Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

I really should read my own blog.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

The willow is too close to the house.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Come on, man.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment Inquiry / Repub Venality Open Thread: But Rod Rosenstein Had Only the *Best* Intentions!

Repub Venality Open Thread: But Rod Rosenstein Had Only the *Best* Intentions!

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There is nobody within the Trump orbit who isn’t compromised. Another ‘with only the best intentions’ criminal steps forward in this week’s Friday night doc dump, per Politico:

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein authorized the release to the media of text messages between two highly placed FBI employees who exchanged criticism of then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, the Justice Department has revealed in a new court filing.

Rosenstein also said in the court filing submitted shortly before midnight Friday that he made the decision to share the messages with the press in part to protect FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page from the drip effect of incremental releases of the texts by lawmakers or others…

Strzok and Page filed separate lawsuits against the Justice Department last year, alleging that the release of their text messages violated the Privacy Act — an almost half-century-old statute that safeguards information federal agencies hold about private individuals.

Despite the litigation, until Friday it remained unclear just who at Justice gave the final OK to give about 375 Strzok-Page texts to journalists — including a POLITICO reporter — on the evening of December 12, 2017.

In a formal declaration submitted as part of the government’s defense to Strzok’s suit, Rosenstein owned up to being the one who made the call. He said he did so in part because the texts’ public release by members of Congress was inevitable in connection with testimony he was set to give to the House Judiciary Committee the following day…

Rosenstein, who stepped down from his position as Justice’s No. 2 official last May, said in his new submission that his aides initially suggested he might want to delay sending the texts to Congress until after his House testimony. But the veteran prosecutor said he concluded it would be “inappropriate” to hold them back, even briefly, for that reason…

While Rosenstein said the disclosure to the media was aimed at putting the messages in context, Strzok and Page have noted that the set of fewer than 400 texts sent to the Hill and shared with reporters that night was just a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of messages the pair exchanged on work topics as well as personal matters…

Rosenstein’s statement does not indicate whether he consulted with Page, Strzok or their attorneys to seek their views on the planned release, but he had them informed that night that the disclosure was forthcoming. The former DOJ No. 2 official said he did have one of his top aides confirm with Justice’s top privacy official that the disclosure would not run afoul of the Privacy Act…

Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed Strzok from his senior role on the Trump-Russia probe after learning of the texts in the summer of 2017. Page, who worked on the earlier stages of the investigation, had already moved on to another assignment.

The FBI fired Strzok in 2018, while Page ultimately resigned from the agency.

In a statement published last month by the Daily Beast, Rosenstein argued the Justice Department was not responsible for the criticism Page has endured. However, without getting into detail or directly challenging Trump, the former DOJ official said some of the attacks on her had gone too far…

Sure, I gave a known character assassin a powerful metaphorical gun, along with the names & addresses of a couple of tempting victims. But you can’t blame me for the fact that he killed them! I only did it to protect them!

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    debbie

    Thanks to Rosenstein, we’ve been treated to watching Trump at his most presidential, humping a podium and imitating what he thinks their lovemaking sounded like. Fuckem.

  2. 2.

    Jeffro

    Rod’s a complete f***ing weasel who saw that Barr was gonna stomp all over the Mueller report and decided to throw in with the Goon Squad. Neera’s right; unfortunately, however, Rosenstein will only be a minor villain compared to all the A- and B-list scumbags this administration has brought to light.

  3. 3.

    Ruckus

    Is there one republican left who isn’t a complete fucking asshole who thinks that a government of the people by the people and for the people is complete and utter bullshit, that it only works for them to have power and steal money?

  9. 9.

    zhena gogolia

    I just pre-ordered A Very Stable Genius. I have no intention of reading it, but I wanted to support the authors.

  11. 11.

    JPL

    @zhena gogolia: Also..  Told a friend that I was prepared to read it and she asked if I had wine.   I said a few bottles left over from the holidays and she suggested that I buy more.   Of course it’s possible that the most horrific parts have already been leaked.

  12. 12.

    Another Scott

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Thanks for the pointer. It’s a devastating summary, as one would expect. E.g.

    Third, the involvement of President Trump’s personal attorney, Mr. Giuliani—who has professional obligations to the President but not the Nation—underscores that President Trump sought the investigations for personal and political reasons rather than legitimate foreign policy reasons. Mr. Giuliani openly and repeatedly acknowledged that he was pursuing the Ukrainian investigations to advance the President’s interests, stating: “this isn’t foreign policy.”136 Instead, Mr. Giuliani said that he was seeking information that “will be very, very helpful to my client.”137 Mr. Giuliani made similar representations to the Ukrainian government. In a letter to President-elect Zelensky, Mr. Giuliani stated that he “represent[ed] him [President Trump] as a private citizen, not as President of the United States” and was acting with the President’s “knowledge and consent.” 138 President Trump placed Mr. Giuliani at the hub of the pressure campaign on Ukraine, and directed U.S. officials responsible for Ukraine to “talk to Rudy.”139 Indeed, during their July 25 call, President Trump pressed President Zelensky to speak with Mr. Giuliani directly, stating: “Rudy very much knows what’s happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak to him that would be great.”140

    Crackpot Dome, Stupid Watergate, etc., etc. These idiots thought they could do anything they wanted with the power of the Presidency, and get away with it.

    The Senate needs to do its job and convict and remove him.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  14. 14.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jeffro: Rosenstein has no core, no center of his own. If he’s surrounded by and reporting to someone with integrity, he’ll have integrity. If he’s surrounded by and reporting to someone without integrity he won’t. And that’s about as good an explanation of his career arc as you’re going to find. When Obama made him a US Attorney and he had to report to AG Lynch and DAG Yates, both of whom have integrity, he behaved in a professionally appropriate manner. When he became AG Sessions deputy, the deputy of someone who not only has no integrity, but who is also not a professional, and by all reports wasn’t actually sure what he was supposed to do as attorney general other than try to keep the job by constantly responding to the President’s moods and whims, he behaved in a professionally inappropriate manner. When AG Sessions demonstrated professional ethics and integrity one time in recusing himself, Rosenstein patterned that and appointed Mueller. While Mueller was doing his thing, he patterned off of Mueller. When Sessions was replaced by Barr, who is a self righteous, hypocrite whose only guide is that what he believes to be right is universally right and therefore whatever ways and means he employs are justified by the end he seeks to achieve, Rosenstein patterned himself on Barr.

  15. 15.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ruckus: Justin Amash, apparently, though he’s now an Independent. Richard Painter, though he’s now a Democrat. Some state legislators in Iowa and Kansas, thought they’re now either independents or Democrats. Bill Weld, though he might as well be an independent or a Democrat for all the good it is doing him. Amazingly, Joe Walsh appears to be in the same space as Weld.

  16. 16.

    sab

    @Ruckus: In Ohio about ten  or fifteen years back we had some corruption scandals. We got rid of the offenders, who were Republicans with some integrity who agreed they had stepped over the line. So we lost Bab Taft, Jim Petro and such who had some ethics and could be embarrassed. Of course that created a vaccuum that was filled shameless hacks with lots of ambition and no scruples: John Kasich, Mary Taylor, Josh Mandel, Frank LaRose, John Husted. So here we are. The ethical but ethically challenged guys are gone. All we have left are the shameless grifters.

    Don’t know if that’s true elsewhere, but I think it is true here.

    We need two parties, with different policy emphasis, but with basic honor and legal standards. We don’t have that any more.

  17. 17.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Patricia Kayden: The primary defense argument, that this is an attempt to overturn the 2016 results, though I think, for some reason they used overthrow, doesn’t even make constitutional sense. If that was the actual case here, then if the Senate voted to convict it would make Hillary Clinton president and Tim Kaine vice president and every executive order and appointment – judicial, boards and commissions, and political would all be immediately vacated. Which is not what a vote to convict the President in the Senate would actually produce.

  19. 19.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m surprised some national Dem or Dems haven’t made that point publicly, addressed to GOP elected officials and voters:

    ”You voted for Republican values, right?  Republican priorities and policy agendas?  Well, you’ll still get that under President Pence.  We’re just trying to remove the threat to national security here…

    …unless of course there is something in particular about president* trumpov that you absolutely must have and can’t live without?  Please tell us more about that when you have a moment.  In the meantime, we’ll just proceed with defending the Constitution.”

  21. 21.

    Steeplejack

    Short thread:

    Rod Rosenstein was a spineless weasel.

    We all face moments in our lives that define us. Moments that force choices between courage and comfort.

    Rosenstein chose comfort – consequences be damned. https://t.co/GdX7O9Artt

    — The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) January 18, 2020

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    One thing I have been mulling over these past few weeks is the utter intractability of the modern GOP – both elected officials and voters.  They simply cannot bring themselves to agree with Democrats on anything – it hurts them deep in their psyche.  They have been bathed in Cleek’s Law for over two, almost three decades now.

    It’s why even though impeachment and removal would lead to President Pence, they just can’t bring themselves to do it.  It’s why even though trumpov’s defense of his actions is pathetic and his lawbreaking is obvious, they can’t do anything close to the right thing.  Dems want X; therefore, X must be opposed with all the GOP’s might.  Must be lied about, fundraised off of, subverted by goons like Hyde and Parnas and Gaetz and all the rest.

    It is really all about that.  They’ve been conditioned, as a subset of society, to oppose anything and everything that would be good, just, legal, etc as long as Dems are for it.

  26. 26.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jeffro: Quite simply, Pence was a means to an end. Specifically to get white evangelicals, across all the sects and denominations, on board with the President. Now that they’re on board, Pence serves no real purpose. He stands or sits in proximity to the President and smiles with that empty headed stare or leads sycophantic praise of the President, because he thinks he’s going to inherent the remade conservative movement and Republican Party from the President. He won’t. The only real outstanding question was why did Manafort want him on the ticket? That’s what needs to be answered.

  27. 27.

    Adam L Silverman

    @mrmoshpotato: If you had 144 of that guy you’d have gross stupidity.

    ETA at 8:30 PM EST: Just to be clear, I am referring to Garland, not mrmoshpotato.

  28. 28.

    Ruckus

    I don’t think this many people have agreed with me about anything else. Ever.

    Of course it’s easy to get agreement when talking about how fucked up the shitgibbon and his party are. Shitgibbon is accepted as a correctly spelled word on my computer. So my computer even agrees with me. Damn.

    I often think about the people that support him. What are they getting out of this? There is a republican office by a couple of places we go to lunch occasionally and we passed by that the other day. There is some republican attempt, if the sign in the window is accurate, to get CA governor Newsom recalled. The republican party has lost whatever was left of it’s fucking mind. I have no idea what their concept of a society is but I do not want to fucking live there. It’s hateful, racist, greedy, wasteful, unworkable and harmful to most people. And life, at least in my time was never, ever like what they want for the country. What they want is far, far worse and accomplishes nothing at all sustainable by old white farts who have no idea how to get along with anyone.

  29. 29.

    lgerard

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Rosenstein has no core, no center of his own

    I think this is very true. In his recent book Andrew McCabe related how Rosenstien was overwrought about how he had been used as a pawn in Comey’s firing. He vacillated like Hamlet as to what to do next and whether or not to appoint a Special Counsel. He intimated to McCabe that the one person;s opinion on that subject that he would value would be Comey’s.
    McCabe wanted no part in that transaction.

  31. 31.

    chris

    @Jeffro: At least four decades, IIRC Reagan had Carter’s solar panels removed from the roof as soon as he took office. Cleek’s law before there was a Cleek!

  32. 32.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Because he’s malleable and amenable to the bullshit Manafort saw coming. trump bodes no disagreement and someone was needed for the role of VP who fit that bill and dense is that guy. Dumb as a stump and easily controlled.

  34. 34.

    Mr. Kite

    @Adam L Silverman: I had a boss like Rosenstein once. A libertarian asskissing yes-man. I will not besmirch weasels with any analogy. Hmm, that actually describes the next three levels of management as well. Didn’t last long in that job.

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lgerard: Despite what Republicans, conservatives, and the President’s surrogates and supporters have been saying all week, character is demonstrated by what you do when no one is looking.

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ruckus: While I don’t disagree with your assessment here – I don’t want to harsh your “people are agreeing with me” buzz – I think there’s more to it than that. And I’d really like to know what the more to it is.

  40. 40.

    Kent

    @Ruckus:Is there one republican left who isn’t a complete fucking asshole who thinks that a government of the people by the people and for the people is complete and utter bullshit, that it only works for them to have power and steal money?

    McCain was probably the last one and honestly he wasn’t that good.  At least if we are talking about Republicans with national profile and power.  I’m sure there is the odd city councilwoman and state legislator somewhere who isn’t too bad.

  42. 42.

    Ruckus

    @sab:

    I lived in OH 95-05. It was not the highlight of my homesteads. And most of that was political crap, like the voting machine crap in 2004.

    As you write it’s only gotten worse since. But then so has the entire republican party. It’s like a bunch of drunken frat boys from a 4th rate state community college who are using shitty beer to wash down the crappy drugs they stole from their moms medicine cabinet.

  43. 43.

    Brachiator

    @Jeffro:

    One thing I have been mulling over these past few weeks is the utter intractability of the modern GOP – both elected officials and voters. They simply cannot bring themselves to agree with Democrats on anything – it hurts them deep in their psyche. They have been bathed in Cleek’s Law for over two, almost three decades now.

    The Republicans don’t have any particular reason to work with the Democrats.  The GOP is too busy taking its victory lap.  They are getting almost everything they ever wanted, or think they are. They are in that magical place where they can fool some of the people all of the time. And they have deluded themselves into believing that they are right and good. And so, they will do as much damage as they can before the people wise up.

    When the GOP controlled the House and they worked on the tax cut bill, they went out of their way to make sure that the Democrats were not involved at all.  They did not care what the Democrats may have favored.

    The Republicans have to go all in with Trump from now on.  The Democrats have to convince enough voters to help them stop the GOP before more damage is done to the nation.

  44. 44.

    Bill Arnold

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Is that type called a Moral Chameleon (in your professional world), or something else?
    Too many paywalled papers/books, but for instance here:
    Veteran police officers field training supervisors in ethics and integrity (Bryce Michael Mibeck, 2003)
    “Moral Chameleon – whose core values may be quickly modified or abandoned to avoid accommodate[sic] others and avoid conflict.”
    (Seems to date back to at least “Splitting the Difference. Compromise and Integrity in Ethics and Politics”, Martin Benjamin, 1990)

  46. 46.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kent: You mean John “Bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran” McCain who introduced the other 49 states to Sarah Palin?

  49. 49.

    Mary G

    Adam nailed it.
    @Steeplejack:
    This one will leave a mark:

    When Rod is around stronger people with a clear moral compass, like Mueller, he'll defer…and this ends up being a good thing. But when he ends up around people who are deceptive and corrupt, like Barr, he'll defer to them too. Basically, he's a walking piece of Jell-o. END— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) September 3, 2019

  50. 50.

    sab

    @Brachiator: The Republican political class is all on wingnut wealthfare. They are recruited in college and stay on it for the rest of their lives. They don’t know how to earn a living otherwise, and they seem to be well paid.

    What has Rick Santorum ever done outside of the Republican party? John Kasich? Brett Kavanaugh? I am sure I could list thousands of such underachievers.

    Democrats have to be able to earn outside of the Party umbrella.

  52. 52.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:

    These are not people who do extremely involved anything. They are crude, rude and rather open about what they think and want. It is possible of course that there is something there but they worship someone who has all the strength, intelligence, honesty and charm of a lanced boil, so I sincerely doubt there is a lot to the choice of Pence other than someone who will go along with whatever he’s told. He comes from a pretty hard right religious state and they had his number. I’m just not convinced there is any there, there.

  53. 53.

    JMG

    Forty percent at a minimum of the voters in this country want an authoritarian government which upholds white supremacy and heretical “Christian” values over everyone else and if they hold power by overthrowing democracy, so much the better. That’s the reality. Lots of people don’t want to deal with it, which is why Joe Biden is popular, but those are the facts. Many many many of our countrymen would exterminate us if told to do so.

  55. 55.

    Kent

    @Brachiator:

    The Republicans don’t have any particular reason to work with the Democrats.  The GOP is too busy taking its victory lap.  They are getting almost everything they ever wanted, or think they are. They are in that magical place where they can fool some of the people all of the time. And they have deluded themselves into believing that they are right and good. And so, they will do as much damage as they can before the people wise up.

    When the GOP controlled the House and they worked on the tax cut bill, they went out of their way to make sure that the Democrats were not involved at all.  They did not care what the Democrats may have favored.

    The Republicans have to go all in with Trump from now on.  The Democrats have to convince enough voters to help them stop the GOP before more damage is done to the nation.

    I cannot think of a single area of policy in either the executive branch or legislative branch in which the modern GOP has sought common ground with Dems on anything.  Honestly, I can’t think of a single thing.  Maybe pork barrel defense spending in Dem districts. But that’s it.

    Healthcare, environmental protection, criminal justice, voting rights, climate change, science, education.  Just nothing.  Absolutely zero collaborating or meeting in the middle or seeking consensus.  They just ram their shit down everyone’s throats with as much fury and energy as they can wield.

    But just wait.  The MOMENT a Democrat takes power there will be absolutely endless calls for seeking compromise and consensus from the GOP, aided and abetted by the mainstream media like the FNYT.  Climate change and environmental protection?  Invite the corporate polluters to the table and take 7 years of “consensus building” and “process” to ratchet things 1/2 way back to where they were at the start of 2016 and that will be seen as progress.

    Dems need to take a lesson from the modern GOP and Trump Administration and just be comfortable wielding power rather than seeking elite mainstream approval.  They are going to hate and demean and seek to undermine you at every single step.  Just ignore the noise and do the right thing.  The country and planet depend on it.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    Rod was tested by the Trump presidency and he failed. Happens every day. Failing the Trump character test is way more common than passing the Trump character test. He just wasn’t up to the challenge. He joins a large and ever-expanding group of flunkers.
    I don’t think the people who fail the test will be remembered- I think the people who pass will.

  60. 60.

    Baud

    @Kent:

    Dems need to take a lesson from the modern GOP and Trump Administration and just be comfortable wielding power rather than seeking elite mainstream approval.

    Last time the Dems controlled everything was 2009-10, and the passed the ACA, Dodd-Frank, the stimulus, and probably other bills with no or almost no GOP votes.  And that Democratic party was more into bipartisanship than the current one.  The only issue is whether we will control Congress and the White House again after the November elections (and, if so, how the Senate deals with the filibuster).

  63. 63.

    Kent

    @mrmoshpotato: Like I’m saying, he wasn’t that good.  The Palin thing was unforgivable.

    On the other hand, I was living in Alaska during that time and honestly Palen seemed pretty reasonable and not remotely the crazy she became later.  I guess they kept her well under wraps.  But I had no idea how much crazy was lurking under the surface when she was just governor before she hit the national scene.  She wasn’t nearly as good as Tony Knowles the Dem Governor who came before.  But she was basically a placeholder who didn’t try to jam a lot of crazy GOP shit down the throats of the state like the others who have come since.

  64. 64.

    The Dangerman

    …in part to protect FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page from unfair criticism.

    I’m late to this thread (damn medicine and the need for long naps) but exactly what “unfair criticism” would have occurred if he had kept his mouth shut? Or is he just being a pompous asshole with his lips permanently attached to Trump’s nether regions?

  65. 65.

    zhena gogolia

    Melania's always claimed to speak 6 languages; these have now been identified as Room Service, Birtherism, Upgrade, Smirking, Jewelry and Shaking Her Head No When Asked To Do Anything. She's also fluent in Striding, Reading Slowly From A Teleprompter, and Yanking Her Hand Away pic.twitter.com/OvWXmXADnx— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) January 15, 2020

  66. 66.

    Baud

    @The Dangerman:

    If you read his declaration, he says that he was about to disclose the texts to Congress and he decided to disclose them to the media at about the same time to avoid giving Congress the ability to leak them on its own terms.

  67. 67.

    Kent

    @Baud: Yes.  Congress is one thing.  Executive action through regulation and executive order is really where the action is going to be.   Look at how many Obama-era regulations just crept through the bureaucracy with zero sense of urgency, going through endless “process” until they were just finally slipping into place in year 7 or 8 of the Obama administration in time to be undermined by conservative judges and then dropped by the Trump folks.  A whole lot of financial regulations from overtime laws to pension reforms to student loan reforms fell into that category.  There was just zero sense of urgency.  Same thing with a lot of environmental regulations.  They were just getting finalized in time for Trump to cancel them.  They had 8 years and had a shitload of incomplete and half-done initiatives that were solely executive branch stuff.  Maybe the complacency was thinking that Clinton would finish everything.  I don’t know.  But when you have fleeting power you need to wield this.  The GOP knows this.   I don’t think we do.

  74. 74.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: Adam, thank you.  I think most of us know all this.  I just want the GOP – elected officials, “diner safari denziens”, and everyone in between – to have to say it.  To own it.  To admit that no one gives them quite the thrill that Our Worst Citizen does.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    @Kent: I agree in hindsight that the regulatory agenda moved too slowly, and I think that’s because Obama really wanted permanent change through legislation (DADT repeal was a success story for that approach).

    I don’t think two areas you’ll see more action on next time are regulations and judges (if we have the Senate).

  76. 76.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So Trump’s Elite Defense team, including Ken Star, is saying impeachment is against the constitution.

    I would like think this is a sign that these are all old white men going senile at the end of their lives and it’s not the so called elite in this country have always been a pack of useless morons that needs the other 99% of us to keep them from killing themselves threw shear ineptitude on a daily bases.

  77. 77.

    ziggy

    Is it just me or does anyone else get that really gross ad with someone pulling something out of their ear? I’ve tried to report it to google, flag it and still can’t get rid of it. How do you get rid of this thing?! Ugh!

  79. 79.

    Bill Arnold

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Here’s a more complete list, in bold: Police Ethics and Integrity (Milan Pagon, 2000, academia.edu free signup will get you relentless paper recommendations emails)

    Of course, not all police officers have integrity. Benjamin (1990) describes five psychological types lacking in integrity. The first is the moral chameleon, a person who is anxious to accommodate others, while not being resistant to social pressure, thus willing to quickly abandon or modify previously avowed principles. The second is the moral opportunist, whose values are also ever changing, based on his own short-term self interest. The third type is the moral hypocrite, a person who has one set of virtues for public consumption and another set for actual use as a moral code. The fourth is the morally weak-willed who has a reasonably coherent set of core virtues, but he usually lacks the courage to act on them. The final type is the moral self-deceiver, a person who thinks of himself as acting on a set of core principles, while, in fact, he does not.

    I still say a “moral chameleon” label for R. Rosenstein

  80. 80.

    Kent

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    So Trump’s Elite Defense team, including Ken Star, is saying impeachment is against the constitution.

    I would like think this is a sign that these are all old white men going senile at the end of their lives and it’s not the so called elite in this country have always been a pack of useless morons that needs the other 99% of us to keep them from killing themselves threw shear ineptitude on a daily bases.

    It is the FOX news defense team.  They aren’t even trying to come up with actual legitimate legal arguments to exonerate him.  Because there aren’t any.  All he is doing by putting Ken Star and Dersh up there is picking two of his most loyal and vocal advocates on FOX news and putting them into the national spotlight to make the same garbage arguments they make daily on FOX.

    Trump doesn’t actually give a shit about the legal arguments.  He just wants his people to go make a show and “own” the Dems.  Honestly he is probably not wrong in his instincts.  This vote is going to be tribal and a show of raw power, nothing else

    If there is any justice in the universe then Dersh will never again be able to summer in Nantucket without getting harassed and ridiculed and shunned.

  81. 81.

    NotMax

    @sab

    What has Rick Santorum ever done outside of the Republican party?

    Produced some “faith-based” movies (which make pabulum seem positively spicy).

  89. 89.

    Ksmiami

    @JMG: maybe they would try but it would be easy to outwit them, outgun them and outrun these fat useless aging fucks. And we could just cut off their technology, their money and their pathetic food supply- remember Athens defeated Sparta

  90. 90.

    Kent

    @debbie: Yep, the bright lights of FOX news.  Once they’ve seen Broadway you can’t keep them on the farm in Wasilla.

    When she walked away from the governorship mid-term that was the obvious indication that she wasn’t a true believer.  No one does that if they are a serious ideological warrior.  Funny thing is that all the white trash reality show stuff didn’t happen until after.  All the late-night brawls and drunken snowmobile insanity.  I don’t remember any of it from her days as governor.  Maybe they just kept it under wraps.  But they were pretty normal redneck Alaskans until they caught sight of the FOX news gravy train and national media.

  92. 92.

    Jinchi

    He made the decision to share the messages with the press in part to protect FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page from unfair criticism.

    This sounds disturbingly similar to the logic Comey used when he announced that he was reopening an investigation into Hillary’s emails days before the 2016 election.

    “it’s trying to figure out in an agonizing situation which is the least terrible option. Even in hindsight, I think I chose the least terrible option,”

  93. 93.

    TS (the original)

    @zhena gogolia: 
    And why did they wait to write a book? Reporting what is happening when it is happening – rather than waiting to make money with their information – would be a great idea

  96. 96.

    CaseyL

    I’m not sure where to put this, and I don’t want to sully the respite/non-political threads, but has anyone else seen the latest explosive shit Sirota took on Twitter?  A long, long series of tweets all aimed at accusing Biden of wanting to cut SocSec.  It’s a strange tweet thread, in that 60%-odd  of it are Sirota tweets; hardly anyone else paying attention.  Then some Purity Ratfuckers chime in on how Biden is an evil corporate Dem and only Bernie can save us. (And a few non-cult stalwarts who let Sirota know what they think of him, with “piece of shit” being among the nicer remarks.)

    The purity of the disinformation, the venom, the sheer hatefulness on display … it’s like psychopathic performance art.  Bernie & Co. really and truly are the leftish version of Trump’s malignant tribe.  It’s nauseating and horrifying to behold.

  97. 97.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kent:  They aren’t even trying to come up with actual legitimate legal arguments to exonerate him.

    After talking to many conservative “intellectuals” I am sure the Right thinks this is the slam dunk argument that will exonerate Trump.  They live in a bubble were no one is allowed to challenge the pronouncements of The Authority figure. Think and Evangelical congratulation and their pastor.  I am going to bet that The Trump Elite defense team will flounder and sputter in confusion and end up resorting to name calling when the first Democratic Senator asks the obvious question. That’s what Pown the Libertard is really about; to cover the conservative don’t know what to do. In their world you are not allowed say “that doesn’t make any sense” to revealed truths.

    What I am saying is, wow for people who spent their entire lives running the country, that is awfully weak and pathetic behavior and I would think this kind of ineptitude would have been obvious long before now. That ether means these people are deteriorating mentally or there is a group of people around them who been really doing to work for them so they can indulge their fantasy that they great and serious thinkers.

  99. 99.

    TS (the original)

    @J R in WV:

    Cole’s question/answer related to “Why do people love to hate the New York Times” – over 10 years ago the times forgot their reason to exist.

    Good to see BJ high up in the google reply list.

  100. 100.

    Aleta

    @CaseyL: I didn’t see that, but I read a Reuters story that described a video of a Biden speech and a Sanders campaign newsletter misquoting what Biden said about Soc. Security.

    (Reuters) PolitiFact, an independent fact-checker, rated the Sanders newsletter as false.

    (Reuters) Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir doubled down on the attack, saying in a statement, “Biden not only pushed to cut Social Security — he is on tape proudly bragging about it on multiple occasions.”

    The ‘misquoting’ that Reuters reported sounds pretty slimy. Ugh.  Bad news

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-biden/simply-a-lie-biden-accuses-sanders-campaign-of-releasing-doctored-video-idUSKBN1ZH0MM

  102. 102.

    J R in WV

    @TS (the original):

    The Times loved Mr Adolph Hitler back in 1922, they’ve been lost politically for at least that long.

    They were pretty fond of the German-American Bund back in the 1930s, until the very moment Germany declared war just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. They also admired Joseph Stalin…

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