperate a test   
   > of partisan loyalty. The party is, for all practical purposes,   
   > pro-Covid. If it’s sincere, it is monstrous. And if it’s not, it is an   
   > unbelievably cynical and nihilistic strategy. Unfortunately for both   
   > Biden and the country, it appears to be working.   
   >   
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   > Continue reading the main story   
   > Jamelle Bouie’s Newsletter  Discover overlooked writing from around   
   > the internet, and get exclusive thoughts, photos and reading   
   > recommendations from Jamelle. Get it with a Times subscription.   
   > Opinion Conversation Questions surrounding the Covid-19 vaccine and   
   > its rollout.   
   >   
   >     When will Omicron peak?   
   >     An infectious disease modeler predicts what’s in store for the   
   >     month   
   > of January and possibly beyond.   
   >     Will Covid-19 evolve to become milder?   
   >     Dr. Andrew Pekosz explains that while mutations may affect   
   >     severity,   
   > they aren’t the only way to blunt the virus’s power.   
   >     If the virus isn't going away, how do we live with it?   
   >     Katherine Eban writes that a clear-eyed view is required to   
   >     organize   
   > long-term against an endemic virus.   
   >     What can New York tell us about Omicron?   
   >     A doctor who helped craft New York’s Covid response offers lessons   
   > from that experience.   
   >   
   > Naturally, some of the loudest vaccine-skeptical Republicans are in   
   > Congress. “Think about what those mechanisms could be used for,”   
   > Representative Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina said of the Biden   
   > administration’s plan for door-to-door vaccine ambassadors. “They   
   > could then go door-to-door to take your guns. They could go   
   > door-to-door to take your Bibles.”   
   >   
   > Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has similarly   
   > criticized the president’s effort to reach the unvaccinated. “People   
   > have a choice, they don’t need your medical brown shirts showing up at   
   > their door ordering vaccinations,” she tweeted. “You can’t force   
   > people to be part of the human experiment.”   
   >   
   > Cawthorn and Greene are obviously fringe figures. But these days, the   
   > fringe is not far from the center of the Republican Party (if it ever   
   > was to begin with). Their rhetoric is not too different, in other   
   > words, from that of their more mainstream colleagues in the Senate.   
   >   
   > Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has attacked vaccine mandates — “There   
   > should be no mandates, zero, concerning Covid,” he said in a recent   
   > interview with the Fox News host Sean Hannity — while Senator Rand   
   > Paul of Kentucky has urged Americans to “resist” efforts to stop the   
   > spread of the virus. “It’s time for us to resist,” Paul said in a   
   > video posted to Twitter. “They can’t arrest all of us. They can’t keep   
   > all of your kids home from school. They can’t keep every government   
   > building closed, although I’ve got a long list of ones they might keep   
   > closed or ought to keep closed.” Editors’ Picks   
   > How European Royals Once Shared Their Most Important Secrets   
   > Cookies? Chips? Pizza? Here’s How to Own Your Cravings   
   > What We Learned From Week 18 in the N.F.L.   
   >   
   > Advertisement   
   > Continue reading the main story   
   >   
   > Republican rhetoric in Washington, however, is a sideshow to the real   
   > fight over Covid, in states like Florida and Texas.   
   >   
   > In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected vaccine passports and launched   
   > an aggressive campaign against mandatory mask-wearing in schools. “It   
   > is very important that we say, unequivocally, no to lockdowns, no to   
   > school closures, no to restrictions and no to mandates,” he told a   
   > gathering of conservative activists in Utah last month. DeSantis has   
   > suspended city and county emergency orders, put limits on future   
   > mitigation efforts and signed a law that “shields nursing homes,   
   > hospitals and businesses from legal liability if employees and patrons   
   > contract the virus on their premises.”   
   >   
   > All of this, even as the state has been ravaged by the Delta variant   
   > of the virus. Florida has been reporting more than 20,000 new   
   > infections a day and has averaged 262 Covid deaths — the most of any   
   > state, at least in absolute numbers. More than 16,000 people are   
   > hospitalized and thousands have been taken to intensive care units.   
   > Who does DeSantis blame for these outcomes? Biden.   
   >   
   > “You know, he said he was going to end Covid. He hasn’t done that,”   
   > the Florida governor told the Fox News host Jesse Watters last week.   
   > “At the end of the day, he is trying to find a way to distract from   
   > the failures of his presidency.”   
   >   
   > In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has banned mask mandates, signed   
   > legislation that would deny state contracts or licenses to businesses   
   > that require proof of vaccination and — after recovering from a   
   > breakthrough Covid infection himself — barred local governments from   
   > requiring the vaccine for any public agency or private institution. In   
   > a statement, Abbott said that this was to avoid a “patchwork of   
   > vaccine mandates across Texas.” But in a message to the state   
   > legislature, the governor appeared to be asking lawmakers to consider   
      
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