Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

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

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

People are complicated. Love is not.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

The problem people have with Biden’s age is the color of the VPs skin.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

Republicans in disarray!

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Live Feed: Former Director Comey Testimony II

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Live Feed: Former Director Comey Testimony II

by | 348 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , ,

Here’s a fresh thread for former Director Comey’s testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Update at 12:10 PM EDT

Because we can chew gum and walk at the same time, do not forget to call your senators about the attempt to jam the AHCA through the Senate!!!!!! You know what to do!

Reader Interactions

348Comments

  1. 1.

    Barbara

    Regarding collusion: I don’t want to get into this business of saying “not as to this person, not as to that person.” Oh my.

  2. 2.

    Mike in DC

    I hope he goes until midnight, frankly. Might be enough to make Trump stroke out.

  8. 8.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    Lots of “I can’t talk about that in an open setting” answers. And Trump tweets have begun.

  9. 9.

    Jeffro

    Watching yet another series of silly, mindless GOP defenses and distractions about Trump, Sessions, and Russia…it re-occurred to me that as disgusting as it is, they almost have to do this…

    …this gang of traitors and looters is so thoroughly rotten, used such slimy (and likely illegal) means to get elected, is financed by dirty “Dark Money”, and has an agenda that is so unpopular…the moment there is a crack in the dam it is all going to come out.

    All for the sake of propping up a money-laundering, serial sexual assaulter who hasn’t told the truth since he was 8 years old.

  11. 11.

    Mike in DC

    Cotton: Do you believe President Trump colluded with Russia?
    Comey: “It’s a question I don’t think I should answer in an open setting.”

  15. 15.

    Barbara

    Tom Cotton apparently doesn’t understand the difference between being the attorney general (whose appointment is co-terminus with the president) and FBI director when he asks about the need to consider resignation.

  16. 16.

    Adam L Silverman

    Just added this as an update up top:

    Because we can chew gum and walk at the same time, do not forget to call your senators about the attempt to jam the AHCA through the Senate!!!!!! You know what to do!

  17. 17.

    amk

    cotton mouthed cotton regurgitating his pay to play last night dinner with the twitler.

  19. 19.

    eric

    Jeff Sessions to a white courtesy telephone, Ms. Harris would like to speak with you…

  25. 25.

    Montysano

    Cornerstone commented in the previous post that “Now we know the pee tape is real.” What was said, that I obviously missed, that led him to this conclusion?

  27. 27.

    SatanicPanic

    @Jeffro: once you’ve backed the p*ssy grabber guy for president it’s hard to change course and claim you don’t like the guy anymore.

  30. 30.

    MJS

    @germy: Then why did he give it up? Perhaps 19th Century Confederate generals are too moderate for today’s GOP?

  34. 34.

    SatanicPanic

    @Quinerly: Imagine the anger her getting elected POTUS would cause on the right. It would be worth it just for that.

  35. 35.

    germy

    Texas republican cornyn’s logic: “the president did something that doesn’t make any sense. So doesn’t that mean he didn’t do it?”

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: Made him look like a 19th Century Confederate bugler. Only guy I’ve ever seen grow a beard and it made him look younger and more immature.

  37. 37.

    hueyplong

    Under the Iron Law of Projection, tapes of Comey conversations can be presumed from Trump’s accusation of wiretapping by Obama, regardless of what Comey has to say about it.

  43. 43.

    eric

    @Adam L Silverman: yes, but that would mean asking nearly no questions. this is a public deposition rather than a public trial. the real question is as to what Comey means when he says that….that is the question that Cotton did not and should not ask. Comey suggested that GENERALLY when he said that people should not infer there is any “there” there, but it may be more damning in specific cases. Cotton can always follow up after the closed session that he heard nothing about the matters in closed session that undermined Trump. So, it was not that bad a play from Cotton.

  44. 44.

    Quinerly

    @manyakitty:
    He’s doing exactly what he said he would do. Said he was going to use his time today to question re Lynch, Bill, HRC, and EMAILS!

  45. 45.

    sukabi

    @Montysano: part of Comey’s prereleased testimony had an exchange from the Drumpf dinner where Drumpf brought up the hookers and wanted the fbi to investigate that to prove it was false. He kept talking about it per Comey’s notes.

  46. 46.

    Mary G

    Of course Coryn goes right to BUT HER EMAILZ!!! What the hell does that have to do with Trump and Russia?

  47. 47.

    trollhattan

    Comey’s use of Reagan’s “shining city on the hill” in defense of an uncontaminated electoral process was a pretty impressive message to Republicans.

    Who is the asshole asking about Clinton emails?

  50. 50.

    different-church-lady

    Croynon’s questions just lead to an A-Ha:

    * Comey said he leaked his memo to encourage a special prosecutor
    * Comey said he did not encourage a special prosecutor with the Clinton/Lynch situation because he knew there was no case there.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Villago Delenda Est: He was assigned to a PRT. State Department Foreign Service Officer as the lead, a number of civilians or civilians contracted by various Federal agencies (like Agriculture and Commerce and Justice), a small number of National Guard folks who are either way past their time (ours had two colonels in their late 60s, the JAG one thought he was still combat arms in Vietnam and would take over any mission the BCT Commander wasn’t on based on rank, though the O3s and senior NCOs basically just said yes sir and kept doing their thing) or who were unable to get any other deployment, but wanted war zone time. We had a similar problem with some of these folks in HTS because all of our green suiters had to be volunteers – we couldn’t go into the system and pull who we wanted/needed. Most got weeded out in training. Several screwed up their SF 86 renewals.

  53. 53.

    Barbara

    @germy: With Trump that question sort of answers itself. He does things that don’t make sense literally every time he tweets.

  54. 54.

    hovercraft

    @manyakitty: @germy:

    He said it yesterday, today’s hearing for him was a chance to talk about Hillary. They know that when the base hears the name Hillary, everything else just fades away.

  55. 55.

    Barbara

    @SiubhanDuinne: Looking boyish when you are close to 40 or older starts to take on the aura of a Dorian Gray type persona. That good looking good for nothing . . .

  58. 58.

    Quinerly

    @Mary G:
    As someone said on another thread, if Cornyn went this route and the press asks HRC what she thought about his line of questioning, gallons of ink will be spent on how she needs to shut up.?

  60. 60.

    Dave

    @Adam L Silverman: OMG the PRT’s I didn’t realize that’s where he served, I was yanked for that as lofty E-5 so you can imagine my experience, it all makes sense now. Regardless of the validity of the idea what a shit show the PRT’s were. Cotton fits right in with who the US army assigned to them.

  62. 62.

    MCA1

    @sukabi: JFC, seriously? The ignorance is truly like an abyss. “Hey, head of the domestic federal law enforcement agency, please go prove a negative in a foreign country.”

    I realize the larger point here is that the immutable laws of Trump projection mean this was a very strong admission re: the peepee claims, but that he would ask Comey to, I don’t know, send a fucking task force of agents to Moscow to start interviewing mafiosi and prostitutes or something, I mean, dafuq.

  69. 69.

    ? Martin

    @Corner Stone: Indeed. She’s putting statement on the record to cut off opportunities for Trumps supporters to protect him. Effectively, if you think we know about all of the Russian interactions, we don’t, nor do we understand the magnitude either.

    But good heavens I want her to run in 2020.

  70. 70.

    germy

    @hovercraft:

    a chance to talk about Hillary.

    His job is to provide soundbytes for sinclair and fox. They can neatly edit out all the Democrats’ questions.

  71. 71.

    MJS

    I’m at work and can’t watch, so thanks to all who are keeping me updated as this unfolds. I was concerned yesterday that this was going to be anticlimactic, and am very happy that I was wrong.

  75. 75.

    different-church-lady

    You’d think McCain passing away would have been reported in the press.

  81. 81.

    Barbara

    @schrodingers_cat: Kushner and Cotton look like they are still in high school. I think that’s one reason Cotton started growing a beard. Maybe it’s the facial expression as much as not having any lines, but there is a point when it’s almost eerie when a person doesn’t look like they have aged at all.

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Dave: His final tour as an O3 was assigned as the O3 to a PRT. As you are well aware, even on a functioning and effective PRT, and my BCT had a pretty decent ePRT all things considered, you were dealing with the Island of Misfit Toys. Not quite as bad as Afghan Hands, but as bad as the Human Terrain Analysis Teams (at Division) and Human Terrain Research and Analysis Coordination Teams (at Corps). That’s where our dregs went and when they couldn’t make it at the latter two or a PRT they wound up with Afghan Hands.

    As the Department of State’s own IG wrote in 2007: the PRTs will become effective in approximately a decade.

  83. 83.

    Corner Stone

    What a blithering idiot McCain is. Can we ever finally kill the zombie lie that he is independent or a Maverick in any way? He is carrying mucho agua for the WH right now.

  84. 84.

    eric

    I would like to take this time to thank the man formerly known as John McCain for getting into the record the difference between a closed investigation (HRC) and an ongoing investigation (Trump). merci beaucoup.

  86. 86.

    different-church-lady

    Oh, I think you’re asking for help from the wrong person here, Sen. McCain. Perhaps redirecting your request to a doctor?

  87. 87.

    Keith G

    So now it’s totally evident that John McCain has lost any functional rationality he ever had. I know it’s not right to make fun of someone suffering from dementia but dear Lord he is gone around the bend

  88. 88.

    Quinerly

    @different-church-lady:
    That’s what I was thinking. Wasn’t he some sort of war hero? Seems I heard quiet whispers about him being a POW…but he didn’t want anyone talking about it.?

  90. 90.

    germy

    did mccain refer to trump as comey?

    McCain: “How could the hildebeast be innocent and Trump be guilty? It makes no sense to me.”

    I’ve never seen McCain this confused.

  93. 93.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    McCain, hoo boy.

    I don’t know how to answer your incoherent mumbled rambling, Senator. No offense.

  94. 94.

    Mustang Bobby

    Holy Ned, John McCain sounds like that urine-soaked guy on the corner of NE 15th Street and Biscayne Blvd. here in Miami talking to the seagulls.

  95. 95.

    Lawrence

    Fucking John McCain is humping the fucking Hillary’s email bullshit and is making so little sense that Comey has to ask him what he’s talking about. Drop dead you senile motherfucker. You are my senator, and your office will be hearing from me.

  99. 99.

    manyakitty

    Is he trying to suggest that HRC is responsible for Russia????? WTF is wrong with him?

  100. 100.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? Martin: I do too. She’ll have to do some tailoring on certain issues as being the former California AG she’s going to have to finesse the 2nd Amendment stuff. She’s smart enough to do it, but it is going to be something that is brought up and she’s going to have to be ready for it.

  102. 102.

    Corner Stone

    I had to put it on mute. John McCain needs someone in his corner to throw the white towel into the ring. He is really looking incredibly bad here.

  103. 103.

    OGLiberal

    What the fuck is McCain talking about? The Clinton investigation was about her having a private email server – not about Russian interference in our election.

  105. 105.

    bupalos

    Holy crap. I think McCain may really be having a stroke or something. Either the most dishonest posturing I’ve seen from him (and that’s something) or something is seriously wrong. He’s just absolutely confusing two investigations.

  107. 107.

    eric

    I have to say that McCain’s opening heartfelt statement put this all into a patriotic perspective for me: “So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on ’em”

  108. 108.

    amk

    who thought fucking comey would do so much better today than the fucking rogers and that fucking gopee hack yesterday in exposing the twitler’s traitorism?

  109. 109.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Quinerly: He did, because the FBI director can’t be seen as a political/politicized appointment. AG is a bit different.

  111. 111.

    Corner Stone

    If I am private citizen Comey right now I look around at all the other Senators and staffers and ask them if they have no decency, no sense of shame for not stopping this old man from disintegrating on live TV.

  113. 113.

    hovercraft

    The Making of a Conservative Superstar

    Molly Ball Sep 17, 2014
    Tom Cotton is the ultimate product of today’s hard-edged, ideologically driven Republican Party. Is that what Arkansas voters want?

    ……………..illustrated by a record of votes in Congress that puts him on the rightward extreme of today’s Republican Party. He unites the factions of the Republican civil war: The establishment loves his background, while the Tea Party loves his ideological purity. The Weekly Standard’s editor, William Kristol, considers him one of the GOP’s most promising new faces; Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus calls him one of the party’s top recruits; conservative bloggers long to speed the day when he appears on a national ticket.

    ………………..Cotton’s thesis fills in some of these gaps—in ways some might find disturbing. A cogent and tightly argued document, it reveals the depth and intellectual roots of his reverence for American traditions. It also reveals a contrarian devotion to some ideals that seem out of date today. Cotton insists that the Founders were wise not to put too much faith in democracy, because people are inherently selfish, narrow-minded, and impulsive. He defends the idea that the country must be led by a class of intellectually superior officeholders whose ambition sets them above other men. Though Cotton acknowledges that this might seem elitist, he derides the Federalists’ modern critics as mushy-headed and naive…..

    ……………..Men who seek national office, Cotton wrote in his thesis, are the most ambitious men, seeking the headiest sort of power over a nation’s commerce, finance, and affairs of state. Self-selection ensures that they have “a superior intelligence compared to the unambitious and to the lesser ambitious.” This does not necessarily mean that they are wise, he notes, but “it does imply some amount of sheer, raw brainpower. National officeholders will all possess something akin to shrewdness, cleverness, or perhaps even cunning.”

    The man is a sociopath. He will run for president, and the media will do all they can to prop him up. He’s young, “god looking*” and a republican, everything they love.

    * If you like the sociopath look, someone should check his freezer, I’m sure it contains body parts, not the type we all eat, human ones.

  114. 114.

    SatanicPanic

    @schrodingers_cat: To use another metaphor, they are pot committed. Their best play is to ride it out. I mean, if they don’t care about the USA but clearly they don’t. The first one to turn on Trump might have a career after that, everyone after that is screwed.

  115. 115.

    Quinerly

    Kidding and snark aside, what the fuck is wrong with McCain? I didn’t understand a thing he said in his first questions. Dementia?

  116. 116.

    D58826

    @Mustang Bobby:

    Holy Ned, John McCain sounds like that urine-soaked guy on the corner of NE 15th Street and Biscayne Blvd. here in Miami talking to the seagulls.

    No self respecting seagull would have been caught dead within a mile of McCain. It is really pitiful watching someone who is behaving so willfully stupid or has mentally failed to the extent that he should not be left out on the street w/o a keeper

  118. 118.

    Jeffro

    @SatanicPanic: What I don’t get is how people like Rubio and Cruz, who were so personally attacked during the campaign by this louse (and Cruz had his wife and dad attacked besides!) could fall in line behind ill Douche.

    (Answer: yes, Mercer cash, I know, I know…but still…)

  119. 119.

    rikyrah

    @Jeffro:

    …this gang of traitors and looters is so thoroughly rotten, used such slimy (and likely illegal) means to get elected, is financed by dirty “Dark Money”, and has an agenda that is so unpopular…the moment there is a crack in the dam it is all going to come out.

    TRUTH

  121. 121.

    Mary G

    OMG McCain is senile. His family should get him to resign to spend more time with them. He’s confusing Comey and Trump.

  125. 125.

    Amir Khalid

    @eric:

    the man formerly known as John McCain

    Maybe you mean to say

    the former man known as John McCain

  127. 127.

    hovercraft

    McCain is exhibit A of why they really should force them to retire at some point. Exhibits B and C, Di Fi, and Leahy. Just sayin.

  128. 128.

    Wyatt Derp

    Jesus, is McCain senile? He doesn’t seem to understand that there are two different investigations of two different people and one is finished and one isn’t.

  131. 131.

    Snark Based Reality

    Wow. McCain looks like he does not have much longer until he shuffles off this mortal coil.

  132. 132.

    JGabriel

    Holy FSM, Arizonans, you have got to replace McCain as Senator. The man’s mental faculties are clearly deteriorating. That whole line of questioning from McCain was just sad.

  133. 133.

    germy

    @different-church-lady:

    WHAT IS THAT THING?!? THAT THING!!!! WHAT IS IT!???!!!?????

    So many of the republicans’ arguments seem to boil down to “Why didn’t you stand up to this lunatic POTUS?”

  134. 134.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Watching McCain is making me cringe, and not the way watching McCain usually makes me cringe. He’s in another galaxy today. Wow. Genuinely sad to see.

  135. 135.

    ChrisB

    My goodness, McCain.And mercifully, Burr ends his questioning.

    And yet, we’ll still probably see him on the Sunday morning shows with his sage and expert counsel.

  137. 137.

    ? Martin

    Well, Cornyn and McCain after Harris. I get to tune out for a while. The only thing those two will reveal is how useless they are as public servants.

  138. 138.

    SatanicPanic

    @OGLiberal: Another dude I don’t get. Trump basically called him a p*ssy and he’s propping up Trump? Why? Maybe he really is a p*ssy.

  139. 139.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    They stopped McCain before got to the wearing onions on our belt part so I guess we can be thankful for that.

  140. 140.

    JPL

    Not sure that it was wise for the repubs to end the questioning with McCain, because he sounded demented.

  144. 144.

    GregB

    McCain needs to be put to bed with a bowl of butterscotch pudding and some episodes of Matlock on TV.

    He is fucking delerious.

  145. 145.

    Lee Hartmann

    McCain isn’t senile. He’s just trying to throw up some smoke about Comey being after Trump but not Clinton.

  146. 146.

    Jeffro

    @schrodingers_cat:

    President O and Kamala Harris are both in their 50s and they look damn good. As does Michelle O.

    PBO once caught a bit of flak for noting how attractive Senator Harris is, if I recall. No one was arguing with the substance of the comment, mind you…

  147. 147.

    TriassicSands

    Jeebus, McCain is losing it mentally. He’s completely confused by Comey’s saying the Clinton email investigation was closed (in July) and the investigation into Russian involvement in the election continues in 2017. He’s claiming there is a double standard. He thinks Comey is saying that Clinton was exonerated of involvement with Russia back in July when that wasn’t the subject of that investigation. Embarrassing.

    He sounds like someone wrestling with senility. His staff needs to protect him better. I don’t see him completing his current term.

  154. 154.

    david

    The ghost of Sarah McClendon just entered John McCain’s body at that hearing! My goodness…

  155. 155.

    ? Martin

    @Jeffro: Yes, he said she was the best-looking attorney general in the country. I believe she wasn’t yet married at the time – she got married about halfway through her term.

  156. 156.

    germy

    @Lee Hartmann:

    He’s just trying to throw up some smoke about Comey being after Trump but not Clinton.

    Possibly. But in the video editing rooms at fox and sinclair, they’re compiling a “best of” republican questions about Hillary. They’re looking at McCain’s segment and saying “Yeah, uh no… we can skip that. I think we got what we need from Cotton and Corbyn.”

  157. 157.

    patroclus

    One investigation was closed and another is still open??!! What a double standard!

  159. 159.

    Chris

    @Mike in DC:

    Cotton: Do you believe President Trump colluded with Russia?
    Comey: “It’s a question I don’t think I should answer in an open setting.”

    The ridiculous thing about all this shit is that it’s still about an investigation, not a trial or a sentencing. “Do you think Donny did it?” I don’t know. That’s what the fucking investigation is for. The Republican position, by which I mean not just the politicians but literally every acquaintance and relative I have, is that it’s horrifyingly unfair to be investigating unless you already have positive proof that the person you’re investigating is guilty, which by definition is not how investigations work.

    (Of course, it also gels with a hell of a lot of their mentality, in which the world is divided into good people and criminals, and the divide between the two has very little to do with who actually commits crimes. See also the reaction to every police shooting ever; the treatment of the entire Muslim population as guilty until proven innocent; the double standards where poor drug users and sellers get zero tolerance policies while wealthy businessmen who commit crimes get howls of “how can we burden those wholesome citizens with regulations?” and so forth).

  161. 161.

    eric

    I was a little disappointed McCain did not ask Comey about the threat posed by the Iron Sheik.

  162. 162.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Lee Hartmann: Did you see the part where he asked Comey why he closed the case on Clinton but kept investigating ‘Comey’? Then adding for emphasis “President Comey”.

    Comey put his hands up and said “Senator….” as if saying “just step away from trying to form sentences please”

  165. 165.

    different-church-lady

    @Chris:

    the treatment of the entire Muslim population as guilty until proven innocent; [full stop]

  167. 167.

    zhena gogolia

    @rikyrah:

    Yes, I managed to watch K. Harris, but as soon as Cornyn started talking about HRC I had to tune out.

  168. 168.

    germy

    CBS News:

    “remarkable restraint from the POTUS. No tweets, no comments.”

    “Impressive!” they seem to be implying.

  170. 170.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Supposed to be a statement from Trump’s lawyer after the hearing. I don’t know if that’s after the public part or all of it. They did manage to keep the phone away from him.

  172. 172.

    germy

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Don’t forget Hatch.

    He’s stayed far too long.

    It’s odd, but when I see Cotton, I can imagine him fifty years in the future, an elderly man, still rambling on at hearings.

  173. 173.

    Soprano2

    I’m behind because I had to pause the livestream for work. OMG, I see what you mean about McCain. The man has some kind of senility because he should understand what Comey is saying, but doesn’t seem to understand at all. He seems to think the FBI should be investigating a non-existent link of the Clinton campaign to the Russians.

  175. 175.

    Quinerly

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I don’t like joking about such things. Went through that 7 years with my father after his head injury at 79. I don’t watch the Sunday shows that he is so famous for. Seems something has really happened to him since just before the election. I feel badly about joking about him…just a shock seeing/hearing him.

  176. 176.

    Marcopolo

    So does anyone have any word on how things are going with that election across the pond?

  177. 177.

    rikyrah

    @hovercraft:

    The man is a sociopath. He will run for president, and the media will do all they can to prop him up. He’s young, “god looking*” and a republican, everything they love

    .

    you are absolutely on point.

  179. 179.

    Corner Stone

    Ok, a few extra takeaways:
    1. The pee tape is real
    2. Sessions is going to jail
    3. Jared is in a lot of fucking trouble
    4. Comey lit Trump up with several shots to the body but no KO blow
    5. McCain…WTF

  180. 180.

    different-church-lady

    @zhena gogolia: That’s too bad: you missed the part where Cornyn thought he was creating a parallel between Clinton/Lynch and Trump, but instead Comey let it slip that he didn’t think call for a special prosecutor there because he knew there was no case. Completely unlike the reason he just leaked his Trump memo.

  181. 181.

    Chris

    @Corner Stone:

    That guy ranks along side Colin Powell, Joe Lieberman, and, well, James Comey in my book among people with a villager-promoted reputation for integrity and nonpartisanship that’s… totally undeserved and contradicted by their actions.

  182. 182.

    Mike J

    Because we can chew gum and walk at the same time, do not forget to call your senators about the attempt to jam the AHCA through the Senate!!!!!! You know what to do!

    For people tempted to use the word “distraction”: If banks robbers set a fire to distract from a heist, would you refuse to send the fire department?

  183. 183.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jeffro: Actually on the conservative side of the spectrum they did. I’ve seen the comments to those news reports and blog posts. They were ugly and racist as hell.

  184. 184.

    The Moar You Know

    CBS News:

    “remarkable restraint from the POTUS. No tweets, no comments.”

    “Impressive!” they seem to be implying.

    @germy: “The President has not shit his pants. That we know about. Today. We think. Remarkable!”

  185. 185.

    amk

    @Marcopolo: Not even much even on bbc. Yeah, yeah, the voting is under way. It’s like they are reporting on typical brit weather.

  187. 187.

    Peale

    @Soprano2: Yep. I believe his point was that he let Clinton off the Hook and because its Clinton, she should be continuously investigated until you find something, something, anything. Whereas Trump needs to be conclusively positively guilty beyond not just a shadow of a doubt but beyond even that before even an investigation should start. Basically, when you’re in the GOP, any attempts to cover up a crime are exculpatory.

  188. 188.

    D58826

    Ouch, Nicole Wallace (a republican and former W staffer) just filleted Der Fuhrer. She said Der Fuhrer only cares about himself and doesn’t think in terms of being the president of all the people of the US. She also said that when he blew up the Qatar situation he had no idea that there was a major US base in the country.

  189. 189.

    trollhattan

    Everybody beat me to the punch but after listening to McCain in the car I can’t help but be reminded of my time working at a state mental hospital. Just wow. May I remind my fellow citizens he just re-upped for SIX MORE YEARS?

  190. 190.

    Quinerly

    Someone tell Corner Stone that I’m skipping the Nicole Wallace part of the show. It was spa morning for Poco…have to chauffeur him from his relaxing morning at Grateful Pets…The neighborhood Grateful Dead themed doggie spa. (Luckiest ex street dog ever?) carry on!

  191. 191.

    Marcopolo

    @amk: I was just thinking with the time difference polls must be closing down there soon, yes?

  192. 192.

    germy

    Washington Post: “‘In the main, it was not true’: Comey denounces New York Times story”

    New York Times: “Ahem.”

  193. 193.

    SFAW

    @SatanicPanic:

    Another dude I don’t get. Trump basically called him a p*ssy and he’s propping up Trump? Why? Maybe he really is a p*ssy.

    McCain has been a whore AT LEAST since 2000. After Rove’s ratfucking op in South Carolina, which led to him losing to W, he came back during the general and gave W a tongue bath. And, yes, it was quite clear in 2000 which candidate had done what to the other.

    And, of course, my apologies to whores everywhere, who — although probably not former POWs — have more integrity than McCain ever had.

    Another motherfucker who would be nowhere without his pappy (and grandpappy) doing some heavy lifting for him. (Although at least his grandfather was not a Nazi sympathizer, like Prescott fucking Bush.)

  195. 195.

    Spanky

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Watching McCain is making me cringe, and not the way watching McCain usually makes me cringe. He’s in another galaxy today. Wow. Genuinely sad to see.

    Later this week he will be voting on our health care.

  196. 196.

    trollhattan

    @The Moar You Know:
    Required alternate headline: “Trump’s plan to Tweet throughout committee hearings derailed when he spends entire hearing screaming at television”

  197. 197.

    germy

    CBS News just cut to an empty podium. Waiting for POTUS lawyer.

    Now they’re showing an ad for the Oliver Stone documentary.

  199. 199.

    Jeffro

    @germy:

    CBS News: “remarkable restraint from the POTUS. No tweets, no comments.” “Impressive!” they seem to be implying.

    Oh sure…he’s huddled in the WH with his lawyer, not allowed to tweet…meanwhile Don Jr. is spewing nonsense on behalf of his poor ol Da…

    I’m sure President HRC would have gotten the same treatment, the exact same congratulations on her ‘remarkable restraint’ if she’d fired Comey but took a day off from tweeting about it (while Chelsea was busy slamming the Director on Twitter)

  200. 200.

    The Moar You Know

    Supposed to be a statement from Trump’s lawyer after the hearing.

    @Cheryl Rofer: If they’re smart (lolz) it would read along these lines:

    “We are truly sorry for what has happened to Senator McCain and hope you will join us in sending he and his family your thoughts and prayers. We will do everything in our power to make sure he gets the help he needs.”

  201. 201.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Quinerly: Its a shock between him yesterday and today. He was far more coherent, focused, and erudite at yesterday’s hearing. He asked several good questions. Regardless of the man’s politics, today was just sad to watch.

  203. 203.

    SFAW

    @trollhattan:

    May I remind my fellow citizens he just re-upped for SIX MORE YEARS?

    Well, actually, THEY re-upped HIM. Fucking morons.

    But FSM forbid that they elect a wimmins!

  204. 204.

    trollhattan

    @SFAW:

    After Rove’s ratfucking op in South Carolina,

    That marks the last time I felt genuine empathy to McCain. That Rove and Bush got away clean as a whistle assured the Republican Party’s remaining moral compass would be crushed under a steamroller. Lee Atwater’s triumph.

  205. 205.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Jeffro:
    They fall in line because they’re serving the party. What you have to realize is that this is bigger than the Republican Party as its representatives. This is about white male Christian power. This is about society changing. They’re hanging on the edge of a demographic cliff, and feel it in a way we do not. Any cheating is acceptable, even necessary, when they lost the popular vote by 2.8 million. They’ve cheated their way into control, but they can’t afford to give up an inch. If it crashes, it crashes forever, and that means the ‘normal’ state of their entire culture crashes forever.

  206. 206.

    TriassicSands

    Comey’s word versus Trump’s word.

    Comey’s behavior during the election may have been questionable but I don’t know that there has ever been any question about his honesty.

    Trump. A slightly different story.

  207. 207.

    The Moar You Know

    Not even much even on bbc. Yeah, yeah, the voting is under way. It’s like they are reporting on typical brit weather.

    @amk: British election law. No reporting on anything to do with the election until ALL the polls are closed. Think that’s smart.

  208. 208.

    Jeffro

    @amk: First comment in response to that tweet: “You wanna get McCain to a doctor before he croaks?”

    Sad but true. Act F.A.S.T.!

  210. 210.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike J: Depends on whether I have an account with that bank.//

    Of course you send the fire department.

  211. 211.

    SatanicPanic

    @amk: NOOOOOOO term limits are bad. Senate turnover has only made the place dumber. No thanks

  212. 212.

    eric

    @Jeffro: well, as a sitting Senator, I believe he gets the best health care in the world, so there is that advantage to having oatmeal in the world’s most deliberative body.

  213. 213.

    TriassicSands

    @The Fat Kate Middleton:

    I don’t see him finishing his current term. Retirement or death — one way or the other. He really shouldn’t have run again. It’s important to know when to quit and politicians are as bad at that as are boxers.

    McCain sounded like a boxer who had stayed too long.

  214. 214.

    D58826

    .@SpeakerRyan: Trump “probably wasn’t steeped in” protocols between DOJ, FBI & WH. “He’s just new to this” http://thr.cm/RFFUDi #ComeyDay

    I’m not a politician. I’m not a lawyer. I’m not in law enforcement. But even I know that the President doesn’t ask the head of the FBI to end an investigation. This is a no brainier. Besides there is an entire GOP structure in Washington that can bring a new POTUS up to speed on how and what a president is supposed to do.

    And Brian Williams just burned McNuggets with his ‘unfortunate moment ‘ by McCain

  216. 216.

    germy

    I’m trying to imagine the potus sitting for a three hour questioning the way comey did. On oath.

    Or what HRC endured for what, ten hours?

  217. 217.

    SFAW

    @trollhattan:

    I felt genuine empathy to McCain

    Sympathy? If that’s what you meant: me too. Then when he blew W (figuratively speaking, as far as I know) during the General, the scales fell from mine eyes. Or something.

  220. 220.

    Jeffro

    @D58826:

    She also said that when he blew up the Qatar situation he had no idea that there was a major US base in the country.

    I know, right? How was that not a major fucking issue for both sides??!? The president potentially endangers 11,000 American troops with his moronic tweets…after being fed bad info. Nothing. Crickets. Unbelievable

  221. 221.

    Marcopolo

    @amk: So 4 hours. I guess I was just being a typical American thinking their polls closed @ 7 p.m.

  226. 226.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @JPL: Props for the (very rare) correct usage of “demented.” I’d not actually noticed he’d begun dementing but there’s not much diagnostic doubt it seems.

  228. 228.

    bupalos

    @Mike J: Have you called your senator?

    To me it’s not a question of can we walk and chew gum at the same time. It’s more like, can we please take the baby out of the bathtub BEFORE we shoot up, instead of assuming we’ll be able to do it after. This hearing and this whole Russia thing will very likely change nothing politically and nothing legislatively. I actually see more risks than benefits to it all right now on it’s own. And the idea that the ACA dies and Medicaid frog-boiling begins because maybe Trump’s credibility can be ticked down somehow below zero is maddening.

    Yeah I was watching. But yeah, I called Portman again and basically screamed and cried and offered to send pictures of my children and to never forget or leave him alone if Portman is some part of this shitshow.

  230. 230.

    Chris

    @D58826:

    And he’s been in office for six months, and a national political figure for a lot longer. Exactly how much longer are we going to continue using the “he’s new to this” excuse to grade him on a curve? By this time in 2009, pundits and politicians were eating Obama alive with far less cause, and the only time people brought up his “new”ness was to claim that it meant he was unfit to serve.

  232. 232.

    SatanicPanic

    @amk: Vote them out then. No point in adding anti-democratic laws because sometimes we don’t like the results.

  233. 233.

    Corner Stone

    @hovercraft:

    What was scary about McCain, is he seemed to be reading from notes, he or someone wrote that dribble down!

    But if you notice, he kind of paws through the material. He’s not taking any of it in. It’s like a prop for a muppet or something.

  235. 235.

    eric

    @Chris: I think the appropriate response is to suggest that perhaps being a “community organizer” is better preparation for the Office than being a CEO. but that is just me.

  239. 239.

    SFAW

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    He murdered his integrity, his honor,

    Objection Your Honor! Assumes facts!

    Qualifier: Since he went into politics — I’m NOT including his POW time in the above comment

  240. 240.

    Mnemosyne

    @germy:

    Ah, to be born a rich but mediocre white man. The MSM will stumble over themselves to make excuses for you.

    And, yes, I’m assuming it was Trump’s defense lawyers who took his phone away so he couldn’t live tweet. He’s made their jobs hard enough already.

  241. 241.

    Mike J

    @vhh:

    What is a PRT?

    It is not a PYT.

    Learned last night there’s a Higgins boat sunk 100yds off my club’s dock and a PBY a bit further out beyond it. Both in >80ft so no hazard, but interesting.

  244. 244.

    hovercraft

    @D58826:
    While I love the fact that Twitler has to endure all these allies defending him as an ignorant dunce too stupid to know what a fifth grader knows, he’s still president : (

  245. 245.

    Mnemosyne

    @Peale:

    And, of course, the immigrant who doesn’t speak any English is the only one who was innocent.

  246. 246.

    Chris

    @Mnemosyne:

    Yeah, you gotta love it: he needed no less than three adults in the room with him to make sure he wouldn’t start tweeting, but the “liberal” media spins this as “what restraint!”

    I’m not even commenting on the fact that a president not throwing an hours-long tantrum on Twitter about an investigation into him is being held as something to admire, rather than an obvious thing that no grown-up should do. The ever-lowering bar for GOP politicians. Maybe we should be praising him for not falling down and furiously beating the floor with his feet and fists, too.

  247. 247.

    elm

    @amk: Term limits literally limit the voters from re-electing the official or representative that has served them in the past. Arbitrarily limiting voter choice is fundamentally anti-democratic.

    As a practical matter, term limits create a situation where lobbyists have far more experience than any legislator, and in states that have enacted term limits for legislators, lobbyists have gained power and state legislatures have developed mechanisms for working around/with/through term limits that are counterproductive.

    If politics is a job worth doing, it’s a job worth doing well.

  248. 248.

    Corner Stone

    Greta just bailed on BriWi’s question about what McCain was trying to ask about.

  250. 250.

    Peale

    @D58826: I was laughing this morning that he sent out some kind of invitation to all the parties to come to Washington for a peaceful sit down to hash out differences now that he knows that base is there. Too late, asshole. Like the Emir of Qatar would trust you enough to leave his country’s borders right now when you’ve all that announced that you would back a coup.

  252. 252.

    hovercraft

    @James Powell:
    The opportunities are so few and far between, they’ll take anything they can. It’s like the fucking crawl on msnbc asking you to share or comment on Twitlers accomplishments or something. I want to say, the fact that the dumb fuck is so lacking in self awareness that he hasn’t retreated to his penthouse and locked himself away in shame. That is a great accomplishment, creating an alternate reality where you are accomplished and loved.

  253. 253.

    Mnemosyne

    @amk:

    As we found out here in California, term limits mean that industry lobbyists “helpfully” write legislation for the inexperienced legislators, and it’s hard for anyone to rack up enough time in various legislative offices to be able to overcome that.

    Term limits are fine for the executive branch, but suck for the legislative branch where you need some experience to know how to craft laws.

  254. 254.

    JGabriel

    @Lee Hartmann:

    McCain isn’t senile. He’s just trying to throw up some smoke about Comey being after Trump but not Clinton.

    He was both. Yes, McCain was trying to confuse & conflate the two separate investigations to imply a bias against Trump, but he did it so poorly that it’s clear McCain himself was confused and didn’t understand at all what was going on – i.e., he’s both senile and completely addled by Fox News propaganda.

  255. 255.

    SatanicPanic

    @amk: It’s anti-democratic because voters should be able to vote for whoever they want. Executive branch term limits are a special circumstance on account of the extraordinary power of those positions.

  256. 256.

    amk

    @elm: @Mnemosyne: Very quaint notions in the modern times. If lobbyists are the problem, permanent residency in congress is not the solution.

  257. 257.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Mike J:

    For people tempted to use the word “distraction”: If banks robbers set a fire to distract from a heist, would you refuse to send the fire department?

    I think this is more like a mob set fire to downtown and some of them are indulging in some freelance looting.

  258. 258.

    SatanicPanic

    @Mnemosyne: what drives me up the wall are ding-dongs that want term limits and hate partisanship. It doesn’t work that way dummies!

  259. 259.

    TriassicSands

    @Mnemosyne:

    One of Trump’s biggest problems (in a vast universe of problems) is that he has no respect for norms, decorum, appropriateness, and dignity.

    It would never occur to him that live-tweeting a congressional hearing would be wrong — for a president.

    I think that’s why we have such a difficult time understanding what Trump does.

  261. 261.

    Mnemosyne

    @amk:

    Then what’s the solution to legislators not knowing how to write legislation? Be specific.

  262. 262.

    SatanicPanic

    @amk: term limits make lobbying worse. But don’t take our word for it, we’re just in a state that enacted them.

  263. 263.

    Heidi Mom

    @MJS: Well, Longstreet would be. After the war he became a Republican, supported his old friend Grant for the presidency, commanded black militia troops against a White Citizens uprising in New Orleans. The South never forgave him.

  264. 264.

    Calouste

    @Marcopolo: Polls close at 10 PM BST IIRC, so 5 PM EST. There will be exit polls, but the real picture will only emerge 2-3 hours after poll closing.

  265. 265.

    elm

    @amk: Then do the following:

    1) Propose a solution that addresses the observed and known problems that term limits for legislators create.

    2) Accurately describe what you oppose. Permanent residency in congress does not exist and to the degree that incumbents have an unreasonable advantage, it’s one of district maps, the Senate being an anachronism, and Congress having too few seats.

  266. 266.

    TriassicSands

    @JGabriel:

    Yes, McCain was trying to confuse & conflate the two separate investigations to imply a bias against Trump…

    I took his questioning differently. It looked to me like he was genuinely confused. I wrote earlier — he looked like someone wrestling with senility.

  267. 267.

    Chris

    @elm:

    I always thought term limits were just begging for a Tammany Hall type situation, where politicians come and go and have no real power because everyone knows they’re just passing through, but all the power goes to the unelected structure of professional political operators who nominate them. Instead of a powerful politician, you just get an unelected political boss.

  269. 269.

    amk

    @Mnemosyne: Be specific about what? That lawmaking is so complicated that the same idiots have to be voted in term after term? Every other profession with more skills requirement and excellent past achievement still progresses ahead with young blood.

  270. 270.

    TriassicSands

    @Corner Stone:

    2. Sessions is going to jail.

    Given the existence of the presidential pardon that seems, at best, questionable.

    McCain? Time is not always kind to the human brain.

  273. 273.

    TenguPhule

    @TriassicSands:

    he looked like someone wrestling with senility.

    Obviously senility has him pinned to the mat and is forcing him to tap out.

  274. 274.

    SatanicPanic

    @elm: “This hospital only employs doctors for a maximum of twelve years, wait, where are you going?”

  277. 277.

    J R in WV

    @amk:

    BBC: “Yeah, yeah, the voting is under way.”

    I don’t think they’re allowed to make any substantive comment about trends in the voting until everyone has cast their ballots and the polls are closed everywhere. Easier in a nation with one time zone.

    Also, BBC is an arm of the British government, and so should step back from election coverage until the counting is done.

  278. 278.

    TriassicSands

    @TenguPhule:

    Switching from wrestling to boxing…

    I was with you up to the point where he’s tapping out — that’s the problem, he’s coming back for more. It’s more like he’s got his arms draped across the ropes and he can’t go down. Senility is free to swing away.

  279. 279.

    amk

    @SatanicPanic: I am sure no hospital or any org would tolerate senile old codgers either, no matter, how ‘indispensable’ they were ‘all those years’.

  281. 281.

    elm

    @amk: The US Congress and Senate have a voluntary retirement with a decent pension at age of 62 years old with 5 years of service, or 50 with 20 years of service, or any age with 25 years of service.

    @Peale: It appears to me that crafting working legislation requires expertise and experience.

  282. 282.

    Calouste

    @amk: Age limits, not term limits. Specially for the Senate with 6 year terms. At least in the House elections every two years means they can be voted out when the symptoms start showing and before they do too much damage. No running for election after 75 seems reasonable to me. Of course the US is a gerontocracy, so that’s not going to happen.

    Problem with dementia is that most people are not aware or deny that they have it, so you can’t expect that they will resign.

  283. 283.

    SatanicPanic

    @amk: Of course not, and we have a mechanism for retiring them. What you’re asking is for the hospital to retire a doctor that everyone loves just because they’ve reached an arbitrary limit.

  284. 284.

    amk

    @elm: and yet, here we are still stuck with mcangry’s and mcturtles and other old codgers fucking it up for every one else.

  285. 285.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @TriassicSands:

    McCain sounded like a boxer who had stayed too long.

    Requiem for a Featherweight. A PlayingHouseApproaching90 production.

  286. 286.

    elm

    @amk: You’re the one who implied that the Senate and Congress have no voluntary retirement age.

    If you want to propose a mandatory retirement age that’s 60 or older, then that’s fine.

    If you want to propose term limits which have typically been 10 years or less for positions and states that have imposed them, then you should be able to discuss the known failures of that proposal.

  287. 287.

    amk

    @SatanicPanic: Any hospital who actually cares for its patients would retire him/her regardless of how beloved or talented that doctor was. Cycle of life.

  288. 288.

    Dave

    @vhh: Provincial Reconstruction Team; they were a thing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not the most successful implementation of an idea I’ve ever seen. Not a great answer but I tend to devolve into cursing and dark humor when discussing them so it’s best I can do currently.

  289. 289.

    TenguPhule

    @TriassicSands:

    I was with you up to the point where he’s tapping out — that’s the problem, he’s coming back for more.

    More like the referee is distracted. That jumble of nonsense from his mouth was clearly a cry for help.

  290. 290.

    hovercraft

    Wa Post front page:

    LIVE
    See all updates

    1:38 PM
    Huckabee Sanders: ‘The president is not a liar’
    1:19 PM
    Trump to supporters: ‘We know the truth will prevail’
    1:18 PM
    Burr: ‘Nowhere near the end of the investigation’
    1:11 PM
    Some lawmakers happy so far with Comey’s testimony

  292. 292.

    amk

    @elm: Fair enough. But nowhere did I mention the no. of years for term limits. Just pointing out no term limits means shutting out the new ideas, new solutions given the advantage of incumbency. Just arrive at some sensible no. of terms one can serve. TINA factor is just bs.

  293. 293.

    D58826

    As I watch all of this a number of thoughts.
    1. In one sense collusion between Trump/others and the Russians is the lesser issue. We can send Flynn/Manafort/etc to jail but the that doesn’t fix the problem.
    2. The larger and more dangerous issue was/is Russian interference in our elections in all of its many facets. Even if no one in the Trump campaign talked to ANY Russian our elections were still compromised.
    3. There are multiple investigations of varying degrees of credibility.
    4. We have to restructure/harden our electoral systems so that the Russians cannot meddle. The former Russian ambassador McFaul is talking about this right now.
    5. At least in public these congressional investigations seem to be rather scattershot in how questions are asked. A member has 5-7 minutes to ask a feew questions with little or no followup. Each critter has his own little list and there is usually no co-ordination
    6. I’m remembering the Watergate hearings in which the majority counsel Sam Dash developed a line of questioning and took as much time as necessary to get the information out. The minority counsel (former Sen. Fred Thompson if I remember) would then put on the defense presentation. So we had days of John Dean and the guy who revealed the taping system.
    7., So this is why I think we need a joint/bipartisan congressional committee or independent commission. Getting to the bottom of what happened in 2016 is important but even more important is putting together the necessary legislation/agencies/etc to prevent Russian interference in the future is even more important. And that is not being done. And I don’t see the GOP going along with the first part let alone the second.

  294. 294.

    TenguPhule

    @TriassicSands:

    I think that’s why we have such a difficult time understanding what Trump does.

    I sadly do not have that problem. I simply imagine the worst possible option and expect him to exceed it.

  295. 295.

    hovercraft

    NYTimes (garbage) front page:

    so the headline writers actually did what Maggie couldn’t bring herself to do.

    Comey Cites White House ‘Lies’; Says He Leaked Notes in Hopes of Special Counsel
    no linky

  297. 297.

    TriassicSands

    @TenguPhule:

    I kept thinking why isn’t his staff protecting him better. They have to know what his mental state is and if it’s anywhere near as muddled as what we saw today, they should have had a list of questions for McCain to ask. For example:

    1. Are you James Comey?
    2. Were you head fo the FBI?
    3. Did you think Hillary was horribly irresponsible with her email?
    4. Thank you.

  298. 298.

    D58826

    And after filleting Der Fuhrer Nicole Wallace is just turning Der Fuhrer Jr. into mincemeat.

  300. 300.

    SatanicPanic

    @amk: No it’s ridiculous, but I’ve got better things to do than argue a dumb idea like term limits.

  302. 302.

    TriassicSands

    @D58826:

    We have to restructure/harden our electoral systems so that the Russians cannot meddle.

    One problem is that the media can be manipulated. They in turn manipulate the public (intentionally or simply through poor reporting).

    I don’t see a lot of hope for “fixing” our MSM.

  303. 303.

    TenguPhule

    @TriassicSands:

    They have to know what his mental state is and if it’s anywhere near as muddled as what we saw today, they should have had a list of questions for McCain to ask.

    I think that jumble *was* his attempt to read from that list.

  305. 305.

    TenguPhule

    @germy:

    “remarkable restraint from the POTUS. No tweets, no comments.”

    The ever lowering bar of simple expectations.

  306. 306.

    TriassicSands

    @TenguPhule:

    That’s the wonder of Trump. A man of appallingly limited skills and abilities with the virtually infinite capacity to amaze and shock.

    He can’t surprise us anymore, because, like you, we know what to expect. But then he shocks us by taking things even further than any sane person would. And therein lies the problem.

  308. 308.

    elm

    @amk: Every single state with legislative term limits has a limit from 6 years to 12 years, with 8 years being the most common.

    If you don’t specify otherwise, people will naturally expect that you’re proposing something in the boundaries of what’s very well established.

  309. 309.

    Mnemosyne

    @amk:

    Every other profession with more skills requirement and excellent past achievement still progresses ahead with young blood.

    As others have already pointed out, who do you want doing your heart surgery — the doctor who’s been doing it successfully for 20 years, or the doctor who just finished his/her residency?

    Or let’s say you need to build a bridge. Do you hire the firm that only lets engineers work for them for 8 years and then fires them?

  310. 310.

    Mnemosyne

    @amk:

    Okay, but to you want term limits (legislators are only allowed to serve X number of years) or mandatory retirement (legislators are not allowed to continue to serve past X age)? Those are two totally different things.

    I’ll give you another example: Adam Schiff has been our member of Congress since 2000. He’s really only coming to national attention this year since he both has experience with Russia (our area has a lot of immigrants from Russia and Armenia) and he’s a former prosecutor. Would our country have been better served if he’d been forced by term limits to leave office in 2008 or 2012?

  311. 311.

    amk

    @elm: If it’s done state level and if the states still survived with the ‘newbies’ passing all kindsa legislation, why not extend it to the federal level?

  312. 312.

    elm

    @amk: It’s worked shitty at state level. Several people have told you that already. That’s why we can say with high confidence that it’s a shitty idea. States have tried it, it is shitty. It leaves lobbyists in charge. Legislators step into roles destined-for-leadership on their first day.

    They’ve “survived”, as you put it, but bad ideas need not be immediately fatal.

  313. 313.

    TenguPhule

    @amk:

    If it’s done state level and if the states still survived with the ‘newbies’ passing all kindsa legislation, why not extend it to the federal level?

    JFC, do you have any idea of some of the dumb shit our state level representatives get up to because they don’t know what the hell they’re supposed to do?

  315. 315.

    Corner Stone

    Andy Card is lowering his tumbrel ride ticket rapidly. If someone escorted him to a nearby wall about now I would not be surprised.

  317. 317.

    Robert Sneddon

    @J R in WV: Few things about the quaint British way of doing things, from someone who voted today…

    There is no campaigning by any of the parties on the day of election. The Press can report what happens at polling stations — there was a scrimmage outside one today when the LibDem leader went to vote, for example — but there is no reporting on polls or trends or coverage of speeches etc. This blackout covers all of the British TV, radio and Press and not just the BBC which is an independent corporation (the C in BBC) established under a Royal Warrant and funded entirely by its licence fee which is not a tax. I like to describe the BBC to confused Americans as “something like the Boy Scouts of America”.

    All polls close at 10pm but Britain is in a single time zone so that makes things a little simpler. All voting is by paper ballot, select one candidate for constituency Member of Parliament with a cross. The 2B pencil on the screened table in the polling station is tied up with a piece of string to prevent people stealing it (this was an anarchist smash-the-system tactic a long time ago…). The count is carried out immediately overnight, it usually takes about two hours for the first result to come (some constituencies race to be first to report) in with most of them complete by about 4 a.m. the next day (there are usually press stories about some ballot boxes being delivered to mainland counts via rowboat from offshore islands with a police officer in attendance).

    After the votes are counted the party which can call on the support of a majority of members of Parliament, whether by simple majority or via a formal or informal coalition, can form the next government when their leader gets a free ride in a taxi to Buck House to present their credentials at which point Liz gives them the nod. Result!

  318. 318.

    TenguPhule

    @Marcopolo:

    So does anyone have any word on how things are going with that election across the pond?

    Its illegal in the UK for voters to reveal who they voted for while the voting is still going on.

  320. 320.

    amk

    @elm: @TenguPhule: So what ‘price’ ossoff’s and other newbies?

    And all the states passed stupid laws because of term limits and newbies?

    @Mnemosyne: Not a knock on Schiff, isn’t 16 years is too long to a make mark on your career?

  327. 327.

    TenguPhule

    @amk: Government is not a football team. Rotating in a new crop of fresh starters every 4-12 years might win you a Superbowl, but it won’t get you an effective legislature.

  330. 330.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Ari Melber thinks that his pre-released statement amounts to witness tampering.

    Isn’t he supposed to be an officer of the court?

    Are there no professional ethics boards left to hold him to account?

  331. 331.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jeffro: Comey and anyone else who cooperates with Mueller’s investigation. Comey is now a primary witness.

  333. 333.

    Mnemosyne

    @amk:

    He’s made plenty of marks here in California, which is why he keeps getting re-elected. It’s this year that he’s come to national prominence.

    But you think that a legislator with zero experience is a better person to send up against Trump and the Russians?

  339. 339.

    elm

    @amk: Pardon? The problem with McCain and McConnell is that they’re vile and evil, not that they’re experienced. Kentucky and Arizona are going to go on electing right-wing assholes for the forseeable future with or without term limits.

  340. 340.

    TenguPhule

    @Jeffro: They’re offering free shots for every tweet Trump makes during the hearing. Who wouldn’t go?

  341. 341.

    Robert Sneddon

    @TenguPhule: No it’s not illegal to say who you voted for in Britain while voting is still going on. There are exit polls carried out at many polling stations, usually by a combined team of Press and TV organisations these days. The results of that exit poll will be released after the polls close. You are under no obligation to be truthful if you do say how you voted and you have an absolute right to keep your own counsel on the subject.

    Interestingly enough electoral votes are not totally secret — each ballot paper has a reference number and can be traced back to the person who voted via paper records. This tracing is not usually done, it’s for possible cases of “personation” or voting as someone else. The papers and accompanying records are held securely for a year and a day after the election (the time allowed for a case to be brought in criminal court) and then destroyed.

  342. 342.

    Jeffro

    @TenguPhule: yeah, but you’re risking alcohol poisoning or worse there…or would have, if he hadn’t had his legal counsel sitting right with him the whole time.

    thanks Trump lawyers, you may have saved god knows how many lives by making Agent Orange sit on his thumbs today

  343. 343.

    Quinerly

    Turley weighs in on “Comey, the leaker:”https://jonathanturley.org/2017/06/08/did-comey-violate-laws-in-leaking-memo/

  347. 347.

    TenguPhule

    @Robert Sneddon:

    No it’s not illegal to say who you voted for in Britain while voting is still going on.

    Ah, so I was wrong on that. Thanks for correction.

  348. 348.

    Tehanu

    @elm:

    Term limits literally limit the voters from re-electing the official or representative that has served them in the past. Arbitrarily limiting voter choice is fundamentally anti-democratic.

    As a practical matter, term limits create a situation where lobbyists have far more experience than any legislator,

    I’m constantly repeating this to people who think government ought to be run “like a business,” or alternatively, “with ordinary citizens instead of elites.” The common clay of the new West, you know — morons.

    @amk:

    If lobbyists are the problem, permanent residency in congress is not the solution.

    Then what is?

Comments are closed.