Q: What is your message to dems elected today who said they wouldn’t vote for you as speaker?
PELOSI: “Congratulations on winning.”
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) November 7, 2018
You would be hard pressed – it may be impossible – to find a House seat that Pelosi cost Democrats, despite millions of dollars in ads spent invoking her name. But could find several that she probably helped pull across the finish line with ads.
— Ginger Gibson (@GingerGibson) November 7, 2018
rofl he thinks she's Paul Ryan. https://t.co/lHKzJHqhXf
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) November 8, 2018
It’s entirely possible that Nancy Pelosi will not be the Speaker, come January. But whoever wants to take that seat better be well prepared to do as good a job as she’s done — and that’s one hell of a task!
… Pelosi once had plans to retire with the election of the first female president. Those plans were quashed when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Now, if she can surmount internal Democratic politics, Pelosi has the potential to reshape the Democratic Party and play a central role in the explosive expansion of power by women in politics, which led to significant Democratic gains among female voters in Tuesday’s elections and an incoming House class that includes more than 100 women for the first time….
As it stands, the raw arithmetic of the incoming Democratic majority remains an obstacle. An expected Democratic majority of 11 seats or thereabouts could give a small group of Democrats leverage to demand a shake-up of a leadership team that is distanced from the younger and more activist Democrats who will soon join the House.
Four sitting Democrats voted against her in the last speaker election, and at least 12 of the incoming House Democrats made statements critical of Pelosi on the campaign trail, ranging from a general call for new leadership to a firm refusal to support her becoming speaker again. Seven more Democratic candidates in that category are running in races yet to be called…
Speaking to reporters, she put her pitch more succinctly: “It is not about what you have done; it’s about what you can do.”
But it did not escape many that the issue most responsible for the Democratic takeover — the party’s support for Obamacare and its protection of preexisting conditions — was only made possible because Pelosi forced the health-care legislation through during her first turn as speaker….
Thought experiment: if Sam Rayburn had just won control of the House for the second time in his career as Democratic leader – after Republicans had spent several cycles demonizing him across the country – would anyone expect him to walk away?
— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) November 7, 2018
YES I AM,Pelosi says when asked if she’s confident she will be speaker. “I think I’m the best person to come forward to unify, to negotiate – I’m a good negotiator”
— Alana Abramson (@aabramson) November 7, 2018
An argument in her favor, in the Atlantic, by Steve Israel:
In Nancy Pelosi’s office, steps away from the House floor, there’s a mahogany cabinet that encloses four separate television screens. They’re tuned to the cable-news networks and C-SPAN at all times.
Leaning against that cabinet is a stack of baseball bats. It’s the bats, not the screens, that tell the story of Pelosi’s approach to leadership, including maintaining her own in the Democratic caucus.
I frequently sat in Pelosi’s office when I was the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in 2012 and again in 2014. I watched her negotiate legislation, manage disparate factions of her caucus, and contemplate her future. There was always an amply filled bowl of Ghirardelli chocolates on an end table. And off to the side, in my peripheral vision, were those bats. The message was clear: We can achieve our goals pleasantly or unpleasantly, but we will achieve our goals…
Sometime between Thanksgiving and early December, newly elected and reelected House Democrats will gather in the harshly lit Democratic-caucus room, several floors beneath the Capitol building. They’ll sit on uncomfortable mesh chairs, balancing on their lap paper plates with pizza or salad dispensed from serving trays in the rear of the room. Candidates for speaker, majority leader, majority whip, DCCC chair, and other positions will make their pitch. Members and members-elect will receive paper ballots, check their preferences, and deposit their ballots in cardboard boxes. After tally counters inspect each ballot, the caucus will learn the identity of the probable next speaker, before an official vote is taken by the full House on January 3. Some members will be influenced by those grainy attack ads on Pelosi, funded by the National Republican Congressional Committee or by Paul Ryan’s Congressional Leadership Fund.But it’s not up to Republicans to choose the Democrats’ leader. It’s up to Democrats.
Their best choice is Nancy Pelosi, bats and all.
PELOSI tonight sending letters to each member of her caucus asking for their speaker vote: "My vision for the next 2 years is to restore House to the role it should have as a strong & indpdt voice for the American people, & maximize the ability & creativity of our entire Caucus."
— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) November 8, 2018
Meanwhile NEWS that the small group of Never Nancy Dem incumbents are doing a conference call tonight to hash out their next steps.
— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) November 8, 2018
Feel free to liven up your Thanksgiving with this conversation starter:
"Come January, Nancy Pelosi is third in line for the presidency. Can you pass the yams?"
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) November 7, 2018
Anonymous At Work
I call it Replacement Speaker Porn. Passive voice sentences to describe the hatred that the writers have for a Speaker that either 1) Pelosi 2) an effective Democrat or 3) a “non-penile person”. It always amusing to ask the writers to rewrite their sentences from passive to active voice and watch them squirm. Example:
Nancy Pelosi should be replaced. (passive)
[X] should replace Nancy Pelosi. (active)
Now, solve for X.
“Um…um…um…”
Waldo
The only acceptable response to GOPers’ post-election advice to Dems:
“Loser sez what?”
SFAW
The SFAW-ette, although (probably) more liberal than I, hit me with the “not Pelosi” thing last week. She’s not committed to that viewpoint, but I was a bit concerned that she was even considering it.
Not that it will affect the outcome of Speaker Pelosi’s efforts, but I will continue to work on my daughter.
In the meantime, I will contact my (newly-elected) Congressman’s office, to try to ensure that they are on-board with Speaker Pelosi, and none o’ that Seth Moulton shit.
ETA: Anne Laurie: I don’t know if you’re in Moulton’s district — I seem to recall (perhaps incorrectly) that you live somewhere near there — but if you haven’t already thought about it, you might consider contacting his office, etc. (Of course, if you’re not a Moulton constituent … )
Platonailedit
Philip rucker – mr magat halberman. Fuck him.
And AL
Really?
MattF
I like the idea of using a baseball bat as a gavel.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
So all we need is a massive coronary for fatboy, and for God to strike down Pence for gross hypocrisy and our national nightmare is over. Maybe the second part seems a little implausible but the first does not seem that unlikely.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The Resistance entire critic of Pelosi is she isn’t hard line against Trump enough, the guy really is grasping at straws.
SFAW
@Platonailedit:
I can envision some Dem moron trying the “I have all the Rethugs with me on this” gambit. It would probably fail, but it would cause unneeded turbulence in the caucus.
Platonailedit
The ‘lefty’ dems should be focusing on shit like this. Instead of playing let’s whack Nancy rethugs’ game.
OzarkHillbilly
This math is premature. Politico says the DEMs have a 26 seat majority with 13 seats yet to be decided I suspect this does not include the 2 which were just declared for DEMs this morning.
ETA Their page here: https://www.politico.com/election-results/2018/house/ says “Last updated Nov 8, 7:51 AM, so it may account for those 2 seats.
SFAW
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I don’t think Bossie’s part of the Resistance, if that’s what you meant.
Droppy
It’s great to have more young members of congress joining the team, but one thing about them is that they are young. Nancy P is old and knows the lay of the land that nothing but experience can teach. We’ve seen what it’s like to have a Speaker who is not just wrong on policy but incompetent on procedure. The Obamas of the world are rare and wonderful, and maybe there is a Speaker Obama out there; but until there is, I don’t see why any Democrat would not want to go with the savviest possible Speaker who has already demonstrated every quality you would want in the job.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Un-blech?
JPL
A local radio anti-Pelosi ad highlighted the fact that if something were to happen to the president, she’d be second in line for the presidency. Since Lucy McBath won, maybe it helped.
Unintended consequences. The Pelosi mailers hurt Ossoff, but I think that people just got tired of them.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
More serious note, Pelosi is getting up there in the years and nature may have different plans for her. I do home the Dems are grooming successors for her.
Mai Naem mobile
Third in line to POTUS with Trumpov and Albino Boy…. these people who don’t want Pelosi as Speaker can go fuck off
dr. bloor .
I find the “she’s to [old/conservative/cautious/womany/arglebargle] so she should step aside” line to be an extremely useful screening device, as it tells me there is no point in reading to anything else that particular person writes.
Although some of their proposed replacements for Pelosi are pretty entertaining.
low-tech cyclist
1) Speaker Pelosi, now more than ever.
2) Steny Hoyer should step down so someone younger (and preferably more progressive) can be Majority Leader
3) Chuck Schumer should step down so someone with a clue can be Senate Minority Leader. I’m thinking Senator Professor Warren would be a good choice.
FlipYrWhig
If Democrats crammed the airwaves with pictures of Mitch McConnell, would the media harass all Republican senators with questions about whether they support Mitch McConnell? I think the answer is “LOL no” but I’m willing to try anyway. Pelosi gets SO MUCH shit and other politicians get vastly too little.
SFAW
@JPL:
Thanks for the excellent news. I scaled back on my “checking for results every 30 seconds” activity. The SFAW-ette also informed me that Andy Kim won in NJ.
And with the new AAG being a staunch voting rights defender, I’m sure there will be DoJ civil rights investigators poring over Brian Kemp’s records, looking for more fuckery.
Anne Laurie
@SFAW: Nope, Katherine Clark is my Rep, praise goddess.
Moulton has a bright future ahead of him, but he needs to walk very carefully if he’s not to become the (D) version of Tom Cotton (*spits*).
FlipYrWhig
@dr. bloor .: I also don’t trust anyone whose evaluation is based on one criterion: “is this person entertaining on TV?” Because I remember when, on that basis, the Great White Hope for Democratic leadership was Anthony Weiner.
SFAW
@low-tech cyclist:
I think Warren would be a bad choice. I think she’s more of a policy wonk than an organizer/general. Dick Durbin might be a good choice.
Or maybe, just to show Turtle that the Dems are sincere in their desire to work with the Rethugs, either Joe Manchin or Jon Cornyn.
The Moar You Know
Either this new Dem majority is savvy enough to understand that you need to have someone who knows how to drive a bus actually driving the bus, or they don’t.
If they don’t, they are going to get rolled into oblivion by that piss-haired pigfucker in the White House. Let’s hope they choose wisely.
Platonailedit
@FlipYrWhig: At least, rwnj’s have a reason for being played by the rw media and pox news. What is the left’s excuse?
PPCLI
Republicans demonize people. It’s one of the things they do, relentlessly. They do it repeatedly, so that they can point to the mere existence of their relentless demonization as “evidence” that the demonized person is hated. And foolish Democrats will believe them.
If someone else is chosen as the new speaker, that person will get exactly the same treatment and then two years down the road Republicans will repeat “The Democrat Party can’t win an election with the hated speaker X as their leader”, and talking heads will echo them.
For heavens’ sake, these people demonized Tom Daschle, a perfectly centrist, inoffensive pol. They got their partisans thinking that Obama was the anti-Christ. So don’t take the fact that Republicans repeat over and over that Nancy Pelosi is “hated” count for anything.
schrodingers_cat
Nazi Times has decided to go full Fox
NY AG please check their damn finances.
Anne Laurie
@Platonailedit: Well, after all, she could get hit by a bus. Or she may have been elevated to the Oval Office (thus the last tweet, above)…
SFAW
@Anne Laurie:
OK, thanks. And I agree re: the Moulton/Cotton potential.
MattF
@schrodingers_cat: It’s the ‘hot take’ syndrome. Everything’s been said already, except for the patently nutty. So…
Platonailedit
oldster
We owe Nancy a hell of a lot.
In this last election, health care was treated as a right, not a privilege, by Republicans as well as Democrats.
Republicans campaigned on the (false) claim that they were the real protectors of pre-existing conditions.
Trump actually claimed that the Democrats could not be trusted because they might destroy Obamacare.
Tom McArthur, who tried to repeal the ACA, went down in flames to Andy Kim.
Can anyone doubt that the decision by Nancy, Obama, and Harry Reid to wager everything on Obamacare was not only the right decision, but one of the best, most far-sighted decisions any Democrats have made in decades?
I want Nancy back in there, setting the priorities, deciding what legislation to advance and which investigations to push. She has the instincts. And she’s going to train up the youngsters who are just joining the circus. I want to tell every fresh-faced young Congress-critter, from Alexandria O-C on up, “ya’ll listen to Aunt Nancy, and just *strive* to become as great as she is.”
Anne Laurie
@low-tech cyclist:
Amy Klobuchar, even better. She’s got the seniority, and even the ‘centrists’ like her!
(Kamala Harris would be a good choice too, but she’s got a lot on her plate already.)
schrodingers_cat
@MattF: Most of the articles are either minimizing the D victory or are concern trolling the Ds. And most of the op-eds are scolding Ds.
Platonailedit
@Anne Laurie:
Nice escape. (Come on bus in front of WH))
Platonailedit
@oldster: Yup, that ‘old team’ checked all the boxes to ensure the rethugs were boxed in.
Matt McIrvin
@OzarkHillbilly: I was wondering where that number came from. But the article was published pretty early on Tuesday night.
It’s been interesting to watch the close races trickle in, with a lot of Democratic wins. It looks like the final number of flips is going to be right in the middle of 538’s predicted range–actually a really good performance for the House model, though there are obviously individual races they called wrong.
FlipYrWhig
@Platonailedit: I think it’s that they’re generally a bunch of skinny-assed posers who long to be badasses (e.g. the beard thing, e.g. the boots thing) and got stuck in arrested development weakly rebelling against their already-liberal parents. Maybe I’m psychoanalyzing and universalizing but I find it *rampant*.
JPL
OT the great RBG fell last night and broke three ribs. She’s in the hospital for observation.
MattF
@Matt McIrvin: People are just refusing to do the basic arithmetic, which is rather frustrating. There are a dozen undecided-but-leaning-D races, and when you add these to the margin, Ds are doing pretty well.
Yarrow
@SFAW:
I’m doing the same thing. Both my Dem Congressperson and the newly-elected one I worked for. NANCY SMASH!
A Ghost To Most
@Waldo:
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@SFAW: Is Bossie who was Trump was talking about, the quote sounded like Trump expected all these new young female blue reps to fliock to him, which sounds Trump stupid?
Ella in New Mexico
THIS. This is why we need the likes of Nancy “Smash” Pelosi as Speaker. She’s the only one here with the chops and the experience to turn THIS shit into gold for the Democrats if they try it.
For the next two years at least, we need all these great new, up and coming Democrats to bring their energy and ideas to Congress, unite with each other sit at the foot of the Master and learn her ways. They’re gonna need every single thing she teaches them for a future majority. We NEED Nancy right now. We can talk changing leadership when the war for America is over.
As a matter of fact, we’re gonna need our elder warriors more than ever now. No kicking people to the curb who are competent, have the skills we need and are willing to hang in there and fight smartly with us instead of retiring and living a life of ease.
Hitlesswonder
RBG in the hospital after falling
Matt McIrvin
@MattF: The Republican gains in the Senate are above most predicted medians, by about 2 or 3 seats. The Senate runs on small-number effects, though, and nobody rated that outside of the realm of possibility.
I think Trump’s fear-based escalation strategy genuinely helped him in the Senate, but it dependent on completely contingent factors: the 2018 map meant that there were several precariously positioned Democrats in deep-red states, and almost nobody in the opposite situation. The way to beat them is to focus on base turnout– “GRRAAAHH the caravan is coming to kill you!!! Cleanse America!!!” But that probably was either a wash or a disadvantage for Republicans in the House, because it mobilized base turnout on both sides.
SFAW
@Yarrow:
Just remember not to say “Tick tock, motherfuckers” to them.
Unless they say “No way” for Pelosi, of course.
FlipYrWhig
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I thought the idea was supposed to be that the freshperson class of Democrats had enough Pelosi skeptics that Trump could exploit the division between Pelosi supporters and Pelosi detractors… somehow. Left unexplained: how. Probably involving Twitter?
Elizabelle
Um, I think the WaPost needs to check the typo in the court’s statement. But all the best to the notorious RBG. The WaPost item in full:
Elizabelle
I love Nancy Smash.
cain
I understand that the speaker can be anybody.. a good troll would be to put Hillary as speaker :-)
JPL
@Hitlesswonder: She needs our prayers.
Mai Naem mobile
I thought RBG was released from the hospital. Jeezus, I am going to age another 20 years in the next 2 years.
Yarrow
@Mai Naem mobile: From a CNN article:
Sending good thoughts to RBG!
grandpa john
@MattF: As is usual with Democrats,there seems to be little attention being given to what to me is one of the highlights of the election . the large gains seen in getting govt control seen in State and local elections.The major GOP push in years past that put the GOP in control of government.The party that controls the majority of state gov. will eventually control the National gov, something the the Democrats seem to have ignored for many years
Served
1) The “Never Pelosi” crowd never brings up another name, let alone a viable one, which is a big tell. The argument can always be boiled down to “It doesn’t make me feel good that she’s Speaker”
2) It’s mostly DSA/Rose people who lead this charge every time, and it’s because they think they deserve leadership of the entire caucus without proving it. It’s a very entitled position and they are very disingenuous in their criticism of Pelosi. It shows when they get frothed up over her reciting standard boilerplate about “bipartisanship” the night of the election.
I had someone argue with me that Pelosi is too dictatorial and not a coalition builder and we need a uniter in the position which is some kumbaya nonsense. The Speaker needs to drag by the ear (and the campaign money) members to Yes or release them to No and vice versa. That’s her job!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@low-tech cyclist:
Kamala Harris for Senate Minority leader. The party’s future is rooted in multiculturalism and women from the West Coast.
Brachiator
Wow. Talk about an inability to read the room. And if Trump believes this, he is an even bigger egotistical fool than I imagined.
Pelosi had me worried with some of the bipartisan crap she was spewing and her praise of Reagan. But she also indicated that she knows exactly what she is up against.
I have been frustrated by some of the past actions of the Democratic leadership, but still think that Pelosi is the best of all of them. I hope she is grooming future leaders.
MattF
@grandpa john: In my own neighborhood (Bethesda MD), moderate Republicans used to be everywhere, but now they’re gone– to Limbo, or wherever. Republican candidates, with very few exceptions, are reduced to what are euphemistically termed ‘gadflies’. I.e., people with behavioral problems. Pretty much the only local Republican visible from my front door is Larry Hogan.
I think that most Democrats live in neighborhoods like mine, so most Democrats just aren’t seeing local politics in terms of parties anymore.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
how ’bout that
A Ghost To Most
Talk, talk. Nancy Smash! does shit. She will deal with this momentary kerfuffle.
Matt McIrvin
@grandpa john: The Democrats won back about a third of the state-legislature losses they experienced over the entire Obama era. I think it’s also key that so many voting-access and anti-gerrymandering initiatives passed in different states (and, yes, some voter ID initiatives, but this other stuff is probably more important than voter ID). There’s a way to go, but it’s a start.
DonkeyKong
I’m sorry to burst everyone’s bubble. The Trumpian Republican Senate will not be passing any legislation. So Nancy Smash’s formidable talents are irrelevent.
Matt McIrvin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The first really big “close, but no cigar” of the special elections. I’d been thinking we were running below expectations from special elections, but this time the Democrats beat them.
eric
hard for me to see the new women reps forcing Nancy out…kinda a trailblazer for them (acknowledged or unacknowledged). Plus, the obvious rank sexism must rankle just a wee bit.
A Ghost To Most
@JPL: Because prayers are SO effective.
She needs a Democratic president.
tobie
@PPCLI:
This is so true. It’s also what JusticeDems and OurRevolutionDems do (purity tests, sound bytes in lieu of policy, pot shots at opponents like neoliberal shill or corporatist). With the exception of a few urban candidates (Ocasio Cortez, Tlaib, and Omar), Berners did not do well this midterm. Thompson in Kansas, Watson in Indiana, Jealous in Maryland, Katie Poter in CA and Jess King in PA are some examples. I imagine we would have lost KS-03 and the Michigan governor’s race if the Berner candidate had won the primary.
Elizabelle
WaPost corrected the typo and put up a longer story about RBG:
Heck of a way to skip Kavanaugh’s formal investiture.
MomSense
Fuck RBG fell and broke three ribs!!!
??☎️☎️ ⚠️ ?
A Ghost To Most
@DonkeyKong:
Stopping legislation will have to do.
Thoroughly Pizzled
Everyone who’s tried to challenge Nancy has been MORE conservative than her, not less. If there’s a better option, sure, but I won’t hold my breath.
Matt McIrvin
Hmm. Friend deeply into leftier-than-Democrats Twitter just retweeted a fundraising campaign to elect Barbara Lee House speaker.
eric
@A Ghost To Most: proposing stand alone popular measures is the way to go…. pre-existing conditions, and anything else that polls through the roof.
bemused
@MattF:
Gadflies is too polite. I just think of them all as degenerates, just one word to cover racism, white supremacism, corruption, etc, etc.
p.a.
1st: Do no harm. She has proven to be an effective leader. It’s a no-brainer. But she should take the lead in bringing younger blood into the other leadership positions.
Who better to learn from?
Matt McIrvin
…Included an assertion that all Pelosi is good at is raising funding from big-money fat cats.
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
I definitely think we need to get rid of Nancy Pelosi so that instead of criticizing us, republicans will praise us for our well-informed choice. I can already see the 2020 ads now: “Moneybag Jew Globalists George Soros, Chuck Schumer and all their murderous-infiltrator brown friends want to take your jobs and kill your babies. But not [New Speaker X}, because he/she’s pretty cool and we like them a lot.”
We just need to crack the code, I tell you!
Jack the Second
@JPL: Fuck that, does anyone have some goats they can sacrifice to God, Zeus, Thor, Buddha, and/or Satan on her behalf? Let’s pull out all the stops and not damn her with simple “thoughts and prayers” the way we do school children.
Mai Naem mobile
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: nothing against Kamala Harris but the Senate needs somebody who has institutional memory and knows its arcane rules. Patty Murray’s been there for a while , is from a blue state and has crafted and passed legislation. Also she was one of the original women elected during the Year of the Woman after Anita Hill.
A Ghost To Most
@eric: That too.
We finally have some tools to fight back. I believe we should put them in the hands of a proven fighter who knows how to use them.
YMMV.
Elizabelle
@Matt McIrvin: re your updates from the whackadoodle left: If you enjoy hanging out with those types, that’s great. I am glad that I do not.
tobie
@Matt McIrvin: Barbara Lee could put a stop to this. I imagine part of the bargain would be that she would be second in command this Congress with transition to first in command in the next Congress. I know little about her except her consistent and righteous opposition to undeclared wars. Is she a good legislator? Good at corralling votes? This is not meant to be critical. I simply know next to nothing about her except that Ocasio Cortez recommended her for leadership early on in her campaign, which makes me a little suspicious. Obviously she wants this fight. Otherwise she’d tell her supporters to stop it.
RobertB
@schrodingers_cat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
MattF
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner): The codeword for that is ‘civility’. But the first rule of politics is ‘Politics Matters’. Yes, it does.
O. Felix Culpa
@p.a.:
One possible trainee is my Congressman (and Cheryl Rofer’s too): Ben Ray Lujan seeks House leadership role
Mai Naem mobile
@DonkeyKong: do you think budgets pass magically? Debt ceilings? Or do you not consider that legislation?
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa: ?
tobie
@O. Felix Culpa: Good pick.
JR
@FlipYrWhig: Why would we torture people with images of Mitch McConnell? That is just inhumane.
DonkeyKong
The Democratic leadership in the house needs to be ready for a financial panic, terrorist attack, assasinations or bombings. The need to run fire drills as to how they will handle a crisis.
The investigations cannot be piece meal, they have to tell a story that both exposes the dangerous corruption of the Trumpest Republican Party and resells the Federal government as the greatest manager or risk (an insurance company with nukes) in human history that is now severely crippled in being able to deal with risks known and unknown.
Nancy Smash and the rest of the Democratic leadership are not ready or able as far as I can tell to do that.
Matt McIrvin
@Elizabelle: It’s basically one guy who retweets truckloads of this stuff. I think part of it is just that he’s depressed–it all has this lol-nothing-matters, everybody-is-shit snarky gloss. He drives me around the bend but sometimes he posts witty and on-point stuff that keeps me reading, but I do wonder if it’s worth it.
Jack the Second
I’m of two minds on Senate Minority Leader. On the one hand, with Democratic control of the House, we might be able to get something useful done, in which case the minority leader could have an outsized role in negotiating with the Senate Republicans and you need someone competent.
On the other hand, with Republicans in control of the Senate and no one in control of the Presidency, maybe nothing is happening, and Senate Minority Leader has nothing to do but be loudly angry at Republicans.
In which case, shit, Bernie Sanders for Senate Minority Leader. He’d be chuffed as hell and it’s the only way you’re going to get cable news to invite the Democratic Minorty Leader on for 30 minutes a day to yell entertainingly.
OzarkHillbilly
@Donkey’sAss: You should stick to commenting on horse apples and not the necessities of understanding parliamentary rules and how best to use them.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
along the lines of “anyone can be elected Speaker”… and yes this is a pipe dream/left field fantasy…. Stacey Abrams. Charismatic, young, African-American woman from Georgia who’s really good at contemporary media
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Mai Naem mobile:
Here’s my problem about the Senate’s arcane rules and the norms – McConnell ignores them when convenient, and expects norms of civility and politeness to hold even as he installs white nationalist authoritarianism as the new normal.
Fuck that.
Harris has an actual lawyer’s skill in shifting as is necessary, and won’t feel the same fealty to those norms and rules because she’s younger. She’s the enthusiastic choice from our most populous state and has executive experience.
Yarrow
@tobie:
That’s enough for me to be highly skeptical.
SFAW
@Jack the Second:
Fixed
A Ghost To Most
@tobie:
Congrats to Ocasio, but she hasn’t even been sworn in yet. She might want to learn the ropes before she starts cutting them.
Quinerly
Shooter is 28 year old guy. Former Marine. I’m guessing White.
SFAW
@DonkeyKong:
Thanks for sharing that valuable insight. It will be given all the sober, deliberate consideration it merits.
JR
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I hope McBath played Messiah to celebrate.
Eolirin
There are a number of must pass bills that will come up in the next two years. Having someone capable of negotiating to get the best possible deal we can on them is really important.
And some of those necessary compromises are gonna suck for progressive policies. But shutting down the government until the Republicans give in isn’t a sustainable strategy. We need leadership that understands that and is able to get the caucus to hold in the face of it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Yarrow: Barbara Lee was the only member of the House to vote against the Afghanistan AUMF, and she has consistently called for Congress to do it’s damn job and revise that and the Iraq/limitless AUMF. She got death threats in the fall of ’01. I’m pretty sure she was on stage during Pelosi’s Tuesday night press conference as part of the broad leadership team. There seemed to be about two dozen people Pelosi name checked.
A Ghost To Most
@Quinerly:
I’m afraid he will turn out to be antifa, given the targets. Or maybe a disciple of the Vegas shower.
A Ghost To Most
@A Ghost To Most: Vegas shooter.
FYAC.
Elizabelle
@Matt McIrvin: Go ahead and read it, but why do we have to expend any time on it here? One provocateur does not a movement make.
Raven
@A Ghost To Most: That’s what people thought about Vegas too/
Quinerly
@A Ghost To Most: looking like mental health issues. AP said police had been called to his home in April. Other run ins with law includes traffic violation and a battery on him in a bar. Dressed all in black, baseball cap. Started shooting right upon entry.
Quinerly
@JR: I see what you did. ?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
? ? 28 YO shooting up a college bar? My first thought was socially-maladjusted, angry outcast, incel if can use that without sounding snarky.
Quinerly
Kemp has resigned as SOS.
TPM reporting.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/brian-kemp-resigns-georgia-secretary-of-state
Omnes Omnibus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That makes her a good Majority Leader how? Pelosi is proven as effective. She has my support until someone demonstratively better shows up.
schrodingers_cat
Since no one has mentioned the gunman’s race or immigration status or religion. I am guessing he is most probably a white Christian male born in the United States.
Yarrow
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Barbara Lee may be great. I don’t know much about her so thanks for the info.
Quinerly
@schrodingers_cat: first name is Ian. I’m guessing very White.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus: didn’t say it did, just offering some background on Lee. I’m a Pelosi fan.
and while I don’t feel like fighting on this fine morning, I agree with @A Ghost To Most: , AOC ran a fine primary campaign, but she needs to get to know some colleagues and broaden her perspective a bit
Mr Stagger Lee
@schrodingers_cat: No doubt an Incel to boot.
Quinerly
That Holocaust denier lost but still got 25% of the vote. I guess we now know that 2% of that crazification factor of 27% isn’t quite as crazy as we thought.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/elections/ct-met-illinois-3rd-district-nazi-arthur-jones-20181106-story.html
germy
Elizabelle
LA Times website:
I am just angry. That this happens again and again and again. We could do something about this.
eric
@Quinerly: or maybe that 2% is jewish? hard hard core expand the settlement types.
tobie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: AOC also needs to recognize how poorly DSA/TrueBrogressive candidates fared on Tuesday outside of liberal enclaves, which were guaranteed to go blue in any event.
eric
@germy: that tweet deserves a pulitzer
Platonailedit
@Quinerly: Mission Accomplished, redux?
tobie
@Elizabelle: How can a case like this possibly fit the constitution’s provision of a “well regulated militia.” This is madness, murder and mayhem.
Elizabelle
LA Times again:
oldgold
I advocated for Pelosi to step aside in late summer. I thought she would be a drag on our chances of taking back the House. I suspect that whether she was or not, and if so to what degree, could now be argued round or flat.
All that expressed, at this point, it is my opinion Pelosi should be selected as Speaker. Even during the “discussions” here concerning whether she should step down, I conceded that her description of herself as a “Master Legislator” was correct. We now need those skills.
Mr Stagger Lee
Send prayers and thoughts for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I hear she sustained 3 broken ribs.
Elizabelle
@tobie: Agreed. And it can happen ANYWHERE. Except in well protected halls of Congress, where you enter through a metal detector. Or the White House, etc.
One young woman who escaped was telling the LA Times in an early story that “This isn’t fair; it isn’t fair.”
And it is not.
Elizabelle
@oldgold:
Ya think? We have always needed those skills. Train up a replacement team, sure, but we need Nancy Smash in these unprecedented times. And she is tough enough to succeed.
Litlebritdifrnt
Someone said on twitter after the headline “Justice Ginsburg hospitalized after breaking three ribs”
I thought it was amusing and made me able to smile even after hearing the news.
tobie
@Elizabelle: We’re a nation terrorized by gun freaks at this point. You’re not safe at school, at houses of worship, in the grocery store, at the mall, in a cinema, at a doctor’s office (especially a Planned Parenthood clinic), in a bar, at a newspaper office, at a concert, in a warehouse, etc etc etc. This is beyond infuriating.
chris
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Al Franken said something like it takes the whole first term to learn how things work. Congratulations, Alexandria, now sit down and listen up.
germy
Quinerly
@Platonailedit: Well, he’s thinking he is going to step right into the role of governor elect. I’m thinking it’s relevant because if there is a run off, he’s not in charge of it because he resigned. Frankly, I’m very rattled by this broken rib thing with RBG and might not be thinking clearly. That kills otherwise perfectly healthy older women. Pneumonia and such. How I lost my mother at 92 a week after she walked to the ambulance after a car wreck. Airbags broke three ribs. She was in as good a shape physically as RBG before the ribs. Immediately went down hill in the hospital.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
and while I don’t feel like fighting with anyone here, I would love to have five non-violent minutes alone with this dimwitted, blinkered, sanctimonious old gasbag
Not racist, just experiencing economically anxious racially-tinged discomfort. They didn’t like Oprah coming to town because she’s a billyunnayhr! God I hate that man.
“I think you know…” very trumpian formulation. IOW: I think you know I’m right
germy
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Yarrow
White guy whitesplains:
I can’t even with him. So angry.
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Handel’s letter to herself with white powder in it must have gotten lost in the mail this time. ?
germy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Uh, if a person is “uncomfortable” voting for an African American, I’m pretty sure that means they’re racist.
Question for bernie: If a voter was uncomfortable voting for a senator because he’s Jewish, wouldn’t that mean the voter is an anti-semite?
germy
@Elizabelle:
Or an NRA convention, where open or hidden carry is not allowed.
tobie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Tell it to the crowd at LGM. Will Erik Loomis will finally get over his love affair with this guy.
MattF
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The words you are looking for are ‘alte cacker‘. Spelling variant in order to avoid moderation.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@tobie: I don’t follow LGM enough to know: aren’t there a couple of front pagers over there who approach Tbogg levels of pragmastism?
I genuinely believe Wilmer got drunk on all the hysterical applause of white college kids and hasn’t sobered up yet. And never will.
rikyrah
Nancy Smash rocks.
that is all.
L85NJGT
Moderate women voters elected the incoming House majority.
The “real” left is high on their own supply, and the villagers can only talk about Democrats – they don’t want to piss Trump off and have him go off on them.
Joey Maloney
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: Obviously, the next part is President Pelosi appoints Hillary Clinton VP and resigns as soon as she’s confirmed.
I mean, as long as we’re dreaming…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
NPR top-of-the-hour news just reminded me: Lucy McBath now holds Newt Gingrich’s old seat.
Let us savor.
D58826
@Anonymous At Work:
With an eye to the future Nancy should be solving for a number of younger X’s.
tobie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Many of the front pagers there are pragmatic. Loomis, I think, is more ideological. I stopped visiting the site some time ago because of Loomis’ defense of trade tariffs in the heady days of 2016 (pre-Trump era). It struck me as a particularly bone-headed position coming from a labor historian.
cain
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Co-signed. But Kamala Harris is very much interested in the presidency. So I’m not sure she is a good short term prospect. But I think she has the right skillset for the job. But let’s give Schumer the benefit of the doubt and see where he goes with it.
Michael Cain
In other leadership news, Rep. Diana Degette of Denver has announced she’s running for the Dem whip position. Diana is 61. The current whip, Steny Hoyer, is 79. The other announced candidate for whip so far is Jim Clyburn from SC, age 78.
Mnemosyne
@Quinerly:
Today was supposed to be Kavanaugh’s formal investiture ceremony as a Supreme Court justice, so I’m hoping that RBG is malingering so she doesn’t have to attend that farce.
schrodingers_cat
From Huffington Post, about the LA killer.
.
Ella in New Mexico
@O. Felix Culpa: Ben Ray has quietly done a whole lot of good for the D’s this election with his leadership at the DCCC as well as being a solid representative for New Mexico. We’d be lucky to have him in that role.
geg6
@Jack the Second:
Entertainingly? How about just as annoyingly as Trump does? Because that’s pretty much how I see him. Gawd, I’d have to kill myself if this happened.
Vhh
@SFAW: Cornyn is GOP.
Aleta
That doctored video Sanders put out.
Will she make the intern lie on Fox too?
Citizen Alan
@FlipYrWhig:
To be fair, lots of people really liked Anthony Weiner before he revealed himself as a colossal perv.
L85NJGT
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The need for adulation is the hole that will never be filled, and likely lead to his downfall.
@Yarrow:
He reminds me a lot of Jeremy Corbin – true believers, career backbenchers, willing to overlook hate…. almost like they fit a Kompromat profile fifty years ago.
Elizabelle
@cain: I like Dick Durbin a lot, too.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Mnemosyne: I thought he’d already been sworn in twice.
Re Pelosi being third in line (or second, depending on how you count), a guy at dinner Tuesday night was all worked up about this. Seriously, it would take a catastrophe (?) in which they were wiped out at more or less the same time. Otherwise, whoever is president nominates a VP. I believe the Senate has to confirm. For a double example, see Nixon/Agnew
tobie
@Ella in New Mexico: Second that.
I’d also like to see Stacey Abrams in a prominent position–be it as GA governor (first choice) or as Ellison’s replacement at the DNC. She needs to be at the forefront of voting rights in the party.
gvg
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: he is a ding a ling who must come from a VERY white world. I am white. I admit to some “discomfort” around blacks in certain contexts, mainly because I have been conditioned to be …worried? by society, but I don’t give in to it. I have had black friends, school mates, co workers, casual acquaintances and always people I encounter all the time. I have voted for many black people, many times, mostly for school board, because that seems to be a big issue for them. I have had 2 black bosses before I ever voted for Obama. I knew it was historic because of other peoples issues though, but for me it was, not hard or new.
Bernies state seems like another planet.
It’s unrealistic to not notice that other people are predjudiced though and I guess we have to take it into account. My dad tried to explain how concerned he was about Gillum winning Florida’s primary when he admitted he liked Gillum better but hadn’t voted for him. It came down to Dad wanted to win the general and he wasn’t sure his fellow Floridians would go for Gillum. I will wait awhile to decide what the total reason are, but what I heard form R leaning voters leads me to think the socialist smear was believed and so was the corruption possible charge (hello emails volume II). Racism was a factor, but honestly the whole democratic party is kind of considered like black by the extreme republican tribe here. I may be too influenced by a few encounters with 1 nutty neighbor though. Gillum’s primary opponent was a white woman who was probably too boring to win right now too. I suspect she wouldn’t have done as well.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The Senate AND the House has to confirm a Presidential nominated VP.
ken
@dr. bloor .: Exactly, since these were probably the same people who voted for Bernie in the primaries.
Michael Cain
@Dorothy A. Winsor: When the President nominates a replacement vice-president, that person must be confirmed by simple majority vote in both the House and the Senate.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
That’s a great idea. She’d be so much better at the public facing part of the job than Ellison or Tom Perez, though Perez seems to have stopped trying too hard, which is an improvement. But you can’t learn what Stacey Abrams has
geg6
@Elizabelle:
He was the concensus pick of a group of my female friends who are not big Schumer fans. They like his fight. And just for context, these women were not politically interested, let alone active, until 11/8/16. Some voted regularly but didn’t follow politics much. Some were not in the least bit following politics and many of these were, until this year, registered independents if they voted or didn’t vote at all.
Michael Cain
@tobie:
I’d also like to see Stacey Abrams in a prominent position–be it as GA governor (first choice) or as Ellison’s replacement at the DNC.
I am reluctant to see people who are obviously great candidates and campaigners “wasted” in the party’s bureaucracy.
JPL
@tobie: Stacey would be great at the DNC. It’s doubtful that she wins the governorship, but she sure turned out her supporters. I think she’s responsible for McBath’s win.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@?BillinGlendaleCA: @Michael Cain: Thanks. I should have looked it up, but I knew someone here would know.
L85NJGT
My guess is everyone but Trump knew the House was a goner, and they were gas-lighting him that if he focused on Sen and Gov races it would also pull along enough seats in the House.
Tony Jay
@L85NJGT:
What the everliving fuck is your issue with Jeremy Corbyn (that’s how you spell it)? Two posts in two threads and you’ve square-pegged counter-factual smears into both of them.
Very odd duck.
tobie
@Michael Cain: Normally I would agree with you. But, if Abrams isn’t able to bring the governor’s race to a run-off because the cards have been massively stacked against her and African-Americans generally, I want to see her face on TV as much as possible. And having some official position would allow her to speak for the party weekdays and weeknights and weekends. We’d be blessed to have someone of such prodigious talent. Would joining a think tank or starting her own organization get her the same attention? Honest question…I really don’t know how these things work.
Yarrow
Oh, this is funny:
L85NJGT
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Well if it comes to that, the McConnell precedent has been set. The House Democrats can wait until after the next election to confirm.
The Lodger
@Michael Cain: Was Steny Hoyer the tall dead white guy on the stage with Nancy Tuesday night?
L85NJGT
@Tony Jay:
I don’t truck with useful idiots. For starters he needs to knock this shit down:
https://forward.com/fast-forward/413527/labour-party-chapter-votes-against-condemning-pittsburgh-synagogue-attack/
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@tobie: If Oprah, or Tom Steyer, or George Soros, want to do some good, they could fund Abrams as the DNC Vice President for Voter Access. Somebody better at this than I can come up with catchier name or acronym.
Maybe she’s thinking about the Senate. Or spending some time in the private sector. But the national party would be damn fools if they don’t help her become a national figure if she wants it.
Barbara
It’s also useful for everyone to remember that Pelosi was the daughter of the mayor of Baltimore. She has good political and organizing instincts in her DNA. Likewise, she started out political life in California by raising money and organizing for the person who held her seat before she did. It’s clear that Paul Ryan was a weak speaker at least in part because he had nothing comparable in his background and was chosen mostly on ideological grounds. Ideology actually isn’t a skill, so it’s not just whether you agree with Pelosi, it’s whether you have the kind of skills needed to run a caucus. That being said, Pelosi will not be around forever and someone does need to have those skills when she is no longer there.
low-tech cyclist
@Michael Cain:
Let’s remember that the Speaker’s party has that extra leadership position, so when they lost control of the House in 2010, everybody took one step down, and presumably they’ll each take one step back up now.
Pelosi was Speaker from 2007-2010; now she’s Minority Leader.
Hoyer was Majority Leader from 2007-2010; now he’s Minority Whip.
Clyburn was Majority Whip from 2007-2010; now he’s House Assistant Minority Leader.
If none of them step down or are successfully challenged, they’ll all go back to their 2007-2010 positions. So if Degette is running for Majority Whip, she’s running against Clyburn, not Hoyer. Just want to make that clear.
As I said earlier, I would like to see someone challenge Hoyer. He’s my Congressman, and I’m OK with that. But he’s a bit too business-friendly and generally old-school to be the #2 guy in the Dem leadership now.
PJ
@DonkeyKong: So the Democrats in Congress should just stay at home and let Trump and the GOP do whatever they want? Fuck that noise. Trump and his criminal cronies need to be investigated out the yin yang by the House. It may not get through the Senate, but progressive legislation on voting rights, civil rights, climate change, the environment, health care, and the whole barrel of things the GOP has fucked up over the last two years needs to get passed in the House so the country can see what Democrats will do when they get control of the Senate and White House. And Pelosi, of course, needs to be ready to be sworn in when Trump and Pence led away in handcuffs.
burnspbesq
@DonkeyKong:
Care to explain that? It doesn’t logically follow from any facts of which I am aware.
Spanky
@Yarrow: The White House put that out just so Trump can toy with Christie one more time before crushing him.
J R in WV
@DonkeysAss:
So. Sparsely commented from 2008-2011, less so in 2012, then gone for 6 years… less than 150 comments, total.
Reappears as if by magic after a big Democratic Wave election, only to diss Democratic leadership, which has created national health care and protected it from Republican attack for years of total Republican control of all the levers of power in Washington DC.
Troll, perhaps Russian, certainly Republican.
Please go away again for 6 more years. Thanks. Bye.
Beatrice Blacklow
@low-tech cyclist: Durbin is a much better choice for Senate Majority Leader. But, yes, Hoyer must go!
Michael Cain
@low-tech cyclist:
My point is that the current Dem House leadership will all be over 80 when we go into the 2020 elections. IIRC — and I may not — the chairs of all the major committees will be almost as old. One of the things that I think the House Republicans did right 20 or so years back was term-limit their committee chairs. After a few years, it put them in the position of having places to groom up-and-comers, and having at least some of the prominent “faces of the party” on major issues look middle-aged or younger.
Spanky
@The Lodger:
Sounds about right. He’s my congresscritter as well, and he has a pretty big campaign war chest that he distributes among other Dems, so he’s accumulated a lot of “friends”. Quid pro quo, and all.
Immanentize
@Spanky: No one fetches McDonald’s more eagerly than Chris!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Spanky: “Hello Chris? I wondered if you’re free this afternoon, maybe to talk about an incredible job opportunity that’s come up… something very interesting…. How about 12:30? Okay, and could you do me a favor? Could you swing through a drive through and bring me two filet-o-fish, a large fry, and a shamrock shake? And hurry, Chris you know I don’t like it cold. And don’t get anything for yourself, Chris, you don’t have my incredible genes. I’ll have General Kelly fix you a small salad”
burnspbesq
@Yarrow:
That is hilarious. The guy who threw Charles Kushner in Federal prison is going to be AG?
The scary thing is that within the universe of people who Trump might think of as possibilities, Christie is arguably the most qualified.
tobie
@Michael Cain: The people I see most often on TV are Swalwell (CA), Schiff (CA), Himes (IL), Lieu (CA), Heck (WA) and Castro (TX). They’re all in their 50s, I expect. With the exception of Lieu and Castro they’re all white males. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hoyer on TV and don’t know what he does. This obsessing over the caucus leadership reminds me of the obsessing over DNC rules. Political nerds like us like it. For everyone else it’s background noise, if they register it at all.
SFAW
@DonkeyKong:
Fuck off, moron.
RM
You know what drives me nuts? People bitching because Pelosi says we’re not going to go after Republicans in the same way they go after us. They’re acting like Nancy’s going to just roll over in the name of bipartisanship, while I’m PRETTY SURE she means we’re not going to go on fucking harassment campaigns and spread vicious lies and urge people to kill them. Like seriously, have these people not NOTICED how the Republicans fucking roll?
different-church-lady
@eric: In fact, it deserves the Pulitzer they gave to Maureen Dowd.
Matt
Each of the bats is boldly inscribed with “FOR USE ON HIPPIES ONLY”
different-church-lady
@Yarrow:
Shorter Bernie: “I’m ignorant of what ‘racist’ actually means.”
Tony Jay
@L85NJGT:
You’re kidding, right? That’s your ‘evidence’? Super-Jezza needs to personally strike down the evildoers or he lloooooovvvveeeesssss them, right? Useful idiot indeed.
BTW, surprised you didn’t use the Breitbart link, that would have been really on the nose.
Kenneth Kohl
@low-tech cyclist:
I don’t want to appear too provincial, but I’d like to see Senator Gillibrand.
J R in WV
No one can be prepared for everything that may go wrong… that’s a ninfinite list of shit happens. But people can be prepared for the unexpected unknowns, unlike the former leaders of our country who couldn’t be prepared for the totally knew it was going to happen like that in Iraq.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kenneth Kohl: uh oh
Just One More Canuck
@tobie: Ted Lieu is 49, Joaquin Castro is 44 and Eric Swalwell is 37
different-church-lady
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’d like to see her kick his old seat.
different-church-lady
@Anonymous At Work:
JOHNNY UNBEATABLE!
Chetan Murthy
@SFAW:
I just did. But my Comgresswoman IS Nancy Pelosi, so it was …. already baked in the cake! I wish I knew something I could do, to help cement her election!!!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@RM: s?
“I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends… that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.”Adlai Stevenson.
J R in WV
@Just One More Canuck:
Well, then, those children clearly aren’t yet ready for a leadership post !!! Seriously…
naw, not really serious at all. ;-)
//s
Jack the Second
@burnspbesq: I also think that Christie has learned enough to not give Trump the traditional “I hearby tender my resignation” undated letter up front.
“What? The letter? Oh yeah, I’ll get that for you soon, I’m just waiting for my new stationary to be printed …”
notoriousJRT
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
The Resistance entire critic of Pelosi is she isn’t hard line against Trump enough
This reminds me of the WSJ editorial very early in Obama’s first term (in midst of ACA fight, ithink) advising Obama to say he would not run again because Democrats were clamoring for Hillary. My brother, a libertarian leaning conservative, crowed at me that Hillary was going to resign as Sec State and all of Obama’s support on the left would fade away. I asked him if he ever talked with people who had liberal political views. He admitted that he did not. I told him that any liberal “problems” with Obama stemmed from believing he was not liberal enough. Hillary was not going to scratch any so-called liberal dissatisfaction itch. He was so sure he was telling me something, and I realized he was capable of being a fool.
notoriousJRT
@Droppy: I love Obama, but I never considered him a master of process/ procedure. He owes ACA to Nancy Smash. The naysayers wanted her gone after 2010. They had no understanding of the debt they owed to her.
Feckless
Were in the state we are as a party and a country because useless people like schumer, hoyer and pelosi think its wise to “negotiate” with lying nazis.
Its totally like sexist to point out that we lost all branches of government under her ‘leadership’.
And that all the money she saved with the sequester was stolen by tRump in the first 2 days of his junta.
We need accountability and someone who can wage a media war.
Dont get me started on her Bush/Cheney pardon.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Who said, “aren’t most drug dealers black”
Drumpf or Sanders?
NMgal
@O. Felix Culpa: saw that. Ben Ray’s my rep too. When he took on the DCCC chairmanship it was a sign he was ambitious, so now he’s making his next move. Godspeed, hope he’s up to it!