For reasons that remain a mystery to me, some of you are interested in following the hearings, when it is already a done deal.
Here is a thread for you.
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!
Republicans do not pay their debts.
Black Jesus loves a paper trail.
Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.
Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.
Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.
This fight is for everything.
Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?
Infrastructure week. at last.
They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.
Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?
Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.
I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.
He really is that stupid.
Fuck these fucking interesting times.
JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?
Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard
So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.
Hot air and ill-informed banter
The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.
Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.
The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.
Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?
Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.
Mudge
You know it is a done deal. I know it is a done deal. But the Senate Republicans feel obliged to piss into the wind on this. Their mendacity and stupidity is stunning. We so seldom get to see this public a show of it.
Ash
It’s not the outcome that matters John. It’s watching how much the Republicans shoot themselves during the process.
Zifnab
Watching Jeff Sessions and Lindsey Graham make complete asses out of themselves never get old. And, if I need a nap, I can always just listen to Chuck Schumer for a bit.
gizmo
This is an opportunity for dimwit southern GOP senators to huff and puff in front of their base on the teevee. Yeehaw…!
Brian J
You know how when you see a couple, especially a married one, fight in public and can’t help but look at the trainwreck that’s happening before your eyes? That’s what it’s like to watch the modern Republicans in action. You are so disgusted and worried for the future of the political system, and you feel the need to take a decontamination shower after wards, but you can’t help but look away.
PeakVT
Has anyone in the SCLM pointed out that the Repukes are just spreading FUD and stoking anger? That would be the most news-worthy development of the whole process.
jrg
Ayers! ACORN! She’s a doodie-head and a racist.
peach flavored shampoo
Doesn’t anyone have a job? How can y’all watch this while at work?
Trinity
Even though it is a done deal, watching the Rethuglicans showcase their racism and sexism is really a sight to behold. It is disgusting and fascinating all at once.
Crashman06
Easy. Just close the door to my office!
Comrade Jake
I actually think the real fun begins tomorrow, when the GOP calls their “witless” list. I caught one of these right-to-life nutjobs on right-wing talk radio last night who’s set to appear, and I have to tell you, she is batshit crazee.
KP
This isn’t at all related to old white Republicans going through the motions at the hearing, but this was too priceless not to bring up:
http://bit.ly/10nmWj
Both Eric Cantor and Mike Pence are considering Presidential runs. I just barely picked myself up back off the floor – I fell over laughing.
BenA
@gizmo:
To paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy… it’s not that all southerners are stupid… it’s that they can’t keep the dumbest among them off the TV. ;-)
The Saff
I’m paying attention to the highlights from the folks here and from the posts on DailyKos.
I would imagine it’s got to be excrutiating for someone as smart and well-educated as Judge Sotomayor to have to face stupid, racist windbags like Sessions, Graham, and Kyl and just be civil.
Joey Maloney a/k/a The Bard Of Balloon Juice
I’m just waiting for Senator Franken’s turn.
Michael
The anger stoking may be part of the game. The communication gap between the sane and the rump is getting wider.
I’ve been noticing on my facebook feeds that if somebody with a wide circle of acquaintances has the audacity to express a sentiment that can be perceived as “liberal”, some acquaintance will express something with a heap of vitriol.
There are friendships and families breaking down over this, not a good thing.
Max
Frankly, I am amazed at the Judge’s discipline and control of her facial expressions.
Yesterday, I would never have been able to mask my disgust with Sessions the Leprechan, Lindsey the mean girl, and Kyl the moron.
I would have been rolling my eyes like mad and giving my version of the evil eye. Xanex perhaps?
ellaesther
@The Saff: Her body language, as pointed out by the peerless Jon Stewart, really says it all: “You are morons,” it says, “and I will wait quietly for this to pass. No, no, don’t let me bother you! You go on! I’ll just sit here, very quietly.”
In all seriousness, it probably reflects her years on the bench, where she no doubt has had to listen to a great deal of stupidity while maintaining professional decorum. It will probably be cited as a reason she shouldn’t be confirmed….
Violet
@Comrade Jake:
The GOP doesn’t have some surprise witness waiting to drop a bombshell, do they? You know, like the Anita Hill thing with Clarence Thomas. I’m not sure I can stomach another discussion of what might or might not be on soda cans. Ugh.
Ron
@peach flavored shampoo: I love being in academia. Especially for those three magic words: June, July, and August.
briber
I work 5 days a week.
10 pm to 6:30 am, Thursday through Monday.
Right now I’m on my weekend!
Dennis-SGMM
@Comrade Jake:
I read the witness list somewhere and it struck me as odd that the same Republicans who were making so much of Sotomayor’s purported empathy would call Fireman Frank and a batshit-insane right-to-lifer as witnesses. Sotomayor comes to these hearings with more time on the Federal bench and more written opinions than any recent nominee so it’s safe to conclude that the R’s, having found nothing controversial enough to derail her nomination there, are resorting to farce and innuendo.
Poopyman
@Crashman
Easy. Just close the door to my office!
A door! What the heck? Next thing you’ll tell us you have a window, too.
I got neither, and can’t watch a video feed. I have to rely on Olbermann, Maddow, and TDS. Please tell me that the idiocy on display there is highly distilled from the hours of blathering in the hearing.
gbear
Sotomayor did crack a huge smile when Sessions went on and on comparing her judicial philosophy unfavorably to another judge, only to have Sotomayor point out that the other judge was a friend and supporter of hers and was actually sitting in the gallery listening to the proceedings. Great moment.
StrandedVandal
Someone please get Coburn a Riccoloa.
Brick Oven Bill
Where can I read a Sotomayor opinion? I have searched for one on this Internet and have not been successful. Rumor has it that she writes poorly. This would not be a good sign.
StrandedVandal
Coburn, “I’m asking a question full of false equivalencies, but I don’t want you to answer it. But could you please tell me your thoughts on it?”
There’s no way I could just sit there and let these asshats do their Kabuki with me.
Zifnab
@Violet:
:-p That whole episode poisoned what have should have been a resounding slap down of Bork’s African American doppleganger. The Democrats handled that whole affair wrong, and the result was their inability to successfully confront GOP SCOTUS nominees for years into the future.
If the GOP wants to take a page out of the Dems’ losing playbook, I say let them go right ahead.
StrandedVandal
So my wife just said, “Listening to her kind of reminds me of a very experienced Kindergarten teacher. Kindly when she needs to be, but knowing that when all the kids are down for a nap, she’s planning her trip to Sturgis to hang out with the Hell’s Angels.”
Zifnab
@Brick Oven Bill: Try typing “Sotomayor opinions” into Google BoB. Then hit the third link down – “Sotomayor’s Notable Court Opinions and Articles – Interactive …” – then refrence the “Related Documents” links beside each NYTimes synopsis.
For someone who can’t operate the basic functions of the Internets, I give you huge props for calling a Harvard Law School saladictorian a bad writer. Perhaps the folks that have been spreading rumors are using bad metrics in their measurements. I would operate the internets again, produce some links to these “rumors”, and get back to us when I’m done pulling my head out of my ass, if I were you.
El Cid
Coburn: “Hey! I don’t need no damn fancy judge talk — does you believe people can owns a gun or not??? Hey, Ahm a doctuh!”
Leelee for Obama
Watching Coburn just now…uggh! Thought for the day: How grand would it be if the Constitution had a prohibition against idiots in the Senate! Think of all the needless suffering that we could avoid. I’m not saying they have to agree with me, but I wouldn’t be mad; just saying The Senate should be an idiot-free zone????
A girl can dream!
StrandedVandal
@Zifnab:
Nicely played.
jnfr
She’s so clearly smarter than they are. And more disciplined.
The only bit that really pissed me off yesterday was Graham scolding her for being too mean to the judges, and suggesting she take some time for self-reflection on her attitude problem. It reminded me of a junior high principal attempting to control an unruly child. It was condescending and it would never, ever have been said to a man. I wanted to smack him, and I suspect she did too (though she didn’t show it particularly).
StrandedVandal
Hee-Haw hour is over! Time to let the adults talk for a while now.
Robert Johnston
Why yes, yes you are.
If you’d had the sense to consider going to the decisions page of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals website (http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/opinions.htm) and searching for “Sotomayor” then you’d not have displayed your ignorance to the world above.
SGEW
@Leelee for Obama:
If our government did not have any fools, liars, or lunatics, it would not be representational.
RareSanity
Did you think the “junkie” part of “political junkie” was a coincidence?
Persia
@jnfr: It’s amazing what people think they can say when they’re white men talking to people who are neither. Can you imagine anyone suggesting Scalia take ‘time for self-reflection?’
Brachiator
@Brick Oven Bill:
Wow. You know, Republican senators at the Sotomayor session asked the very same question earlier. Seems they are too stupid to read her actual opinions, don’t have any staffers who can use the InterTubes, and so have resorted to asking dumb questions to fill the time.
Max
@jnfr: I totally agree. It’s such blatant sexism, it makes me ill. You are correct, a male nominee would never have been questioned about temperament, well, a white male nominee.
It’s all racist/sexist code words…
Temperament for women = Uppity for blacks
Next will come the inevitable “every 28 days she’s going to be a bitch on the bench” inference.
RareSanity
@Zifnab
: Just send B.O.B. to this link.
Zifnab
@Brachiator: Brick Oven Bill is actually John Cornyn in disguise. If you wonder why NRSC fund raising is in the tank, it’s because he spends all his time making asinine comments on other people’s blogs.
Leelee for Obama
@Max: Not to forget, she’s a fiery Latina, so it’s not just sexism, but racism.
Also, from my experience, the Judge probably doesn’t have to deal with the PMS shit! I so hope someone goes there though!!!!!
Ash Can
The outcome of these hearings might be a foregone conclusion, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few entertaining moments in the proceedings. Sessions yesterday was flat-out hilarious. I wouldn’t mind him getting some more
ropeopportunities to speak. A Kos diarist hit it on the head and drove it flush with one strike yesterday by saying that the Cedarbaum exchange was a Woody Allen/Marshall McLuhan moment. Priceless. I too am looking forward to Al Franken’s questioning. And I’m expecting the GOP witnesses to be a gas. What in hell could Frank Ricci say that could be even remotely useful to the GOP? And a whacko right-to-lifer? For crap’s sake, Anita Hill was a colleague of Clarence Thomas and a fellow lawyer. On the basis of that alone, her testimony had real substance. These clowns? Please. All I can say is, it ought to be good.Violet
@StrandedVandal:
Lolz. That’s her exactly. I can totally see her in leathers on a Harley.
@jnfr:
Yeah, no kidding. He reminded me of the high school principal trying to subdue the clearly-smarter-than-the-principal high school student who is making a cogent argument against some idiotic school rule. The only weapon the principal has is his authority – and he wields it accordingly. He can’t use his mental acuity or moral authority because he’s so clearly in the wrong. So he just keeps condescending and trying to control. That sort of behavior reeks of failure.
Brick Oven Bill
Thank you for that Zifnab et al, I have reviewed several pages of Judge Sotomayor’s prose and conclude that she is a sucky writer. This is surely because of cultural biases.
cleek
Jim Henley
StrandedVandal
@Brick Oven Bill:
Sucky?
I find it admirable that a middle school student is interested in the American Judicial Confirmation process.
Should make an interesting “What I did on Summer Break” essay.
ellaesther
@Max: I agree, and I counter with a question, that I ask in all sincerity:
If we women are considered less reliable because of our 28-day cycle (which, frankly, I’m guessing Judge Sotomayor no longer has to deal with, but that is none of my business), why are men not suspect because of the well-worn trope that they think with their dicks?
I mean, we literally see evidence of powerful men leading themselves, their families, and the community that depends on them down very wrong paths because of dick-thinkery every.single.day. A veryvery partial list includes Clinton, Spitzer, Vitter, Foley, Craig, Ensign and Sanford, and everyone in this room could go on and on.
I am not suggesting, at all, that we damn the entire male gender as a result. I mean, men appear to be able to function and run the world in spite of this issue!
But why haven’t we, as a culture, done that damning? Is it simply because men are the ones in actual power — they are Subject and women are Other and so their foibles don’t amount to fatal flaws, but ours do? Is it really that simple? I fear the answer is yes, and in the course of typing, I think I’m arriving at my own answer….
Violet
Don’t the Republicans see they’re shooting themselves in the foot with their behavior during this hearing? Questioning her temperament plays well to the dwindling, ragged base they’ve still got, but has got to turn off women and Latinos.
A man wouldn’t be asked about his temperament. Neither would a minority whose culture is stereotyped as much more calm and placid. But go on, idiotic Republicans, dredge up the most egregious stereotypes out there and dump them all over Sotomayor, and then tell her she’s got to refute them. That plays so well with the independent voters you’re trying to lure.
They really are stupid.
SGEW
Yes, and it’s turned out oh so well.
Martin
There aren’t any actual ones. The ones you find were all photoshopped from other people’s opinions, fail to show the raised seal, and aren’t true Circuit Court of Appeals Opinions, but the shorter Opinion from the Circuit Court of Appeals, which means it isn’t the official one filled out by a court official but the informal one provided on the spot. Any newspaper references you might find to one of her opinions was clearly planted years ago by her in anticipation of being nominated for the court. In reality she’s the head of the Cuban branch of White Fetuses Must Die, a secret terrorist organization.
ellaesther
@SGEW: Well, now. I’m a big old stinking feminist (yes, I did, I just dropped the f-bomb), and even I don’t think that the world would necessarily be better if it were run by a matriarchy. It would still be fucked up, just differently. The problem is a lack of balance, and the human propensity for fucking things up.
And, you know, just because someone’s doing a thing poorly doesn’t mean they’re not actually doing it, if that makes sense. My point was just that having a dick doesn’t appear to render those who have them incapable of functioning.
Max
@ellaesther: Bingo! Men are in power, so they set the norms and get to judge.
I too don’t want to damn the entire male species, they do have their purpose. Someone has to mow the lawn.
jcricket
Republicans haven’t learned how to STFU, have they. They take every “done deal” moment and turn it into a pissing match that they end up losing.
It’s like Beavis and Butthead have gotten elected to Congress and they think their Cornholio shtick is going to win over the American public, so they keep trotting it out again.
So I say, keep the grandstanding going. They pissed off the Hispanic lawyers association (or whatever) enough with their race-baiting about the Puerto Rican Defense Fund that a sternly worded letter was written. I’m sure more racist quotes from Rush and others are penetrating the minds of potential voters (or maybe even sympathetic, small-c conservative Latinos right now).
The tide has turned against them, and they don’t seem to know what to do in response except go “all in” on racism. Bad move.
cleek
@Martin: wins the thread
Brick Oven Bill
”Path-breaking opinion”. Ivy League law. College.
You don’t break a path. A path is worn over time. This can be done by either people, animals, or perhaps a drainage. You break ground, typically with a shovel, hoe, or perhaps power machinery.
“Ground-breaking opinion”.
She likes the fancy words she learned at school probably as rhetorical flourishes [myriad, novel, per curiam, en banc, etc.] but these rhetorical flourishes too fall flat. In the link that Zifnab provided, note that the New York Times edited her statements for clarity.
This is not a good sign. We must eliminate cultural biases in the language.
Zifnab
@ellaesther:
I don’t know if you’ve looked out your window recently, but the last 10,000 years have been kinda crappy, all things considered.
Martin
Lawyers have a very specialized vocabulary and way of writing that can be rhetorically cumbersome in exchange for a particular kind of clarity (not unlike engineers, doctors, and other professions). Neither you nor I are qualified to critique it – but others here are.
Why don’t you ask instead?
lotus
I’m curious to hear Specter trying to pose as a Dem here inna few. Expecting good times.
ellaesther
@Zifnab: I still stand by this:
I’m a big old stinking feminist, and even I don’t think that the world would necessarily be better if it were run by a matriarchy. It would still be fucked up, just differently. The problem is a lack of balance, and the human propensity for fucking things up.
And whether or not things look great wasn’t really my question. My question was: Why do we expect women to be fuck-ups because of their periods, but don’t have a similar shared cultural trope about men, what with their dicks and all? And I think the whole Subject/Other thing probably explains it — whoever is in power gets to the set the parameters, so the Subject’s behavior is normative, but the Other’s is a problem.
bago
@Brick Oven Bill:
So you’re saying you have to break it in first?
Legalize
Is it just me or is Senator Klobuchar totally cute?
Brick Oven Bill
A fourth way to create a path is to blaze it. See ‘trailblazer’. This is done however with fire, not metal.
Damn cultural biases.
Sotomayor should be able to write something like a ‘bread-kneading opinion’, a ‘cake-cutting opinion’, or a ‘needle-threading opinion’. Men men men. Just because they were the ones who broke ground and blazed paths, why should they be able to make up all the words?
This is not fair.
jenniebee
@Persia:
Yes, but I can’t imagine Jeff Sessions doing it.
Comrade Jake
@Brick Oven Bill:
LMAO. Who are you kidding? You wouldn’t know a rhetorical flourish if it walked up and shot you in the face.
jenniebee
@Brick Oven Bill:
Lrn 2 OED.
Using the word “novel” to mean “new” isn’t exactly new. Actually, it predates the use of the word “novel” to mean “a form of fictional prose.” And it isn’t a rhetorical flourish, it’s just a word. Same with “myriad.” They aren’t fancy elitist words, unless fancy elitist equates to “words you need to know to break 1000 on the SAT.”
And knocking a discussion of legal issues for using Latin phrasing? Ye gods and little fishes. And here, I thought wingnuts wanted someone who was qualified for the court… where is Harriet Miers when you need her?
harlana pepper
@Comrade Jake: Win! Oh, how dare she be educated and speak in lawyer language when questioned about her opinions and rulings, uppity, latina wench!
StrandedVandal
@jenniebee:
I am really hoping BOB is putting us on. No one could be that dense.
harlana pepper
@lotus: True to form, he’ll probably due some perfunctory sucking up and then vote against her.
jenniebee
@StrandedVandal: I dunno, there are plenty of people who had the “hey, not everybody has to go to college” conversation with their high school guidance counselors.
Martin
Can we test this and find out?
Xanthippas
Bah. Not me. If it weren’t for twitter I would be happily ignorant.
Comrade Kevin
Any time BOB asks for a link to something, he should be directed here.
Roger Moore
@Brick Oven Bill:
Spoken like somebody who knows nothing about trails. A trail blaze is a mark left on a tree or rock to indicate that the trail passes there. They’re a common way of indicating a trail before it’s gotten enough traffic to wear deeply into the soil (e.g. when the trail is new or only lightly traveled) or if the ground is frequently covered (e.g. in snowy areas). Where I come from, they’re most commonly made by cutting away a section of bark from a tree at eye level or a bit higher. See Blaze2 at Dictionary.com.
bvac
Did I really just hear a pundit say when they go to closed session for the FBI background report they’ll see the real Sonia Sotomayor?
ppcli
I blazed many trails, living in the northland of my youth, and never once used fire. From the googletubes:
We ought to take up a collection to hire some better quality trolls. That Inuit silent runner guy who lived here during the election would have known what “blaze a trail” means, I bet.
ppcli
The blockquote didn’t work right in the above post. Everything from the third paragraph to the next-to-last should be in the same box.
Wag
so did BOB flame out with his trailblazing analogy?
JosieJ
@StrandedVandal:
More and more I’m convinced that BOB’s persona is an elaborate and lengthy piece of satirical performance art.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
Great explanation.
By the way, I thought you were a great James Bond in Live and Let Die.
JosieJ — More and more I’m convinced that BOB’s persona is an elaborate and lengthy piece of satire, or performance art.
I want a cut of any residuals from the DVD sales or podcast.
RememberNovember
@Zifnab:
Saladictorian? What kind of dressing? Or is it some weird hybrid of Valedictorian and Salutatorian?
ChrisB
@Leelee for Obama:
It would never have been ratified.
kay
Oh, sure.
Every judicial nominee gets asked if they rule according to their ethnicity and if they’re irrational and hot-tempered.
Those are standard questions.
I’m amazed this woman can keep a straight face.
nicethugbert
The rethugs know they can’t stop her so they are trying to make her useful, regardless of her participation. They’re trying score points with Duh Base by giving them their routine fearacillin injection.
Origuy
From the Free Dictionary:
Google found 211,000 occurrences without the hyphen, 337,000 with it.
Some of those aren’t actual uses of the word, but it’s definitely a widely-used term.
MBSS
oh BOB
nice try!