Has anyone ever gotten more press for less?
In an email to constituents, Sen Mitt Romney said Monday he will oppose efforts to decide on witnesses and evidence before opening arguments in the Senate trial of President Donald Trump.The Utah Republican said he is sticking to the plan outlined in a resolution the Senate will debate Tuesday. Opening arguments in the impeachment trial are anticipated Wednesday.
The plan modeled after the 1999 impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton compresses the proceeding into several days and leaves open the unlikely possibility of a motion to dismiss. It also requires a Senate vote to admit material from House impeachment proceedings.
Romney is among a small group of senators who want the ability to call witnesses following opening arguments and questions by senators to the prosecution and defense teams.
“The organizing resolution released tonight includes this step, and overall, it aligns closely with the rules package approved 100-0 during the Clinton trial,” Romney wrote. “If attempts are made to vote on witnesses prior to opening arguments, I would oppose those efforts.”
I have nothing clever to say about this–he really is the most disgusting toadying coward in our current politics.
Yutsano
Forget it, Mixie. It’s Willard.
trollhattan
He’s competing with Lindsay Graham so the title is very much in play.
debbie
And yet, we have evidence this toady enjoys frog’s legs. There ought to be a law against this!
Dorothy A. Winsor
The Dangerman
Lindsay Graham on line 1 for you.
ETA: Late as usual. When I was in HS, typing was for different track of Folks. Hunt and peck, hunt and peck. Sigggggggh.
natem
I would say in ole Lindsay’s defense it’s very probably Trump has something on him, and he’s acting out of self-preservation. How sad is it for Mittens that he doesn’t even have THAT going for him?
Mary G
The number of people who still think Mittens or Susan Collins will do anything whatsoever beyond furrowing their brows is appalling.
ETA: I predict Murkowski and Mike Lee will be the only two votes for witnesses.
oatler.
Guess which Breughel painting I’m imagining?
LarrytheRed
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I was one, too (now retired) and second this.
Steeplejack (phone)
Mitt has some stiff competition in the toadying coward department.
TS (the original)
O/T – I am wondering why the media isn’t out and about screaming for trump to fix the coronavirus – in the same fashion they screamed about ebola entering the US and demanded President Obama perform the miracle of getting rid of same (which he did).
Every day, in every way the media becomes more of a GOP toady operation. Trump doesn’t need the senators – he owns the media.
danielx
Elvis’s shade is singing in my ear….
Listening to the Republican assholes going on about process, not a word about the fucking evidence…emitting complete horseshit is part of a pol’s profession, but for the orange crested shitbird?
If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts
If you have the law on your side, pound the law
If you don’t have either, pound the table
emjayay
@The Dangerman: You can still teach yourself to do it right. Keyboard chart. Don’t look at the keys. jug, jug, jug, jug, jug…
I bet there’s an app or something but a keyboard chart and a progression of words to type a zillion times is all you need.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@The Dangerman: I took typing in Jr. High, thanks to Mrs. Austin, no hunt’npeck here. I still can’t spell, however.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
they just voted to “table” a motion to subpoena document, straight party line vote, looks like, including Willard, Susan and Lisa
@The Dangerman: HS typing class was hell on earth…So. Fucking. Boring. One of my rare non-PE Cs. But I wonder how I’d do with the computers I hadn’t taken it.
Martin
I would leave open the possibility that Romney knows how to count votes, has a sense of how many GOPs will vote for witnesses after opening statements, and if he thinks that will pass, doesn’t want to jeopardize it.
I’m not saying I trust him, but he certainly has much more insight on what will give Mitt what Mitt wants than we do.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Claire McCaskill surprised at “Susan’s” vote, but now thinks every vote will be 53-47. Basically suggesting Willard and Collins traded their votes for three days instead of two
any word on whether Dems will vote to call for trump to testify, force Rs to vote against it?
Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I too took HS typing as a required course. Unfortunately for me at the time I could type 80-100 WPM after 5 years or so of coding on my own computers. I begged for an exception, begged to just let me take the final test, but no, I had to show that I could find ASDF and no, I wasn’t going to hit 1 with my pinky but with my ring finger because pinky was dedicated to tilde and escape and I have a 10 key for digits, which is vastly faster.
One of the many bureaucratic school traps I found myself in that caused me to despise school, and probably was a big factor in why I want so badly to make it better.
Kent
This is going to be REALLY big: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/21/amazon-boss-jeff-bezoss-phone-hacked-by-saudi-crown-prince
And it is going to circle back around to Trump. Saudi’s hack Bezos’ phone. National Inquirer gets hacked photos and details about Bezos’ affair. Trump has public fight with Bezos. National Inquirer actively contributes to Trump 2016 campaign effort by capturing and squelching dirt on Trump.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Three cheers for Manchin then. I kind of expect him to let Trump off, but he’s playing it straight here.
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I began HS typing class, taught by Mr. Meskie who rumor had as having landed at Anzio and today having a metal plate covering an injury received there. Merely cruel teen story or actual? Who knows but he did have a screw or two loose and the kids, sensing weakness dove into torment mode with glee. Mild example–anytime he turned his back fifteen hands would go into the typewriter and ding the bell relentlessly.
Transferred out and learned to type twenty years later. Sort of learned.
Steeplejack (phone)
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I am forever grateful to the high school teacher who was the “sponsor” of the yearbook and the school paper and made typing a requirement to work on either one. So I took the typing class as a junior. This was in the before times* of about 1968.
* Before microcomputers. (Even that is a quaint word now.)
chris
@Kent:Yep.
Cheryl Rofer
@TS (the original):
I was talking yesterday to some colleagues who have interacted with the President’s Science Advisor and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and we mentioned this. In any other administration, this would be job one for them.
sdhays
@TS (the original): I had this exact same thought. Although, ebola’s symptoms are pretty perfect for dialing the panic up to 11.
Kelly
@The Dangerman: I’m a hunt and peck typist in spite of a career writing mainframe code. Kinda convinced my slow typing resulted in better code. I’d spend more time thinking about code so as to minimize typing. Kept my code tight.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Kelly:
Sure, Jan.
Sherparick
@The Dangerman: Susan Collins says “hold my beer.”
Raoul
Like the ill-fitting woolen handgear from Utah, Maine’s warbling waffler/baffler has announced her “I’ll be against witnesses and facts before I maybe vote for them” tactic.
Not thinking she or he, or Colorado’s magic disappearing coward , are likely to gain much traction with swing voters over these profiles in covering up.
We won’t get the chance to unseat Romney for a few years, but we can do plenty to dislodge Collins, Gardner and several others. Let’s get to it.
Bill Arnold
@Kent:
That is interesting. It’s frustratingly opaque about sources though. Quoting for the gist:
Important context linked in the article: Bezos Investigation Finds the Saudis Obtained His Private Data (Gavin de Becker, Mar. 31, 2019)
Kelly
I’m wondering if John Roberts told Mitch McConnell he could not blame the Chief Justice’s schedule for the weird 1 pm to 1 am impeachment schedule. The Chief Justice has more important things to do that preside over a presidential impeachment?
kindness
Mitt voted with Republicans in today’s 53-47 vote to not ask for docs that Trump refused to give.
Raoul
@Kent: Kushner also was Watsapping with MBS. So basically his phone has probably been a live feed to the WH for the Saudis for his entire tenure at the WH.
Fucking dangerous morons. Just exactly who we want the GOP Senate to be protecting!
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
I’d almost bet they are hoping it spreads to this country. They will see that as another argument for the wall and immigration bans.
zhena gogolia
I know, I know, Jennifer Rubin, but her piece is heartening.
debbie
@Bill Arnold:
I trust WaPo will be running many, many front page articles about this and will be naming names.
TS (the original)
@Kent: From your link
Beware of those bearing gifts …… Seems the billionaires haven’t learned that money isn’t everything in this world. What could they be having a pleasant exchange about other than money making?
Bill Arnold
@Raoul:
Is there any way to spoof whatsapp endpoints? i.e. is the key anywhere other than on the phone (and not backed up)? (phone cloning attack? I don’t know whatsapp well enough. I’m more of a Signal fan. No backup of messages to iCloud.)
zhena gogolia
dnfree
@The Dangerman: just as an amusing side note, when I was in high school college-track kids could take a year of typing INSTEAD of biology. Think about that. Since I was a physics minor in college, that’s the only science I ever took, and I still have little knowledge about biology. But on the plus side, the typing was invaluable in my long computer career.
Aleta
1)
2)
catclub
@Bill Arnold: The news about the FBI admiting that Saudi Arabia goes to significant lengths to extract any Saudi National from the US if they are involved in crimes such as murder and rape, ….seems to have fallen into a black hole.
I was reminded of it on news of greenwald being arrested(?) in Brazil and there were discussions of how much one trusts the Brazilian legal system. The Saudi’s simply cannot stand the embarassment of allowing Saudis to be prosecuted in the US system.
It took huge efforts to get the documents and then remove the 99% redactions from them.
Raoul
BTW, I’m seeing tons of elected Dems all going after Citizens United today. Esp on twitter, but now also in my in-box.
Why on day one of impeachment? What’s the strategy, if anyone can guess? Seems related, loosely, but isn’t this diluting rather than amplifying? I guess people see that case as corruption personified? Probably also the literal 10th anniv today.
But still, message discipline is a thing. One that Dems historically have been bad at.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I knew what was coming in today’s impeachment trial, and yet as I listen to or read about it, I’m grief stricken.
Baud
@Raoul:
Today is the 10 year anniversary.
ETA. Ok, I just noticed that last line of your paragraph.
Raoul
@Aleta: The Collins campaign said Planned Parenthood has changed and become more partisan, noting that no Republicans have won its endorsement.
I can’t possibly imagine why that could be, Susan. Did you think voting to confirm Kavanaugh was a PP slam-dunk?
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Martin: I went back to school to change careers in 2000. The community college I attended had a required Microsoft Office class. After mumblemumble years of writing VBA code for Excel apps, I easily qualified to test out of the class.
The instructor had trouble finishing sentences when he called me to let me know I had passed. I kind of felt sorry for him that this was so obviously a rare thing for him to encounter.
CaseyL
He’s not a coward, Graham isn’t a coward, none of them are cowards.
The GOP doesn’t want a lawful democracy. None of them do.
The GOP wants a lawless oligarchy. They all do.
Trump is doing exactly what they want. They like what he’s doing. They want the county destroyed.
They all believe they win at life if they replace the US government with a lawless oligarchy.
Period.
Rand Careaga
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Romney!
Kelly
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Same. Heading out for a quiet walk along the river
JanieM
I’d put Susan Collins up against Mitt in that department any day. It has been her game for decades: get big splashy coverage for being a moderate, for doing something that can be made to sound brave and centrist but that is in fact preliminary and meaningless. When push comes to shove, for the most part she toes the party line. But the press doesn’t often bother with that part.
If it fooled some people once upon a time, hopefully it never will again after the Kavanaugh speech.
zhena gogolia
@JanieM:
I’ve got Sara Gideon on monthly donation.
Who’s running against Mitt?
Yutsano
@CaseyL: Oh they want laws. But they want the laws to protect the Republican class (mostly straight white men) and to go against anyone else who is outside that class (everyone else). They want essentially an apartheid state with no repercussions for anyone in their class for mistreatment of anyone outside it. It’s white supremacy on steroids. That’s their end goal.
EDIT: It just occurred to me that we’re not necessarily talking at cross purposes here.
Mo MacArbie
Damn, if I were as rich as Bezos, I’d have a new phone every day. Check that, my phone guy would have a new phone every day. He’d have the day off too, every day, to take my phone as far away from me as possible.
debbie
@Raoul:
It was decided on this day in 2010.
Kent
Probably talking no doubt about extending Amazon Prime video streaming to Saudi Arabia and getting 1-day Amazon Prime delivery into Riyadh.
Yutsano
@zhena gogolia: Probably no one right now as Willard was just elected. But as soon as there is one he could hang for this.
trollhattan
@Aleta: @Raoul:
Christ Susan, next thing you’ll be telling us that cattle are united in not supporting Hormel, and you just cannot fathom why.
trollhattan
@Yutsano:
Scenario only works if somebody more Mormon than Mormon Mitt primaries him. Utah ain’t electing a Democratic senator.
donnah
@Kelly: just don’t jump in!
It became clear to me during the events of the day that no matter how compelling, how clear or how convincing the Democratic members are, the Republicans will not listen, yield, or comply.
I am not getting my hopes up for a removal of this rotten disaster of a president through impeachment. We are going to tune out Trump’s gloating until November, when we vote his corpulent ass out of office.
Aleta
So much Republican yelling about due process today, lying that T got none, along with the giant lie that they believe in due process at all.
CBP has been doing this to people as though it’s their right. They’re violating the rights of all of us when they defy court orders.
WaterGirl
@Aleta: I don’t know whether to scream or cry.
Steeplejack (phone)
@dnfree:
A year of typing?! One semester should be more than enough, especially for an everyday (M-F) class.
Aleta
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Still got it !!
Aleta
@Aleta: Uh oh I guess I don’t. Crushed.
dnfree
@Steeplejack (phone): a year of typing instead of a year of biology! Which does a college student need more? I not only learned to type, I learned the proper way to fold a letter for various sizes of envelopes so a busy executive could flip open the letter with a single shake of his (yes, his) hand. Our typewriters had all blank keys so we couldn’t hunt and peck.
WaterGirl
@Aleta: is my brain fixing a typo? Because I’m not seeing one.
My first job in tech: my boss saw how fast I could type and he said “wow, typing that fast, you could get a real job!”
edit: of course, he wore socks with birkenstocks, so maybe that says it all.
(and he was kidding)
Aleta
@WaterGirl: There’s no “s” in my sentence. It’s supposed to have every letter in the alphabet. (In typing class we had to type that sentence a lot.) So I guess either dogs or jumps was what I was supposed to have learned, and now I have a C – in the class.
WaterGirl
@Aleta: I googled, because your sentence looked right to me.
It’s jumpS.