As the political news world, social media, comments sections, and the re-election rally the President is doing tonight in North Dakota – twenty-seven months or so before the next presidential election – goes nuts, we need to step back and clearly and realistically assess the nature of the fight we’re in. The only reason that the forthcoming nomination to fill Associate Justice Kennedy’s seat is controversial is because Senator McConnell capitalized on the insurgency he ran to achieve the majority in the Senate by refusing to allow any senator, including those of his own party and caucus, to fulfill their constitutional responsibility to advise and consent on nominees to the Supreme Court. Had Senator McConnell not stolen both President Obama’s and his fellow senator’s constitutional duties, which then allowed the current President to nominate and seat Associate Justice Gorsuch, this nomination would just be the normal result of elections have consequences. Had any Republican presidential nominee been elected in 2016, whether it was this President or one of his challengers, all we’d be doing is trading an old, pre-Federalist Society conservative justice with a young, doctrinaire conservative justice to serve in a 5-4 Supreme Court where the majority was center left to left of center because Judge Garland would instead be Associate Justice Garland. It is the procedural injustice done by Senator McConnell to consolidate his successful insurgent campaign to retake the Senator majority that is the cause of the anger that is being felt.
It is also important that we are clear about what is going to happen with the forthcoming nomination in the Senate.
Schumer: GOP Should Follow McConnell Precedent, No SCOTUS Vote In ’18 https://t.co/BRIOlha2sa via @TPM
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) June 27, 2018
While Senator Schumer was off to a good rhetorical start this afternoon, we need to be realistic: Senator Schumer has almost no weapons available to him and to the minority Democratic Caucus in the Senate. The reason for this is that Senator McConnell, like all good insurgents and revolutionaries who come to power, made sure not to leave any of the means he used available to his defeated opposition. The filibuster for Supreme Court nominees is gone, destroyed by McConnell in order to ensure that he got to enjoy the benefits of his theft, which means there is no sixty vote threshold for cloture that has to be reached. This leaves Senator Schumer with the ability to make a floor speech every morning, whip his caucus to all vote no in committee and at the final floor vote, and slow walk the calendar until Senator McConnell asks for a ruling from the Senate Parliamentarian to move things along. I’m sure he and appropriate surrogates will do their best to try to peel off the two Republican senators he would need to actually vote a nomination down, or to at least force Senator McConnell to hold off on holding a vote till after the midterm and then, perhaps, if the Democrats are able to flip the Senate till the new Congress is sworn in. This scenario is highly unlikely, so do not place your hope on Senators Flake or Corker or Collins or even Murkowski, as some were suggesting this afternoon, doing the right thing. All of them, like Brutus, are honorable men or women…
This does not mean that Senator Schumer and the members of his caucus shouldn’t put up a fight and use every tool at their disposal to make this as hard as possible on Senator McConnell, the majority Republican Caucus in the Senate, and the President. They need to have the fight, even if it is only symbolic, in order to ensure that everyone stays focused on the ten meter target: the midterm elections. And that they know that the Democrats already serving in Congress will fight for them and therefore deserve to be returned to the majorities in both chambers of Congress. Even though he has no shame, they need to make Senator McConnell have to choke on his own words from when President Obama nominated Judge Garland. And they need to have the fight to demonstrate why it is necessary to not leave either chamber of Congress in the hands of a congressional Republican majority that has abdicated its responsibility to perform oversight of the Executive Branch and abjectly failed to serve as a check and balance to both the Executive Branch and an exceedingly radical Judicial Branch as well.
We have reached a very strange point in the US. Right now the Democratic Party and the center left to left of center and liberal and progressive constituencies that it represents and who support it are now the party and movement of conservatism of the United States. Or, perhaps, preservation of it. As I wrote way back in November 2016 right after the election, we have to hold the line to the best of our ability. The Republican Party, the movement conservatism and the reactionized white Christian evangelical Christians that make up its base, have become political, social, economic, and religious radicals. And it is a strange form of radicalism. A radicalism in pursuit of reactionary objectives; that seeks to move the US forward, by taking it back to an imaginary, yet idealized past. It is now up to the Democrats and those willing to vote with them at this time to do what is necessary to step up to preserve the Republic. And that means the work that has to be done this evening is the same as yesterday: register to vote, get everyone you know to register to vote, get everyone you know to get everyone they know to register to vote, then vote, get everyone you know to vote, and get everyone they know to vote. The midterm elections are the target. Flipping the House and, if possible, the Senate is the objective. Everything else is a sideshow.
Stay focused.
Open thread.
Adam L Silverman
BTW: notice the language McConnell used. Mirror messaging back to the President:
Felanius Kootea
Supreme Court rulings made by a reactionary minority (in terms of their representation in the population)
can eventually be overturned. It’s horrible that so much pain and harm will occur to women, to workers and
to religious and ethnic minorities in the interim. I’m hoping that it will wake enough people up and get them
to see that what is happening is so undemocratic that they crawl over broken glass to vote, not just in November
but after that. I’m hoping.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Yup.
ETA: Also keep in mind that 9 members of the Court is not a divine commandment or even a Constitutional one. It’s statutory, it can be changed by Congress and the President and has been done in the past.
Adam L Silverman
@Felanius Kootea: Hope is not a strategy, but it is a necessity.
A Ghost To Most
More like 27 months. Other than that, thanks.
Emma
Stay focused. Don’t forget. Don’t forgive.
Felanius Kootea
@Adam L Silverman: In many countries, when the news media watch a coup or a dictatorship in action, they report what is going on with an eye on the underdog, on the majority of the people who will be adversely affected, even at great cost to themselves (I remember one of the premier Nigerian journalists, Dele Giwa, being assassinated by a letter bomb when I was growing up). Here, I get the overwhelming sense that the news media very much approves of the daring of the coupists. A very strange thing for a democracy, but there it is.
Cckids
Thanks, Adam. I just, as my kids say, cannot any more tonight. I’m dragging the spouse off to see West Side Story on the big screen. It should help lessen the doomed feelings I’m having right now.
Adam L Silverman
@A Ghost To Most: Good catch. I’ve fixed it.
lamh36
If there is ONE lesson the elected Dems should learn form last night defeat of Crowley, it’s that they can be challenged by and likely will be challenged by young upstarts if they are not seen to at least put up some sort of fight against the would be nominee and also against McConnell and the rest of his evil brethren and like Crowley they may well lose.
The Dems need old guard, but even more so, we need young folk and new voters, who unfortunately are not really affiliating with any of the 2 parties (even the Parkland kids have expressed no affliation with Dems vs GOP, it just so happens that the folks most against gun control are Republicans, so the young gun control advocates align more with Dems)
So the 46 Dem Senators need to hold on and block da fuq out of anything they can and use whatever power they have to daily upto and until the confirmation hearing of the newest SCOTUS loudly and outrightly make their objections heard.
So far tho, I’m not even sure…the statements issued by folks like Sherrod Brown of all people and Blumenthal initially, doesn’t portend well to Dem Senators holding the line.
I have more confidence in Pelosi’s ability to hold her caucus in check than Schumers
TenguPhule
This this this.
Fight them now and fight hard. If this is our fucking Alamo, then make them pay for every goddamn fucking minute of it to the final vote.
Give us voters a symbol to rally behind.
Because if Schumer fucks this up and concedes anything, the blue wave is going to flush down the toilet.
Make the public believe that voting still matters.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
has anyone tweet Garland back at him?
Adam L Silverman
@Felanius Kootea: I think it depends on the journalists. I’ve seen a lot of journalists today very, very concerned. And very accurately recognizing who is going to be hurt. Chris Matthews has been working his blood pressure into stroke territory since about 2 PM this afternoon. He’s gone so far past shrill that he’s lapped Paul Krugman three or four times.
Adam L Silverman
@Cckids: Enjoy. Taking a break to recharge is important and necessary. Being exhausted and panicked isn’t going to do yourself or anyone else any good.
Raoul
McConnell stole his fellow senator’s constitutional duties. This is a fantastic angle that I haven’t really heard before.
Makes for some compelling letters and maybe questions for our Dem (and Rep) candidates for Senate in November.
“Senator Klobuchar, you went on Cable News and said you wanted to wait and see who is nominated before commenting, but in 2016 didn’t Leader McConnell steal your role – and every Senators – of advise and consent that are your constitutional duties? Why reward that theft now with OK’ing this process?”
OK, the Q might need tweaking. But something along those lines.
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: I’m sure they have. But it was the use of fairly that I found to be of interest. It seems to be reminiscent of something I’ve spent a bit of time writing about.
jl
Thanks for reassuring post. I am in some kind of state. Was out and about this afternoon and brought up voting with anyone I had an excuse to talk with. Signed up for a voter registration drive.
Adam L Silverman
@Raoul: You’re quite welcome. I’ve not seen it phrased that way before, but it made a lot of sense to me when I was writing this that that was, in fact, part of what happened.
Cckids
@TenguPhule: If I weren’t on my way somewhere I’d join Twitter right now just to pile on that fucker. DIAF Turtle.
Adam L Silverman
And I’m in complete agreement with Richard Painter on this:
Elizabelle
Zero comments. FYWP??
Felanius Kootea
@Adam L Silverman: Hope is definitely a necessity because when people have no more hope, they take drastic actions. At least midterm elections in the US can’t be canceled at the whim of the president (unlike coups elsewhere). The US still has a lot going for it, and still has an energized Democratic base (as well as some Independents and some Jill Stein and Ron Johnson voters who have woken up), so I will keep hoping and donating to Dem candidates and making phone calls and marching. It is frustrating but at least there is still something I can do.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: I’m not trying to downplay things. This could not have come at much worse a time, which given Justice Kennedy’s career on the Court, it is not surprising he picked the absolute worse time to do this. But we need to channel our emotions, not let them drive and control us. Look at it this way: we all have a chance to step up and help protect and defend the Constitution and the country. And all it is going to take is registering to vote, getting others registered to vote, voting, and getting others to vote.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@Adam L Silverman: Pffffft. They’ve been working for this since FDR. They ain’t stopping now.
Elizabelle
Does anyone know if Merrick Garland even wants the USSC seat? Would it be bad to move him from the DC Court of Appeals (which I am told is very powerful in its own right — I think that is where he is now)?
Wishful thinking.
Elizabelle
@Adam L Silverman: Kennedy’s a piker. I don’t think history is going to be kind to him, and the timing of his leaving is … deplorable.
Gravenstone
@Adam L Silverman: Well, we can start with those in the Republican leadership caucus. Beyond that, it gets fuzzy.
B.B.A.
@TenguPhule: McConnell knows he’s a hypocrite and doesn’t give a shit.
If Hillary were president, he’d be keeping the Scalia and Kennedy seats vacant for the entire four years while insisting that the people have spoken and Hillary is just too gosh-darn liberal for them.
Mnemosyne
@jl:
I am sorry I e-yelled at you this afternoon. I have several young nieces and I am freaked the fuck out right about now. I am very pissed off at any dude who downplays the danger those young women will be in when Roe v Wade is vacated, and bringing up de Léon at that moment made it feel like you were doing that.
But I still should not have lost my temper with you, and I am sorry.
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: He will not be nominated. The list the President referenced today was produced by Leonard Leo who runs the Federalist Society with some input from the senior fellows for legal and constitutional studies at the Heritage Foundation.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/17/the-conservative-pipeline-to-the-supreme-court
Chris
Problem is, we’re the conservatives and the progressives at the same time, and basically everything else that a healthy political system is supposed to have. We’re expected to be the grown-up, technocratic, “conservative” party making sure that the existing system is kept functioning, and the futurist, reformist, “progressive” party anticipating and enacting the expansions and upgrades that the system is going to need to adapt to the future, and the damage control party brought in when there’s an emergency and the system needs a major fix. And all the while that we’re going that the iconoclasts at the gate are continuing to throw Molotov cocktails and burn down installations and preventing us from getting to where we’ve got to. It’s simply too much to pile all onto one party.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Por Que los Dos?
Waldo
Trump’s Supreme Court short list:
Jeanine Pirro
Andrew Napolitano
Nancy Grace
Judge Judy
Mike Judge
Judge Dredd
Anyone from the Justice League (except the broad)
Cloned Roy Cohn
Platonailedit
Unlike any other country, americans get that rare opportunity to kick out the corrupt bums every two years. It’s high time they started using it wisely, not squander it.
chris
A woman on Twitter said that part of her GOTV effort is carrying postage paid voter registration forms in her purse because you never know who you might run into. sounds like a plan to me.
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: Oh good. I was going to add that in. I think that the Democrats have a powerful message: This President is under criminal investigation. He should not be allowed to nominate a Supreme Court Justice until he is cleared. And that if his justice is nominated and approved by the Senate, that justice will be impeached when Democrats take power.
I recognize that MItch McConnell doesn’t care and he has the votes. But he also is implicated by his refusal to go bipartisan with Obama in calling out Russian interference in the election. So this can be used against him too.
lamh36
Sigh
B.B.A.
@Mnemosyne: They need to get passports and an emergency fund to cover airfare to Toronto. If Roe falls, there will still be Morgentaler.
When the impending catastrophe comes, I want Planned Parenthood to become our nation’s largest travel agency.
Chris
@Felanius Kootea:
I read a review of The Death of Stalin recently where the writer was saying that it’s fairly topical in showing a clique of myopic, cowardly, selfish apparatchiks scrambling to cover their asses and preserve their power and not giving a fuck what their governance might mean for millions of people. This, I pointed out, was horribly unfair to the commies. They lived in a world where one wrong step meant literal death; it’s not admirable, but it’s pretty understandable, that they’d behave like scared children. Our Republicans (and pundits and lobbyists and whatnot) live in a world where the very absolute worst that can happen to them is that they’ll be chased out of their job, after which they’ll still be loaded and comfortable. They have no such excuse.
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: Exactly.
Off topic: if they ever get them back in in my size, I’m ordering a Mexican National Team World Cup jersey (the green one) personalized on the back with: No Muros over the number 45.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: As I pointed out earlier, the timing is normal. It’s the end of the Court term and that’s when they announce retirements.
A Ghost To Most
Please hurry, Mueller (I haven’t said that before).
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: I’m all over it…
Steeplejack
I will repeat that the best way to follow Trump’s speeches and rallies is via the live tweet threads of Daniel Dale, Washington correspondent of the Totonto Star.
Here’s the one for tonight.
pattonbt
This is my single issue (in that I will always vote D regardless because of the supreme court). What McConnell did should repaid in full and then some. If there is ever a fight to have (and fuck the political consequences), this is it. I would hope that there is a loud, solid chorus of not “no” but “fuck no, full stop”. Don’t break period. Let the village call it tit for tat or vengeance or sore loserism, I don’t f’ing care. Don’t brook conversation, consideration, contemplation or any other sense you might be fair and reasonable. That time passed too long ago. The Senate dems need to be unified and vocal in absolute opposition of anyone.
Adam L Silverman
@Steeplejack: I’m actually reading that now.
Mai naem mobile
The only thing I got beyond registering to vote and encouraging others to vote is to show up and protest where the conservetive USSC Justices go. I believe Roberts goes to Europe in the summer for some summer educational programs. They all do stuff like this. I think Scalito, Thomas and Roberts could do with a little direct protesting,not just at the front of the SC steps.
Viva BrisVegas
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
So why not the end of the next term?
Adam L Silverman
@Mai naem mobile: Thomas drives around the country in his RV.
Omnes Omnibus
I am sorry to express that my ‘nym disappears all the time now. And yes, I do click the save my info box.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
interesting…
@Steeplejack: yeah, he’s good, especially when the sixty-minute hates are rambling on
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: I watched it develop. All I could think is that if any of us had a relative who carried on that way, we would be thinking about an intervention or heavy antipsychotic drugs. But people had said that before.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Does the blog being borked (sorry) have anything to do with the ads? If we gave Cole more money could things be fixed? I mean, we all want to be shocked to see what Loni Anderson looks like today, but if it would bring back smooth commenting, I’m in for some dough.
Vhh
I remember 1972, when Nixon, a far smarter guy than Trump, was triuMphantly re elected in a landslide, carrying every state but Mass. where I lived. Four more years of happy hardhats, down with hippies, Vietnam War was facing down the Commies. Then came the Pentagon Papers trial of Ellsberg, Watergates, months of Congessional testimony, scores of indictments, and suddenly a drunk Nixon was talking to pictures of past presidents and praying with Kissinger. And then he was gone. All in 2 years. Patience, grasshopper.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Yep.
Cheryl Rofer
This, from 2017, is interesting.
Steeplejack
@Adam L Silverman:
Two favorite comments:
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: That’s just crazy talk. Err, um…
Platonailedit
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Too many themes tinkering as an upgrade. Alain has to ditch whoever is advising him on this.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Viva BrisVegas: I’m sure he just wanted to spend more time with his family.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Naturally.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Adam L Silverman:
Good lord, he’s ready for his close up
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
REALLY?
How, um, interesting? Any idea where his favorite stops are? Asking for a friend…
Steeplejack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think—and this is a complete blue-sky take based on no evidence, just my long, checkered career in software development—that it is related to a lot of publishers of add-on modules to WordPress doing updates to comply with the new European Union privacy requirements and in the process screwing up little things here and there. Our own dear FYWP uses a lot of third-party modules. Connect the dots.
ETA: The ads aren’t helping, that’s for sure, but they seem to be working all too well. Their back-room dingleberries may bear some blame.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: Wal-Mart parking lots. He stays over night in them. Also, Cabella’s parking lots.
Platonailedit
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Very stable genius!
Poptartacus
Can it be delayed by the democratics by hook or by crook?
Procopius
While I am outraged that Garland did not get a hearing, if you look at his record I don’t believe you can say he was “left of center.” He might not be such an evil human being as Gorsuch, but he’s pretty conservative. In fact I don’t think any of them are left of center. Even my favorite, The Notorious RBG.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Procopius: oh fuck off
Omnes Omnibus
@Procopius: Go blow a goat.
Adam L Silverman
@Poptartacus: Schumer has the ability to slow things way down, but only up to a point. If McConnell decides he’s going to ram this through, he has the ability and power to do it and there will be very little that Schumer can do to stop it. That is the simple, stark reality of the situation. All the tools that McConnell used to keep judicial vacancies unfilled when he was Minority Leader are now gone. And as Majority Leader, he got rid of the final tool to keep a Supreme Court vacancy unfilled – the need to clear the 60 vote cloture threshold (filibuster) for Supreme Court nominees. Schumer simply doesn’t have any weapons to fight this.
Platonailedit
There is a south vs north and east vs west fight going on in EU over immigrants that might break up EU. erdogan reelection as president for life. Sucky geopolitics overall.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Please remember to get the goat’s consent first…//
Also, Ewe! (see what I did there?)
Mai naem mobile
@Adam L Silverman: I would enjoy seeing Ginny and Clarence Thomas get some of that Teabagger like treatment from the left that Ginny Thomas had no problem encouraging against O-Care supporting Congressional Reps during 2010. She would crying like a baby. Scalito looks like a little chicken and I bet John Roberts wouldn’t be all that brave without his security.
Felanius Kootea
@Adam L Silverman: But that also means that in the future, Republicans won’t have the weapons to fight it if the shoe is on the other foot with a Democratic majority. (I know, I know, I’m just trying to find any and everything I can to console myself today. Haven’t gotten much done at work. Sigh).
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Consent is vital.
Adam L Silverman
The good news is that, checks the card handed to him, according to Senator Sanders we won the 2016 election. Yeah us!!!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
A guy with a gun showed up to harass protestors and run protestors off the road in Tornillo, because he doesn’t believe the story about kids being separated from their parents is true. He ran an NBC reporter off the road last week. He has not been arrested. The reporter, Cal something, is on the O’Donnell show, I’m looking for his last name to check his twitter feed for a link
A Ghost To Most
@Adam L Silverman: Fuck Bernie and his brotards.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@Adam L Silverman: The comments on that tweet are pretty funny.
Adam L Silverman
@Felanius Kootea: Correct. The issue would/will be whether the Democratic majority does the same thing it did the last time it recaptured the majorities in both chambers. Which was failing to recognize that the GOP, beginning with Gingrich, had turned the House into a parliament and that McConnell was doing the same thing in the Senate. As a result, for all that I generally think highly of them, neither Speaker Pelosi nor Majority Leader Reid responded appropriately. Instead they proceeded as if no damage had been done to the fundamental nature and functioning of either chamber. This allowed McConnell to mount his successful non-violent insurgency.
This leads to a much larger problem. The House beginning with Gingrich, and now the Senate as a result of McConnell’s actions, have been functionally turned into parliaments. Or, perhaps more accurately, parliaments with the trappings of a congress. One of the things I’ve learned in my past decade of work for the military in dealing with the socio-cultural and contextual concerns for strategy and policy, especially in regard to actual and potential operations, is that there is no going back to what was normal before the conflict started. Instead the planning needs to focus on how to help the people we’re working with conceptualize and get to the new normal. In this case there may be no going back to a US Congress that actually functions like a congress. And given that the Constitution is so difficult to amend, it is practically impossible to amend it to reflect this reality that arises from the breaking of each chamber for partisan advantage, the question that needs to be grappled with is how to effectively go forward, even with Democratic majorities, in this new legislative normal that Gingrich and McConnell created?
Platonailedit
@Adam L Silverman:
At least, bs has a token black planted in the last row for the photo-op. It’s all good.
rikyrah
Thanks for this post?
Been a rough day?
Steeplejack
@Adam L Silverman:
Well, somebody did tell us we would get tired of winning. That part seems to have turned out to be true.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: didn’t see anything in his feed, I can believe in TX they couldn’t do anything about the gun, but if he’s running people off the road, fercrissake
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I try not to judge what consenting adults do with their consenting adult livestock. That’s Rick Santorum’s job…
Steve in the STL
@Adam L Silverman: was not a Wilmer fan, but did not previously realize that he is as stupid as trump.
Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Depends. Texas has permitted open carry of handguns/side arms and state constitutional carry of long guns in public. However, if he brandished the weapon, as in brought it to/towards a potential target as if to fire, then he can be charged. Running someone off the road is definitely a criminal offense.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the STL: Guess you didn’t catch his interview with the Daily News back during the campaign.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
one NYC House seat moved left, and Ben Jealous squeaked by in a five way (I believe) race to lose to Larry Hogan. OTOH, climate change fight is set back by god knows how much, the average age of the USSC conservative wing dropped by twenty years, Puerto Rico devastated, Wall St and the dread BIG BANKS are getting bigger… Winning!
debbie
@lamh36:
The other lesson: Don’t take your constituents for granted.
Steve in the STL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: no, can’t stand his voice. Another thing he and trump have in common!
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the STL: I think, from reading the article, that he is referring to largely having his platform adopted into the larger Democratic Party platform. However, it was a very tone deaf thing to say even had the news today not been what it was.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Unfortunately the ellipses at the end of your sentence are doing a shit ton of work.
Lizzy L
It’s been a very hard day. Good to see you all here. Thanks for the pep talk, Adam. Eyes on the prize.
Kay
This is a great post, Adam. Thank you.
Adam L Silverman
@Lizzy L: @Kay: You’re both quite welcome.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the STL: I think I just read it, I share your opinion on his and Trump’s voice.
Steve in the STL
@Adam L Silverman:
I stand corrected. Having parts of your platform adopted by the national political party that has almost zero national power is quite the victory.
Jackass.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
That video with those protesters confronting McConnell has struck me that he wasn’t that well protected. He had a few secret service agents from what I could tell. That surprises me because I would think a man of his position would have heavier security. Perhaps I’m missing something.
Steve in the STL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I have trouble reading his words as well. Perhaps I carry an unhealthy level of anger….
Jim, Foolish Literalist
very good and normal and stable
Adam L Silverman
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Those are plainclothes Capitol Police.
Matt McIrvin
@Adam L Silverman: Do party platforms actually mean or imply anything?
Adam L Silverman
@Matt McIrvin: They’re aspirational. Some of the hard core ideologues take them seriously. And people like Chuck Todd. Otherwise they’re just detailed statements of principles.
lamh36
Alright, I’m going to bed now, but with the news of the day, we all need something to chuckle at!
Good night
Joseph A. Miller
I post a variation of this EVERY DAY on Daily Kos. I hope all my fellow jackals will take a look at it:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/6/27/1776050/-Don-t-Just-Get-Mad-TAKE-ACTION-MOBILIZE-FIGHT-BACK-Please-SHARE-This
Mai naem mobile
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: not just McConnell and his position . Don’t forget the quid pro quo of his wife being a cabinet secretary.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman:
They seem inadequate. A team of well-trained shooters wielding assualt assault weapons and body armor could have ambushed and taken them all out. A bunch of unarmed protesters were able to find out where they were. Just seems sloppy.
Platonailedit
@lamh36: LOL. Kids do say the darndest things.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Cal Perry. Here’s his twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/calnbc?lang=en
And I’m just now watching the segment on O’Donell on the DVR. The rancher was brandishing his handgun. He had it unholstered and his thumb was on the hammer of his revolver and it had been moved to cocked for single action.
Platonailedit
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman:
Isn’t Texas a “Stand Your Ground” state?
Adam L Silverman
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: You’re overthinking it. Also, the plainclothes detail are meant as a visible deterrent and to basically be human shields. See all these guys on their knees over Reagan and the other person next to the wall, all of those guys, in addition to the agent with the machine pistol and the agent with the revolver were armed. That’s like an eight to ten person detail. Didn’t make a bit of difference.
Kay
Good post, Adam. Thank you. I’m just doing Cordray in Ohio. I can’t handle national politics anymore.
It’ll be dumb and petty, the governor’s race, but it won’t be as truly horrible as this national disaster. We might win, too.
Adam L Silverman
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Yes it is.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: Thank you again. You do what you can. Every bit helps.
Kay
And I don’t mean to keep thanking you, Adam.
The site doesn’t really work anymore so I never know if the comment just disappeared :)
George
This may have already been mentioned, but talking about the impacts of Supreme Court decisions on women, minorities, and workers is a losing strategy. I don’t think that anyone who was paying attention before 2016 actually thought that the current Supreme majority gave a damn about those things anyway.
People have been conditioned to think of liberals and Democrats as favoring the rights of women and minorities over the rights of Real Americans. I don’t agree with that at all, but that is how the mass media have played it.
A much better strategy is to attack the court for being anti-American and against basic human rights. I’m sure there are a number of relevant quotes by the founders that can be used as ammunition. RIghtwingers fancy themselves to be purer than we are. It’s time we flip that on them.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman:
That asshole is lucky one of the protesters wasn’t armed. If they had been and they saw him with his gun out like that they would have been justified in shooting him under Texas law. Where does this duck get off intimidating people like that? The protesters had every right to be out there marching. What a “patriot”.
Platonailedit
@Kay: Double dip, a bj specialty.
Jeffro
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Shhhhhhh.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: Shhhhhhh.
Jeffro
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Jeffro
..,,
Jeffro
.,.,
Jackie
When I refresh page – say from post #70 – it “refreshes” back to #20 something. Anyone else having this issue?
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: I’m okay if you just want to start sending checks or money orders.//
Psych1
About half the eligible voters vote. Most of the research I have seen indicate that if those who did not vote in fact voted, the end results would be the same. A big “get out the vote ” effort works both ways.
Raoul
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: We cannot let the press let these Repubs off the hook.
Their anti-abortion, anti-women platforms are fully on the record. Play tape back to them if they dare go on TV.
Writing a process article about how they are working on the nomination process (committee members, etc.)? Put short, relevant quotes of their past stump speeches in to set context for their bullshit kaubiki now.
They do not get to clam up and get a pass. No. Just fucking NO.
Platonailedit
@Psych1: Care to cite the ‘research’? There is only one reason for the rethugs’ multiple tactics of voter suppression.
Adam L Silverman
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: White guy with a gun dealing with a bunch of predominantly LatinX protestors near the border. Simple answers to simple questions.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: Why are you sushing me. I didn’t explain in detail/provide instructions how one person with their bare hands could’ve taken the Senator out before the security detail could even respond. I just explained what these details are really for. It’s why, since Reagan, anytime the President travels they send a tactical ops team on advance that looks down everywhere he’s going to be at least 48 hours ahead of his arrival.
Raoul
@Psych1: That is why you do targeted GOTV. I am not going to Anoka or Scott county MN without a damn good list of which doors to knock.
Psych1
@Platonailedit: @Psych1: Care to cite the ‘research
No. If you really care you can look it up. There is really a lot of it.
Platonailedit
@Psych1: Your claim, your cite.
Mnemosyne
@Psych1:
So the Republicans have spent millions of dollars to suppress minority voters and deny them their voting rights, but that doesn’t really matter because the 25,000 African-Americans in Wisconsin who were removed from the voting rolls would all have voted for Jill Stein.
Again, get the entire fuck out of here with your lame-ass whiny Berniebro bullshit. I have zero fucking patience with your asshole shenanigans right fucking now.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Psych1:
That’s not how the burden of proof works. You made an assertion and you have to provide evidence to support it.
eemom
You use an awful lot of words to make some needlessly convoluted points.
Scotian
@Adam L Silverman:
First off, this post itself is a very good one, but this comment repeated above in full, THAT was IMHO truly something that strikes to a very important process truth that has been ongoing form the GOP side for a quarter century since the Contract For (On) America and Gingrich. I always hear about how both side are responsible for the state of incivility and inability to govern, yet it is Gingrich and Hastert that created the “majority of the majority” rule for House legislation, and as you noted with Yurtle the Turtle similar kinds of actions have occurred in the Senate, yet somehow both sides are equally to blame, and worse as you also noted the leadership of the Dems in both Houses either do not see it or see it but far too late. This is the culmination of a project of a quarter century and it was aimed squarely at the wheels/process side of governance. For a party of anti-governance the GOP certainly seems to be quite skilled at manipulating process issues and mechanisms to their advantage.
Back in the heady days of the birth of the Contract On America I recall hearing newly empowered GOP legislators talking about compromise as a dirty word and synonymous with date rape. This is the world they created, and the damage done. So where and how to go from here is a very good question Democrats and centrists in America needs to be asking themselves in a very serious way. Things really are that treacherous and fragile right now for American democracy, more so than in my living memory and possibly ever since that little spat between States in the mid 1800s. Dems need to make these basic central process questions and truths a part of their focus if there is to be any hope in saving them.. What the GOP has done in a clear systemic manner over the past quarter century needs exposing for what it is, not for petty partisan purposes but to illustrate just how high the danger is and the need for serious significant reforms to try and deal with the results and ramifications of the precedents unfortunately set. I know, a high bar…
Raven Onthill
Is there any possibility McConnell could be discredited? He must have some skeletons in his closet.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
As a woman, I’m getting pretty frigging tired of men, of any political stripe, telling me to be patient. And I certainly don’t get the “pep talk” aspect of this post. Basically Adam told us what we already know–there is is f*ckall the Dems can do to stop this nomination, we all will have to simply fight it pointlessly and protest in the meantime and women will just have to suck it up and hope for an overturn via legislation somewhere down the road, hopefully before we are pushing up daisies. Can someone, and I mean someone preferably without testicles , f*cking explain to me how that’s a f*cking pep talk. I’m so angry I can’t even express it properly. Sorry if the male jackals are upset by my opinion here , but I don’t think you can fully appreciate what a disaster this is, especially for us women with daughters, granddaughters, etc.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@eemom:
Do you ever stop being a fucking rude ass prick? I regret ever apologizing to you.
Citizen Alan
@B.B.A.:
And honestly, I’d have been thrilled with that outcome. A 4-3 liberal majority is just as good as a 5-4 liberal majority.
Citizen Alan
@Procopius:
It depends on the issue. I nearly fell out of my chair a couple of years ago when I read that Justice Sotomayor I started asking questions during oral arguments about whether corporations should really be considered people under the Bill of Rights. First time anyone hit even broach the topic in a SCOTUS argument since roughly 1915.
DrDoolittle
@Cheryl Rofer:
Now would be a good time for Democratic leaders to remind everyone what Mueller is investigating. What are the most likely criminal activities? Jaywalking? Treason? Something in between?
DrDoolittle
@Adam L Silverman:I’m not sure what the solution is, I’m not even sure of what “the new normal” is wrt problems that can be addressed.
DrDoolittle
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Well, when all the crazies with guns are on your team, you tend to worry less about personal security.
randy khan
Just because success isn’t likely doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. We can help out Schumer, et al. by calling our Senators and demanding that the Dems do everything possible to slow it down or stop it and that Republicans commit – now, in public – to vote only for someone who will preserve abortion rights and the gay rights decisions of the last several years. I don’t think Collins et al. will abandon party unity, but the only way it will happen is if they feel a lot of heat. So let’s do it.
George
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: Stop complaining about men and start talking to your white sisters to get them to stop voting for Republicans.
Because if a majority of white women had voted for Clinton, as I did and as a majority of males who post to this blog probably did, she’d in the Oval Office right now.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@George: You must have missed the part where I said, preferably without testicles. And I’ve been working on everyone I can possibly talk to that won’t shoot me for being a commie librul. I needed some hope and you gave me the “work harder” speech, so thanks for nothing.
TenguPhule
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ:
Sorry, I have testicles.
No pep talk. Just brutal honesty. There is no legal nonviolent way out of this fucking hole. Planned Parenthood is going to have to give a finger to the feds and anti-abortion states and keep providing abortions at their clinics anyway. Lots of people are going to get hurt, most of them women.