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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / GOP Venality Open Thread: Choral Squawk of Shame

GOP Venality Open Thread: Choral Squawk of Shame

by Anne Laurie|  December 12, 20186:14 pm| 156 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, Trump Crime Cartel, "Lock Her Up!!", All Too Normal, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?

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SEN KENNEDY: The president has already said the payments to women were a private business transaction.

CNN: Do you believe that?

KENNEDY: I don't know.

CNN: Would that have been relevant info for voters?

KENNEDY: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ People understood Trump is a flamboyant player. pic.twitter.com/IPHclnhz9r

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 12, 2018

The rest of us, we’re just drab white-collar players. The Republican Party, an effectively criminal enterprise just waiting for the right enterprising criminal…

CNN put together a montage of Senate Republicans — including Susan Collins, John Thune, Bill Cassidy, and Orrin Hatch — each shrugging off the president being implicated in felonies by federal prosecutors. pic.twitter.com/rrVWgjGQxV

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 11, 2018

We’re at the, “Don’t be naive, nobody said he was an alter boy” phase of Republican complicity. https://t.co/kZseRkn86u

— Schooley (@Rschooley) December 11, 2018

The LAWN ORDURE party. Doesn’t even rise to the level of bullshit, just tight little balls of sheep manure.

I have this recurring fantasy of a reporter looking orrin hatch in the eye and saying "but Senator, that's bullshit and you know it."https://t.co/2q5IfGt7Nt

— Greg Dworkin (@DemFromCT) December 10, 2018


GRASSLEY dismisses the SDNY court filings implicating POTUS.

“As long as Cohen’s a liar I shouldn’t give much credibility to what he says,” senator tells reporters.

Told that it’s prosecutors alleging it, Grassley replies: “He got his information from a liar.”

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 10, 2018

Hatch also told me: “President Trump before he became president that’s another world. Since he’s become president this economy has charged ahead. … And I think we ought to judge him on that basis other than trying to drum up things from the past that may or may not be true.”

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 10, 2018

GOP pols aren't just offering defenses for Trump. They're doing a terrible, jaded, visibly degraded job of it, and their excuses are so perfunctory. They sound like the past-caring panel attorney who drinks during lunch and keeps his one sports coat in his car trunk.

— ThankYouForNotSmockingHat (@Popehat) December 11, 2018

Lawyers from Trump’s own Justice Department have concluded that Trump may have committed a felony that went to the heart of the process that put him in office, writes @michelleinbklyn https://t.co/LsPAG6V8Uv

— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) December 11, 2018

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Previous Post: « Today is Tomorrow’s Shadow
Next Post: Repubs in Disarray Open Thread: The Chief-of-Staff Searchlight »

Reader Interactions

156Comments

  1. 1.

    Jersey Tomato

    December 12, 2018 at 6:19 pm

    Seems to me everyone knew BIll Clinton was a player before he was elected, too. That didn’t prevent the GOP from launching the world’s longest pantyraid when he was in office.

  2. 2.

    MattF

    December 12, 2018 at 6:20 pm

    What they’re all actually saying is “I won’t vote to convict”.

  3. 3.

    lollipopguild

    December 12, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    I keep waiting for “The Devil made him do it!”.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    December 12, 2018 at 6:24 pm

    @lollipopguild: By which, I assume you mean “I blame Obama and/or Hillary”.

  5. 5.

    Ruckus

    December 12, 2018 at 6:24 pm

    Did anyone expect different from republicans?
    I expect them to rally round till it’s not just obvious, but massively, two weeks past 300% fucking obvious. And waver for another month before thinking there might be a problem

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    December 12, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    @Ruckus: Pretty much how things went down during Watergate, wasn’t it?

  7. 7.

    Pogonip

    December 12, 2018 at 6:30 pm

    I don’t know where the Daily Beast gets its info. We have plenty of Trump supporters, or previous supporters, around here, and most of them seem to be disgusted with him. Shrug.

  8. 8.

    Platonailedit

    December 12, 2018 at 6:33 pm

    Pathetic group of cowards, who will grovel before the thug forever.

  9. 9.

    Roger Moore

    December 12, 2018 at 6:35 pm

    I’m old enough to remember when the Republicans thought process crimes like perjury and obstruction of justice were worthy of impeachment.

  10. 10.

    Cheryl Rofer

    December 12, 2018 at 6:35 pm

    This seems to be the story of the Vietnam immigrants.
    Trump is pushing Vietnam to accept deportees who have lived in the US for over 20 years
    The shift would affect thousands of immigrants who’ve been ordered deported — generally for committing crimes — but not legal immigrants or citizens.

  11. 11.

    SFAW

    December 12, 2018 at 6:38 pm

    My monitor resolution is not as high as I’d like, so I need someone to help me out: how deeply were Susan Collins’s brows furrowed, if at all? Because, being a Maine Moderate, I’m sure she’s ever-so-concerned. Or she would be, if it were a Dem in the White House.

  12. 12.

    geg6

    December 12, 2018 at 6:39 pm

    @dmsilev:

    That’s how I remember it.

  13. 13.

    SFAW

    December 12, 2018 at 6:41 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    He is such a fucking asshole. Is this a Kapo Miller extravaganza? Or did Fuckhead-in-Chief come up with that on his own? [Yes, I realize he’s too fucking stupid to “think” of that on his own. So is it Miller? Or Bannon? Or CoS-in-Waiting Jarvanka?]

  14. 14.

    geg6

    December 12, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    @SFAW:

    I want to just bitch slap that stupid twat. I’m embarrassed to share a gender with her. She disgusts me.

  15. 15.

    Martin

    December 12, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: This is what has everyone here on edge. From your link:

    Not only does the Trump administration now claim that the agreement doesn’t protect people with criminal convictions, but it now believes it doesn’t protect anyone who came before 1995 who has a final order of deportation — which you can get simply for violating immigration law, i.e., for being in the US without papers.

  16. 16.

    MomSense

    December 12, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    You can make anything a crime under the current laws.

    WTACTUALF Orrin Hatch????

    He’s been a “lawmaker” for how many years now??

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    December 12, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    Because of course he’s an uncaring cheapskate.

  18. 18.

    Jeffro

    December 12, 2018 at 6:45 pm

    I love that Hatch quote from Manu Raju: “Everything before his election, we’re gonna ignore that. From the womanizing to the lying to the conspiracy to the tax fraud to the campaign finance violations to the shell corporations – gone, whitewashed. Everything after the election, the obstruction, the perjury, the conspiracy, well, that is all trumped – ar ar ar – by this here ay-may-zing economy we got going here. Now, Mr. Smart Reporter, if you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump committed a crime right in between, at the mathematical moment he was elected…well, we still won’t give a shit, but that’s the only ‘window’, so to speak, that Imma gonna give you. El to the Oh-El!”

    FUCK THESE PEOPLE

  19. 19.

    dmsilev

    December 12, 2018 at 6:46 pm

    @NotMax: Look, would _you_ pay any money for gifts if Don Jr. was on your list?

  20. 20.

    MazeDancer

    December 12, 2018 at 6:48 pm

    Just had an extraordinary moment.

    Post Card Patriots is attempting to offset the expense of maintaining a political force by selling some gifts and Holiday Cards. And got notice that someone had bought two PDFs of Holiday PostCards that had same “headline” (“Peace First”)

    So, I emailed her to check if she had actually wanted both. This is an $8.00 transaction (4 bucks each). But can’t have peace without clarity.

    She did want both. We exchanged a few messages. And it turns out this woman has been writing PostCards since Ossoff, for a total of 4,000. Yes, 4,000!! One woman: 4K PostCards. (Zero for PostCard Patriots, hope to change that around 10/19.) She says it is her “therapy”.

    Told her I was bowing down to my Queen Nancy Pelosi, yesterday, but bowing down to her today.

    (Also, told her about BJ.)

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    December 12, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    Rudy tries out his comedy routine on the road.

    “I’m probably the most ethical person you ever met,” Giuliani told the Times. “I follow all the rules. I have no desire to trade on anything.” Source

  22. 22.

    japa21

    December 12, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    “As long as Cohen’s a liar I shouldn’t give much credibility to what he says,” senator tells reporters.

    Told that it’s prosecutors alleging it, Grassley replies: “He got his information from a liar.”

    I see this everywhere. The government is basing its case on the word of a liar.

    First of all, the government would never make an accusation like they did without corroborating evidence.

    Secondly, and I have not heard a single person bring this up, is that there is a second person, mentioned in Cohen’s tape of his phone call with Trump, that has also spoken with the grand jury. Allen Weisselberg, CFO of the Trump Organization. I wonder just how much of what he had to say is backing up Cohen’s story.

  23. 23.

    debbie

    December 12, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    @geg6:

    Really, me too. What a whore she has turned out to be.

  24. 24.

    lollipopguild

    December 12, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    @dmsilev: Of course. People like trump are never to blame for anything, someone else either did something or forgot to do something and are therefore to blame.

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    December 12, 2018 at 6:52 pm

    @dmsilev

    It depends. Do they make a My First Rattlesnake kit?

    ;)

  26. 26.

    debbie

    December 12, 2018 at 6:52 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    This stinks of Stephen Miller.

  27. 27.

    Chris T.

    December 12, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    “Senator Repubibluster, I have a hypothetical question for you. Suppose the next Bill-Clinton-esque Democrat—let’s call him William Dipwick—is running for President, and allegedly has an affair. Then his wife dies under mysterious circumstances, and he wins the election, perhaps due to the sympathy vote. Meanwhile the mistresses have stated that they did indeed have affairs with Dipwick. Now, two years into his presidency, his then-lawyer is convicted of hiring an assassin. The lawyer alleges that he hired the assassin at the direction of Dipwick, to kill the wife to keep her from divorcing him. Should the president be indicted, or at least investigated?”

  28. 28.

    MomSense

    December 12, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    @SFAW

    The only, and I mean only, good thing is that more Mainers are finally seeing who she is. For a long time I felt like I was taking crazy pills because everyone loooved her for being so reasonable, moderate, and civil.

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    Every one of these sorry excuses for a U.S. Senator needs to borrow Melania’s I DON’T REALLY CARE. DO U? jacket and wear it for a day. Yes, in public. Yes, in the Senate chamber. Yes, in front of photographers.

  30. 30.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 6:56 pm

    Collect those receipts folks.

    The next Democratic President gets to do WHATEVER they fucking want to.

  31. 31.

    p.a.

    December 12, 2018 at 6:59 pm

    Ya gotta crack a few Constitutions to make a fascist banana republic.

  32. 32.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 6:59 pm

    @Martin:

    for being in the US without papers.

    “Papers please.”

    hahahahahahahaha…..no. Fuck no. Not here.

  33. 33.

    Chyron HR

    December 12, 2018 at 7:00 pm

    People understood Trump is a flamboyant player.

    It’s weird how “he’s no angel” apparently doesn’t mean “kill on sight” when you say it about a white guy.

  34. 34.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 7:00 pm

    @NotMax:

    “I’m probably the most ethical person you ever met,”

    So we live in a reality ruled by the Elder Gods.

  35. 35.

    debbie

    December 12, 2018 at 7:01 pm

    @Chyron HR:

    Not just a white guy. A white Republican guy.

  36. 36.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 7:02 pm

    At this point a viable argument could be made in a court of law that GOP Senators are illegitimate enemy combatants of a hostile foreign power.

    Just saying.

  37. 37.

    A Ghost To Most

    December 12, 2018 at 7:03 pm

    @Ruckus: For a long time, I thought that mushroom clouds would be what it would take. I now think that self-preservation will eventually draw the 21 R senators needed to convict.

  38. 38.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2018 at 7:04 pm

    @MazeDancer:

    That’s such a great story! I hope she does join in the jackalarity here (and identify herself as the 4K-postcard person).

    I have a way to go to catch up! Would need to go back and subject myself to arithmetic, but I think I’m somewhere around 80-90 cards.

    Absolutely love what you’re doing with Postcard Patriots, MazeDancer! Just a terrific initiative.

  39. 39.

    Schlemazel

    December 12, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    @japa21:
    Well, he is just a liar too!

    No true Scotsman< honest man would ever say hair furor committed a felony!

  40. 40.

    Mandalay

    December 12, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    @Platonailedit:

    Pathetic group of cowards, who will grovel before the thug forever

    Many are actually even more pathetic than that; they will grovel before the thug until the polls consistently tell them that the wind is blowing in a different direction.

    And when that happens, and true believers like Dan Scavino and Stephen Miller stay loyal to Trump, I will have more respect for them than for cowards like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, and all the other shills who have never believed in him for a moment, yet supported him solely because it served their own interests.

    At least Miller and Scavino misguidedly believe their support for Trump helps the nation. Cowards like Rubio and Cruz support him despite knowing that he is destroying the country.

  41. 41.

    Mike in NC

    December 12, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    @SFAW: Fat Bastard and his minions have a weekly staff meeting where they decide which group of non-white people to go after next.

  42. 42.

    Bobby Thomson

    December 12, 2018 at 7:07 pm

    @SFAW: she is the biggest POS on Capitol Hill. Even more so than Steve King and Ted Cruz, who at least are upfront with their evilness.

  43. 43.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 7:09 pm

    Talked to some farmers in Indiana today (you guys are SO jealous of my travel). Asked them what they think of trump. Half the farmers round these parts grow soy beans so I thought they might have come to their senses. Haha hell no!

    They think their short term pain will lead to long term gain, so they still support the lazy moron.

    I may go back into banking just so I can take the farms in a year or two.

    Jackasses.

    Steve in BFE

  44. 44.

    MJS

    December 12, 2018 at 7:10 pm

    It would be nice if some reporter could remind these fuckwad Republican Senators who voted to impeach Clinton that those investigations were started based on issues (Whitewater, Paula Jones) that pre-dated his election as President.

  45. 45.

    Yarrow

    December 12, 2018 at 7:11 pm

    @MattF:

    What they’re all actually saying is “I won’t vote to convict”.

    For now. They’re seeing which way the wind blows and they don’t want to be on record one way or the other. The pressure is only just beginning to build.

  46. 46.

    Amir Khalid

    December 12, 2018 at 7:13 pm

    @Roger Moore:
    That was different: back then a Democrat was president.

  47. 47.

    Chetan Murthy

    December 12, 2018 at 7:13 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Steve in BFE

    Ha! BFE, for those times when BFN is just too citified!

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    December 12, 2018 at 7:14 pm

    @Steve in the ATL

    “Let them eat cake tofu.”

  49. 49.

    MazeDancer

    December 12, 2018 at 7:15 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    You wrote 91 PostCards!! Which is an outstanding 1-person total.

  50. 50.

    cain

    December 12, 2018 at 7:16 pm

    So someone shoudl ask why is Bengazhi and Clinton emails so important to them if you shrug off crimes the President does where they are actual convictions happening? If you don’t fucking care about the rule of law, then why care about Clinton, assholes?!

  51. 51.

    gratuitous

    December 12, 2018 at 7:16 pm

    “Crimes! Pfffft! You can cite the law to make anything even remotely illegal a crime.” Formerly known as the Homer Simpson Defense, this is now the Orrin Hatch Defense.

  52. 52.

    chopper

    December 12, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    @Jeffro:

    “and if the economy starts suckin’, it’s the democrats’ fault”

  53. 53.

    Ruviana

    December 12, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Gah! This makes *me* want to go into banking!

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    December 12, 2018 at 7:18 pm

    @Steve in the ATL

    May no longer be so in newer editions, the first definition in my 60ish-year-old doorstop of a dictionary for Hoosier is “an ignorant rustic.”

  55. 55.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: I drove through “towns” today that were just a cluster of buildings at a 4-way stop. I thought I had reached New York City when I got to a crossroads with a traffic light.

    And I will be arbitrating a case involving a former employee named “Peyton”. Apparently that name is quite common here now….

  56. 56.

    A Ghost To Most

    December 12, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    @Yarrow: My thoughts exactly. Self over party over country. It’s like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Greed.

  57. 57.

    sukabi

    December 12, 2018 at 7:21 pm

    @MomSense: his Alzheimer’s meds aren’t working like they used to, and his aides lost track of him…they weren’t fast enough hustling him out of microphone range.

  58. 58.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 7:21 pm

    @MazeDancer: the goal is to write one postcard for every year you’ve been alive, so she fell just short….

  59. 59.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    December 12, 2018 at 7:22 pm

    Questions I think these senators should be asked

    * So we are to talk this that the conservative obsession over family values is merely so many words?

    * So hypothetically speaking, Mr Trump were to torture and eat a small child alive on national TV, would that be a crime to far or would you be fine with that too?

    * Do you believe the real criminal in Hooker Bribery scandl is Hillary’s emails?

  60. 60.

    Yarrow

    December 12, 2018 at 7:23 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: True enough. But at some point it’ll be in their self-interest to vote to convict. If it comes to that.

  61. 61.

    sukabi

    December 12, 2018 at 7:24 pm

    @japa21: anybody that claims the cases are based on a liar should ask them why they believe anything proven serial liar donald fucking trump says.

  62. 62.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 7:24 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    They think their short term pain will lead to long term gain, so they still support the lazy moron.

    Natto Surprised.

  63. 63.

    Chetan Murthy

    December 12, 2018 at 7:25 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Cool, TX. Pop 157 as of 2010. My memory of 1980 was, it was 100. *grin* BFE.

  64. 64.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 7:26 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    So hypothetically speaking, Mr Trump were to torture and eat a small child alive on national TV, would that be a crime to far or would you be fine with that too?

    Oh I know this one!

    “I don’t discuss hypotheticals.”

  65. 65.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 7:26 pm

    @NotMax: what is a “dictionary”? Is there an app for that?

  66. 66.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    @NotMax:

    “Let them eat cake tofu.”

    Make it Miso.

  67. 67.

    A Ghost To Most

    December 12, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    @Yarrow: And it is in America’s interest to pressure the senators until they start peeling off. Watergate happened that way.

  68. 68.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 7:28 pm

    @Yarrow:

    But at some point it’ll be in their self-interest to vote to convict.

    Never. They hang together or they hang separately.

  69. 69.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 7:29 pm

    @cain:

    If you don’t fucking care about the rule of law, then why care about Clinton, assholes?!

    Its only OKIYAR.

  70. 70.

    West of the Rockies

    December 12, 2018 at 7:29 pm

    This the ludicrous crew who shat their collective britches when Obama wore a tan suit. May they all some day perceive their own vile hypocrisy; may they all feel the palpable soul-weight of shame.

  71. 71.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 7:30 pm

    @TenguPhule: well played

    @Ruviana: that’s how bad the republicans are—they make you *want* to be a banker!

    Wankers.

  72. 72.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2018 at 7:33 pm

    @MazeDancer:

    Well, it’s not quite 4,000, but it’ll do for now.

    P.S. Your new pen pal has apparently dropped something like $1,400 on postage alone. I find that both wildly admirable and wildly daunting.

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    December 12, 2018 at 7:33 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: and to Yarrow:

    I am glad to see a bit of a turn to optimism in this blog.

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    December 12, 2018 at 7:35 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, I was thinking about the postage too. Wow.

  75. 75.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    December 12, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    War crime apologist Tulsi Gabbard is on hardball saying she’s seriously planning a run for the nomination.

    Blech

  76. 76.

    karen marie

    December 12, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    @MazeDancer: I think it’s lovely that people write postcards but I don’t know how effective they are at getting recipients to do anything they weren’t going to do already. I received a couple postcards before the November election and – sorry! – they went straight into my recycle bin. The amount of mail that’s generated by candidates from dog catcher up, and political parties and interest groups, in the weeks before an election is insane. Adding postcards to the mix seems to me to be an exercise in futility. Now, doing postcard campaigns to elected officials on discrete issues – that I can get behind. I just think this person you’re referencing probably has better things to spend her time on than writing another 4,000 postcards that have zero impact except allowing the people writing them to feel like they’re doing something and impressing people selling postcards.

  77. 77.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.

  78. 78.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 7:39 pm

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    War crime apologist Tulsi Gabbard is on hardball saying she’s seriously planning a run for the nomination.

    That’s why I kept warning you all to get ready to torpedo her in the primaries. One of the other women planning to run better take point and grill her because for obvious reasons the men in the party can’t do so without setting off landmines.

  79. 79.

    piratedan

    December 12, 2018 at 7:40 pm

    this gets at the core of what is rotten in the GOP… they’ve bought into the idea (much like a good many members of our loyal profession of stenographers) that this is all a fucking game and guess what, they’re winning!!! yay go team! We’re all about horse races and pushiong our policy and what policy do they push, why they push the policy of whoever fucking owns them, be it whatever industry, whatever constituency or whatever foreign entity… they’re getting paid and as such, they’re duty bound to deliver, regardless of how it looks to them. Everything else are just the mechanisms by which the game is played, at least that’s how they see it.

    Nevermind that there are people being deported, babies in cages or people dying because of the lack of affordable health care, mental health treatments or dirty water… it’s NOT THEM, so it doesn’t affect them so they don’t fucking care.

    If the Mueller investigation turns deeper into the subsoil and we determine that not only are these people dirty, they’re flat out fucking filthy, I think perhaps jail time would be too fucking easy for them… I think they should be fed a steady diet of Flint’s drinking water, food that couldn’t bothered to be inspected and they can live in one of these lovely ICE detention camps and do their time, perhaps we can even put them to work on public projects, like building a wall of something.

  80. 80.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 7:42 pm

    @piratedan:

    perhaps we can even put them to work on public projects, like building a wall of something.

    I would force them to dig trenches so that every exposed power and phone line on a pole can be run underground.

    For the whole country.

  81. 81.

    Chetan Murthy

    December 12, 2018 at 7:43 pm

    @piratedan:

    I think they should be fed a steady diet of Flint’s drinking water, food that couldn’t bothered to be inspected and they can live in one of these lovely ICE detention camps and do their time

    Careful now, don’t write things like that on Twitter, or you’ll be banned.

  82. 82.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 7:44 pm

    @piratedan: you weren’t around the other night when I needed support on obscure late 70’s/early 80’s music! I assume you have the Scientists’ ”Frantic Romantic” in heavy rotation in your iTunes library.

  83. 83.

    Ruviana

    December 12, 2018 at 7:45 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Yes!

  84. 84.

    Ruviana

    December 12, 2018 at 7:48 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: Ohhh, I like that!. Will, um, borrow.

  85. 85.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 7:48 pm

    Rust Belt Juicers: should I trust the waitress at Max and Erma’s next to an outlet mall when she assures me that the salmon I ordered was caught fresh this morning and flown to the restaurant just in time for my dinner?

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    (you guys are SO jealous of my travel)

    We are. We really are.

  87. 87.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Mmm. Indiana Salmon.

  88. 88.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: ha! And as you well know, I am *totally* as suave and handsome as Cary Grant at his peak.

  89. 89.

    TS (the original)

    December 12, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: the only way trump can feel his wins is by hurting people. He doesn’t care who or why – but if their skin is other than white – it gives him two wins for the price of one.

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2018 at 7:54 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    I’m thinking a person could probably drive to most of the addressees and deliver the cards in person and maybe spend less on fuel, food, and lodging than on the total cost of printing and stamps.

    ETA: Plus: ROAD TRIP!!

  91. 91.

    piratedan

    December 12, 2018 at 7:54 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: no… but I do have 4 out of 5 Doctors And I want Her in the rotation atm

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgw9fd1e9E8

  92. 92.

    Jeffro

    December 12, 2018 at 7:54 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I may go back into banking just so I can take the farms in a year or two.

    Please do, seriously. Please do.

  93. 93.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I like to eat local when I travel. Why dine at restaurants that I can patronize within a few miles of my house when there’s so much local flavor available?

    A couple of years ago I was feeling adventurous in Zionsville, Indiana and ordered a local wine off the (laminated) wine list. The salty old waitress hesitated briefly, then said “we just opened a nice bottle of California cab. Let me bring you that instead.”

    Message received!

    Indiana wine probably merits my usual comment on Michigan wine: “it’s an acceptable option when you’ve run out of prison cell toilet wine”

  94. 94.

    Jeffro

    December 12, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    @TS (the original): That’s very true – he learned it at his dad’s knee. “Only two kinds of people in this world, Donnie: winners, and LOOOOSers”. That’s it. No possibility of working together (well, except for when Fred and DJT worked together to commit tax fraud for decades. THAT, that’s do-able…)

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    December 12, 2018 at 7:56 pm

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
    Dead on arrival

  96. 96.

    debbie

    December 12, 2018 at 7:57 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    You would be foolish to believe that one. More likely, cheaply dyed Asian carp.

    ETA: You do know Max and Erma’s is a chain?

  97. 97.

    Jeffro

    December 12, 2018 at 7:57 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Mmm. Indiana Salmon.

    What? I’m sure it wasn’t anywhere near the expiration date on the can…

  98. 98.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 7:57 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    should I trust the waitress at Max and Erma’s next to an outlet mall when she assures me that the salmon I ordered was caught fresh this morning and flown to the restaurant just in time for my dinner?

    Ask them from which coast it came from.

  99. 99.

    rikyrah

    December 12, 2018 at 7:58 pm

    @TenguPhule:
    What will be her constituency?
    Got boxes of receipts on her

  100. 100.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2018 at 7:58 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Cary Grant, hell. You’re a bleedin’ Pinky Suavo, you are.

  101. 101.

    Geoboy

    December 12, 2018 at 7:58 pm

    These people are fucking pathetic. I’m in agreement with John Dingell when he says the Senate should be abolished.

  102. 102.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 7:59 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Why dine at restaurants that I can patronize within a few miles of my house when there’s so much local flavor available?

    Because sometime the local flavor is just terrible?

  103. 103.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 8:00 pm

    @rikyrah:

    What will be her constituency?

    Remember all those people who thought Hillary Clinton was a bad candidate?

    Them.

  104. 104.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 8:01 pm

    @debbie:

    More likely, cheaply dyed Asian carp.

    Hey! Those dyes are not cheap when bought in bulk! //

  105. 105.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 8:02 pm

    @debbie: yes, I normally eat it at the Columbus airport! But it’s a regional chain. And I wasn’t in the mood for Cracker Barrel because, you know, I don’t hate black people.

  106. 106.

    Aleta

    December 12, 2018 at 8:02 pm

    @NotMax: Your ‘truth is not the truth’ Rudi.

  107. 107.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 8:04 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Because sometime the local flavor is just terrible?

    Yup. Which is why my labor guy and I ate at Chili’s last night in Battle Creek.

  108. 108.

    Platonailedit

    December 12, 2018 at 8:04 pm

    The assholes are still circling the wagon for protecting the dickhead.

    Nicolle Wallace spoke with a Trump ally, who told her this: "The entire question about whether the president committed an impeachable offense now hinges on the testimony of two men: David Pecker and Allen Weisselberg, both cooperating witnesses in the SDNY investigation." @MSNBC— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 13, 2018

  109. 109.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2018 at 8:05 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Huh. When I lived in Flint, I made the grievous error of purchasing a bottle of Michigan red. One sip told me I had wasted a couple of perfectly good dollars. But what to do? I didn’t dare pour it down the sink or the toilet for fear it would corrode the plumbing. I don’t quite remember, but I think I eventually used it for cooking.

  110. 110.

    B.B.A.

    December 12, 2018 at 8:06 pm

    Earlier today there was a thread about what we regret, which it’s too late for me to post in.

    So let me just say: I regret everything.

  111. 111.

    Yarrow

    December 12, 2018 at 8:06 pm

    @Elizabelle: I’ve been optimistic for quite some time about how this will play out. Since summer 2017. It just takes time. Hence my “tick tock, motherfuckers.” I knew what was coming for them. We will prevail.

  112. 112.

    Mandalay

    December 12, 2018 at 8:06 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    One of the other women planning to run better take point and grill her…

    While I don’t care for her at all, I have every confidence that Kirsten Gillibrand will happily shiv anyone who who threatens her right to become the next leader of the free world.

  113. 113.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 8:07 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: to be fair, I am overdue for taking over the world.

  114. 114.

    Chetan Murthy

    December 12, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    @Mandalay:

    I have every confidence that Kisten Gillibrand will happily shiv anyone…

    And THAT is why I support her!

  115. 115.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    @B.B.A.: je regrette tout!

  116. 116.

    Aleta

    December 12, 2018 at 8:10 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Fresh caught from Muskegon Bay?

  117. 117.

    hells littlest angel

    December 12, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    Please, Republicans, delay, delay, delay … until Nancy Smash is 2nd in line of succession.

  118. 118.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Are you the genius one or the insane one?

    (I know, I know. ¿Por qué no los dos?, amirite?)

  119. 119.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    @Aleta: probably. Fresh water salmon is the best!

  120. 120.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 8:15 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: opinions differ.

  121. 121.

    Schlemazel

    December 12, 2018 at 8:15 pm

    Of course it is Dems asking for leniency for lying to the FBI.

    GODDAM they can screw up a shit sandwich

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna946891

  122. 122.

    frosty fred

    December 12, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    @B.B.A.: Too obvious?

  123. 123.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: I may be the only French speaker in the greater Edinburgh/Columbus/Franklin metroplex

  124. 124.

    Aleta

    December 12, 2018 at 8:19 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Mutations around the head don’t count as salmon.

  125. 125.

    Catherine D.

    December 12, 2018 at 8:20 pm

    Stealing it! GOP – LAWN ORDURE is my next t-shirt design. (Not commercially, just make them for myself as stress relievers. )

  126. 126.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 8:20 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Are you the genius one or the insane one?

    The answer is of course, Yes.

  127. 127.

    Burnspbesq

    December 12, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    get ready to torpedo her in the primaries.

    The shiv that’s covered with Al Franken’s blood has room for some of Tulsi’s.

  128. 128.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    opinions differ.

    We’ll have to leave it there.

  129. 129.

    Aleta

    December 12, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    You should ask about the local soy specials wherever you dine.

  130. 130.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    @Schlemazel: To be fair, it was in 2017 and about a detail of the investigation into Trump.

  131. 131.

    TenguPhule

    December 12, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    @Aleta:

    You should ask about the local soy specials wherever you dine.

    “I can’t believe it doesn’t bleed!”

  132. 132.

    Burnspbesq

    December 12, 2018 at 8:25 pm

    @Mandalay:

    While I don’t care for her at all, I have every confidence that Kirsten Gillibrand will happily shiv anyone who who threatens her right to become the next leader of the free world.

    Knowing how to do politics as a contact sport is a useful quality for a politician to have.

  133. 133.

    Aleta

    December 12, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    @TenguPhule: And I can’t believe it’s not better !

  134. 134.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    @Aleta: soy is a touchy subject in rural Indiana, thanks to trump

  135. 135.

    Josie

    December 12, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: The sickest I have ever been in my life was after eating salmon in Chicago. Beware!

  136. 136.

    Fair Economist

    December 12, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Cool, TX. Pop 157 as of 2010. My memory of 1980 was, it was 100. *grin* BFE.

    Boomtown!

  137. 137.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    @Josie: that was an unforced error. In Chicago one eats deep dish or ketchup-free hot dogs. Though my labor guy has been suffering from gastric distress since eating a burger at Scotty’s Brewhouse last night in Ball. Go, Fighting Lettermans!

  138. 138.

    indycat32

    December 12, 2018 at 8:38 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: You’re in Indiana and you passed on the breaded tenderloin? Inconceivable!

  139. 139.

    Mnemosyne

    December 12, 2018 at 8:38 pm

    @karen marie:

    Yes, but you’re someone who hangs out on political websites and pays attention to stuff. Those of us who do that are a very tiny group.

    IIRC, the estimate that Postcards to Voters has is that for every 25 postcards that get sent, 1 additional person votes who might not have without that reminder. In these very close elections that we’re having, those additional 100+ votes could make a difference.

  140. 140.

    Wapiti

    December 12, 2018 at 8:40 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    A couple of years ago I was feeling adventurous in Zionsville, Indiana and ordered a local wine off the (laminated) wine list. The salty old waitress hesitated briefly, then said “we just opened a nice bottle of California cab. Let me bring you that instead.”

    We used to go back to my mom’s hometown every year. When they got a Pizza Hut, we went there, and had a pizza with anchovies. When we came back the next year, we were told that nobody else in town ate anchovies and they had to throw the can out.

  141. 141.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 8:41 pm

    @Mnemosyne: it’s true. I received several postcards and that had no impact on my voting.

    But it made me happy!

    @indycat32: d’oh! Totally should have carbo-loaded.

  142. 142.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 8:43 pm

    @Wapiti: ha! And who knew that all the residents of a small town would have great taste?

  143. 143.

    Mnemosyne

    December 12, 2018 at 8:44 pm

    @Schlemazel:

    Meh. He did far less to harm national security than George Papadoulous, though he was dumb enough to leak the information to his secret mistress:

    Wolfe was not accused of leaking classified information. Prosecutors said Wolfe was in regular contact with several reporters who covered the committee, in violation of Senate rules. He also maintained a yearslong personal relationship with one reporter that he lied about until being confronted with a photograph of himself and the journalist.

    I admit, I would love to know who his reporter/girlfriend was, but it looks like her name may be kept confidential as part of the deal.

  144. 144.

    Platonailedit

    December 12, 2018 at 8:49 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Fucking cohen got just two fucking months for lying to the congress. Repeatedly.

  145. 145.

    FlyingToaster

    December 12, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: I did a century (read 8 long years) getting educated in Bloomington. Once you’re outside of the college towns, it’s fucking appalling. Do NOT get off the bus in Martinsville. Just don’t.

    And the local religion is basketball; that’s important.

    Of course, I grew up in Missouri, which is worse outside of KC, STL, and on campus at Mizzou, MSU, TSU.

  146. 146.

    Schlemazel

    December 12, 2018 at 8:52 pm

    @TenguPhule:
    It is Dems asking for leniency for lying to the FBI. there is no way to spin that positively

  147. 147.

    Schlemazel

    December 12, 2018 at 8:54 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    Please do not tell me it is okay to lie to the FBI. Even if I were inclined to agree NOW is not a time to excuse it

  148. 148.

    J R in WV

    December 12, 2018 at 8:56 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    …should I trust the waitress at Max and Erma’s next to an outlet mall when she assures me that the salmon I ordered was caught fresh this morning and flown to the restaurant just in time for my dinner?

    Count yourself V lucky it didn’t come out of a can, fresh, that morning!

  149. 149.

    scott (the other one)

    December 12, 2018 at 8:58 pm

    @NotMax:

    “I’m probably the most ethical person you ever met,” Giuliani told the Times. “I follow all the rules. I have no desire to trade on anything.” Source

    REPORTER: I assume you’re drawing a sharp distinction between morality and ethics? Or does your current wife know that you consider cheating on your spouse perfectly okeydoke?

    (I just learnt Rudy’s in the process of getting divorced yet again. So I guess the question’s moot.)

  150. 150.

    PJ

    December 12, 2018 at 8:59 pm

    @Mnemosyne: It’s no secret. The reporter, Ali Watkins, who works for the NYTimes, was transferred to their NY office this summer: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/times-reassigns-reporter-who-dated-senate-intelligence-staffer-at-center-of-fbi-probe/2018/07/03/3a2df470-7899-11e8-aeee-4d04c8ac6158_story.html?utm_term=.b9e2246f046e

  151. 151.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 12, 2018 at 9:03 pm

    @J R in WV: salmon in a can, wine in a box–that’s fine dining in these parts! But the corn was fresh.

  152. 152.

    Aleta

    December 12, 2018 at 9:16 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:
    Just wear a red beret when you ask about the soy burger. (I’m joking all the way.) And don’t bring up “Hillary’s favorite beer” in a bar.

  153. 153.

    Tehanu

    December 12, 2018 at 10:04 pm

    There was a great tweet I saw — can’t remember from whom — about Republican attitudes: Central American refugees fleeing violence are “breaking the law and the law must be enforced” — but when Dump & Co violate election laws right and left, the law is just some feeble thing that everybody should ignore.

  154. 154.

    oldgold

    December 12, 2018 at 10:16 pm

    I have always enjoyed this apocryphal tale about white salmon.

    In order to sell a bunch of white salmon he acquired on the cheap, P T Barnum placed a sign on the door that said:

    “Fresh salmon, guaranteed not to turn pink in the can.”

  155. 155.

    Origuy

    December 12, 2018 at 10:40 pm

    @FlyingToaster: I grew up in Bloomington. Our basketball teams would run to the buses after games in Martinsville and the black cheerleaders wouldn’t go there. Even in the mid 70s it was known as a sundown town. But I’ve been through there in the last few years and I think it’s changed. It’s more of a bedroom community for Indianapolis now. Of course, I’m a white guy. Others may have a different opinion.

  156. 156.

    r€nato

    December 13, 2018 at 1:21 am

    Republicans circa 1998: RULE OF LAW! RULE OF LAW!
    Republicans circa 2018: Who cares if the president committed multiple felonies?

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