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You are here: Home / Open Threads / I’m Beginning to Think This McCarthy Guy Isn’t Too Smart

I’m Beginning to Think This McCarthy Guy Isn’t Too Smart

by @heymistermix.com|  February 3, 20219:04 pm| 133 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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The House Republican Caucus just voted to keep Liz Cheney as their chair, after a good number of them gave Marjorie Tayler Greene a standing O. This happened after Kevin McCarthy said bad things about Greene but isn’t going to do a fucking thing. This will force a vote in the House to determine if they’ll strip her of her committee assignments.

I get that there’s probably nothing that matters to your average Trumpy Republican voter except owning the libs. But even if you keep most of them in the dark and covered in shit by watching Fox News, it’s gonna be a real interesting question when local media asks their Member of Congress why having someone who denied that Sandy Hook (and I believe, Parkland) happened should be on the Education Committee. Sandy Hook troofing isn’t a “space lasers” or “pedophiles at a pizza shop” goofy conspiracy theory. It’s extremely hurtful to parents of real, dead children, and I think it’s pretty toxic when people who don’t follow politics and don’t worship Trump hear about it.

I guess the theory of the case is these MoCs will just live in a bubble forever and never have to answer for any vote, which is fine if you’re in a R+14 district like McCarthy (or a R+27 district like Greene). But if you’re in a tough district, you’re either gonna have to answer for your vote against Greene to your MAGAt primary challenger, or you’re going answer for the vote for Greene to any journalist or civic organization to the left of the Proud Boys.

McCarthy should have just taken the hit and removed her from committees, just like they did to Steve King. But he’s apparently too stupid and/or gutless to do that.

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Reader Interactions

133Comments

  1. 1.

    NotMax

    February 3, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    Another one in line to borrow Collins’ furrowed brow appliques.

  2. 2.

    Roger Moore

    February 3, 2021 at 9:13 pm

    McCarthy is a Republican in the age of Trump. You can assume he’s stupid and gutless until he proves otherwise.

  3. 3.

    Starboard Tack

    February 3, 2021 at 9:13 pm

    @NotMax:

    I think she uses a few drops of super glue. Lasts longer.

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 3, 2021 at 9:14 pm

    it’s light years too early to say much of anything about 2022, but it is interesting to me that Mitch McConnell–who shares many traits with McCarthy but stupidity is not one of them– seems to be sensing danger like the Robot from Lost In Space

  5. 5.

    Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)

    February 3, 2021 at 9:16 pm

    Republicans are to Trump (and other Trumpy loons) what that one guy in Brokeback Mountain was to the other one: they just can’t quit them.

  6. 6.

    KrackenJack

    February 3, 2021 at 9:20 pm

    Not to give McCarthy any credit whatsoever. Part of the calculation may be losing a few percent of persuadable R voters (not his problem) or depressing the base and getting a primary opponent (a real risk to him).

  7. 7.

    randy khan

    February 3, 2021 at 9:26 pm

    It’s like the perfect split decision – they anger the base by leaving Cheney in place and don’t discipline the crazy anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist, so they further alienate reasonable people.

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 3, 2021 at 9:26 pm

    Rachel Maddow discussing this issue, and it reminds me of when she went on a couple week campaign to entice Liz Cheney (always, to me, Dick Jr) to come on her show. I can’t remember exactly when that was– when Dick Jr was tanking as a Senate primary candidate, when she ran for the House, or after she won. Maddow got pretty snarky, “I promise I will not bite”. Cheney wouldn’t bite, either.

    Just thinking how weird it is that Dick Jr gave up on that Senate seat, which was open last cycle. Does/did she think she might become Speaker? President? Does she still hold ambition for higher office? Does she regret throwing her sister, sister-in-law and their kids under the bus for ambitions that have more than likely evaporated?

  9. 9.

    SP123

    February 3, 2021 at 9:26 pm

    I think they don’t care about her getting booted from committees but by doing it this way it gives them cover to boot Democrats for pseudoscandals at some future time when they hold a majority. “I’m disappointed in Congressman Rogers for wearing a tan suit, but Democrats were the first to say that such things must be punished by stripping committee assignments.”

  10. 10.

    sdhays

    February 3, 2021 at 9:30 pm

    @SP123: That was essentially what the Clinton impeachment was about. “See, we can impeach Democrats too!”

  11. 11.

    PsiFighter37

    February 3, 2021 at 9:30 pm

    I wonder if CA’s redistricting commission can do us a solid and draw McCarthy into a swing/lean D district.

  12. 12.

    dmsilev

    February 3, 2021 at 9:31 pm

    So now, instead of disciplining her behind closed doors in a party caucus vote that could remain safely anonymous, the GOP gets to vote on her suitability in public, on the House floor, and the best they can do to try to thread the needle is the same ‘defense’ they’ve offered for T****: that the process is wrong, so therefore they can oppose without ‘really’ supporting Greene or T****. I doubt it will convince many people.

  13. 13.

    TS (the original)

    February 3, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    @SP123:

    I would like to think most people understand the difference between shooting an opponent in the head and wearing a tan suit, but with trump GOP members it might be a bridge too far.

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    February 3, 2021 at 9:34 pm

    @PsiFighter37: Bakersfield? Good luck with that. I’m pretty sure gerrymandering that area into a competitive mix would entail using fractals and wormholes.

  15. 15.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 3, 2021 at 9:35 pm

    Well, she did apologize to her GOP colleagues so it’s all good.

    Greene apologizes to GOP colleagues — and gets standing ovation https://t.co/n6F9kGgcfZ pic.twitter.com/bSwhqHiZ2k— The Hill (@thehill) February 4, 2021

  16. 16.

    PsiFighter37

    February 3, 2021 at 9:37 pm

    @dmsilev: I’m sure they could draw a district stretching out to the coast or down to LA. It won’t happen, I know – but it is nice to daydream.

  17. 17.

    Jim Appleton

    February 3, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    2020 just keeps on going …

  18. 18.

    Kent

    February 3, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    He is being smart.  He’s making the Democrats do his dirty work for him.   And at the same time giving the GOP leverage in some future GOP Congress to expel minority Dem congressmen from committees for stepping outside some other line

    Where this actually will hurt Greene is in fundraising.   Typically Congressmen and women do most of their fundraising through their committee assignments.  Banking committee folks get donations from financial interests.  Ag committee members get donations from big Ag.  And so forth.

    But Greene is more of a Trump style national level of crazy and maybe doesn’t need traditional fundraising channels.  Plus, I think she is some kind of heiress so independently wealthy.

  19. 19.

    PsiFighter37

    February 3, 2021 at 9:42 pm

    @Kent: Please don’t call Kevin McCarthy smart. He isn’t. He is dumb as rocks.

  20. 20.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    February 3, 2021 at 9:42 pm

    Found this exchange on the Reddit r/ParlerWatch on this topic which I found interesting:

    thatpj

    2 hours ago

    the vote on her committee assignments is tomorrow. what McCarthy did here is political suicide. the entire gop caucus is about to vote in support of the violent q anon lady.

     

    Energy_Dull

    1 hour ago

    Political suicide? The term doesn’t mean anything anymore

     

    thatpj

    1 hour ago

    Tired of doom posters like this.

    Yeah the term doesnt mean anything…thats why the dems won 2 senate seats in GA.

    Along with the Presidency

    Along with the House

    and are now about to pass 1.9T in covid relief

     

    Not dooming just being realistic…
    Political suicide would’ve meant Trump losing ‘in a landslide’ which he didn’t.
    It would’ve meant Dems picking up seats in the house, which they didn’t.

    It would’ve meant senate control beyond a 51-50 majority; one that didn’t hinge on two longshot senate run-offs elections Dems we’re fortunate to win.
    Don’t get me wrong; the Dems won and I am happy for that. But we only just barely won.

    People who say “Trump is gone” are being naive in my opinion; we will not see the last of him or his movement. There will be more Marjorie Taylor Greenes in the years to come.

     

    thatpj

    1 hour ago

    It seems like you are obviously downplaying what happened. Trump lost in the biggest landslide of a sitting president since herbert hoover. You are acting like Dems win GA every year. Dems hadnt won a GA senate seat since 2000. The only one naive here I see here is you. And why are you talking about events that happened prior to this entire thing blowing up? It literally has nothing to do with the subject at hand.

     

    Energy_Dull

    57 minutes ago

    You seem to forget that you literally were the one who brought up the house, senate, and presidential elections.

    Trump didn’t lose that dramatically to be honest… I mean the guy picked up 12 million votes from last election and the entire thing was decided by like… less than 500k…

    As for the GA senate; those were always long-shot elections that Dems should’ve never had to rely on for senate control in the first place.. that’s my point: the nation is pretty evenly split politically, that does not imply ‘political suicide’

     

    thatpj

    55 minutes ago

    You continue to use events that happened prior to this story. If you really think Majorie Taylor Greene at the top of the ballot is going to return the republicans to power I got a bridge in brooklyn I’d like to sell you.

     

    Energy_Dull

    52 minutes ago

    …because that’s what we’re talking about? Again, you were the one who brought it up and it has a lot to do with the topic… you see Greene as a ‘redline’ the GOP crossed to implode themselves politically? Well, remind yourself of all the redlines Trump crossed and tell me then how he was able to pick up 12 million votes.

    Have we really learned nothing from 2016 to just dismiss Trumpism as something so abhorrent and stupid it could never possibly win? To believe That people like Greene will bring the GOP down? No, if anything she will empower them. You don’t seem to understand the enemy…

     

    Idrinknailpolish

    11 minutes ago

    Your self-assuredness on this leads me to believe that you don’t quite grasp just how narrow each victory was.

     

    Delamoor

    33 minutes ago

    Dude, 400 thousand people died and the Democrats can still barely get enough votes to govern in their own right. Their opponent was an illiterate rapist with dementia, who had been engaged in the clearest corruption in the living memory of the US government. His supporters tried to storm Congress and kill reps, and they’re now being applauded for their efforts.

    Yeah it’s a goddam worry that Democratic control is sitting on a knife edge.

     

    thatpj

    31 minutes ago

    Which wasnt what the conversation was about. Since you are taking up your buddy’s argument, tell me how Majorite Taylor Greene at the top of the ballot helps the GOP?

     

    Delamoor

    16 minutes ago

    Did you miss the entirety of the Trump presidency or something?

    How is she NOT the ideal candidate for their base, looking at what Trump offered? She ‘says what everyone’s thinking’ she ‘isn’t scared to piss off the Libs’, she ‘stands up against the muslims and the baby killers’, she ‘knows what’s REALLY going on’, she even comes from a low-income background, so she’s ‘one of us’ in a way that Trump couldn’t be.

    She has the potential to be their new frontman, because she’s Trump times five. Trump was a coward where she’s a psychopath, Trump was a trust fund baby where she’s a trailer park girl, Trump was pathologically obsessed with himself where she’s pathologically obsessed with attacking her enemies at any cost…

    Hell, she even gives the GOP ammo to say ‘look, we aren’t sexist, we love this girl!’
    If you think she’s going to be a failure with the GOP’s base, then holy shit the next few years are going to be a terrifying and confusing time for you. She’s exactly who they’ve been screaming for ever since Trump ’embarrassed’ himself by admitting defeat.

    They aren’t looking for the types of candidates you want. They’re looking for the types of candidates who will permit them to kill people like you. The radicalized elements of the GOP haven’t been de-radicalised yet, they’ve just lost their leader, and are looking for a new one. Forget that and you are in an incredible amount of trouble.

    Want me to go on about why she’s taking off amongst GOP voters?

    These Redditors make the case that Greene will be an asset to the GOP going forward, not a hindrance like what is being discussed here; to the contrary she may replace Trump as the party’s leader at some point and does not have his weaknesses; that Trump didn’t really lose that dramatically in the first place (I’m reminded of members of the European far-right remarking on how much “staying power” Trump had after the election), and that in a sane world our victories should’ve never been so narrow. And since they were and in light of recent events, “political suicide” does not exist anymore for the GOP.

    Personally, I’m not so sure I agree. I do think Greene will be an anchor for the GOP going forward for the reasons you outline provided we move forward with the 1.9 trillion COVID AID package (which Dems are doing). The S&P analysis of the package’s potential impact, particularly just in time for the 2022 midterms, will mean hundreds of millions of people’s lives will be materially improved, which could very well give us a very good fighting chance going into the midterms. We will have likely largely conquered the pandemic by the point as well.

  21. 21.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 3, 2021 at 9:44 pm

    @Kent: No, randy khan, above, got it right.  Shooting himself in both feet.

  22. 22.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    February 3, 2021 at 9:45 pm

    @Kent:

    They would just find some other excuse to do that in the future

  23. 23.

    waratah

    February 3, 2021 at 9:47 pm

    I think the Republicans forget how many women are members of Congress now. They are not going to forget what happened and who did it.

  24. 24.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 3, 2021 at 9:47 pm

    Perfect Republican package.

    In 2018, Rep Greene approvingly shared a white supremacist video claiming that “an unholy alliance of leftists, capitalists and Zionist supremacists has schemed to promote immigration and miscegenation, with the deliberate aim of breeding us out of existence in our own homelands”— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 4, 2021

  25. 25.

    Starboard Tack

    February 3, 2021 at 9:49 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Whenever I find myself looking at her picture and thinking “She doesn’t look crazy” I imagine her in Klan robes and everything makes sense.

  26. 26.

    Shalimar

    February 3, 2021 at 9:50 pm

    @PsiFighter37:  5 of the 6 districts that border McCarthy’s 23rd are also represented by Republicans, so no, that isn’t going to happen.

  27. 27.

    topclimber

    February 3, 2021 at 9:50 pm

    Removed by department of redundant repetition department.

  28. 28.

    Kent

    February 3, 2021 at 9:52 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:@Kent: No, randy khan, above, got it right.  Shooting himself in both feet.

    Dems are going to expel her from her committee assignments.  They already submitted the motion.  In two years no one is going to remember that it was the full congress and not just the GOP delegation that did the dirty work.  Safe MAGAts will vote against.  A few swing district  GOP-ers might vote to expel.  The vote is already pre-ordained because Dems have the majority.

    We are still on Trump Time.  This is going to be completely forgotten history in a matter of 5 days once impeachment starts.  I don’t see McCarthy suffering at all.  I don’t know what the 2022 elections will be run on.  But it won’t be this vote.

  29. 29.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    February 3, 2021 at 9:52 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Ah, the “Great Replacement Theory”

    Remember the Tiki Torch Nazis chanting “Jews will not replace us!”? Greene buys into that shit too. I remember Steve King spouted similar drivel that got him expelled from his committee assignments in 2o18

    But I guess since Greene said she was Super Duper Sorry in the closed door House Republican Conference, that makes it all ok ?

  30. 30.

    Mary G

    February 3, 2021 at 9:54 pm

    Just saw a sound-off clip of Kevin tapdancing for the press in his best Sgt. Schultz “I know nozthing” performance, and he looks ten years older than the last time I saw him. He’s going to go the way of Boehner and Ryan soon because nobody can control the craziness that is Republican House members. Then the knives will come out and I have ordered a case of popcorn.

  31. 31.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    February 3, 2021 at 9:55 pm

    @Kent:

    I think the GOP will suffer long-term consequences from this. They’re effectively making themselves the Qanon Party, just like Kay said. Going forward, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for them to assemble a governing coalition at the federal level because the Qcumber crap is affecting ever greater numbers of people who are being alienated by the same

  32. 32.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 3, 2021 at 10:02 pm

    This Jewish Space Laser seems like something congress should be concerned about. Is #MTG going to bring a bill to the floor with a plan for dealing with it? Pelosi should definitely allow it; this seems like the exact thing the #SpaceForce was created to handle.— John "what conservative intellectuals?" Vreeland (@JohnMVreeland) February 3, 2021

  33. 33.

    Kent

    February 3, 2021 at 10:02 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    @Kent:

    I think the GOP will suffer long-term consequences from this. They’re effectively making themselves the Qanon Party, just like Kay said. Going forward, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for them to assemble a governing coalition at the federal level because the Qcumber crap is affecting ever greater numbers of people who are being alienated by the same

    There is no “making” involved.  They already are the Q party.  The only question at this point is how they get out of the box that they are in.  I’m guessing the McCarthy’s of the world are just hoping that the problem will eventually go away without them having to rip off the bandaid.  I think they are wrong. And the actual time to rip off the bandaid was November 5th when the race was called (or whatever date that was).  They were too cowardly then, so they will continue to be cowardly now.

  34. 34.

    Hoppie

    February 3, 2021 at 10:03 pm

    @PsiFighter37: A candidate does not have to reside in a congressional district to represent it in California.  Also, redistricting is done by a citizen’s committee with clear goals for non-partisanship.  Which is not to say coyote mightn’t just smile on us and make his options, uh, challenging, by throwing two current repukes together so they can fight over who gets to be a carpetbagger.

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 3, 2021 at 10:06 pm

    Luke Ball @LukeTBall
    “My concern is that though today, we have the votes to remove Liz Cheney, somehow the Establishment’s going to find a way to kick the question, avoid a vote…” -Rep. Gaetz

  36. 36.

    Jeffro

    February 3, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: 

    Maybe Gary Abernathy can square this circle in his next WaPo magnum opus; good luck, Gary! That trumpov-ism sure is looking good, isn’t it? ;)

  37. 37.

    Jeffro

    February 3, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): these moves by the Dems – from the pressure to remove Greene from committee assignments down to Nancy Smash calling McCarthy the rep from “Q-CA” – are excellent.

    Continue to make them deal with the fact that they’re (at least) half looney-bin material, unacceptable to all Dems, a good majority of independents, and a decent % of Republicans.

    And I hope they keep pressing on corporate sponsors like crazy, too.  Let their sad-sack individual donors try to prop up the loss of all those corporate donations.  Good luck with that, GQP!

  38. 38.

    randy khan

    February 3, 2021 at 10:17 pm

    @Kent:

    I understand your argument, but I disagree with you.  What I think is important is the combination – failing to defenestrate Cheney is going to be the kind of thing the angry MAGA base remembers, and Greene will continue to upset suburban white women, making it harder to forget that she wasn’t disciplined by the Republicans (who,  remember, will vote against the resolution to strip her of her committee assignments and so can be targeted in ads quoting whatever outrageous thing she’s said or done recently).

  39. 39.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 3, 2021 at 10:19 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

     

    These folk don’t get the appeal of Trump.  He had certain things going for him in 2015-16 than no other candidate had and each was worth a percent or two in the vote.

    • He’s a successful businessman.  Quite a few people think government is just like a business, if you’re good at running a business, you’ll be good at running government
    • He’s rich!  If he’s rich he’s smart.
    • He was on the TV running a business.  Some folk can’t differentiate between what they see on TV or the movies from reality.
    • He’s been a celebrity
    • best known for being successful.

    None of these things are actually true, but it’s a perception that low information voters get.  Added to that in 2020 Trump gave them money with his name on the damn check, add another 1 to 2 percentage points too.  I said in 2015 that Trump would get at least 1 percent of the vote just from being a celebrity, I think I was still right.

    Rep. Greene has none of that, plus she lacks a penis.  The only thing she has in common with Trump is saying the quiet parts out loud.

  40. 40.

    Shalimar

    February 3, 2021 at 10:19 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Matt Gaetz for Minority Whip.

  41. 41.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 3, 2021 at 10:21 pm

    Leader Schumer has announced long-time Senate aide Sonceria 'Ann' Berry will serve as the 35th Secretary of the Senate, effective March 1, 2021.Berry will be the first African American and eighth woman to serve in the position, which was created in 1789.— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 4, 2021

  42. 42.

    Gvg

    February 3, 2021 at 10:24 pm

    If McCarthy was smart, he never would have allowed a nutter to have any significant committee assignment in the first place. Republicans have been making stupid committee choice since at least Ryan that I have noticed. Trump isn’t the only idiot they have.

  43. 43.

    Dan B

    February 3, 2021 at 10:26 pm

    I was on the phone with a politically astute friend who observed that MTG is part of the new ‘high speed internet fast-messaging / say what you think and keep going ‘ crowd. Mc Carthy is part of the old guard. He is guarded and calculating. That comes across as suspicious and dishonest. Biden seems more in touch with the ‘say what you think’ and ‘deal with the blowback if you feel like it’ crowd. He’s telling it like it is, as is Margarine Greenie. In that regard Biden is stealing her thunder. He doesn’t come across as an old school elitist, although the Faux Mediasphere may try it, to their dismay.

    We’ll see if this perspective has any validity.

  44. 44.

    Mary G

    February 3, 2021 at 10:32 pm

    @Jeffro: Piling on – I love it!

    Tomorrow I will vote to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments – a vote that wouldn’t even be necessary if @GOPLeader Qevin McQarthy simply held Rep. Greene to his own Steve King standard.— Rep. Jared Huffman (@JaredHuffman) February 4, 2021

    ETA: Just wanted to see Qevin McQarthy again – chef’s kiss.

  45. 45.

    Dan B

    February 3, 2021 at 10:34 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:  “telling the quiet parts out loud” is pretty hard to tell from the exit polls of Tr***p voters, “He speaks his mind / tells it like it is.”  It’s  another version of  ”I hate / don’t  trust politicians.”

    It’s gone ballistic in the Tweet, F’book era.

  46. 46.

    Wag

    February 3, 2021 at 10:43 pm

    @dmsilev:

    gerrymandering that area into a competitive mix would entail using fractals and wormholes.

     

    In other words, standard operating procedures for years for states run by the GQP

  47. 47.

    ...now I try to be amused

    February 3, 2021 at 10:46 pm

    @Dan B:

    “telling the quiet parts out loud” is pretty hard to tell from the exit polls of Tr***p voters, “He speaks his mind / tells it like it is.”  It’s  another version of  ”I hate / don’t  trust politicians.”

    When Trump said “I am your voice!” at a rally it really struck me; it’s about the only true thing he ever said.

  48. 48.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 3, 2021 at 10:46 pm

    @Mary G:

    That’s our boy Jared!

  49. 49.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 3, 2021 at 10:59 pm

    @Dan B: Trump wouldn’t have gotten far with just that, he needed the other stuff too and that took decades to build

    ETA: The other stuff amplified Trump’s ability to “tell it like it is”.  The only person that can come close to being a Trump is Fucker Carlson.  The others are just politicians and not to be trusted.

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    February 3, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    Okay, though not up to his best – new Rainbow.

    (Whose clothes closet might well be a TARDIS.)

  51. 51.

    Poe Larity

    February 3, 2021 at 11:18 pm

    Trump is the man every Republican man wishes he was, and they can look at MTG and think “yeah, I’d tap that.”

    Suburban mom’s are all over QAnon. It’s out of the little Chad’s 8chan screen in his basement lair and at mom’s tupperware party now.

  52. 52.

    NotMax

    February 3, 2021 at 11:23 pm

    @Poe Larity

    Trumperware?

    “Keeps reality out.”

  53. 53.

    Ken

    February 3, 2021 at 11:23 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: He’s been a celebrity

    In the sense of “Hollywood Squares” or “The Match Game”, where for many of the celebrities, their only claim to fame was that they were on HS or TMG.

    Or, as the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork mused in Pratchett’s Moving Pictures:  “Yes, it was fascinating. You could become famous just for being, well, famous. It occurred to him that this was an extremely dangerous thing and he might probably have to have someone killed one day, although it would be with reluctance. (On his part, that is. Their reluctance probably goes without saying.)”

  54. 54.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 3, 2021 at 11:24 pm

    @Poe Larity: Do Tupperware parties still exist?

  55. 55.

    Ken

    February 3, 2021 at 11:26 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: According to google, yes, though the pandemic has of course reduced the number, and most of their sales are online or brick-and-mortar now.

  56. 56.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 3, 2021 at 11:26 pm

    @NotMax: ​
     

    Okay, though not up to his best – new Rainbow.

    Oh? Not the Rainbow I expected.

  57. 57.

    Buskertype

    February 3, 2021 at 11:27 pm

    part of me thinks that the republicans voted to keep Cheney in her leadership role partly out of fear that if she was gone they might be next in line to get it.

  58. 58.

    Alison Rose

    February 3, 2021 at 11:27 pm

    @Mary G: A local rep for me! Not actually my rep, he’s got the neighboring district in the same zip code, but I like him a lot.

  59. 59.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 3, 2021 at 11:28 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     Are you implying that plastic containers no longer know how to par-tay?

  60. 60.

    bluehill

    February 3, 2021 at 11:29 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Adam thinks she’s got a good chance.

    A lot can happen over the next three years, but you can go ahead and note that I’m saying this now: Marjorie Taylor Greene will run for the Republican nomination for president in 2024. And I think it is highly likely that unless something significantly changes within American politics in general and the Republican Party and the conservative movement in specific, she is likely to be the nominee.

    https://balloon-juice.com/2021/01/30/well-revisit-this-sometime-in-2024-but-allow-me-to-introduce-the-2024-republican-nominee-for-president/

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    February 3, 2021 at 11:33 pm

    When do the nutballs’ calls ranging from boycotting curling to declaring war on ‘Cancelda’ begin?

    Canada has formally labeled the Proud Boys, the far-right extremist group that has been gaining notoriety in the U.S., as a terrorist group, Ottawa announced Wednesday.

    The Proud Boys were recognized as a “terrorist entity,” meaning the government may seize property and other belongings connected to the group and financial institutions “are subject to reporting requirements” with respect to the group’s property under Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act.
    [snip]
    The 12 other groups added to the list of terrorist entities have ties to white supremacists, Nazis, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and Kashmiri terrorism.

    The Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group also known as the National Socialist Order, was added to the list. Atomwaffen was founded in the U.S. in 2013, and members were also active in the 2017 Charlottesville rally, Ottawa said.

    Another U.S.-founded neo-Nazi group, The Base, made the list for encouraging “lone-wolf terror attacks, bomb making, counter-surveillance, and guerilla warfare.”

    The Russian Imperial Movement, which seeks to “create a mono-ethnic state led by a Russian autocratic monarchy,” was put on the list, accused of seeking ties to “neo-Nazi organizations in Europe and the United States to offer them paramilitary training and bomb making instructions.” Source

  62. 62.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 3, 2021 at 11:33 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: I just though they were a ’70s thing like musk colognes and harvest gold appliances.

  63. 63.

    JoyceH

    February 3, 2021 at 11:34 pm

    Oh. For. Pete’s. Sake. Some loony judge gave Kyle Rittenhouse bail, which he paid with online donations- and now he’s in the wind, moved out of his house and there’s a warrant out for his arrest. Here’s a crazy idea – how about NOT letting folks charged with murder out on bond?

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 3, 2021 at 11:35 pm

    @JoyceH: I hope this doesn’t mean Ricky Schroeder is gonna have to pick up extra shifts

  65. 65.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 3, 2021 at 11:36 pm

    @bluehill: ​
      I disagreed with him then. I disagree now.

  66. 66.

    Brachiator

    February 3, 2021 at 11:36 pm

    McCarthy should have just taken the hit and removed her from committees, just like they did to Steve King. But he’s apparently too stupid and/or gutless to do that.

    I vote for stupid. Something happened to the Republicans under Trump. They feel the false exhilaration of having no moral compass and of being entirely disconnected from values and truth. It feels good. It is a dead end. But they won’t know it, won’t even feel it when doom overtakes them.

  67. 67.

    Delk

    February 3, 2021 at 11:37 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: gay Tupperware parties were pretty big 15-20 years ago. I have my mom’s bacon storage Tupperware. We use it for leftover pizza.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 3, 2021 at 11:39 pm

    @Delk: What about musk colognes and harvest gold appliances?

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    February 3, 2021 at 11:43 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus

    More like 50s.

    And then there’s Dixie.

    :)

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    February 3, 2021 at 11:45 pm

    @Buskertype:

    part of me thinks that the republicans voted to keep Cheney in her leadership role partly out of fear that if she was gone they might be next in line to get it.

    It’s kinda like becoming the new Al Qaeda Guy Number 2. A very uncomfortable spotlight starts shining on you.

  71. 71.

    Delk

    February 3, 2021 at 11:46 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:  I’m an OEQ I don’t know what the kids are up to these days. I was Canoe and avocado green.

  72. 72.

    Kent

    February 3, 2021 at 11:51 pm

    @Buskertype:part of me thinks that the republicans voted to keep Cheney in her leadership role partly out of fear that if she was gone they might be next in line to get it.

    They voted that way because they agree with her is what I suspect.  At least a majority of them.  It was easy to do in a closed caucus vote that isn’t recorded.  But out in the open when votes are recorded they are going to have to go full MAGA.  Unlike her, they don’t have the guts to defy Trump in public.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    February 3, 2021 at 11:53 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Colognes:
    50s – Bay rum (but only when applied by a barber)
    60s – Hai Karate for special occasions, Irish Spring soap (“Manly, yes. But I like it too.”) for everyday
    70s – Musk
    .

    Appliances:
    50s – turquoise
    60s – harvest gold
    70s – avocado green
    .

  74. 74.

    bluehill

    February 3, 2021 at 11:55 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, seems like a longshot, but I’m still scarred by the last time I thought that.

  75. 75.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 3, 2021 at 11:55 pm

    @NotMax: All before my time.

  76. 76.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 3, 2021 at 11:57 pm

    @bluehill: ​
      Let’s stomp on her nascent candidacy now. Kill it before it grows, and Bob said.

  77. 77.

    WaterGirl

    February 4, 2021 at 12:00 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Are they billed as Tupperware-Covid parties now?

  78. 78.

    The Moar You Know

    February 4, 2021 at 12:00 am

    You folks who think Greene is going to be some kind of liability to the GOP are out of your fucking minds.  She’s selling just what they want.  And Cleek told you what that was years and years ago.

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    February 4, 2021 at 12:01 am

    @Delk

    Still sitting in the medicine cabinet is half a bottle of Canoe which dates from the 1960s. Purchased at a duty free shop in The Bahamas.

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 4, 2021 at 12:03 am

    @The Moar You Know: That’s just like your opinion, man.

  81. 81.

    Suzanne

    February 4, 2021 at 12:07 am

    Petty complaint (the best kind): MTG’s hair is gross. The ends need to be cut. She needs to stop bleaching. It looks terrible.

  82. 82.

    Delk

    February 4, 2021 at 12:08 am

    @NotMax: When a man becomes a man his cologne becomes canoe

  83. 83.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 4, 2021 at 12:09 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    You folks who think Greene is going to be some kind of liability to the GOP are out of your fucking minds.  She’s selling just what they want.

    true, but she selling it in a state that just elected two Dem Senators, and she had to use her inherited fortune to carpetbag her way to a district she could win, cause the one she used to live had elected Lucy McBath, and just re-elected Lucy McBath, pretty comfortably, I believe. Even in Georgia, she had to looking for a they that wanted what she’s got

    ETA: Per Wiki, Lucy McBath beat incumbent Karen Handel by barely 1% of the vote, fewer than 4,000 votes. In their 2020 rematch, McBath beat Handel by 9%, almost 25,000 votes. It’s Newt Ginrich’s old district. It is not my habit to quote Peggy Noonan, especially when I haven’t had a drink in over a month, but… Let us savor.

  84. 84.

    dm

    February 4, 2021 at 12:12 am

    @Starboard Tack: Every time I see a picture of her in her “Molon Lane” facemark, I find myself reading it as “Moron Label”.

  85. 85.

    janesays

    February 4, 2021 at 12:12 am

    @PsiFighter37: That would be good, because as of right now, it’s the most GOP-friendly district on the entire Pacific coastline (including Alaska and Hawaii). We’re not going to unseat him if it still close to an R-14 in 2022.

  86. 86.

    NotMax

    February 4, 2021 at 12:15 am

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Bought a number of bottles of this to give out as gifts during the Bicentennial year. (It was much, much more affordably priced back then, and didn’t yet come in a spray bottle.)

  87. 87.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 4, 2021 at 12:16 am

    @NotMax:

    70s – avocado green

    Yeah, that screams 70’s.

  88. 88.

    Kent

    February 4, 2021 at 12:19 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:true, but she selling it in a state that just elected two Dem Senators, and she had to use her inherited fortune to carpetbag her way to a district she could win, cause the one she used to live had elected Lucy McBath, and just re-elected Lucy McBath, pretty comfortably, I believe. Even in Georgia, she had to looking for a they that wanted what she’s got

    ETA: Per Wiki, Lucy McBath beat incumbent Karen Handel by barely 1% of the vote, fewer than 4,000 votes. In their 2020 rematch, McBath beat Handel by 9%, almost 25,000 votes. It’s Newt Ginrich’s old district. It is not my habit to quote Peggy Noonan, especially when I haven’t had a drink in over a month, but… Let us savor.

    GA redistricting is going to be interesting because nearly all the growth has been in the urban areas and suburbs.  So they won’t be able to have so many red rural districts.  Of curse they will gerrymander.  But they already have done that.

  89. 89.

    NotMax

    February 4, 2021 at 12:19 am

    @Delk

    Heh. That I don’t recall. Do remember the slogan “Do you Canoe?”

  90. 90.

    Kent

    February 4, 2021 at 12:20 am

    @The Moar You Know:You folks who think Greene is going to be some kind of liability to the GOP are out of your fucking minds.  She’s selling just what they want.  And Cleek told you what that was years and years ago.

    Trump was supposed to be a liability too.

  91. 91.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 4, 2021 at 12:24 am

    @NotMax: I’ve got a tiny bit of Davidoff’s Good Life left.  And some Dune by Dior that my ex liked.  It’s not really my thing.

  92. 92.

    Mary G

    February 4, 2021 at 12:25 am

    @JoyceH: And my recollection is that his attorneys are in trouble too, because they are required to say the address where he lives in paperwork they filed. It’s public information unless they get a waiver to not disclose it. They asked the DA for the waiver and either the DA said no or hadn’t replied yet, so they put a fake address on the filing and sent it to court. Their argument on why that was cool was a mishmash of unrelated conservative talking points, and I imagine the judge is very much not amused.

  93. 93.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 4, 2021 at 12:26 am

    @Kent: We can make her a liability.

  94. 94.

    WaterGirl

    February 4, 2021 at 12:29 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I am with Team Omnes on this.

  95. 95.

    janesays

    February 4, 2021 at 12:30 am

    It seems like you are obviously downplaying what happened. Trump lost in the biggest landslide of a sitting president since herbert hoover.

    That’s… not really accurate. I suppose it depends on how you define things. It is true that Biden is the first president to defeat an incumbent while winning more than 50% of the total popular vote since 1932, but that’s almost certainly because there was no significant third party candidate in the 2020 election. The two most recent elections in which an incumbent was defeated included third party players who won 6.6% (Anderson in 1980) and 18.9% (Perot in 1992) of the popular vote in their respective elections.

    Reagan beat Carter by a 9.7% popular vote margin and a 450 electoral vote margin. Carter won 41% of the popular vote.

    Clinton beat Bush (41) by a 5.5% popular vote margin and a 202 electoral vote margin. Bush (41) won 37.5% of the popular vote.

    Biden beat Trump by a 4.5% popular vote margin and a 74 electoral vote margin. Trump won 46.9% of the popular vote.

    Looking at those figures, it’s kind of absurd to say that Trump suffered the biggest landslide of a sitting president since Hoover, given that he won larger shares of the popular vote and the electoral vote than both Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, as well as the fact that his margin of defeat was narrower than either of theirs.

  96. 96.

    SoupCatcher

    February 4, 2021 at 12:30 am

    This is the knife edge, and every single election going forward is the most important election of our lifetimes.

    Republicans think they can put in enough voter suppression to take back the House in 2022.

    We need at least five years of Democratic control of the Presidency and Congress to even think about making a course correction.

    It’s not rocket surgery.

  97. 97.

    NotMax

    February 4, 2021 at 12:33 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA

    Continuing on:
    80s – burnished coppery brown
    90s – stippled texture
    00s – stainless steel
    10s – black

    ;)

  98. 98.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 4, 2021 at 12:34 am

    @Kent: They said the same thing about Reagan.

  99. 99.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 4, 2021 at 12:38 am

    @janesays: Jimmy Carter and HW Bush were in three candidate races.

  100. 100.

    patroclus

    February 4, 2021 at 12:41 am

    I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for the Dems to strip the QAnon Lady’s committee assignments.  Back prior to 1908, one of the reasons for the revolt against “King” Joe Cannon, the notorious authoritarian Speaker was because he would determine the committee assignments for the Dems (and the Progressive Republicans).  It was an awful practice and led to a once-in-a-century revolt resulting in substantial changes to the committee assignment process.  And, back in 1961, before Sam Rayburn enlarged (i.e., packed) the Rules Committee to overcome Howard Smith’s obstructionism, he briefly flirted instead with purging Bill Colmer from the Rules Committee because he had endorsed Nixon rather than JFK.  He decided to go with enlargement because the then-Republican leader Charlie Halleck made it clear that they would in turn move to purge Adam Clayton Powell from the Education and Labor Committee, and, with conservative Democrats, may well have had the votes to do it.  In my view, purging Greene will only lead to African American Congressmen and women being purged in the future by vengeful Republicans when they have the majority.

    I hope cooler heads prevail and the Dems don’t actually do this tomorrow.  There will be blowback…

  101. 101.

    Brachiator

    February 4, 2021 at 12:43 am

    @janesays:

    That’s… not really accurate. I suppose it depends on how you define things. It is true that Biden is the first president to defeat an incumbent while winning more than 50% of the total popular vote since 1932, but that’s almost certainly because there was no significant third party candidate in the 2020 election.

    But this also is not really accurate. It is not just that there was no significant third party candidate. It is that the voters decided that they would not trifle with third parties. Voters saw that it was about Trump and a strong Democratic Party challenger.

    The “usual suspects” of third parties were still around, but the got less attention and fewer votes.

  102. 102.

    burnspbesq

    February 4, 2021 at 12:43 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Greene said she was Super Duper Sorry

    And she’s back in her office, snickering behind closed doors because the rubes fell for it. Elle ne regrettes rien.

  103. 103.

    gwangung

    February 4, 2021 at 12:45 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, make her a liability.

    That will make her be loved by the troglydytes….but I wonder if all of them have the sustained willpower of the religious right. The newer Q-nuts may get easily bored and frustrated by defeats.

    And if the business class peels off, that’s still a big enough chunk to give them real problem in national elections; our margin is slim, but by the same token, so is theirs. Losing a segment of support gives both sides problems.

    I’m betting that the Q-nuts can last for a decade, like the Know Nothings before them, but a persistent GOTV, and battling the Q-nut legislatures on voting rights can beat them back.

  104. 104.

    Brachiator

    February 4, 2021 at 12:46 am

    @patroclus:

    I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for the Dems to strip the QAnon Lady’s committee assignments.

    You can’t accommodate insanity.

  105. 105.

    gwangung

    February 4, 2021 at 12:46 am

    @patroclus: No. NEVER give in to that sort of blackmail. Because that only incentivizes them to get more outrageous.

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    February 4, 2021 at 12:46 am

    @NotMax

    Some more backstory on Number Six.

    “[Washington] came to the shop in Newport on a business trip to meet [Marquis de] Lafayette,” he explained. “From everything we know, Dr. William Hunter — who founded the brand — and George Washington both really wanted to show off how European the colonies were, so that’s why Dr. Hunter was making perfumes, to have Newport feel less like a pirate town and a little more like a real cosmopolitan place. I think Washington was also really eager to show off that we weren’t a backwoods anymore and that we were a sort of worldly, global, up-and-coming civilization. So, I think they must have hit it off a little bit.”

    America’s first POTUS used Hunter’s “Formula Number Six Toilette Water,” and liked it so much, he gifted it to others.

    “Lafayette, when he came back to the States in the early 1800s, visited the shop on his grand tour and talked about how this was the fragrance George Washington had given him and he came back to buy some more,” Arauz said. “So because they were both opinion leaders, it really did boost awareness of the brand, and that was used as one of the calling cards of the brand when they came to New York in the 1850s.” Source

  107. 107.

    NotMax

    February 4, 2021 at 12:54 am

    @patroclus

    So there are no lines in the sand they can’t cross? May as well hand over the keys to the place, then.

  108. 108.

    patroclus

    February 4, 2021 at 12:54 am

    @Brachiator: Rayburn’s actions preserved Powell’s seniority and led to massive education gains (especially ESEA, Head Start and school construction) under Powell during the Great Society.  If Powell had been purged, much of that might not have happened in the way it did.  Moreover, it got Tip O’Neill on to the Rules Committee, which led to his great Congressional career.  Moreover, Cannon’s blatant abuse of the committee assignment power effectively led to 8 years of Dem majorities in the New Freedom era, which resulted in the FTC, the Clayton Act, the Federal Reserve and the regulation of securities in the railroad industry.  I simply disagree with this move and I hope they don’t do it.  It will be a long-term mistake.

  109. 109.

    patroclus

    February 4, 2021 at 1:00 am

    @NotMax: No, we may as well enact liberal legislation and stop fixating on Members of Congress in the minority who have no power to do anything.

  110. 110.

    Brachiator

    February 4, 2021 at 1:04 am

    @patroclus: 

    I simply disagree with this move and I hope they don’t do it. It will be a long-term mistake.

    You cannot accommodate insanity.

  111. 111.

    Yutsano

    February 4, 2021 at 1:04 am

    @patroclus: ​
    By doing nothing this signals not only to Greene but her supporters that they can pretty much do anything they want and suffer no consequences. The Republicans had their chance to be adults here. Now it’s time for Marjorie to learn why you should never cross a nonna.

  112. 112.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 4, 2021 at 1:06 am

    @patroclus: ​
      Congress should be able to enact legislation as well as police its own ranks.

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    February 4, 2021 at 1:08 am

    @patroclus

    Build the bookcases and ignore the termites? Nope, no thanks. Power unexercised becomes flaccid.

    Also too, nothing about this step impedes passing legislation.

  114. 114.

    gwangung

    February 4, 2021 at 1:09 am

    @patroclus: It’s a long term mistake NOT to do this move. Seriously, you think the system can accommodate this type of undermining?

    No, that’s not going to happen. You are proposing more appeasement…and you will get rewarded with more extreme behavior. Guaranteed.

    Stop and think. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU INCENTIVIZING?

  115. 115.

    patroclus

    February 4, 2021 at 1:12 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: A censure resolution would be a more appropriate way to police ranks.  An ethics investigation would be more appropriate.  Both such procedures have long-standing precedents which have been effective.  Monkeying around with committee assignments is not an appropriate method.  This is a mistake, as historical examples from Champ Clark to Sam Rayburn show.

  116. 116.

    patroclus

    February 4, 2021 at 1:13 am

    @gwangung: You need to calm down.

  117. 117.

    Another Scott

    February 4, 2021 at 1:15 am

    McCarthy on 8/21: "There is no place for QAnon in the Republican Party."

    McCarthy tonight: "Denouncing Q-on. I don't know if I say it right, I don't even know what it is"

    — Sam Stein (@samstein) February 4, 2021

    There’s always a tweet..

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  118. 118.

    patroclus

    February 4, 2021 at 1:16 am

    @Yutsano: I’m not arguing doing nothing.  Just not this.  You need to pay attention to what I’m saying and stop arguing against a straw man.  The Republicans will retaliate if/when they attain a majority.  Maxine Waters, Ilhan Omar, AOC and many others do not deserve to be treated like Greene, but they (or others) will be.

  119. 119.

    NotMax

    February 4, 2021 at 1:18 am

    @patroclus

    Permitting an infection on the body politic to fester isn’t a long-term problem?

    Neither Clark nor Rayburn was facing members holding a box of matches in one hand and a Molotov cocktail in the other.

  120. 120.

    piratedan

    February 4, 2021 at 1:23 am

    @burnspbesq: and not on camera, so not on the record,. Thus she gets to keep polishing that Rep to the public and the GOP co-workers get to be all indignant if the Dems call her ass to account.

    and who is right?  that we have 74million people willing to Vote for Trump after his last 4 years, why wouldn’t they vote for Greene?

    Let’s say Biden runs the gauntlet, gets Covid under grips, starts to have the economy rebuilt, a sense of normalcy returns, a newer greener economy starts to bloom.  If the other side (Faux, Newsmax and OANN) continue to frame each success as some kind of grievance (and you know that they will), i.e. you violated my rahhhts forcing me to do something for the public good, I didn’t work in the old economy, I’m damn sure not gonna work in this one, etc etc etc… these duplicitous fuckers will run the same playbook if the same tools are available to them.

    In my mind Joe has to do something to turn off the misinformation spigot, regulate the fuck outta Facebook, force fairness broadcast standards into all communication models, cable, streaming, what have you… and above all else, prosecute these fuckers that participated in crimes.  No one cares if you’re/we’re a bunch of vindictive fucks, guess what, our opponents already are and they will never recognize you for being nice and doing them a solid, so don’t.  If they broke the law, put their asses in the courtroom.

  121. 121.

    patroclus

    February 4, 2021 at 1:23 am

    @NotMax: Actually, both Clark and Rayburn had to deal with active KKK members of Congress as well as some that could be accurately described as anarchists.  The idea that this is the first time we’ve ever had a crazy Member of Congress is utterly absurd.  Prior to the Civil War, we had real secessionists and insurrectionists.

  122. 122.

    Doc Sardonic

    February 4, 2021 at 1:24 am

    There are a lot of cards left to turn over in this Congress. I have a feeling, could be wrong, but my gut is telling me that there are going to be some members of the Republican caucus in both houses facing some charges related to the coup attempt of 1/6/2021. If that is the case the complexion of things is going to changes in ways we have little to no precedent to base predictions on. That being said the Bleach Blonde Bomb Thrower needs to be made an example of. The GQP was given the opportunity to do so in the same manner they handled Steve King for similar reasons but they refused, so we see what happens.

  123. 123.

    Another Scott

    February 4, 2021 at 1:30 am

    The powersharing fight is now over in the Senate. With a simple unanimous consent agreement, Democrats are now fully in charge of the US Senate, as the two week delay by GOP Senators has ended.

    — Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) February 3, 2021

    Good, good.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  124. 124.

    Yutsano

    February 4, 2021 at 1:31 am

    @patroclus: ​

    The Republicans will retaliate if/when they attain a majority.

    With all due respect: SO THE FUCK WHAT??? The Democrats are supposed to tolerate bigotry and ignorance because of something that might happen in the future? They’re not doing this out of spite. They’re doing this because Marjorie Taylor Greene does not deserve to be on any committee of importance like Education. The majority has the right to do this. You don’t stop doing the right thing just because of what your opponent might do in the future. That shouldn’t even begin to be a consideration.

  125. 125.

    patroclus

    February 4, 2021 at 1:34 am

    @Yutsano: Absolutely not.  The majority does not have the right to do this; it has the power to do this.  Might does not make right.  Doing the right thing means using an appropriate method to marginalize Greene; not an inappropriate method.  From Cannon to Halleck, history has shown that monkeying around with committee assignments by a majority is not the right thing to do.  (In my opinion).

  126. 126.

    NotMax

    February 4, 2021 at 1:44 am

    @patroclus

    Nip it in the bud before it has time to put down substantial, tenacious roots.

    The idea that this is the first time we’ve ever had a crazy Member of Congress is utterly absurd.

    Something no one – no one – except you has voiced.

  127. 127.

    Yutsano

    February 4, 2021 at 1:48 am

    @patroclus: ​
    I’m not talking you off your cross any more.

  128. 128.

    patroclus

    February 4, 2021 at 1:49 am

    @NotMax: Other than you.

  129. 129.

    NotMax

    February 4, 2021 at 1:55 am

    @patroclus

    Not once. Not no way, not no how.

    @Yutsano

    Ditto. Scoot over bit so I can sit six feet from you.

  130. 130.

    patroclus

    February 4, 2021 at 2:03 am

    @Yutsano: That’s your prerogative.  But while your not responding, you should consider that Rules, Ways and Means, Commerce, Judiciary, Armed Services, Foreign Affairs  and Appropriations are typically regarded as important committees in the House; not Education.  Which, unless a major bill is being considered, is typically regarded as a legislative backwater.  And gaming out future scenarios is precisely what leadership should consider when contemplating and considering committee assignments (or any other action).  A censure resolution or an ethics investigation would each have more precedents in marginalizing Greene.  Why you are stuck merely on the committee assignment option is something else to consider.  Why not a different method?

  131. 131.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    February 4, 2021 at 5:32 am

    A freshman Congressperson who advocated the assassination of political opponents cannot be handled with kid gloves, no matter the party. The GOP’s handling this particular fascist with kid gloves because they’re afraid of pissing off the fascist voting bloc without which their electoral power base collapses. And they’ve already broken damn near all the norms of American government.

    Worrying about retaliation is nonsense. The GOP’s going to break the rest of the norms anyway; the last twenty years have proven that all they need is the flimsiest of excuses.

  132. 132.

    Gvg

    February 4, 2021 at 7:38 am

    @patroclus: No. She said Democratic Congress people should be killed, by mobs. That is NOT comparable to measly endorsing the loser of an election. She should actually be in jail if our laws were being enforced, and so should a lot of non Congress people.

  133. 133.

    Chris Johnson

    February 4, 2021 at 12:53 pm

    It would be good to remember, that YES Trump won the Presidency saying the quiet parts out loud, but do you have any idea how much effort it took on the part of Russia, starting from God knows how long ago and continuing to the present day even as Putin’s own country falls apart around him, it took to MAKE that happen?

    Don’t ever think this happened in a vacuum or reflects anything normal. HUGE effort went into making these outcomes happen, and part of the propaganda attack is and has always been, ‘which happened totally naturally and reflects the will of the people’. Also, Russiagate and there’s no such thing as subverting the election, oh goodness no. There’s no massive voter disenfranchisement, no propaganda networks, and clearly a YUUGE majority of Americans just love them some Trump because they just naturally do, okay? NOTHING TO SEE HERE…

    I think it’s interesting that Pelosi is hammering the Q thing, because she’s been up to speed with the Russia thing. I suspect she figures she’s got them dead to rights and all the Dems know they’re dealing with outright traitors and Russian assets. My question becomes, what are we doing to hobble the propaganda networks the Trumpists depend on to be directed by, and fed their kool-aid with? Parler’s offline, at least. Twitter and Facebook have just as much to answer for, but are not purely ideological. Maybe this means the Dems are now able to pressure Twitter and Facebook into not being seditionist enablers?

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