Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

šŸŽ¶ Those boots were made for mockinā€™ šŸŽµ

This year has been the longest three days of putinā€™s life.

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

“Squeaker” McCarthy

I was promised a recession.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just donā€™t know how.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that heā€™s still alive.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now itā€™s Finnish-ed.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Let’s finish the job.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Letā€™s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they donā€™t ask for more? Great plan.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

You donā€™t get rid of your umbrella while itā€™s still raining.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

It’s a doggy dog world.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Obama Up Now At McCain Funeral

Reader Interactions

181Comments

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    I think at these occasions, the speakers sometimes deliver the eulogy they wish could be said of themselves. Will be interesting to read the transcripts, after the fact.

    “It shows a largeness of spirit.”

    Boom. There goes the first subtle dig.

  4. 4.

    Elizabelle

    The second “committing to something bigger than yourself.”

    It’s what makes a life big, and worthwhile.

  5. 5.

    JPL

    My eyes are tearing, but not because of the death of McCain. It’s for us letting this great orator ideals die by electing a dumbass who tweets.

  7. 7.

    Steeplejack

    I grudgingly tuned in just to hear Obama after a friend tipped me off.

    Bill Clinton is chewing gum?! WTF.

  9. 9.

    donnah

    Makes me long for the days of the Obama Presidency, when a world leader spoke graciously and thoughtfully of others. Obama is getting in some digs about the press and immigration too. Good for him.

    Obama will always be my President.

  10. 10.

    Steeplejack

    Dubya looks like he’s dozing off. Poke him, Michelle!

    (Why do they always make her babysit him at these events?)

  12. 12.

    Another Scott

    God Emperor Donnie is tweeting about NAFTA:

    Donald J. Trump Verified account @realDonaldTrump

    38 minutes ago

    There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal. If we donā€™t make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out. Congress should not interfere w/ these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off…

    29 minutes ago

    ….Remember, NAFTA was one of the WORST Trade Deals ever made. The U.S. lost thousands of businesses and millions of jobs. We were far better off before NAFTA – should never have been signed. Even the Vat Tax was not accounted for. We make new deal or go back to pre-NAFTA!

    “Only I can fix it!!”

    He’s brain damaged. It’s good he’s mostly being ignored today.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  14. 14.

    oatler.

    You see, Donald, this what happens when a respected statesman dies, you get the best people to eulogize you, the best. Not you.

  15. 15.

    Elizabelle

    One of McCain’s best decisions, ever, was keeping Trump away from his funeral services.

    It was generous to his loved ones, and generous to all of us.

    Former Governor Palin is not there either. Her is not missed.

  24. 24.

    zhena gogolia

    Ooh blya, great trolling at the end there.

    Laura Bush seems to have something going on with her left eye. Did she have a stroke or something?

  25. 25.

    lamh36

    Me too Cheryl, the only bit I watched.

    Many of the speakers did it too, but PBO giving a master class in not only eulogizing a person you may not have agreed with, but who you knew well, but also sticking the eloquent jabs of rhetorical knives at Chump!

  26. 26.

    Elizabelle

    Put this on the earlier thread. From end of Obama’s speech.

    Small. Mean. Bombast. Phony Controversies. Manufactured outrage. ā€¦. pretends to be ā€¦ tough but is born of fear.

    Trump will never sit through all of this, but itā€™s good to have Ivanka and Jared having to do so.

    Melania is probably toasting this with a Bellini!

  27. 27.

    lamh36

    President Bush: John McCain “loved freedom with the passion of a man who knew its absence” and “perhaps above all, John detested the abuse of power.”

    Irony, abounds at this memorial doesn’t it…

  30. 30.

    zhena gogolia

    @Elizabelle:

    Screw Melania. In 2008 I thought I hated Cindy McCain, but looking at her today, I’m thinking, there’s a person with class (compared to our “Einstein” third lady).

  32. 32.

    Elizabelle

    It would be a public service if the newspapers, under attack from the Orange One, would reprint all the tributes given at McCain’s service in tomorrow’s Sunday papers. They are all well written, and they all have something big to say about one of the greatest problems of our day.

  34. 34.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Why is Asshole Draft Dodger Dick Cheney invited? And WTF is Racist Bigot John Kelly doing there?

  35. 35.

    TaMara (HFG)

    W: John could not abide bigots and swaggering despots. Could not stand for abuses of power. I’m pretty sure that’s what Joe Biden said, too.

    John McCain, squashing Trump and company under the heel of this boot even in death.

  37. 37.

    lamh36

    YUP!

    And expect much more of this when PBO hits the campaign trail for folks this fall!

    @PhilipRucker
    8m8 minutes ago
    More
    Obama, in McCain eulogy, condemns today’s politics that are “mean” and “petty,” and based on “bombast, insult, phony controversies and manufactured outrage.” This politics, he says, “pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact is born in fear.”

  41. 41.

    lamh36

    Yup!

    The one thing about this I am happy to give McCain credit for! Planned perfectly!

    @tomwatson
    This entire service is a sustained and brilliant attack on Trump’s warped regime and its twisted, vile version of America. And John McCain planned it that way. What a great final act.

    10:51 AM – 1 Sep 2018 from Mount Vernon, NY

  42. 42.

    Suzanne

    @zhena gogolia: Cindy is OK. She came out in favor of gay marriage when it was still pretty controversial for a Republican, especially a Senator’s wife, to do so. She is far less crazy than anyone else we will end up with, and she doesn’t seem to want to run for the seat in 2020. This is why the AZ GOP has told Ducey not to appoint her.

  50. 50.

    Aleta

    Trump’s well-earned disgrace. Disinvited to a big TV show (from his perspective) where his rival is praised to the world. Hard to lie this time about “why he had to decline his invitation,” but by tomorrow he probably will have.

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    Loved Obama’s eulogy.

    Found it interesting that McCain would drop by the White House and that he and President Obama would chat.

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    @Suzanne: Another serious point in Cindy’s favor: she overcame a prescription drug habit, many years ago. I think she’d be excellent in helping to address the opioid crisis, an issue that’s finally getting its due (if completely insufficient funding and some abstinence only type policy-making).

    I would love to see Cindy in the Senate.

  54. 54.

    lamh36

    @zhena gogolia: Jared & Ivanka are there, and I suspect were invited by the family. I know they have no love for Chump, and for good reason, but from Meghan’s appearances on the View and other stuff, they are still fine and happy Republicans, and apparently while Meghan can’t stand the Orange Satan, she has defended and supoorted those Chump adjacent like Ivanka, Jared, Melania…etc

    To be quite honest, if it wasn’t Chump at the head of the MAGA train, I fully expect Meghan and Cindy to have been all aboard!

  56. 56.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Quinerly:
    Interesting, isn’t it, all the pearl clutching and vapors over the shunning of Ms Hucka-Sanders et al……..and here we have the entire political establishment shunning Trump.

  57. 57.

    A Ghost To Most

    Oh, to have a camera on Shit Hitler right now. He must have taken to his tanning bed, what with all the shade.

  58. 58.

    Gelfling 545

    @oatler.: I would be happy for us to give him the biggest, bestest funeral ever and a month of celebrat….er mourning if heā€™d just take the first step!

  59. 59.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I grew up Catholic and when I eventually went to other churches, one of the things that startled me was how they sang all the verses of a hymn. I’d be starting to sit down and realize we weren’t done yet.

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Our family got willed a Bible by a Protestant friend.

    I like what I have seen of the Episcopal Church. Especially the female, and married, priests. That is so important. (Although I myself am kind of post-faith.)

  62. 62.

    lamh36

    ā€œJohn understood…that part of what makes our country great is that our membership is based not on our bloodline…not on where our parents or grandparents came from or how recently they arrived, but on adherence to a common creed: that all of us are created equal.ā€ -Pres. Obama

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @A Ghost To Most: Oh, to have a camera on Shit Hitler right now.

    sounds like he’s caught up on his Tivo’d fox programs and has headed to the golf course

    Josh Dawsey @ jdawsey1
    President Trump is on the move, per pooler @Woellert, wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and white MAGA hat. Virginia State Police accompanying his motorcade.

  73. 73.

    tobie

    Obama can make even the simplest line so meaningful and poignant: “We’re all on the same team.” What a rebuke to Trump, McConnell, Ryan et. al. who only pull for their side, never the team. What a reminder to those sucked into the vortex of Fox News and talk radio.

  75. 75.

    Soprano2

    I loved how Obama’s speech was eloquent, touching, sometimes funny, and filled with little shivs for Trump. He’s probably too clueless to understand them, but you can bet Jarvanka understands them full well. Lord, I miss Obama!

  76. 76.

    lamh36

    To be fair, can’t really know if she texting, but this does look like usual texting body pose…still, maybe she’s looking at the program to see how long they have to sit while he daddy gets poked, rhetorically for another hour or so.

    Not for nothing though…the way Jared is just staring ahead, like he’s not even focusing on anything in particular is odd..even for him

    @superlorna69
    Ivanka texting at McCainā€™s funeral.
    Why am I not shocked.

    10:45 AM – Sep 1, 2018
    https://twitter.com/superlorna69/status/1035916686090797056

  77. 77.

    Suzanne

    @TaMara (HFG): You know, maybe this is just something I feel because of how absolutely terrible our public life is right now……but I always thought that aspect of GWB was charming. He was of course a terrible president, but he seems like a kind person.

    Contrast.

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    @Soprano2: Obama did bring the humor.

    You all will like the C-Span coverage. Ivanka and Jared are not in the camera shots at all during the service. Very much the McCain family and former presidents and VPs. I don’t see Pence either, but have not been looking for him and Mother.

  79. 79.

    The Dangerman

    @Suzanne:

    This is why the AZ GOP has told Ducey not to appoint her.

    Depends on how she’ll roll on Obamacare repeal; if she’s a thumbs down, too, she’s getting no closer than the visitors section.

    All these FU’s to Trump were glorious. I assume that was McCain’s wishes. And, damn, but the Bots are out huge on twitter today.

  82. 82.

    Elizabelle

    @The Dangerman: I wonder if Cindy might retain some of John’s stature and respect, since she’d be serving out HIS term. Rather than some new robot out for him/herself.

    Cindy might have more power than another brand new Senator. I dunno …

  83. 83.

    germy

    When it was announced the next season of “Roseanne” would feature the family coping with the death of the main character, one of the late-night wags quipped “Finally! A funeral Trump can attend…”

  84. 84.

    Gelfling 545

    @Suzanne: If heā€™d had better people around him he could have been a perfectly mediocre president. As it was, he got Cheney and the rest of that nest of vampires. No matter who Trump hired heā€™d never have been any better.

  86. 86.

    VOR

    @Steeplejack: Sigh. Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution:

    The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

    2: To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

    3: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations…

    So yeah, Congress does get a say in NAFTA.

    And Article 2, Section 2, speaking of the powers of the President:

    He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur;…

    NAFTA is a treaty. Advice and Consent, Donald.

    Do you suppose Trump has ever read the Constitution?

  87. 87.

    pamelabrown53

    @Suzanne: @#77.

    Loved your comment, Suzanne. At the time, (Dubya’s 8 years) I was always so pissed at republican policies that I ignored any incident that bespoke of his humanity. Now that we have an interloper that lacks even that, I’m profoundly amazed that it’s even possible that dubya could be the least bit rehabilitated in my mind. Such is the toxicity of Trump/

  89. 89.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    whatever thoughts I have on this ceremony and Meghan McCain…

    Charlotte Clymer ?ļøā€? @ cmclymer
    ā€œThe America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great.” — Meghan McCain

    And Ivanka had to sit there and take it as everyone around her applauded in a highly unusual moment for a eulogy at the National Cathedral.

    The whole damn day was one long subtweet, one calling her father a piece of trash

  94. 94.

    Amir Khalid

    @VOR:
    Donald Trump’s uncle was a scientist. That means Donald is a genius, plus he’s smarter than any bunch of 18th century guys.

  95. 95.

    Elizabelle

    Jay Leno is there.

    Exiting the service: WJC clasped Al Gore, others were reaching out to each other. They walked out. And just for a very few long moments — there was Hillary, all by herself, no one near her at all, as she stood near the door. It was poignant.

    I wonder how much of official Washington knows she did win the Electoral College too, and they are ashamed of themselves.

    She seems a woman alone in some of these appearances.

  96. 96.

    Yutsano

    @JPL: She’s not much better. Entitled rich spawn who probably has never faced a consequence on her life. She didn’t belong there, but oh so glad she had to suffer through that.

  99. 99.

    Full Metal Wingnut

    @Quinerly: I donā€™t keep up with right wing feuds. What did Schmidt do to McCain? I thought he was his 08 campaign manager and tried to talk him out of Palin?

  100. 100.

    Mike in NC

    @VOR: No, Fat Bastard has never read the Constitution. When somebody tried to brief him about it, the lazy Executive Summary business, he did his petulant man-baby routine and made faces and rolled his eyes (per “Fire and Fury”).

  102. 102.

    Elizabelle

    @germy: And may that not be for decades!

    I love C-Span. They don’t have “talent” yapping over everything. Sometimes you can pick up the guests’ private comments (and then they mute it).

    And: after the clapping subsided, next sound outdoors was a dog barking at the police motorcycle noise. I ask you, do you get that experience on MSNBC?

  103. 103.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Full Metal Wingnut: I don’t know the specifics, but I believe Schmidt and Wallace were the main sources from the McCain camp for that Halperin/notHalperin book that was made into the HBO movie. The movie made McCain out to look good as I recall. I don’t remember much about the book

  104. 104.

    germy

    @Elizabelle:

    I love C-Span. They donā€™t have ā€œtalentā€ yapping over everything.

    I agree.

    And the problem is, the talent keeps yapping whether they have anything important to say or not.

  106. 106.

    lamh36

    @Full Metal Wingnut: Now see, I thought Schmidt, Wallace and that other one I can’t recall her name, had a hand in not only pushing Palin, but in keeping the worse of Palin attributes (her disatrous debate prep, ignorance, interview preps, etc) from McCain’s orbit.

    LIke they weren’t “straight talking” to their candidate about how bad a pick Palin was. I mean, McCain was the one who laid down the law that Palin would NOT speak on election night when McCain consceded right?

    I can certainly believe McCain wouldn’t want any of them near his funeral. Still, if Ivanka and Jared were invited…seem weird Schmidt & Wallace weren’t

  108. 108.

    Elizabelle

    @germy: I think their job is to yap us into senselessness. Repeat something so much, it loses its sting. The yappers desensitize us.

  110. 110.

    germy

    One of the journalists over at The Root was asking “Is that normal, for someone on their deathbed to make a list of people they don’t want at their funeral?”

    And the reader replies were all “Hell, yeah! I’ve got a list on my refrigerator right now!”

  111. 111.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh36: I mean, McCain was the one who laid down the law that Palin would NOT speak on election night when McCain consceded right?

    In the HBO movie, Woody From Cheers pretty much had to tackle Julianne Moore to keep her off stage, and Ed Harris gave her a short, kind, consoling explanation of her disastrous effect on the campaign. IIRC

  112. 112.

    Ken

    @germy:

    And the problem is, the talent keeps yapping whether they have anything important to say or not.

    Practicing in case they get sent to cover the Olympics.

  115. 115.

    Elizabelle

    C-Span beginning its rebroadcast now; starts with Capitol Hill this morning, and then to Viet Nam Memorial for wreath laying, before National Cathedral service.

  116. 116.

    Martin

    McCain would have garnered a sizable ceremony no matter what, but this whole exercise is turned up to 12 because an entire country is projecting on McCain everything that could never in a million years be said of Trump. I’m not complaining but it does suggest that there is a hunger for something wildly different than what we’re going through.

  119. 119.

    germy

    @Ken:

    Practicing in case they get sent to cover the Olympics.

    I bet Matt Lauer thought of himself as an Olympics tradition.

  122. 122.

    Quinerly

    @Baud: Oddly, Poco was invited. But because you weren’t invited, he declined to go in order to show full allegiance to you.

  124. 124.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Elizabelle: She seems a woman alone in some of these appearances.

    That’s a very poignant observation that makes me a little sad.

    God damn James Comey

  126. 126.

    MomSense

    I really donā€™t feel like rewriting history to make W better than he was just because trump is so grotesque and cruel. Wā€™s policies caused horrific damage, death, and displacement.
    He is smitten with Michelle O. Itā€™s hard not to be, especially in her presence. She has 1,000 times more magnetism than everyone else, including her husband. Itā€™s not proof that W is a good guy.
    W mastered folksy and is pleasant, even charming sometimes, but he was so indifferent to the plight of people who werenā€™t in his circles. And I think his lack of curiosity extended to not considering the plight of others. He said some of the most callous things Iā€™ve ever heard from a public person.
    Iā€™m not ready to forgive W. I may never be ready.

    So far trump hasnā€™t harmed nearly the number of people W did and yet trump is infinitely more dangerous. The problem is that not one of us can say he wouldnā€™t launch nukes and kill millions of people without suffering a second of concern for the people killed and harmed. Heā€™s a psychopathic madman and the whole world knows it. We see his cruelty in the trauma he has inflicted on children at the border. Thatā€™s why heā€™s so distressing.

  127. 127.

    Yarrow

    @zhena gogolia: Who could blame her? He started out his campaign insulting her dad and has never quit. I’d hate him too just for that, let alone all his other horrible acts and characteristics.

  129. 129.

    Elizabelle

    Watching the C-Span rebroadcast: when McCain’s coffin was carried down the Capitol steps on way to the waiting hearse, the plastic covering blew back and covered one of the pallbearers, the Coast Guard representative, like a veil, or a shroud. He remained completely composed. Happened near the top of the steps; he did not falter or make any move to lift it, just stepped evenly, even after the casket was placed in the hearse. Another soldier removed the wrap, and the CG man’s hat, accidentally, then gently placed the hat atop his head. No change of expression throughout. With all the cameras on him.

    That is composure.

  130. 130.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Yarrow: I’ve been wondering what the McCains think about Lindsey Graham curled up in trump’s lap like a pekinese. I gather he wasn’t asked to speak at any of the memorials? I didn’t watch.

  134. 134.

    Martin

    @lamh36: I’ve long been of the view that when polling the VP pairings against Obama, McCain’s team couldn’t find a winning scenario. If you believe in your candidate and you see no path to victory through the conventional VP candidates, you have to consider a non-conventional one and hope that works out. It’s like pulling your goalie in a game when you’re behind – yeah, it’s risky, but you’re already losing. Why not take the chance? And if the non-conventional candidate helps you win but turns out to be terrible, you deal with that after you’re in office.

    I think at that point they didn’t think it was that risky because they weren’t likely to win, but I don’t think they recognized the effect it would have on national politics overall, particularly against the backdrop of the first black president. I think the actions of Wallace and Schmidt since then have been a quest for redemption.

    Had I been doing the polling I would have told them they need an unconventional candidate. The test of character here is how much risk on behalf of the country you’re willing to take on in order to win. I think it’s more than fair to say that McCain failed that test with Palin, and Schmidt and Wallace if they were on board at that time as well.

  135. 135.

    Emerald

    @Elizabelle:

    I wonder how much of official Washington knows she did win the Electoral College too, and they are ashamed of themselves.

    Doesn’t matter. The few that are actual grown-ups know, but will never breathe even up until their dying breaths. Same for the press.

  136. 136.

    Elizabelle

    Again, at the Viet Nam memorial: the bystanders applaud the McCain family as they exit. What comfort they must take from that.

  137. 137.

    Yarrow

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Part of me thinks Lindsey Graham is compromised and is playing nice with Trump to keep that kompromat from becoming public. Another part wonders if he’s actually doing a double agent kind of thing, playing nice with Trump and turning around and talking to Mueller. Something really changed after that golf game he had with Trump however long ago that was, so who knows.

  138. 138.

    Quinerly

    I’m so old I remember when McCain first died and Trump showed his pettiness by raising the flag because he thought there was too much McCain coverage. Seems like years ago. ?

  139. 139.

    Suzanne

    @Martin:

    I think at that point they didnā€™t think it was that risky because they werenā€™t likely to win, but I donā€™t think they recognized the effect it would have on national politics overall, particularly against the backdrop of the first black president.

    Yes.
    McCain had many, many faults. But I don’t think he would have selected Sarah Palin had he foreseen what was coming.
    And, quite frankly, I didn’t see what was coming, either. I underestimated the rage of the trash element of American society.

  140. 140.

    ruemara

    Y’all are entirely too kind to enabling women. I can’t say rest in peace, but may your good qualities inspire others, McCain.

  144. 144.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @Mai Naem mobile: You do realize McCain and Cheney were birds of a feather, warhawks. Kelley is a fellow Annapolis graduate, and probably had many a fellowship with Senator McCain.

  147. 147.

    A Ghost To Most

    There are some things worth risking everything for. Principals that are eternal. Truths that are abiding.

    This dude will always be my president.

  148. 148.

    efgoldman`

    @Elizabelle:

    I wonder how much of official Washington knows she did win the Electoral College too

    It is way past time to keep perpetuating this fantasy.

  150. 150.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    David Frum @ davidfrum
    McCain staged his death like the final act of Shakespeare’s Richard III, every legitimate force in the state, living and dead, combined against the wicked king

    so let’s see if they’re moved to do anything tomorrow

  152. 152.

    Yutsano

    @Yarrow: The Republicans will have a moment of silence, then keep going with the Kavanaugh shanda. Expecting any of them to change after McCain’s death is…almost cute. Nothing will change for them except they have one less thorn in their side depending on who Ducey appoints.

  153. 153.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I don’t know which pallbearer I find more surprising, Warren Beatty or Phil Gramm. Speaks well of McCain, to me, that he was close to Sheldon Whitehouse. He’s one of the under-the-radar people I like a lot.

  156. 156.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Martin: actually they were not on board which led to their eventual estrangement, particularly after they contributed to ā€œGame Changeā€.

  157. 157.

    Another Scott

    @VOR: Well said, but I have to pick a nit – I don’t think NAFTA is officially a “treaty”.

    CRS – Why Certain Trade Agreements Are Approved
    as Congressional-Executive Agreements Rather Than Treaties    :

    Summary
    U.S. trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), World Trade
    Organization agreements, and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) have been approved by
    majority vote of each house rather than by two-thirds vote of the Senateā€”that is, they have been
    treated as congressional-executive agreements rather than as treaties. The congressional-executive
    agreement has been the vehicle for implementing Congressā€™s long-standing policy of seeking
    trade benefits for the United States through reciprocal trade negotiations. In a succession of
    statutes, Congress has authorized the President to negotiate and enter into tariff and nontariff
    barrier (NTB) agreements for limited periods, while permitting NTB and free trade agreements
    negotiated under this authority to enter into force for the United States only if they are approved
    by both houses in a bill enacted into public law and other statutory conditions are met;
    implementing bills are also accorded expedited consideration under the scheme. This negotiating
    authority and expedited procedures are commonly known as Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).

    […]

    You’re right that Donnie doesn’t understand what he can and cannot do as President. That was my underlying point as well. Even without it being an official “treaty”, he can’t do what he wants on his own.

    The US has been very reluctant to ratify actual “treaties” for a long time. Part of the reason is that a “treaty” officially becomes the supreme law of the land, just like the Constitution. “No dad-gum foreigner is going to tell me what to do!!11″ AFAIK, the START-like treaty with Russia under Obama was the last one. I don’t know what the last non-arms-control one was. No time to check, but the full list of Treaties in Force is here.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  158. 158.

    Mnemosyne

    @pamelabrown53:

    I don’t have the quote handy, but one of my favorite stories by PG Wodehouse has a scene where, as the heroine meets each of the hero’s relatives, she thinks the first one she met was the worst person in the world … until she meets the next one, and then the first guy seems like the most charming person in the world. And then she meets the third one … ?

    That’s W for me. He’s only not the most hateable Republican right now because the rest of them are even worse and make him look better in comparison.

  159. 159.

    Emma

    @lamh36: That is exactly what I was thinking. What’s the quote of “nothing in his life became him like the leaving it”? God I like a man whose revenge is perfectly fine tuned.

  160. 160.

    Fair Economist

    @Yarrow: I doubt Graham is a useful double agent because the whole conspiracy unfolded and put Trump in the Presidency before he flipped. It’s unlikely he has anything to bring – no real evidence, and Mueller already has the events from the IC – he doesn’t need gossip from Graham. So it’s compromat. It is really shocking how many Republicans the Russians and/or Trump have compromat on – Graham, Rand, and Johnson have all flipped from scornful of Trump to the worst kind of lickspittle.

  161. 161.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    No, treaties aren’t revokable by asshole-in-chief… he can try, Congress and the Courts will stop him, as they have so often so far.

  162. 162.

    Kristine Smith

    @germy:

    One of the journalists over at The Root was asking ā€œIs that normal, for someone on their deathbed to make a list of people they donā€™t want at their funeral?ā€

    And the reader replies were all ā€œHell, yeah! Iā€™ve got a list on my refrigerator right now!ā€

    It’s right next to the DNR order for the paramedics.

  164. 164.

    Another Scott

    @debbie: Dunno. AFAIK, there’s no official text of what the US and Mexican negotiators agreed to. I seem to recall reading that many of the changes are straight out of the TPP. Other thing, like requiring tariff-free cars require at least 75% North American content (rather than 60-mumble) sound minor, but without knowing how they define the terms ($ value? At what exchange rate? Wholesale? Retail? Value-added??), who knows. Similarly with the “higher average minimum wage for some Mexican auto workers” (how is the average defined??)

    I have no confidence, at all, that there would be any substantive improvement. But we know that Donnie will declare it a great victory and proof of his ability to get “great deals”. Grr…

    I’m glad that Canada hasn’t been railroaded to accept it thus far. Unsurprisingly, the OMG! Deadline!!! isn’t really a deadline, anyway.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  168. 168.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Since the thread is getting old, these two tweets reflect my own ambivalence about this long farewell

    Matthew Yglesias @ mattyglesias
    That said, while I enjoy the anti-Trump subtweets, it is a little strange to me that the Bush and McCain families are choosing to do this weird song-and-dance rather than engaging in concrete, efficacious anti-Trump political action.
    chris hooks @ cd_hooks
    there’s no more fitting tribute to mccain than the collective press corps belief that this symbolic act represents his true intentions more than his last year in office

  169. 169.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly: LOL. Loved the Gwenda Blair Politico article on Trump and funerals.

    One of the reader commenters said Trump’s own grave will need a dance floor and spittoon. Someone suggested a urinal, too.

  172. 172.

    Gemina13

    @lamh36: I think Shrub has a serious crush on her. The only thing in his favor about that is it proves he has excellent taste. Otherwise, every time I see him near her, I want to shove him off a tall cliff.

  174. 174.

    Aleta

    I think Ivanka and Jared were politicking not socializing. The ghost of Nixon may be visiting their nightmares.

  177. 177.

    Calouste

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yep. Unless on Tuesday the governor of Arizona reads a signed, witnessed, and notarized letter from McCain that he switched his party registration to the Democratic Party, and thus his successor has to be appointed from that party, it’s all song and dance and no substance.

  178. 178.

    NotMax

    Is the bastid planted yet or did the cortege stop on the way to tape his appearances on the Sunday talking head shows?

  179. 179.

    Another kurker

    @MomSense: As a survivor of Superstorm Sandy, I will never forgive W for the murderous disaster that was Katrina. I will also never forgive hinm for the anti storm victims legislation that resulted.
    AFAIC, he has the deaths of thousands on his hands.

  180. 180.

    Anotherlurker

    I know I’m whining, but my typo, on my name, has me in moderation. I miss the old days, the simpler days, of remembered names and edit buttons.

Comments are closed.