Everyone should be this bold and not back down from the Rapist-in-Chief down to all his toadies.
.@KellyannePolls oh hi Distraction Becky. Remember that time your boss tore babies from their mothers’ arms and threw them in cages? Yeah take a seat and keep my name out of your lying mouth. https://t.co/dS8saIssX8
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) July 9, 2019
Open thread
williamC
Apparently we are going to have to fill Congress with black women to save America.
trollhattan
“Distraction Becky”
That’s going to have me laughing approximately the rest of the day. Well played.
patroclus
Yeah, he’s got these legal mumbo-jumbo excuses, but this Acosta guy seems like a lying Pedophile Protector to me.
trollhattan
@williamC:
Here is my list of downsides:
[anybody need a blank notepad?]
p.a.
I believe Accoster; no one with such a perfect necktie dimple would lie…
rikyrah
This tweet is my spirit animal :)
rikyrah
About Biden:
He’s ideologically center-left (much as Obama was) and embraces popular positions among Democrats without sacrificing ground in the general election. Quite simply, no one can plausibly call him “socialist.” https://t.co/z7pGLlr7in
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) July 10, 2019
rikyrah
St Louis Prosecutor Kim Gardner has put 22 cops who posted racist & violent content on Facebook on her office’s banned list, meaning she won’t file charges based on their investigations or call them to testify in court. Will other DAs follow suit? @vgullap https://t.co/ppBLu041wo
— The Appeal (@theappeal) July 10, 2019
rikyrah
Acosta’s comments assume there was an arbitrary time point where they had to cut off the investigation. That’s not true, if they lacked sufficient evidence they could have continued to investigate. That “new evidence” he’s glad SDNY prosecutors found was available back then too.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) July 10, 2019
Baud
Fun stuff. Also, kudos to the freshmen (freshwomen?) in not taking the bait and using “Becky’s” tweet to escalate a fight with Pelosi. I’m not confident everyone would have had the same discipline.
germy
rikyrah
I shuddered just reading this:
A story about Jeffrey Epstein in St. Thomas.
The 66-year-old billionaire bought Little St. James Island more than two decades ago.
“Everybody called it ‘Pedophile Island,’” said Kevin Goodrich, who is from St. Thomas and operates boat charters. https://t.co/DeMfm23FT5
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) July 10, 2019
germy
Baud
@germy:
Schooley is an idiot.
RedDirtGirl
@Baud: Why do you say that?
germy
@Baud: Funny, because I discovered his tweets here, front paged by Betty Cracker. I’d never heard of him before that.
Baud
@RedDirtGirl:
Because he’s comparing Twitter wars to media interviews.
Brachiator
Did a front pager post disappear?
rikyrah
Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) Tweeted:
@joshtpm Here is the right message Acosta should have sent: “I disgraced myself and the whole concept of equal justice under the law. I created an opportunity for more victims preyed upon by this monster I helped. I broke the law in the process. I resign.” https://twitter.com/NormOrnstein/status/1149033648563392513?s=17
Baud
@Brachiator: Yes.
germy
The rich truly are different from the rest of us.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-wealthy-curb-cutting-resident-20190709-bxtufzgiofeyhg6s2k72he6nge-story.html
Dorothy A. Winsor
Did anyone watch the Acosta press conference? I missed it. How did it go?
raven
@Brachiator: Betty
Baud
@germy:
DiBlasio can do himself some favors here.
TenguPhule
Kelly Anne Conway needs to choke on a bag of salted dicks.
rikyrah
@Brachiator:
Yep.
germy
@Baud: So it’s wrong for the freshman class to tweet, but okay for Ms. Pelosi to complain to Maureen Dowd (who has a history of misquoting people)?
Jay
@Baud:
Nope, he’s doing a burn on Pelosi,
Baud
@germy:
Depends on what is being said, of course, but Schooley’s tweet glosses over all of that to portray Pelosi as some type of hypocrite. Typical internet savviness. Devoid of substance.
germy
TenguPhule
Among other things, Trump has apparently left DC vulnerable to terror attacks and lowered security for all major public events there.
Interesting times! //s
Baud
@Jay:
Right. And it’s bullshit. I suppose “idiot” isn’t the right word because perhaps he knows what he’s doing.
Betty Cracker
@germy: I do follow Schooley on Twitter, and he’s definitely NOT an idiot IMO, but it was probably Anne Laurie who front-paged the tweet you saw. I don’t believe I ever have. It’s not that I don’t agree with Schooley 99% of the time, I’m just not that prolific a tweet-poster, for whatever reason, unless they’re from journalists or elected officials.
Belafon
@germy: I disagree with him in this case. I think it helps everyone to have the newer ones pushing hard, and Pelosi looking restrained. I also think that July is too early to do a whole lot of stuff. I also don’t think, no matter how many people want it, that impeachment can cover everything. It is a political weapon, and must be considered in that context.
TenguPhule
And the Fed has become the latest institution to fucking fail us by bending the knee to Trump’s unprecedented efforts to influence its decisions.
We’re watching decades of hard built reputation be shit away here.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I think that a bunch of people are frustrated and it is making them go emo.
I understand where they are coming from. I am on Team Dot-the-Ts-and-Cross-the-Is, so I have no problem with deliberate moves and efforts to show that “we” tried all of the non-impeachment options before going for it. Still, everyday that that man is in office is a national disgrace.
Amir Khalid
@Brachiator:
It did. Betty Cracker had a post up, but when I refreshed it to see any new comments, poof!
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Please expand on that for us booger-eatin’ kids in the back row. We’re slow.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
People getting themselves frustrated on the internet is a large part of why we’re in this mess. And nothing is going to remove him from office unless his poll numbers crash with Republicans. FWIW, I feel like you do.
TenguPhule
Trump labor secretary who cut Epstein deal plans to slash funds for sex trafficking victims
I miss the days when our headlines were not always batshit crazypants.
germy
@Belafon:
TenguPhule
Acosta will be gone by August.
Brachiator
More news of the day
The ambassador was going to step down in a few months anyway, but his early departure probably makes things a little easier.
Unfortunately, it firms up the idea that Trump’s bullying bullshit can be effective.
And the first rule of Trump Fight Club is that Trump can hit you, but you are not allowed to fight back. His insult aimed at Theresa May is typical Trump crap.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m a Pelosi fan, and I get why the first woman Speaker, the first Speaker to reclaim the job in 75 years (?), would get a little annoyed with newbies who seem to confuse the twitter sphere with the broader electorate, but I’ll repeat: No Democrat should be giving interviews to Maureen Dowd, and no Democrat should go on Hardball unless they’re ready to call bullshit– to his face, while the camera’s rolling– on Tweety’s combination of “I’m just a hard-hat, blue-collar guy from the tough streets of Philly” and “Tip and Ronnie having a drink” horse shit
rikyrah
Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) Tweeted:
Why is Acosta making public comments discussing the specifics of victim’s communications with law enforcement while charges against Epstein are pending?
He can potentially use Acosta’s statements against prosecutors in that case. https://t.co/q8Vq5TnyP6 https://twitter.com/renato_mariotti/status/1149035075100712960?s=17
TenguPhule
The jokes write themselves.
Betty Cracker
I trashed a post that was up briefly. It was somewhat whiny and disjointed, and after I published it, I saw this post had stepped on mine (quite by accident, I’m sure — the backend of this blog is as ugly as a baboon’s ass), so I took that opportunity to kick mine into the bin. Sorry for the confusion. I hope no one’s comments were eated — it didn’t look like there were any.
Another Scott
@germy: Meh. The Framers also didn’t want to have political parties.
It’s easy for even smart pundits to pundit [when they’ve got next to nothing at stake]. It’s more difficult when leadership actually has to get the votes.
Why people argue as if they think that if impeachment hearings didn’t start yesterday then that means that we’re all doomed is beyond me.
Twitter is rotting people’s brains, it is.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@TenguPhule:
Did Balloon Juice make the list?
patroclus
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Well, as a lawyer, I found some of his measly excuses plausible. But as a human being, I think he’s a lying Pedophile Protector and deserves to be run out of town on a rail. Mostly because he looked and sounded weasily trying to get out of it with a bunch of legal technicalities.
rikyrah
Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) Tweeted:
Reporter points out to Alex Acosta that he hasn’t apologized to Epstein’s victims. In his response, Alex Acosta does not apologize to Epstein’s victims. https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1149033081103355907?s=17
tobie
@germy: Why do you assume Pelosi gossips to Dowd? That doesn’t strike me as her MO. Was there something in the news of late?
I like Ted Lieu’s twitter feed. He’s witty and feisty. I can’t say Presley’s tweet really caught my attention. KellyanneConway is, as always, loathsome.
TenguPhule
The reason they’re not keeping accurate records is to avoid any attempt to hold anyone liable or accountable.
Its Abu Garaub all over again, only worse.
David Koch
To quote Miley Cyrus – “It’s party in the USA” (photo)? ?
Belafon
@germy: They also didn’t want political parties. It is a political weapon because anything dealing with the government is political, and it takes political will to make it work (see why Clinton didn’t get convicted).
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
Well, he’s consistent, I’ll give him that. //s
germy
@Another Scott: I agree he’s a smart pundit:
eemom
@Betty Cracker:
The reason is that YOU can write.
David Koch
Megan Rapinoe pouring champagne down her gorgeous teammate’s throat is the new American flag (photo) ?➡ ?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, me….
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Don’t think so, there’s at least 9,999 blogs which have higher priority then us.
Belafon
@Another Scott: A lot of us also sit on political blogs and the feedback loop gets us worked up.
Omnes Omnibus
@Brachiator: While I agree with the way the British Ambassador described Trump, no ambassador can survive having that kind of thing become public.
Chief Oshkosh
@Belafon:
And a lot of constitutional experts and political realists (e.g., Tribe, Warren, some front-pagers here) are saying just that: Impeachment is a political weapon. Pull the trigger.
And these people are not “going emo” (which, of course, is a condescending stance that I guess is being thrown around just for aggravation’s sake). The majority of them were originally on the side of a slow walk to the figurative gallows for Trump. I think they still are on that side. After all, House committee chairs can draw out impeachment investigations as long as they want.
The impeachment supporters seem to mainly be asking for a clear plan clearly communicated from the Speaker and for an acknowledgment from her that there is merit to the argument for impeachment. Saying that Trump is “self-impeaching” is argle-bargle. What does that mean? Do you sprinkle Himalayan salt on it? Am I getting too emo for you? ;)
Betty Cracker
@Another Scott: I completely get the impatience. I understand the impulse to proceed with maximum caution too. This is important shit, and if it goes wrong, we are screwed. What I don’t get is the certitude on either side.
TenguPhule
Now I know for sure there’s some kind of horrible catch in his executive order.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Me, me, me:
They’re the important people in this thing- the President and Mr. Acosta. Victims? Oh, right. Whatever.
I also don’t believe that conservatives don’t like Acosta because he’s too liberal. I think they planted that. I’ll need a credible, named source on that one. That has “low quality Trump hire” written all over it.
Mnemosyne
@williamC:
I’m good with that.
????????????✊?✊?
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud:
Well, hopefully voting him out of office will remove him from office. How we get there is what the impeachment discussion is partially about.
TenguPhule
The worst part is that he’s still going to win because its fucking Mississippi.
Belafon
@TenguPhule: The catch is that it depends on the ACA.
Kay
I know for me the real question in the Epstein scandal is whether the careers of the male politicians involved in it “survive”.
Thoughts and prayers, fellas.
Another Scott
@Belafon: GMTA.
There’s probably an old electrical engineering joke that likely applies here. Something like:
Q – “What do you call an Amplifier with too much gain?”
A – “An Oscillator!”
(It’s true – too much amplification (gain) and too much feedback in an amplifier causes it to oscillate. Similarly, too much amped-up feedback in a political discussion seems to result in wild swings in opinion.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Sloane Ranger
@Brachiator: Not to mention sends the message to every other nation who we will need to do a trade deal with post Brexit that we are so desperate that we will just roll over and accept any insult or humiliation if they dangle a trade deal in front of our ‘leaders “.
Belafon
@TenguPhule: Maybe he could switch to a party that is less likely to be associated with people who have affairs.
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
Translation: “If I close my eyes and drink enough Chardonnay I might be able to convince myself that he’s the moderate Republican in everything but party label that could get me to actually vote against Trump.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: I have come around to the view that formal impeachment hearings should begin, but it’s a big risk. The fact that trump’s approval went up– even if the ABC/WaPo poll is a bit inflated– while the horrors at the border are going on, while trump is saber-rattling on Iran, I’m probably mentally blocking five or six of the perma-scandals that are firing up today– just underscores that the lumpenmittel is… I’ll say not-too-bright and not-too-moral. I don’t know what it would take to wake them up
TenguPhule
@Belafon: At this point I wouldn’t put it past them to make transplant priority dependent on open bribery.
Chief Oshkosh
@Another Scott:
I’m genuinely interested because I haven’t seen it: who is arguing this?
Sloane Ranger
@Omnes Omnibus: Unless you’re the US Ambassador to somewhere. Some of Trump’s picks have said some pretty insulting things about Ministers in their host country.
Another Scott
@Chief Oshkosh: https://lmgtfy.com/?q=coward+democrats+impeachment
HTH!
;-)
Seriously, maybe I took a little literary license, but not much.
Cheers,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
@Sloane Ranger: Some of the accounts I’ve read in the UK press suggest Darroch resigned only after it became clear from the debate that BoJo didn’t have his back, and that BoJo is getting some blowback for being a spineless Trump sycophant but it almost certainly won’t affect the election. Does that ring true?
Miss Bianca
@TenguPhule: That fucker. Just the flip side of Donald Trump.
tobie
@Chief Oshkosh: right now there are 81 Representatives in favor of impeachment. You need 218 votes to move forward. The question is how do you get other Representatives to change their position? I’m sure there are tons of conversations going on behind the scene. I don’t know how effective it would be for Pelosi to acknowledge the merits of the impeachment case, as you think, when it comes to reluctant members of the caucus.
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Approval numbers can go up for a lot of reasons over short time. Trump’s shoddy little July 6 stunt could have done it.
I don’t know whether it it is important to bring formal impeachment hearings right now, but I think Democratic leadership needs to be much more vocal and forceful in talking about how dangerous Trump’s actions are.
Public opinion can change dramatically when information is forced into the public area. It is not the weather.
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
I am still of the strong opinion that there is a sizable minority of Democrats who are reluctant to start impeachment hearings, and that’s why Pelosi is trying to prevent the newer reps from publicly bashing their colleagues. It’s way harder to get people on board if they feel like the rest of the team is attacking them.
Gin & Tonic
@TenguPhule: Dude, that’s just Econ 101.
Brachiator
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yep. Yep.
But the deliberate leaking is also corrosive. There is a debate in the UK media about whether some people are trying to undermine the civil service.
This also comes shortly after two senior civil servants gave an interview to the London Times suggesting that Jeremy Corbyn might be “too frail” to continue as Labour leader. Venting of partisan opinion was a major breach of implicit rules that the civil service is supposed to be neutral.
Omnes Omnibus
@Sloane Ranger: And how effective are they at their jobs?
Miss Bianca
@TenguPhule: “The kidney has a special place in the heart”?
Betty
@TenguPhule: Giving him a big benefit of the doubt, maybe he is trying to express the connection between heart failure and kidney failure?
Mnemosyne
@tobie:
If Pelosi knows anything, it’s how to count votes. If she thinks the votes aren’t there, they aren’t.
What would be worse, not voting on impeachment or losing the vote in the House? ?
Redshift
@rikyrah:
It must be nice to live in a world where conservatives only use plausible and truthful attacks. Or gleefully hammer them nonstop on Fox whether they’re “plausible” or not.
I agree that Biden is from a time when a lot of Democrats believed that if they phrased things just right, conservatives wouldn’t be able to attack them. It never worked, and fighting against that bullshit was one of my formative experiences from when I first got politically active.
Baud
@Mnemosyne:
Makes sense. You certainly don’t want a situation where people in purple districts feel like they can never support impeachment because it would look like they’re “caving” to the left.
Frankensteinbeck
@Chief Oshkosh:
You are the first person I have heard this from. On the other hand, I frequently hear the argument that Pelosi should impeach him immediately because Trump must be stopped. Impeaching him won’t stop him. The second it gets to the Senate, McConnell will have it voted down, and the narrative from grassroots to pundits will be ‘Democrats defeated’.
Redshift
@Betty: Nah, I think he’s just spouting a cliche, like he often does when he’s supposed to make mouth-noises about something he doesn’t really care about.
jl
Huh, Acosta’s story that he was told to go easy on Epstein because he was an ‘intelligence’ asset seems to have become inoperative.
A cynical person might say he’s been spewing a lot of BS. A more cynical person might say he’s been, and continues to, lie his ass off. But that is speculation.
That’s A Weird Answer
” bizarrely Acosta non-denial denialed it [previous reason to go easy on Epstein] with a claim about departmental policies which I don’t think adds up. ”
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/thats-weird-answer
OzarkHillbilly
@TenguPhule: Well, the kidney doesn’t have a place in the heart, special or otherwise, The are located in the abdominal cavity so who knows what the fuck he may have signed.
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
People in purple districts and/or red states who have Democratic representatives in the House should be bombarding those representatives with impeachment demands to counteract the ongoing demands from the right to not impeach.
My rep here in deep blue California is on the impeachment train already, so there’s not much I can do to move things forward. But people whose reps are on the fence could do a lot of good by calling, faxing, and sending postcards demanding that their rep support impeachment.
tobie
@Mnemosyne: Yup, you make the stakes clear. I’m so tired of living on a knife’s edge politically. It’s impossible to imagine that 40% of the country supports Trump. Then again every Republican I know who stayed in the party is now batshit insane.
chris
@Brachiator:
Could be…
germy
oatler.
@Frankensteinbeck: I *hope* Pelosi’s strategy is to let Trump rage himself into a stroke or that his arteries clog up with hamberders. “Give him enough rope”.
MJS
In my view, the impatience is not just that the House hasn’t moved to impeachment yet, it’s that it doesn’t seem to be doing anything. Yes, I know people and documents have been subpoenaed, and those subpoenas have been ignored, but whether it’s through daily press conferences, or some other means, they (not just Pelosi, all relevant committee chairs) have to do a better job of yelling “COVER UP” at the top of their lungs. All day, every day, on all of the scandals – Russia, concentration camps, Trump’s taxes, security clearances, etc.
Again, IMHO, nothing illustrates this more than the length of time it took them to sue to see Trump’s tax returns, and their refusal to use the newly passed NY law to try to get them. Every day since the request was made someone from the caucus should have been holding a press conference asking where they were, and speculating on their contents.
Baud
@Mnemosyne:
I agree. Not just their rep, but talk about it within their communities, letters to the editors, etc.
Mnemosyne
@tobie:
I am very, very lucky that only one extended family member is still a Trumpista. All the rest of the lifelong Republicans noped the hell out even before the 2016 election.
Timurid
@rikyrah:
But of course…
Omnes Omnibus
@Redshift: I don’t know that Biden believes the things he is saying about bipartisanship. I am pretty sure that he believes that there are votes to get by mouthing certain rhetoric.
When running for office, you have to tell people that their baby is cute and you have to pretend to like whatever godawful shitty food people stick in front of you. IOW not all statements by candidates are straight from the heart.
TenguPhule
@Miss Bianca:
I assume this is true for whatever species that Donald Trump turns out to be.
Ruckus
@Baud:
I’d have liked him to be impeached in late January 2017 but there is no road forward so it would be a failed political move and we would end up worse than now.
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: Let me be the second person you’ve heard that from. I’ve encountered others in columns, tweets, etc. — people who aren’t demanding “impeach now” or deluded enough to think a vote in the House will immediately stop Trump somehow but rather folks who want to know the House leadership takes its role seriously and understands the magnitude of the threat. I respect Pelosi a hell of a lot, but when she says shit like “Trump is self-impeaching” or he’s “not worth it,” it makes me wonder if she understands what’s happening to this country.
chopper
@Miss Bianca:
and he wants to be our latex salesman.
Gravenstone
@germy: Nothing a daily application of caltrops wouldn’t fix.
Ocotillo
These tweets from the freshmen (women) are refreshing and feel good but at the end of the day, they accomplish little if anything. I get it though, after years of hearing Chuck Shumer and Joe Biden speak of the my friend, the gentleman from Kentucky it’s nice to call these slugs out.
James E Powell
I don’t get where Distraction Becky comes from. Is it because I’m old?
OzarkHillbilly
@jl: If Epstein had been an intelligence asset, and Acosta had been told to “go easy” on him, he also would have been told that if he uttered so much as a word about it they would cut off his nuts, stuff them down his throat, and he’d be found face down in an alley.
It’s bullshit.
jeffreyw
Kellyanne Conway’s patter is the equivalent of what the Allies called “chaff” in WWII. Aircraft accompanying bombing missions dumped large quantities of lightweight aluminum (think chewing gum wrappers) that would fill radar screens with clouds of spurious echos, all to conceal Allied numbers and intentions.
She knows her spiel is bad faith bullshit. The more batshit it is the better it works. She is drawing attention away from serious goings on.
misterpuff
@rikyrah: Damn, now I want a “Socialist” (other than Bernout) to win the nom and win the election to shove it down these centrist fucks throats.
But then the Common Wisdom will be “Well, it’s an aberration since they only beat Trump”. Fuckers.
Emma
@TenguPhule: Holy… ok. It’s official. We have entered an alternate dimension in which we are all lab rats for mad Gods.
Jay
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/albertonardelli/salvini-russia-oil-deal-secret-recording
Betty Cracker
@Ocotillo: Making people feel good about being Democrats is important.
misterpuff
@Miss Bianca: The kidney has a “special place in [Drumpf’s] heart” because Pee Pee, folks!
chopper
@Chief Oshkosh:
if impeachment is a political weapon, then it should be used when it’s smart politics. if the vote fails in the house, then it’s terrible politics. if it passes in the house it’ll die in the senate, of course. so it could be good politics.
i love the idea of impeaching the president as long as it will harm him greatly going into the election. cause that’s the only reason to use this particular political weapon at this time. and some people are not convinced of that.
Sloane Ranger
@Betty Cracker: Yes. It might mean he wins by a smaller margin but he is still odds on to win. If you have the stomach for it you might want to take a dive into the online comments section of the Torygraph and Fail stories on the subject. Sir Kim is, apparently a member of a globalist, EuroReich loving political and civil service elite from whom only honest, plain spoken BoJo and Trump can save our nation’s freedom and future.
Mnemosyne
@Betty Cracker:
If Pelosi doesn’t have all of the votes in the House that she needs in order to impeach, then she’s right — it’s not worth it to have a failed vote that the Republicans can gloat about.
Gelfling 545
@TenguPhule: “Complete confidence” is generally followed by unemployment within weeks, if not days.
PAM Dirac
@David Koch: Le Grande Dame is some high quality champagne and it appropriate for the occasion as champagne went from a regional niche product to an international symbol of high class in large part due to the efforts of Le Grande Dame. She inherited a champagne house when her husband died young. She didn’t just turn it over to a man as expected and took charge, leading the invention of a number of techniques still in use to make a better product and pulling off a number of shrewd business moves that got the product into the limelight. I read that for a decent chunk of the 19th century in Europe to order a champagne you asked for a “widow”. Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin was quite the kick ass woman.
chopper
@misterpuff:
the kidney holds a special place in the heart. the kidneys make pee-pee. there’s a cardiothoracic surgeon in florida named dr. robert hooker.
hooker…pee-pee…
Jay
@James E Powell: @jeffreyw:
And the “Becky” comes from BBQ Becky, Parking Becky, Condo Becky, Water Becky, all the horrible racist pos white trash calling the Cops on POC just for living.
Gelfling 545
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wow. I hope I made the list! I started the last election supporting him. Then he convinced me not to.
rp
These defenses of Pelosi and the lack of movement on impeachment are becoming increasingly ridiculous. I’m a huge fan of Pelosi, but I’m not deferring to her judgment just because she’s Nancy Pelosi. And Schooley is 100% right about her criticisms of the folks in her caucus. Idiotic.
sdhays
@Redshift: This was my reaction too. I’m pretty sure they called Obama a Communist and a Socialist. That’s partly why these terms, particularly socialist, are getting rehabilitated – the Right has overused them as epithets so people think “well, if Obama was a socialist, it must not be that big of a deal”.
rp
@Mnemosyne: Why count the votes before holding any hearings?
MJS
@Mnemosyne: Pelosi didn’t say, “It’s not worth it” re: impeachment, she specifically said, “He’s (Trump) not worth it”. What she said implies that he, and by extension the damage he’s doing to this country, aren’t significant enough to pursue impeachment.
Jay
@Mnemosyne:
Impeachment is a process, just because the votes arn’t there now, it doesn’t mean they won’t be there in the 6 months to a year it takes the process to grind out.
Chief Oshkosh
@tobie:
I guess that couldn’t been asked when the ACA was being promulgated. It was extremely unpopular with some of her caucus, but the Speaker somehow found a way to lead on that. That is, the Speaker has demonstrated previously that she can get reluctant members to come over to her way of thinking. That leads me to consider that she’s not pushing impeachment because of the reluctance of some members. She’s against impeachment, period. She’s said that she’s not pushing it due to political calculation, that “it’s not worth it.”
I guess we’ll all find out after the election who was right.
Betty Cracker
@Mnemosyne: As we both know, the impeachment math is simple but leading a fractious party and managing competing expectations is not. I think it’s fair to question how well Pelosi is doing the latter.
Ruckus
@tobie:
They were always batshit insane, they just always said the batshit parts quietly or not at all so you didn’t notice. Also they think now that we want to do the same to them as they want to do to everyone else. Because that’s what they have heard for decades. We want to give everything to minorities and immigrants and we want to take all of it away from them to do that. Their world is two dimensional in every aspect. Either or. It’s not rational because they follow false premises, hell they revel in them.
Millard Filmore
@misterpuff:
Hey! Socalism is EVIL and must therefore be strictly reserved for the rich.
Get rid of socalism? Sure, lets abolish the corporate veil and corporate bankruptcy.
dww44
@Betty Cracker: So agree with this. I’d been thinking for days that I was gonna call up Pelosi’s office and tell her much of the same thing. Now your words are spurring me to do just that.. Thanks. And, FWIW I am of her generation and while I respect her and her abilities, I sorta think she’s lost her way on this matter. Impeachment is a political action, but it’s also mandated by the constitution. She seems to forget the latter. I ve been very disappointed with her.
rikyrah
@James E Powell:
Becky means generic White Woman.
Distraction is Crypt Keeper Conway’s job.
Thus, Distraction Becky.
Sloane Ranger
@Omnes Omnibus: I don’t know. I don’t deal with them.As Trump picks I would assume not very, but that would be due to their innate incompetence. Most leaders of democratic nations know how to deal professionally with these situations.
The one silver lining with Sir Kim’s resignation is there is a chance that May and Hunt might have some influence on the appointment of his successor. If the leak was to create a vacancy to allow BoJo to put some arse licking crony in, that would put him in a difficult position if the new Ambassador had been announced, even more difficult if they were already in place.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Betty Cracker: Exactly right. Most of the BBC News headlines were not so much about his resignation but BoJos refusal to back him. Apparently senior Tories are pissed that BoJo was seen to be kowtowing to Twitler and basically doing his bidding.
HRA
The heart pumps blood filled with oxygen through all parts of your body, including the kidneys. The kidneys clean the blood, removing waste products and extra water. … A healthy functioning cardiovascular system is important for your kidneys to their job.
Omnes Omnibus
@Chief Oshkosh: One difference between the ACA vote and an impeachment vote is that wrt the ACA most of her caucus was voting for it. She was pressuring/persuading/cajoling a few hold outs. In the case of impeachment, it appears as though less than half of the caucus is currently publicly in favor of proceeding.
ETA: If you are in favor of impeachment, especially if you are a sooner rather than late person, then call your Congressperson and tell them.
Chief Oshkosh
@Another Scott: Let Me Get That For You Google. I didn’t think to add the “coward” interrogator. Nice.
The return list appears to be a mix of a bunch of pundits egging on the intraparty fighting, a bunch of pundits stating where they stand on impeachment, and a bunch of informational sites explaining what impeachment actually entails. And there’s some analysis on Amash. It seems a little light on Democrats actually saying that we’re doomed if we don’t start impeachment now. However, I didn’t go to Page 2 of the list; maybe they’re hiding there.
I’m beginning to think that somebody is going emo about this topic, but it may not be the pro-impeachment crowd…
(tongue firmly planted in cheek)
Gelfling 545
@Betty Cracker: I think this makes the case of those who are not yet in favor of impeachment. Listen to the audio. It raises some good points.
tobie
@Chief Oshkosh: healthcare was a big theme in the campaign in 2008 and fixing it was something Obama promised voters. Dems had to get it done. Impeachment was not the central issue of the 2018 midterms. Yes, some candidates pushed it, on the campaign trail but many others didn’t. However big a deal healthcare is, it doesn’t have the Constitutional import that removing the supposedly democratically elected President does. Contrary to you, I think Pelosi would love to see Trump imeached but two-thirds (!!) of her caucus is not there. If she pushes it, and Dems don’t get enough votes in the House for it, the party will be destroyed for decades. As it is we’re already in the middle of a civil war, exploited by foreign actors and the GOP.
Jay
Doug R
The problem is, according to Gallup do impeach is at 45% vs don’t impeach at 50%.
Which keeps getting better, but still not quite there.
Last I heard there were 83 votes to proceed with impeachment, maybe the junior congressfolk should be putting the pressure on the blue dogs?
Redshift
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s fair, but I still don’t like it. To me, an “electability” strategy that relies on the idea that you’re the only one who’s “safe” enough rather than that you’re stronger just signals that you think the whole field is weak, and we’ll be lucky to barely beat Trump.
I don’t underestimate the difficulty, but I don’t think that’s the case either.
Chief Oshkosh
@Chief Oshkosh: Boy I sure don’t remember it starting that way. I recall that there was a lot of spade work done to get near a majority, and then Speaker Pelosi started twisting arms. A fairly natural process, as far as I recall. That’s what I don’t see here with impeachment. Pelosi is basically saying she’s against it, period. I think that is not good.
As to sooner rather than later, I fall in the “later” crowd. Nixon’s impeachment was in its 6th month when he resigned. It could’ve gone on and on. Using that as a rough yardstick, I’ll make the WAHG that a Trump impeachment could go 12 months before the articles would be voted on – certainly way more than 6 months but less than, say, Benghazi-mania. So, working backwards from the election, serious spade work would need to be happening about now for impeachment to start in September. Maybe that’s happening behind the scenes, but what I see instead is several House investigations that are being largely ignored by Republicans who are asked/subpoena’d to testify.
Jay
Another Scott
@rp: Repost – Drum – Never forget that Nancy Pelosi is very smart.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
J R in WV
While no one is more in favor of impeaching Donald Trump Sr. than I am, I also understand that the Senate will not convict Trump as of today (probably never with the current membership of the Senate!) so that even it the House impeaches Trump, it doesn’t get Trump out of the White House.
However, if the House continues to develop evidence and testimony about Trump’s ownership by enemies both foreign (Russia, DPRK, etc) and domestic (Koch Bros, Proud Boys, general fascist monsters with power and money) and brings things to a crescendo just prior to the November 2020 elections, that may help to defeat both Trump and McConnell and his minions in the right wing Senate.
I’m not sure how close to the election day Pelosi intends to wait, and I’m glad that tactical choice isn’t up to me. I know more about politics than many, but I don’t even live near DC. Plus no House member is a close friend or even a distant acquaintance. I do donate to House candidates and members from time to time, we’re proud to support Native Americans, Muslims, socialists, former military members, etc. But I don’t have late night conversations with them.
But I bet Nancy and her fellow congress persons are carefully calculating when to introduce motions, when to vote on those motions, when to bring the issue before the House, etc. October, 2020 is my bet for the climax to begin.
debbie
It may not qualify as lying, but the head of Home Depot says he’s contributing unspecified millions to Trump’s campaign because the economy’s been so strong the past six or eight years.
Really, asshole? Check your fucking math.
Another Scott
@Chief Oshkosh: Again, beware the ellipsis.
WaPo interview with Pelosi from March:
Note the caveats.
Isn’t she correct that impeachment would divide the country unless it was overwhelming and bipartisan (recognizing that the Senate requires 67 votes to convict)?
See Drum’s article in #154.
Cheers,
Scott.
Chief Oshkosh
@tobie: You make good points about the validity of comparing the ACA vote with impeachment considerations.
I’m not sure what Speaker Pelosi has done to make you think she’d be for impeachment, but sure, I’ll give you that. I certainly hope she’s for impeachment in her heart of hearts. I just think her political calculation is wrong in this instance and based on what I read in the newspapers (that is, maybe she has a huge backroom effort going on right now, hidden from the mere groundlings).
debbie
@germy:
I heard an hourlong interview with the reporter who broke this story and she mentioned him plenty — and with bile.
Doug R
@Jay:
Should be easy for me. I almost never order from Amazon, even if I have to go online. I don’t get why lefty misanthropes gotta get ALL their stuff from Amazon, isn’t it better carbon wise to cluster in the city?
debbie
@Chief Oshkosh:
She has said he belongs in prison. Close enough for me.
Jay
Disaster Capitalism,…….
debbie
@Litlebritdifrnt:
He has to be made to pay for that!
Chief Oshkosh
@Another Scott: I recall the same argument was made against impeaching Nixon. And polling was even worse for impeachment back then. It was only when impeachment proceedings started that a majority of the people got on board, and it was only at the very end that there was really much bipartisanship that she seems to value so much. I know that it was a different time, but still, arguing that impeachment should only commence when there’s overwhelming bipartisan support for it is, well, not very compelling.
As to worrying about whether an activity (impeachment, cats with hairballs, other important things) will divide the country – it may be that Speaker Pelosi doesn’t get out enough. That inflection point is about thirty miles back in the rearview mirror and a decade ago. Possibly what she meant to say is that the country is finally coming back together due to its abhorrence of Trump, and that impeachment will somehow re-split the people. If so, I think she’s even more wrong, but then, I’m putting words in her mouth.
joel hanes
@Belafon:
I think it helps everyone to have the newer ones pushing hard, and Pelosi looking restrained.
This.
She will retire, and the insurgents will have “won”, and the left wing of the Democratic Party will feel that they’ve defeated the centrist dragon lady — the exact dragon lady who put their freshman champions in very visible positions.
SRW1
@TenguPhule:
Trump’s gall bladder is also in his heart.
patrick II
@OzarkHillbilly:
I don’ t care if Epstein is an intelligence asset. The scope of his crime – serial pedophile, human trafficing, kidnapping, of hundreds of young girls – is to serious to ignore. If he knew the Russian launch Codes and has the pee tape I might let him off with life instead of the death penalty, but other than that, full enforcement and penalties.
Jay
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/452171-republican-lawmakers-on-why-they-havent-read-mueller-report-tedious-and-no
donnah
So tonight we’re going to a car dealership to clean out the Kia we had to leave there. Get this: after strictly following the check up schedule for eight years, the car started making an odd noise in the engine. We took it in, they noted the concern and said it was nothing. It happened twice more, until we took it in on schedule again and they told us the engine was shot. They wanted to charge us $3000 to replace it for a 2010 vehicle. My husband stood firm, went to Kia management and got a new engine ordered for no charge.
The Kia sat at the dealership for three months waiting for the engine. It finally arrived, they installed it and before they could call us to tell us it was ready, a rogue motorist smashed into their parking lot, demolished a brand new Niro and rammed our poor Kia with the new engine.
We hoped the rogue driver’s insurance would cover the cost of repairing the rear end, since it had the new engine and was in good shape otherwise, but the insurance agent said the Kia was totalled.
So now we have no car, and check for $5000 with which to replace it. Finding a used car for that amount is going to suck. Our luck sucks.
Another Scott
@Chief Oshkosh: I remember Nixon’s impeachment, too. There was an actual crime with arrests and so forth from the very beginning. Not so much, here. Yet.
More importantly, Nancy remembers it too. Probably better than we do.
TheHill from June 11:
Paitence, grasshopper.
Cheers,
Scott.
sdhays
@patrick II: Actually, I do care if he’s an intelligence asset. If he is, then the federal government was basically running a human trafficking child prostitution ring. It’s a quaint notion in this day and age where concentration camps are official US immigration policy, but if the intelligence community protected him, then we need some serious reforms to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
ETA: And those who protected him need to be prosecuted as well.
There’s literally nothing he could possibly be delivering for the intelligence community that would make his crimes worth the cost.
sdhays
@Another Scott: I always remember the disgusting thing that W’s Chief of Staff (or was it Ari Fleischer) said when they were ginning up the Iraq War: you don’t roll out a new marketing campaign until after Labor Day. I’m content to at least wait for then.
zhena gogolia
@donnah:
Ugh. Horrible.
debbie
@sdhays:
That was Donald Rumsfeld, ex of Madison Avenue.
Citizen Alan
@TenguPhule:
No he’s not. The other two candidates for the GOP are the current Lt. Governor and the current Chief Justice of the state supreme court. And then there’s this racist crank who’s served 1 and 1/2 terms as a state representative, a part time job that pays $10k a year. Given his religiosity, I assume he’s only running to grift donations from Bible thumpers, but he’s not getting anywhere near the Governor’s mansion except as a tourist.
randy khan
@MJS:
Mueller testifies next week, lest we forget.
Chief Oshkosh
@Another Scott:
Well, I guess that’s better than being labeled “going emo.”
No doubt Speaker Pelosi is keeping her powder dry. Smile, son. We don’t want to disconcert the masses. ;)
Omnes Omnibus
@Chief Oshkosh: Jesus fucking Christ. If you have a problem with someone using the word emo, why don’t you take it up with the person who originally used the word in this thread? Otherwise your brand of emo comes off as really passive aggressive.
sdhays
@debbie: Figures it would be him. That statement will stick with me for my whole life. War as fucking marketing campaign. Fucking monster.
Mnemosyne
@rp:
Have you called your representative to tell him/her to support impeachment?
@MJS:
Have you called your representative to tell him/her to support impeachment?
@Betty Cracker:
Have you called your representative to tell him/her to support impeachment?
cain
@williamC:
Seeing as I’m dating a black woman, they are certainly saving my love life as well as America! :D
Immanentize
@germy:
Cass Sunstein is a motherfucking shitstain. His “theories” are warmed over Actual Italian fascism:* That the State should manipulate mass desire for their own good. His idea of “nudging”is the pretty much the same at Mussolini’s State primacy.
I could send you a PowerPoint on this….
*Stevein, I mean “literal.”
ETA My point is, we all — left and right — have a share in our current crisis.
Another Scott
Twitter:
There’s that bank again. Hmm….
Popehat says it’s never The RICO when you think it might be The RICO. But maybe it really is The RICO this time??
(via LOLGOP)
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Another Scott:
(via LOLGOP)(via Cheryl’s twitter feed)Sorry!
Cheers,
Scott.
dimmsdale
@rikyrah: Boy do I hope this works. One of the big unanswered questions of our time (and I’m surprised I don’t see it written about more often on blogs like this) is how in hell we the people are going to regain control of the country’s law enforcement agencies, and take them out of the hands of violent sociopaths and their enablers. My opinion is that so many cops get off in jury trials for police murder of unarmed black folks because the DAs don’t prosecute the cases in order to win. Or don’t bring charges to trial in the first place, because prosecutors depend on police cooperation to make future cases, and without that, their conviction records drop. Short of independent review boards with real muscle (and how likely are we to ever get that again?) I have no idea what will work to dis-incentivize unjustified use of force among police. Its something I’d like to see written about more, because it’s such a blatant example of unequal dispensation of justice.