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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / I feel so good I’m gonna make somebody pay tonight

I feel so good I’m gonna make somebody pay tonight

by DougJ|  October 5, 20186:03 pm| 98 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M.

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Give to Heidi Heitkamp:

Goal Thermometer

Give to the Balloon Juice More More More Fund:

Goal Thermometer

Send some postcards.

I’ve said this before but it’s kinder to heckle them out of restaurants and cut them off in traffic today than it is to send them to the guillotine tomorrow.

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Previous Post: « To the pain
Next Post: The Laughter »

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  1. 1.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    Richard Thompson FTW.

  2. 2.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 5, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    Richard Thompson reference?

  3. 3.

    Mike J

    October 5, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    You have a suitcase full of £50 notes?

  4. 4.

    PST

    October 5, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    I gave to Heidi. It felt good. She may not be my favorite senator, but she’s the best North Dakota senator we’re likely to see any time soon. She showed courage and principles.

  5. 5.

    debit

    October 5, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    Done and done. I’ll eat mac and cheese for the next month.

    ETA: Now I’m going to fire up a video game and shoot a fuckton of digital enemies in the head.

  6. 6.

    thaddeu

    October 5, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    All future elected democrats – House, Senate and Presidency need to commit to pack the court, or get primaried.

    PACK THE COURT

    There is nothing in the Constitution mandating that the Supreme Court have nine members, and a simple act of Congress could increase that number to 11, or 15, or even more. That effectively creates a way for a political party in control of the House, Senate, and presidency to add a large number of ideologically sympathetic justices to the Court, all at once.

  7. 7.

    MomSense

    October 5, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    @debit:

    I’m rage knitting.

    /Madame Defarge

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    @Mike J: he’s old enough to and old enough to vote

  9. 9.

    Mary G

    October 5, 2018 at 6:34 pm

    Maine Voting Residence Fact Sheet

    I just tweeted that to Collins.

  10. 10.

    Jeffro

    October 5, 2018 at 6:35 pm

    The Suffocation of Democracy, by Christopher Browning

    If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell. He stoked the hyperpolarization of American politics to make the Obama presidency as dysfunctional and paralyzed as he possibly could. As with parliamentary gridlock in Weimar, congressional gridlock in the US has diminished respect for democratic norms, allowing McConnell to trample them even more. Nowhere is this vicious circle clearer than in the obliteration of traditional precedents concerning judicial appointments. Systematic obstruction of nominations in Obama’s first term provoked Democrats to scrap the filibuster for all but Supreme Court nominations. Then McConnell’s unprecedented blocking of the Merrick Garland nomination required him in turn to scrap the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations in order to complete the “steal” of Antonin Scalia’s seat and confirm Neil Gorsuch. The extreme politicization of the judicial nomination process is once again on display in the current Kavanaugh hearings.

    One can predict that henceforth no significant judicial appointments will be made when the presidency and the Senate are not controlled by the same party. McConnell and our dysfunctional and disrespected Congress have now ensured an increasingly dysfunctional and disrespected judiciary, and the constitutional balance of powers among the three branches of government is in peril.

    Whatever secret reservations McConnell and other traditional Republican leaders have about Trump’s character, governing style, and possible criminality, they openly rejoice in the payoff they have received from their alliance with him and his base: huge tax cuts for the wealthy, financial and environmental deregulation, the nominations of two conservative Supreme Court justices (so far) and a host of other conservative judicial appointments, and a significant reduction in government-sponsored health care (though not yet the total abolition of Obamacare they hope for). Like Hitler’s conservative allies, McConnell and the Republicans have prided themselves on the early returns on their investment in Trump. The combination of Trump’s abasement before Putin in Helsinki, the shameful separation of families at the border in complete disregard of US asylum law (to say nothing of basic humanitarian principles and the GOP’s relentless claim to be the defender of “family values”), and most recently Michael Cohen’s implication of Trump in criminal violations of campaign finance laws has not shaken the fealty of the Republican old guard, so there is little indication that even an explosive and incriminating report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller will rupture the alliance

  11. 11.

    rikyrah

    October 5, 2018 at 6:37 pm

    About the guilty verdict today:
    My side of the office is pretty loud. Yet, the only thing that you could hear for the half hour leading up to the verdict was people’s cellphones.
    The co-worker who sits right across from me began to cry as the verdict was being read. I understood. I thought that I had distanced myself from it. Laquan McDonald’s execution was the last police snuff film that I watched. I haven’t seen one since.
    As cynical as I am, this case smelled like a muthaphucka.?
    The speed with which the city settled with his family.
    The fact that we only found out about this case due to the due diligence of local reporters suing for the dashcam footage.
    In many ways, McDonald’s execution signaled the beginning of the end for so much of the Chicago Law Enforcement establishment, beginning with the Police Chief, then voting out Anita Alvarez, and finally Rahm.
    I understood the sense of relief in my co-workers tears.

  12. 12.

    CarolDuhart2

    October 5, 2018 at 6:37 pm

    VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINES! Please RETWEET for all to share!! pic.twitter.com/aFrMLROAF3— Janette Brenton (@bleedblue46VSG) October 5, 2018

  13. 13.

    Yutsano

    October 5, 2018 at 6:39 pm

    Heitkamp is a bargain. The North Dakota media market is rather cheap. Plus she can get some ground staff with some extra bucks. And there was an article in WaPo (can’t find it right now) where she was basically ignoring the polls because her internals were a lot stronger. And if Kavanope gets confirmed tomorrow she gets the women of North Dakota even more behind her.

  14. 14.

    Ladyraxterinok

    October 5, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    Actions mentioned in post that we might take–1st ones are conceivably doable, guillotine is fantasy dream. Most of us would opt for actions rather than dreamland fantasies.

  15. 15.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    like someone said…they are aleady laughing at him.

    @nycsouthpaw
    Behold the rewards of voting with Trump Republicans on something they want.
    https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1048333806770540544

    @DonaldJTrumpJr
    Follow Follow @DonaldJTrumpJr
    More Donald Trump Jr. Retweeted Seung Min Kim
    A real profile in courage from Lyin’ liberal @JoeManchinWV. Waited until Kavanugh had enough votes secured before he announced his support. I bet he had another press release ready to go if Collins went the other way.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    October 5, 2018 at 6:45 pm

    @lamh36: No lie told.

  17. 17.

    ruemara

    October 5, 2018 at 6:48 pm

    @lamh36: I may not want to see a republican take his seat, but fucking hell do I want him to burn. He had no good reason to vote for Kavanaugh. None.

  18. 18.

    VFX Lurker

    October 5, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    I went to PostcardPatriots.com and offered to help with Harley Rouda’s campaign. I asked for 50 addresses and got the last 44 they had available. I will buy blank postcards tonight and start mailing them out this weekend.

  19. 19.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 5, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    I’m sure this will set some people off in one direction or another, but for the first time since 2004, it’s Yankees-Red Sox time in the ALDS starting in just about 45 minutes.

  20. 20.

    jl

    October 5, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    @lamh36: @Baud: Manchin don’t care, only about odds anything he does stops his gravy train. He’s the kind of guy that doesn’t care enough about anything but his ‘sitch’. If he goes down in future history, should we have one, on the list of very minor crumb bums who sold out his supposed principles and his own previous statements for just a little more gravy, that is the future’s problem.

  21. 21.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    Sigh…is it becoming a given that white male DEM politicians of a certain age will just be trash?

    At this point, it’s VOTE, but I’m keeping my fuq’n money for folks who at least show a fuq’n backbone

    Statement from Phil Bresdesen on Kavanaugh

    https://twitter.com/PhilBredesen/status/1048223308460818432

  22. 22.

    debbie

    October 5, 2018 at 6:57 pm

    @ruemara:

    Don’t leave out Orrin Hatch. Waving those women away and telling them to grow up. FUCK HIM.

  23. 23.

    jl

    October 5, 2018 at 6:59 pm

    @lamh36: Better than Collins, in that the insulting, absurd, bad faith BS didn’t go on for 45 minutes. That’s all I can say for it.

  24. 24.

    debbie

    October 5, 2018 at 7:01 pm

    @lamh36:

    Stupid man. He’s not even elected. The comments show this is costing him votes.

  25. 25.

    Mary G

    October 5, 2018 at 7:02 pm

    @rikyrah: That’s what it was like when the Rodney King verdict from Simi Valley came in long ago when I worked in a cubicle farm. Like all the white liberals who believed what black people said about the police, I knew, but I didn’t KNOW in my gut.

    The white men were all nonchalant – “He was speeding and didn’t obey orders.” My white female coworkers and I were shocked and horrified and kept asking “How could they? It’s right there on video?” My black colleagues just sighed and looked at us like we were children who believed in Santa Claus. Now 26 years have passed and we’ve seen so many more videos and acquittals and finally now, a conviction. May there be many more.

  26. 26.

    debbie

    October 5, 2018 at 7:02 pm

    @MomSense:

    Funny, I was thinking about her last night. She frightened me when we read Tale of Two Cities in seventh grade, but boy, I would have liked to see her sitting outside the Capitol today.

  27. 27.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 7:05 pm

    @jl: @debbie: Like…why even issue a statement…ugh….

  28. 28.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 5, 2018 at 7:05 pm

    @debit:

    I’m going to fire up a video game and shoot a fuckton of digital enemies in the head.

    Remember, they’re all Republicans.

  29. 29.

    jl

    October 5, 2018 at 7:05 pm

    @debbie: Good point. Worse than Collins in respect that the risk of bad outcome for bad faith BS likely to come much sooner.

  30. 30.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 5, 2018 at 7:09 pm

    @Jeffro:
    You missed the “best” part.

    No matter how and when the Trump presidency ends, the specter of illiberalism will continue to haunt American politics. A highly politicized judiciary will remain, in which close Supreme Court decisions will be viewed by many as of dubious legitimacy, and future judicial appointments will be fiercely contested. The racial division, cultural conflict, and political polarization Trump has encouraged and intensified will be difficult to heal. Gerrymandering, voter suppression, and uncontrolled campaign spending will continue to result in elections skewed in an unrepresentative and undemocratic direction. Growing income disparity will be extremely difficult to halt, much less reverse.

    Finally, within several decades after Trump’s presidency has ended, the looming effects of ecological disaster due to human-caused climate change—which Trump not only denies but is doing so much to accelerate—will be inescapable. Desertification of continental interiors, flooding of populous coastal areas, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, with concomitant shortages of fresh water and food, will set in motion both population flight and conflicts over scarce resources that dwarf the current fate of Central Africa and Syria. No wall will be high enough to shelter the US from these events. Trump is not Hitler and Trumpism is not Nazism, but regardless of how the Trump presidency concludes, this is a story unlikely to have a happy ending

    Just launch the missiles now and be done with it for fucks’ sake if humanity’s future is so bleak. A global thermonuclear war would have roughly the same results anyway.

  31. 31.

    MazeDancer

    October 5, 2018 at 7:09 pm

    Gave a little to More, More, More. Really impressed with BJ generosity.

    Gave to Heitkamp, yesterday, the second saw the first tweet announcing her “No”.

    Keep thinking not letting ActBlue keep my credit card will keep me from “rage-donating”. So far not working.

    Thanks, Doug, for linking to PostCardPatriots.com. We’re doing pretty well, I think. Blew through our first batch of Harley Rouda and Elaine Luria names, ordered more. Think we’re up to about 500 PostCards over 2 days.

    Plenty more where that came from! Go BJ Candidates!

  32. 32.

    gene108

    October 5, 2018 at 7:10 pm

    @thaddeu:

    I say raise it to 15 and then pass a Constitutional Amendment to freeze the number at 15, so the next time Republicans are in charge they can’t pack it.

  33. 33.

    MomSense

    October 5, 2018 at 7:12 pm

    @debbie:

    Well I think we’ve all gained a better understanding of what pushed her to the edge.

  34. 34.

    Cacti

    October 5, 2018 at 7:14 pm

    @thaddeu:

    There is nothing in the Constitution mandating that the Supreme Court have nine members, and a simple act of Congress could increase that number to 11, or 15, or even more. That effectively creates a way for a political party in control of the House, Senate, and presidency to add a large number of ideologically sympathetic justices to the Court, all at once.

    Yep.

    The only place it’s written that we should have 9 Justices is in the Judiciary Act. There’s nothing sacred about the number 9.

  35. 35.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 5, 2018 at 7:14 pm

    @gene108:
    You need a 3/4 majority of the states to pass that. Good luck

  36. 36.

    debbie

    October 5, 2018 at 7:15 pm

    @MomSense:

    Absolutely.

  37. 37.

    jl

    October 5, 2018 at 7:19 pm

    @Cacti: Given what McConnell and Trump have done in getting Gorsuch and the current liar on SCOTUS, changing the Judiciary Act looks pretty tame.

  38. 38.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 7:21 pm

    @lamh36: And he is not even getting the headlines he wants…ugh..just stupid…deplorables don’t even like CNN…so this headline doens’t even help him

    @CNNPolitics
    Tennessee Senate race: Phil Bredesen goes all in on his pledge to break with Democrats https://cnn.it/2yin30l

    12:20 PM – Oct 5, 2018

  39. 39.

    Aleta

    October 5, 2018 at 7:21 pm

    Gave to Heitkamp; an added benefit, seems to me, is that donations to Dems tonight show up as part of the protest today and a commitment to tomorrow.

  40. 40.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 7:24 pm

    Good…if a serious contender comes forward (come on Susan Rice) I’ll be sending my money their way.

    @aterkel
    11m11 minutes ago
    More
    Scooplet from @Robillard and me – major donors in Maine are already organizing an anti-Collins effort for 2020. $1 million already pledged, hoping to get to $4 million. On top of the crowd-funding effort.

    https://twitter.com/aterkel/status/1048350341694021632

  41. 41.

    MisterForkbeard

    October 5, 2018 at 7:25 pm

    @lamh36: I don’t understand anyone who says “I don’t have key pieces of information” and then says “So I’d vote to give this guy a lifetime seat.”

    NO. This is like deciding to buy a house even though you have credible information that there’s a huge gas leak. And the real estate agent is shutting you down whenever you want to investigate. But no, it’s cool, you’ll just take it anyway.

    Wait, it’s stupider than that.

  42. 42.

    MazeDancer

    October 5, 2018 at 7:25 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Heitkamp is a bargain. The North Dakota media market is rather cheap.

    With what she has raised, she can buy every ad slot, anywhere. And also offer cold cash for votes.

  43. 43.

    gene108

    October 5, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    @Jeffro:

    I am getting to the point that there will be no peaceful resolution.

    And if Democrats retake Congress and the White House, I want to see McConnell and Grassley and all their adult children and grandchildren thrown in jail for the rest of their lives. And the kids taken to the baby jails their grandparents helped erect. I want Reagan’s kids and grandkids and great grandkids, who have not denounced him to be thrown in jail forever. I mean forever. Their bones don’t get our for a burial. They will rot in prison cells.

    I want the SCOTUS packed.

    I want to increase the seats in the House. I want Senator representation to also be based on population, so the 500,000 mostly right-wing fuckrards in Wyoming don’t get the same say in government as the 40 million people in CA.

    America has been INCREDIBLY LUCKY that in times of crisis great leaders emerge, such as Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and to some extent Obama and Teddy Roosevelt.

    I want to burn this motherfucker down.

  44. 44.

    MazeDancer

    October 5, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    @VFX Lurker:

    Big applause!!!

    50 was a nice ask!

    So is 10.

    They all count.

  45. 45.

    eclare

    October 5, 2018 at 7:30 pm

    I’m in. Currently listening to old, angry rap. Ice Cube’s “No Vaseline” expresses my thoughts pretty accurately.

  46. 46.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 7:34 pm

    @lamh36:

    that’s a ballsy move when it’s this close. especially WV.

  47. 47.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    Congrats on the new hire Bellaire, WV…ugh…

    @IntelligencerWV
    Follow Follow @IntelligencerWV
    More
    BREAKING: The village of Bellaire has added two part-time police officers to its ranks. They include Timothy Loehmann, the former Cleveland officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice, and Eric Smith, who remains on paid suspension from his post as Bethesda…

  48. 48.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 7:45 pm

    @lamh36:

    somebody is behind this idea and it aint Jr. he’s an idiot.

    the appalachians are big on ‘honor’, like parts of the deep-ass south. what Jr just did here is some pretty smart shit. he basically said that manchin was donald’s b****. if manchin keeps his vote and lets it go he feeds into that. what else is he gonna do? his voters are gonna look at him and laugh. nice job joe.

  49. 49.

    guachi

    October 5, 2018 at 7:46 pm

    Well, if it’s all white people in Bellaire, WV then no worries. Right?

  50. 50.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 7:48 pm

    @ericawerner
    Follow Follow @ericawerner
    More
    Murkowski, speaking on the floor. Calls Kavanaugh “a good man” who has been “damaged terribly.”
    “As a legislative branch we have an obligation, a moral obligation, to do better than this.”

    6:43 PM – 5 Oct 2018

  51. 51.

    Aleta

    October 5, 2018 at 7:48 pm

    Imani Gandy o—€ @AngryBlackLady
    I know people don’t find value in voting—especially given the two party system and rampant injustice in this country—but honest to god, the lurching rightward of the courts has concerned me for years.

    And now it’s happening. And it really makes me feel sick.

    
And voting is the only way to stop it. It just is.

    Part of the reason @Hegemommy and I started this #TeamLegal business is to explain how the law impacts people.

    I think a lot of people are put off by all the jargon and so they don’t pay much attention to the courts.

    
I’m begging everyone to pay more attention to the courts. Not just the Supreme Court. But lower courts, too.


    

Congressional power changes hands every few years, as does control of the White House.
    But the courts are far more static. The people this illegitimate orange-tinted president has appointed to the federal judiciary will be ruling on people’s civil rights for DECADES.


    And I guess I fundamentally don’t understand how you square that with principled non-voting.
    *
    I’m really not trying to shame people. I just don’t get it.


    All I can promise to do is keep covering the courts and keep trying to explain shit as best I can.

  52. 52.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 5, 2018 at 7:53 pm

    @guachi: If it’s across the river from Bellaire, OH; it’s in Cole’s neck of the woods. Just south of Wheeling.

  53. 53.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 7:54 pm

    More
    And @WSJ decides to go with a rape joke

    https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/1048355012081008640

    Susan Collins Consents
    The Maine Republican restores reason to the Kavanaugh confirmation.

    Yes, that is the real WSJ headline

  54. 54.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 5, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    @Aleta: ABL’s doing God’s work, as always.

  55. 55.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 7:56 pm

    @chopper: the voters who care already think of Manchin as Trump’s bitch…so he won’t likely care…as long as he gets their votes. there is no consequences to Manchin’s action, other than Kavanaugh being on SCOTUS and having a conservative majority for a generation on the SCOTUS

  56. 56.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 7:58 pm

    @lamh36:

    @jbendery
    4m4 minutes ago
    More
    “The reason I could not support Judge Kavanaugh,” says Murkowski, “is that … I take this obligation that we have in the role of advice and consent as seriously as anything that I am obligated … to vote on.”

  57. 57.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 8:00 pm

    @nycsouthpaw
    3m3 minutes ago
    More
    Sen. Murkowski is speaking on the floor now, giving a speech criticizing Kavanaugh’s lack of judicial temperament. In contrast to Sen. Collins, the Republican seats behind her are empty.

  58. 58.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 5, 2018 at 8:00 pm

    @lamh36:

    SCOTUS and having a conservative majority for a generation on the SCOTUS

    The number of justices is set by statute.

  59. 59.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 5, 2018 at 8:06 pm

    Is the lifetime appointment part set by statute too?

  60. 60.

    jl

    October 5, 2018 at 8:07 pm

    @lamh36: ‘ Calls Kavanaugh “a good man” who has been “damaged terribly.” ‘

    I appreciate Murkowski’s vote, but good men, good people, do not tell repeated and big lies in job interviews, or confirmation hearings.
    And a confirmation process deeply corrupted, twice, by her own party, has done far more damage to the country, than anything that’s happened to BK, which frankly, ain’t much, nothing compared to what he deserves, just for the perjury, let along the other charges, assaults and unethical conduct with stolen documents.

  61. 61.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 5, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: No.

  62. 62.

    smintheus

    October 5, 2018 at 8:10 pm

    I was reading Benvenuto Cellini’s autobiography this past week with one class. In the past I used to be mildly amused by Cellini’s narcissistic personality, his huge sense of entitlement, his whiny grievances and petty vendettas, and his self-aggrandizing justifications for provocative and violent behavior. But not this time through. This time it seemed like I was reading the thoughts of a certain Republican too much in the news.

    My students agreed that he’d be somebody you definitely would not want to sit down for a beer with.

  63. 63.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 5, 2018 at 8:11 pm

    Are Bredesen and Manchin supporting special K, because bros before hos, not some deep political calculation.

  64. 64.

    VFX Lurker

    October 5, 2018 at 8:13 pm

    @MazeDancer: Thanks. Someone here wrote that it takes 25 postcards to get one vote, and I wanted to get more than one vote. Hope I can get all 44 postcards done this weekend!!!!

  65. 65.

    Barb 2

    October 5, 2018 at 8:13 pm

    Done & done!

    Plus I’m going to send post cards to Kansas although I live in blue Washington state where we have mail in ballots! My mom was from Kansas and I used to go there in the summer when I was in high school. That will be my “hook” or connection. My maternal ancestors homesteaded in Kansas and lived there for generations.

    I’m adding that but for those who live in blue states and wonder how to “connect” with others. A front page post of examples of what to write would be great. Hint, hint.

  66. 66.

    jl

    October 5, 2018 at 8:13 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: I think life tenure is implied in the Constitution, since there it says they serve after confirmation contingent only on ‘good behavior’, IIRC.
    IANAL, so would be interested in BJ legal flying wedge coming on the field.

    I guess SCOTUS would have to rule on a law that sets a limited term. That’d be fun.

  67. 67.

    MomSense

    October 5, 2018 at 8:15 pm

    Here’s a mental health break. This man volunteers at a shelter every day where he brushes all the cats and then takes naps with them.

    safe haven pet sanctuary

  68. 68.

    smintheus

    October 5, 2018 at 8:15 pm

    @jl: It’s just bullshit and should be called such. Ford and Kavanaugh flatly contradicted each other. One (at least) of them lied under oath about the alleged attack; one of them is a bad person a person who should be put on trial for perjury. It’s the senators’ job to tell us which of the two they advocate should be prosecuted. There is no “both sides” that is possible here.

  69. 69.

    jl

    October 5, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Manchin is such a stupid craven jackass, God only knows what Manchin believes.I doubt Manchin does himself, other than he does whatever keeps him on the gravy train for the next few days.

  70. 70.

    meander

    October 5, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    @lamh36: I’m not inside the Bredesen campaign, so don’t know the full calculus, but from what I’m seeing, it looks like a huge unforced error. Unlike Manchin, Bredesen is not forced to vote. He could have stayed quiet or issued a bland statement like “The investigation looked rushed and I wasn’t able to review the report, so it’s too early to issue a recommendation.”

    Instead, Democratic activists are mad as hell at Bredesen (esp. women). Soon after the statement, Postcards To Voters took him off their campaign list. Move On is pulling funding. And so on…

    And is Bredesen getting any credit or ‘independent cred’? I doubt it and the CNN link doesn’t show much love from the center or right.

    Perhaps people in TN see it differently?

  71. 71.

    J R in WV

    October 5, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    @lamh36:

    Congrats on the new hire Bellaire, WV…ugh…

    @IntelligencerWV
    Follow Follow @IntelligencerWV
    More
    BREAKING: The village of Bellaire has added two part-time police officers to its ranks. They include Timothy Loehmann, the former Cleveland officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice, and Eric Smith, who remains on paid suspension from his post as Bethesda…

    @guachi:

    Well, if it’s all white people in Bellaire, WV then no worries. Right?

    Both of you listen up — the story is in the Wheeling WV Intelligencer, the bigger town in the area west of Pittsburgh. The event is in Bellaire, Ohio !! The town is small, 4,200 and is across the river from Wheeling. It is 89% white. 7% black, the rest are fractions.

    I can’t imagine how they afford to hire 6 new cops, even if they’re part timers getting intro level pay. Just the equipment would break a group of 4200 people.

    But this isn’t in WV…. not that it couldn’t be in WV, just that it isn’t.

    NO offense, I luv you guys, keep up the morale as best you can!!

    I contributed to the Senator in ND, she seems like she might win after all!

  72. 72.

    MazeDancer

    October 5, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    Wow, BJ!

    You’re about to hit another goal. YAY!

    Dear Doug, What if next we did the Senate Races, next?

    Truly, I believe Collins put all the Senate Races in play tonight. But crucial are the 8 races in the middle at Real Clear Politics, plus Mike Espy in MS, whose polling is up.

    I’m willing to put in the work to try to get some Senate names for PostCard-ing. I’m assuming they’ll all blow me off. The dedication to phonebanking in the campaign world, when no living human answers an unknown number, is a bit retro to say the least. And there is proven research personal PostCards work. But it can’t hurt to ask .

  73. 73.

    MisterForkbeard

    October 5, 2018 at 8:21 pm

    I just flipped out on an old college acquaintance who snidely commented something to the effect of “But Clinton perjured himself and Democrats love him, therefore Kavanaugh get to be on the Supreme Court.”

    I wrote something that started with “I’m going to say this as nicely as I can: Go fuck yourself.” It hot worse from there, though I did other to explain certain differences to him. Then I blocked him.

    I’m done being nice to these assholes. I wonder if Republicans have any idea how many people they just radicalized.

  74. 74.

    smintheus

    October 5, 2018 at 8:21 pm

    @jl: The salary of justices is not written into the Constitution. It should be possible to reduce their salary to $1.00 per year, and pass a law prohibiting justices from accepting any form of compensation other than their salary. When a bunch have retired, the salary can be increased again.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    October 5, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    @smintheus: Salary protection is in the Constitution.

  76. 76.

    smintheus

    October 5, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: Shorter GOP: We used to be against even the mildest forms of perjury when it was expedient to be.

  77. 77.

    eclare

    October 5, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    @meander: I am in TN, and I am pissed as hell and will be calling his office on Monday. The ONLY hope he has is with the base turning out, women and African Americans. This shreds his credibility with both. Goddammit, Doug Jones in AL took a stand, why can’t he?

    Of course I’m not going to vote for Marsha Marsha Marsha, but I’m sure not excited about voting for him. And enthusiasm and volunteers are going to matter for this. He just lost both.

  78. 78.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    @J R in WV: I apologize in this case. Adam or someone else can edit the WV out of the comment if they wish.

    ETA: why so touchy bout WV all of a sudden?

  79. 79.

    Darkrose

    October 5, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    @rikyrah: I’m relieved by the verdict. I will be happy if the cops who helped cover it up and falsified reports are convicted of conspiracy.

  80. 80.

    smintheus

    October 5, 2018 at 8:25 pm

    @Baud: For the president and for members of Congress, but not as far as I know for justices of the Supreme Court.

  81. 81.

    Steve in the ATL

    October 5, 2018 at 8:30 pm

    @MomSense:

    I’m rage knitting.

    That is so fucking metal….

    Steve who just landed at ATL and may or may not have been rage drinking all the way from BDL

  82. 82.

    MisterForkbeard

    October 5, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    @smintheus: Pretty much. It’s pretty obvious Republicans literally dont care about the law anymore, but I dont know about how the media will cover it. Probably they’ll decide that since K is getting confirmed that means that Republicans were clearly right.

    I’m seeing a lot of people talking about how Collins blew her “moderate and reasonable” cover today. So maybe that’s a silver lining.

  83. 83.

    Baud

    October 5, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    @smintheus: For president and judges. Not for members of Congress.

  84. 84.

    Jeffro

    October 5, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    @smintheus:

    Ford and Kavanaugh flatly contradicted each other. One (at least) of them lied under oath about the alleged attack; one of them is a bad person a person who should be put on trial for perjury. It’s the senators’ job to tell us which of the two they advocate should be prosecuted. There is no “both sides” that is possible here.

    Exactly (for all the good it will do now): one of these two people was lying, GOP: who? You’ve essentially thrown up your hands and said “ehhh…who knows?”

    Anyway, I’m done angst-ing over this. We will crush them in 2018 and 2020 and we will pack the court and we will have to create something new and better afterwards. But my goodness, there are a LOT of stops on the Bud Light Throughput Graveyard Tour (probably circa 2026, I’m guessing?) Mitch McConnell, you have actually dethroned Don the Con as my last and best stop, m’man. Your grave might well be a pond by the time I’m done…

  85. 85.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    Rev. Barber was protesting in front of Macdonald’s corporate headquarters and getting arrested…

    and he learned he just won a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” of $625,000.

  86. 86.

    lamh36

    October 5, 2018 at 8:33 pm

    @markknoller
    21m21 minutes ago
    More
    On Senate floor, @lisamurkowski confirms she will vote against the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh on Saturday, but in the final tally will ask that her vote be recorded as “present.” Also voices hope that the Senate can “return to a less rancorous confirmation process.”

    someone remind me again, the purpose of be recorded as “present”? Is it to avoid having to say YES or NO?

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 5, 2018 at 8:33 pm

    @meander: Maybe he’s getting money under the table to throw the election and keep the Senate Republican?

  88. 88.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 5, 2018 at 8:34 pm

    @lamh36: Splunge! It means yes, or maybe no, and I’m not being indecisive!!!

  89. 89.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    Bort O’Kavanaw was witness tampering
    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/battle-over-accusations-goes-kavanaugh-nomination-advances-n917136

  90. 90.

    Steve in the ATL

    October 5, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    @lamh36: stop nominating assholes and it will be less rancorous, right?

  91. 91.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 8:38 pm

    @Jeffro:

    We will crush them in 2018 and 2020 and we will pack the court and we will have to create something new and better afterwards

    We will march on a road of bones.

  92. 92.

    smintheus

    October 5, 2018 at 8:39 pm

    @Baud: Ah, you’re right, for judges too. Members of Congress are covered by the 27th Amendment.

  93. 93.

    NR

    October 5, 2018 at 8:42 pm

    @thaddeu: That would certainly be one way, and perhaps the most effective way, to deal with a right-wing SCOTUS.

    However, if you think the Democratic party under its current leadership will pursue that strategy, you’re going to be bitterly disappointed. We had Chuck Schumer just this past week talking about how it was important to return to “regular order” on confirmations once the Dems are back in power. Meaning, let’s return to the norms that got us this political outcome, and then we’ll lock them in place and give a Republican Senate minority a veto over our picks in the future. This is coming from one of the party leaders.

    Tom Perez as the head of the DNC said that the Kavanaugh vote shouldn’t be treated as a litmus test.

    This is not the kind of leadership that is up to the challenge.

  94. 94.

    jl

    October 5, 2018 at 8:42 pm

    @Jeffro: These GOPers and the me-too concern trolls are so damned worried about poor men and boys are unjustly accused. Well, gosh golly, so am I. And that sometimes happens, though the odds of an assault being never reported are far far higher.

    But, guess what, we’ve seen unjust accusations before, and what happens is that they usually fall apart. It isn’t true that the fact that usually there is a lack of conclusive physical evidence means the accused is just helpless poor little man-boy at the mercy of evil false accusers. You investigate and see which story holds up. We’ve seen false accusations against men all apart under investigation.

    So, we have the GOPers saying that her story holds up, but they are afraid to investigate the charges. And they are damn near openly admitting (edit: though sometimes it takes almost 45 minutes), probably because no way to escape it, that is exactly what they are doing.

    Sort of like Trump saying its a scary time for boys out there, when he himself would not back off from charges of sexual assault against teens that were conclusively proven to be false. But, oh, those guys weren’t white.

    Our national politics is like an open, overflowing sewer these days. It is sickening.

  95. 95.

    EveryDayIHaveTheBlues

    October 5, 2018 at 9:20 pm

    My first political donation EVER. Never thought it would be for someone from North Dakota.

  96. 96.

    Jeffro

    October 5, 2018 at 9:36 pm

    @germy:

    We will march on a road of bones.

    Let’s keep that metaphorical…for now

  97. 97.

    Yutsano

    October 5, 2018 at 9:54 pm

    @NR: Oh that’s right. It’s close to an election. That’s why you’re showing up now to bash on Democratic leadership. Piss off.

  98. 98.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 5, 2018 at 10:26 pm

    @NR: Go blow goats.

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