Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The revolution will be supervised.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

This really is a full service blog.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

“woke” is the new caravan.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

No one could have predicted…

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Open Thread: AWKward, Judge Gorsuch!

Open Thread: AWKward, Judge Gorsuch!

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Note the senders: happy-chat morning tv show, and a conservative who still thinks Hillary would’ve been a terrible president (although better than the current occupant).

GOOD JOB BREAKING IT, REPUBS!

“I watched last night in amazement, and I heard things I couldn’t believe!”

Reader Interactions

111Comments

  2. 2.

    Another Scott

    The “This is fine” dog+fire comic needs to be recaptioned “This is demoralizing and disheartening”…

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  4. 4.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Don’t know who is subbing for Lawrence O’Donnell tonight, but whoever it is said that McConnell “censured” Elizabeth Warren last night.

    Is that what happened? I thought Senate censure was a much more formal and drawn-out and humiliating process, but maybe I am missing something.

  5. 5.

    ? Martin

    Don’t buy into this. That’s about the most timid thing he can say and was certainly approved by the WH team responsible for ushering through his nomination. He’s going to have to do a lot better than that to get any real credibility.

  8. 8.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The 25th Amendment is looking more and more like the GOP’s only opening to get out of this corner they’ve painted themselves in, and it will only provide them short term relief from a nightmare of their own authorship.

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    WTS, this is the most clear case of cover I can possibly imagine. Gorsuch is playing all these people.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    This is Murkowski and Collins voting DeVos out of committee and then “voting” against her on the floor.

  14. 14.

    Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire

    There is very little that I agree with Tom Nichols on, but he has been #teamfuckTrump from the beginning. He ain’t wrong in this instance….

    As for Gorsuch- what a stupid ass. Hasn’t he been paying attention? Too busy with his “Fascism Forever” club?

  20. 20.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: Ari Melber. Wasn’t there a formal vote to “rebuke” Warren?

    ETA Looks like the “rebuke” language refers to the vote to back up McConnell in finding she did violate “rule XIX”, the Special SnowFlake Safespace Rule For Republicans

    The Senate voted, 49 to 43, strictly on party lines, to uphold the ruling that Warren violated Rule 19 of the Senate that says senators are not allowed to “directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.” Pursuant to that rule, Warren was ordered to sit down and forbidden from speaking during the remainder of the debate on the nomination of Sessions.

  23. 23.

    sigaba

    God he’s like a character out of Threepenny Opera. His presidency is Brecht’s greatest triumph.

  24. 24.

    Millard Filmore

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Don’t know who is subbing for Lawrence O’Donnell tonight, but whoever it is said that McConnell “censured” Elizabeth Warren last night.

    For a loose usage of “censured”, more like a smack down, or Told To Be Quiet. An official censure by the Senate is a formal affair.

  25. 25.

    Sab

    Goddammit I hate autocorrect. I corrected that about 15 times and every time autocorrect fucked it up. Some of us out here can actually spell, but you would never know once autocorrect gets through with our comments. I am done with commenting. Back to lurking.

  26. 26.

    Gin & Tonic

    Hey, efgoldman around? I’m reading that Charles Oakley was ejected from MSG and arrested by NYPD for some altercation that may have involved Dolan. Too bad he was arrested; I’m sure the fans would have gone wild about a good beatdown.

  28. 28.

    Yarrow

    I thought I heard that Chuck Schumer, after meeting with Gorsuch, said he was very concerned about what he heard. Or something like that.

  29. 29.

    Sab

    @Sab: I was trying to give correct name to #4comment but autocorrect won’t let me which is weird because the guy has a normal name.

  30. 30.

    Timurid

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    This train has no brakes.
    More and more I’m realizing that the whole system was being held together by moral inertia. White people have been dreaming about doing horrible things for decades, but they restrained themselves because they thought they had to. The Trump campaign showed them just what was possible. They only resisted Trump as long as they thought he would bring bad consequences down on them. Once they realized that the Decency Police weren’t coming, all bets were off. From Deploraville WV to the Senate and the White House, they’re high on possibility, and they are going to make their worst fantasies real. Trump isn’t even the real problem anymore. He strokes out tomorrow, and we are still fucked. Because White America has found out that the bars of its cage are really made of straw.

  32. 32.

    Felonius Monk

    Here’s an interesting tweet from a PA State Senator:

    Daylin Leach @daylinleach
    Hey @realDonaldTrump I oppose civil asset forfeiture too! Why don’t you try to destroy my career you fascist, loofa-faced, shit-gibbon!
    1:58 PM – 7 Feb 2017

    (Source)

  37. 37.

    Yarrow

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Pursuant to that rule, Warren was ordered to sit down and forbidden from speaking during the remainder of the debate on the nomination of Sessions.

    So what would have happened if she had spoken? It’s not like they can kick her out of the Senate. Do they arrest her? What if she stood up in the back of the Chamber with a megaphone and kept talking? What happens then?

  40. 40.

    lamh36

    So the next Attorney General of the US, the person who is supposed to defend the rights of US citizens…is a RACIST a BIGOT and someone who Corretta Scott King went as far as writing a letter to Congress about how bad this dude was as a nominee for a federal judgeship!!!

    HARD TIMES AHEAD FOLKS HARD TIMES!

  41. 41.

    jl

    @Yarrow: IIRC Schumer said Gorsuch’s answers were evasive.

    But, never mind that. Gorsuch even wimping around about, and apparently hinting that he really doesn’t want to, assert the independence of the judiciary is evidence enough for me that he is not qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. And I get to write another letter to DiFi, yay, that is always so much fun.

    If he wimps around about saying it at the hearing, he is doubly illegitimate and if the Dems ever get enough seats, should be the first one impeached and removed. Roberts, Alito and Thomas can wait for later. Seriously, I think his reluctance to say what he should at the hearing is a very sound argument for removing him, since he’ll probably be confirmed by hook or crook. McConnell’s shown he is ruthless and crooked enough to ram whatever he wants through The Greatest Deliberative Collection of Pompous Rich Old Fart White Men In the World, and shut up Senators who piss him off.

  42. 42.

    kindness

    Do you think Bannon respects Trump? Obviously he’s using him, but I would think someone on Bannon’s level would despise Trump. I wonder how we can get that on video?

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    Guest host probably misspoke, using censure in the casual sense.

    Yes, I figured as much. But when there’s also a formal, official usage, I think the TV host should be at pains to avoid confusion. But I’m fussy that way….

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    @Timurid:

    They only resisted Trump as long as they thought he would bring bad consequences down on them. Once they realized that the Decency Police weren’t coming, all bets were off.

    You mean, once they realized the GOP doesn’t bother to police its own side and enforce even minimum standards – that they’d have to stand up and be their own Decency Police, instead of the craven cowards that they are – all bets were off?

    Yeah, I agree with that.

  45. 45.

    Jeffro

    @gene108:

    Until electoral losses start to mount, this is all just fun and games for them.

    Agreed. We’d better stomp the crap out of them in the VA and NJ governor’s races this year, and produce a full national/state/local slate of candidates (and brag about it). And then let’s keep up the marches and awesome fundraising for the ACLU, PP, and so on. It’s easy to donate more money to Democrats when no one’s spending money on Ivanka’s crap or Under Armour gear.

  49. 49.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lamh36:

    Been at work all day busy after…has Cheeto Prez mentioned tornado damage in NOLA

    Not seeing anything. I suppose he probably tweeted something, and behind the scenes I expect competent FEMA staff are doing what needs to be done to get help to people who need it. But as far as I can tell, the status of his daughter’s branding at Nordstrom’s is a lot more important to him than homeless hurting people in NOLA.

  51. 51.

    Anne Laurie

    @Timurid:

    Because White America has found out that the bars of its cage are really made of straw.

    In the next chapter, Racist America ventures outside its safe ‘cage’, discovers why sixth-generation zoo animals don’t voluntarily leave their compounds. These snowflakes have been shamelessly coddled in a Truman-Show-quality bubble of government support and protectionism; give ’em a brief trial of the way things work outside their small towns and suburban HOAs, and they run screaming back to the cages in short order.

  53. 53.

    CaseyL

    OK, I am officially an Old. I’ve just turned down being involved in organizing a March for Science in Seattle because the group organizing it plans and communicates via something called “slack,” which is yet another social/work/planning app that would require me to have a smartphone in order to keep up with everyone.

    I’m sorta angry, very hurt, and feel very excluded.

  55. 55.

    Anne Laurie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I have some gear from Under Armour, now I wonder what I should do with it.

    Cut off / black out the labels, and use it till it wears out. (That’s the New England way!) Meanwhile, look around for substitutes for when you need replacements…

  59. 59.

    Cacti

    Don’t buy this good cop/bad cop routine from Trump and Gorsuck.

    It’s a ruse to peel off Dem opposition to his nomination.

  62. 62.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @amk:

    why are you so bothered? let the rethugs set the record straight.

    They won’t, though. I’m bothered because if news anchors start tossing around the word “censured” for what happened to Warren, it’ll become part of the official record in a matter of days. Another piece of the “big lies” puzzle. I think, to the extent possible, we need to be aware of any deviation from the truth and call it out/correct it whenever we come across it, no matter how trivial it may seem on its own.

  63. 63.

    satby

    @CaseyL: don’t feel excluded! Organize another group to march at the same time. Everyone is needed, not just slackers (<see what I did there?).

    Edited. Other people hate autocorrect too.

  67. 67.

    Anne Laurie

    @CaseyL:

    I’m sorta angry, very hurt, and feel very excluded.

    Don’t blame you — I only just switched because my old flip-phone bricked. There’s a learning curve!

    On the other hand, can you put your hands on a cheap ‘burner’ from the drugstore or big-box chain, and put the Slack app on that?

  70. 70.

    jl

    @Cacti: And like everything else, pathetically transparent and stupid. From what I understand, Gorsuch said what Trump did was wrong in private interviews, but sort also said, or hinted, he really doesn’t want to say it out loud publicly at the hearing.

    Shit, if that is true, Gorsuch is an asshole, as well as believing a lot of goofy BS about how the Constitution works.
    Pending further damn hard evidence, I believe highly likely that the WH is in on some stupid stunt. It is stupid and transparent as hell, and if enough Dems have any backbone, will blow up in the WH’s face, will erode the credibility of the court because a lot people who even half way follow the news will remember Gorsuch as Justice Chickenshit.

    And if Gorsuch is trying this stunt, he is no prize and shouldn’t be on the court.

    As Alexander Hamilton said, this is a ‘spectacle both hilarious and disgusting’. Stop Trump, please stop, I’ve had too much ‘hilarious and disgusting’ and its only 2 and half weeks into your botched and egregious administration.

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    @CaseyL:

    Technically, you don’t need a smartphone — there’s a perfectly good web version. But I can see why you would feel that way.

    Slack is actually really good for getting groups together and organized, so I can see why they chose it, but they didn’t have to be jerks about it.

  73. 73.

    CaseyL

    @Anne Laurie: I don’t want to, that’s the thing. I’m perfectly good using phone/cell phone, email, FB messaging… I do not want to have to learn yet another piece of tech, do not want to have to buy a smartphone (I already have a dumb phone), just Do.Not.Want.

  76. 76.

    lurker dean

    @lamh36: i’m horrified and really worried. we’ve already seen how some unhinged aholes in the customs bureau have acted because they feel like they have backing. now racist cops will be looking to really assert their authority because they know the local white juries aren’t going to do shit, and the attorney general isn’t going to do shit either.

  78. 78.

    efgoldman

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Hey, efgoldman around? I’m reading that Charles Oakley was ejected from MSG and arrested by NYPD for some altercation that may have involved Dolan.

    I’m here. But other than the fact I’m old enough to remember Oakley as a player, and Dolan is one of the 100 most loathsome men on the planet who’s not in congress, I don’t know what the salience is.
    Prime Oakley vs Draymond Green would be the hoops version of Ali-Frasier.

  81. 81.

    efgoldman

    @kindness:

    Obviously he’s using him, but I would think someone on Bannon’s level would despise Trump.

    Bannonazi has no respect for any of his subordinates, including Apricot Asswipe, who himself has no respect for anyone who ever lived.

  82. 82.

    Aleta

    @jl: A person willing to be nominated by Trump is a person who puts self-interest above making moral decisions and is either willing to be used or is deluded by self-importance.

  85. 85.

    efgoldman

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I expect competent FEMA staff are doing what needs to be done

    When are you taking your standup comedy routine on the road? Has he even named a FEMA director yet? I’d bet most of the competent people are gone, gone gone.
    Plus he doesn’t give a shit.

  86. 86.

    efgoldman

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I wonder what I should do with it.

    Burning it is too good. Wear it for a hard workout, get it all sweaty and stinky, cut it into ribbons, and mail it to them.

  91. 91.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @chris: Nah, people just gave me shit and I gave them shit back. It did not affect the day job aspect of serving. I quickly found and became best friends with the other known liberal junior officer in the battalion.

  92. 92.

    efgoldman

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I’m bothered because if news anchors start tossing around the word “censured” for what happened to Warren, it’ll become part of the official record in a matter of days.

    It’s very inside baseball. The meme is already out there that Yertle McTurtle shut her up. That’s all.
    Even in a place like this, senate procedural rules are mostly unknown.
    Plus nobody except masochists watches MSNBC any more.

  93. 93.

    efgoldman

    @kindness:

    You make it sound like a perfect marriage for them.

    Medium to long term, no such thing for Mango Malignancy. People either can’t stand him anymore, or they “betray” him and they’re gone.

  95. 95.

    Aleta

    @lamh36: The pain and destruction he will cause.
    I’m grateful at least he wasn’t a judge for the last 20 years. But now this unbearable harm.

  96. 96.

    Anne Laurie

    @lurker dean:

    i’m horrified and really worried. we’ve already seen how some unhinged aholes in the customs bureau have acted because they feel like they have backing. now racist cops will be looking to really assert their authority because they know the local white juries aren’t going to do shit, and the attorney general isn’t going to do shit either.

    Time to stop wringing hands and start organizing, then. White allies will be especially important in Sessions-friendly communities.

  97. 97.

    jl

    @Anne Laurie:

    ” White allies will be especially important in Sessions-friendly communities. ”

    If things look ugly enough for the next election, remind potential White allies that they will also get put on the list of those who don’t vote right and something ought to be done about it.

  98. 98.

    chris

    @Omnes Omnibus: Once upon a time politics were different weren’t they? I had a couple of conservative friends back in the last century but dropped them when they became extremists.

  100. 100.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @chris: Find me a Bob Dole type conservative and I can have a conservative friend. I won’t agree with him/her but I could comfortably hang out and drink with him/her. They are gone.

  101. 101.

    chris

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, I didn’t agree with the Conservatives of the 80s and 90s but they weren’t actual monsters intent on hurting people. You’re right, they’re gone.

  102. 102.

    Karen

    @Timurid:

    Because White America has found out that the bars of its cage are really made of straw.

    So that means basically that the world is over and we’ll never be able to vote enough to remedy it? WASF.

  107. 107.

    No One You Know

    @CaseyL: I don’t know how much this’ll help, but for what it’s worth, slack is free software app that behaves like instant messaging with some of the features of e-mail and word processing…I don’t embrace new apps easily, but I put it on my tablet, and liked it. Reduced some clicks, and I didn’t have to change file formats so often- or do “save as.”

  111. 111.

    Dave

    @Cacti: What would be darkly amusing though is if the Trump can’t keeps track of this and actually becomes offended and years into Gorsuch publicly even though it’s supposed to be obvious theatre. You know he’s capable and small enough to do it. The hair tearing behind the scenes would be great. Unlikely they can probably control him that much at least.

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