Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Second rate reporter says what?

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

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

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

People are complicated. Love is not.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / I'm With Her / GOP Stupid Venality / Venal Stupidity Open Thread: Doing Themselves No Favors

GOP Stupid Venality / Venal Stupidity Open Thread: Doing Themselves No Favors

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Schmidt’s a professional Republican operative, albeit one who found his bottom with the current Oval Office Occupancy. Just saying.

I was old and politically conscious enough to be furious during the Clarence Thomas SCOTUS hearings. One of the things I remember most from those days was not just the rage of so many women, but the shock among men — decent & otherwise — who’d always assumed that the women in their lives hadn’t complained about stuff we were just beginning to call ‘sexual harrasment’ because such things hadn’t happened to the women they knew personally. Plenty of ordinary guys heard for the first time from their wives / mothers / daughters: I was too ashamed to tell you. I hoped if I never talked about it, I could forget. I needed that job too badly to quit. If I’d told you at the time, I thought you’d have tried to kill the guy, and why make you suffer the way I already was?…

And we didn’t have social media! This entire Kavanaugh shitshow has been Thomas Mk.2 — Revenge of the Unheard.


[Trigger warning: Some of the details in this story made me tear up… and I’m one of the Lucky Ones, the ones who *don’t* have any horror stories to share]

… Thursday’s hearing of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee — called to investigate Ford’s allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee — transfixed Americans like few events in recent history.

People listened on cellphone speakers in subway cars and doctors’ waiting rooms. The New York Stock Exchange got quiet. The Capitol’s hallways emptied. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, so many people watched Ford’s testimony from their desks that the IT department warned they could overwhelm the network.

What they saw was a drama in two vastly different parts.

The second part — Kavanaugh’s emotional defense of his innocence and his reputation — was highly unusual in the staid history of Supreme Court hearings. It could have helped save his nomination or helped derail it, depending on how a few GOP senators react.

The first part — Ford’s testimony about the alleged assault, and the shadow it cast on her life — had a different resonance. People cried in airplane seats. They called into C-SPAN to tell their own stories of sexual assault…

“16A: Crying. 14B: Crying. 17C: Weeping,” Ron Lieber, a New York Times columnist, wrote on Twitter from a flight headed from New York to Salt Lake City, listing the reactions as passengers watched the hearing on seat-back televisions. “I am one of the criers.”…


Reader Interactions

189Comments

  1. 1.

    smintheus

    Redstate is declaring that Manchin has announced that he plans to vote to put the lying rapist on the Supreme Court. If true, Manchin should be drummed out of the Democratic Party human race.

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    @smintheus: As far as I know, the evidence for that is a single tweet from a ‘journalist’ who describes herself as, among other things, an Ann Coulter fangirl. Take with appropriate grains of salt.

  4. 4.

    janesays

    Don’t put it past Redstate to make that claim just to try to drive a momentum narrative.

    If Manchin does do that, obviously, fuck him for eternity.

    But I’m not trusting the report given the motivation Redstate has to completely pull that one out of their ass.

  7. 7.

    Mary G

    @smintheus: I posted a tweet from his spokesperson in the last thread that says Manchin hasn’t made up his mind and whoever says he has is lying. Don’t let the right gaslight you.

  10. 10.

    sdhays

    As I understand it, Manchin is well ahead of his opponent. I just don’t see the logic in voting for Kavanaugh helping him win in November, but I do see potential danger if his vote puts Kavanaugh in the Supreme Court. A significant amount of WV Democrats might just say “fuck it” if he does that.

    Maybe he’s a horrible person and will do it anyway, but I just don’t see any electoral upside for him voting for Kavanaugh at this point. And I don’t care what RedState has to say; let’s hear from a credible source.

  12. 12.

    oldgold

    I think the best we can realistically hope for is that Manchin, Murkowski, Collins and Flake withhold their votes pending an FBI investigation.

  13. 13.

    tobie

    @dmsilev: Thanks for noting this. She’s even had to correct her tweet. Manchin’s office says he’s undecided, which is itself pretty unbelievable given Kavanaugh’s unhinged performance today, but that’s where things stand. I’ll call his office tomorrow and promise to contribute and phone bank for him if he votes no. I encourage others to do the same. And in the meantime it will interesting to find out how this meme spread–from an all but unknown journalist named Elaine Plott to Red State. Republicans are experts at spreading rumors.

  16. 16.

    jacy

    For anybody who needs something that is NOT horrifying, the 1-hour season premiere of The Good Place came on tonight. Heading to bed to snuggle the cat, drink some tea and watch it.

  17. 17.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @sdhays: he has a perfect out, IMHO, by calling for the FBI to investigate and/or the committee to call other witnesses

    or just saying it comes down to healthcare, lots of pre-existing condition in WV, from what I’ve read

  18. 18.

    Gin & Tonic

    @HumboldtBlue: I’ve always referred to Mingus as “Charles” and kind of assumed he’d have preferred that. Just doesn’t seem like a “Charlie” to me. Maybe it’s just me.

  19. 19.

    Calouste

    Btw, has anyone asked the accused sexual assaulter about the rules of his Devil’s Triangle “drinking game”? And how he combines taking part in a drinking game with not going over the legal alcohol limit? The guy is such a bad and transparent liar.

  21. 21.

    Princess

    Aren’t there people from West Virginia who hang out in this joint? As of an hour ago Manchin says he’s “truly undecided.” Make your calls, people.

    Other key people seem to be: Collins, Flake, Murkowski

    I bet they will all four vote together, either yes or no.

  22. 22.

    jacy

    @tobie:

    My hope would be Manchin is saying he’s undecided because he’s trying to drag Flake, Murkowski, and Collins to no. I’m not saying that’s likely, but it’s the slim reed we have. We’re not going to know until we know and sitting around rearranging the tea leaves will make us crazy. Everybody send their messages, make their calls, and try not to obsess.

  26. 26.

    Another Scott

    @Princess: I posted this downstairs:

    Burgess Everett Verified account @burgessev

    Donnelly, Manchin, Murkowski and Collins are all expected to vote the same way, per senators and aides

    6:16 PM – 27 Sep 2018

    Dunno what that means, myself. I’m hopeful, but we’ll see.

    Keep calling, everyone.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  28. 28.

    Mary G

    @tobie: Trump is a champion of the “people are saying” method of spreading lies, and his party has followed his lead with gusto.

  30. 30.

    Amir Khalid

    @Princess:

    Aren’t there people from West Virginia who hang out in this joint?

    There’s a guy named Jon Kohl or something like that. He does posts about his favourite dog.

  31. 31.

    Calouste

    @tobie: The only to enforce that is to convey to McConnel that they will vote no if he brings the vote to the floor before the investigation. And delaying the vote will significantly increase the chance of it not happening at all.
    And for Murkowski and Collins, no vote is what they really want.

  32. 32.

    SFAW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    You’re probably one of those nit-pickers who insists on calling him “Louis” Armstrong, instead of “Louie.”

    At least, I HOPE you’re one of those nit-pickers.

    [And. on an unrelated note: I still haven’t seen efgoldman here for a bit. Do you guys stay in touch, outside of this joint? Any word? Asking because of the RI thing, which is of course provincial of me.]

  33. 33.

    Mary G

    Society of Jesus (Jesuit) Magazine:

    While we previously endorsed the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh on the basis of his legal credentials and his reputation as a committed textualist, it is now clear that the nomination should be withdrawn.https://t.co/CXqVGkaTdY— America Magazine (@americamag) September 28, 2018

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m realizing that Kavanaugh’s whole weepy Drunk Daddy it’s-not-my-fault screeching hit some triggers that had not been hit by the rapey stuff. So that sucks.

    @jacy:

    I’m waiting for G to get home from work so we can watch it. The official podcast hosted by Mark Evan Jackson (he plays Shawn) is most excellent. Make sure to search “good place official podcast” to get the right one.

  37. 37.

    hitchhiker

    Just imagine how it would have gone if Christine Blasey Ford had shown up this morning and sobbed for 45 minutes about how ruined her life is, then shouted incoherently about how mean Republicans are.

    Women get a limited tool set when it comes to their public options.

    I am so past done with these men … so, so past done.

  39. 39.

    Dan B

    I’m hoping for a Women’s March and vigil Friday night with women testifying about their assaults and their hopes for their daughters. And Dads as the organizers see fit. I’d be glad if it happened all over the country and was streamed live on the web.

  40. 40.

    SFAW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I likewise haven’t seen him around, which is a bit worrying. But we have no IRL contact.

    I’m worried, too. Maybe one of the FPers has contacted him or can contact him?

  41. 41.

    Ramalama

    Hard to believe that Trump, loathsome and monstrous as he is, will continue to back O’Kavanaugh for crying while testifying. Or was it just yelling, mixed in with a lot of sniffling? I couldn’t watch the whole thing for other reasons, though I stood at attention the whole time I could watch.

  44. 44.

    sdhays

    @hitchhiker: I didn’t watch, but the descriptions of Kavanaugh’s performance are shameful. I just don’t understand how anyone can conclude that he has the temperament to be a judge, even if you think he’s totally innocent (I don’t see how you could think that, but the point is his reaction itself was embarrassing to the point of being disqualifying).

  46. 46.

    mad citizen

    On my local indy news tonight they showed a Donnelly statement, which ended with there should be an FBI investigation. For whatever that is worth. Our R senator statement was basically 36 years ago blah blah I believe Judge Rapey.

  47. 47.

    Mary G

    Never stopped hating him, but this cranks the level right back up:

    George W. Bush has called several moderate Republican senators and Manchin to whip votes for Kavanaugh, per people briefed. Trump, who doesn’t like Bush, has far less sway with the key voters. https://t.co/txBatZRHo2— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) September 28, 2018

  48. 48.

    SFAW

    @Raoul:

    What the fucking fuck is wrong with Erick Erickson?

    He’s a fucking fuck, for one thing. He’s also a gamma male who thinks he’s an uber-alpha — when his wife lets him.

    In other words, a typical RWA

  49. 49.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    In other news, Chris Christie has decided to be a source for Michael Lewis

    hris Christie was sitting on a sofa beside Trump when Pennsylvania was finally called. It was 1.35am, but that wasn’t the only reason the feeling in the room was odd. Mike Pence went to kiss his wife, Karen, and she turned away from him. “You got what you wanted, Mike,” she said. “Now leave me alone.” She wouldn’t so much as say hello to Trump. Trump himself just stared at the TV without saying anything, like a man with a pair of twos whose bluff has been called. His campaign hadn’t even bothered to prepare an acceptance speech. It was not hard to see why Trump hadn’t seen the point in preparing to take over the federal government: why study for a test you will never need to take? Why take the risk of discovering you might, at your very best, be a C student? This was the real part of becoming president of the US. And, Christie thought, it scared the crap out of the president-elect.

  52. 52.

    Calouste

    @Calouste: And BTW, the absolute last thing the Republicans want is an FBI investigation, unless they can completely rig it. It will just show up a lot more stuff about Kavanaugh and will piss off people even more than they currently are.

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hitchhiker: Had the Democrats been in the majority today and he pulled this same schtick, he would have been involuntarily removed and restrained.

  54. 54.

    Lyrebird

    @Mary G: Wow.

    Judge Kavanaugh continues to enjoy a legal presumption of innocence, but the standard for a nominee to the Supreme Court is far higher; there is no presumption of confirmability.

    (emphasis mine)

    The people I end up agreeing with under this maladministration… I hope someone shows this to Sen. Toomey. I think they throw out my emails… actually they do answer, but I don’t think they’re listening.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    I’ve been doing martial arts since I was 13 (1983), I’ve been the cooler (lead bouncer) at one of the largest members only nightclub in Scotland, I’ve been teaching martial arts since 1993, I have a certification to do personal security and close quarters tactical work, and I can say without a doubt that this guyKavanaugh is capable of doing serious violence to anyone he feels has wronged him, not given him what he wants, and/or not followed his orders. And that’s sober. Drunk he’d be completely out of control. And I’m not completely convinced he wasn’t well lubricated this afternoon in the hearing.

  60. 60.

    eemom

    I am just depressed as shit that we’re still in suspense after what the world saw today.

    God knows I put nothing past these living embodiments of evil; but I did think their reptilian instinct for survival coupled with their highly evolved capacity for pure political calculation would have pointed toward cutting their losses.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    Josh Dawsey
    ‏Verified account
    @jdawsey1
    Follow Follow @jdawsey1
    More
    George W. Bush has called several moderate Republican senators and Manchin to whip votes for Kavanaugh, per people briefed. Trump, who doesn’t like Bush, has far less sway with the key voters.

    The arrogant, privileged liar who felt it was his right to go out today and scream at half the country and put us firmly back in our place is supported by the establishment of the Republican Party. They picked him and they want him in because they know their policies are unpopular and they need to cement their power over us. They have big plans for this hack. They’d install him at gunpoint if they had to. He’s their judge. Not yours, not mine, but the judge for the people who matter. That’s what he told us when he delivered that scolding harangue today.

  62. 62.

    Chris

    @Mary G:

    He really was and is a despicable human being all around, as awful in his own way as Trump or Kavanaugh. Even before Trump started making him look good by comparison, I thought his amiable dunce image was letting him off way too easy for the crimes he’d committed. It let him off as a dupe who just went with the flow, a puppet in the hands of masterminds like Cheney, and while I’d never accuse Dubya of being particularly smart or driven, he was still a lot more than just that.

  65. 65.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’m feeling like there’s a thirty percent chance Collins, Murkowski et Dems, maybe Flake, will demand an FBI inquiry. They might set a week’s limit on it, but I think they might do it.

  66. 66.

    Calouste

    @Lyrebird: As my wife (who has interviewed a lot of people for jobs) said: This was a job interview. Would you hire someone who was yelling during a job interview?

  68. 68.

    Hob

    I know Erickson is an asshole but in this case I don’t even understand what he’s talking about. Homogenous norms? For what?

  69. 69.

    Mnemosyne

    @Darkrose:

    Thank you. Not super traumatic memories when looked at individually, but a frequent enough childhood occurrence that that facial expression and tone of voice makes me want to hide under the covers again. Fortunately, I have chocolate cake and purring cats nearby.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    Manchin’s a fool if he takes Kavanaugh’s word on health care. Kavanaugh is a liar. I’m disappointed. I thought Manchin was smarter than that. Collins doesn’t actually give a shit about the people in her state- she’s been playing them for a long time- but Manchin is actually one of them in West Virginia. He’s a fool to be impressed by this fraud and his prestigious resume. His word is garbage.

  74. 74.

    khead

    @Kay:

    George W. Bush has called several moderate Republican senators and Manchin to whip votes for Kavanaugh, per people briefed.

    I’m old enough to remember how awful it was for Obama to be a former POTUS giving a political speech.

  75. 75.

    satby

    Today at the market the RWNJ who has the booth next to me made a snarky comment to “rile up the lib (me)” about wondering how the hearing was going. I looked him dead in the eye, told him I was drugged and date raped at 19, and that I would not discuss that subject at all with him. He literally was rocked back on his heels. But it shut him up.
    Women who are able to emotionally need to share their stories. I never mentioned what happened to me until this year on this blog, but talking about it today caused another woman at the market to share her rape story. Most people have no clue. Women have carried the secret because WE felt shamed, but it isn’t our shame. That belongs to the attackers, and by speaking up if we can we can start to put it where it belongs, on them.

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    @Kay

    Conversation of phone calls revealed:

    “I was a falling down drunk for decades and look how good a president I turned out to be.”

    //

  81. 81.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m realizing that Kavanaugh’s whole weepy Drunk Daddy it’s-not-my-fault screeching hit some triggers that had not been hit by the rapey stuff. So that sucks.

    You mean the trigger for “this loser should be flipping burgers under adult supervision, not involved in deciding national issues” trigger? My gawd, I can’t believe “he committed rape” is the lest of this idiots faults…

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Hob: He’s convinced that everyone to the left of George H W Bush is trying to forcibly indoctrinate the entire US into some sort of socialist, humanist, atheist, amoral monoculture.

  83. 83.

    jl

    As I said in previous thread, so busy today I was blessed to be spared 99 percent of the mess. But after reading summaries at TPM, gawd almighty what a mess.
    And as I also typed yesterday, while impossible to know exactly, as in criminal trial standards of evidence, exactly what happened, Kavanaugh’s lies, misdirection and dissembling, on this and other matters, are pretty real time, or recent enough. And for a lifetime position, civil trial standards, what is it 51%, probably too stringent. But the hacks and TV talkers on the GOP side that giving this guy the privilege and responsibility of being on SCOTUS is some kind of right that he has, and he should get on unless there is no reasonable doubt that he is guilty of all charges (sex misconduct and all the perjury about other things). Crazy.

    But still a good chance he’ll be confirmed. Manchin indicates that he has divined somehow that the people of West by God Virginia want him confirmed.
    I gotta not even think about it for a day or so. It’s just too horrible and unbelievable.

  85. 85.

    B.B.A.

    Of course he doesn’t remember. For her it was the most traumatic experience of her life. For him it was Thursday.

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    He definitely provokes a oh, shit, Dad is drunk again response from me when he testified today. That clear liquid he was drinking may not have been water, or at least not all water.

    And I will say it again: I predict that there are more recent victims out there, but they’re all conservative women, so they know that their lives and careers would be utterly destroyed by their closest friends if they ever dared to speak out against him.

  88. 88.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    anybody else having trouble with the link button? Every time I try to link to something, my page freezes and I get the spinning beach ball of death. In Safari

  89. 89.

    YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)

    @Adam L Silverman: True he does, but I believe in this specific instance he was railing against the lack of tolerance for intolerance. Having to let people have icky abortions and gay cakes forces the right to take over the supreme court.

  92. 92.

    Mnemosyne

    @satby:

    In one of the previous threads, I linked to a Twitter comment from actress Ellen Barkin. She recognizes that behavior from abusive relationships she was in, and said so with specific details.

  93. 93.

    tobie

    @Kay: Manchin says he’s undecided. The tweet that started all the speculation and claimed Manchin would vote for Kavanaugh as long as he was assured that he wouldn’t gut the ACA came from a previously unknown journalist named Elayne Plott who describes herself as a former Ann Coulter fan girl and wrote for both the National Review and Jared Kushner’s New York Observer. I’m pretty certain she’s tweeting to mainstream GOP spin. Minchin may not do the right thing–I’m not defending him–but we don’t know his decision yet.

  96. 96.

    Mary G

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I was saying all afternoon that Kavanaugh had been drinking. That’s why he went off the rails so badly.

    FTFNYT has a giant both sides/she said he said on the front page, but the editorial says they think he lied.

    Also Doug Jones is officially a no. Nomination process flawed since the beginning and incomplete at the end. One down. Good for him.

  97. 97.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I was confused, and a little pissed, about the Dems failure to bring up Whelan, but now I’m wondering if it wasn’t because they think, maybe more than think, that the FBI investigation is something Collins and Murkowski can hang a postponement on. I was trying to link to that picture of Murkowski and Feinstein talking in the hallway the other day, wondering if that’s what they were discussing

  99. 99.

    SFAW

    @MomSense:

    Yes, I also had noticed Yarrow’s non-presence. I think Adam might have been in touch with him, back when Yarrow was not in a good place. But my memory sucks these days.

    That said: even though I don’t live up your way (yet), I’ll be getting on the horn to call your senior Senator’s office tomorrow. I’ll probably try the “carrot” approach, and wait to see what she actually says before I call back with whatever “stick” I can wield. Not that I have a lot of carrot or stick available to me, but gotta try.

  100. 100.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Cody Keenan @ codykeenan
    I can’t stand half of you. I love beer. The clintons are conspiring against me. I *love* beer. I don’t have a drinking problem, you have a drinking problem. If you don’t hire me, I’ll never stop trying to get my revenge.

    – An actual job interview that happened on live TV today

  101. 101.

    Mnemosyne

    @tobie:

    I think they’re trying to stampede Manchin and the other undecideds using Twitter bots. I hope someone is monitoring what the Russian bots have been up to all day.

    @Adam L Silverman:

    He was drunk. Guaranteed.

  103. 103.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SFAW: I’m in semi regular touch with him. I emailed him about an hour ago to see how he is doing.

    And I emailed the commenter I think has a way to get in touch of efg.

  104. 104.

    Jim Parish

    @SFAW: The one time I’ve heard Armstrong say his own name, at the beginning of “Hello, Dolly”, he calls himself … “Louis”. Not “Louie”.

  107. 107.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Matthew Yglesias @ mattyglesias
    Justice Sotomayor was subjected to a nationwide racist smear campaign about her intelligence and was expected, for obvious reasons, to maintain some composure and professionalism during her hearings.
    For whatever reason that confirmation process doesn’t seem to have made much of a mark on the national political narrative, but to me it was one of the most unexpectedly horrifying things I’d ever seen.
    She was just openly derided on television, in congress, and in prestige magazines on the grounds that a total mediocrity could get into Princeton easily based on all the advantages you get in life growing up in a poor Puerto Rican family in the South Bronx.
    Meanwhile, Brett Kavanaugh made it into Yale all the way from Georgetown Prep so we know he can’t have been much of a partier.
    Anyways, in a son of privilege marinating in self-pity we’ll have a solution for those worried Justice Sotomayor would bring too much empathy to the bench.

    and he couldn’t stop bragging about his grades, right down to being first in his class his freshman year of high school

  109. 109.

    Lyrebird

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Thanks for offering your view… I have no such credentials, other than a friend of mine was a bouncer for a concert once ha ha, and it’s reassuring at least to hear some corroboration.

    capable of doing serious violence

    I find anyone who lies with the kind of ease this guy shows very very scary. And the sheer intensity of his stage rage. Unless this was an audition in Hollywood… just scary.

    I’m not completely convinced he wasn’t well lubricated this afternoon in the hearing.

    Sure looks in the photos* like he’s built up a head of steam somehow. If he’s as accustomed to getting his own way as you and others suggest, then why wouldn’t he use what’s always worked for him before?

    *So far I have avoided hearing his creepy lying voice, will try to keep it that way.

  112. 112.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @oldmold: Even an imbecile like you should be able to figure out that there is no such thing as a “credible poll” within 6 hours of an event like this.

  113. 113.

    joel hanes

    @Raoul:

    What the fucking fuck is wrong with Erick Erickson?

    A lifetime of unexamined, unearned privilege, and a strong sense of entitlement thereto.

  115. 115.

    Lyrebird

    @Calouste: I heartily agree with you both!!

    @burnspbesq: I believe it… I bet I strongly disagree with everyone who contributed to that op ed, but it was extremely well written, and it showed a thoughtfulness of which the creep nominee seems incapable.

    Sigh. Thanking the stars that I can read jackal comments and keep going through all this!

  118. 118.

    SFAW

    @Calouste:

    Would you hire someone who was yelling during a job interview?

    Only if they were looking to replace Garrett Morris on SNL’s Weekend Update. Other than that, not so much.

  119. 119.

    Jay

    @Raoul:

    The the Red State blogger founder, Iraqi Parades and Roses predictor, All round RIght Wing Douchebag and an acknoledged Goat Mollester.

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    @Jim Parish:

    The one time I’ve heard Armstrong say his own name, at the beginning of “Hello, Dolly”, he calls himself … “Louis”. Not “Louie”.

    Yes. As far as I know, he only called himself “Louis,” not “Louie.”

  127. 127.

    Procopius

    I find I no longer care about how these actors play this out. I do not think an FBI investigation of the attempted rape will find anything. But I am getting more and more obsessed with the idea that digby put forward in her blog a few days ago. Either Senator Feinstein of Senator Hirono should demand that the FBI track down every one of the people who sent death threats or insulting messages and refer them for prosecution for tampering with a witness. Given the legal and illegal surveillance we now live with they should be able to identify the origin of every one of those messages within a few hours. Seriously, the whole Democratic caucus should demand this, and they should do so for every future witness who receives death threats. We need to put a stop to this practice and take some of the violent crazies out of circulation.

  128. 128.

    janesays

    Schmidt’s a professional Republican operative

    Former professional Republican operative. He very publicly renounced his membership in the GOP in June because of the immigrant baby jails.

  129. 129.

    brettvk

    @Amir Khalid: Totally OT but this is really bothering me – all Youtube links are being converted to mobile links in my browser (Chrome). If I try to remove the m. it just puts it right back in and none of the links on the page are functional. Can anybody toss me a clue? An incognito window works.

  130. 130.

    Anne Laurie

    @Adam L Silverman:

    And I’m not completely convinced he wasn’t well lubricated this afternoon in the hearing.

    That’s about the only thing that would make me feel less queasy about Kavanaught’s performance today.

    Of course, it may just be — I can say this, as the adult child of a fortunately non-violent alcoholic — Kav may just be one of those long-term habitual drunks whose resting blood alcohol is somewhere about twice the legal driving limit for non-alcoholics…

  131. 131.

    joel hanes

    @HumboldtBlue:

    true loves

    Thank you thank you thank you.
    I’ve loved funk since Sly Stone and Archie Bell and the Drells and Laundry and Parliament/Funkadelic and Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters and AWB’s Cut The Cake and a thousand others

    and The True Loves are *funky*

  132. 132.

    SFAW

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    and he couldn’t stop bragging about his grades, right down to being first in his class his freshman year of high school

    Big fucking deal. I was on a Little League championship team. [No, not the LLWS, just for my town.] And my frat once won our intramural crew race. And I once got a participation medal for … something.

    What a fucking asshole he is. Would it be inappropriate for me to hope that he pisses off a mean-ass bouncer at a bar tonight (even though he’s not an alcoholic)?

  134. 134.

    burnspbesq

    One of the best tweets of the day noted that Dr. Blasey is a Tarheel and suggested replacing Silent Sam with a statue of her.

  137. 137.

    Anne Laurie

    @Hob:

    I know Erickson is an asshole but in this case I don’t even understand what he’s talking about. Homogenous norms? For what?

    “Abusing women is part of our Evangelical culture! If you lie-brals didn’t make such a fuss about everybody having to protect filthy sluts & baby murderers, poor Judge Kav wouldn’t have been forced to make a fool of himself on the tv today!”

  138. 138.

    West of the Rockies

    @Lyrebird:

    He has the voice of a pissed-off high school coach whose vaunted team is being pantsed. He does not sound scholarly, cultured, or compassionate.

  140. 140.

    SFAW

    @joel hanes:

    Headhunters! Love it. Sometimes I pop it into the CD player when I’m working out.But I think it’s more jazz/funk than pure funk.[Not that I have any idea what I’m talking about, of course.] And One Nation Under A Groove is a great album.

    I have both of them on vinyl and CD.

  142. 142.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @oldgold: If you think a “post-presidential debate show” is able to conduct a “credible poll,” you’re even more of an idiot than I thought was possible for any carbon-based life form not named Trump.

    Stick to whining like a little baby about “when is Mueller going to indict everyone”, Sparky – it’s the only thing you know how to do.

  144. 144.

    kattails

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: So far no, no problems (frantically knocks wood) and I’m on Safari, um, 9.1.1. But it shall forevermore be known as the “spinning beach ball of death” with perhaps a “the dreaded” stuck in front. I think Apple should pay you a modest royalty for that.
    However, I can’t seem to get my nym remembered. Sad.

  148. 148.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    I think you just made Baud!’s short list for SCOTUS.

    Thanks, but the last thing the SCOTUS needs is another asshole on the bench. And anyway, I’m too damn old and out of shape to be able to do much damage when I challenge Justices Scalito, Gorsuch, or (god forbid) O’Kavanope to a steel-cage match. But I’d love to hang out with RBG and Justice Sotomayor.

  151. 151.

    SFAW

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Newest scuttlebut on Twitter is that the Bar Association has called for the hearings to be delayed pending an FBI investigation.

    Unfortunately, the last time a Rethug gave a shit about the ABA was when Julius Erving was playing for the Nets. The Rethugs have routinely ignored the ABA when it has had the temerity to question a judicial pick.

  153. 153.

    oldgold

    Yes, in 2016, within a couple of hours of a presidential debate concluding, there was polling available that gave some insight as to public’s opinion on what had transpired.

  154. 154.

    Bill Arnold

    Couple of things; ABA wants a FBI investigation:

    The American Bar Association is calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to halt consideration of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh until an FBI investigation is completed. https://t.co/16cK7qYUhY pic.twitter.com/SQOXPVtqEJ— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) September 28, 2018

    and I’m watching BK’s responses to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse re boofing and devil’s triangle. I would walk out of a car dealership if i saw that on a salesman’s face. (Really tired so not sure. Truthsense broken. :-) SH’s questioning starts 1:30:36 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnczBf3DSnk
    Any opinions?

  155. 155.

    joel hanes

    @SFAW:

    [Not that I have any idea what I’m talking about, of course.]

    Nor more do I, or I would not have written “Laundry” where I should have written “The Brothers Johnson”

  156. 156.

    Kay

    Inbox just now: @SenDougJones says he will vote no on Kavanaugh. #alpolitics

    He’s really a keeper. I’m never ashamed of him. I know he’s not a Lefty (and I didn’t expect him to be) but he seems to actually have some integrity. He does the right thing.

  157. 157.

    Suzanne

    Lindsey Graham wants to be Attorney General real bad. What a sycophantic shitsmear.

    All of these people make me sick. I walked around all day seething. Good to have my periodic reminder that I am a second-class citizen.

  159. 159.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay:

    Doug Jones @ DougJones
    I have called for:
    —Complete disclosure of all documents
    —Subpoena Mark Judge
    —Postpone the vote
    Dr. Ford was credible & courageous.
    What message will we send to our daughters & sons, let alone sexual assault victims?
    The message I will send is this—I vote no. #RightSideofHistory

  160. 160.

    mak

    Stomach-turning raged for several hours before I took solace in the possibility that:
    1. Rs will indeed confirm Kav, thanks to the cover provided by Graham; which means that…
    2. No need or opportunity to fill the SCt. seat during the lame-duck session following the (if / when) Blue House / Senate Wave, which in turn means that…
    3. If/when said Blue Wave comes to pass – fueled, in large part, by Kavanaugh confirmation…
    4 Kavanaugh will be investigated & impeached, possibly even prosecuted, AFTER Rs are powerless to do anything about it.
    5. Of course, all this would require not only the wave, but a resulting Dem Congress with balls larger than pine nuts, so it’s by no means a certainty, but…
    6. This fantasy is at least good for short-term rage and blood -pressure reduction, which is something.

  161. 161.

    Redshift

    @B.B.A.:

    Of course he doesn’t remember. For her it was the most traumatic experience of her life. For him it was Thursday.

    I’ve been thinking similar things a lot lately. It’s entirely possible that all of these people who aren’t GOP partisans who say they don’t remember this party or that incident are being entirely truthful. It wasn’t significant to them. The most important or traumatic event for one person won’t necessarily be seared into the memory of everyone present.

  162. 162.

    mohagan

    @B.B.A.: That’s exactly what I think too. He doesn’t remember it because it meant nothing (too common), or he was too drunk to remember (also too common).

  163. 163.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    damn

    Marlow Stern @ MarlowNYC
    .JimmyKimmel goes in on Don Jr.: “You are a dull-witted human canker sore who shoots baby hippos out of daddy’s helicopter because it’s the only way you can get an erection”

  165. 165.

    kattails

    @Adam L Silverman: Got to get to sleep, but I’ve re-read this three times. Yes. Waitressed for many years, bartended, worked in a liquor store. This guy is wound as tight as a watch spring. (Out of date analogy sorry.) I would approach shutting him down with caution and forethought.

  168. 168.

    Redshift

    As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I don’t think Kavanaugh was actually losing his temper. It was a cynical performance for an audience of one. Trump had said he was going to be watching. Kavanaugh acted like Trump, and Trump ate it up, guaranteeing his continued support.

    Foreign dictators aren’t the only ones who have learned how easy Trump is to manipulate.

  169. 169.

    SFAW

    @Jay:

    That’s why you start with the folding steel chair and don’t let up.

    Excellent point, I should have thought of that. You wanna be my “manager”? Neither Bobby “The Brain,”, nor the Grand Wizard, nor Captain Lou Albano, nor Classy Freddie Blassie (King of Men) is returning my calls.

    [Trigger warning: Extremely useless bit of information to follow:
    I have a vinyl edition of Classy Freddie singing “Pencil-Neck Geek.”]

    Anyway, let me know.

  170. 170.

    Amir Khalid

    @Suzanne:
    I’m wondering about that. Why on Earth does Lindsay Graham want Trump to treat him the way Jeff Session is being treated right now?

  171. 171.

    joel hanes

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I was in the Field Artillery living in the barracks when that was still pretty new.
    Playing it loud one fine Saturday afternoon when my black roomate Ray Peoples returned from lunch:

    Joey! Get down, my man! What is that funk?

    Uh, Ray, it’s just an Average White Band.

    C’mon man, I was digging it. Don’t shit me. Who really playing?

    Average White Band. Really.

    Ain’t nothin’ average about it, and you lyin’ about the “white” part.

    Here’s the cover, Ray. It’s white dudes, I’m pretty sure, and the band is called “Average White Band”

    (We didn’t yet have youtube, so there was no way for him to see just how white AWB really was)

  172. 172.

    smintheus

    @Bill Arnold: Yeah, BK acted like a complete prat when Whitehouse was questioning him. When Kavanaugh is lying about his crude treatment of Renate (around 5:22), the looks of disgust and disbelief in his wife’s eyes are unmistakable. She practically rolls her eyes at one point.

    The amount of lying he does just to Whitehouse is shocking. He even lies about what his yearbook reference to “barf” means.

  173. 173.

    Redshift

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’m wondering about that. Why on Earth does Lindsay Graham want Trump to treat him the way Jeff Session is being treated right now?

    I suspect Lindsay has convinced himself that Trump is just treating Sessions like that because of that unfortunate recusal business, and is willfully ignoring the fact that Trump treats all his underlings like crap.

  174. 174.

    Bill Arnold

    @Bill Arnold:

    BK’s responses to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse re boofing and devil’s triangle.

    To be clear, I’m guessing (not sure) that Sen Whitehouse was trying to catch BK in a clear lie.or two. Not so much for the sake of the lie; BK could always claim young people were watching. Tricksy, that – more so that his style of lying tells can be identified and the rest of his testimony reviewed for other possible interesting lies Will review after some sleep but I know a few people here have a good eye for faces and tells and microexpressions. Also youtube videos can be slowed down. :-)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I can say without a doubt that Kavanaugh is capable of doing serious violence to anyone he feels has wronged him, not given him what he wants, and/or not followed his orders.

    Interesting. No obvious training though, right?

  177. 177.

    Anne Laurie

    @Amir Khalid:

    Why on Earth does Lindsay Graham want Trump to treat him the way Jeff Session is being treated right now?

    I think Graham actually wants the Secretary of State role, so he can finally start his war with Iran. But Pompeo may get one started anyways, accidentally or on purpose.

    Apart from specific choices, Graham’s smart enough to know that Trump stands a very good chance of bringing the entire GOP — if not the world — down in flames. And Lindsey’s too old to wait another decade or longer for the Dems to clean up this latest mess; he needs to achieve a rank higher than ‘just another Southern Senator’ before he’s too old to enjoy it (look at Chuck Grassley, IMO, for his worst nightmare).

  178. 178.

    KithKanan

    Sigh. I’m stepping back from the anger-fueled idea of donating to Manchin’s R opponent, because I’m not stupid enough to think that’d actually accomplish anything meaningful. But if he does end up voting for the entitled lying sack of shit, I’m changing my registration to No Party Preference.

    I’ve been a Democrat since I turned 18 in 1999, and I’ve been used to a lot of disappointment in that time, but the thought of sharing a party with even a single senator voting to confirm this asshole is making me violently ill.

  179. 179.

    SectionH

    @oldgold: I’m skipping all the other posts, cause that was my “wtf else makes any sense” thought. The 4 of them could provide cover in so many ways for themselves.

    But then I sigh and go back to reality.

  180. 180.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @oldgold: BULLSHIT. Those aren’t “polls” – they’re dishonest attempts to drive the narrative. As anyone with an IQ over 80 knows.

    Once again you prove that you’re a COMPLETE FUCKING IDIOT. Let me courteously invite you to fuck off & die in a fire. We’ll win this one without you – in fact it’ll be easier withou cretins like you.underfoot.

  181. 181.

    Procopius

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m an alcoholic. Hopefully, recovering. I think you’re right, but I don’t trust my knowledge of what we look like from the other side to make the call. I didn’t watch, but reading the excerpts at Charlie Pierce, it sounded like the grandiosity typical of the breed us. Description of his personality change when drinking in high school supports that. I wonder what his drinking behavior now is like.

  182. 182.

    The Moar You Know

    @Adam L Silverman:
    @kattails:

    Weighing in from the musician end of things, I routinely used to see guys like this getting hauled out by bouncers every week. Almost always swinging and yelling. I guarantee that this guy is a violent drunk (my gut tells me he’s violent to anyone under his control drunk or not) and if he weren’t the typical rich kid with a rich dad, he’d have a rap sheet with multiple assaults to his credit.

    I still play out and see a LOT less of this behavior these days, at least here in CA, because guys like Kavanaugh drive women out of bars instantly, and bar owners know damn well a bar with no women is an empty bar. Cops also take them a lot more seriously nowadays, and I see people who would have skated with warnings back in the eighties and nineties now going to jail. The drinkers are different, and that’s good, and the younger ones are acting far better than their elders ever did, while their elders are aging out of the game – you see few people in bars out here over 50 unless they’re in the band.

  183. 183.

    Bruce Baugh

    I got one unexpectedly bit of good news yesterday that’s relevant here. I have a friend in West Virginia, who works at Walmart. She says that in the break room, even the most die-hard redneck Republicans on her crew were shouting “He’s lying!” and “Bullshit!” at Kavanaugh testifying. Nobody there believed him. She said she’s never seen anything like the contemptuous disagreement with him.

    If that’s at all representative, I sure hope Manchin hears about it.

  184. 184.

    SFAW

    @Bruce Baugh:

    If that’s at all representative, I sure hope Manchin hears about it.

    Ask your friend to call Manchin’s office, have her pass along that anecdote. It might help.

  188. 188.

    The Truffle

    @mak: This will be a Pyrrhic victory and a PR fiasco for the GOP no matter what happens. The Blue Wave will hopefully grow larger.

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