Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

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

T R E 4 5 O N

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Come on, man.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

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

“Squeaker” McCarthy

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

This blog will pay for itself.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment / Impeachment Trial – February 3, 2020

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  2. 2.

    schrodingers_cat

    This will not be forgotten

    In the words of the poet Amir Aziz

    सब याद रखा जायेगा
    सब कुछ याद रखा किया जायेगा

    Everything will be remembered

    Each and everything will be remembered

  4. 4.

    Probably Not an Asshole mistermix

    “Letter from the par 4 7th green at Mar-A-Lago” doesn’t quite have the same ring as “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”, but I’m sure Starr is making a great argument.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Everything will be remembered

    Each and everything will be remembered

    I hope so.  I really cannot bear to watch the trial, and certainly not the SOTU.  I always hoped a few Republicans would find their spines.

    But no.  It’s Democrats “failing” again.  (Thanks, BBC.  That’s exactly how they framed it.)

    We live in interesting times, headed for fascinating times.  Proud to be a Democrat, though.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    I am apparently out of sync with what’s happening in the hearings today.  Have we already done the amendments thing that was talked about at the end of last week?  Or do those come after the closing arguments?

    @germy: I can’t wait to see that.

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia:   Ah.  Jennifer Rubin.  Will do.

    I think we should send her flowers.  She will no doubt aggravate us in the future.  But she’s been solid on a lot of this.  I heart her, and ombudsman Margaret Sullivan, and treasure Alexandra Petri …

    Reading it now.

  10. 10.

    germy

    @WaterGirl:

    Lin-Manuel Miranda

    @Lin_Manuel

    Disney presents: Hamilton. With The Original Broadway Cast. Filmed onstage at The Richard Rodgers Theatre. In A Theater Near You. October 15, 2021. #Hamilfilm

  12. 12.

    Ohio Mom

    I’m not watching, this caught my eye:

    “Kenneth Starr is speaking of Martin Luther King.”

    This boggles my mind and nauseates me.

    I don’t have a morbid enough imagination to begin to fathom what nonsense Starr is spinning.

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: Do we have to start quoting this in every thread? :-)

    You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of current reality, whatever they might be.

    I think it would probably help me if we did!

  14. 14.

    zhena gogolia

    @Ohio Mom:

    I can’t watch one second of the passel of liars the Republicans are putting forward. But I try to catch our people when I can. They are magnificent.

  15. 15.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia:   It’s short, so I am putting Jennifer Rubin’s whole article up, for those facing a WaPost paywall.  Which is hardly fair use (my bad), but wanted more jackals to see it.  And thank you for spotlighting it.

    Also, may history judge these courageous Democrats (and spineless GOP) way more quickly than we expect.  Maybe the conventional wisdom will turn rapidly (as for the tax cut benefitting the wealthy, passed without a single Democratic vote).

    Jennifer Rubin:  Distinguished Pols of the week:  It Depends on the meaning of “winning” 

    We always knew that two-thirds of the Senate was not going to vote to remove President Trump. However, if at the onset of the president’s impeachment trial, you had told me that the House managers would methodically prove to the satisfaction of any rational human being that Trump extorted a foreign government to announce baseless allegations against a political rival; would be able to tease out that the Trumpian Republican Party is now devoted to the notion that the president can do no wrong (at least no impeachable wrong) in pursuit of reelection; would reveal the utter spinelessness of Republican senators as accomplices to a coverup; and even manage to prove the proceedings not only illegitimate but not even a “trial” in everyday parlance, I would have said that was asking too much.

    Had you told me the House managers would reveal that White House Counsel Pat Cipollone was, according to former national security adviser John Bolton, physically present when Trump issued his corrupt orders and, therefore, perpetrated a fraud on the Senate and committed a grievous professional breach of ethics, I would have doubted it.

    Had you told me the House managers could present damning evidence of the involvement of acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, thoroughly debunked the Crowdstrike conspiracy, removed any doubt that former vice president Joe Biden had acted in the national interest in pressuring Ukraine to fire a corrupt prosecutor and made perfectly clear that Biden was the 2020 candidate Trump fears the most, I (and likely, Biden) wouldn’t have believed it.

    Along the way, House managers stripped the bark off phony Republican hawks who could find nothing wrong with extorting an ally in a hot war with Russia, decapitated “constitutional conservatives” who have become defenders of autocracy and showed off some of their brightest stars including Democratic Reps. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), Jason Crow (Colo.), Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) and Val Demings (Fla.).

    History will treat them all well and take note that when truth and constitutional government were on the line they did their jobs in exemplary fashion. That is “winning” by any legitimate measure. And for that we can say, well done.

  17. 17.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl:

    I’m astounded at how little attention people are paying to this. Why aren’t people out in the streets? (I say as I sit at my desk.)

  19. 19.

    trollhattan

    @Elizabelle:

    Jeez, it seems the Ruben conversion may actually stick. She’s been very good at rightly pointing out Republican morality and leadership collapse, but I’ve not seen her spotlight virtuous and patriotic Democrats before.

    Welcome to this side, Jen, we have cookies too so help yourself.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: My hairdresser and I do not discuss politics, but I asked her last week if people are talking about the impeachment, because I was curious about whether regular people are paying attention.

    She said she (personally) never talks politics with her clients, but she did say that it was clear to her – maybe other people there do talk with their clients? – that regular people are paying attention.

    I hope she’s right.

  22. 22.

    MattF

    @trollhattan: She’s praised individual Democrats (including Pelosi) for standing up to Trump in an effective way. Rarely, if ever, has much to say about policy any more– but that’s OK with me.

  23. 23.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl:

    My trainer said some of her clients are “losing it” (in the same way we are), but she has a pretty liberal clientele for the most part.

  24. 24.

    Elizabelle

    @MattF:   WRT Susan Collins:  I think her furrowed brow vote for witnesses (once it was sure there were not enough votes to assure passage) was because she’s got a powerful challenger.

    Ms. Furrowed Brow has a real fight ahead.

    Also, WRT people from Maine:  I am informed that horror author Stephen King completely deleted his Facebook profile.  Off Zuckerfuck’s platform for good.

    He decries Facebook’s allowing lies and propaganda.

    He will stick with Twitter, which has taken a stand against the lying and trolling and disinformation (that Zuckerfuck apparently finds too profitable to forbid).

  25. 25.

    zhena gogolia

    Just as I have come to adore Schiff, Jeffries, Lofgren, Crow, and Demings, I have come to LOATHE Cipollone, Philbin and Sekulow with the fire of a thousand suns.

  27. 27.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    OT but active shooter in a Texas A&M dorm. At least 2 dead, say preliminary reports

     

    UPDATE:”A&M-Commerce UPD is actively investigating three gunshot victims in Pride Rock Residence Hall on the A&M-Commerce campus. There have been 2 confirmed deaths. The 3rd victim has been taken to the hospital for treatment. UPD has stationed officers throughout the campus…”— Dr. Ashanka Kumari (@LitaStarr) February 3, 2020

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: I agree about all of them but Lofgren.  I don’t have the patience to watch/listen to her.  Apparently she doesn’t make her points quickly enough for me?  I don’t know exactly why I react that way, but i don’t have infinite time, so I fast forward through hers and the Rs so I have more time for the rest.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    @Ohio Mom:

    “Kenneth Starr is speaking of Martin Luther King.”

    This boggles my mind and nauseates me.

    Same idea as with that Trump commercial last night.  It’s a thing they do.

  31. 31.

    A Ghost To Most

    Suppose McConnell has driven everything towards the vote, with the intention of keeping Mushmelon off the scent, then tells his folks to cut the GOP’s boat anchor to save his tribe?

    Yea, I don’t believe it either.

  34. 34.

    zhena gogolia

    Of course during the 20 minutes when I could watch some of it, it’s been all evil Republicans the whole time.

  36. 36.

    WaterGirl

    I have the teeniest, tiniest hope that somewhere in the senate is one Republican who will not be able to ignore all the evidence and sell our democracy down the river, and is smart enough to keep totally mum about the decision until it’s time to vote, at which point it will be a fate accompli.

    Is there any reason that a whole bunch of Rs (who may have the tiniest bit of a conscience) cannot abstain from voting or vote PRESENT or however that works, so that Trump is found guilty, but they do not have to be on the record as voting against the president?

  39. 39.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl:

    If there were any ANY Republicans of integrity, we’d be hearing witnesses this week.

    The only one who might possibly vote to convict is Romney, but I wouldn’t hold my breath, and it wouldn’t matter anyway.

  40. 40.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’m assuming as good internet political junkies you’ve all seen the bombshell poll revealing that (hold on to your wigs and keys) twitter Democrats are to left of the Democrats as a party. But this tidbit I think does say so much about the extremely on-line:

    Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias
    Among registered voters: Biden winning non-tweeters, Bernie winning tweeters. Bernie has a big edge with people who aren’t registered to vote regardless of twitter status.

  42. 42.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Isn’t Texas one of the states that allows students to keep their guns in their dorm room?

    And I’m going to call it now: I will bet that it was a guy who went to kill his ex-girlfriend and decided to shoot anyone who tried to get in his way.

  45. 45.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT For over month women of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi have held an outdoor sit-in protest. BJP has tried to disrupt the protests, in many way including sending two gunmen to fire rounds to create panic. BJP is getting more and desperate as polling day for the Delhi assembly elections approaches (this Saturday). So today a Sikh farmers group from Punjab decided to join the sit-in.

    ETA: According to opinion polls, AAP is favored to retain the majority in Delhi.

  47. 47.

    Chyron HR

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Anyone else remember when Bernie’s deranged ass thoroughly reasonable and well-informed supporters claimed that the New York primary was rigged because they didn’t bother registering to vote in it?

  49. 49.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The Democratic Party has to accommodate every non-cray constituency these days, from the self-described “conservatives” who somehow didn’t get roped into the Trump cult to unabashed Marxists. It’s just not sustainable.

    The other day a commenter said we either have to render the Republican Party irrelevant or become irrelevant ourselves (paraphrasing). Maybe that’s true.

  50. 50.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    Where is Nadler?  Was it my imagination or did he usurp Schiff’s closing statement on Friday?

  51. 51.

    zhena gogolia

    @HalfAssedHomesteader:

    His wife just got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, so he hasn’t been as prominent as we expected. I think Schiff let him come in at the end as a kind of honor or something.

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL:   It was hard to even find the article about the 2 gun deaths at Texas A&M.  (Incidentally, in Commerce, TX — not the main campus.)

    Had to specifically google for it.  Not breaking news.  Same old, same old.  (Of course, today does have a lot going on.  Impeachment, coronavirus, Super Bowl, Shakira …)

  55. 55.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: I look at what is happening in India and curiously enough it gives me hope. If they can stand up to a government that throw peaceful protesters into custody, encourages people to shoot at protestors, has killed more than 30 people in the last month. We can stand up to the Rs.

    Those religious Sikh men in their blue turbans and flowing beards standing with their Muslim sisters protesting the Hindu fascists gives me hope.

    Jo Bole so nihaal

    Sat Sri Akal

    (If I were Buttigieg I would claim to know Punjabi)

  56. 56.

    bemused senior

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I lived in Commerce as a young teenager, when the college was East Texas State College. My dad was stationed there running the Air Force ROTC detachment. Still segregated at the time, and RWNJ prolific. Many stories about my liberal FDR Dem dad. I now have to go find out what motivated the shooter.

  57. 57.

    MazeDancer

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Bernie winning tweeters.

    Not on my feed, thank heavens. Where Bernie is loathed at a Trumpian level.

    Lots of women on my feed. All ages, all nationalities, races, and religions. All despise Bernie.

    As do the men. That is the men who are real people, not journalists.

  58. 58.

    Ruckus

    @Ohio Mom:

    For your mental health, you don’t want to know.

    But it brings up a valid question.

    Is every fucking republican, up to the top of their pointy little heads, just 100% full of shit? They spew it in every direction every time their mouths are open the slightest bit. It’s like they have diarrhea and their mouths are directly connected to their asses. Of course they may be connected to someone’s ass. Remora politicians – ass sucking morons….

  59. 59.

    MattF

    @Betty Cracker: I don’t think Dems have the party (or media) machinery to purge and discipline wayward members. I guess we could look to Republicans in order to see how it’s done… but that just doesn’t seem to me  to be such a great idea.

  68. 68.

    Jamie

    @delk: Man, I’ve tried to make a habit of not wishing ill on bad people or celebrating when bad things happen to them, but the Trump Administration has broken my resolve…

  70. 70.

    Mo MacArbie

    @Chyron HR: I remember that, and I was of two minds about it. First, of course, it was horseshit. Failing to give his supporters crucial information to be able to vote for him was a failure of his campaign. Then cynically pulling out a number of people denied the vote and sliding 100% of them into his column to declare victory if not for Hillary rigging it was utter Berniemath crap.

    On the other hand, everything about voting in New York is fucked, and any argument against it is a good one.

  72. 72.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT respite

    It is Waheeda Rahman’s 82 birthday.

    From Pyaasa 

    Great actor and an incredible dancer. Gurudutt’s muse, she is in Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam (Boss, Wife and Slave), Pyaasa (Parched), and Kagaz ke phool (Paper flowers). Also Gurudutt’s film noir for Navketan, CID.

  73. 73.

    laura

    @delk: Delk, thank you for this update. Best news I’ve heard all dreary day. I hope that he gets the kind of care and attention he has deserved/earned. Also, Professional panty sniffer Ken Starr needs to keep Dr. King’s name out of his vile filty mouth.

  76. 76.

    opiejeanne

    @CaseyL: I think that’s what happens with lung cancer, but he’ll probably be so full of hillbilly heroin that he won’t feel much.

  77. 77.

    Betty Cracker

    @MattF: I’ve been thinking about this a lot, but I haven’t quite figured it out yet. I agree with you that it’s not a good idea to purge and discipline party members like Republicans do. But on the other hand, that poll found that nearly 10% of Democrats/Dem leaners describe themselves as “conservative” or “very conservative,” and I suspect the party is home to a lot more people who don’t think of themselves as conservatives despite being “conservatives” in the classical sense.

    The poll doesn’t say, but I’d be gobsmacked if there were a similar number of Republicans who call themselves “liberal” or “very liberal.” There used to be, but they’ve been extinct for ages.

    It’s not the Democratic Party’s fault that the Republican Party has collapsed as an institution that wants to win a majority of voters rather than relying on gerrymandering, voter suppression, cheating and structural advantages and is also uninterested in civic virtue once in office. But here we are.

    This collapse changed BOTH parties, shrinking one tent and expanding the other, which sounds great in theory, but not when it expands to an unsustainable degree that creates the kind of schisms that put the whole project in mortal peril. But again, here we are. Something’s gotta give.

  78. 78.

    sdhays

    @laura: He’s a professional rapist protector. Just the other day I heard the jowls of wisdom (Mark Shields) refer to Starr’s rape coverup and rapist protection scandal as an “athletic controversy” (or some other absurd euphemism). I almost gagged.

  80. 80.

    Llelldorin

    @zhena gogolia:

    Because you have to want to pay attention to this. This isn’t like Vietnam, which would haul you or your sons off to war even if you preferred to ignore it—for the moment, if you don’t pay attention, nothing appears to be very wrong.

    Eventually, if we stay on this path, that won’t be true—eventually misrule comes home to roost. For now, the best we can do is keep pushing and pointing out the insanity of this path.

  81. 81.

    A Ghost To Most

    @zhena gogolia: Agreed, as stated. Also as stated previously, the mutton busting portion of this rodeo is over.

    This ant worries about all the grasshoppers.

  82. 82.

    Mnemosyne

    @Betty Cracker:

    The split is basically white supremacy vs inclusion. Until/unless that gets resolved, we’re going to be having a whole lot of fights about other policies.

    I think it’s healthy to have a business party and a workers’ party figuring out policies that work for both groups, but we can’t have that as long as open white supremacy is the dividing line.

  84. 84.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Morning Consult @MorningConsult
    NEW NATIONAL 2020 POLL:
    Biden: 28% (-1)
    Sanders: 24% (+1)
    Bloomberg: 14% (+2)
    Warren: 14%
    Buttigieg: 6% (-1)
    Yang: 4% (-1)
    Klobuchar: 3%
    Steyer: 3%
    Gabbard: 2% (+1)

    The disparity between these numbers and the Iowa numbers is… not encouraging to me.

  85. 85.

    TomatoQueen

    @delk: My full-throated cheer is checked by somebody with a prim mouth who says things like “Never say hate,”. May he receive what he deserves.

  86. 86.

    TriassicSands

    @trollhattan:

    Welcome to this side, Jen, we have cookies too so help yourself.

    Careful. Jen supported the GOP long after it became thoroughly corrupt. She was still a Republican when Mitch McConnell was destroying the Senate.

    She hates Trump (hell, his wife probably hates Trump) but that does not make her a Democrat or even a friend. At best, she’s a temporary ally. Watch your back.

  89. 89.

    kabiddle

    The giant orange turnip has had his say. A progressive voice today is most helpful. Go out and vote!

  96. 96.

    Bruce K

    Gods above forgive me, but I cannot summon one iota of sympathy for Rush Limbaugh. He helped deliver America to the neo-fascists ruling it now, and in doing so, condemned innocents to death. He exulted in the pain and misery of others, and for that, I cannot forgive him.

  98. 98.

    Geminid

    Rachel Bittecofer’s polling outfit,(Wason Center) at Christopher Newport University), polled Virginians on a number of issues after last November’s election. A couple of you cited the high numbers favoring gun safety measures. Something that struck me was that when they asked respondents to describe their own ideology, 7% said very liberal, 13% said liberal, and 23% said moderate, leaning liberal.

  99. 99.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    Manchin is speaking on the floor.  Sounds to me like Manchin will vote to acquit “to heal the nation”.  Fvcker.

  100. 100.

    joel hanes

    @Chyron HR:

    I remember that at the 2016 Nevada Democratic caucus, some of the Sanders delegates never showed up at all, and over sixty of the ones who did show up had never bothered to register as Democrats.   Yet they were aggrieved when they did not prevail.

  103. 103.

    debbie

    @WaterGirl:

    I thought she was great. Her approach was calm and Warren-like: a good mother patiently explaining to small, recalcitrant children that they are very huge assholes.

  105. 105.

    J R in WV

     

    @zhena gogolia:

     

    Wow, I just managed to watch Schiff’s speech. In tears.

    Congressman Schiff is a great speaker, perhaps the best since Obama. Up there with John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.  Because he speaks from his heart. And for the nation!

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