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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Today’s GOP Star Disgrace: Rand Paul

Today’s GOP Star Disgrace: Rand Paul

by Anne Laurie|  January 30, 20205:41 pm| 179 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Impeachment Inquiry, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Assholes

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Sen. Rand Paul left the chamber after Chief Justice John Roberts declined to read his question.

"The presiding officer declines to read the question as submitted," the Chief Justice said. https://t.co/9dHVqNAsee pic.twitter.com/vnc1Oj03a1

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 30, 2020

The name of the guy Rand Paul would like to believe is the whistleblower is now all over the web, so he’s achieved his goal — and it’s not as though Rand Paul needed to worry about his reputation; this is the kind of petty self-aggrandizing bullshit that’s his trademark. I don’t even think that Rand is explicitly paid by Putin, or blackmailed by the GRU. He just likes being the center of attention, and the only way he’s capable of achieving that is by being a dick.

I’d like to believe that Chief Justice Roberts would care enough about his own not inconsiderable self-esteem to bring the full force of his powers down on Paul, but I’d also like to believe that my favorite potato chips are health food, and that ain’t happening either.

Q: "With all due respect, shouldn't you be in impeachment hearing right now?"

Sen. Rand Paul: "Yeah. I will be there very shortly. Thanks for the question." pic.twitter.com/nsLGfdnOX8

— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) January 30, 2020

Rand Paul tried to pull a petty stunt this morning to out the whistleblower. He got embarrassed by John Roberts then, and he's getting embarrassed by Adam Schiff now.

And he deserves every second it.pic.twitter.com/uCsvNlBW5m

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) January 30, 2020

Six years ago, Rand Paul received an award from a whistleblower advocacy organization. Today, he publicly revealed the name of the alleged whistleblower. https://t.co/NHnxMhaQeZ

— Sam Stein (@samstein) January 30, 2020

Remember when Senator John McCain told Rand Paul that he was working for Vladimir Putin? I do.pic.twitter.com/CxHMA7sk4K

— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) January 30, 2020

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Previous Post: « Impeachment Trial – January 30, 2020
Next Post: Respite Thread – Beautiful Things »

Reader Interactions

179Comments

  1. 1.

    debbie

    January 30, 2020 at 5:42 pm

    Can we get Squirrel Boy’s neighbor to pay him another visit?

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    January 30, 2020 at 5:47 pm

    “It’s not pouting, it’s an interval of going Galt.”

    //

  3. 3.

    Yutsano

    January 30, 2020 at 5:54 pm

    How much can we offer the hair weasel on his head to choke Paul out in his sleep? Asking for a friend.

  4. 4.

    JustRuss

    January 30, 2020 at 5:55 pm

    Never thought I’d see the day I missed John McCain, but here we are.

  5. 5.

    The Dangerman

    January 30, 2020 at 6:00 pm

    I wonder how big a shit this little shit would have if the FBI came knocking on his door?

    Want to play games? Let’s play.

    Asshole.

  6. 6.

    Mary G

    January 30, 2020 at 6:03 pm

    That McCain clip is a doozy. I’ve never seen that one of remember reading about it. What a dick.

  7. 7.

    SFAW

    January 30, 2020 at 6:03 pm

    Someone in an earlier thread asked about Self-Aggrandizing Asshole Junior violating the whistleblower protection law, and one response was on the order of “the Revise and Extend part of Senate procedures allows him to do that with impunity.” My question is: if he steps out of the chamber, and gives a press conference in order to violate Federal law, wouldn’t he lose that protection? Not that Shill Barr would ever have him investigated, and not that Traitor Turtle wouldn’t come up with some mealy-mouthed bullshit to pretend Self-Aggrandizing Asshole Junior was covered, but still …

  8. 8.

    MattF

    January 30, 2020 at 6:05 pm

    So, what’s happened to his old man, Ron? Y’know, Father of Liberty and all that…

  9. 9.

    laura

    January 30, 2020 at 6:07 pm

    I hate this week with the heat of 10,000 white hot suns. Add Aqua Buddha to all of the things making me feel stabby.

    Also, a driver blew through a stop light in front of Sac State and barely missed my spouse riding his bike just a few moments ago.

  10. 10.

    JPL

    January 30, 2020 at 6:07 pm

    The repubs are all assholes, it now is measured in size.

  11. 11.

    norepli

    January 30, 2020 at 6:09 pm

     

    Dipshit Rand is a public official — isn’t broadcasting the whistleblower’s name

    illegal?

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 30, 2020 at 6:11 pm

    Wow, that Ricky Davila tweet with the McCain video clip is powerful. Never saw that. Good stuff.

  13. 13.

    Yutsano

    January 30, 2020 at 6:14 pm

    @SFAW: Statute of limitations won’t have expired come January 20th, 2021. Just sayin’.

  14. 14.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 30, 2020 at 6:15 pm

    @laura: Yikes! I’m sure your spouse is shaken. You too. Glad your he emerged unhurt, but wow.

    Oddly, I had entirely managed to forget (or repress) Aqua Buddha — the event, the name, everything. Thank you for resurrecting it.

  15. 15.

    Mallard Filmore

    January 30, 2020 at 6:15 pm

    @NotMax: 

    “It’s not pouting, it’s an interval of going Galt.”

    Why does everyone here trash talk Ayn Rand? The villains in her book Atlas Shrugged have the Republican Party absolutely spot on pegged. She was ahead of her time.

  16. 16.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 30, 2020 at 6:15 pm

    Just to be clear about my opinion of John McCain: You’d search far and wide for a more overrated US political figure (I’d be interested in your nominations), but:
    1) we’d be seeing a very different trial if he were still with us
    2) he wasn’t last in his class just because he was sneaking out to cavort with strippers and hootch, but whatever he didn’t know, the old man knew how to hate (to borrow Nixon’s phrase about Barbara Bush)

  17. 17.

    SFAW

    January 30, 2020 at 6:16 pm

    @laura:

    Also, a driver blew through a stop light in front of Sac State and barely missed my spouse riding his bike just a few moments ago.

    Glad that the key word is “missed.” I hope your husband is OK, I expect he was probably shaken up.

  18. 18.

    zhena gogolia

    January 30, 2020 at 6:17 pm

    Adam Schiff has once again been doing valiant battle all day long, but is anyone paying any attention?

    The Moscow Project twitter gives the highlights very well. Aaron Rupar used to do that, but he’s slacking off.

  19. 19.

    John Revolta

    January 30, 2020 at 6:17 pm

    @laura: Chin up! Only one more day to go.

    Of course, that’ll be Brexit Day and possibly Trump Exoneration Day, but, well………………………………..

  20. 20.

    chopper

    January 30, 2020 at 6:18 pm

    @laura:

    i hate every week now. election years are just the fucking worst.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 30, 2020 at 6:19 pm

    Six years ago, Rand Paul received an award from a whistleblower advocacy organization. Today, he publicly revealed the name of the alleged whistleblower.

    It would be lovely if the whistleblower advocacy organisation were to withdraw the award, publicly, explicitly, and irrevocably.

    “Give it back! Give it back!”

  22. 22.

    debbie

    January 30, 2020 at 6:19 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I listened to a lot of it while working. Schiff et al. have been miles ahead of the Clown Squad. I was sad to hear Rob Portman’s question and fear he’ll be falling in line very soon.

    So much for his caring about Ukraine. //

  23. 23.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 30, 2020 at 6:20 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    om Nichols @ RadioFreeTom
    The Constitution wasn’t designed to deal with people who don’t give a shit.

    Peter Nicholas @ PeterAtlantic
    Representative Adam Schiff played every card he had in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, but none seemed to work,

  24. 24.

    Kent

    January 30, 2020 at 6:21 pm

    Rand Paul was a Baylor undergrad in the early 80s where he was a conservative dickhead.  Ken Starr later oversaw the rape factory that Baylor had become by the early 2000s.  They are all part of the same circle.

  25. 25.

    joel hanes

    January 30, 2020 at 6:21 pm

    The road apple (Rand) doesn’t fall far from the horse’s ass (RON)

  26. 26.

    Jeffro

    January 30, 2020 at 6:22 pm

    @Yutsano: Amen to that!

    Run on a platform of doing nothing in the first term but righting wrongs, full investigations & prosecutions, and JAIL. TIME. for trumpublicans who abused the country for four years, Dems.

  27. 27.

    Ken

    January 30, 2020 at 6:22 pm

    @John Revolta: Boris Johnson would prefer you not use the “B” word after tomorrow.  In fact, if you’re an official of the British government, he insists.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    January 30, 2020 at 6:22 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    he wasn’t last in his class just because

    In an interesting irony, Misha Pompeonov was (allegedly) first in his class at West Point. Maybe he can get Kevin Costner to play him in the remake of “No Way Out.” Although the Traitor-in-Chief is closer to Pompeonov, vis-a-vis body type, than Costner will ever be.

  29. 29.

    joel hanes

    January 30, 2020 at 6:23 pm

    @Mallard Filmore:

    Why does everyone here trash talk Ayn Rand?

    authorial intent

  30. 30.

    Kent

    January 30, 2020 at 6:24 pm

    Is it time to bring up my favorite Ayn Rand-related quote?

    “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”  – John Rogers

  31. 31.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 30, 2020 at 6:24 pm

    @John Revolta: Mummified chicken fajitas for all, mate!

  32. 32.

    dnfree

    January 30, 2020 at 6:26 pm

    @Kent: it is always time for that quote.

  33. 33.

    SFAW

    January 30, 2020 at 6:28 pm

    @Jeffro:

    and JAIL. TIME. for trumpublicans who abused the country for four years

    As I’ve said myriad times in the past, a Truth and Retribution Commission. The Party of Traitors won’t learn a damn thing, if all that’s done is a figurative (OR literal, either way) finger being wagged at them. And if they start with the Georgia Adulterer, the mofo who started GOPAC, so much the better. Maybe Callista would step out on him, see how he likes the turnabout.

  34. 34.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 30, 2020 at 6:29 pm

    @debbie: As long as Vlad’s checks clear, it’s all good.

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 30, 2020 at 6:30 pm

    @dnfree: Can it be sung?

  36. 36.

    Jeffro

    January 30, 2020 at 6:31 pm

    If trumpov were innocent…why not allow witnesses to his innocence to testify?

    If trumpov were innocent…why not allow documents, emails, texts, etc that discuss his innocence?

    If trumpov were innocent…why not just tell Congress at the time the aid was withheld?

    If trumpov were innocent…why not lay out examples of countries where trumpov personally intervened, held up aid, made a case for that country (or even individuals other than the Bidens)?

    Does any of this look like the work of a remotely innocent man?

    Also, Dems, you need to keep pointing out that this is not a ‘partisan’ impeachment, it’s a partisan, trumpublican cover-up.

  37. 37.

    Jeffro

    January 30, 2020 at 6:33 pm

    @SFAW: You’ve said it, I’ve said it, we’re all for it.

     

    (although I think it’s supposed to be ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’, at least in name  =)

  38. 38.

    Yutsano

    January 30, 2020 at 6:33 pm

    @Kent: Evergreen post, that is.

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne

    January 30, 2020 at 6:35 pm

    @Mallard Filmore:

    I hate Ayn Rand because she was a terrible novelist and a worse philosopher, but you are correct that the Koch brothers and their buddies would all be the villains of a Rand novel. She was not fond of rich boys using their daddy’s money to keep other people down.

  40. 40.

    Jeffro

    January 30, 2020 at 6:38 pm

    @Jeffro: Schiff just flat-out reading my mind right now…

    Can we draft him?  I’m good with Schiff/Harris for eight years

  41. 41.

    Kent

    January 30, 2020 at 6:39 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Yeah, she would have loved Wyatt Koch:  https://www.spin.com/2017/12/wyatt-koch-ugly-shirts-video/

  42. 42.

    Mnemosyne

    January 30, 2020 at 6:40 pm

    I’m enjoying the latest Twitter kerfuffle right now, but I won’t drag it into this thread because I promised not to start any more fights with the Bernistas. Check out ABL’s Twitter feed for more info. ?

  43. 43.

    Jeffro

    January 30, 2020 at 6:40 pm

    I think the Dems might be making the most of a bad hand…and if the trumpublicans open the door at all to witnesses, trumpov is screwed.

    Seriously.

    I think that at the last, they (the Dems) might just take it.  “Sure, call who you want and we’ll call who we want”.  Neither Biden has anything to offer here; an hour of Bolton testifying and trumpov’s OUT.

  44. 44.

    Kent

    January 30, 2020 at 6:41 pm

    @Jeffro: Schiff is my pick for next Speaker of the House when Nancy finally decides to hang up her stilettos.

  45. 45.

    Mnemosyne

    January 30, 2020 at 6:43 pm

    @Kent:

    I have avoided diving into her oeuvre, but as far as I can tell, her rapey manly-man heroes are all self-made men, and her villains are all soft sons of privilege.

    Believe it or not, in a Rand novel, Bloomberg would be the hero and Trump would be the villain.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    January 30, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    @SFAW:

    As I’ve said myriad times in the past, a Truth and Retribution Commission.

    In the spirit of compromise, I would settle for a Retribution Commission.

  47. 47.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 30, 2020 at 6:49 pm

    @Kent:

    [. . .] when Nancy finally decides to hang up her stilettos.

    Heels or knives?

    (I know—both.)

  48. 48.

    Mnemosyne

    January 30, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    @Kent:

    I don’t think he wants it. He’s not on that track at all. Ted Lieu, however, is.

    I think “Senator Adam Schiff” has a nice ring to it, myself.

  49. 49.

    laura

    January 30, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: thank you! He’s been hit by a car on his daily commute several years ago and had minor injuries but  totaled a really fine bike. He’s my whole world and hearing other jackals’ losses and sorrows just had me already in tune with the fragility of life.

    And for those of you who weighed in as well – I truly thank you for your good wishes. You’s good people.

  50. 50.

    SFAW

    January 30, 2020 at 6:57 pm

    @Jeffro:

    although I think it’s supposed to be ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’, at least in name

    That’s what the RWMFs and Party of Traitors are hoping. I stand by what I wrote.

  51. 51.

    Martin

    January 30, 2020 at 6:58 pm

    Moar winning.

    The Trump administration is expected to loosen restrictions on the US military’s ability to use landmines in the coming days, weapons that have been banned by more than 160 countries due to their history of killing and wounding civilians, multiple Defense Department officials tell CNN.

    The move represents a major reversal from the approach of the Obama administration which in 2014 committed the US to largely adhering to the 1997 Ottawa Convention, the international agreement which banned the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. The Obama policy committed to replacing landmines in the US stockpile after they expire and directed the destruction of stockpiles not required for the defense of South Korea.

  52. 52.

    SFAW

    January 30, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    @Baud:

    In the spirit of compromise, I would settle for a Retribution Commission.

    Your proposal is acceptable.

  53. 53.

    Baud

    January 30, 2020 at 7:00 pm

    @Martin:

    Donald The Dove indeed.

  54. 54.

    SFAW

    January 30, 2020 at 7:01 pm

    @Martin:

    I still say if President Obama had made a concerted effort to prevent people from drinking antifreeze, a lot of our problems would be solved by now. Thanks, Obama!

  55. 55.

    Uncle Cosmo

    January 30, 2020 at 7:02 pm

    @MattF: Daddy Ron’s been in the Russkies’ pocket for decades. The road apple doesn’t fall far from the horse’s ass.

     

    (ETA: I see joel haynes scooped me on that last bon mot at #25. Funny, I’d never seen that phrase before I concocted it on my own a few years back. Independent discovery, I spoze.)

  56. 56.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    January 30, 2020 at 7:03 pm

    @Jeffro:
    An AnCap asshole summed up the counter argument to that to me (back in June 2019): “Trump has no obligation to aide his accusers in his conviction.”

    So, yeah. This person also called Mueller a “company man” and really believes Trump the fascist is a poor victim of the evil Deep State

    This particular AnCap was really weird. Anti-corporate, anti-military interventions (especially despised all of the anti-war protesters from the Bush era who, in their view, didn’t have a problem with Obama.), yet pro-Trump and hates “Marxists”.

  57. 57.

    Martin

    January 30, 2020 at 7:03 pm

    I would like someone to ask, if the Trump is committed to rooting out corruption, please document the aid Trump withheld from Saudi Arabia for their involvement in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the hacking of Jeff Bezos. In fact, please point to any other actions taken apart from Biden/Ukraine.

  58. 58.

    debbie

    January 30, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    @SFAW:

    Seconded!

  59. 59.

    FlipYrWhig

    January 30, 2020 at 7:07 pm

    I saw that there was some hoopla about Warren submitting a snarky question to Roberts.  I haven’t seen anything about Sanders submitting questions.  But I’m not much for Sanders and might not have come across it.  Has he been making use of the opportunity?

  60. 60.

    Jeffro

    January 30, 2020 at 7:07 pm

    @SFAW: Hey, I said ‘in name’…I’m all for retribution against these scumbags.

    The RWMFs/RWNJs don’t want such a commission under any name.

  61. 61.

    FlipYrWhig

    January 30, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    @Martin: Great question.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    January 30, 2020 at 7:09 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: He asked a dumb question yesterday. Don’t know about today.

  63. 63.

    danielx

    January 30, 2020 at 7:12 pm

    @Kent:

    never gets old

  64. 64.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    January 30, 2020 at 7:12 pm

    @Martin:

    Oh that’s easy! Khasoggi was an enemy of the state who criticized Trump’s best friend and so deserved to be hacked to death with a bone saw. Also he was brown. Bezos is a liberal meanie who funds leftist propaganda. QED libturd! When Trump wins in November and the GOP sweeps the House, Bezos and all of you will be arrested and sent to Guantanamo Bay!

    /Trump’s impeachment defense and GOP Senators, probably

  65. 65.

    Steeplejack

    January 30, 2020 at 7:13 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    What is “AnCap”?

  66. 66.

    debbie

    January 30, 2020 at 7:15 pm

    Dershowitz is why lawyers are hated.

  67. 67.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    January 30, 2020 at 7:15 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    Anarcho-capitalist, the worst kind of anarchist out there. They’re just feudalists with a different name

  68. 68.

    MomSense

    January 30, 2020 at 7:16 pm

    I noticed that Barr named Timothy Shea to replace Jessie Liu.  Liu was in charge of some important cases and now a Barr/Trump lackey will take over.

    It feels like our democracy is dying by a thousand cuts.

  69. 69.

    satby

    January 30, 2020 at 7:17 pm

    @Steeplejack: anti-capitalist, I’m guessing

    Edit: ok, way off. But what a stupid … Jeez, you can’t even classify it as a belief system. Just little reddit boys playing in their pcs.

  70. 70.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 30, 2020 at 7:17 pm

    @Martin: Or, what other actions taken or interest shown in the affairs of Ukraine (and possible corruption there) prior to Joe Biden’s entering the Presidential contest?

  71. 71.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 30, 2020 at 7:21 pm

    @debbie: The neighbor did enough and paid a price for his good deed. Hopefully, the Senate will flip and idiots like Rand will be neutralized.

  72. 72.

    Duane

    January 30, 2020 at 7:22 pm

    @Jeffro: John Bolton should appear in the Senate tomorrow and demand to be heard. Let the Republican cover-up be clear, and on record, for all to see.

  73. 73.

    zhena gogolia

    January 30, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    That question has been asked multiple times (the first time I heard it, it came from Collins and Murkowski). The pres’s lawyers answer with incredible bad faith. “We don’t have that information because it’s not in the record provided by the House.”

  74. 74.

    Duane

    January 30, 2020 at 7:26 pm

    @laura: Has he considered giving up that bike ride. Find some safer places to ride. A cat only has so many lifes.

  75. 75.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 30, 2020 at 7:28 pm

    If the founders had intended to prohibit impeachment in an election year, they would have said so in the Constitution. They did not. And for good reason. If impeachment were prohibited in an election year, a president would have a free hand to cheat in the election. As Trump did.— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) January 30, 2020

  76. 76.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    January 30, 2020 at 7:28 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

     Collins and Murkowski

    Wanna make a bet on how those phonies will vote?

  77. 77.

    zhena gogolia

    January 30, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    No, I think we all know. But they gave me a tiny glimmer of hope when they asked that question.

  78. 78.

    zhena gogolia

    January 30, 2020 at 7:31 pm

    Totally OT, but I hope everyone is watching Howards End on PBS. It is one of the best adaptations I have ever seen (written by Kenneth Lonergan). The dialogue and acting are OVER THE TOP great. It’s the best acting I’ve seen from Matthew MacFadyen and Julia Ormond, and there’s someone I’ve never seen before named Joseph Quinn who is fantastic.

  79. 79.

    mad citizen

    January 30, 2020 at 7:32 pm

    @Jeffro: I had the same thought last night.  If witnesses are allowed, I think the game will be too plain (as if it isn’t already, etc.–we all know that) for the R Senators to acquit.  So they have one more night to sleep on it.  The vote for witnesses is IT tomorrow, we’ll know one way or the other.

     

    Pelosi and the Dems have rightfully put them into a lose-lose situation.  Remove trumpov or lose your reelection, you pick Senators.    Kind of what our nation has been in since 2016.

  80. 80.

    MomSense

    January 30, 2020 at 7:39 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I have such a crush on Matthew MacFayden.

  81. 81.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    January 30, 2020 at 7:40 pm

    @MomSense:

    From Wiki:

    She served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia from 2002 to 2006. Liu worked at the United States Department of Justice during the administration of President George W. Bush from 2006 to 2009. Her roles included deputy chief of staff in the National Security Division, counsel to the Deputy Attorney General, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division.

    Liu worked for the transition team of President-elect Donald Trump, and in 2017 became deputy general counsel at the United States Department of the Treasury. In June 2017, President Trump nominated Liu to become the next United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, which is the country’s largest U.S. Attorney’s office, with more than 300 prosecutors. Liu was confirmed by the Senate by voice vote in September 2017.

    I don’t know, does this Liu person have integrity? She worked for the Bush Admin from 2006 until 2009 and left when Obama was President and then came back to be on Trump’s transition team. From there she was appointed to various other positions:

    Liu has received numerous awards. She was named a White Collar Trailblazer by the National Law Journal in 2015, was named among the Best Lawyers Under 40 by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association in 2011, received a Rising Star Award from the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Washington D.C. in 2011, and received a Service Award from the National Association of Women Lawyers in 2005.

    This all seems legitimate as far as I can tell. One must wonder why someone supposedly professional and well-regarded would want to associate themselves with someone like Cheeto Benito

  82. 82.

    MomSense

    January 30, 2020 at 7:46 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    She has been replaced.

  83. 83.

    Rand Careaga

    January 30, 2020 at 7:51 pm

    Speaking as a fellow “Rand,” although I had the handle some years in advance of this clown, and was not named for an “objectivist” loon, I think he’s an arsewipe.

  84. 84.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    January 30, 2020 at 7:54 pm

    @MomSense:

    I know that. What I’m trying to get at is whether it will be any different with her gone; that she’s a political hack for joining this admin (and remaining) as well as leaving the federal government as soon as a Dem was going to be her ultimate boss

  85. 85.

    chopper

    January 30, 2020 at 7:54 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Anarcho-capitalist

    oh, sweet chicken-fried christ. (rubs bridge of nose)

  86. 86.

    zhena gogolia

    January 30, 2020 at 7:59 pm

    @MomSense:

    Are you watching Howards End? He’s incredible in it.

  87. 87.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 30, 2020 at 8:00 pm

    @satby:

    Just little reddit boys playing in their pcs.

    Oh, that’s what the kids call it these days.

  88. 88.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    January 30, 2020 at 8:01 pm

    Really don’t understand what Roberts is there for if he’s not going to enforce the rules, or keep people from telling known falsehoods. What a fucking empty robe. Seriously you could put a SCOTUS robe on a butternut squash and it would be more animated, attractive, and not as useless.

  89. 89.

    Ruviana

    January 30, 2020 at 8:09 pm

    @SFAW: Qanonsters are recommending drinking bleach to ward off coronavirus so a new opportunity may yet present itself.

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    January 30, 2020 at 8:10 pm

    Can we haz respite or otherwise less politically driven open thread?

  91. 91.

    Uncle Cosmo

    January 30, 2020 at 8:11 pm

    @NotMax: Wuss.

  92. 92.

    NotMax

    January 30, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo

    That’s a bit harsh. Believe it or not, am capable of having more than one tab available to savor at the same time.

  93. 93.

    zhena gogolia

    January 30, 2020 at 8:14 pm

    @NotMax:

    Adam Schiff isn’t getting any respite from trying to save the country.

  94. 94.

    Uncle Cosmo

    January 30, 2020 at 8:17 pm

    @Ruviana: If they survive that treatment, can we wean them onto a multimolar solution of potassium dichromate? Used (and used and re-used) that stuff in HS Advanced Science in the penultimate step of cleaning lab glassware. Some of the nastiest shit ever dreamt up by the gods of inorganic chemistry. We were told that a tiny drop on the finger would burn you to the bone before you felt the pain…

  95. 95.

    NotMax

    January 30, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    @zhena gogolia

    Wasn’t aware that B-J was controlling him.

    Sheesh. ;)

  96. 96.

    Searcher

    January 30, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    Color me surprised Rand Paul is suddenly terrified about the other hundred whistleblowers waiting in the wings and doing his damnedest to intimidate them into keeping their mouths shut.

  97. 97.

    debbie

    January 30, 2020 at 8:20 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I’ve heard a couple of people say that the House should continue to hold hearings and invite Bolton to testify. If nothing else, it would get the information out in the open.

  98. 98.

    zhena gogolia

    January 30, 2020 at 8:23 pm

    @debbie:

    He refused to testify in the House before, I don’t know why he would do it now. I don’t have much hope in him, TBH.

  99. 99.

    debbie

    January 30, 2020 at 8:23 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Wish you’d said this back when it started. /grumble/

  100. 100.

    zhena gogolia

    January 30, 2020 at 8:24 pm

    @NotMax:

    Didn’t you see that clip where he said, “I need to check my iphone to see if they’re discussing me on Balloon Juice”? It brought a halt to the whole proceeding for a while.

  101. 101.

    zhena gogolia

    January 30, 2020 at 8:25 pm

    @debbie:

    Well, I said the first night that it was good! It took me until the second episode to really realize how great it was.

  102. 102.

    MomSense

    January 30, 2020 at 8:25 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I am.  I’m a sucker for all things Masterpiece, but he has been a favorite of mine for a looooong time.

  103. 103.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 30, 2020 at 8:26 pm

    @NotMax:

    Wasn’t aware that B-J was controlling him.

    I thought it was the other way ’round?

    My god, I’m so confused.

  104. 104.

    Uncle Cosmo

    January 30, 2020 at 8:30 pm

    @NotMax: Sometimes when I think of the Jackaltariat joining battle with the evil sorcerers of the GOP, I flash on an image in the old National Lampoon, in which Gandalf has summoned to the final showdown the membership of the J. R. R. Tolkien Fan Club. Including one Pillsbury-doughboychik in celibate glasses & a FRODO LIVES sweatshirt, who looked, if memory serves, on the verge of requesting a respite thread.

    Rub some dirt on it & get back out there, you sumbidges! Do you wanna look at pix of pooties & woozles forever??

    //

  105. 105.

    NotMax

    January 30, 2020 at 8:31 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’m so confused

    Welcome to the club. Your day to clean the clubhouse is every third Monday.

    :)

  106. 106.

    FelonyGovt

    January 30, 2020 at 8:32 pm

    @Mnemosyne: My friend met Schiff last year. He is not interested in being President, told her it wasn’t for him. I don’t know how he’d feel about Speaker. I think my Rep Ted Lieu is on a leadership track but I don’t know if he has Nancy’s cat herding or vote counting skills.

  107. 107.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 30, 2020 at 8:36 pm

    “How would the verdict in this trial late rhetorical balance of power between the executive and legislative branches in the future?”– from a “bipartisan pair”. Did they say, does anyone know who it is? are they allowed to ask anonymous questions now?

  108. 108.

    West of the Rockies

    January 30, 2020 at 8:37 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    I understand arsenic works wonders on the virus, too.  Maybe someone could pop over to 4Chan to put out the word.*

     

    *Need I actually say I am joking darkly?

  109. 109.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 30, 2020 at 8:41 pm

    Manu Raju @ mkraju

    · 1h
    Key swing vote Sen. Lamar Alexander told me he’s going to announce his decision on witnesses TONIGHT, a decision that will make clear whether the Senate trial will come to a swift conclusion or if it will lead to a new phase over witnesses and documents.

    Is there time to place a bet? Cause I’d be very happy to lose a hundred bucks on this

  110. 110.

    Just Chuck

    January 30, 2020 at 8:49 pm

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: It’d make better oral arguments than Thomas, at that.

  111. 111.

    Leto

    January 30, 2020 at 8:57 pm

    @laura:

     

    Also, a driver blew through a stop light in front of Sac State and barely missed my spouse riding his bike just a few moments ago.

    JFC; I’m so happy your spouse is okay. Don’t need another Leto case around here. One’s plenty :) Seriously though, glad they’re okay.

  112. 112.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 30, 2020 at 9:00 pm

    In other news…

    Thomas Edsall@Edsall

    Nunes used political donations to buy $15k Celtics tickets, lavish dinners – ABC News – via

    @ABC

    I’m sure the Celtics part of it will go over big in CA

  113. 113.

    Baud

    January 30, 2020 at 9:01 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Worse than being on Putin’s payroll.

  114. 114.

    Gelfling 545

    January 30, 2020 at 9:01 pm

    @Mnemosyne:Or Attorney General Schiff.

     

    @Mnemosyne: A friend of my father’s insisted I read her work when I was 18, feeling it was essential for “young intellectuals”.  The man’s been dead about 35 years & I still haven’t forgiven him. He was one of the maybe 8 members of the conservative party in our town in the 60s.

  115. 115.

    MisterForkbeard

    January 30, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’d bet on it with you but I think we both believe Republicans/Lamar will put party above country and continue to be spineless weasels.

    I’m getting shades of Collins’ Kavanaugh behavior here. Run up your media profile immensely by hinting you’ll do the minimally correct thing, and then go tell liberals it’s all their fault and they need to be nicer to traitors and rapists.

  116. 116.

    Baud

    January 30, 2020 at 9:08 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: Good analogy.

  117. 117.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 30, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    not that I think it will make a damn bit of difference, but… good on the old man. I always thought he was better than the rest of them. So of course did Liz Taylor

    Sheryl Gay Stolberg@SherylNYT
    NEW: Former Senator John Warner, a Republican and elder statesman of Virginia politics, has issued a statement calling on fellow Republicans to follow “judicial norms” by “welcoming relevant witnesses and documents” in President Trump’s impeachment trial.

  118. 118.

    Gelfling 545

    January 30, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: So here I was

    trying to drink my little tot of Irish & I read “a robe on a butternut squash.” I am now wiping Jameson’s off my iPad & will probably always picture a black robed squash when I think of Roberts, thus leading to unseemly guffaws & hiccups.

  119. 119.

    J R in WV

    January 30, 2020 at 9:15 pm

    @SFAW:

     

    Maybe Callista would step out on him

    I wouldn’t touch Callista with YOUR finger!

  120. 120.

    brantl

    January 30, 2020 at 9:20 pm

    @Mallard Filmore: She thought those assholes were the heroes, not the bad guys.

  121. 121.

    J R in WV

    January 30, 2020 at 9:21 pm

    @laura:

    I was hit by a sports car while bike riding back in 1972. I was in the USN at the time, riding a shipmate’s bike to pick up our car because it was raining so hard. T-Boned in the left side, warped the bike seat around my thigh!

    I thought I was going to get over it, as I walked out of the ER, and was young and in good shape, but not so much.  Concussion, too. Third one, have had several since then.

    Now I’m hobbling around… but it was 45 odd years ago. At least I’m still mobile, and somewhat intelligent, still. Glad your spouse escaped this time !!

    Now I drive big SUVs and PU trucks, for the protection factor!

  122. 122.

    brantl

    January 30, 2020 at 9:25 pm

    @Mnemosyne: But she did love her some egotistic narcissists with messianic delusions.

  123. 123.

    J R in WV

    January 30, 2020 at 9:26 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    My PBS is all impeachment trial, all this evening… don’t know if that’s a good thing …

  124. 124.

    James E Powell

    January 30, 2020 at 9:34 pm

    I was in one of those situations tonight where I’m waiting to pay a bill and leave and FOX is on in the lobby and it’s Tucker Carlson going on and on about how the Democrats are stupid and evil and wrong and ridiculous. I can see how someone who only watches FOX would have a warped view of reality but I think a person has to have a warped personality in order to be able to watch FOX, especially Tucker Carlson.

  125. 125.

    MisterForkbeard

    January 30, 2020 at 9:34 pm

    @Baud: I remained hopeful during Kavanuagh’s confirmation that Collins would act like a minimally decent person. Never again.

    Seriously, it wouldnt have cost the Republciand anything to withdraw or suspend Kavanuagh and do either a real investigation or submit someone else. They didn’t, because it was more important to yell at liberals.

     

    I’m seeing the same thing here. :(

  126. 126.

    Darkrose

    January 30, 2020 at 9:35 pm

    @laura: I’m still recovering from being on the road over there today. People act like the stop lights on Fair Oaks and Howe are optional. Glad your husband is okay.

  127. 127.

    Ruckus

    January 30, 2020 at 9:35 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    That’s not actually a newbie. It is pretty predictable phrasing. And actually quite fitting for the rand père et fils.

    .

  128. 128.

    Baud

    January 30, 2020 at 9:37 pm

    @James E Powell:

    I think a person has to have a warped personality in order to be able to watch FOX, especially Tucker Carlson.

    Everyone who watches Fox has CNN on their cable too.   Fox viewers want to hate.

  129. 129.

    Rand Careaga

    January 30, 2020 at 9:50 pm

    Ya know, I owned the handle (not short for “Randall” or “Randolph”) for a decade and change before this asshole was whelped, and I was not named for an “objectivist” loonie.

  130. 130.

    Kay

    January 30, 2020 at 10:02 pm

    Rachel Scott
    @rachelvscott
    ·1h
    Sarah Sanders invited on stage at the Trump rally– apologizing to the president’s supporters — who she says have had to deal with “crazy liberal” Democrats running around the state.

    The Trump and Huckabee families are angry people other than them are still permitted political speech.

    10 years from now all GOP candidates will be either a Trump or a Huckabee.

  131. 131.

    Kent

    January 30, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    @debbie:

    @zhena gogolia:

    I’ve heard a couple of people say that the House should continue to hold hearings and invite Bolton to testify. If nothing else, it would get the information out in the open.

    They just need to time it properly with his book release and he will show.

  132. 132.

    Jeffro

    January 30, 2020 at 10:09 pm

    Schiff just conducting a master class right now

  133. 133.

    Kay

    January 30, 2020 at 10:12 pm

    I think Rand Paul probably outed the whistleblower because Rand Paul complaining about people benefiting from their father’s political career hits a little too close to home.

    Whistleblower had to be sacrificed. Too much talk about the mediocre sons of famous fathers going on in the fake trial.

  134. 134.

    laura

    January 30, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    @Duane: he rides everywhere. Short and long distances, follows every law, wears safety equipment and identification, plans travel around high volume traffic and still shares a road with vehicles.

  135. 135.

    Mai naem mobile

    January 30, 2020 at 10:22 pm

    How do these Trumpov lawyers look themselves in the mirror. The Philbin guy is a Yale/Harvard/Cambridge graduate. Seriously WTF. He was apparently praised by Comey for his actions during the Ashcroft in ICU after surgery incident and Alberto Gonzales trying to bully the sick Ashcroft into signing off on natsec civil rights stuff. I can’t even. I think the Dems need to be repeating the big picture stuff instead of getting caught in the weeds. Nobody who’s innocent acts like Trumpov. Nobody.

  136. 136.

    laura

    January 30, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    Let’s hope for the least worst outcome of the Senate trial and focus on turning out the vote in every precinct, support voting rights and access to the polls and never give up.

  137. 137.

    Kent

    January 30, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    @Mai naem mobile: Same way they do when they represent Jeffrey Dahmer or Bernie Madoff.  Everyone deserves a defense, doncha know?

    The problem isn’t the defense.  They are gonna lawyer.  That’s what they do. What’s really on trial is the Senate.  And they aren’t doing so well  World’s Greatest Deliberative Body my ass.

  138. 138.

    Mai naem mobile

    January 30, 2020 at 10:28 pm

    Rand Paul is obviously kompromised by kompromat. I remember reading somewhere that the Ron Paul Revolution crap was a massive grifting operation and I believe Rand Paul’s BIL got into some trouble over that.  My guess is that that is what the kompromat is based on. I also think Ted Cruz is becoming increasing like a Trimpov cultist which makes me think he’s kompromised as well. BTW, anybody notice how comfortable John Robert’s seems to be calling out names of the Southern Republican senators. It’s not like  he’s  from the South. He’s completely from the northeast.  It’s got to be because those are the people he hangs out with outside of work.

  139. 139.

    Kent

    January 30, 2020 at 10:28 pm

    @Kay: The Trump and Huckabee families are angry people other than them are still permitted political speech.

    10 years from now all GOP candidates will be either a Trump or a Huckabee.

    Don’t forget the Louie Gohmerts of the party.  We gotta make room for sheer breathtakingly stupid.  There will always be plenty of them as GOP voters are attracted to the stupid like flies on shit.  Rick Perry and Sara Palin fall into that category. Or maybe multiple categories.

  140. 140.

    Kay

    January 30, 2020 at 10:43 pm

    @Kent:

    Right. Incredible as it is, the quality will go down still further, because these are actually the SECOND generation – so even less merit than the first, and the first were pretty fucking bad and also the parents of these people.

    These are just the ones we know about too. God knows how many there are, what with marrying and name changes and such. I keep wanting someone to list them. I think the public would be shocked at the extent of the nepotism.  My own House representative inherited the seat from his father.

  141. 141.

    Duane

    January 30, 2020 at 10:48 pm

    @laura: I hope my comment  didn’t seem critical of your husband. Certainly he’s not responsible for bad driving. Glad he’s safe and sound, and is a responsible rider.

  142. 142.

    debbie

    January 30, 2020 at 10:50 pm

    I can’t link on my iPad, but there’s more than a few people on Twitter suggesting that Adam Schiff be nominated for a Profile in Courage Award. You can nominate him at the JFK Library’s website and it only takes a second or two. Aside from the fact he truly deserves it, it would be one more thing that Trump would not win! Share widely!

  143. 143.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 30, 2020 at 10:53 pm

    I will vote in support of the motion to allow witnesses and documents to be subpoenaed. My full statement: https://t.co/VuhZv6CO5e pic.twitter.com/LhQlnvPaoc

    — Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) January 31, 2020

  144. 144.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 30, 2020 at 10:54 pm

    Murkowski: “I am going to go reflect on what I have heard, re-read my notes and decide whether I need to hear more.”

    — Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 31, 2020

  145. 145.

    Kay

    January 30, 2020 at 10:56 pm

    @Mai naem mobile:

    They just want to remain in power. That’s all they care about. They’re probably lying to themselves that after Trump they’ll “go back” to being decent people, but of course they won’t.

    One of the GOP congresspeople said tonight “this will be GOOD for the separation of powers”- this is what they tell themselves- that this is just one thing they had to do to remain in power and now that they have they can tell him “no” next time. But of course they can’t. If they would do this for him he owns them, and he knows it. They can’t refuse him anything.

  146. 146.

    Kay

    January 30, 2020 at 10:56 pm

    @Mai naem mobile:

    They just want to remain in power. That’s all they care about. They’re probably lying to themselves that after Trump they’ll “go back” to being decent people, but of course they won’t.

    One of the GOP congresspeople said tonight “this will be GOOD for the separation of powers”- this is what they tell themselves- that this is just one thing they had to do to remain in power and now that they have they can tell him “no” next time. But of course they can’t. If they would do this for him he owns them, and he knows it. They can’t refuse him anything.

  147. 147.

    zhena gogolia

    January 30, 2020 at 10:57 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    What I worry is that Mitch has given her and Lisa and Mitt permission to seem courageous because it still won’t be enough.

    And of course it doesn’t mean she won’t vote to acquit.

    But I have to go to bed! I’ll find out all the bad news in the morning.

  148. 148.

    Searcher

    January 30, 2020 at 10:57 pm

    @FelonyGovt: I think the secret sauce is that the Speaker (or the Senate majority leader, for that matter), besides herding cats, needs to be able to take shit while providing cover for their majority until they reach a consensus behind the scenes.

    Pelosi lets the press — and blogosphere — tear her down constantly, just DGAF, until it’s time for her to move.

  149. 149.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 30, 2020 at 10:59 pm

    Remember. It's possible McConnell is orchestrating this. Collins may be voting for witnesses, knowing that McConnell has the votes to block witnesses (even if only with a tie). Thus, she gets to do what helps her reelection prospects. https://t.co/L4tgZZC0Gf

    — David Corn (@DavidCornDC) January 31, 2020

  150. 150.

    MisterForkbeard

    January 30, 2020 at 10:59 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Murkowski is doing the “Let’s see who else says they’re voting before I open my trap” dance.

    If she doesn’t know by now that the witnesses (at the VERY least, Bolton, for whom new information has come out during the trial) then she’s just screwing around.

    @Cheryl Rofer: Yep, this.

  151. 151.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 30, 2020 at 11:00 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    LOL. First comment on Twitter: “Which means the GOP still has enough votes to not call witnesses.”

  152. 152.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 30, 2020 at 11:01 pm

    @zhena gogolia:  @Cheryl Rofer: Sheldon Whitehouse, who is pulling very few punches on MSNBC right now, referred to it as a hall pass. Susan gets to vote her conscious as long as it doesn’t affect the outcome.

  153. 153.

    Kay

    January 30, 2020 at 11:01 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    It pisses me off a little that they can protect her and allow her to deviate from the cult leader.

    I would prefer it if she follows the rest and protects Dear Leader. Makes it easier to beat her. She shouldn’t be insulated from accountability anymore. She’s a Trump Republican. She oughta wear that.

  154. 154.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 30, 2020 at 11:02 pm

    BREAKING: Alexander is a NO https://t.co/XTPl6I08lw

    — Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 31, 2020

  155. 155.

    Jeffro

    January 30, 2020 at 11:02 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: yeah but now the shoe will be on the other foot – this is a “bipartisan” vote for witnesses, shot down by a partisan vote for no witnesses to acquit

  156. 156.

    MisterForkbeard

    January 30, 2020 at 11:03 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Her “conscience”. Sigh.

    It’s not even that. She doesn’t care. If she did, she would have made noise about it before now. This is just McConnell telling her she’s allowed to pretend to have a conscience.

  157. 157.

    MobiusKlein

    January 30, 2020 at 11:03 pm

    What the fuck is the Biden Rule?  Did somebody amend the Constitution while I wasn’t looking, again?

  158. 158.

    Searcher

    January 30, 2020 at 11:04 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: “conscience”.  And no, I’m not using scare quotes to correct the spelling.

  159. 159.

    MisterForkbeard

    January 30, 2020 at 11:06 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: This is the other thing I was worried about. They’ll say he did it so they don’t need any more evidence, and that lets the rest of the republicans off the hook in terms of letting people know what happened.

    Another way to have their cake and eat it too.

     

    ETA: Nevermind! It’s even worse than that. “Trump totally did the thing, but I’m going to vote to acquit anyway”

  160. 160.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 30, 2020 at 11:06 pm

    ?BREAKING: @MittRomney “I’d like to hear from Mr. Bolton.”

    2 down, 2 to go

    — Megan Mineiro (@MMineiro_CNS) January 31, 2020

  161. 161.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 30, 2020 at 11:07 pm

    The Republican dance of the seven veils

  162. 162.

    debbie

    January 30, 2020 at 11:08 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Does this not mean that he will vote to convict?

  163. 163.

    Kay

    January 30, 2020 at 11:08 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Of course it’s a hall pass. In a way it’s worse- more humiliating for her. She can’t even make her own decision to that extent. She’s not a genuine Trump supporter OR a genuine dissenter. She’s whatever they tell her she’s allowed to be.

  164. 164.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 30, 2020 at 11:08 pm

    I’ve enjoyed living 64 years in a constitutional democracy. Fun while it lasted.

    — Stephen Walt (@stephenWalt) January 31, 2020

  165. 165.

    MisterForkbeard

    January 30, 2020 at 11:10 pm

    @debbie: He says he won’t vote to acquit. Says “Obstruction of Congress” is fake and not a thing, and that while Trump totally did the Ukraine thing he thinks it’s just ‘inappropriate’ and not something Trump can be punished for short of the people voting him out.

    So basically, “I agree that Trump did the thing, but I’ve decided to not punish him in any way for this thing and let him skate because I’m so principled”

  166. 166.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 30, 2020 at 11:10 pm

    People on the right sneered when I said that Susan Collins, of all people, was the last straw for me as a Republican. But look at what just happened: Collins voted for more evidence once she knew she'd have cover from Alexander. No courage. None.

    — Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 31, 2020

  167. 167.

    debbie

    January 30, 2020 at 11:11 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I didn’t listen to every minute of the hearings, but I didn’t hear anyone bring up this very important point.

  168. 168.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 30, 2020 at 11:12 pm

    Rachel Maddow points out Rob Portman has not made an announcement, “Not that I’d bet the farm on Rob Portman…”

    Portman’s former Senate colleague Claire McCaskill: “Oh my god! No”

  169. 169.

    Kay

    January 30, 2020 at 11:16 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    She’s always been a fraud though. The best thing about Trump is a lot of phony, unearned “reputations” are collapsing. About time.

    Maybe you have to have one of these every 100 years or so. It’s a test. The vast majority of them are failing, which means they shouldn’t have had such prestigious powerful jobs anyway.

  170. 170.

    patrick II

    January 30, 2020 at 11:17 pm

    @Mai naem mobile:

    I think  Roberts is  from NW Indiana.

  171. 171.

    Scott Alloway

    January 30, 2020 at 11:17 pm

    @James E Powell: I have no problem changing the channel, Don’t need a remote. I just walk up and do it. The set buttons worked. Have done this in an auto dealership, a hospital, a doctor’s office.

  172. 172.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 30, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    @Kay:

    She’s always been a fraud though. The best thing about Trump is a lot of phony, unearned “reputations” are collapsing. About time.

    I keep thinking back to Michelle Obama’s speech at the ’16 convention– a beautiful speech which should have ended the night but a certain arrogant old fuck demanded to close the first night of the convention with his shouting– “the Presidency does not change who you are, it reveals who you are.” That’s been true of a lot more people than trump.

  173. 173.

    Kay

    January 30, 2020 at 11:38 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I was never a “burn it all down” person- it’s not my temperament and I don’t like surprises, but now that it’s happening I hope some good can come from it. We had weak institutions and people. We didn’t know how weak they were but now we do and we have to face it and try to fix it. Not everyone and everything is failing. The test won’t just show us who and what failed, it’ll show us who and what passed. That’s what you build on.

  174. 174.

    Mai naem mobile

    January 30, 2020 at 11:45 pm

    I get why the Dems wanted witnesses but I am not exactly sure what the Repubs gain by not having witnesses. The lawsuits continue to the SC and may end up being timed even worse for them.  The Bolton stuff will come out.  There’s a tweet out saying Jennifer Williams has resigned from her position with Pence and handed over info to the House Intel Committee on a phone call  between Pence and Zelensky. I don’t think you resign from a job if you handed over something positive to an oversight committee. I know Trumpov is going to shout it everywhere about being exonerated but this shit is going  to keep on drip dripping.  The Senate GOP is going to look moronic. I guess more of everything Trump touches turns to shit.

  175. 175.

    Mai naem mobile

    January 30, 2020 at 11:48 pm

    @patrick II: I honestly thought he was a DC boy.i guess I am confusing him with Kavanaugh .

  176. 176.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 30, 2020 at 11:51 pm

    @Mai naem mobile:

    There’s a tweet out saying Jennifer Williams has resigned from her position with Pence and handed over info to the House Intel Committee on a phone call  between Pence and Zelensky.

    Wow.

  177. 177.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 31, 2020 at 12:07 am

    @Kay: They just want to remain in power. That’s all they care about. They’re probably lying to themselves that after Trump they’ll “go back” to being decent people, but of course they won’t.

    Considering the ages of the people involved a lot of them will be dead by that point.

  178. 178.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 31, 2020 at 12:13 am

    @Mai naem mobile: I know Trumpov is going to shout it everywhere about being exonerated but this shit is going to keep on drip dripping. The Senate GOP is going to look moronic. I guess more of everything Trump touches turns to shit.

    My theory is the real reason the Democrats did the Impeachment was to rub into the GOP voters collective faces how corrupt the Republicans are.  And of course that party is just stating as you just pointed out. A small percentage will bail like John Cole but a lot more of them will be disillusioned and withdraw from politics.

    My Wingnut uncle was just in town and he refused to talk about the Impeachment, whined about how Californians are bullies and babbled about climate denial. He has the gout because doctors don’t know anything.

    Politics by attrition.

  179. 179.

    dww44

    January 31, 2020 at 8:03 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: 
    What worries me is that so many Trump supporters are so
    willfully blind, so partisan, that they have convinced themselves, as one relative recently wrote in an email back and forth exchange, that they’re going to re-elect Trump and put all conservatives on the courts. In another he told another relative that he thinks ALL democrats are evil and hate the country.”

    These are not unknowing and unthinking people. They have been listening to conservative media for 3 decades (they are not young;but they aren’t old old). Everywhere around me I’ve heard friends take up for Trump and say/imply that the country isn’t giving him a chance. The people who believe this are normal nice folks, even generous, in every other aspect of their lives.
    This is what makes me fearful. I don’t know how/when/what changes the trajectory of our country. And, I’m not a defeatist but this trial shouts out loud that the fix is in.

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