Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Republicans in disarray!

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You are here: Home / Not a Good Look for Anyone Involved

Not a Good Look for Anyone Involved

by | 194 Comments

This post is in: 

There’s a big pointless pissing match going on between Pelosi and “The Squad” (AOC, Omar, Tlaib and Pressley). Here’s their side of the story and here’s Pelosi’s. You’ll have to read the whole thing to get the full flavor of what’s going on, but the short story is that Pelosi seems miffed that these four did not support the border deal, and they’re upset about how tough Pelosi is sounding towards them. Also, there doesn’t seem to be much of a personal relationship between these four and Pelosi, but I doubt that there’s much of a relationship between Pelosi and other first-year members.

Nobody wins a mudfight like this, and everyone gets dirty. Why this is happening while the House is dragging its feet on impeachment–or even any deep, ongoing investigation of Trump–is beyond me. The Judiciary Committee just issued subpoenas for Kushner, Sessions and a bunch of other unindicted co-conspirators, as part of an investigation of obstruction of justice, months after it’s obvious that justice was obstructed and Jared and the littlest KKK gnome knew about it. The Intelligence Committee, in its own sweet time, will probably issue a few more for some other aspect of the massive number of crimes and misdemeanors committed by the Trump Administration. Our investigative effort is slow and piecemeal, it appears weak, and it is being thwarted.

If I want to make an excuse for Pelosi in general, it is that she is smart enough to count votes, and the weaklings in her caucus don’t know how to do anything but run away from difficult votes and man the phones to raise money. Perhaps they are justified by being in tough districts, but perhaps they’re also used to dodging anything tough and getting away with it. But what I don’t understand is why there’s no House Select Committee on Criminal Activity in the Executive Branch, led by some hard hitter (sorry, not Jerry Nadler), staffed with some of the smartest attorneys in the US, and containing members who can ask tough, incisive questions (AOC would be on my list, if not on Pelosi’s). The Senate Watergate Committee was where the action was when Nixon was dragged under, not the House Judiciary Committee. We need another, similar committee today.

Reader Interactions

194Comments

  1. 1.

    JPL

    I thought Biden’s working with democratic white supremacists was the next but her emails. I guess I was wrong.

  2. 2.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m already out of WaPo clicks for the month. Does anyone have a short, unbiased explanation from each side?

    I think Pelosi is having trouble getting the rest of the caucus on board with impeachment and feels that the squad is hurting that effort. The squad feels that Pelosi should push forward and let the rest catch up. Is that a reasonably accurate summary?

  3. 3.

    dr. bloor

    If I want to make an excuse for Pelosi in general, it is that she is smart enough to count votes, and the weaklings in her caucus don’t know how to do anything but run away from difficult votes and man the phones to raise money.

    This is also known as a “reason.” If you have the magical spell that gives Pelosi the power to impose her will over the members of her caucus who are either too anxious about staking their careers on an impeachment that will be DOA in the Senate, or who, you know, might be following the lead of their constituents, we’re all ears.

  4. 4.

    [Individual 1] mistermix

    @Mnemosyne: Try incognito mode in Chrome if you want to avoid paying.

    Other things that pissed Pelosi off (apparently) were AOC’s chief of staff tweeting that moderate Democratic groups were “New Southern Democrats” (he later withdrew it but said similar things). AOC also didn’t join Pelosi’s select committee on climate change (because it has no power to draft legislation). So it wasn’t just their stance on impeachment, it was a generally radical attitude bumping up against a very non-radical set of institutionalists/moderates.

  5. 5.

    TenguPhule

    It remains unclear what Trump may announce at the White House Rose Garden press conference called to address the citizenship question on the decennial US Census, although Trump said he had a solution that would be, “really good.”

    I have a bad feeling about this.

  9. 9.

    [Individual 1] mistermix

    @dr. bloor: I think the select committee that I mentioned is a good compromise. Anything that keeps Trump’s crimes in the spotlight is smart politics. I’m indifferent on impeachment at this moment – we do need to make a case for it to people who aren’t following politics religiously.

    There’s a strong political position between impeachment and piecemeal committee hearings.

  10. 10.

    MJS

    An absolutely spot on post. It doesn’t need to be “impeachment”. That word doesn’t have to be uttered. It WAS a committee investigation that ultimately led to Nixon’s downfall. If committee subpoenas are ignored, then the Dems need to do everything they can to also couch those actions in terms of “obstruction of justice” and “cover-up”. All day, every day.

  12. 12.

    James E Powell

    I enthusiastically agree with every word of this post. As Atrios often asks, was the Democrats’ battle cry in 2018 “Vote for us and we’ll do pretty much nothing but wait till 2020!”

    And I’m not putting it on Pelosi. She is not a dictator. I suspect everyone else, though, especially the consultants.

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    Two threads on this in one afternoon? Isn’t anything more important happening?

  14. 14.

    piratedan

    @dr. bloor: i think that’s the part that gets lost in the shuffle, as if there already isn’t enough out there about the Trump Administration or the President himself that would be some kind of political Rubicon that has yet to be crossed and hearings would finally convince those few remaining Americans that this guy is a political pariah. I would like Nancy to reveal who ISN’T on board with the impeachment process so that public pressure could be brought to bear but apparently she may calculate that by outing these people she’s no doing her caucus any favors for a political play that may have very limited political benefits thank to team Mitch and his crew of reprobates.

    As much as his actions demand impeachment, Nancy counts votes and if there are not enough noses to matter than she is best served not spending political capital on it. I understand that, doesn’t mean I like it and it doesn’t mean that there is no work going on behind the scenes to coerce the reluctant, I suspect that to be the case but that we’re not likely to hear much about it.

  17. 17.

    debbie

    @JPL:

    Biden just doomed his chances when he said he’d reverse all of Trump’s reversals of Obama’s policies. That oughta dissuade the fence-sitters from hopping down on our side if he’s the nominee..

  18. 18.

    Sebastian

    Yup, where are the select committees? The GOP had hearings about every shit, Bengazi comes to mind.

    Security Clearances Gate and L’affaire Epstein would be my two top candidates.

  19. 19.

    les

    I keep trying to believe Pelosi knows what she’s doing, despite a Democratic history of letting powerful white guys walk away from anything. But I’m pretty fuckin’ sick of her “that guy’s a criminal, sure hope somebody does something about it, I’m pretty busy” refrain. If the only thing that comes out of winning the house is a raft of bills that never hit the Senate floor and another majority in the next election, I’m not sure it’s worth it.

  20. 20.

    chopper

    @Mnemosyne:

    i dunno if pelosi really wants the caucus on board with impeachment or not, but i do believe that they don’t have the votes at this point. and pelosi is someone who typically never goes anywhere unless she has the votes.

    i like AOC, but she’s been in elected office for a little bit and there are plenty of times when it shows.

  21. 21.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    This news really cheered me up after being infuriated all day by the other issues in the news. I am very much looking forward to the vote and the fauxrage that ensues.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    @les:

    I’m not sure it’s worth it.

    It’s worth it if the Dems do nothing but sit around eating bonbons in their pajamas.

  26. 26.

    Burnspbesq

    The best female freshman Democratic Congresscritter is Katie Porter, and it’s not close.

    Alas, she is straight and white, and therefore lacks credibility with our self-ptoclaimed progressive betters.

  27. 27.

    John Revolta

    @piratedan: Thing is, if the House tries impeachment and it doesn’t come off- and it won’t- who’s gonna get the blame? Pelosi, of course. She’ll be left holding the bag in a big way, and she knows it.

  28. 28.

    feebog

    I think the knock on Nadler is unjustified. There have been several reports that he has pushed for a formal impeachment inquiry in caucus meetings only to be rebuffed by Pelosi. Let’s see how the Mueller testimony goes down next week before anything else.

  29. 29.

    dr. bloor

    @[Individual 1] mistermix: I suppose select committee hearings would be fun, but I don’t know how much added value there would be over the work that’s already being done in committees on a day-to-day basis. The only thing that matters is whether they get air time.

    Disagree about Nadler, though. He’s been getting on Donnie’s only functioning neuron for thirty years now, and that alone should keep him out front even if you give the questioning to attorneys.

  30. 30.

    JPL

    This is hard to defend

    Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, referred to moderate Democratic groups in a tweet last month as “New Southern Democrats” who are “hell bent to do to black and brown people today what the old Southern Democrats did in the 40s.”

    Well I was willing to defend AOC but if she didn’t disavow this, it’s bullshit.

  31. 31.

    rp

    @[Individual 1] mistermix: Exactly my view. Her weird comments and tweets give the impression that she isn’t willing to use her authority to hold Trump accountable, and even if that’s not true and she’s playing some long game, perceptions matter.

  32. 32.

    zhena gogolia

    I don’t know about you guys, but I’m in the middle of a blue state and there are a lot of people all around me who think Trump is just fine. The stock market is humming along. That’s all they care about. They think the Mueller Report exonerated him because that’s what the headlines were on the day it was released. I can only imagine what’s going on in red states. So if Pelosi starts impeachment right now it’s going to be a disaster for us. Something has to seep into their tiny minds first before it’s at all tenable. She knows that.

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    But what I don’t understand is why there’s no House Select Committee on Criminal Activity in the Executive Branch, led by some hard hitter (sorry, not Jerry Nadler),

    You don’t have to apologize to me, but Nadler is as I understand it building up a case that will, if the judge is not a corrupt partisan hack, knock down the WH’s absurd and sweeping claims of privilege. THat’s why they brought Hicks in before all the people subpoenaed since, and today: (IIRC) McGahn, Kushner, Kelly, Annie Donaldson…

    a lot of people are warning against the usual format where people are more concerned with speechifying than getting questions, and that’s an easy sell to me, bring in one or more skilled questioners who doesn’t care about their MSNBC or twitter clips

  36. 36.

    SenyorDave

    @JPL: Impossible to defend, and she should disavow it and force him to apologize. IMO this is a fireable offense, comparing a moderate Democrat to segregationists is incredibly offensive.

  37. 37.

    dr. bloor

    @JPL: He’s been flinging shit like that for months now, and AOC is plainly OK with it.

    She’s completely maddening. Obviously intelligent, great politics, consistently the best prepared questioner during hearings, and she keeps jamming forks into electrical outlets and making life more difficult for everyone, including herself.

  39. 39.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL: ah, hadn’t seen that. Yuck. That gets to explaining this

    Jonathan Easley @ JonEasley
    Rep. Lacy Clay just unloaded on @AOC , her chief of staff and Justice Democrats in the Speaker’s Lobby, calls them “juvenile,” says “their ignorance is beyond belief”: “You’re getting push back so you resort to using the race card? Unbelievable.”

    she can be very focused and skilled on her own, but she associates with some real jackasses.

  41. 41.

    Harbison

    Agreed this is not a good look.

    Pelosi has been dragging AOC for quite a while – remember the “A glass of water could have won her district” comment?

    Pelosi is very much an elitist SF democrat – just like Feinstein, so it’s not a surprise that she get’s all ratchet when actual liberals (especially women of color) call her on her b.s..

    In other news, Pelosi’s daughter (nepotism hire of the DNC!) posted this: https://twitter.com/sfpelosi/status/1147657745253855233.

    Yeah, “quite likely”. Gosh, I wonder what Pelosi mère et fille know about our “fave” and why they haven’t disclosed this?

  42. 42.

    Cheryl Rofer

    There are plenty of things Democrats could do besides fighting with each other.

    Kevin Drum has a suggestion – offer to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for better conditions on the border.

    Got to keep hammering on that border issue.

  43. 43.

    rp

    @John Revolta: That’s why she gets paid the big bucks. If she’s not willing to take risks, step down. Otherwise, she’s like prosecutors who won’t bring difficult cases, i.e., the chickensh*t club.

  48. 48.

    joel hanes

    I am chomping at the bit myself. But:

    Given that the Senate will not vote to convict, let’s think a bit about how this games out.

    When would we most like Trump to be at a maximum disadvantage?
    When would we most like Trump to get publicly triggered into self-destruction?

    I suspect that the answer is “not now, but a year from now”.

    I used to play serious singles foosball. I could never consistently win, because I almost always peaked too soon: great blocks and some beautiful clean shots for the first seven or eight points — but then I’d lose focus, and opponents who timed themselves could usually beat me in the endgame.

  49. 49.

    kindness

    Charles Pierce had a post today about Nancy & her leadership. I love Charles but he sometimes seems to forget how this government stuff works. It also doesn’t help when a bunch of anxious unhappy liberals seem to just need to lash out at the nearest thing rather than addressing the actual problems. I mentioned that over there and immediately got set upon by BernieBros lecturing me about how Hillary deserved to lose 2016. I never mentioned Hillary in my post but that is where they tend to go. I have to wonder how many of these folks are trolls and are being good at trolling honestly. I’d sure feel better about that than thinking I’m arguing with liberals.

  54. 54.

    satby

    Jeezus, all you Pelosi doubters; remind me again what expertise you have* in winning elections, whipping votes, and beating Donald Trump like a rented mule? Because until you can demonstrate you know how to do her job better than she does, try holding your fire on her and aim it at the Republicans who enable and give cover to every single fart Shit Twitler emits. She ain’t the enemy.
    *pissing and moaning in blogs doesn’t count.

  57. 57.

    dr. bloor

    @Cheryl Rofer: Does anyone seriously believe the Democratic caucus would prevent the debt ceiling from being raised? McConnell and Shumer will send the house another PoS bill that has 80+ votes, and the D’s will be forced to pass it or face the consequences in the world markets.

  59. 59.

    Harbison

    And, WTF people, if you read so many NYT and WaPo articles that your access gets blocked, maybe spring a few bucks for a subscription?

    I mean, real reporting takes real money.

  60. 60.

    MJS

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Jesus Christ, can every Dem Rep just stop castigating other Dem Reps in the media, on Twitter, in front of cameras and microphones, etc.?! You work in the same fucking building. Go to each others’ offices and hash the shit out. Just stop giving the media and Republicans fodder for the “Dems in disarray” narrative. Fuck!

  61. 61.

    TenguPhule

    @John Revolta: If Trump runs in 2020 on the “You can tell I committed no crimes because they didn’t impeach me” and actually manages to win on that, Not only Pelosi will be done, but the whole political process goes out the window.

  63. 63.

    JPL

    AOC is concerned about Pelosi insulting her but continues to employ a chief of staff to identify other democrats as racist.

  66. 66.

    janesays

    @[Individual 1] mistermix: LA Times has as well. A bunch of major newspapers finally caught onto people avoiding the paywalls by using incognito mode, and have now made it so that doesn’t work anymore.

  68. 68.

    Harbison

    @JPL:
    It is possible to think that Trump’s talentless spawn and related spouses have no place in government while also recognizing that Christine Pelosi did not get where she is by jerking on her bootstraps.

  70. 70.

    satby

    @rp: @Harbison: and you two never fail to show up to shit on whichever Democratic person is the whipping girl du jour, so may I suggest to you both to take a seat and STFU.

  74. 74.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    hasn’t Harbison been trolling from different angles for a while now? Even if I’m confusing nyms, just look at that post: Nancy Pelosi is the real enemy, troo-progressivism, the EEEEvill DNC! (cue dramatic chipmunk), Clinton trolling.

    We’re two clicks away from “If Obama had had any balls…”

  76. 76.

    satby

    @kindness: you are not arguing with liberals. If they aren’t trolls (and many probably are) then you are arguing with our pure progressive betters, who always need a woman to blame for something; and will pass on the good enough to wait forever for the perfect even if people die in the meantime.

  79. 79.

    terraformer

    @TenguPhule:

    This is technology leapfrogging – try Firefox’s “container” add-on. It essentially creates a new address/association in tabs so that visits to WP and other sites are interpreted as unique/fresh/new to the website, which opens up viewing for 2-3 more articles before you get the lockout again (or whatever the website’s limitations are set to be).

    So when you get the “2 articles left!” or “become a member to view” messages, you delete whichever container you were using to read the site, and install another container (or use one of the others you have – I usually have 4-5 I’m rotating through), and keep installing new one as needed. PITA process, but hey, it works.

  80. 80.

    Jay

    Her daughter Mariee began showing symptoms after entering the facility, Juárez recalled. “First, it was coughing and sneezing, and a lot of nasal secretions – I brought her to the clinic where I waited in line with … many other people in a gymnasium to get medical care,” she told the committee.

    According to the family’s attorney, Mariee had a 104F fever and suffered from cough, congestion, diarrhea and vomiting a week after entering Dilley. But the symptoms were not mentioned by medical staff on discharge forms, according to the lawsuit.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/10/house-hearing-migrant-children-detention-facilities

    ICE Just Quietly Opened Three New Detention Centers, Flouting Congress’ Limits

    The facilities are all run by private prison companies, and one experienced a violent riot.

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/ice-just-quietly-opened-three-new-detention-centers-flouting-congress-limits/

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/ice-just-quietly-opened-three-new-detention-centers-flouting-congress-limits/

  81. 81.

    [Individual 1] mistermix

    @dr. bloor:

    Disagree about Nadler, though. He’s been getting on Donnie’s only functioning neuron for thirty years now, and that alone should keep him out front even if you give the questioning to attorneys.

    I respect Nadler and think he’s a good committee chair. I don’t think he’s the right energy for this job (I mean, he’s not enough of a tough asshole). Also, the chair of this committee probably shouldn’t be the chair of any other major house commitee – those chair jobs occupy a lot of the member’s time.

  83. 83.

    Harbison

    @Baud:

    You’re welcome to your opinion about the NYT, but if people are looking at the site often enough to blow through the free articles, they obviously disagree with you. I mean, seriously, I would guess about 5-10% of this website’s content is a front pager posting something from the NYT or WaPo and then the usual feckless crowd whinging about those publications. There’s always Facebook for news, right????

    As for Bezos being rich, this sounds a lot like my niece explaining it’s okay to stuff her pockets with sugar packets since Starbucks will just put out more.

  87. 87.

    Martin

    I’m normally a defender of Pelosi, but

    A) Why the fuck are you giving an interview to Maureen Dowd
    B) Why did you call these representatives personally
    C) AOC and crew responded by addressing their policy concerns, not attacking Pelosi’s leadership

    I think Pelosi is fucking this up. Yeah, keep the caucus in line, no question. But I don’t think this is working.

  88. 88.

    [Individual 1] mistermix

    @TenguPhule: Sorry, I wasn’t clear. Delete the washingtonpost.com cookies and then browse in regular (not incognito) mode.

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Harbison: so you’re an apologist for Jeff Bezos and Howard Schultz ? Why, you neo-liberal, social-security-cutting, Medicare-age-raising, anti-environment, anti-labor, codswallop-spewing flapdoodle

  95. 95.

    PJ

    @Harbison: The glass of water comment was directed at certain new Representatives seeming lack of awareness that not every Representative comes from San Francisco or New York City – many of the votes we need come from people in red states, and without them on board (and without them being re-elected), nothing is going to happen.

    The idea that Pelosi, or anyone, can just snap their fingers and get the votes for something is naive and destructive.

  96. 96.

    JPL

    So this just happened .. I sent my DIL’s mom a tweet intended for a friend. DIL’s mom watches FOX.. Except for once I honored my son’s wishes to not bring up politics, but unfortunately that was Xmas eve of 2017 when she said Puerto Ricans were poor anyways. Long story short this was the tweet

    This is important: Only 12% of all Democratic primary voters in the NBC/WSJ poll say their mind is *definitely* made up, so these numbers are malleable.

    When I caught the error I simply apologized and said it was intended for…… who she met at my son’s wedding.
    Should I tell my son, and before you ask my DIL has disavowed her parents politics

  97. 97.

    Mnemosyne

    @[Individual 1] mistermix:

    Gosh, I can’t imagine why calling Democratic groups unrepentant racists wouldn’t go over well with Pelosi. ?

    Or is her chief of staff trying to claim that when s/he said “New Southern Democrats,” s/he meant something totally different than what the previous Southern Democrats are best remembered for?

  98. 98.

    [Individual 1] mistermix

    @Harbison:

    front pager posting something from the NYT or WaPo and then the usual feckless crowd whinging about those publications

    I subscribe to the Post and avoid the NYT. The NYT politics coverage is, and has been for a long time, shit. The Post isn’t perfect (the editorial page sucks), but Marty Baron runs the best mainstream newspaper in the US right now. And Bezos, asshole that he is, is pretty hands-off as far as I can tell.

    That said, everyone here who has the money should be a Talking Points Memo Prime subscriber. Josh Marshall and his team are absolutely killing it on the Trump beat.

  100. 100.

    Jay

    Lights for Liberty has 689 worldwide events now, including newly added events in Haiti and in Cape Town, South Africa.Please go to our website and donate to our host organizations, who are fighting every day for those in detention camps: https://t.co/utzxJzXRyw#DontLookAway— LightsForLiberty– Official (@Lights4Liberty) July 10, 2019

  102. 102.

    BR

    @[Individual 1] mistermix:

    Agreed. They need a well-named committee like “The House Select Committee on Presidential Corruption, Crimes, and Obstruction” or something really pointed that will get said over and over in reporting. And they need someone with a sharp tongue to run it (not sure who that’d be). Rep. Schiff is pretty good, but even he may not be sharp tongued enough.

  104. 104.

    [Individual 1] mistermix

    @Mnemosyne:

    Gosh, I can’t imagine why calling Democratic groups unrepentant racists wouldn’t go over well with Pelosi. ?

    Or is her chief of staff trying to claim that when s/he said “New Southern Democrats,” s/he meant something totally different than what the previous Southern Democrats are best remembered for?

    I think AOC will have a new chief of staff in a few months. Or he’ll learn to shut the fuck up and let her have the spotlight.

    In general, AOC is has some excellent natural political gifts. She makes some mistakes, but overall she is doing really well for someone who’s been in office less than 7 months.

  105. 105.

    JPL

    @debbie: In some ways my son might be happy, because he was concerned the grans were working against his schedule for the baby. I sit three days a week and she does two until mid August when he’ll go to daycare. There’s no conspiring because they are wonderful parents..
    I’ll text him tonight though.

  107. 107.

    ruemara

    @Mnemosyne: The Squad (or AOC speaking for everyone) feels they are being silenced when Pelosi said that criticisms of party members really wasn’t a good thing for Twitter. And that they don’t have more votes than themselves. So now Pelosi is a racist silencing WOC. And I am done with Justice Dems and their candidates. Praypal just claimed that Pelosi was jealous of AOC’s twitter following. What in the fucking fuck. AOC is also saying that the key committees she demanded and Pelosi gave her, seem to be a distraction to keep her busy so she won’t be able …??? Fuck her.

    This is not a both sides pissing match. This is the freshmen women acting like spoiled brats and like twitter beefs are accomplishments.

  108. 108.

    Jay

    Meanwhile, a man I represent is jailed on Rikers right now, unable to afford bail, after successfully doing check-ins for last 9 years bc he failed to update his new address when he recently became homeless. Faces up to 4 years prison. Epstein didn’t check in once since 2011. https://t.co/xsiwx8La79— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) July 11, 2019

  110. 110.

    low-tech cyclist

    Why this is happening while the House is dragging its feet on impeachment–or even any deep, ongoing investigation of Trump–is beyond me.

    Um, this is happening because the House is dragging its feet on impeachment, or even any deep, ongoing investigation of Trump.

    Of course Pelosi’s having a hard time getting her caucus on board with impeachment – she’s not even trying. If she were trying behind the scenes, she’d be studiously neutral in public as she twisted arms in one-on-one meetings, rather than ridiculing and attacking the Dems who have been ready to move on this for months. If you’re against X, you won’t make any progress towards X.

    Pelosi would need to pass a resolution to form a House Select Committee on Criminal Activity in the Executive Branch, and maybe she doesn’t have the votes for it. I’ve got a weird idea: she should bring it to a vote, so we know who’s for it and who’s against it. Then we light up the phones of the Dems who are against it, then she votes again.

    But I’m tired to death of never knowing just who’s dragging their feet.

  111. 111.

    janesays

    @piratedan: I think she’s not outing the reluctant swing district members because she knows that if she does, it really could create a civil war within the caucus, which would be disastrous heading into an election year.

  112. 112.

    Harbison

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Not so much, but I am a fan of people paying (any retail store) for what they take and supporting institutions that help sustain democracy, (the WaPo.) BTW, Schultz hasn’t run Starbucks for a while.

    @PJ:

    That was pretty squarely a shot at AOC. I don’t think Pelosi has a magic wand, but she’s really not pushing much of an agenda and when she does open her mouth nowadays there is about a 50/50 chance that she will put her foot in it. The most repeated praise she has received in the past few months is “She sure knows how to get under Trump’s skin.” That’s not exactly a high hurdle, especially when one is woman doing anything other than competing in the Miss Universe pageant.

  114. 114.

    smintheus

    The High Crimes and Misdemeanors aren’t the only issues the House Dems promised to investigate but have failed to deliver on. We’re still waiting for them to issue a subpoena regarding Trump’s tax returns, and to hold serious hearings into the abuse of asylum seekers.

  115. 115.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    “But the persistent singling out … it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful … the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color,” [AOC] added.

    There are 18 freshman who are POC. Why hasn’t Nancy singled out the others.

  116. 116.

    patrick II

    @[Individual 1] mistermix:

    TV charisma and presentation matter. People make fun of Trump because it’s his sole criterion, but it does matter. . When I see Nadler on TV his monotone doesn’t work. Adam schiff does. Probably others I’m not thinkingof- I wish someone like Kamala was in front of a committe investigating Trump and was on TV every damn day.

  117. 117.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah:

    Rep. Lacy Clay just unloaded on @AOC , her chief of staff and Justice Democrats in the Speaker’s Lobby, calls them “juvenile,” says “their ignorance is beyond belief”: “You’re getting push back so you resort to using the race card? Unbelievable.”

    Democrats want to go to war with one another? Lacy’s stupidity is beyond belief. And I hope that Pelosi didn’t give him a nod of approval (sadly, she possibly did).

    And no, I am not suggesting that AOC is blameless. But Pelosi is supposed to be the steady, wise politician. This pointless nonsense only helps the Republicans.

    Fools.

  118. 118.

    TenguPhule

    @John Revolta: I think the fallout will be worse on the “did not try” path of the Morton’s fork Speaker Pelosi finds herself on.

    its gonna be bad either way, but being labeled “Speaker Chamberlain” is something best avoided.

  119. 119.

    Kathleen

    @kindness: I remember Charlie wringing his hands about what a disappointment Obama was. I finally quit reading him when he championed the Snowald crew as great heroes. Blech.

  121. 121.

    Harbison

    @[Individual 1] mistermix:

    I would be interested in seeing a compilation of actual reporting done by TPM. Maybe all the goodies are behind their paywall, but even before that went up it seemed they were about 95% aggregation with a little commentary and 5% actual digging.

    Do you find that Prime or the Editors Blog or whatever he calls it contains much new content?

  124. 124.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @ruemara:

    Praypal just claimed that Pelosi was jealous of AOC’s twitter following.

    my god

    @Kathleen: I love Pierce, but he does tend to slide into firebaggery from time to time

  126. 126.

    SenyorDave

    @rikyrah: Ted Lieu.
    Dead on, I was googling him to see how to spell the name. He’s very smart, and quick on the draw. Seems pretty fearless, too.

  130. 130.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    This is the comment by AOC’s chief of staff that Lacy was responding to:

    Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, referred to moderate Democratic groups in a tweet last month as “New Southern Democrats” who are “hell bent to do to black and brown people today what the old Southern Democrats did in the 40s.”

    I don’t blame him for being pissed, frankly.

  131. 131.

    TenguPhule

    @rikyrah:

    The Ninth Circuit just refused to block the Title X gag rule

    Fuck. Full court or a panel? Because that’s the court with the most still sane judges on it.

  135. 135.

    BR

    @rikyrah:

    Yes. Ted Lieu. I should have thought of him.

    So now he needs a select committee…

    Select Committee on Presidential Corruption and Malfeasance
    Select Committee on White House Crimes and Corruption
    Select Committee on Executive Corruption and Crimes

    …something like that. Time to call my rep!

  136. 136.

    ruemara

    @Brachiator: People are out here sharing that Pelosi is an example of white supremacy. Look, this is bullshit. The anger is deserved. They have fucking nerve and they are also the least effective freshmen possible. The same woman who left her primary win to go campaign for a white straight man against a democratic candidate who was Native and lesbian has nerve pretending her issues are caused by white supremacy and not her ability to count a vote.

    @debbie: May not? I’m at fuck her fascist JD side but ok, let’s reign it back to absolutely not what I was looking for.

  139. 139.

    janesays

    @John Revolta: If the House tries impeachment and fails to get 218 votes, we’re finished. Trump would absolutely get re-elected if that were to happen. If there’s one thing that would be even worse than failing to try to impeach Trump in the House, it would be trying to impeach Trump in the House and failing to do it.

  140. 140.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Brachiator: AOC tried to primary Lacy out of office last year.

    So it’s probably personal and doesn’t involve Nancy.

  141. 141.

    OGLiberal

    @TenguPhule: I read this in a Reuters story:

    All seven judges in Thursday’s majority were appointed by Republican presidents, including two by Donald Trump, while the four dissenters were appointed by Democratic presidents. All three judges on the original panel are Republican appointees….

    ….While the 9th Circuit is widely considered among the most liberal federal appeals courts, Trump has appointed six of its judges and won Senate confirmation for a seventh. The White House has made seating conservative federal judges a priority.

  142. 142.

    rp

    @satby: This is laughable. All of my criticisms of Pelosi have been in the last couple days. I’m normally in the “shut up stupid internet emo progs” camp, and that should should tell you something. if this is where I am, how many other middle of the road, be patient type Democrats are starting to get pissed off?

  144. 144.

    kindness

    I don’t mind giving Bezos money. I buy stuff on Amazon so I already am in some manner. My digital subscription to the WaPo is $9.99 a month. I also get the dead tree versions of the SF Chronicle and the Modesto Bee which are insanely priced but I buy them. Yes I hate the Bee but it is the local rag.

    The WaPo is definitely worth $10 a month though. The NYT I wouldn’t pee on if it was on fire. I would pee on MoDo though (so long as I knew she didn’t like that kind of thing).

  145. 145.

    ruemara

    @Mnemosyne: I do not like her. She is the pretty girl who has gotten by on being a mouthpiece and beauty. I do not understand the fanhood at all. She’s done what, said the right things? Meanwhile, her first act was to leave her race and go campaign for a Sander fanboi carpetbagger. It dashed my hopes and told me everything I needed to know right there.

    @Kathleen: I’m too cranky to be a hero, but thanks.

  146. 146.

    JPL

    @debbie: I’m a gran so take this knowing that.. he’s perfect. He was laughing out lout at three and a half months. The cutest story was when he was two weeks old and they brought him in for a visit to the pediatrician and she said oh my he’s smiling. DIL said I knew google was wrong.

  149. 149.

    debbie

    @ruemara:

    Seconded. She’s veering towards trolldom with that remark you cited, and I find it really disheartening. Unless there’s an actual, heartfelt apology — not one of those GOP non-apology apologies that Biden seems to have adopted — for it, she’s frankly no better than a Tim Ryan.

  150. 150.

    janesays

    @Cheryl Rofer: Abigail Spanberger is probably one of them. And truth be told, she probably would be setting herself up to be a one-term Congresswoman if she voted for impeachment right now. Her district is very, very red.

  151. 151.

    OGLiberal

    @kindness: Not being a Bezos cheerleader here but an Amazon Prime subscription is $119 a year, pretty much the same as the WaPo only subscription. And with Prime, in addition to the free 2-day delivery on a lot of stuff, you get all the stuff on Amazon Video and Music, which is really a lot of stuff. And 10-free eBooks to check out at any given time.

    ETA: Amazon Prime gets you digital access to the WaPo, not the printed edition.

  155. 155.

    les

    @Baud:

    It’s worth it if the Dems do nothing but sit around eating bonbons in their pajamas.

    I dunno. It’s not like the Rethugs have a legislative agenda–just judges and destruction of the republic through the cabinet and the courts, none of which are to be inhibited by the House apparently.

  158. 158.

    janesays

    @TenguPhule: And if Pelosi charges forward with impeachment and they fall short of 218 votes and it never even makes it to the Senate, it would be ten times worse.

    I agree that it will be bad if the Democrats never get to impeachment before the election. But I think it would be substantially worse if they do move forward and can’t even win the fight in the one chamber of congress that they actually control.

  159. 159.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    I go back and forth on her. She did work her ass off walking the district to drum up votes, but she seems to think that it worked because Revolution and not because the voters thought she would do a good job if she was willing to work that hard to get the nomination.

    I think she has the potential to be a good politician if she doesn’t burn out by picking fights with her allies all the damn time while neglecting constituent services.

  160. 160.

    Chyron HR

    Friendly reminder: “AOC”‘s original plan was to lose her primary and go around the country on the Bernie Express trashing the Democrats who supposedly rigged the election against her. And when she accidentally won, she still went around the country on the Bernie Express trashing the Democrats who supposedly rigged the election against her. Every time you ask yourself, “Why is someone so smart causing so much trouble?” it’s because that’s the only reason she showed up for work.

  161. 161.

    tobie

    @Burnspbesq: My other favorite first year heavy hitter when it comes to ferreting out info in hearings is Mary Gay Scanlon.

    Pace this Post, I don’t think Pelosi was miffed because the ‘fab four’ didn’t support the border deal. Raskin didn’t either and she’s not fighting with him. The hits coming at the Dem establishment and Dem leadership from two of the four have been consistent and damaging. They’ve been ongoing since orientation when the Sunshine Mvmt and AOC staged a protest outside the speaker’s office. Pelosi will set this aside because she knows internecine fights hurt the party. I hope everyone else does so too.

  162. 162.

    Mnemosyne

    @les:

    The House has no control over the cabinet or judicial appointments. None. The constitution reserves those to the Senate.

  164. 164.

    tobie

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Justice Dem Cori Bush is primarying Lacy Clay again. She’s declared for 2020. This is one of the many reasons that the Congressional Black Caucus asked the DCCC to punish subcontractors who work for campaigns challenging incumbent Democrats.

  165. 165.

    ruemara

    @Chyron HR: Just… bingo. I had a lot of hope for the incoming JD dems. That they were serious. Only a couple have impressed me as really working for change.

    @tobie: Sick of the JDs so much. As bad as the Greens.

  166. 166.

    Jay

    @janesays:

    When the House started the process of considering the Impeachment of Richard Nixon, Carl Albert had only 20 votes in “his pocket”.

  169. 169.

    les

    Christ on a pogo stick, is every conversation everywhere total extremes? Pelosi has mostly been a marvel, and may be more responsible for ACA than anyone. Also too, she’s being at best mealy mouthed and whiny about impeachment, with a series of statements lately about him and Acosta to the effect that they’re obviously unfit and criminal, too bad somebody can’t do something about it. If she’s unable or unwilling to do something, shut up about it. AOC has some unfortunate Bernie traits, but she ousted a complacent white guy machine politician, she’s charismatic and cares about some real important issues, and she is consistently prepared and kills it in committee hearings. So she’s too impatient for Nancy? Well I’m an old, and I’m fuckin’ impatient too.

    The president is a liar and a criminal; “we’re too busy passing bills that will never reach the Senate floor” isn’t good enuf. NY offered Trump’s tax returns on a plate–apparently not interested. Total admin stonewall for months–may get around to a vote on wrist slap one of these weeks, maybe. Pushing or educating on the Mueller report? Well he might show up in a bit, after months of Barr’s BS having settled in.

    Sometimes you have to do your fuckin’ job.

    Trump’s gonna dance around singing how he’s been proved innocent whether there are hearings or not, whether there’s impeachment hearings or not, whether articles of impeachment pass or fail, whether the Senate votes or not, convicts or not.
    The political dick dance is not appropriate here.

  170. 170.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    Katie Hill is a good egg — she’s one of the two new Katies from California and was elected from my Swing Left sister district.

  171. 171.

    Jay

    @tobie:

    In Canada, the Federal and Provincial Political Parties control who gets to run in which riding.

    It has turned out to be a very effective tool at ensuring people either abandon political involvement or join the Green Party instead.

  172. 172.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I generally like AOC, but this isn’t good fight to have. I think she has great potential, but she isn’t above making rookie mistakes.

  175. 175.

    Miss Bianca

    @Harbison: Oh, fuck off. Go back and look up the context of Pelosi’s “glass of water” comment. Or don’t – I mean, why should we have to depend solely on the media to misrepresent what Democrats say, when our progressive betters can do it for us?

  179. 179.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    @ruemara:

    I don’t blame him for being pissed, frankly.

    Trump is the enemy.

    Does Lacy think that Trump is going to send him a thank you note?

    I don’t need to blame or praise anyone involved here. Even if some people are clearly wrong. AOC probably should apologize. But all this shit needs to stop. As far as I can see, these people need each other.

    Sadly, it probably won’t. Let’s see what the damage is.

    Fools.

  180. 180.

    Brachiator

    @Chyron HR:

    Friendly reminder: “AOC”‘s original plan was to lose her primary and go around the country on the Bernie Express trashing the Democrats who supposedly rigged the election against her

    Damn good fanfiction. Almost plausible, even.

  184. 184.

    Bonnie

    I think all the young women who were elected are good, thoughtful people; and should be listened to. However, I also think all these young women should also pay attention to Nancy Pelosi and learn from her. Nancy probably does at least one thing a day that they could learn from to make them better representatives, better politicians, and better people. Respecting your elders is a very important principle for a well-functioning society.

  185. 185.

    Cacti

    AOC embodies all of the worst attributes of her mentor, Wilmer:

    -Loud mouth
    -Thin skin
    -Sharp elbows
    -Doesn’t play well with others

    Nancy Smash stuck a pin in AOC’s into ego by pointing out that Twitter isn’t the real world, and trying to Twitter shame fellow Dems into agreement with you doesn’t work.

    The subsequent meltdown was completely predictable.

  186. 186.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Bonnie: Over the course of my life, I have found that many of my elders are idiots. GW Bush is one of my elders – idiot. Trump is as well – also an idiot. Hell, even though it is only by a few months, Boris Johnson is my elder. As it so happens, he is a bit of an idiot as well.

  187. 187.

    GxB

    Wow. This place is a bit of a trash-fire. Must be a lefty hangout.

    FWIW I’ve been a long ignored BJ reader/poster since well into the Bush years. Got sick of the dramah and reality TV appeal of the Great Orange Satan over a decade ago, and found myself here. A staunch Obama supporter in a blood red district (and even worse – workplace) in 08 and 12, a Hillary supporter in 16 in an even shittier district of my home-birth. I’d like to think I know real world politics. Therefore, I think I understand Pelosi’s vote tallying reticence, and Schumer’s LLC-centric mediocrity. I don’t like it, but a solid 40% of this brain-damaged shithole we call a country (and a sizeable portion of the left) has made its voice heard: radical change is verboten, and we are unwilling to take the next step and fix it.

    We won’t do so because we’d rather muddle through than actually confront the ignorance, the racism, the Mammon worshiping idiocy that passes for religion today. So we get tepid, doddering fools like Biden (who was IMO an adequate VP – 8 years ago, but little else) and business-as-usual dems like Pelosi to run the show. The market must be obeyed after all.

    This is why I’ll go to the wall for the young upstarts like AOC. And Pressley. And Omar. And Tlaib.

    Desperate times require desperate measures.

    Are they perfect? – God no.

    Are their “people” infallible? Ya kidding me right?

    Constructive criticism is often appreciated, more often ignored, yet not frequently given in good faith.

    It’s a shit world filled with shit people, but we have to take ever more drastic measures in the very near future to have any hope what-so-ever. I’ll applaud any young guns that see the world as I did 20 years ago: perilous, on the brink, and needing a sweeping change in attitude on all fronts to have any hope of our species seeing the next millennium with any hope for a future. Apparently, I’m still a “spaz”.

    Tell that to a blogger in WV. Shit is hitting the fan. It has been for decades. It’s just inconvenient to acknowledge it.

    Will they succeed? – Not a chance in hell. The commenteriat here only proves my point. But we keep pitching, there is no other option other than to lie down and die. Apparently, a sizeable portion of this site really doesn’t have to worry, they’ll be dead before that is inevitable.

  188. 188.

    TenguPhule

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Boris Johnson is my elder. As it so happens, he is a bit of an idiot as well.

    You have a remarkable talent for understatement.

  190. 190.

    J R in WV

    @TenguPhule:

    Doesn’t work. Whatever they’re using automatically detects incognito mode.

    If you delete your cookies, you don’t need to use incognito mode, just go to the site. The cookies are how they know when you visited last, once the cookies a’re deleted, they don’t know if you’ve ever been there before.

    It took me a couple of iterations to figure it all out.

  192. 192.

    GxB

    @Jay: Thanks man. Seriously, I’ve been keeping a bit more attention as to who are the “White Hats” vs the others here, I haven’t been impressed. Not that I’m seeking divisiveness, we’re just so damned cliquey as a species, it’s shameful.

    You are definitely a white hat.

    It’s been a long running bitch of mine. Shame this will be seen by approximately 0.27% of the commenters it was directed at.

    If that.

  193. 193.

    J R in WV

    @GxB:

    No clue who you pointed your comment at, but I’ll bet way more than a quarter of one percent see it. Probably 3 or 8 percent of B-J reader/lurkers will see it.

    Take care, B-J bro. You haven’t pissed me off yet, so hang in there…

Comments are closed.