Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

T R E 4 5 O N

In my day, never was longer.

He really is that stupid.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Republicans in disarray!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Second rate reporter says what?

I really should read my own blog.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

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

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

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

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

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

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

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

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2018 / Real Profiles in Courage, These Guys

Real Profiles in Courage, These Guys

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There’s an easier way to not have all white men questioning witnesses regarding sexual assault in the Senate, and that’s by electing more women and minorities and not nominating scumbags to the Supreme Court.

More women in the House won’t hurt, either:

Goal Thermometer

Kendra is actually coming to my small town on Friday, and I will be attending. Then she is headed down the road to the big city of Wheeling, and I will be attending that, too, hopefully with a bunch of college students with me.

Reader Interactions

136Comments

  1. 1.

    Mary G

    Republican women will be much better; sensitive, fair, woke, feminists. NOT. They’ll try to slut-shame her, maybe more than the men. Thinking of Megyn Kelly, Ann Coulter, and Sarah Sanders.

  2. 2.

    Roger Moore

    NEW: GOP senators are considering using their female staffers to question Christine Blasey Ford. So it’s not a bunch of white men questioning her.

    In related news, Mark Judge, the guy who’s supposed to be the witness who can vouch for Kavanaugh’s good behavior, has said he’d rather plead the fifth than testify in front of the Senate. What does it say when your character witness doesn’t want to testify because it might incriminate him?

  3. 3.

    ruemara

    They really have to understand that women are not falling for it. Only their complicit women will but they’d fall for anything as long as it’s conservative.

  4. 4.

    hugely

    omfg – what a bunch of… dicks. I was going to use the other pejorative which fits as well. Even when they are doing their jobs they are NOT doing that either? handing it off to staffers. This is low grade kabuki

  5. 5.

    geg6

    @Roger Moore:

    This is why the GOP doesn’t want him to testify. He can’t because of the lack of a statute of limitations for rape/attempted rape in Maryland. And if they call him and he takes the Fifth, that as bad as admitting it in the public’s eyes. Jesus, what a fucking mess.

  6. 6.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    @geg6: Ms. Ford was 15 when she was sexually assaulted.

    What was the age of consent back then? 16? 18?

    STATUATORY RAPE, K-BRO!

  7. 7.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    Wow, these clowns are real geniuses, aren’t they? Shit. But I guess flighty, over-emotional women are too dumb to see the truth if it’s a bunch of nice, prim women trying to rake this woman over the coals. It’s bound to work!

    On an unrelated note, I’m thinking it’s time to change my user name again. I’m leaning toward Osaac Lillington Hefflewhimp. Though I might go with Milledge B. Wreaxheaver. Such weighty choices to be made here…

  9. 9.

    J R in WV

    Is there a more cowardly bully than an elected Republican politician?

    I think not, on the evidence appearing in these hearings.!!…

  11. 11.

    trollhattan

    Better yet, use interns.

    “So, like, when you went to, you know, the party was it a party-party with a DJ and full bar, or kinda like, you know, just chilling with bong hits? Did you bring your besties?”

  13. 13.

    Roger Moore

    @geg6:
    There was an interesting related point that Matt Yglesias made on Twitter earlier. He pointed out that people who score well on the LSAT skew liberal. This means there’s a relative shortage of first rate conservative lawyers, so conservative politicians who want to appoint ideologically aligned lawyers are pulling from a much narrower talent pool than liberals are. It’s one more point that helps to explain why so many conservative judges are hacks.

  14. 14.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)

    How exactly does this work? The Senate has made the invitation with the weight of that body behind it. Why should anyone feel obligated to answer staffers’ questions? They’re not elected representatives. Has this ever been done before? If I were Ms. Ford, I’d point to the female staffer and say I flew out here to talk to that guy, not you. If you want me to answer your questions, get elected.

  16. 16.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @Roger Moore: Exhibit A, Clarence Thomas.
    And one thing I’ve noted, reading some of the comments about this, is that even the conservative voices are not claiming Thomas as an example of an outstanding jurist and fine legal mind who proves that the best way to get great judges is for the Senate to ignore those pesky details of personal behavior…..

  17. 17.

    J R in WV

    @Roger Moore:

    …Mark Judge, the guy who’s supposed to be the witness who can vouch for Kavanaugh’s good behavior, has said he’d rather plead the fifth than testify in front of the Senate. What does it say when your character witness doesn’t want to testify because it might incriminate him?

    Oh my, how marvelous for “Judge” Kanavaugh — his only hope of escaping this assault charge, his lone male character witness, going to take the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying to support “Judge” Kavanaugh~!!!!~ How swell for Dr. Professor C. Ford, no one will take the “Judge’s” side under oath…

  19. 19.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Mary G: No matter the gender, Republicans tend to be bigots so it won’t make any difference if women staffers do the questioning. I don’t see how this is going to end well for Republicans except that they’ll probably vote Kavanaugh through next Wednesday. Women voters are going to be pissed though.

  26. 26.

    SFAW

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop:

    Thomas as an example of an outstanding jurist and fine legal mind who proves that the best way to get great judges is for the Senate to ignore those pesky details of personal behavior…..

    I predict the money quote from Kavanaugh’s “testimony,” when questioned by a hard-ass Dem Senator, will be something close to “in my view, as a privileged white boy, this is a high-tech lynching of an American Patriot who hates uppity blacks.”

    You heard it here first.

  27. 27.

    dmsilev

    @piratedan: I thought that once they committed to having another hearing on Monday (which they did yesterday), that pretty much required shoving back the vote. Or, I suppose, they could have voted first and then held the hearing; that’d be very much on-brand for the GOP.

  29. 29.

    randy khan

    @ruemara:

    In related news, Mark Judge, the guy who’s supposed to be the witness who can vouch for Kavanaugh’s good behavior, has said he’d rather plead the fifth than testify in front of the Senate. What does it say when your character witness doesn’t want to testify because it might incriminate him?

    The Dems should be all over this. It’s devastating. They should demand that he be subpoenaed, and if he isn’t, they should devote a lot of time to the question of why Mr. Judge would want to take the Fifth.

  34. 34.

    Schlemazel

    I am deeply disappointed (and yet not the least surprised) that I have not heard from the Senior Senator from the frozen tundra in any of this. Despite being a woman, despite currently running for reelection, despite being (nominally) a Democrat, she has been invisible and as useless as tits on a boar hog.

    Of course I will vote for her, what choice is there? An enigma wrapped in an empty suit but Senator for life

  36. 36.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    What does it say when your character witness doesn’t want to testify because it might incriminate him?

    Hopefully impeachment and disbarment.

  37. 37.

    Schlemazel

    @Schlemazel:
    I should have added: Despite warming a chair on the judiciary committee.

    And will also note “often voted with Bush her first two years in the Senate & lied about it to constituents”

  39. 39.

    TenguPhule

    @J R in WV:

    Is there a more cowardly bully than an elected Republican politician?

    Yes. Them as children. The threat of physical retaliation was nearer and more promptly delivered.

  40. 40.

    AThornton

    Apparently MSNBC has run footage of Brett Kavanaugh saying at a 2015 speech: “What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep–and we are all happy for that…”

  53. 53.

    PAM Dirac

    @tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat):

    f I were Ms. Ford, I’d point to the female staffer and say I flew out here to talk to that guy, not you. If you want me to answer your questions, get elected.

    I’m thinking Dr. Ford asks the staffer “Aren’t you tired of doing his shit work and getting no credit” and the staffer says yes and goes on a rant.

  55. 55.

    TenguPhule

    The Trump administration seems confident that consumers will not feel pain from their escalating trade war with China. “Because it’s spread over thousands and thousands of products, nobody’s going to actually notice it at the end of the day,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Tuesday, when asked about the administration’s latest round of tariffs on Chinese imports.

    But a pain-free trade war with China is nearly impossible. For American consumers, prices have already risen on some products that the administration targeted for tariffs this year — most notably, washing machines, which were subjected to steep tariffs in January.

    It is true, as Mr. Ross noted earlier in his CNBC interview, that the administration has thus far devised such tariffs to minimize sticker shock on retail store shelves for American customers. The list of imports set to be “tariffed,” as Trump proclaimed on Monday, still does not include T-shirts, smartphones or many other popular products that American stores import from China. The $200 billion list unveiled on Monday will start with a tax of 10 percent and rise to 25 percent in the New Year, a move that should mute the effect of this round of tariffs on holiday shoppers.

    Next year, though, those products will almost certainly grow noticeably more expensive. China has already vowed to retaliate, raising the possibility that Mr. Trump will announce, as soon as this week, that he plans to impose tariffs on another $267 billion in Chinese imports — basically, everything Americans buy from their largest trading partner.

    warning, FTFNYT link.

    The war on American customers will continue until morale collapses.

  57. 57.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Kind of like me.

    Did you get one of those “V” lapel pins/tie tacks?

    Or was it not that kind of “fixed”? Sorry

  60. 60.

    TenguPhule

    Cohn, Woodward writes, “was convinced that trade deficits were irrelevant and could be a good thing, allowing Americans to buy cheaper goods.” He patiently explained to the president that his “Norman Rockwell view of America” — wherein the United States became wealthy by making steel, cars and other industrial products — was no longer true: “80 plus percent of our GDP is in the service sector.” People didn’t want to work in factories anymore servicing “2,000-degree blast furnaces” when they could “sit in a nice office with air conditioning and a desk.”

    Cohn pointed out that the only time the trade deficit went down was in times of economic crisis, when Americans couldn’t afford to buy imported goods. “If you want our trade deficit to go down, we can make that happen,” Cohn exclaimed. “Let’s just blow up the economy!”

    Now we know who gave Trump the idea, Gary Cohn.

  66. 66.

    TenguPhule

    Aaron Rupar
    ‏
    Verified account

    @atrupar
    Follow Follow @atrupar
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    Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross leaves CNBC hosts dumbfounded after he tells them that American families won’t be bothered by tariffs on $200b of Chinese goods because “it’s spread over thousands and thousands of products” so “nobody will actually notice” that prices went up.

    Wow.

  67. 67.

    SFAW

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    These tariffs are starting to sound like the largest tax increase in history.

    Which is why they had to pass the largest tax cut in history, to offset it for all those poor billionaires.

  73. 73.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @lgerard:
    This is how Kobach’s spokesperson responded. All class:

    “Democrats trot out these same tired has-beens clinging to the past, pretending to be Republicans when they so clearly left the party a long time ago,” Kobach spokeswoman Danedri Herbert said in an email. “Pro-abortion? Check. Anti-gun? Check. Pro-Obamacare? Check. Republican? Yeah, right.”

    No, Danedri, the party left them a long time ago and Democrats don’t trot these “has-beens” out, they speak freely of their conscience.

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    @TenguPhule:
    Same douchenozzle who held up the Campbell’s soup can to demonstrate steel tariffs would only cost Americans a couple pennies. That bridge over there? Used by MILLIONS!

  77. 77.

    TenguPhule

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said an FBI investigation is “essential” to prevent the hearing from becoming merely a “he said, she said affair.”

    Republicans responded that reopening the investigation is up to the White House and they are sticking with their plans for a Monday hearing — with or without Ford’s participation.

    I was not aware that Congress had decamped to Australia.

    Kavanaugh spoke with the Judiciary panel’s counsel Monday and gave a “clear and consistent” account of what happened 36 years ago, said a person who wasn’t authorized to be identified while describing the process. The person described Kavanaugh as “resolute” and eager to defend himself.

    And this would be the third or fourth change to his alibi now?

    how in the world does Trump do it? Every single person he nominates is an utter shitball.

    Reposted from below, fffing wp.

  80. 80.

    TenguPhule

    But the Justice Department said in a statement late Monday that the accusation against Kavanaugh “does not involve any potential federal crime.”

    Is this still America?

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @TenguPhule:

    Kavanaugh spoke with the Judiciary panel’s counsel Monday and gave a “clear and consistent” account of what happened 36 years ago,

    He was very clear and consistent about the thing he says he didn’t do at the party he clearly remembers not attending?

  83. 83.

    Gelfling 545

    @TenguPhule: That makes no sense at all. That just means you’ll be paying more for a lot of things rather than a few. For the first time ever I agree with Trump. Ross is past his sell by date.

  87. 87.

    JMG

    This idea just shows once again that the United States Senate is basically the world’s fanciest assisted living facility.

  89. 89.

    Roger Moore

    @NotMax:

    Fort Trump? Trump considers permanent military base in Poland named after himself

    The moment he’s gone, we can consider a good name, like Fort Pulaski or Fort Kościuszko.

  91. 91.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @TenguPhule: BK’s surrogates seem to be moving closer to a “rough horseplay” defense, which is either a confession or they don’t believe him either.

    It’s amazing that the Rs never put a woman on the Judiciary committee, given their agenda, or the agenda they use to get the rubes to go along with their real agenda, deregulation and union-busting. Even Paul Ryan figured out he needed Cathy McMorris-Rogers for “leadership” photo ops. I did a couple minutes of googling and it looks like the only woman in the R caucus with a law degree is Murkowski. Maybe neither she nor fellow phony moderate Collins want to get to close to the substance of the posing.

  92. 92.

    banditqueen

    Maybe the women staffers who question Prof Ford. can be called, say, “aunts”–while their “commanders” observe just to keep things in line.

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Kavanagh’s buddy and potential witness:

    Not long after this smirking bit of “humor,” though, Judge showed another side of his marriage of manly-man attitudes and religious conservatism. In a Daily Caller piece (“Barack Obama: the First Female President”) deploring the fact that, in his opinion, Michelle Obama wore the pants in the First Family, Judge offered this nostalgic sentiment:
    Oh for the days when president George W. Bush gave his wife Laura a loving but firm pat on the backside in public. The man knew who was boss.

  95. 95.

    Gravenstone

    @TenguPhule: Mr. Ross seems to be (intentionally) confusing the difference between nobody being able to point to a single thing that costs more and recognizing that EVERYTHING now costs more.

  112. 112.

    laura

    Honorable men…… .so Ms. Ford is in hiding as a result of threats according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
    And people wonder why women don’t report abuse. It always turns out so well for them.
    The President wants Justice Gang Bang and he doesn’t care what the first daughter has to say about that.

  113. 113.

    Honus

    @Roger Moore: that’s because for republicans pleading the fifth means they love the constitution and are innocent patriotic Americans. Like Ollie north when he got off in a technicality on immunity. He was a white guy so he got to pat the pocket constituion in his jacket and smirk that it wasn’t a technicality. Unlike the average mook who they get incensed about because he walks on a botched Miranda warning.

  117. 117.

    Redshift

    @Gravenstone:

    Mr. Ross seems to be (intentionally) confusing the difference between nobody being able to point to a single thing that costs more and recognizing that EVERYTHING now costs more.

    He’s demonstrating the universally assumption among rich Republicans that there’s no one who would have any difficulty paying a little more for stuff. Everyone can just tighten their belt a little, and if they’re too poor, it must be their own fault, so why should I care?

  121. 121.

    dmsilev

    Via Josh Marshall, everyone who had “less than 24 hours” in the “how long before the GOP went full asshole” pool can claim their winnings now:

    Lindsey Graham: “This has been a drive-by shooting when it comes to Kavanaugh . . . I’ll listen to the lady, but we’re going to bring this to a close.”

  126. 126.

    JPL

    @dmsilev: The NYTimes is saying that she had to move out of her home and is in hiding because of death threats. Lindsay can kiss trump’s toad.

  128. 128.

    dmsilev

    @JPL: The NYT just now:

    The woman who has accused President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault threw into doubt plans for an extraordinary Senate hearing to air her accusations, charging on Tuesday that some senators have already made up their minds and insisting that the F.B.I. investigate first.

    Speaking through her lawyers, Christine Blasey Ford did not explicitly rule out appearing next Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify along with Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh. But echoing Senate Democrats, she said an investigation should be “the first step” before she is put “on national television to relive this traumatic and harrowing incident.”

    If Senate Republicans wanted to conduct an actual inquiry to try to actually determine what actually happened, you’d think that asking an agency or office or bureau of the federal government that specializes in investigations would be a good first step, but I’m guessing that’s not really what they’re after.

  129. 129.

    sm*t cl*de

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:

    “Democrats trot out these same tired has-beens clinging to the past, pretending to be Republicans when they so clearly left the party a long time ago,” Kobach spokeswoman Danedri Herbert said in an email.

    Advertisement potential. “So you think you’re a Republican. Kris Kobach says you’re not. You don’t have to vote for him.”

  134. 134.

    Aleta

    Last night quite a few places wrote ‘Kav’s nomination is in serious trouble.’ Yet I can’t see Trump withdrawing him though– he claims to live by the words ‘never show weakness and never admit defeat.’ This near the election, he must be near phobic about appearing less than dominant. (Of course, he’s the guy who, when not invited somewhere, just lies and announces that he declined the invitation.) And I sort of think Kavanaugh might be stealthily insistent on appearing dominant himself. As though he believes that once exposed it might be all over for him. Yes I know, it won’t be over for him. He’ll be cushioned with pillows of congealed rancid gravy. The whole thing makes me sick.

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