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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Senate GOP turns up music, clamps hand over America’s face

Senate GOP turns up music, clamps hand over America’s face

by Betty Cracker|  October 5, 201811:06 am| 350 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Assholes

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The senate voted 51-49 to hold a final vote on Kavanaugh. The Post:

BREAKING: Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Jeff Flake voted to move ahead. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin joined them in voting yes. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski broke with her GOP colleagues. The procedural vote in the Senate was expected to be a strong indicator of whether Kavanaugh had enough support to be confirmed.

Fuck fucking Manchin. I hope his gun explodes next time he films himself shooting a bill.

As Adam Serwer noted in The Atlantic, the guardrails have failed:

As for Kavanaugh, every opinion he writes, every decision he joins, and every day he sits on the bench will be tainted with illegitimacy. As senators who represent a shrinking portion of the population prepare to confirm a justice more Americans oppose than support, who was nominated by a president for whom most of the electorate did not vote, the crisis of American democracy comes into sharp relief. Whatever their self-perception, Republican control of the three branches of government is countermajoritarian. With the guardrails of separated powers broken, the last remaining defense for American democracy and the rule of law is the electorate itself.

And as we know, chipping away at the electorate through voter suppression has been a long-term Republican project. Will American democracy survive? We’ll know in 32 days.

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Reader Interactions

350Comments

  1. 1.

    FelonyGovt

    October 5, 2018 at 11:08 am

    I feel sick. If Manchin had only voted with his party for once…

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    October 5, 2018 at 11:08 am

    We’re dooooommmeeeeddd!!! DOOOOOMMMEEEDDD!!!!

    Just wanted to get that out of the way early.

  3. 3.

    LAO

    October 5, 2018 at 11:09 am

    What a weekend to spend at my folks house with my rightwing dad. grrr.

  4. 4.

    Mary G

    October 5, 2018 at 11:10 am

    Well. Gotta admit Cole was right. I did not think they would sink so low. A sad, sad day for America. My hand hurts like hell, but I am going to go back to writing postcards.

  5. 5.

    Just Chuck

    October 5, 2018 at 11:10 am

    And now the third branch of the US government is an illegitimate unfunny joke.

    Empires take a long time to fall. The question isn’t when the USA is over, it’s figuring when the last act began.

  6. 6.

    The Moar You Know

    October 5, 2018 at 11:11 am

    I hope everyone remembers next time that Collins never has been and never will be a lifeline to moderation. Flake I expected – and expect – nothing from.

    Manchin…hoo boy. He did not have to do this. He really didn’t.

    This ain’t over but it’s sure not looking too good.

  7. 7.

    Corner Stone

    October 5, 2018 at 11:12 am

    And as we know, chipping away at the electorate through voter suppression has been a long-term Republican project.

    Voter suppression, and I would suggest also too that since at least 2014 they have been willingly open to benefitting from active measures by a foreign power.

  8. 8.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 5, 2018 at 11:12 am

    Jeez people there’s one more vote. Let’s mourn the death of American democracy tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.

  9. 9.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 11:14 am

    One more kick at the football tomorrow.

  10. 10.

    Just Chuck

    October 5, 2018 at 11:15 am

    Remind me again why the Senate was ever a good idea? Some worn stale anecdote about the godlike prophetic wisdom of the founding fathers will do.

  11. 11.

    RenoRick

    October 5, 2018 at 11:15 am

    Anyone who is surprised by this obviously hasn’t been paying attention over the last 20 years.

  12. 12.

    debbie

    October 5, 2018 at 11:16 am

    Sad, but not surprising.

    McConnell’s calling the women who confronted Flake in the elevator “paid demonstrators” is beyond ironic, considering he himself is the Chief Paid Whore of the Senate.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    October 5, 2018 at 11:16 am

    Well, if the vote tomorrow goes like it did today then it won’t matter anymore what the eventual Mueller Report finds/states. If we even get to ever see it.

  14. 14.

    LAO

    October 5, 2018 at 11:16 am

    @FelonyGovt: Then the VP would have broken the tie and the confirmation vote would still be on tomorrow.

  15. 15.

    Hoodie

    October 5, 2018 at 11:17 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Does Manchin really want to be No. 51? Wonder if he votes no tomorrow.

  16. 16.

    donnah

    October 5, 2018 at 11:17 am

    Manchin’s a DINO.

    Hopeful for a few flips in the confirmation vote, but not expecting it.

  17. 17.

    debbie

    October 5, 2018 at 11:17 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    Also paid whores.

  18. 18.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 11:17 am

    Jesus Christ, this wasn’t the final vote. Obamacare repeal also passed the cloture vote last year, and everybody was convinced the sky was falling then, too.

    I’m irritated that Manchin voted for cloture, but I can wait 30 hours on the white-hot “fuck him sideways with a rusty clawhammer for eternity” rage until we see what he does on the final vote.

    I remain convinced that he won’t be the deciding vote to put Kavanaugh on SCOTUS when all is said and done. If Collins announces this afternoon that she’ll be a “no”, I think Manchin will be as well.

    I don’t have great confidence that this will work out in our favor. But I haven’t lost all hope, either. Nobody expected McCain to be the deciding vote to kill Obamacare repeal, and yet, there he was. And that was after he voted “yes” on cloture for the same bill.

  19. 19.

    ruemara

    October 5, 2018 at 11:18 am

    @FelonyGovt: He votes with his party over 80%.

    Christ, this isn’t the final vote. I hope everyone is working hard on getting voters to the polls then.

  20. 20.

    Tom Levenson

    October 5, 2018 at 11:18 am

    Tried to call Collins just now. Busy signal.

  21. 21.

    hueyplong

    October 5, 2018 at 11:18 am

    We probably shouldn’t discount entirely the possibility that Murkowski was only released to vote no once they had the 51 without her.

  22. 22.

    Droppy

    October 5, 2018 at 11:18 am

    I boof in their general direction.

  23. 23.

    Ella in New Mexico

    October 5, 2018 at 11:18 am

    I’m still hoping the issue of Kavanaugh’s “highly partisan remarks and injudicious conduct” in the last hearing could be the protective cover that these assholes need to vote no. So I’m crossing my fingers.

    Because “dissembling” under oath about sexual and black-out drunken exploits is apparently not disqualifying for the Supreme Court.

    EDIT: OMGeeeee! We have our Edit function back!!!

    One thing I will say on this issue: it gave me a glimmer of hope that so many Senators from opposite sides were talking TO EACH OTHER all week on this issue. it’s a teeny-tiny glimpse of what we used to have on most issues in this country, and I’m hoping it foretells the baseball beating death of McConnell’s scorched earth partisanship in the next few elections.

  24. 24.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 11:18 am

    Do we know that this is not just the GOP throwing in the towel; let’s limit the damage by getting this Kavanope charade over as quickly as possible?

    Do we know if either Murkowski or Manchin has gotten to read the entire (and quite incomplete) FBI “investigation”.

    Call all the Senators you feel like dialing. Ask them if they are satisfied with the quality of the FBI report sham. Tell them we can see them.

    Ask if we even need Senators, or do we just have the President dictate a nominee and dictate limiting any full investigation of that nominee?

    They are failing their duty and their “institution”, as well as us.

    I don’t assume that McConnell has the votes. At all. This is attempted intimidation.

    Looks like another visit to Capitol Hill for me tonight and tomorrow. Stand and be counted. (Have a funeral to attend in the meantime.)

  25. 25.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 11:18 am

    Senate GOP turns up music, clamps hand over America’s face

    it really is disturbingly meta, innit. the GOP is saying ‘sorry, but i want this and it’s happening and you should just shut up and take it’.

  26. 26.

    Corner Stone

    October 5, 2018 at 11:19 am

    Is someone on the Senate floor wearing a BROWN SUIT?! On the SENATE FLOOR?! BROWN!!
    ***Feints***

  27. 27.

    GregMulka

    October 5, 2018 at 11:19 am

    @debbie:

    Sex Workers sell happiness. Don’t lump them in with the pustule sacks.

  28. 28.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 11:19 am

    The very rude elevator screamers are paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad. Don’t fall for it! Also, look at all of the professionally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others. These are not signs made in the basement from love! #Troublemakers— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2018

  29. 29.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 11:21 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Thank you.

    Balloon Juice is becoming something to limit exposure to, with all the defeatism here. Do not give up until it is over.

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 11:22 am

    @germy: Trump is bullshitting again.

    There were some signs handed out by groups, true. But so many more that were handmade and original.

    Fuck Trump.

  31. 31.

    clay

    October 5, 2018 at 11:22 am

    @Just Chuck: Well, as originally envisioned, the United States was just that — independent States that were coming together — and it was important for those States, as discrete bodies, to have representation in the Federal Government. It’s doubtful that the States would’ve ratified the Constitution in the first place had this structure not been in place.

  32. 32.

    Barb 2

    October 5, 2018 at 11:23 am

    It is not over.

    One more vote.

    The Supreme Court is well on it’s way to becoming irrelevant. So sad.

    Get out the vote and donate to those that share your vision for the future.

  33. 33.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 11:23 am

    Talk to the Senators’ offices about temperament. Kavanaugh’s is disqualifying, and has a lot of Senators’ attention, even if many will not admit it publicly (yet).

  34. 34.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 11:24 am

    @FelonyGovt:

    Good Lord. Manchin deserves to catch hell for helping to keep this nomination alive, but the implication that he usually votes with Republicans is beyond absurd. Facts matter. He’s a crappy Democrat, but he’s a crappy Democrat who does vote with his own party more than 80% of the time. As for today’s vote, his “yes” didn’t change anything – without him, Pence would have broken the tie and the nomination would still be headed to a final vote.

    If he fails us tomorrow and winds up being the deciding vote to seat by Judge Rapey, I’ll be first in line calling for the Democrats to pull all institutional support from his campaign and making him persona non grata.

  35. 35.

    PVDMichael

    October 5, 2018 at 11:25 am

    Yikes. I hope West Virginia Ds don’t sit on their hands in November instead of voting for a person who stands a remote chance of being the 51st vote for Majority Leader Schumer… the guy who would control whether any piece of legislation or nominee even makes it to the floor for at least two years.

  36. 36.

    soapidsh

    October 5, 2018 at 11:25 am

    @LAO: Like Dan Savage says, your only leverage over your parents as an adult is your presence. I haven’t spoken to my mother since November 2016. And she deserves it.

  37. 37.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 11:26 am

    @janesays:

    Jesus Christ, this wasn’t the final vote. Obamacare repeal also passed the cloture vote last year, and everybody was convinced the sky was falling then, too.

    because the sky was falling. nobody expected mccain of all people to be the guy to blow the whole thing up.

  38. 38.

    clay

    October 5, 2018 at 11:26 am

    Someone posted earlier that a Senator — forget which one — will NOT be present for the vote tomorrow. So a single GOP defector (along with Democratic unity) will mean no confirmation.

    Murkowski seems pretty much a “no”. It’s really all up to Manchin. I’d say that he’s spending a lot of time with Chuck Schumer these days.

  39. 39.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 11:27 am

    @Elizabelle: This, times a bazillion.

    If we somehow or other manage to pull a victory out on this one, I vote to revoke all commenters “the sky is falling!” privileges for the rest of the year.

  40. 40.

    hueyplong

    October 5, 2018 at 11:27 am

    If the vote is tomorrow, doesn’t that mean RapeyK is missing the vote of that Montana GOP Senator? Or is his daughter’s wedding no longer an impediment?

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    October 5, 2018 at 11:27 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Of course all the signs at his rallies are handmade with Crayola crayons.

  42. 42.

    Spanky

    October 5, 2018 at 11:29 am

    YO! CHILL! This is only the cloture vote. There’s still time and reason to keep the pressure on Jackass Joe and Flake, especially.

  43. 43.

    LAO

    October 5, 2018 at 11:29 am

    @soapidsh: good point. It’s not all terrible, my mom is a die hard lefty, so politics are usually banned in the house, But I’m still annoyed.

  44. 44.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 11:29 am

    @clay: Murkowski isn’t pretty much a “no”, she’s a “no”. Anybody who votes against cloture has already decided they are against confirmation. Yes, theoretically she could change her mind, but why would somebody who is truly undecided jeopardize their own chance to further consider their final vote?

  45. 45.

    Corner Stone

    October 5, 2018 at 11:30 am

    @clay: Do you really think McConnell is going to let the vote close without that Senator’s vote?

  46. 46.

    JPL

    October 5, 2018 at 11:30 am

    @PVDMichael: You sure he wouldn’t jump ship and become a republican then? just sayin

  47. 47.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 11:31 am

    @clay: Murkowski isn’t pretty much a “no”, she’s a “no”. Anybody who votes against cloture has already decided they are against confirmation. Yes, theoretically she could change her mind, but why would somebody who is truly undecided jeopardize their own chance to further consider their final vote?

    Voting “no” on cloture is effectively saying, “I don’t need more time to consider, I’ve already decided I’m against this nominee”.

  48. 48.

    Corner Stone

    October 5, 2018 at 11:32 am

    MSNBC just showed a clip of a confused Manchin wandering the Senate halls and not knowing where he was. I don’t know if that was taped or real time but pretty appropriate, IMO.

  49. 49.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 11:32 am

    The FBI put so little work into its final Kavanaugh report that I am now certain it uses 12.5 font and has a long unnecessary intro that begins “Since the dawn of man, governments have asked federal bureaus to investigate crime"— Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) October 4, 2018

    FBI: Can anyone corroborate these allegations?
    **50 hands go up**
    FBI: No? No one?
    — Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) October 4, 2018

  50. 50.

    FelonyGovt

    October 5, 2018 at 11:34 am

    If we manage to pull out a victory tomorrow I will be thrilled.

    And whatever happens tomorrow, the focus will be squarely back on Trump and his disgraceful actions and behavior.

  51. 51.

    dnfree

    October 5, 2018 at 11:34 am

    This paragraph from The Atlantic column by Serwer summed it up for me.

    “For the past two weeks, the debate over Kavanaugh has focused on the psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford’s emotional testimony before the Senate that Brett Kavanaugh attempted to rape her as a teenager, and Kavanaugh’s furious denial. But once Kavanaugh revealed himself as an unrestrained partisan actor, Republicans rallied to his support. Americans do not know for certain that Ford’s allegations are true, but they do know for certain that no one with the authority to do so ever made a real effort to find out.”

  52. 52.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 11:34 am

    @Corner Stone: they’ve already said they’ll hold the vote open for Daines. Some adolescent muppet on MSNBC said Daines might “hitch a ride” back to DC after the ceremony, as in “some donor may make an unreported unrecorded in-kind gift to the GOP in the form of a $10,000 private jet flight from Billings to DC”

    I hope some bridesmaid slips him a bad shrimp before he makes his toast and skips out

  53. 53.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 5, 2018 at 11:34 am

    Minority rule by the Rapist caucus.

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 11:35 am

    @janesays: I want those commenters to contribute to Planned Parenthood, and I will think of another charity or two.

    And then I want them to think about what it does to the rest of us to hear these gasbags drone on and on that all hope is lost.

    Being concerned and even scared is one thing. That’s fair. Telling us they know something that the rest of us don’t is pie-worthy.

  55. 55.

    HinTN

    October 5, 2018 at 11:36 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Exactly right. This was the “filibuster” vote. Voting “Aye” used to be cover for voting “Nay” later (he was forit before he was against it) in the days of less information and voter knowledge.

    Breathe, people.

    ETA (thank you !!!) Call the offices of Manchin, Collins, Flake, Corker. Murkowski, et al.

  56. 56.

    Brickley Paiste

    October 5, 2018 at 11:36 am

    I can’t help but note that President Bernie would not have nominated Kavanaugh.

  57. 57.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 11:36 am

    @germy:

    “webster’s dictionary defines an ‘investigation’ as ”a systematic examination or official inquiry…”

  58. 58.

    Betty Cracker

    October 5, 2018 at 11:36 am

    As a woman, I’ve known that the highest court in the land contains at least one misogynist prick for almost all of my adult life. And, failing a sudden attack of conscience from a jackass who airs commercials of himself shooting paper to thrill his gun-fondling constituents, I’ll be looking at at least one misogynist prick on the SCOTUS until I’m an old lady, if I don’t die first. So yeah, I get why people are a little discouraged. I’m a little discouraged myself. If that harshes anyone’s mellow, too goddamned bad.

  59. 59.

    Amir Khalid

    October 5, 2018 at 11:36 am

    @Corner Stone:

    ***Feints***

    Faints.

  60. 60.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 11:37 am

    @Brickley Paiste:

    of course. why would bernie nominate and angry, self-righteous finger-wagging asshole?

  61. 61.

    LAC

    October 5, 2018 at 11:38 am

    @Elizabelle: i couldnt agree with you more. This is becoming the wrong place to come to get solace and inspiration to keep fighting. Its turned into look at my cute dog/garden/backsplash but FUCK YOU! AMERICA IS OVER. DARKNESS! WINTER IS COMING! every other post. We yammer on about the youngsters being apathetic, but what is this?

  62. 62.

    MisterForkbeard

    October 5, 2018 at 11:38 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Manchin in particular is going to get a LOT of calls today, I think. Collins too, though she’s awful in every way.

    I suppose Flake is going to get some calls too, but like Collins he’s almost always useless.

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 11:39 am

    @chopper: the Republican Senate would’ve confirmed Howard Zinn’s rotting corpse to three seats after Bernie told them to look out the window.

  64. 64.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 5, 2018 at 11:39 am

    @Elizabelle: Same here. The whining and hair tearing exhibited by well off white men, who are going to be the least affected by R policies would be funny were it not so infuriating.

  65. 65.

    debbie

    October 5, 2018 at 11:40 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    As a woman, I’ve known that the highest court in the land contains at least one misogynist prick for almost all of my adult life.

    I think we can all agree that Kavanaugh, as shown by his testimony, will be the first non-apologetic RWNJ SCJ. He won’t even try to hide it. That’s not a good sign.

  66. 66.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 11:40 am

    @Betty Cracker: Being discouraged is one thing. Entirely understandable.

    Accepting and giving up is quite another. It saps courage to fight back.

  67. 67.

    Amir Khalid

    October 5, 2018 at 11:40 am

    @Brickley Paiste:
    I can’t help but note that Bernie is not President.

  68. 68.

    Felanius Kootea

    October 5, 2018 at 11:41 am

    @Amir Khalid: Heheheh but you knew he did that on purpose. “Shutters” for shudders too.

    I’ll wait till tomorrow’s vote – I haven’t lost hope yet.

  69. 69.

    MisterForkbeard

    October 5, 2018 at 11:41 am

    @chopper: Don’t there’s something deeply. deeply wrong with someone with such a big pie fixation.

    Best not to enagage.

  70. 70.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    October 5, 2018 at 11:41 am

    Hell, if I were a senator, I’d vote for cloture just in order to get the pustule to head up for popping.

  71. 71.

    Brickley Paiste

    October 5, 2018 at 11:42 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Yes…. what might have been

    Isn’t there a poem about that?

  72. 72.

    LAO

    October 5, 2018 at 11:42 am

    @Brickley Paiste: Really, you can’t help yourself? Fuck off.

  73. 73.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 5, 2018 at 11:42 am

    Hmm, the pie filter works for original posts, but not replies.

  74. 74.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 11:42 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    “mitch, look out the window. do you see those people carrying puppets? see those puppets?! THEY’RE PUPPETS OF YOU!!”

    (mcconnell gasps and slowly mouths “no”. he clutches his chest, runs to the table, smashes a bottle of whiskey over his head, lights himself on fire and throws himself out the window)

  75. 75.

    ruemara

    October 5, 2018 at 11:44 am

    @PVDMichael: I think I’ll take his reliable 80+% over a reliable republican 99%.

    @Brickley Paiste: obligatory Fuck Bernie! Sick of your silly white male savior complex.

  76. 76.

    MazeDancer

    October 5, 2018 at 11:44 am

    href=”#comment-7044841″>The Moar You Know:

    Manchin…hoo boy. He did not have to do this. He really didn’t.

    @<a

    In a way, he did. Makes his own cover. He gave Trump his chance. But Kavanaugh's temperament made him unqualified. He can even cite friggin John Paul on that

    Hard to believe that Susan Collins will open herself up to 24 hours of assault if she takes to the floor to announce a "Yes" vote.

    But she's a lying, liar who lies, so who knows.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 11:44 am

    @chopper: as dubious as I was about their effectiveness, I did love the giant puppets. I don’t know why, but they cracked me up every time.

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 11:44 am

    @LAC: I think it’s because the blog skews old, very honestly.

    And our fight is not behind us. It’s ahead of us. We are looking at it. We did not ask for this, but it’s here.

    I met some of the arrested women once they were sprung. They were joyous about their resistance. I have their contact numbers, and will get them commenting here. They came to DC with identification and $50 for the arrest fee — that is all that it is, peeps, — in their pockets. I am thinking being arrested is not so scary. For me and other white middle aged ladies out there.

  79. 79.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 11:46 am

    @MazeDancer:

    if collins votes yes, i’m assuming she’ll have already decided to retire rather than run again in 2020.

  80. 80.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 5, 2018 at 11:46 am

    @Elizabelle:

    I think it’s because the blog skews old, very honestly.

    I dunno, my twitter feed is kinda like that too.

  81. 81.

    MazeDancer

    October 5, 2018 at 11:46 am

    Today is a great day to write PostCards to GOTV.

    Research suggests, at a .04 percent success rate, that just 25 cards can equal 1 extra Dem showing up at the polls.

    But you can write just 5 or 10 or 50 or 500.

    But, please, write some.

    Get your hot BJ Candidates Addresses here: PostCardPatriots.com

  82. 82.

    HinTN

    October 5, 2018 at 11:47 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Talk to the Senators’ offices about temperament.

    This.is.the.argument. Nothing else. TEMPERAMENT

  83. 83.

    Ian R

    October 5, 2018 at 11:47 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I hope someone tips the TSA that he’s a drug mule, and he has to be detained until the (alleged) condoms full of cocaine would pass naturally.

  84. 84.

    Amir Khalid

    October 5, 2018 at 11:48 am

    @Felanius Kootea:
    No, that was me fainting.

  85. 85.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 11:48 am

    @MazeDancer:

    .04 percent success rate would mean you’d have to write 2500 cards for 1 dem vote. i hope it’s better than that.

  86. 86.

    Juju

    October 5, 2018 at 11:49 am

    Mitch McConnel is a festering boil. When historians look at this era he will be the main villain. He’s another person on my wish for a stroke or lightning strike list.

    Susan Collins is what she has always been. If Kavanaugh goes through I’m donating to the fund that will help finance an opponent.

    If Kavanaugh is voted on the court he will always have the illegitimacy of the way he was pushed through by the festering boil, all the FBI shenanigans and the fact that most of the country’s citizens do not want him there, as well as all of those law professors and former justices calling him unfit. Add the performance he did for the orange carbuncle and the perjury charges hanging over his head and my guess is that this will be a hollow victory for him in the long run. I hope it eats at him 100 times worse than things have eaten away at Clarence Thomas, who strikes me as an unhappy and bitter man in spite of his success. Kavanaugh could also go on a bender and drive into a tree or die of some alcohol related disease, given that he likes beer.

    I’m also going to write to investigative committee heads and tell them to do their jobs and investigate the perjury issues surrounding Kavanaugh.

  87. 87.

    debbie

    October 5, 2018 at 11:49 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Are these the women from Alaska? I’ve listened to a couple interviews with them. I say good on them for their passion and persuasiveness. Murkowski’s change of heart is very encouraging. Imagine! A representative who actually listens to her constituents!

  88. 88.

    Amir Khalid

    October 5, 2018 at 11:49 am

    Okay, what’s happened to the comment numbers?

  89. 89.

    Felanius Kootea

    October 5, 2018 at 11:50 am

    @Just Chuck: It’s only over when the majority stops fighting and willingly gives in to permanent minority rule. I don’t see that happening. You’re telling me that when a Democratic President wins, he/she can do nothing at all about the composition of the court?
    There’s nothing I’ve seen that says the US Supreme Court is permanently limited to 9 justices, 5 of whom have to adhere to a particular brand of conservative Catholicism.

  90. 90.

    debbie

    October 5, 2018 at 11:51 am

    @ruemara:

    Right. It’s not like Justice Jill would have sailed through confirmation.

  91. 91.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    October 5, 2018 at 11:51 am

    @LAO:

    What a weekend to spend at my folks house with my rightwing dad.

    “Hey dad, finally a Supreme Court Justice you can get behind; a rage filled drunk.”

  92. 92.

    Felanius Kootea

    October 5, 2018 at 11:51 am

    @Amir Khalid: Of course. Silly me :).

  93. 93.

    stan

    October 5, 2018 at 11:52 am

    @clay: Well, as originally envisioned, the United States was just that — independent States that were coming together — and it was important for those States, as discrete bodies, to have representation in the Federal Government. It’s doubtful that the States would’ve ratified the Constitution in the first place had this structure not been in place.

    That’s one school of thought, but definitely not the only one, regarding the order of creation. Others (Lincoln is one example) would put it the other way round – that the US created the states and that there was never a moment in history when there were something like 13 independent states coming together in a federation of sorts to create the US government.

    I’m not trying to convince you of the other argument, just saying, its merely one school of thought you posted, not universally-accepted history.

  94. 94.

    TS (the original)

    October 5, 2018 at 11:52 am

    If cloture fails – can there be a second vote?
    If the vote fails tomorrow – I assume that is the end of this nominee?

  95. 95.

    MazeDancer

    October 5, 2018 at 11:54 am

    @chopper:

    if collins votes yes, i’m assuming she’ll have already decided to retire rather than run again in 2020.

    And she can forget Governor, too

  96. 96.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 11:54 am

    @chopper: Agree with you there. No coming back for Susan Collins from a Yes on Kavanaugh.

    Angus King, the independent, was firmly voiced NO today.

    Maine went blue in 2016 Presidential election. 3 Electoral College votes for Hillary; unfortunately 1 for Trump.

    Hillary Clinton: 357,735 which was 47.8% of the total vote

    Donald Trump: 335,593, was 44.87%

    Gary Fucking Johnson: 38,105, was 5.19%. Remember: his running mate — who eventually was desperately telling folks to vote for Hillary — was William Weld, popular former governor of neighboring Massachusetts

    source: Wikipedia

  97. 97.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 11:55 am

    @chopper: Except that it wasn’t. We just convinced ourselves that it was, and we let the GOP convince us that it was as well. If the sky had really been falling, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.

    Being worried and alarmed is one thing. Being convinced that you’ve already lost before you’ve even begun the final round is something else entirely.

    The GOP wants us to be convinced that we’ve already lost and that Kavanaugh’s confirmation is inevitable. Because if we really believe that, we stop making phone calls, we stop fighting, and we stop giving the flakey undecideds any reason to consider making the right call.

    Don’t make this easy for them.

  98. 98.

    LAC

    October 5, 2018 at 11:56 am

    @Elizabelle: it is very encouraging seeing these young women walk the walk as well as talk the talk. I told my daughter that as black Americans, we rarely had the ideal adminstration, congress, SC, hell even governors and local officials during the long, slow fight for civil rights in this country. And we had setbacks (still today, btw) but you have to keep fighting until the end.

  99. 99.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 11:56 am

    @debbie: No, these were from NY.

    Please link to the women from Alaska — do have contact info for one of them; have not heard any interviews with them. Have some video and audio from yesterday (reviewing it later to see if it’s even borderline acceptable)

    Would love to hear what they’re saying.

  100. 100.

    feebog

    October 5, 2018 at 11:56 am

    Is Senator Daines still expected to miss the vote tomorrow? Last I heard he will be in Montana attending his daughter’s wedding. If that is the case, and Murkowski is a no, then a Manchin no vote means the nomination is dead.

  101. 101.

    Quinerly

    October 5, 2018 at 11:57 am

    Flake is a yes vote tomorrow.

  102. 102.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 11:57 am

    @LAC: People were telling me it was like being in the thick of civil rights again.

    Their demeanor was, “it’s tough, but we can do this. Again.”

  103. 103.

    Mnemosyne

    October 5, 2018 at 11:57 am

    @Brickley Paiste:

    You know who else wouldn’t have? Hillary fucking Clinton.

  104. 104.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 5, 2018 at 11:57 am

    @TS (the original): it’s my understanding that he’s “the nominee” until the WH pulls the nomination, but I can’t imagine he’d get a second vote.

  105. 105.

    Jinchi

    October 5, 2018 at 11:58 am

    I don’t understand Manchin’s play here. Presumably he needs some Democrats to vote for him next month. I want the Democrats to win the Senate as much as anyone, but losing the seat in WV after pulling a stunt like that might be worth the price. At least it would put a dagger in the idea that Democrats in conservative states need to fall in line with Trump to win re-election.

  106. 106.

    Felanius Kootea

    October 5, 2018 at 11:58 am

    @feebog: Agreed, though he did say something about walking his daughter down the aisle and still getting back to DC for a vote. We’ll see.

  107. 107.

    MazeDancer

    October 5, 2018 at 11:59 am

    @Elizabelle:

    (Sorry we don’t have any DM capability. But should I be saving you and PostCard writing pals a nice batch of Abigail Spanberger names. If so, how many? Thanks

    You can email me at PostCardPatriots.com site)

  108. 108.

    Felanius Kootea

    October 5, 2018 at 11:59 am

    @Jinchi: What if he votes no tomorrow?

  109. 109.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 5, 2018 at 12:00 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Is Bricks and Paste the former Boris in Putinland? Discuss.

  110. 110.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 12:00 pm

    @Jinchi: I agree.

    Hoping that Heidi Heitkamp’s decision put some steel in Manchin’s spine. Suspect he is desperately hoping he won’t have to go on record.

    Agree that his YES would demoralize those who were going to vote for him. It’s an own goal. Better to go down fighting than be complicit.

  111. 111.

    ET

    October 5, 2018 at 12:00 pm

    OT but I saw the Mad Magazine+Edward Gorey = Ghastleygun Tinies. Depressing as f**k but true, particularly the end.

  112. 112.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 12:01 pm

    @MazeDancer: Will get back to you. Thanks! Got to get ready and go out for a while now.

    Lovely offer. And I look forward to visiting your site AND doing some postcards. Have scads of colored markers!

  113. 113.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 12:02 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: I thought it was the latest incarnation of Amarintheen Steve the gun nut job creator. I think there was another nnym after ABRRBG

  114. 114.

    MisterForkbeard

    October 5, 2018 at 12:02 pm

    This is the way I see it, and it’s a two-parter:

    1) Today’s vote is disappointing – very much so. But the real thing is tomorrow, and this tell us exactly who to concentrate on. It’s still possible to derail this ugly sexist partisan asshat.

    2) Kavanaugh was ALWAYS obviously unfit and was ALWAYS going to be confirmed by 99% of Republican. This entire thing was a long shot to get 2-3 republicans to come to their senses and not confirm a probable rapist, definite perjurer, and long-time Republican activist to the judiciary. Whatever else happens, the Dems did a fantastic job and helped expose Kavanaugh as the monster he is, and with the possible exception of Manchin voted against him and convinced at least one Republican to vote against him.

    What I’m saying is, either way this goes it just makes me more determined to GOTV in November. It illustrates the need for More Dems, and if we can’t stop the atrocities now we can use them as fuel to make our chances better in the future.

  115. 115.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 12:02 pm

    @MazeDancer: Actually — yes! Save the names. Will get back to you.

  116. 116.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    October 5, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    @Jinchi:

    To be fair, his office is undoubtedly getting a zillion calls from economically anxious unemployed high school dropouts who disdain elites and (checks notes) want him to vote for a snotty, snobby prep school brat with a trust fund and Ivy League diploma.

  117. 117.

    MisterForkbeard

    October 5, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    @Felanius Kootea: Yep. Daines basically said he’d leave his daughter’s wedding early to get to DC to vote in a rapist to the court. McConnell will hold the vote open as long as is needed.

    The RIGHT thing to do would be to delay the vote until Monday so he doesn’t have to skip part of his daughter’s wedding, but I suppose we’ve all got to make sacrifices if we want to put perjuring rapists on the supreme court for life, right?

  118. 118.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    @Felanius Kootea:

    if it turns out Boof is going down, it’ll be decided tomorrow and daines’ vote won’t matter.

  119. 119.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 5, 2018 at 12:06 pm

    @Brickley Paiste:
    Well, “President Bernie” probably wouldn’t have nominated Kavanaugh because he likely would have lost to Trump as well. By the way, he lost the primaries by several million votes fair and square. I won’t respond back to you on this, troll

  120. 120.

    kindness

    October 5, 2018 at 12:06 pm

    Germans who voted for Hitler were ‘good little Germans’ up until Germany lost the war.

    Republicans have become an enemy within the Republic. At some point, there will be some shooting going on and Republicans are throwing as much fuel on that boiler as they can. It’s gonna blow.

  121. 121.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 12:06 pm

    Flake is going to be a yes, just confirmed on MSNBC.

    The consensus is that it all comes down to Collins, and that Manchin will vote however she votes.

    We’ll know in three hours.

  122. 122.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 12:06 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: NPR was just saying vote might be pushed to Sunday if Daines’ vote is determinative. (My words, not theirs.)

  123. 123.

    cain

    October 5, 2018 at 12:06 pm

    Who is representing McCain’s vote? Is it not Cindy?

  124. 124.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 12:07 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: I could be wrong, but I think parliamentary rules might require a vote tomorrow, not sure. I know the vote for cloture today began a 30 hour countdown for final remarks.

  125. 125.

    debbie

    October 5, 2018 at 12:07 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Here’s the one interview I remember. I’ll post the other when I can remember where I heard it.

  126. 126.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    @cain: John Kyl – the guy who Jeff Flake replaced.

  127. 127.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    interesting

    Kasie Hunt
    ? Lisa Murkowski tells @frankthorp she changed her mind on how to vote *on the way in to the chamber* ?

    Alex Roarty @ Alex_Roarty
    Amazing how a longshot tea party challenge in Alaska has — eight years later! — continually weakened the Senate GOP positions on huge votes — first health care, now Kavanaugh.

    I don’t know if this is true, but I like the idea from a history as a novel POV. What little I know about Murkowski makes it impossible for me to imagine she would ever caucus with the Dems as an Indie, much less switch parties, but this is interesting

  128. 128.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 5, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    @janesays: three?

  129. 129.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    October 5, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    “Thanks for skipping out on our reception to go vote to confirm Kavanaugh, dad. Makes me feel really special, on an anniversary date I’ll remember always.”

  130. 130.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    @janesays:

    are you telling me that you knew or reasonably believed that mccain of all people would flip on that vote?

    that shit was completely out of left field.

  131. 131.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 12:09 pm

    @cain: John Kyl, who retired and whose seat when to Flake, IIRC. Conventional RW Repubilcan

  132. 132.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 5, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    @Elizabelle:
    I’m not saying it can’t be done, but AFAIK, the United States wasn’t under reactionary minority rule in the mid-20th century when the Civil Rights Movement was happening

  133. 133.

    satby

    October 5, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    @Elizabelle: Subaru Diane and I object madam. As do others.

  134. 134.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 12:12 pm

    @TS (the original): If the vote fails tomorrow, it’s over. At least for Kavanaugh.

    But have no doubt that Trump will probably turn around and nominate Amy Coney Barrett next week, and she’ll very likely get confirmed in the lame duck session.

  135. 135.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 12:12 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: she’s going to announce in a floor speech at 3 or 330 eastern

  136. 136.

    Gravenstone

    October 5, 2018 at 12:12 pm

    @Brickley Paiste: Back in the sin bin, fuckstain.

  137. 137.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 5, 2018 at 12:13 pm

    @kindness:
    That already happened somewhat last year. Guess what happened? The GOP shrugged it off and went on. Even Scalise, who almost died.

  138. 138.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 12:13 pm

    @chopper: No, I’m saying that we shouldn’t behave as if all hope is lost until all hope is actually lost.

    Kavanaugh hasn’t been confirmed yet. As such, it is too early to behave as if all hope is lost. That is all.

  139. 139.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 12:15 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: She’s announcing her decision at 3pm EST. 2 hours and 45 minutes from now.

  140. 140.

    Jinchi

    October 5, 2018 at 12:15 pm

    @Felanius Kootea:

    What if he votes no tomorrow?

    Then I really don’t understand his play.

    Voting NO on cloture would have been easy – he could just say he needed more than 12 hours to consider the FBI report. Voting YES on cloture, then voting NO on Kavanaugh (knowing Kavanaugh is likely to be confirmed anyway) would anger everyone on all sides of the issue, since Republicans would think they were being trolled and Democrats would see that he was key in advancing the nomination. Regardless of his final vote, if Kavanaugh is confirmed, he’s going to take hits for that.

  141. 141.

    Lyrebird

    October 5, 2018 at 12:16 pm

    @janesays: Everything you said.

  142. 142.

    JMG

    October 5, 2018 at 12:16 pm

    Manchin just doesn’t want to be the 50th vote either for or against Kavanaugh. He’ll vote whichever way Collins does. That way he can tell angry Democrats “my vote wouldn’t have made a difference” if she folds and votes yes as of course she will.

  143. 143.

    Gravenstone

    October 5, 2018 at 12:16 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Working for replies on my end. I still open them occasionally from morbid curiosity.

  144. 144.

    gene108

    October 5, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    @clay:

    I’d say that he’s spending a lot of time with Chuck Schumer these days.

    Schumer doesn’t seem to be the ball busting guy that will keep any Senator in line, let alone Manchin. I hope I am wrong.

  145. 145.

    NotMax

    October 5, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    @cain

    McCain, what with being dead and all, doesn’t have a vote. Jon Kyl is the interim appointment to hold that seat.

  146. 146.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 12:18 pm

    @Jinchi: He could defend his “yes” on cloture vote by saying that he believed Kavanaugh deserved a final up-or-down vote, even though he ultimately didn’t support him.

    See: McCain, John and Kerry, John. Both of them voted “yes” on extremely critical cloture votes for legislation that they would ultimately vote against. In both cases, their rationale was that they believed the legislation deserved a final vote.

  147. 147.

    gene108

    October 5, 2018 at 12:21 pm

    @Jinchi:

    I don’t understand Manchin’s play here. Presumably he needs some Democrats to vote for him next month. I want the Democrats to win the Senate as much as anyone, but losing the seat in WV after pulling a stunt like that might be worth the price. At least it would put a dagger in the idea that Democrats in conservative states need to fall in line with Trump to win re-election.

    Until a fire breathing liberal wins in a red state, nothing will put to bed the idea Democrats there have to be bi-partisan and occasionally work with Republicans. The take home lesson will be Manchin did not work hard enough to court Republican votes.

    We’d just replace Manchin with a Republican, who will vote with Republicans 100% of the time, instead of Manchin’s 20% of the time.

  148. 148.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    @JMG: I think this is correct. As Susan Collins goes, so goes Joe Manchin.

    I hope Murkowski is working double-time on her colleague right now. Oh, and in case there was any doubt, Murkowski just made it clear that she’s a “no” tomorrow as well in her comments.

  149. 149.

    spudgun

    October 5, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Thank you!!! My sentiments exactly…

  150. 150.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    @gene108: I don’t know how bustable Manchin’s balls are, given that it’s West Virginny. I’ve been wondering who Schumer could send to sweet talk him: Sherrod Brown? Whosits from PA? is Jay Rockefeller still around?

  151. 151.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 5, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ahha.

    @Gravenstone: Probably breaking for me due to the presence of all the admin buttons that were reactivated yesterday.

  152. 152.

    MisterForkbeard

    October 5, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: This is really surprising, that she had to wait that long to make up her mind to do the right thing.

    I suppose it gives me some hope that Collins will change her mind, if she didn’t know what Murkowski was going to do until the last moment.

  153. 153.

    Cacti

    October 5, 2018 at 12:24 pm

    I’ve always expected Kavanaugh to be confirmed, because there’s no such thing as a moderate Republican when the votes get counted.

    I’m just glad that the Dems have rediscovered how to fight rather than try to win a good sportsmanship award.

  154. 154.

    brantl

    October 5, 2018 at 12:24 pm

    @Elizabelle: I’m old, and I haven’t given up fighting. Bite me.

  155. 155.

    Jinchi

    October 5, 2018 at 12:25 pm

    @janesays: I don’t think the voters care for procedural arguments, and this isn’t a dispute over ideology. Kavanaugh is accused of sexual assault.

  156. 156.

    Jinchi

    October 5, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    @Cacti:

    because there’s no such thing as a moderate Republican when the votes get counted.

    Well, I’ll give credit to Murkowski.

  157. 157.

    NotMax

    October 5, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    @JMG

    If that scenario plays out as you propose, it gives Dolt 45 the (phony) fig leaf of crowing that Kavanaugh was approved with “bispartisan support.” Even Manchin (or should that be Spongespine Scarepants) must be aware of that.

  158. 158.

    gene108

    October 5, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    @JPL:

    You sure he wouldn’t jump ship and become a republican then? just sayin

    Republicans courted Manchin pretty heavily to switch parties in 2015 seeing how Republicans have come to dominate West Virginia.

    Manchin declined and has stuck with the Democratic Party.

  159. 159.

    jk

    October 5, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    Worst David Brook column ever:

    Over the past few years, hundreds of organizations and thousands of people (myself included) have mobilized to reduce political polarization, encourage civil dialogue and heal national divisions.

    What we saw in these hearings was the unvarnished tribalization of national life. At the heart of the hearings were two dueling narratives, one from Christine Blasey Ford and one from Brett Kavanaugh. These narratives were about what did or did not happen at a party 36 years ago. There was nothing particularly ideological about the narratives, nothing that touched on capitalism, immigration or any of the other great disputes of national life.

    Commentators and others may have acknowledged uncertainty on these questions for about 2.5 seconds, but then they took sides. If they couldn’t take sides based on the original evidence, they found new reasons to confirm their previous positions. Kavanaugh is too angry and dishonest. He drank beer and threw ice while in college. With tribal warfare all around, uncertainty is the one state you are not permitted to be in.

    It’s clear that we need a new sort of environmental movement, a movement to police our civic environment. That environment isn’t polluted by a vague condition called “polarization.” It is polluted by the specific toxic emissions we all produce in our low moments. Those emissions have to be precisely identified, classified, called out as shameful.

    The Kavanaugh hearings were a look in the mirror, and a vivid display of how ugly things have become. What are we going to do about it?

  160. 160.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    @Jinchi: I try not to build castles in the air, but a 50-50 or 51-49 Senate result could make life a bit challenging for Mitch McConnell. I can’t imagine McCain and Murkowski are the only members of his caucus who hate(d) him.

  161. 161.

    ruemara

    October 5, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    @MazeDancer: Thanks, Maze. I hope to do some this weekend.

  162. 162.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 12:30 pm

    @jk: Kavanaugh is too angry and dishonest. He drank beer and threw ice while in college.

    “He shoved his penis in the face of a shy, insecure nineteen year old Puerto Rican girl who was trying to fit in among the swaggering, privileged douchebags who got into Yale because Grandpappy went there….”

  163. 163.

    Jinchi

    October 5, 2018 at 12:32 pm

    @gene108:

    Until a fire breathing liberal wins in a red state

    Jones won in Alabama on this very issue and he had no problem coming out against Kavanaugh.

  164. 164.

    Cacti

    October 5, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    @Jinchi:

    Well, I’ll give credit to Murkowski.

    Meh.

    She probably arranged a vote swap with Manchin.

  165. 165.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 5, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    @jk:
    You can always count on Both Sides Brooks to bothsides it up, completely ignoring the real issues at hand. I also like how he didn’t consider rape and the privilege of certain men from certain families to be among “the great disputes of national life”.

  166. 166.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 12:37 pm

    @jk:

    I notice that — at least in the excerpt pasted, and I sure-as-shit ain’t clicking over to the FTFTFNYT to read it all — Fuckhead Brooks does not attempt top refute the claims about Kavanaugh, nor does he point out that Dr. Blasey Ford had her life and family threatened; he merely tsk-tsks about the lack of comity or whatever by those (unnamed) evil libtards.

    Fuck him and everybody that looks like him. Villago is right — tumbrels it is!

  167. 167.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 5, 2018 at 12:37 pm

    @satby:

    ???

  168. 168.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 12:37 pm

    @Cacti: My hunch as well.

  169. 169.

    Fair Economist

    October 5, 2018 at 12:38 pm

    @JMG: The general rule of these things is that the side that loses gets much more mad than the side that wins. If Collins is Yea, Manchin can vote Nay with no penalty. Anybody infuriated by a irrelevant vote against a Republican rapist and perjurer wouldn’t vote for him anyway. If he votes Yea, he’ll get the hot heat of hate from millions of Democratic volunteers and donors, and the pro-rapists won’t vote for him anyway. If Collins is Nay and he’s Yea, the hate from the side of decency will outshine the sun. It makes no political sense for him to support the nomination.

    I hope he realizes this.

  170. 170.

    jc

    October 5, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    Trump’s own legitimacy and credibility are highly compromised, so all we get from him are appointments of compromised legitimacy. The Republicans care more about controlling and rigging the government’s institutions than about protecting their sanctity. They want the public to be overwhelmed and discouraged.

    The GOP controlled Congress will continue to clamp their hand over America’s mouth, lie and laugh about it, because the “good” Republicans don’t want to hear the inconvenient screams of the ones being assaulted.

  171. 171.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAUUUUUGGHHHH!!!

    Strange, that wasn’t as cathartic as I assumed it would be.

  172. 172.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 5, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: The new switcheroo (see also Bret Stephens yesterday) is to claim that the hearings were about the Ford allegations, and then suddenly the Demonrats moved the goalposts! Now they’re arguing that an aggressive, perjuring, alcoholic partisan hack shouldn’t be on the court! Unfair! It was a witch hunt from the start!

  173. 173.

    Bobby Thomson

    October 5, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    @chopper: DFTT.

  174. 174.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    I’ve tried (multiple times) getting through to Collins’s offices in Portland, Biddeford, Lewiston, and Augusta, without success. I have no idea if the switchboards are being flooded, or if her staff has just taken the ‘phones off the hook. Has anyone been able to get through?

    [Tom Levenson, I know you tried — any success?]

  175. 175.

    Shana

    October 5, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    @LAC: Well I don’t know about everyone, but for me I’m just getting so worn down by all this. It’s like fighting against a fire hose. I’m still hopeful that November helps pull us out of some of the sh*t but I also know it’s going to take years if not decades to correct. I do almost nothing except follow the news anymore but I can’t help it.

    I do hope that some of the brighter minds in the Democratic party are putting together a series of bills that would codify in law some of the “norms” we’ve been operating under all these years that the GOP has just blown apart over the last 2 years.

  176. 176.

    Fleeting Expletive

    October 5, 2018 at 12:44 pm

    Here’s what I want to hear from Kav:

    This has been a learning process, a humbling process. I need to get out of Washington for a while, examine my life, try to repair my life, and make amends where they are needed. I am withdrawing my nomination in recognition that my behavior has been subpar. I apologize for my part in this ugly chapter. The senate and the President have an enormous job to do and I wish them well. Be true to the Constitution and protect the rule of law for all.

    Lawrence played the Klobuchar/Kavenaugh clip (“do you?? he asked). Had that interaction happened in a house, a room with a party going on, with that same dialogue, and beer?– THAT guy was a belligerent dick who was entirely capable of and could have indeed whipped it out to impress his buds and humiliate a girl, even a US Senator. Entirely consistent with the mean misogynist boy-culture he was a part of.

  177. 177.

    Eric Running

    October 5, 2018 at 12:44 pm

    Everyone should go read “The Suffocation of Democracy” at The New York Review of Books site. Important perspective from a renowned Holocaust historian on parallels of our present situation with the 1930s. Chris Browning was also my college History prof.

  178. 178.

    Jinchi

    October 5, 2018 at 12:45 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I try not to build castles in the air, but a 50-50 or 51-49 Senate result could make life a bit challenging for Mitch McConnell.

    I understand the math, and I understand the strategy, but what partisans often seem to forget is that many people do not care about party or strategic calculus. We aren’t a 50/50 nation, we’re a 30/30/40 nation at best with 40% typically not bothering to vote at all and a significant number needing a reason to feel it’s worth the trouble.

    Manchin’s vote will make people who care passionately about this issue less inclined to vote for him. Democratic-leaning voters will feel betrayed. And the ones who lean towards Kavanaugh are already voting Republican.

  179. 179.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 5, 2018 at 12:45 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: It’s unfair to hold against him things he did a long time ago! Also, things he did recently! Also, things he said and thought both then and now! :/

  180. 180.

    Bobby Thomson

    October 5, 2018 at 12:45 pm

    @Fair Economist: this. Especially when Republicans in red states can be guaranteed to win the male vote. Dems have to run up the score with women.

    I don’t think Manchin is very bright.

  181. 181.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 5, 2018 at 12:48 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Also, who among us!

  182. 182.

    Mnemosyne

    October 5, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    @jk:

    There was nothing particularly ideological about the narratives ….

    Funny how ranting about how the Clintons are out to get you and you’re going to get revenge on all liberals for this embarrassment isn’t “ideological.” ?

  183. 183.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @janesays:

    that’s a response to an argument i’m not making. i’m not saying hope is lost. i’m holding out hope as well. although, to be fair, our hopes at this point are tied to susan collins, feh.

    i am saying that there’s a difference between this and the O’care vote.

  184. 184.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 5, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @SFAW:

    Same with me. Have been calling, in rotation, all of Collins’ offices and all of Manchin’s. Again and again it’s either a busy signal or “the mailbox is full” message.

    I was able to leave messages for both of them yesterday, so that’s something, I guess, but I’d really like to go on record with them again.

  185. 185.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Funny how ranting about how the Clintons are out to get you and you’re going to get revenge on all liberals for this embarrassment isn’t “ideological.”

    Well, it’s not — when you’re citing History’s Greatest Monsters as the forces behind the witch hunt, “who can argue with that?”

  186. 186.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 12:56 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I don’t even get to voicemail, just a busy signal.

    Maybe if I tell them my name is “Subaru Diane,” I’ll get through.

  187. 187.

    geg6

    October 5, 2018 at 12:58 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Come sit next to me. We are simpatico.

  188. 188.

    Bex

    October 5, 2018 at 12:59 pm

    @jk: @jk: David Brooks needs to take his toxic emissions home and blame the dog.

  189. 189.

    JMG

    October 5, 2018 at 12:59 pm

    @NotMax: If Collins votes yes, Manchin would be smart to vote no, because then Pence would break the tie. Manchin can then tell angry Republicans “my vote made no difference.” And Republican anger would drop dramatically since Kavanaugh was in. That’s the smart play, but I kind of doubt Manchin sees it.

  190. 190.

    satby

    October 5, 2018 at 1:00 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I gotcher back, sister!

    Teasing, Elizabelle. A little. Don’t any of youse be going ageist.

  191. 191.

    Repatriated

    October 5, 2018 at 1:01 pm

    I’m wondering how permanent a setback a failed cloture vote would have been. Could they have done a snap re-nomination and Groundhog Day-ed the whole thing?

  192. 192.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    Fuck Manchin. His Senate seat is toast.

    He hangs separately from the rest.

  193. 193.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    A failed cloture vote simply means that debate will continue until cloture is reached or the issue is tabled.

  194. 194.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    @JMG:
    Manchen’s going to shed 10 points in less than a month and not be reelected? I can’t see how he’s conflicted if he’s actually a Democrat.

    Oh, wait.

  195. 195.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:05 pm

    @Just Chuck:

    The question isn’t when the USA is over, it’s figuring when the last act began.

    2000.

    Bush vs Gore.

  196. 196.

    Repatriated

    October 5, 2018 at 1:05 pm

    @janesays: Thanks.

  197. 197.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:06 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    eez people there’s one more vote. Let’s mourn the death of American democracy tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.

    Tomorrow is the weekend. I have better things to do on a weekend.

  198. 198.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 1:07 pm

    @chopper: Yes, our hopes are tied to the woman who had the singular power to repeal Obamacare and chose not to do so.

    Look, I get that she’s not somebody to put much faith in making the right call, but which GOP senator would you rather be hoping to make the right decision in this situation… Susan Collins or Ben Sasse? Or Jeff Flake?

    The odds aren’t great for us, but they’re not zero, either.

  199. 199.

    banditqueen

    October 5, 2018 at 1:09 pm

    @Betty Cracker: @geg6:
    Thanks to both of you. Agree–this nomination “process” shouldn’t be so hard, but it is. No one is “giving up”, but this experience has been an ordeal for many of us.

  200. 200.

    CarolDuhart2

    October 5, 2018 at 1:09 pm

    @jk: They only speak this shit when Dems dare to get mad or even actively partisan. Where are the condemnations for Orange Cheeto?

    As for me, regardless of the outcome, I quote John Paul Jones-“I have not begun to fight!”

  201. 201.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    @janesays:

    If we somehow or other manage to pull a victory out on this one, I vote to revoke all commenters “the sky is falling!” privileges for the rest of the year.

    If this goes as expected, all “eyoreism” accusation priviliges are likewise revoked. Deal?

  202. 202.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    @TenguPhule: We won’t have to wait that long.

    We’ll most likely know how this is going to go in about 2 hours.

  203. 203.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    @banditqueen:

    No one is “giving up”

    Not according to some.

  204. 204.

    Aleta

    October 5, 2018 at 1:13 pm

    (Wapo) Warren: “Senators have been muzzled. So I will now say three things that committee staff has explained are permissible to say without violating committee rules. … One: This was not a full and fair investigation. It was sharply limited in scope and did not explore the relevant confirming facts. Two: The available documents do not exonerate Mr. Kavanaugh.

    And three: the available documents contradict statements Mr. Kavanaugh made under oath. I would like to back up these points with explicit statements from the FBI documents — explicit statements that should be available for the American people to see. But the Republicans have locked the documents behind closed doors.”

    Warren, then, appears to have consulted with Judiciary Committee lawyers and was seemingly told that per the rules, she could divulge just this much about what is in the documents, and not a syllable more. At a minimum, Warren appears to be suggesting that there is material gathered from these FBI interviews that demonstrates that Kavanaugh lied to the committee.

  205. 205.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:13 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Some adolescent muppet on MSNBC said Daines might “hitch a ride” back to DC after the ceremony,

    It would be an awful shame if his private plane crashes, killing everyone on board. /s

  206. 206.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 1:13 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    If this goes as expected, all “eyoreism” accusation priviliges are likewise revoked. Deal?

    Such a kidder, you are.

  207. 207.

    Jinchi

    October 5, 2018 at 1:14 pm

    @JMG:

    If Collins votes yes, Manchin would be smart to vote no, because then Pence would break the tie.

    Manchin’s vote today was critical to moving Kavanaugh forward. Republicans didn’t have the votes, because one of their members was absent. That’s why he doesn’t get credit from Democrats for voting NO tomorrow, unless Kavanaugh loses.

    As for the Republicans:
    If he votes NO tomorrow, and Kavanaugh loses, they’ll be furious with him.
    If Kavanaugh wins, they won’t care about tomorrow’s vote at all.
    If Manchin is the critical vote getting Kavanaugh on the bench …..!
    That’s the only winning gambit I can see for Manchin. The others leave him worse off or in the same place he was yesterday.

  208. 208.

    TOP123

    October 5, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    @Tom Levenson: my experience with my two lovely Texas senators the last week or so. Though Cornyn’s office did send me a lengthy form-email several days after I left a message.

  209. 209.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    I am thinking being arrested is not so scary. For me and other white middle aged ladies out there.

    Because you’re white. And middle aged ladies.

    Would you like to take a guess what happens to non-whites?

  210. 210.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    @Jinchi:

    That all seems to assume that he gives a rat’s ass about whether the Rethugs like him. Is that a valid assumption? It’s not as if he’s been champing at the bit to shove a ton of legislation through, and the only thing holding him up is whether Rethugs like him.

  211. 211.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    October 5, 2018 at 1:18 pm

    @Mnemosyne: It really, honestly shocks me the Conservatives don’t get that this guy is just another Sarah Palin, he’s only a fellow traveler out of convince of the moment. Tomorrow it could easily be the right on Kavanaugh’s enemies list because something. The attempted rapes are just part of the rage filled, impulse driven drunk thing.

    I supposed that inability to see how dysfunctional Kavanaugh is has to be yet another sign of the collapse of the Republican party. Kavanaugh mouths the correct prayers to the god all congregation knows is dead so Kavanaugh has to be one of the faithful.

  212. 212.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    @Quinerly:

    Flake is a yes vote tomorrow.

    This is my surprised face, : |

  213. 213.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 1:20 pm

    @Jinchi: That’s incorrect. All 100 senators were in DC for the vote this morning, including Daines (the guy who’s going to be absent tomorrow for his daughter’s wedding in Montana). If Manchin had voted “no” on cloture, Pence would have broken the tie, and we would still be where we are.

    It’s perfectly fair to call Manchin out for being a crappy Democrat, but his cloture vote wasn’t the difference maker.

    https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00222

  214. 214.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    @janesays:

    collins is most of the time, completely spineless. this is an irrefutable fact. as i said, i’m hopeful. i’m hopeful that she’ll do the right thing. on the other hand, she’s susan fucking collins.

    The odds aren’t great for us, but they’re not zero, either.

    yeah, that statement doesn’t disagree at all with what i’ve been saying.

  215. 215.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Tomorrow it could easily be the right on Kavanaugh’s enemies list because something.

    Only after the last available female on the left has been raped and strangled. His target pool is wide and vast and these fuckers are playing for keeps.

  216. 216.

    Jinchi

    October 5, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    @Repatriated:

    Could they have done a snap re-nomination and Groundhog Day-ed the whole thing?

    Yes, they could have voted again. Cloture ends debate. Without cloture, the debate goes on or the issue gets shelved. But losing the vote would have been bad for the Republicans. They probably needed assurance from Manchin before they decided to have the vote today.

  217. 217.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 5, 2018 at 1:22 pm

    @TenguPhule: Why do you think she wrote what she wrote?

  218. 218.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:22 pm

    @janesays:

    but his cloture vote wasn’t the difference maker.

    its hard to run on a “United Democrats” platform when one fucking idiot doesn’t stay united with the rest.

    This is how that “Democrats in disarray” meme gains strength.

  219. 219.

    Jinchi

    October 5, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    @janesays: My mistake.

  220. 220.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    @JMG:

    That way he can tell angry Democrats “my vote wouldn’t have made a difference”

    At this point, you think the angry Democrats will care about semantics?

  221. 221.

    oatler.

    October 5, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    Been feeling negative lately, but I think this stacked court will doom the future election.

  222. 222.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 5, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    It would be an awful shame if his private plane crashes, killing everyone on board. /s

    Nope. Not even as a joke. Not even with the snark tag.

  223. 223.

    Mnemosyne

    October 5, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    So isn’t it better for white middle-aged ladies to fill up the available space so other people don’t get abused?

  224. 224.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    @chopper:

    if collins votes yes, i’m assuming she’ll have already decided to retire rather than run again in 2020.

    She’s planning to run for governor of Maine.

  225. 225.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 1:26 pm

    @TenguPhule: In the end, his cloture vote won’t be remembered by anybody.

    It’s what he does on the final vote that will be remembered. An to that end, I agree there is absolutely no justifiable reason for him to vote “yes” tomorrow, regardless of what Collins does. But I think he probably will vote “yes” if he can do so without being the difference maker (meaning if Collins also votes “yes”).

  226. 226.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    once again our democracy is in the hands of susan collins. susan fucking collins. sheesh.

  227. 227.

    Jinchi

    October 5, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    @SFAW:

    That all seems to assume that he gives a rat’s ass about whether the Rethugs like him.

    I’m just trying to understand the political calculus behind his vote. It loses him support from his side, to gain he needs to pull in people who support Kavanaugh and wouldn’t already be voting for Manchin. That mostly leaves Republicans.

  228. 228.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    So isn’t it better for white middle-aged ladies to fill up the available space so other people don’t get abused?

    I’d like to say yes, except for the increasing certainty that white female immunity in police custody is not so certain as this Nazi regime progresses further down the line towards gas chambers.

  229. 229.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    October 5, 2018 at 1:30 pm

    @TenguPhule

    : Because you’re white. And middle aged ladies.

    Would you like to take a guess what happens to non-whites?

    That’s the other insane thing about this – so are the conservatives going to go to war with their own wives and daughters? This the dumb repeat of American history.

  230. 230.

    banditqueen

    October 5, 2018 at 1:30 pm

    @SFAW: Well, it’s disconcerting–I saw comments that expressed dismay that things really are bad, but then stated that the plan was to write post cards and so forth. I didn’t see the signs of ‘giving up’. It does help to know that the fight is against very powerful, hateful, hurtful people.
    A fave from Jane Eyre:

    “If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should—so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again.”

  231. 231.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:31 pm

    @janesays:

    In the end, his cloture vote won’t be remembered by anybody.

    I hope you are right but I feel certain you’re wrong. I think Manchin just gutted himself with the female voters willing to vote D in WV.

  232. 232.

    OGLiberal

    October 5, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    The WV polls I’ve seen have Manchin up by quite a bit – not insurmountable but a pretty strong “lean Dem”. Does he really think he’s going to lose a bunch of votes if he doesn’t vote to approve this guy? I mean, he already gave them Gorsuch – he can use the, “well, Gorsuch didn’t come off as a raging, angry drunk” excuse for this yes vote there but no vote on Kavanaugh.

    Even if Manchin swings to yes on the final vote – probably a better than 50-50 possibility – you still need one more Republican – I don’t know if that is going to happen.

  233. 233.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    depends on the final vote. if Boof goes down (because, in part, manchin votes no), his cloture vote won’t matter at all.

  234. 234.

    janesays

    October 5, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @TenguPhule: Perhaps. But if somehow or other we defy the odds and Collins votes “no” and Manchin votes “no”, I think he’ll be fine.

    His final vote will matter a hell of a lot more than a cloture vote that effectively didn’t make any difference.

    Nobody who supports Obamacare cares that John McCain voted “yes” on cloture for the repeal bill, they only care that he voted “no” on the final bill.

  235. 235.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    October 5, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    Just off phone, left message with my swing-vote Senator (Murkowski) thanking her for listening to her constituents and doing the right thing in voting no on cloture and for being a firm no on final vote. Acknowledged that it were a politically tough vote (should’t be, course, but this is Alaska), and that I appreciated her fundamental human decency in going against her party and thinking of her country in rejecting a sniveling, puling, rage-a-holic lying douchebro for the Supreme Court. It’sa low bar, I’ll own, and it took her awhile, but she cleared it. Props to her.

    Sidenote: Seems curious to me that Susan “Lucy with the football” Collins is making a point of waiting till 3pm to announce her decision. Unlike some, this seems weirdly hopeful. Yes, I am quite aware of how undeserving Collins generally is of her “moderate” Republican cred, but … there is the ACA vote. And making a big to-do about a 3pm announcement? Don’t seem likely she’d make a big production about her announcement *unless* it was a sockdolager. So who knows?

    As allus: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

  236. 236.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @banditqueen:

    Well, it’s disconcerting–I saw comments that expressed dismay that things really are bad, but then stated that the plan was to write post cards and so forth.

    I have said, more than once, that saying “This really fucking SUCKS!” is not the same as saying “Fuck it, I QUIT!” My impression is that some think the statements are equivalent.

  237. 237.

    Brachiator

    October 5, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @Eric Running:

    Everyone should go read “The Suffocation of Democracy” at The New York Review of Books site

    Thanks very much for the tip.

    In doing a search, I also see there is a reddit thread on the article. Don’t know how interesting the comments are, but still this review is stimulating comments.

  238. 238.

    Baud

    October 5, 2018 at 1:41 pm

    @janesays: I agree.

  239. 239.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 1:41 pm

    I needed this. It made me laugh:

    https://boingboing.net/2018/10/05/extremely-realistic-3d-paintin.html

  240. 240.

    Hitlesswonder

    October 5, 2018 at 1:41 pm

    @Aleta: I remember when perjury was an impeachable offense

  241. 241.

    Belafon

    October 5, 2018 at 1:41 pm

    America won’t end in 33 days, no matter what the outcome. It’s just going to be a lot less enjoyable for a while.

  242. 242.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    so are the conservatives going to go to war with their own wives and daughters?

    No. They’ll go to war with our wives and daughters.

  243. 243.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    @germy:

    ‘shopped.

  244. 244.

    Aleta

    October 5, 2018 at 1:44 pm

    Dolphins, seemingly sharing small doses of a puffer fish’s toxin. (Small doses can be euphoric; larger doses kill enthusiastic diners every year). Here the dolphins appear to release the fish unharmed.)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=81&v=0EmsfyJ8U58

  245. 245.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    @chopper: The cat seemed to enjoy it.

  246. 246.

    JPL

    October 5, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    @TenguPhule: I’ll raise you Citizens United.. Next will be legalizing Russia’s interference in our elections.

  247. 247.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    October 5, 2018 at 1:47 pm

    @germy: And how do you tell the difference between a Liberal Woman and a Conservative Woman? This isn’t like blacks.

  248. 248.

    Baud

    October 5, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    @Aleta: Man, I could use some of that sweet puffer toxin right now.

  249. 249.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    I wonder if Flake/Coons will attempt a presidential run together, in the spirit of Service To The Country, or whatever that new party is calling itself.

  250. 250.

    eemom

    October 5, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    @poleaxedbyboatwork:

    sockdolager

    Cool word.

  251. 251.

    eclare

    October 5, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    @poleaxedbyboatwork: That is my thought, why would she call all of this attention to her vote if she was just going to announce she was voting like most people thought she would?

  252. 252.

    NotMax

    October 5, 2018 at 1:50 pm

    @TenguPhule

    Just can’t help it, can you? Bloodlust outstrips tact yet again. In this case, pining for mass deaths.

    :(

  253. 253.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 1:50 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: In my experience, conservative women have distinctive, vintage hairstyles. And go on CNN panel discussions to say all boys attempted rape in high school.

  254. 254.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 5, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    @germy: Haha, thanks for sharing!

  255. 255.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    @Aleta:
    So the puffer fish is the dolphin bong? Who knew?

  256. 256.

    eemom

    October 5, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    sockdolager (n.)
    1830, “a decisive blow” (also, figuratively “a conclusive argument”), fanciful formation from sock (v.1) “hit hard,” perhaps via a comical mangling of doxology, on a notion of “finality.” The meaning “something exceptional” is attested from 1838. Sockdologising likely was nearly the last word President Abraham Lincoln heard. During the performance of Tom Taylor’s “Our American Cousin,” assassin John Wilkes Booth (who knew the play well) waited for the laugh-line “Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sockdologising old man-trap.” Amid the noise as the audience responded, Booth fired the fatal shot.

  257. 257.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    @trollhattan: Dolphin probably knows two puffer fish. This way, if the first puffer is unavailable, he can call the second one.

  258. 258.

    JPL

    October 5, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    @eclare: She is going to try to appeal to our natural ability to forgive. As far as I go though I think she should go have a keg with her good buddy Bart.

  259. 259.

    The Dangerman

    October 5, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    I’m generally a glass half full kinda guy (maybe it’s the sun baking my brain in Barstow)…

    …but this will be even sweeter when BK gets voted down tomorrow. Murkowski’s a no and has been for a while. I think Collins will be a no. If Manchin is the deciding vote, fuck him. I don’t think he wants to go down in history that way (and, let’s face it, having a Democrat from a backasswards state like WV is wrong; hell, look no further than how close they plant their WIllow trees).

    This ain’t over today.

  260. 260.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    @eclare:
    Come Wednesday she’s back to “Susan Who?” so maybe it’s just that.

  261. 261.

    Cacti

    October 5, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    @JPL:

    I’ll raise you Citizens United.. Next will be legalizing Russia’s interference in our elections.

    Or when Associate Justice Kavanaugh authors the majority opinion holding that it violates the Constitutional rights of the Republican Party for Americans to vote against it.

    Or a bold new finding that our corporate citizens now have the right to vote and to hold office.

  262. 262.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    @eclare:

    That is my thought, why would she call all of this attention to her vote if she was just going to announce she was voting like most people thought she would?

    She craves the attention? She’s pulling a Julius Caesar? (Meaning, pushing away the laurel wreath 2-3 times before finally letting is be placed on his head.)

    But the real reason is: she’s just trying to pretend, for the rubes back home, that she’s a moderate, and that she really thought long and hard about this, but in the end, after careful consideration, etc., etc.

  263. 263.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    @The Dangerman:

    I’m generally a glass half full kinda guy

    You must not be drinking anywhere near BK, ’cause he’d drain it for you.

  264. 264.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    @germy:
    Heh. Plus they’re boff on his burner phone speed dial.

  265. 265.

    Anya

    October 5, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    Kavanaugh’s Wall Street Journal op-ed was for Susan Collins and Jeff Flakes.

    Anyway, this is a procedural vote, we’ll see what happens when the vote that matters comes.

  266. 266.

    PenAndKey

    October 5, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    @TenguPhule: People get pissed when I point this out. Almost as pissed as when I tell them the only reason I don’t leave the country with my wife and son is that we’re too poor to do so.

    As far as I’m concerned, any hope I had for the American Experiment being a success died sometime between Bush v Gore and the towers falling before I even turned 18 nearly 20 years ago. Everything I do, every vote I cast, has been a holding action because I’m a spiteful bastard, not because I expect it to get better.

  267. 267.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    @SFAW:
    “I like beer. I like your beer.” [grab]

  268. 268.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:56 pm

    @janesays:

    Perhaps. But if somehow or other we defy the odds and Collins votes “no” and Manchin votes “no”, I think he’ll be fine.

    His final vote will matter a hell of a lot more than a cloture vote that effectively didn’t make any difference.

    Nobody who supports Obamacare cares that John McCain voted “yes” on cloture for the repeal bill, they only care that he voted “no” on the final bill.

    We won the lottery once. When we didn’t expect to and from the last person we’d expect it from. This time, the odds are worse. Manchin didn’t have to do it. But he did anyway.

  269. 269.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 1:57 pm

    @trollhattan: Probably secret code during phone conversations or texts. In case the police are listening in: “Hey, Boff, anything new? Yes? Cool. See you in an hour? Great! A couple of friends’ll be with me, but they’re OK. See you!”

  270. 270.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 1:57 pm

    @Anya:
    Let it be noted he was really, really sorry for all those things he said for all that long period. Well, not sorry for what he said but how he said them. While cameras were rolling.

    Thanks a lot, Anthony Kennedy.

  271. 271.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    And how do you tell the difference between a Liberal Woman and a Conservative Woman?

    Conservative women don’t get arrested and don’t complain after the sexual assault. Next question?

  272. 272.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    @eclare:

    she’s giving yertle plenty of time to cross her palms with silver, i reckon.

  273. 273.

    NotMax

    October 5, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    @trollhattan

    “The Doctor advised me to drink as much alcohol as I can.
    By the way, I now call myself The Doctor.”

    :)

  274. 274.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    @Baud:

    Man, I could use some of that sweet puffer toxin right now.

    So you really are a sea monster. Who is also a robot.

  275. 275.

    bemused

    October 5, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    When Kav’s teammates were physically and verbally abusive to less fit or popular players, Kav may not have abused them but according to a male classmate, he didn’t try to stop it, he just laughed. If he had sincerely regretted all his past horrible behaviors, he would have made apologies, atoned somehow but no evidence that he ever has.

  276. 276.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    @NotMax:

    I now call myself The Doctor.

    Who?

  277. 277.

    A Ghost To Most

    October 5, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    @PenAndKey:
    Some of us plan to stay and fight.

    Fuck christian fascists.

  278. 278.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    @NotMax:

    In this case, pining for mass deaths.

    private plane.

    If he flies commercial then I’ll restrict it to him having a medical emergency and some good sameritan botching the first aid.

  279. 279.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    @PenAndKey:

    Everything I do, every vote I cast, has been a holding action because I’m a spiteful bastard, not because I expect it to get better.

    Whatever works.

  280. 280.

    Rommie

    October 5, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    Since Soros has mysteriously (checks calendar – OK, not a mystery) surfaced as a GOP talking point/boogeyman again, I will protest my lack of Soros Bucks. I want some of that Cheddar Cheese, and I want to know how you jackals are getting some of it! It’s not fair (whine whine cry blubber)

  281. 281.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    @NotMax:

    By the way, I now call myself The Doctor.”

    Where’s your fez hat?

  282. 282.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    @SFAW:
    New season, new Doctor, coming up this month!

    New SCOTUS first act: approve injunction banning female Doctor. Jared will fill in.

  283. 283.

    piratedan

    October 5, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    just as a point of parlimentary procedure, while we’re all gnashing our teeth at the same old GOP Lucy’s who keep stealing the football. I still want to remember the rest of the GOP Senatorial Party crew that have enabled this shit show that get to have a free pass on being reprehensible human beings. yes, I can understand the frustration with Flake and Collins, but they’ve always danced on this knife’s edge of this kabuki of being morally and ethically distraught when any relatively sane person wonder what in the living fuck is there to be torn about… you know what, let them endure their torment because they know what’s right and they’re likely going to do the wrong thing anyway… I just want to remember all of these other folks (Fischer, Ernst, Hatch, Tillis, Cotton, et al.) who obviously have no problem with installing at the minimum, an unrepentant liar on the Supreme Court, which seems like a pretty big deal in an of itself. Knowing full well that there’s entire list of equally odious true believers waiting in the queue just waiting for coach to give them the ball. The only reason that they haven’t called up the 2nd string is because their first stringer is fully onboard with not only making women chattel once again but the twofer of allowing the President to become dictator in chief and allowing treason to only be in the eye of the beholder and not bound to anything as trivial as evidence of breaking the law.

  284. 284.

    West of the Rockies

    October 5, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    @Aleta:

    Bet those dolphins have the munchies BIG TIME now!

    Thanks for the cool vid!

  285. 285.

    NotMax

    October 5, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    @SFAW

    Competing recipes for mixing a Sonic Screwdriver. #1 – #2.

    :)

    (Neither of which sounds very appealing.)

  286. 286.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    Ever since the original show runner left, the writers have gone from challenging our sense of the absurd to pandering fan-service

    oe Perticone @ JoePerticone
    Gianforte lending Daines his private jet if he needs to zip back to DC for the Kavanaugh vote

    what? what’s that you say? this is real life? this is what retired machinists in Rustberg wanted?

  287. 287.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:09 pm

    Hawaii’s U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono dismissed the FBI’s “so-called investigation” into sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday, and Schatz expressed dismay at the actions of the Senate during the fiercely emotional and partisan Kavanaugh controversy.

    “The county is feeling torn apart and the Senate has traditionally played a role in calming tensions down, moving methodically and being fair, and this process is doing none of that,” Schatz said in an interview Thursday. “It is not thorough, it is not fair and it is not designed to get at the truth.”

    At least my Senators did the right thing. Small comforts.

  288. 288.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2018 at 2:09 pm

    Kavanaugh. How can I disqualify you? Let me count the ways.

  289. 289.

    NotMax

    October 5, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    @TenguPhule

    Damn Shriners tiptoed in under cover of darkness and made off with it. Again.

    ;)

  290. 290.

    Baud

    October 5, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yes. It’s what they wanted.

  291. 291.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    I just want to say: That wasn’t me. I mean, technically, it was me, but in a broader, representational sense, it wasn’t.

    I was only throwing a temper tantrum as a father, a son and a husband. As a judge, I am a mind of pure light floating in a vat. The person you saw will cease to exist when he is appointed to the highest court of the land. He will just vanish, poof, like the contents of a keg consumed by someone else, a total stranger to me.

    Everything that has seemed bad about this confirmation process is just because you have been trying to judge me as a person. But Person Me and Judge Me are so completely different that that’s really unfair. Hashtag #NotAllMes. Don’t judge me as a person, whom you have seen. Judge me as a judge, whom you have not. (Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe, as I think Jesus said, or whoever was deciding how much of my record needed to be reviewed.)

    When most of my papers from my service under President George W. Bush were withheld, that was just my understandable shyness as an uncle. When I snapped at Sen. Amy Klobuchar, I was just angry as a neighbor, mentor and friend. As a judge, I would have said nothing. When I refused to recuse myself from any cases involving the executive, that was my natural indignation as a guy who once had his Lexus RUINED by a wayward seagull dropping. (As a judge, I will still refuse to recuse myself, but it will be because I am so impartial, not still livid about the Lexus.) And when immediately after the hearing I went to the Columbia Country Club golf course, burrowed into the sand hazard up to my waist and hissed like a crab at anyone who approached until I had to be removed by staff, that was just me being a person.

    But I am mostly not a person. I believe personhood begins at conception and ends the second you join the Supreme Court.

    I am an independent, impartial judge

    Because even in the darkest cloud, you can still find a whoopee cushion or two left.

  292. 292.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    @Baud: “Medicaid has denied coverage for your wife’s rehab from knee surgery. She’ll never walk again, and you’ll have to put a collection jar next to the register at the Gas’n’Go to buy her a new wheel chair.”
    Retired Machinist From Rustberg: “Well, at least we gave them liberals at the ((New)) York Times what-fer! MAGA!”

  293. 293.

    rikyrah

    October 5, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    They are shutting things down in downtown Chicago. The verdict is going to be read.
    They have completely shut down 26th and California.
    There were food trucks in the plaza. They sent them away.
    I think they let him off.
    He shot that child 16 times…
    16 times…

  294. 294.

    patrick II

    October 5, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    @SFAW:

    Fuckhead Brooks does not attempt top refute the claims about Kavanaugh,

    He refutes them by disregarding their importance. Claims not worthy of being discussed will never be decided in the claimants favor. Refutation becomes unnecessary.

    And I did that without cussing.

    Fuck him and everybody that looks like him.

    That looks very much like a summary I got scolded about a few days ago. I don’t blame you though.

  295. 295.

    NotMax

    October 5, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    @West of the Rockies

    “Dad, Flipper’s acting goofy!”

  296. 296.

    Baud

    October 5, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Word for word.

  297. 297.

    Sloane Ranger

    October 5, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    Haven’t read the entire thread so apologies if this has already been covered but just been watching CNN. They interviewed a Repuke Senator who said that a Democratic Senator might not be present for the vote tomorrow and talked about pairing them with the daughter’s wedding guy if this comes about.

    Blitzer asked for the Dem’s name but the Repuke refused to give it.

    Anyone know anything more about this?

  298. 298.

    rikyrah

    October 5, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    Good for Murkowski.
    What the phuck is wrong with Manchin

  299. 299.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    And Adding Insult to Injury…..Trump mocks Al Franken for resigning quickly amid sexual misconduct allegations

    Trump mocked former senator Al Franken Thursday night for resigning from Congress so quickly after he was accused of sexual harassment and groping women, marking the president’s most recent contentious comments about the #MeToo movement.

    “Boy, did he fold up like a wet rag, huh? Man. Man. He was gone so fast. I don’t want to mention Al Franken’s name, okay? So I won’t mention it. He was gone so fast. It was like, oh, he did something. ‘Oh, oh, oh, I resign. I quit, I quit.’ Wow. He was gone and he was replaced by somebody that nobody ever heard of. Her name is Tina Smith,” Trump told the Minnesota crowd to cheers.

  300. 300.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 2:19 pm

    @Sloane Ranger: I’m annoyed but not really surprised.

  301. 301.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    @rikyrah:

    I think they let him off.
    He shot that child 16 times…
    16 times…

    This was not the Friday newsdump I wanted.

  302. 302.

    NotMax

    October 5, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    @Sloane Ranger

    Doubtful in extremis. However, if there end up being 98 present, then 49 votes in favor would throw it to Pence for the tiebreaker.

  303. 303.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    @Sloane Ranger:

    They interviewed a Repuke Senator who said that a Democratic Senator might not be present for the vote tomorrow and talked about pairing them with the daughter’s wedding guy if this comes about.

    If this is true, fuck whatever worthless asshole complies.

  304. 304.

    Baud

    October 5, 2018 at 2:23 pm

    @Sloane Ranger: Seems ludicrous to me. But we’re in a period of ludicrosity.

  305. 305.

    Mnemosyne

    October 5, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Ugh. I hope for the city’s sake that people are allowed the space to be angry without the police overreacting. Stay safe.

  306. 306.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    Lindsey Graham learned the benefits of acting audaciously at a young age.

    As a boy, no older than 6, he hung around his mom and dad’s bar in Central, S.C., dressing up as a cowboy and yukking it up with drunks for laughs.

    This was four decades before anyone would call the little guy “Senator.” Back then his vaudeville routine at the Sanitary Cafe — which often included stealing slugs of beer from customers and taking drags off cigarettes poached from ashtrays — earned him a different nickname: “Stinkball.”

    “I was the center of attention at that bar,” Graham boasted Thursday morning in an interview in his Capitol Hill office.

    Senator Stinkball. We should have known.

    Why is Lindsay such an asshole? We attempt to find out.

  307. 307.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    October 5, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Thanks, Betty. Somehow we’ve gotten into this stupid internecine battle around here between people who are actually – and obviously – on the same side, all over who is being insufficiently positive and optimistic and supposedly fomenting “defeatism” and being all Chicken Little and shit. It’s very much a one-way battle, with the attitude-police attacking the alleged “defeatists” for their unhelpful and negative wrongthink, and those who are thus attacked defending themselves by pointing out that being less than sanguine about our shitty situation does not equate to giving up or discouraging anyone else from fighting on.

    Welcome to the BJ “defeatist” club, chaired by our very own blog-father.

  308. 308.

    seefleur

    October 5, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    @SFAW:
    The Caribou office is apparently not staffed full time. I finally got thru and was given one of those “if you know the extension number… ” and then it routed me into some v-mail circle of hell that eventually put me right back to “if you know the extension”. The DC v-mail is full and I am still getting busy signals from her Portland and Bangor offices.

  309. 309.

    Mnemosyne

    October 5, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Of course he did. Because acknowledging wrongdoing when it comes to sexual conduct is what wimpy girly-men do. Alpha men stay strong and insist the bitches are all liars, and if they’re not liars, well, no one cares what an alpha man does.

  310. 310.

    Paul W.

    October 5, 2018 at 2:28 pm

    Before Collins says anything at all. Let me just say FUCK YOU for all of this fucking drama and wishy washy bullshit, as well as providing cover for Kavanaugh by “believing” his bullshit non-answer about Roe being “settled law”.

    Also, fuck her for forcing me to write in almost Trump-like style. Complete with random caps and quote marks galore. Fuck the GOP.

  311. 311.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 2:28 pm

    @NotMax:
    Have you checked for your tiny car? They never steal just one item.

  312. 312.

    ruemara

    October 5, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    @rikyrah: The will of the white majority is every black community holed up in fear. I sincerely hope to be wrong. Someday.

  313. 313.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    @Mnemosyne: And most of the R offenders are STILL IN GOVERNMENT UNREPENTANT.

    This timeline blows chunks.

  314. 314.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    @TenguPhule:
    Did not know his backstory–oddly similar to Boehner’s.

  315. 315.

    MisterForkbeard

    October 5, 2018 at 2:31 pm

    What astounds me about this whole thing is how this is being treated as “Both sides” thing by the media.

    Democrats are saying the literal truth: “We can’t know if Kavanaugh raped Ford for sure, even if we believe her. But Kavanaugh is obviously partisan and unfit temperamentally. He lied and perjured himself in his own confirmation hearings. And the FBI Investigation is obviously complete, as it didn’t interview most of the witnesses that came forward and were restricted to just a few (mostly pro-Kavanaugh) witnesses.”

    Republicans are saying “Democrats withheld this until the last minute (lie)! They’re being mean to Kavanaugh! We can’t know if he did it so we have to confirm him!” They’re not even trying to engage on the actual points, and they’re lying about the process and what witnesses have said.

    The media is (predictably) reporting this as “Both sides are angry.” without noting that the Democrats are literally, undeniably correct. What a complete and utter shitshow.

  316. 316.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    Oh wow. China’s Interpol head went missing in China. Suspicion has fallen on the Chinese government.

    Adam, what say you?

  317. 317.

    CarolDuhart2

    October 5, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1048230794072936450

  318. 318.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    Every Lindsey “Stinkball” Graham profile goes back to him giving debasing performances for the benefit of drunks in childhood to try to explain what the hell he’s doing now.— Schooley (@Rschooley) October 5, 2018

  319. 319.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: the conservative assumption of bad faith– the accusation that is really a confession– on the part of those who believe CBF is really telling, and sickening.

  320. 320.

    NotMax

    October 5, 2018 at 2:34 pm

    Wow. Betty C’s new post disappeared faster than Collins’ conscience.

  321. 321.

    debbie

    October 5, 2018 at 2:35 pm

    @rikyrah:

    How in hell can they let Van Dyke off when they have him on his body camera exclaiming Laquan McDonald would have to be shot when he was one block away?

  322. 322.

    SFAW

    October 5, 2018 at 2:40 pm

    @trollhattan:

    New SCOTUS first act: approve injunction banning female Doctor. Jared will fill in

    Well, of course. Guuurrrrrls can’t be doctors!

  323. 323.

    Toocan-Anj

    October 5, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @Elizabelle: I was arrested in a direct action at Sen Toomey’s office last year. I am heading to DC tomorrow and will consider risking arrest there.
    It is a strangely empowering feeling to get arrested in a direct action, with pretty low risk, if you are a white middle-aged woman. Some of my fellow arrestees were women of color and they also felt empowered, and their risk level was higher than mine.
    I imagine we will be fighting this fight the rest of my life, I’m 56, I step back and take a breath now and then, and then start back up. I was a child during Vietnam and Watergate, but I have never seen so many folks paying attention to politics.

  324. 324.

    tam1MI

    October 5, 2018 at 2:48 pm

    @TenguPhule: Yet another reason why there are no circumstances whatsoever under which I will ever vote for Kristin Gillibrand.

  325. 325.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    October 5, 2018 at 2:52 pm

    @tam1MI: So you’re saying Sen Franken should have taken the kind of advice Trump would give?

  326. 326.

    Chyron HR

    October 5, 2018 at 2:53 pm

    @tam1MI:

    I think saying “MUH FRANKEN” over and over only counts as one reason.

  327. 327.

    Mnemosyne

    October 5, 2018 at 2:55 pm

    @tam1MI:

    It was a no-win situation. In retrospect, it probably sealed the victory for Doug Jones in Alabama, but it was at a pretty high cost.

  328. 328.

    tam1MI

    October 5, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: We unilaterally disarmed and for what? Brett Kavanaugh getting a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land?

  329. 329.

    Fair Economist

    October 5, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    I am going to place my prediction for a Nay from Collins. It is a braindead obvious vote for her. Democrats will be appreciative. Republicans will be furious but will forgive her when a less obviously criminal wingnut is seated during the lame duck. Republicans will be more energized for the midterms. And she keeps a rapist off the Court.

    If she is Yea not only is she evil she is an idiot.

  330. 330.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
    I’m not voting for her because she likes to occasionally say, “fuck.” It’s unladylike.

  331. 331.

    japa21

    October 5, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    Van Dyke guilty of 2nd degree murder.

  332. 332.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2018 at 2:58 pm

    @japa21:
    Wow, me surprised.

  333. 333.

    A Ghost To Most

    October 5, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    @japa21: Didn’t see that coming.

  334. 334.

    rikyrah

    October 5, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    This is why ELECTIONS MATTER.

    This case would have NEVER been brought if Anita Alvarez was still in office.

    ELECTIONS MATTER.

    GUILTY FOR EVERY SHOT.
    GUILTY.

  335. 335.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    @Fair Economist:

    If she is Yea not only is she evil she is an idiot.

    Its Susan Collins.

  336. 336.

    japa21

    October 5, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    @trollhattan: Basically found guilty on all charges. 2nd degree means found guilty of first degree with some mitigating factors.

  337. 337.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 5, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    So when is the nautanki* from ME going to announce her decision.

    *folk theater for the rubes

  338. 338.

    bemused

    October 5, 2018 at 3:01 pm

    I just saw a clip of women protesting outside Mitch McConnell home drinking beer and singing, “What do you do with a drunken justice?”

  339. 339.

    NotMax

    October 5, 2018 at 3:01 pm

    @Fair Economist

    Working behind the scenes to have McC allow a one time change of rules to allow her to vote Waffle?

    :)

  340. 340.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 3:02 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    So when is the nautanki* from ME going to announce her decision.

    CNN says 3:05 pm, local time.

  341. 341.

    Mnemosyne

    October 5, 2018 at 3:03 pm

    @japa21:

    Phew! I can’t say I’m happy, because a young man is still dead, but I am relieved that his family got some measure of justice.

  342. 342.

    SenyorDave

    October 5, 2018 at 3:05 pm

    @TenguPhule: And Adding Insult to Injury…..Trump mocks Al Franken for resigning quickly amid sexual misconduct allegations

    Sometimes I can’t believe that I would wish this on any living being, but the image of an incoherent Trump crapping the bed seems like a deserved fate. Throw in his kids having to take take turns “cleaning the Donald” and I think it would be like one of the Greek Gods giving retribution for Trump’s actions on earth.

    BTW, can we put to rest the ridiculous idea of Ivanka being a moderating force?

  343. 343.

    germy

    October 5, 2018 at 3:05 pm

    Never forget: Rahm tried to hide the Laquan McDonald video https://t.co/HNRVF75gGC— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) October 5, 2018

  344. 344.

    jacy

    October 5, 2018 at 3:06 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    One can hold out the faint hope that whenever a cop is convicted of murdering someone, it will give another cop a moment of pause before pulling the trigger.

  345. 345.

    chopper

    October 5, 2018 at 3:08 pm

    @rikyrah:

    oh thank god.

  346. 346.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    October 5, 2018 at 3:08 pm

    @LAC:

    This is becoming the wrong place to come to get solace and inspiration to keep fighting.

    Aww, you poor, precious snowflake. BJ’s no longer a safe space for you, what with all the defeatists around here (like Betty Cracker and John Cole) bumming you out with their negative attitudes. Such sad. Seriously, grow the fuck up.

  347. 347.

    A Ghost To Most

    October 5, 2018 at 3:08 pm

    Just back from a drive to Vallecito Reservoir and the Southern San Juan Mtns. Easy to forget (momentarily) the disintegration of our democracy. The leaves are at peak here.

    Some coot from Alabama just mentioned my truck, and said “Well, I guess you’re all set for going up and down the hills n hollers, aintchee?”

    I just smiled and wished he’d take his ‘God Bless America’ license plate back there.

  348. 348.

    misterpuff

    October 5, 2018 at 3:12 pm

    @jk: Isn’t something “shameful” considered deplorable? But, of course, Brooks says “Both Sides Do It”

  349. 349.

    TenguPhule

    October 5, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    McConnell is smiling. She’s a yes vote.

    Fuck Manchin.

  350. 350.

    donnah

    October 5, 2018 at 3:28 pm

    Collins is lauding Kavanaugh and explaining her Yes vote. She’s citing Kavanaugh’s past decisions as proof of his intent to uphold decided laws.

    She is disgusting. I hope there is a backlash against her so severe that she remembers and regrets this day the rest of her life.

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