As Brave Sir Mitt gets ready to cave into all of McConnell’s commands, I had a thought: why hasn’t the media lionized Justin Amash they way they’ve lionized Mitt and McCain? Amash did something genuinely courageous — he tanked his career because he had too much dignity to go along with other Republicans on impeachment. And his statements about why he couldn’t weren’t preening and attention-getting, they were simple and factual. I don’t agree with Amash about much else and I can’t imagine ever voting for him for anything, and, no, I don’t want him to get his own MSNBC show (he won’t anyway), but he probably won’t get re-elected now and I don’t see how he goes on wingnut welfare or anything like that after he loses. Mitt and McCain, by contrast, never did much other than write sternly worded tweets, were never in any danger of not being reelected, and are both eight figure wingers who could just retreat back into their money or their vast carelessness if they did fail to get reelected.
It’s a very strange thing: the media loves to blab about the bravery of wankers like Mitt and McCain and Susan Collins and Jim Comey, but when someone does something that involves real sacrifice, it’s crickets. Of course the reason is obvious — they’re all millionaires and they relate to other master of the universe types, not to back-benchers (or bureaucratic whistleblowers).
Let’s make vulnerable Republican Senators pay for going along with this sham trial. Give here to a fund split equally between eventual Democratic nominees in Maine, Iowa, North Carolina, Colorado, Georgia, and Arizona.
Aleta
Thanks Doug.
Baud
Does Amash seek out media attention?
MattF
Rick Wilson talks about the ‘post-Soviet vibe’ of the Trump fans. In that vein, Amash is a dissident, trying to speak the truth as he sees it rather than enriching himself. Can’t let him get away with that.
James E Powell
Also too, any Democrat who criticized Bill Clinton was immediately granted Moral Authority and Paragon of Virtue status. Part of it was the Village fascination/obsession with Democrats who don’t like Democrats, but there was something else to it.
DougJ
That’s a good point.
DougJ
@Baud:
Not really. He mostly just talks about the obviously bad things that Trump did and why they are bad. It’s very bland.
germy
@James E Powell:
For years and years, Bernie was the invisible man. I never saw him interviewed. I remember him being the answer to an obscure trivia question… an actual Socialist got elected in Vermont!
But when he started criticizing Democrats, boy! The Villagers couldn’t get enough of him.
Kent
Because the Mitt and Collins stuff is a complete grandstanding fraud and always has been. Neither of them have EVER made a tough vote that actually made a difference.
McCain was a bit different. He actually saved the ACA (and perhaps the GOP) but his vote. He actually did real “Maverick-y” stuff like McCain-Feingold. He was still an asshole conservative who voted for every single GOP judge and a whole lot of other horrid stuff. But on occasion he did actually make meaningful hard votes against party. There is no longer anyone like McCain in the GOP.
NotMax
Pedantry demands a moment to point out that should be split equally among.
Raoul
The press is intimidated by actual smart people. I disagree with most of Amash’s positions, but he clearly has real thoughts in that noggin, and isn’t just a mavericky maverick for fun and profit.
MisterForkbeard
@Kent:
I think Collins has had EXACTLY one meaningful vote where she bucked McConnell, and it was ACA Repeal.
In that case, it was pretty obvious she did it to save her party and her own skin while burnishing some ‘moderate’ cred.
patrick II
Media loves the drama. Will he, or won’t (s)he (Collins). Tune in tomorrow and find out.
germy
Raoul
Hardly a new thought, but, I will nevery fully forgive McCain for unleashing Palin on us. Sure, they lost the election. But she was the horrendous beta-test that made Trump’s rise that much greasier and easier.
Splitting Image
The rule is: kiss up, kick down.
If a Republican looks like the type to fail upward, they get kissed. If they look like they’re going down, they get kicked.
Simple as that.
Roger Moore
I think the core is that Amash isn’t telling them what they want to hear. Amash is saying, both implicitly and explicitly, that Trump is so bad that he’s worth breaking from the party for; he’s a genuine emergency that demands we give up our conventional views of politics to fight against. That is not the message the media wants to hear. The “dissident” Senators who hem and haw before falling in line send the message that everything is basically OK: Trump is worrying, but he can be contained by the actions of brave politicians working within the established order.
Kay
Good point. I remember when Amash first ran in Michigan. His supporters had big signs at businesses. Like a surprising amount of vocal support for a House race. It’s a conservative part of Michigan, but they seemed genuinely excited about him- young and all.
Now I guess he’s shunned forever.
Kent
I think the assumption that she was “bucking McConnell” might be a stretch. He might well have scripted the whole damn thing. He is not stupid and probably didn’t want to spend 2020 campaigning on the wreckage of a demolished ACA with tens of millions of Americans stripped of their healthcare under his watch and guidance.
My operating assumption is that every damn thing that the Senate does is with the consent and approval of McConnell.
Kay
They don’t treat Murkowski like they do Collins either and Murkowski is much more mavericky. Right wing nuts tried to take her down, right? And failed.
JPL
@MisterForkbeard: She then voted to do away with the mandate which was part of Robert’s justification for upholding the ACA. At that time it was stated that it would be used to kill the bill, but golly gee how was she to know.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Amash wasn’t conflicted. Susan Collins and her ilk get so much mileage about being “concerned” about an issue – who knows which way she’ll go? She’ll string you along talking out of both sides of her mouth for days and weeks. That entices the media even though we all know which way she’ll go in the end. It’s the “maybe this time is different” effect she uses over and over again. Amash did not do that – he just said this guy is a criminal and we should impeach him, end of story. There was no dithering for days. Also a major factor is he’s a House rep and not a Senator – which everyone else you mentioned is. Senators get a lot more attention.
Also, Amash never got along with anyone. I mean, he was in the freedom caucus but he didn’t even play well with them. I grew up in the district he represents and could never understand why they kept electing him because he never brought anything tangible home to the district because he never worked with anyone to get anything done. Politics is to some extent a team game and he wasn’t willing to be on any team, even the team his party ostensibly placed him on. He never had any influence as a result and hence didn’t get in with the popular crowd that gets a lot of coverage.
Kay
Maybe it’s the New England thing. They pine away for rock-ribbed Yankee Republicans. One of their cherished nostalgia themes. So many political reporters are so young but they’re still so weirdly conventional.
I thought about it during the ’16 Clinton campaign. They’re not even old enough to have taken part in first wave Hillary demonizing. It’s not even their lived experience. It was handed down like a quilt.
Butch
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I never agreed with a single thing Amash did but he was at least ideologically consistent. Are we sure he’s ended his career? I’m in a different part of Michigan but always had heard that his constituent services were actually pretty good. Willing to be told I heard wrong.
Taken4Granite
Amash was the last known member of the species Republicanus principalatus, which is now extinct in the wild.
As a result of my now ex-Congresscritter Frank Guinta obtaining my e-mail address ten years ago (I have no idea how), I get occasional insight into what Republicans are trying to do here in New Hampshire. Somebody named Don Bolduc, who proudly claims to be both a general (as in military) and a Trump supporter, is trying to unseat Jeanne Shaheen.[1] I don’t know how much traction he is getting, but I do expect him to win the Republican primary (the other known Shaheen opponent, Jay Lucas, seems to be much too positive a guy to go far in the Republican Party), and he has a vocal supporter who lives along one of the main roads into my town.
[1]For some reason my spell checker does not flag Bolduc’s name as misspelled, but it does flag the name of my senior Senator. WTF, Apple?
jl
I think this is a SATSQ situation. The corporate media celebrity news hacks and pundits worship raw power and success, and worship anything that furthers big corporate interests, which helps their bosses whom they desperately want to please, in order to further their own power, wealth and fame. These people understand any large and powerful organization that runs on ruthless big corporate principles (e.g., the GOP). Often this is subliminal and subconscious, often it is quite conscious.
They understand the big corporate world’s disgusting and hilarious brutality and worship of raw power and success by any and all means, and find it exciting and admirable.
Amash was banished from the political team that operates on principle they understand and admire, has lost power and influence among the GOP, he is an outcast, his future hold on power is far less certain than the media celebrities feel comfortable being associated with.
In short, Amash has loser stink, has contagious and probably fatal kooties, is damned, is an outcast, a dangerous example to be shunned. Amash is less than a scapegoat: to even notice him or discuss him at length will bring a curse upon their heads that can never ever be removed. To take Amash seriously risks immediate damnation to a very obscure, agonizing, and shameful Buddhist hell.
Edit: OK, that was long, but just a lengthy explanation of a simple thing. Amash did something that renders him odious, fetid, and dangerous to discuss with anything other than dismissal and contempt.
hells littlest angel
I think you answered your own question:
If I hear the phrase “conspiracy theory” one more fucking time, I think I’ll have to turn off the sound. These are just false allegations; they aren’t theories, and should not be dignified by calling them such.
James E Powell
@Roger Moore:
The press/media will only mention Amash if Trump tweets something about him.
James E Powell
@Kay:
And they all wrapped themselves in it, didn’t they?
jl
Amash did something that makes him even more contemptible than a Democrat
To even notice Amash may remind people of a speck of truth, a remnant of principle, which is anathema. Any media celebrity who mentions him risks damnation. If they are forced to mention him, they must participate in lengthy and elaborate ceremonies of repentance in order to purify themselves, for they have become unclean.
Kay
Amash tweeted that if Gop’ers in the senate are like those in the House this is the first time they’ve listened to any of the evidence.
Has the ring of truth, doesn’t it? See no evil…
PJ
@Kay: Well, the Clinton-demonizing (and Reagan worship) was pretty much handed down like a quilt by the GOP and pretty much all mainstream media outlets in the 90’s and 00’s (NPR was the most galling since it’s partially our tax dollars at work.) I would work with people who had been children in the ’80’s, and it was received wisdom that the country had been on the verge of collapse under Carter and it was only St. Ronnie who saved us all and restored the US to its superpower status.
Since the beginning of the ’00’s, reporters, of whatever political persuasion, by and large, don’t seem to have any awareness of short-term or long-term history, at all. Right now, it’s as if the world began at 9/11 for them. They buy into all sorts of “conventional wisdom” (i.e., bullshit) about communism, socialism, revolution, libertarianism, nationalism, whatever, because they have no knowledge of what actually went down before they were 18 and they have no interest in questioning their received beliefs. They bought into Bush’s bullshit about Iraq, the Axis of Evil, Clash of Civilizations, etc., and they buy into Bernie’s bullshit about Socialism blossoming here at his say-so as soon as he’s inaugurated. I mean, one of the Washington Post’s lead political reporters, Dave Weigel, was a libertarian (voting for Ron Paul and Gary Johnson) who is now all in for Sanders. That level of credulousness, and lack of self-reflection, is mind-boggling to me.
cain
I’m afraid folks that we need real unity, none of these pansy Dem candidates out there now. We need a lion. We need – here me out now – “No fucks to give” Jimmy Carter. That’s right. Jimmy Fucking Carter and running mate? Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
“No fucks to give” Carter will run, and he will wear a fucking sweater the entire time.
Kay
@James E Powell:
I read an interview with the NYTimes reporter who covered Clinton in ’16 (she was promoting her book and movie) and she said Maureen Dowd was one of her mentors. Jesus. Clinton didn’t stand a chance of being treated fairly.
They literally hand it down. “Here- take this cherished narrative and display it- I made it”
the Conster
I never believed for one second that the media was ever going to be up to covering any of the Trump administration. They all act brand new, every day. They’re fish in a gold fish bowl, surprised by the little pink castle every time. They have their narrative about Republicans and Democrats, liberals bad conservatives good, and nothing will shake them of it.
Raoul
@Kay: Aw shucks cornpone (and Oxford grad) John N Kennedy from Louisiana admitted as much last night, saying his caucus has ‘learned a lot’.
Huh.
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
I agree that it really is this simple and this stupid. Amash is telling Republicans and the MSM that everything they think and say is wrong, and they’re pissed at him for it. He’s the Cassandra of the Republican Party: accurately predicting doom but actively ignored.
MattF
OT. Prince Charles snubs Pence. First time I’ve ever had a positive reaction to the Windsor heir.
Kraux Pas
If our candidate has to be a throw-back, I’d feel pretty good about that one.
Kraux Pas
Now let’s hope they actually put that learnin’ to good use.
MattF: Shook Bibi’s hand, though. Guess no one’s perfect.
Baud
@Kay:
I hate to say it, but you see the same thing here and in other liberal spaces, whenever people characterize a moderate Dem (and sometimes even Obama!) as a Republican.
JPL
@MattF: If that’s the same clip I saw earlier, Pence’s reaction is priceless. love it
JPL
@Baud: Edward Brooke type of republican. The nice thing about being raised in New England was that you weren’t in a panic if a republican won. That started to change for me with Nixon.
Sab
@Kraux Pas: Prince Charles considers Pence to be a lower form of life than Bibi. Wow.
Mnemosyne
@Kraux Pas:
Charles would be in a bit of a bind with Bibi since he’s a head of government and it would cause a largish tiff.
Pence is just the VP, so snubbing him has fewer potential consequences.
Kraux Pas
It’s ok, you can say it. You’re in a safe space.
Martin
@Roger Moore:
Agreed. I’ll add my previous proposal – that if Amash is the correct narrative, then the entire framework on which we tell the American story is busted.
The American story is based on the assumption that there are checks and balances, that the electorate is wise, and that elections are (sufficiently) fair. Amash breaks all of that by exposing that there aren’t checks and balances – there’s no noble legislature that will save us from executive excesses, or a judiciary that will fairly mediate between the parties. Amash said something obviously true about the executive branch and was heavily punished for it by members of his own branch. That’s not how it’s supposed to work, and we can’t bear to look at that too closely.
Collins and Romney are the media desperately holding onto that myth, that the US can’t descend into fascism, because of people like Collins and Romney. Without them, (and the Ohio diner interviews are of a similar vein) then the American experiment is exposed to be fundamentally busted – the story becomes that there are two tribes, and they will invariably fight to the death. That may result in Dems rolling over a lot, but eventually that will end. (I don’t think the Impeachment marks that point – Pelosi sending the Sgt of Arms to frog-march Don McGahn or Pompeo to testify will mark that point – had she done that before sending articles to the Senate, and I think we’d see a much different dynamic in the Senate.)
We’ve been there once before, and nobody wants to be the party to say ‘folks, there’s no other path’. They’re desperately looking for a different narrative.
Amir Khalid
It’s fairly obvious to me: the Republican party rule is party before principle. One who puts principle is a turncoat, and is not going to be favourably covered, if at all, by Republican-friendly media.
In other news, Liverpool forward Sadio Mané has had to come off with an injury at Wolverhampton Wnderers. Takumi Minamino, making his Premier League debut, is on for Mané. Liverpool are leading 0-1 from an 8th minute goal by captain Jordan Henderson.
different-church-lady
You answered your own question when you said, “…his statements about why he couldn’t weren’t preening and attention-getting…” Modern media folk are lazy, and merely amplifying a pre-packaged narrative gets them content with minimal effort. If Amash wanted to be a cable TV media darling all he’d have to do is hand it to them tied up in a nice little bow.
jl
@Mnemosyne: Too bad that a bucket of warm piss was not in the reception line. How Charles made that choice of which to recognize would be informative and interesting.
Ruckus
@germy:
They may be masters of some financial universe somewhere, but the mavens of Wall Street absolutely aren’t mavens in this one.
cain
@Amir Khalid:
I”m not even sure principle is even part of their vocabulary now. So you can’t really put it behind anything other than inserting it into their behind.
Amir Khalid
Wolves equalise: 1-1. ETA: this is the first goal Liverpool have conceded in seven matches.
Sab
@cain: I have a RWNJ brother who bailed from the Republican party last year. He is an elected local politician in CA. He has (RW) patriotic principles, and he just couldn’t handle it anymore. We grew up in a family of Eisenhower Republicans. I am pretty sure that I am the only actual always been a Democrat in my family. Everyone else has gradually leaked over to our side. He was the last holdout.
Bill Arnold
@Kay:
As a write in candidate:
Senator Lisa Murkowski wins Alaska write-in campaign (November 17, 2010)
She has the ability to tell MM to fuck off and survive(/thrive) politically.
Kylroy
@Martin: Exactly how I feel. If we can’t elect a Dem president, House, and (hopefully) Senate *without* rubbing the GOP’s nose in their fundamental betrayal of the American experiment…we’re counting down to the second American Civil War. If these people could feel shame, they would have felt it by know. Our only options are to politically bypass them in the current rigged game, or arm up.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Butch: He was ideologically consistent. I could see him being the new Libertarian Party standard bearer. I was never a constituent (moved out of the district long before he came along – I think Vern Ehlers, who was one of the very last of the moderate Republican breed, was the rep when I left) so I never had any personal experiences with his constituent services. I think he is good at gladhanding, meeting with constituent groups, and shuttling student groups etc. around Washington. I was referring more to bringing home tangible assets – increased school funding, infrastructure projects for the district, etc. You know, federal pork. He never did any of that. I don’t think he did much if any legislating either. Sure he’s there standing by his principles, but getting basically nothing done for anyone.
MJS
My issue with Amash, and it may also explain why he doesn’t get any attention, is that he left the Republican party. I would have thought more highly of him had he stayed in the party so that he’d have that (R) next to his name anytime he was criticizing Trump. Now it’s an (I), and there are a lot of I’s who criticize Trump, so I think he missed his opportunity to stand out. I think he also left the party not exclusively out of disgust, but also so he could actually run for re-election (he’d have been primaried out had he stayed an R).
...now I try to be amused
@Bill Arnold:
After surviving the Tea Party challenge as a write-in, Murkowski is so bulletproof she can flip the bird at McConnell and the GOP every day and twice on Sundays. I wish she’d do it more often.
jl
For the media celebs, to even notice Amash, unless forced to, risks damnation by their God of Mammon. THEIR LORD will make them utterly NOT. Their very existence, past, present and future, will be completely obliterated
Kylroy
@jl: See what happened to Phil Donahue for not supporting the Iraq war.
Kraux Pas
I think he’s the only (I) in the house. There are two in the Senate and both are New Englanders who caucus with the Democrats.
The fact that Amash was elected as a Republican is valuable context. Then, I’m pretty sure the media doesn’t do context.
jimmiraybob
I have a friend that describes themselves as a libertarian that has expressed frustration with all the competing Trump claims. I suggested Amash as an apparently informed and principled libertarian voice to help clear things up. I got something to the effect of, “……………..well………..yeah……..I don’t know……….”
You can lead a horse to water yadda yadda something something.
LongHairedWeirdo
There are also no high placed “sources” who will call their actions brave. There are plenty of GOP sources that will call a McCain or Romney “brave”.
Of course, that should be a significant tell, to any reporter who doesn’t like getting led around by the nose, which seems to describe all-too-few.
Kraux Pas
@jimmiraybob: One thing I’m glad Trump did is reveal how many Obama-era “libertarians” were run-of-the-mill Republicans right along.
trollhattan
@Kay:
IIRC Murkowski got primaried by a Tea Partier who won, then ran independent in the general and beat his ass to retain her seat. IMO that’s “gravitas” the Republicans can’t actually screw with because she could do it again then caucus with the Dems or whatever she wishes. Two-generation political family in a state with about fifty people
Aand I see …now I try to be amused beat me to the punch.
Amir Khalid
Bobby Firmino scores off a Henderson assist! Wolves 1-2 Liverpool! YES!!
gvg
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I think the availability of Pork went to none when he was elected. There was an outcry when Bush was in office and eventually enough Congressmen were elected promising to eliminate it and it was done. Now they CAN’t bring home the bacon so it turns out their is no incentive to compromise and the guys who control votes like MM and Paul Ryan did have much more control over their party than they used to. It’s sort of like term limits not working the way people thought they would. I mention this now and then, I was wrong before. We need to have earmarks again or we will never have compromise again, only extremism.
MJS
@Kraux Pas: You’re correct, but I was referring to the generic “Independent”, not just elected officials. I should have been clearer about that. The media can get any number of self-identifying Independents to come on and talk about how horrible Trump is. I think an elected R who still identified as an R, willing to go on TV and trash Trump, would have received a lot more attention. Him leaving the party stamped him as “Never Trump”, and therefore significantly less unique.
jl
@trollhattan: Thanks to you and the other commenter for reminder about Murkowski. Does not indicate good things about her character. I think the very best case is that she is very risk averse and does not want to go to the trouble and stress of repeating that experience. In short: she don’t want to be bothered by any inconvenience in her re-election. That is more important than any principles or allegiance to truth.
Kay
Donald Trump tells you what he’s vulnerable on. You just have to take his advice and attack him on it.
He’s telling you to hit him on saying he’ll cut social security and medicare. So do that.
Kraux Pas
@MJS: I got you. I wonder if he has any actual advantages not caucusing with the Rs and rather being a caucus of one.
jl: As far as Murkowski, I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t break with the Rs often simply because she mostly agrees with them.
trollhattan
From time to time I have spotlighted Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, second only to Barr as the most dangerous man in Trump’s cabinet. David Bernhardt’s cabinet has been stuffed full of sweet access cash.
A neighbor who works for Interior has dealt with Bernhardt and is emphatic that he must be closely watched out for. The giveaways are going out at a startling rate.
Amir Khalid
Fulltime Wolves 1-2 Liverpool. Liverpool have got through one of their toughest games all season with all three points, but only just. 16 points clear of Man City, match in hand. Still unbeaten this season.
Sab
@trollhattan: When I was a youngster in boarding school in DC my roommate’s aunt was Ted Stephens chief of staff or admin asst. I forget which. Lovely people all around ( room mate and aunt.) I went home to Ohio. Way too fast a track for me- big money and lots of drugs.
Kylroy
@gvg: Yeah, the elimination of “pork” meant that people had no incentive to ever compromise their principles…which meant that the people whose principles were “burn this government to the ground” faced no obstacles in holding our nation hostage at every turn.
trollhattan
@Sab:
Had you only known you were brushing against the dawn of the series of tubes! :-)
Ted Stephens was an odd duck. He’d have been better off quitting flying after the first crash.
Sab
@trollhattan: The big money and drugs was KY not AK.
Captain C
Kind of sounds like some other politicians we know.
cokane
McCain was the deciding vote that, at least for now, has mostly preserved the Affordable Care Act. I don’t think it’s fair to say he did nothing brave in his time.
trollhattan
@Sab:
Everything I know about KY is from watching “Justified.” Guessing it could have been a documentary.
PJ
@cokane: I’ll cut him some slack because he was dying from cancer, but that also means he knew he’d never be up for reelection again.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
you can add Jeff Flake and Will Hurd to the list
LongHairedWeirdo
@cokane: What risk was he taking? That they’d turn savagely on a former Presidential candidate?
That said, if we are arguing over “none” and “one”, I’ll add a silent ‘n’ to your “one” for the sake of peace :-).
Dadadadadadada
“Retreat back into their money or their vast carelessness ”
What you did there, I see it.
cokane
@LongHairedWeirdo: The deciding vote on a consequential piece of legislation is far more of a practical good than anything we can so far name that Amash has done, and I say that as someone respecting Amash in the way highlighted in the blog post.
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
@Kay: Murkowski winning a U.S. Senate seat as a write-in is still one of the most incredible things I’ve seen in politics.