This is an objectively good thing:
Progressive radio and television personality Sam Seder will be offered his MSNBC contributor job back and plans to accept, according to multiple MSNBC sources.
Seder and MSNBC were set to part ways when his contributor contract expired next year, with reports indicating the departure had to do with a 2009 tweet from Seder surfaced by the far-right provocateur Mike Cernovich. After initially caving in to right-wing internet outrage over the tweet, MSNBC reversed its decision to not renew Seder’s contract.
“I appreciate MSNBC’s thoughtful reconsideration and willingness to understand the cynical motives of those who intentionally misrepresented my tweet for their own toxic, political purposes,” Seder said in a statement to The Intercept. “We are experiencing an important and long overdue moment of empowerment for the victims of sexual assault and of reckoning for their perpetrators. I’m proud that MSNBC and its staff have set a clear example of the need to get it right.”
This is a good first step. The next steps for MSNBC are firing Andrew Lack, who apparently is personally intent on removing all POC and liberal talent from MSNBC. The most important step, however, is for organizations out there to finally get it through their thick skulls that the right has a lot of people acting in bad faith who just want a body count to hurt the libtards and to boost their own street cred. When Mike Cernovich, James O’Keefe, and the staffs of the Federalist and Breitbart tell you to jump, the appropriate response is not “How high?” but “eat a bag of dicks.”
The Moar You Know
MSNBC is run better than the Dem party and has more integrity. That I can write that and mean it seriously makes me want to vomit.
schrodingers_cat
What dark times? I thought you wanted Franken to resign, and now he has. So rejoice.
Repatriated
In addition to being the right thing to do, it also provides a precedent that actions taken based on false information can be walked back.
Major Major Major Major
This clause highlights the problem quite nicely.
scav
Also, the police officer who shot and killed Walter Scott getting 20 years. OK, not life, but still something in the appropriate direction.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
Also: Michael Slager got a 20-year sentence for murdering Walter Scott.
WaterGirl
When they tell you to jump, say “You first!”. I also suggest adding a “motherfucker”, also.
Major Major Major Major
@Repatriated:
I’m so old I remember when that made you a flip-flopping lying neoliberal pandering hawk.
John Cole
@schrodingers_cat: I never wanted Al Franken to resign. Can you all not read?
Lash out at someone else. I like Franken. I just deal with the real world and not shit I make up in my head, which is why I left the fucking GOP.
schrodingers_cat
@John Cole: You piled on to the outrage machine. Since when is stating a fact lashing out.
John Cole
@schrodingers_cat: Link one place where I piled on. Just one. All I ever did was state what I saw happening.
Also, there were never 60 votes for the fucking public option.
schrodingers_cat
@John Cole: You must have me confused with someone else, I don’t care a whit about the public option.
Ohio Mom
Okay
It’s been FIVE AND A HALF hours since Ohio Dad was wheeled into aortic valve replacement surgery. My sister and my friend Shelley are having s grand old time chatting but I am about to throw up or explode.
The surgeon warned me they could be in there s long time but that isn’t helping.
John Cole
@Ohio Mom: Was this planned? Are you ok?
Nicole
@John Cole: I just deal with the real world and not shit I make up in my head, which is why I left the fucking GOP.
tobie
@Ohio Mom: Hang in there. My father had is aortic valve replaced three years ago and the surgery was quite long. It’s hell to wait but this is a procedure that the doctors are very good at. We’re pulling for you and your dad.
Thoroughly Pizzled
I’m disappointed in the members of the Balloon Juice commentariat who embraced conspiracy theory and denial on behalf of Senator Franken, who is no longer capable of effectively representing his state or his party. The fact that every thread about him blows up is only proof that he occupies a lot of mental space that we need for other things. My goal is to destroy the GOP and elevate the Democratic Party. Al Franken is not the Democratic Party, he is simply a member that will only hurt more than help at this point.
I really looked up to the guy, but he is not the man we thought he was. Feel free to rip me apart in a year or three if any one of us yutzes is going, “Boy, getting rid of Al Franken really ruined our chances in 2018/2020.”
Major Major Major Major
@John Cole: @John Cole: Well, there’s this one where your initial take was
Ohio Mom
@John Cole: oh yes, we have known he needed his valve replaced for months. Interviewed three surgeons, this was the best one. The scary part is that they stop your heart. Then you hope they get in beating again.
Sometimes it doesn’t beat properly and they have to add a pacemaker. But that would benokay.
O. Felix Culpa
@WaterGirl:
This. I’m heartsick and taking a break from the internets for the day, although I appreciate the good news post. I think the Dems got played with Franken…just as with ACORN and Shirley Sherrod. I hate that Sen. Gillibrand decided to ask Franken to resign because it got “too hard” for her to do nuance (I heard her say something to that effect yesterday on the radio). What we needed was due process and sensible differentiation (is butt touching really the same thing as pedophilia?), and what we got was mob justice. I need to go away and work on the garden and spreadsheets, but not at the same time.
Ciao for now.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Ohio Mom: Did they give you a sense of how long the surgery would take?
Aleta
Without the bystander who bravely stood and recorded and reported, he might still be on the force.
Ohio Mom
@tobie: not my dad, Hubbie. My little family is me, Ohio Mom, Ohio Dad and Ohio Son.
Major Major Major Major
@O. Felix Culpa:
One of these things is not like the other…
Swannie
The Democrat party is a flaming dumpster fire.
joel hanes
t’s been FIVE AND A HALF hours since Ohio Dad was wheeled into aortic valve replacement surgery.
Echoing tobie — my Mom’s valve replacement took longer than expected, and then the staff was (rightly) more concerned with getting her into a stable post-op than with updating us before the outcome was assured.
Best wishes, and I truly hope it comes out as well as Mom’s : she and two other people in her church received bovine replacement valves, and they “moo” at each other when greeting, and gave each other Holstein-pattern black-and-white t-shirts.
O. Felix Culpa
@Ohio Mom: Pulling for you and Ohio Dad! Sending you New Mexico hugs!
Ohio Mom
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): About five hours.
Buzzer just buzzed
Time to talk to doc
More later
Amaranthine RBG
@Major Major Major Major:
Thank you for that. After I read the huffing and puffing by Mr. Cole in the comments my first thought was “Wait, did I just imagine that he said that?” Thank you for saving me the time.
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: Thanks! You saved me the trouble of finding that post.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ohio Mom: Breathe deep and best wishes to you and Ohio Dad. And Ohio Son.
Adam L Silverman
@Ohio Mom: Keeping good thoughts.
sharl
That shot at the Federalist was hurtful. My homeboy Federalist Pitchbot has been doing some fine work on twitter.
Major Major Major Major
@Aleta: I don’t quite understand how he ended up with a murder conviction if the state dropped the murder charges in exchange for him pleading guilty to a federal civil rights violation. Were they federal murder charges?
SiubhanDuinne
More good news: Morgan Stanley has fired former DINO Congressman (and Morning Joe darling) Harold Ford Jr. for sexual misconduct.
joel hanes
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
My goal is to destroy the GOP and elevate the Democratic Party.
I’m having a hard time seeing what happened today as a step toward that goal, any more than firing Jocelyn Elders or Shirley Sherrod was. As you say, we shall see.
schrodingers_cat
Is BJ tab crashing for people? It has crashed thrice in the last half hour for me. Windows 10 Professional edition and Firefox.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
She said something like, now is not the time to draw distinctions. I prefer Joy Reid’s formulation: If everything is the same, nothing matters.
@SiubhanDuinne: I hope MSNBC shitcans him. He’ll land on his feet somewhere down (Wall) Street, but I’d be happy to be spared his smug bro-y chumminess with Morning Joe types for the rest of my life
hellslittlestangel
Well, I’d rather have Franken in the Senate than Seder on MSNBC (no offense to Seder), but I’ll take what victories I can get.
John Cole, resist the temptation to dig up intemperate comments made in the past by people criticizing you in this thread. Just do the right thing and resign from Balloon Juice.
GregB
DINO, Douchebag In Name Only Harold Ford has been can for harrassment allegations at Morgan Stanley.
Hopefully this means he’ll be dumped by NBC.
Last time I heard his analysis was him opining that Northam would lose VA Gov. election because of MS 13.
GregB
Canned.
tobie
@Ohio Mom: Sorry for my mistake. I just crossed all my digits for your husband. When this is all over, can OhioDad come visit this forum? We’ll be super nice for a change.
Major Major Major Major
Slaughterhouse-Five is being made into a TV show
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
BWHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHHA
Well, Harold is always scolding Dems to be more like repugs and I guess he personally took it too far.
Major Major Major Major
@hellslittlestangel: Come on, saying
is just begging for somebody to look up the recent post where he said Al Franken should resign.
germy
BellyCat
Here’s some “reality-based thought”.
Check out this chart on criminal activities of the Executive Branch from Nixon onward. (Source: PBS)
Republicans have been dining on “tire irons and anthrax” for a long, long, time. And now that they’ve opened fast food chains across America, generously serving these delectables to the “ever economically anxious” WWC, ya’ gotta wonder why Democrats are STILL dreaming of a make-up dinner, consisting of teddy bears and unicorns.
Reality… WTF!?!
Villago Delenda Est
Andy Lack, Mike Cernovich, Roger Stone, and James O’Keefee walk into a bar.
Bartender sees them, and says “What will it be, wretched scumbags?”
Villago Delenda Est
@BellyCat: And that lackwit Wilmer buys into it.
germy
@Major Major Major Major:
And Catch-22.
Colonel Cathcart will be played by George Clooney, who I believe is also producing or directing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
This cracked me up
@Major Major Major Major: yeah, but a flame thread between Cole and his own commenters would be some awesome, old-school Balloon Juice, from the time before he found twitter
ETA: Todd Zwillich for some reason is wasting air time interviewing Joe Walsh
“Trump support isn’t a race thing, it’s just a coincidence that white voters long for the America that used to be”
laura
Point of correction – the phrase is “eat a bag of salted dicks.”
I’m livid, fucking LIVID, of the demand that Al Franken resign without more than allegations of improper conduct.
Chucking Due Process over the side,in hast, in panic does a gross disservice to our Constitution and the rights thereunder.
ACORN. Shirely Sherrod. Al Franken.
How easy is it for us to demand someone else sacrafice a right and then expect it to be there when you need them.
If we are so quick to give up our Constitution and the rights that have served this country well, then mob rule is the likely outcome.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@GregB: Who’s gonna be Mike and Blows “black friend” (photo)
BellyCat
@Villago Delenda Est: But only if the teddy bears and unicorns were free-range and organically certified.
germy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
– Cole
The Moar You Know
@Repatriated: Franken cannot “unquit” the Senate. That ship has sailed.
oatler.
@Major Major Major Major: “You won’t believe what Valarie Perrine looks like now!!”
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne: Wow. That is good news. He’s an ass.
Aleta
@Major Major Major Major: I found this from May:
Amaranthine RBG
@laura:
Yeah, I stridently called for Franken to resign and I thought the parody would be obvious because no adult could be so fucking stupid as to think that was the right thing to do.
But the current democratic party and its parade of purity poniesis simply beyond parody at this point, I guess.
ruemara
@Aleta: I am sick & tired of black folks having to do this public forgiveness bullshit. He deserves life but this is the best we can get and probably more than we could have expected. Some smattering of justice.
Glad it’s not me, because there is no mercy here. My words to him would be seek the Lord, he’s the one who can forgive you.
Major Major Major Major
@germy:
I guess you could say he’s… promoting Major Major Major Major. ?
hellslittlestangel
@Major Major Major Major: Meh. “in my opinion, Franken should probably resign” is more of a waist-grab than an ass-grab.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@The Moar You Know: he can, if MN Dems react to what happened the way the people here are, he can run in 11 months and win in a landslide
@germy: my idea would be more fun
piratedan
@Swannie: no, its just less than perfect, made up of people who generally believe in the same things we do but don;t always come here to get the approved Balloon Juice course of action advice that they ought to….
while I believe that Franken’s resignation is a less than optimal choice, it bleeds into that mob metality… if we’re a nation of laws and we believe that they should be followed, then Franken deserved to have the charges reviewed by the ethics committee.. maybe we find out that he’s actually too handsy, perhaps less than optimal in his interactions with women or we find out that this is just another GOP ratfuck.
but does this mean that I won’t continue to support Dems over the GOP… no, but do I wish that we adhered to our principals rather than letting the media push the agenda, damn straight
germy
NotMax
Somberly noting the 74th anniversary*, two years after Pearl Harbor, of a staggering WW2 aerial disaster over and on Maui.
*maybe also on Dec. 7, maybe not – reported dates vary
Mom Says I*m Handsome
I’m waiting for the word “asshole” to be socially acceptable, so the media can stop with these fancy-ass substitutions. They’re not provocateurs, scoundrels, rascals, rogues, or miscreants; they’re good ole fashioned ASSHOLES.
patroclus
Wow. A liberal media hack keeps his job. But an effective U.S. Senator gets lynch mobbed out of town on a rail. Such good news….
MomSense
@Ohio Mom:
That sounds about right. I think it took about three hours just to prepare my dad to have his aorta repaired. Sending a big hug. We are all sending our best to you and Ohio Dad.
Amaranthine RBG
@hellslittlestangel:
Not a consoling back pat???
Major Major Major Major
@germy: Cole used the word ‘never’ above.
Lapassionara
Now that Speaker Ryan has announced his intention to steal money from SS and Medicare to fill the hole in the deficit that will be caused by the Tax Scam Bill, can someone point me to a place where I can get information on protests, etc? I think we should be taking the streets on this, before it comes up for a vote again.
I am truly sorry about Franken, and pissed too, but there are horrors in front of us that I want to try to mitigate.
ruemara
@Major Major Major Major: I’d hit you with a wet noodle for that.
Ohio Mom
Hip hip hooray!
Surgery went fine!
Thanks for all the support!
Couldn’t have done without it!
Ian G.
Mike Cernovich is the kind of person, if I found out he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I would cheer. Some people are too horrible to deserve anything but the worst.
BellyCat
@Ohio Mom: Congratulations!!!
MomSense
@Ohio Mom:
YES!!!!
Villago Delenda Est
@Aleta: The Jurors who voted to aquit this scumbag should be ashamed of themselves. But probably are not, as they’re racist fucks.
Yarrow
@Ohio Mom: Yay! Good news. When do you get to see Ohio Dad? Does he spend time in the hospital or are they sending him home? These days seems like they send people home really quickly.
Major Major Major Major
@Ohio Mom: alright!!!
Cacti
How many votes in the Senate does Sam Seder have?
eclare
@Ohio Mom: Good news!
John Cole
Saying in your opinion someone should resign does not mean you want them to nor is it creating a pile-on.
Aleta
@Ohio Mom: Good for him. Good on you. May recovery go quickly.
sharl
@Ohio Mom: Excellent news! ???
Best wishes for a complete and speedy recovery.
KS in MA
@Ohio Mom: Fantastic!!!!
Aleta
@Major Major Major Major: @Major Major Major Major: I don’t see where this (at your link) says “I want Franken to resign” or anything that suggests rejoicing if he does.
Major Major Major Major
@John Cole: I would say that it’s both of those, but I also don’t really care, I just wanted to contribute that post to the argument.
@Aleta: Thinking somebody ‘should’ do something is the same as wanting them to do it. If you think the best outcome would be somebody doing something, then you want them to do it. If you don’t think the best outcome is them doing something, then why would you think they should do it?
ETA: try this sentence out and see if it makes sense to you. “I don’t want Franken to resign, but I think he should.” Doesn’t work for me. Contra that, “I want Franken to resign, but I don’t think he should” makes about as much sense.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I watched RT News monday night and it’s turned into Fox News.
They were freaking out over the Flynn arrest, trashing Muller, praising Trump, even pushed the ugly Seth Rich conspiracy.
Such panicked behavior by parties who insist they’re innocent.
Tenar Arha
@Ohio Mom:
TFW you’re like this for someone’s good news.
Congratulations and wishing Ohio Dad a speedy recovery.
No One You Know
@Ohio Mom: My family’s like yours. A prayer is all I have, so I’ll offer one: Thank you, Lord, for bringing us into this day. Bless the healers hands on Ohio Dad, mend what’s broken, uphold what’s whole, and may your peace surround Ohio Mom and her friends who stand by her in this ordeal. Glory to you whose power, working in us, can do more than we can ask or imagine. Forgive us when we ask the wrong things, and bless us. Amen.
Aleta
@Major Major Major Major: I think when the context is politics (or for hasty example, maybe something like an Academy Award) we distinguish. Or, say, (not thought out, but) “I want you to stay home this weekend, but you should go to that conference for the sake of your career.”
Elizabelle
I’d be OK with Seder gone and Franken carrying on in the Senate.
Especially since MSNBC is part of NBC corporate, which is the devil. The devil.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Ohio Mom: Oh good. Take a big breath and then have a nice glass of wine.
TenguPhule
But Al Franken is not going to get his Senate seat back.
But acceptable losses, AMIRITE, Democrats? //
Yutsano
@Ohio Mom: WOOOT!!!!
Duane
@laura: So we now live in a new world of sexual mores. That’s fine. Needs to be done. Franken resigns, and still an admitted predator sits in the White House. How can that be acceptable. Alabama is likely to send a predator to the Senate. Enough of the IOKIYAR crap. Apply the same standards to everyone, or go to hell hypocrites.
TenguPhule
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
Then Frankenly, you’re Bloody Terrible at it.
TenguPhule
@Swannie:
Don’t insult honest dumpster fires.
Cacti
Seriously though, this great news.
On the day Dems threw one of the most effective liberal voices in Congress under the bus…
A bloviating media gas bag got his job back!
WINNING!
tobie
I kinda wonder how many contributions Doug Jones will rake in today. How many phone calls will be made on his behalf? How many doors will be knocked on by his campaign? The base feels sucker punched right now. The GOP must be enjoying how demoralized the Dem base is going into an important special election.
Major Major Major Major
@Aleta: I thought of that a second ago while ruminating on this. The way I would phrase something like that is “I want Franken to not have to resign, but I think he should” or a similar construction. When it’s just the want-vs.-should construction, it leaves me (the reader) scrambling to come up with a way that they aren’t synonymous, which is a suboptimal communication strategy.
I’m fully aware that I’m careless with words too, but while I’m down in the weeds I might as well play.
Aleta
@Major Major Major Major:
“I want the Green Party to win. But if it looks like they can’t, I probably should vote for Al Gore so that Bush doesn’t win.”
Major Major Major Major
@Cacti: @Cacti: You can’t possibly be stupid enough to think anybody here is saying the two are equivalent.
Just One More Canuck
@Mom Says I*m Handsome: known ne’er do well? (h/t Barney Miller)
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
Increasingly unstable and eating up RAM in chrome. I blame the fucking ads again.
dimmsdale
OK, here’s a question relating back to the original post about MSNBC: Does anyone in the esteemed commentariat here know of a progressive organization that is wielding EFFECTIVE pushback against the media, e.g. in regard to Seder, or any of the skillion other media mapractices (discussion panels stuffed with right wing appatatchiks and no prog participation, or news readers adoping Republican frames e.g. ‘tax relief’, or news’ anchors’ incidental chitchat that betraying a right-wing mindset that is aching for correction)?
Here’s why I ask: Back in the suburbs where I grew up there was ONE guy who was so right wing, even the local R establishment rolled their eyes at him, he really was SO ‘out there’. BUT—every single time this guy heard a cuss word on TV, he would mobilize a cadre of letter-writers and they’d send bagsful of letters of complaint to the FCC. And you know what? the networks were terrified of this guy, because he made a difference.
This whole thread has been about a lot of random topics, but one DEFINITE thing I’d like to do is join an effective media pushback apparatus, so I’d be grateful if anyone can suggest some such.
Also, I’d like to joint an organization that is sussing out, targeting, and demanding changes from, SPECIFIC INDIVIDUALS in the Democratic Party national apparatus, pollsters and messagers, who have done such a piss-poor job of communicating our values. It would need to be organized, focused, and so distinct and forceful that it couldn’t be ignored. Anybody know of a group like that?
It’s really hard to put one’s faith (as we are being forced, by circumstance, to do) in such a lackluster messenger as the Democratic Party turns out to be. I’d love to help change that—I think George Lakoff has talked about this, he’s trying to start a ‘Citizens Communication Network’ along those lines, but I can’t find anything out there about it.
Anybody got any ideas?
(Oh, and Ohio Mom: YAYYYYYYYY!!!!)
Major Major Major Major
edit: composing better reply
PJ
@John Cole: I guess it all depends on what your definition of “is” is.
To be pedantic, the most typical usage of “should” is that one believes this is the correct course of action. If the writer believes that, despite the action being correct, he or she actually disagrees with that action, that has to be expressed, because otherwise a reader, like myself, will think that the writer wants to see that thing happen.
But I see that Majorx4 has already made this point.
MomSense
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
The night my stepmom snuck some white wine into the hospital for us was one of the best mother daughter bonding experiences ever. It was only a little bit but we had a lot to celebrate.
Major Major Major Major
@Aleta:
Let’s make the analogous statement:
“I don’t want Al Franken to resign. But if it looks like [proposition x], Al Franken should resign so that [not proposition y].”
First off, we haven’t defined propositions x or y here, so it’s hard to consider them equivalent statements.
Second: are you saying that this Green Party supporter does not want to vote for Gore? I would say that they don’t want to have to vote for Gore, but since they do have to and are, then they want to.
Doug R
@Elizabelle:
Ever since Sheinhardt wigs sold them to Kabletown, they’ve gotten worse
Aleta
@Major Major Major Major: Yeah, true, I know what you mean. What’s unfair is when we (and we all do it automatically sometimes) jump over the imprecision and use our personal reaction as the base for an insult. Since allowance for error is part of accuracy.
Amaranthine RBG
Uh, yeah, the backfilling going here is not very persuasive.
“OMG, there has been an allegation by a single person, he should resign.”
Two more women come forward: “He’s done, time to move on.”
5 more women come forward: “I never wanted him to resign. My saying he should have resigned was my initial take and things have changed since then.”
Yeah, the only thing that has changed is that 7 more women have come forward. Oh, and Franken released a more heartfelt apology shortly after you said he should have resigned.
So the needle being threaded here is “Yes, he should have resigned after his first lame statement. His second statement changed that. The 7 additional accusers don’t matter. … ”
No.
Nicole
@Nicole: Ugh; I went away from the computer before seeing I had thoroughly messed up the blockquote function in my post. Apologies.
geg6
So…MSNBC has better management skills than any of the Dems in the US Senate. Lucky for Sam, MSNBC can do backsies after an investigation showed they acted hastily and with no thought of any sort of process. Sadly, Senator Franken will not have that luxury.
FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCKITY FUCK!!!
I despise this country and just about everyone in it at this point.
Aleta
@Major Major Major Major: good points. thanks.
Schlemazel
@John Cole:
I never attacked you over Franken but I would like to clarify one thing. Al was not done in Minnesota. He has a record of constituent service that is unmatched & won over a lot of Republicans here who would have voted for him again after the investigation showed there was no there there. He never wanted to be President & made that clear. He could have been a great Senator for as long as he could tolerate it. Minnesota is in mourning today
different-church-lady
Hey folks, Cole was the first one to realize that EMAILZZZZZZ!!!!!! was going to be converted into a world of pain, back when we all thought nothingburger.
Me, I’m going to start listening to his instincts — he has a record of better insights into the workings of ratfucker brains and deplorable guts than any of us.
Cacti
@different-church-lady:
Cole also believed Edward Snowden was a whistle blowing patriot.
Schlemazel
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
you picked a good nym – now sober up asshole
jhtrotter
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Gives new meaing to a LEO getting their 20 in…
different-church-lady
Hey, we lost a senator, but we gained back a pundit! High-five!
different-church-lady
@Cacti: OK, you got me there.
Trollhattan
@sharl:
That’s right up there with “We’ll bomb them to the peace table.”
Amir Khalid
@Ohio Mom:
We’re all relieved to hear that. Rest up and get well soon, Ohio Dad.
SWMBO
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s the message that due process is for losers. It’s the idea that if you run as a Democrat, if something comes up, the party won’t have your back. You are fucked and on your own. Now explain how that’s going to work in getting good Democrats to run for office. For every office. Because the Republicans sure as hell would run a child molester rather than give up a chance to win. Franken won reelection and was ratfucked out of office. Other Democrats did the work of the Republican party and took him down for them. WASF and it’s our own doing.
Someone said last night that this means BOTH Senate seats are up for grabs in Minnesota now. Plus the governor’s office and most of the lege. Won’t that be fun to try to get good people to run now?
Any of you thinking that Roy Moore wins next week and will face the Senate Ethics Committee now are delusional. Turtle will seat him and we lost an important voice. No due process for Franken and none for Moore.
different-church-lady
@SWMBO: You know what happens when you don’t fight a rat fuck?
You get fucked, and everyone thinks you’re a rat.
SWMBO
@Ohio Mom: Oh that is good news! Congrats to all! May the rest of the day be as awesome.
Trollhattan
@Cacti:
Moar important: how many divisions?
Trollhattan
@Ohio Mom:
Wonderful!
debit
@Schlemazel: You speak for me.
Mnemosyne
@different-church-lady:
My spouse is the same way — it’s like he’s still faintly attached to the white male asshole Borg even though he left them many, many years ago.
Now if only we can get them to tell us how to derail a ratfuck before it gains momentum rather than only being able to identify one that’s been rolled out. ?
debit
@Schlemazel: Also, Franken and his wife shop at the downtown Minneapolis Lund’s. I hope I see him in person sometime when I’m getting groceries so I can tell him in person how much I admire him and wish him well.
TenguPhule
@SWMBO: Cosigned.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
Adam Silverman gave us plenty of warning this was coming.
Not against Franken specifically, but we were warned.
Mnemosyne
@Cacti:
Same thing, actually — he identified something that spoke directly to the white dudebro lizard brain.
I don’t think DCL is saying that Cole is right in his political analysis of this stuff, just that he’s a useful barometer for what the ratfuckers are going to get traction with.
different-church-lady
@Mnemosyne:
That’s more accurate than what I was trying to say.
HeleninEire
@Ohio Mom: WOO HOO!!!! YAY OHIO DAD!!
Kathleen
@Ohio Mom:[[[[[[hugs]]]]]]]]] Hang in therr. He will be fine.
Amaranthine RBG
@Mnemosyne:
Kamala Harris. Do. Not. Nominate. Her. in. 2020.
You have been warned.
amygdala
@Ohio Mom: Woo! Fingers tightly crossed for a speedy and uneventful recovery.
SgrAstar
@Ohio Mom: Breathe deep, OM, breathe deep. ❤️
Mnemosyne
@Ohio Mom:
Yay! Best wishes for a speedy recovery now.
SWMBO
@TenguPhule: And it’s not over. They collected their scalp and now they can go after someone else. And these same Democrats will fold again. You can’t give these ratfuckers an inch. And we will be on defense until they gut social security, Medicare and Medicaid. They will stack the courts and laugh at calls for ethics investigations on them.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Now is exactly the time to draw distinctions, before the Republicans finish blurring the lines until nothing means anything.
I had not heard that quote from Joy Reid, but I love it.
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: Wow, good luck with that. Vonnegut was my favorite writer for years and years, I can’t imagine how you would make a TV series out of it. More power to them if they can do it.
NeutronFlux
@schrodingers_cat: Give it a rest. Come up for air. Take a deep breath. Chill.
Cckids
@ruemara: This. I am continually gobsmacked by people doing this and/or others asking if they have forgiven. WTF. Maybe I’m hardhearted, but . . . Never. Never. Never.
I’m with Kesha here “There are some things only God can forgive “.
cameraguy
@Major Major Major Major:
Huh. I don’t want a lot of things to happen that probably should happen. I don’t want a doctor to shove a camera up my ass every 5 years, but he probably should. I don’t want my least favorite sports team to win any games, but they probably should. I don’t want mosquitoes and cockroaches to exist, but they probably should.
In general, people who think the only things that should happen are the things they want to happen are either toddlers or sociopaths.
The Lodger
@Ohio Mom: Great news! It isn’t over yet but you got through the hard part. My best to Ohio Dad and the rest of the tribe.
Gravenstone
@Ohio Mom: Late to the thread, but my mother underwent a mitral valve replacement ca. 30 years ago. That was quite a drawn out procedure as well, which we were aware of the potential for going in. So I would suggest not being too alarmed (I know, easy for me to say) about the extended surgery time.
Gravenstone
@Ohio Mom: And I post just in time for your updated good news. Now comes the “fun part” of recovery. With added bonus that (depending on valve style), your husband may now “tick” for the rest of his life.
LanceThruster
Standing your ground when you’re in the right is an essential lesson Dems need to learn these days, it seems.
Cckids
@Schlemazel: Is there any chance of him running for Governor? Your current gov is term limited, yes?
WaterGirl
@Ohio Mom: So happy for you!
Ohio Mom
When we finally got to talk to Ohio Dad’s heart surgeon and learn that everything went as planned, I remarked that it had been a long surgery.
“Oh, I was done an hour ago. I had paperwork to finish before I left the room.”
File this under, Moments I could have hit someone.
Well, we hired him for his eye-hand coordination, not for his manners.
debit
@Cckids: No term limit.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Oh my god. I’ve heard similar stuff as my dad has been in and out of the hospital over the past few years. You want to ask them, “Do you know any people? like, humans? Were you hatched from a pod last week?”
Ohio Mom
@tobie: Ohio Dad is Charlie Pierce guy — go figure!
He did come with me to the Cincinnati meetup a couple of months ago and liked everyone.
JaneSays
Firing Andrew Lack would probably have to come from Comcast Executive VP Steve Burke, who also serves as CEO of NBCUniversal. Nobody within the entire NBC News umbrella (which includes both the broadcast network and MSNBC) has the power to fire Lack, as he is the highest ranking official in the division.
No idea where Burke’s politics lie.
TenguPhule
@Ohio Mom:
Be fair. If he fucks up the paperwork, he might not get paid. Or his patient might wind up with the wrong after care instructions.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Since Lack was rumored to be Matt Lauer’s patron/ally at NBC, and since I’ll shocked, and disappointed, if there aren’t major lawsuits heading NBC’s way (to say nothing of a criminal indictment for Lauer), I imagine politics might not be the deciding factor
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@schrodingers_cat: Yes, I have had to go to Crome.
Miss Bianca
@O. Felix Culpa: right there with you. I love my local Democrats and I’ll keep working with them but I am really hating the Democratic brand right now.
@Ohio Mom: hope all is well!
Miss Bianca
@hellslittlestangel: God damn it, I can’t believe you made me laugh about this shitshow.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Mnemosyne:
Except it wasn’t the white dudebro lizard brain that did Franken in, it was that collective woman’s senate lizard brain that decided at the first accusation to overturn the will of the voters of the state of Minnesota because Franken was a monster out to eat the babies.
It’s like with this MSNBC reporter – yes, these dorks quote mined him, but it was the idiot managers at MSNBC who let themselves get panicked into a terminate first, ask question later if at all, state of mind.
Duane
@TenguPhule: If the hospital’s system won’t allow for someone to inform the family quickly, they need a different system.
Aleta
@ruemara: The forgiveness part upset me, and I felt like leaving it out of the quote box. Then I thought, she has the. right to be represented in the news by her own words.
But I blame the reporter for representing her only with that quote. Maybe she had nothing else to say the press, but the reporter still had obligation to write more words that would respectfully represent her and her family, instead of leaving so much weight on that quote as though it summed it up.
If not, hire a different reporter who is able to do that.
TenguPhule
@Duane: That would be the hospital, not the doctor.
Duane
@TenguPhule: To the anxious family, that’s a distinction without a difference. A different, better system should allow for the families concerns.
Ohio Mom
@No One You Know: that’s a beautiful prayer.
fuckwit
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Those good old days… of Emmett Till…
There’s a damn good reason why black folks don’t really do nostalgia, and they give white folks the side-eye when we get all misty eyed about the old days.