There’s ample evidence of two recurring themes in today’s news:
- Republicans are all-in on a strategy that gratifies 33-ish% of the population because they believe that those folks, plus another 10-ish% of reflexive R’s and swing voters, will be enough to assure victory as long as their voter suppression efforts work.
- Republicans aren’t afraid of the death of the filibuster, and they will continue to use it to deny Democrats legitimate power.
Evidence for 1: Greg Abbott just signed a law that bans abortions in Texas after 6 weeks, with no rape or incest exceptions.
Evidence for 2: McConnell just came out against the 1/6 Commission, which likely means it won’t hit 60 votes.
We’re in a situation where one party takes holding on to power seriously, and another where the Manchinema faction apparently has a death wish. It is not hyperbole to say that the Republicans want to kill the Democratic Party (certainly figuratively, and in many cases, literally), yet I’m afraid quite a few in our party just don’t get it.
Side note: I don’t think the 1/6 commission agreement as it stands is what McCarthy wanted, but that blind pig seems to have yet again found an ear of corn. If the 1/6 commission bill passes, he and McConnell will lard it with partisans who will gum up the works. If it doesn’t pass, they won’t pay much of a political price. Either way, pretty much a draw, which in an environment where delay favors Republicans, makes it a win. I agree with Cole — just start investigating with Congressional committees.
Final point: As someone pointed out on Twitter, gotta love New York AG Tish James, but she sure announces more investigations that she convicts criminals. She announced that she’s joined the Manhattan DA in a criminal probe of the Trump Organization, but call me back when I see a perp walk.
MJS
Agree on all points, but it’s not just Tish James. No one seems to comprehend the need for swift investigations, filing of charges, and trials.
hrprogressive
I believe the citizenry who is not already a part of the Qult need to understand that the Republican Party is stating in plain English they intend to seize power because they believe the Democratic Party is just not a legitimate governing entity / they believe in some sort of ‘divine right’ to subjugate the nation.
Congressional Democrats are busy chasing a “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” version of D.C. that has never existed outside of the silver screen, while the GQP is literally saying “We’re gonna take this, thanks”.
I don’t think this is hyperbolic anymore. This is what they plan to do.
And exhortations to “VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT CUZ IT DOES11111!!!oneonone”
Aren’t gonna save us.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MJS: You’re never going to get quick with anything involving financial crimes, the folk they’re investigating have deep pockets and can afford lawyers to do stuff that slows things up. Also the crimes are usually complicated with lots of paper.
West of the Rockies
Why were Repubes able to launch 9 Benghazi commissions and Dems can’t do something similar?
Salty Sam
Voting like your life depends on it is the first step. We all did that in November. NOW it all depends on what elected officials do with the power we gave them.
I was happy and gratified at November’s outcome. The continuing clusterfuck is leading to despair…
dr. bloor
@West of the Rockies: They can and most likely will if putting together an independent commission dies on the vine.
Parfigliano
Let me know when someone last name Trump or Kushner gets their own mug shot.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Salty Sam: Don’t watch the sausage being made, it’s a slow process and you won’t like the end product after you watch it being made.
James E Powell
This has been a problem since the Clinton years. Far too many Democrats over the last 20-25 years have failed to understand what’s plain to their voters. I am not advocating a left plus alienated center left revolt against Biden/Schumer/Pelosi, but they are going to have one in 2022 if they don’t get moving on an all out assault against Republicans. We did not elect them to make friends with horrible people.
The way I see it, the Republicans have made it clear that High Holy Broderism is not possible because they will not allow it. Democrats need to get moving on their own. The most popular parts of the Biden Administration’s programs have been accomplished without them. Let’s keep going.
Set up a select committee to investigate January 6th.
Start purging the federal agencies of Trumpsters.
Let the investigations of every criminal act begin.
We are engaged in a war for democracy; we need to win it.
Gravenstone
@MJS: Haste makes waste, and in these sorts of cases, acquittals.
Kelly
Secession is an ongoing interest of the reactionary right. In Oregon’s election Tuesday several more sparsely populated deep red counties voted to leave Oregon and Join “Greater Idaho”. Like the secession rumblings in the old confederacy it’s just goober bait. Ain’t gonna happen.
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2021/05/more-oregon-counties-vote-to-move-into-idaho-part-of-rural-effort-to-to-gain-political-refuge-from-blue-states.html?utm_campaign=oregonian_sf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
VOR
Why in the world would anyone think McConnell would be in favor of a real 1/6 investigation?
Baud
@Salty Sam:
There will always be a clusterfuck, precisely because the GOP knows it leads our side to despair.
dr. bloor
@James E Powell:
I’m not sure it’s been plain at all to their voters; they’re called “representatives” for a reason (Joe Manchin isn’t going to lose many votes for keeping the filibuster).
Huge swaths of the population don’t pay enough attention to what’s going on, and are much slower to change. Representatives need to lead as well as follow their constituents, of course, but they can only drag them so far so fast.
Fair Economist
The House committees should start their own investigations into 1/6 while the Republicans try to block the committee. That would make the committee as constituted sail through the Senate because it would give investigating Democrats unblockable subpoena power until the committee is approved.
It’s not like the legislation they’d pass is going anywhere with the filibuster still on.
StringOnAStick
@Kelly: I’m glad to see their proposed borders exclude Bend, the most prosperous city in Central Oregon. I’m sure Greater Idaho will have a large enough tax base to maintain all those long highways.
MJS
@Gravenstone: It’s hardly “haste” if it’s taken almost 2 and a half years, and counting.
Baud
@MJS:
A lot of that time, Trump was using the authority of his office to block the investigation though.
Spanky
I’ve got another one for the list:
If you think this is just about pandemic powers, I’ve got a bridge to sell.
Salty Sam
I don’t mind watching- I’m not squeamish about such things. But like many others here, I’m not seeing sausage being made. The opposition is taking a flamethrower to the kitchen while the current staff is setting the table for a tea party.
I know there is process to be followed- I’ve counseled patience to my lefter-than-thou sons. But the Democratic Party is not showing the sense of urgency that the situation warrants, IMO, and it concerns me.
ETA- I continue to hope that there is activity behind the curtain that will bear fruit. I have been so pleasantly surprised by Joe Biden’s competency…
hueyplong
If you get Ian Kershaw’s book “The End,” and read it, you might feel better about what’s going down right now. Like these a-holes, the Nazis just got worse and worse as they circled the drain.
Everyone agrees the GOP keeps getting worse and worse. But it is the party running a wing of their own group out of town, not us. Yes, it won’t be half, but if it’s 10%, they’re screwed. And the worst of the worst have committed crimes that a non-Barr DOJ is investigating and will eventually be prosecuting.
Vote as if your life depended on it, but do so with the attitude that we won before, and we’ll do it again.
Bex
@?BillinGlendaleCA:&nbs Heard that pressure has been put on Weisselberg to get him to flip. Maybe that would speed things up?
Baud
@Salty Sam:
I’m not sure what signs you are looking for. They are correctly not running around with their hair on fire. That should be left to Twitter.
JMG
Prosecutors of high-profile defendants have to be careful no matter how guilty their target may be. See the OJ Simpson trial. Failure to know their chief police witness had a history of racist comments sank them. Being careful takes time, In white collar cases, it takes even more time, since in addition to building the factual case, the case must also be straightforward enough to explain to nonfinancial types such as we here without their eyes glazing over.
Mike in NC
The turtle is a traitor. Film at 11.
Salty Sam
Good point, and well taken, thanks for the reminder.
Barbara
When I tell myself to keep my eyes on the prize I read posts like this and comments and realize that not everyone has the same idea about which prize is most valuable. Perp walking Trump isn’t in my top 10 list of things that will improve our situation. I am genuinely curious to know why some of you prioritize it so highly.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Salty Sam: It’s watching the processes that raises the blood pressure…we used have a commenter* here who counseled “patience, grasshopper”.
*efg
Calouste
@Kelly: Actually, redrawing some state borders is long overdue (and is something that happens somewhat regularly in other countries). It would make more sense if the Oregon-Idaho border followed the time zone line rather than the current line for example.
but of course the reasons for the vote you mentioned aren’t rational, they are just spite.
Ruckus
@MJS:
shitforbrains hasn’t spent his entire life being the asshole he is for nothing. He did learn that if you can’t leave no trail, leave a very fractured one, that is difficult to follow, difficult to understand (he’s got that part down easy) and while his name is on everything, his named responsibility is difficult to find/prove. He doesn’t know many big words but obfuscate is a concept he’s heard of. IOW, he’s loud and stupid, but also difficult to pin things on. If he was a lot smarter, and had a better heritage, he’d be a mob boss.
Geminid
@StringOnAStick: There was a brief movement last winter for “Wexit,” whereby western Virginia counties would join West Virginia. It went over like a lead balloon. Virginians living near West Virginia know how starved for funding that state is. It’s not their fault. West Virginia lacks any economically dynamic and prosperous areas, while Virginia has three that subsidize investment and services in the poorer western counties.
Anyway, the main problem the Wexiteers wanted to solve was Virginia’s new gun laws, and these reforms had 75%+ approval.
StringOnAStick
Kay has some great comments at the very end of the prior thread on the abortion ban that Abbot just signed for TX, and the abortion case the USSC just agreed to hear will have a decision coming out in in the summer of 2022. I think this will be overreach on their part that will motivate voters on both sides.
A young friend of mine had an ectopic pregnancy two years ago and it was more than 6 weeks gestation. The new law in TX bans abortion at 6 weeks or after a heartbeat is detected; looks like my friend would have died if she’d lived in TX at the time, and these situations are why medical care should be decided by a patient and their doctors, not a political entity.
Salty Sam
Yeah, I know. But there are days (today is one of them) that I’m more like the vultures in that cartoon: “Fuck patience, I’m gonna go kill something…”
zhena gogolia
@Salty Sam:
Oh, what arrant bullshit.
This place is getting really unbearable.
We’re in a fight for our republic. Pick a side and get to work. Stop kibbitzing.
zhena gogolia
@Barbara:
It’s just irrelevant bullshit. But it gives them a chance to criticize Democrats, so they love it.
Kelly
@StringOnAStick:
@Calouste:
Many goofy things about existing state borders. Why isn’t Idaho just part of Montana/Idaho/ Wyoming? States as a unit of government are overrated.
The right wing nuts pick such nutty stuff to get worked up about.
In other news beloved local amusement park “Enchanted Forest” has canceled it’s planned reopening due to scary threats over mask rules. They were barely hanging on due to the plague closures then were hammered by ice storm damage. Saved by a nearly 500k Go Fund Me they were set to open for the summer Memorial Day weekend.
https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2021/05/18/enchanted-forest-cancels-reopening-after-backlash-over-mask-policy/5155388001/
Geminid
@Calouste: Georgia would like to move it’s border with Tennessee and Alabama.The claim is that some sloppy survey two hundred years ago denied Georgia some land on the Tennessee River. Georgia wants the water to supply the future Atlanta megalopolis.
At one point the river is less than a hundred yards from the state line. About ten years ago a Georgia politician teed up at the border and drove his golf ball into a lake on the Tennessee River. He called the land in between “occupied Georgia.”
StringOnAStick
@Geminid: Yeah, we moved here last fall. I’m a little disturbed that eastern OR reactionaries are even crazier than the rural CO ones I was familiar with, and they also aren’t far from where we live now. I’ve seen coal rollers blast loudly through business areas here that had lots of tourists waiting outside for take out in a hipster part of town, but a guy who did that to a bike rider here got convicted of assault last fall too.
rikyrah
Andy Slavitt (@aslavitt46) tweeted at 0:20 PM on Wed, May 19, 2021:
VACCINATION UPDATE:
✅There are over 125 million fully vaccinated Americans
✅Over 60% of adults have at least their first shot
✅In the last 2 weeks more than half the shots have gone to people of color
✅800,000 12-15 year olds have been vaccinated in the first week
(https://twitter.com/aslavitt46/status/1395066944705945613?s=03)
rikyrah
Phuck the Commission
AG Garland needs to appoint a Special Prosecutor ?
Salty Sam
@zhena gogolia:
Is that directed at something I wrote? That is close to the point I was trying to make- help me understand what is bullshit about it?
StringOnAStick
@Kelly: Well that sucks; kick a local business while it’s down.
I suspect that when we get some official reports and charges of real legal jeopardy for the mango moron and his family that stuff like mask threats such as this are going to pick up. I think we’re in for a hot summer as the screws tighten on their cult leader. I also think it will open the eyes of some normies who haven’t been paying enough attention or don’t realize how dangerous 1/6 was and remains.
Barbara
@Geminid: Georgia has been engaged in fights with other states triggered by desperation over the water supply to Atlanta for quite a while. It hasn’t won any of them.
Benw
Local Qnuts and police unions have formed an alliance in my county to take over all the local offices like school boards and town councils with the obvious plan to throttle progress and install rw fascism. They’ve been pretty open about it on social media. Luckily my district elected the non-Qer yesterday.
It feels exhausting but we really do need to mobilize our asses off over the next few years.
Kelly
@StringOnAStick: One of my daughter in laws terminated her first pregnancy at about 12 weeks due to severe problems that would have led to a short miserable life for the child. They told her wingnut fundamentalist family it was a miscarriage. Swore us to secrecy on the truth. Three happy kids in grade school now.
Feathers
@Barbara: Some very wise person back in the territories days proposed splitting up the western US into governing units based on watersheds. Amazing how much better run thing would be if that were the case.
evodevo
@Spanky: deleted because the edit was borked…
Cameron
@Barbara: Trump isn’t a one-off; there are a lot of other slimy creatures in his swamp. Nailing a few of them would provide some sense of accountability.
Having said that, though, I agree with you there are a lot more important things that need to be addressed now.
Omnes Omnibus
Fuck it. Let’s just lynch Trump and have the Dems rule by decree. We’ll get the results we want, right? I mean, fuck process. What real value is there in democracy and the rule of law?
We’re always going to be handicapped. We are supposed to be the good guys. We are supposed to follow the rules and do things right. That takes time and doesn’t always yield the desired results, but that’s a price we must pay to be something other than a left wing version of the GOP.
evodevo
@ Spanky: Yep…our KY GQPer assholes have been busy doing this for months, and vilifying our very capable Gov. while doing it…even as our infection/death rate has been kept low….by those selfsame “unbearable” restrictions
Kelly
@Feathers:
Watersheds for government boundaries would work much better. But at the time the rivers were easy boundaries to define.
JoyceH
@rikyrah:
Eh. We tried that with Mueller. Problem with special prosecutors is that they operate in secret. If you want the news to be dominated by footage of various individuals accompanied by their lawyers going in and out of courthouses, you want a special prosecutor. Me, I’m all for House and Senate committee hearings, televised. Feeling nostalgic for the Watergate hearings, maybe.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: The idea of a commission was not to prosecute, that’s DOJ’s job, what they were supposed to do is find out why 1/6 happened and what steps need to be taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Barbara
@Benw:
Yes, it’s exhausting. On June 1 I plan to start getting more involved in the upcoming Virginia statewide elections but I just can’t bring my self to be all in all the time.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Agreed.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Condolences on your Cocker. They are special pups.
Wapiti
@Barbara: Agreed. TFG is particularly important going forward.
catclub
I would say that the massive disillusionment of GOP voters that a Trump perp walk and trial would create, would depress GOP votes. Gives that practically sane 10% of GOP voters a reason to leave,
catclub
@JoyceH:
Sam Dash and Sam Ervin
Barbara
@catclub: I would call your supposition on that point wishful thinking in the extreme. It would galvanize them around whoever is seen as Trump’s most ardent defender. Geez.
ETA: You know how many people say that Trump is the symptom and not the disease, focusing so intently on prosecuting Trump would seem to feed right into the counter narrative of those like Liz Cheney, who want to see Trump as the root and branch of the problems with the Republican party. Get rid of Trump and let’s get back to suppressing the vote and attacking Iran and torturing Muslims and and and.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks, they are.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I meant to offer my condolences and I think I didn’t. I’m very sorry to hear about the loss.
Kelly
@StringOnAStick: Interesting that you think the Oregon wingnuts are nuttier than the the Colorado variety. I’ve lived in the Willamette Valley and western Cascade foothills all my life so I have no basis for comparison. I thought are craziest Oregon wingnuts are in southwestern Oregon. Douglas, Coos, Curry, Josephine and much of Jackson. Armed right wing gangs (mislabeled as militias) have set up encampments to defend mining claims from environmental laws.
Geminid
@Barbara: You would probably like an article M.D.Russ wrote for Bearing Drift last year. It’s titled “Trump is the Republican President.” Russ examines the proposition the trump somehow hijacked the Republican Party, and blows that idea to smithereens. M.D. Russ is quite a good writer.
JMG
Worth noting that voters in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh primary and other elections yesterday went strongly for the most progressive candidates on the ballot, and that a Democrat won a special state Senate election in Luzerne (northeastern Pa.) County by a far wider margin than Biden’s last November. It is highly premature to assume Democrats have fallen into post-Trump lethargy. Besides, Trump’s gonna start up rallies again. His motto is “how can you miss me when I won’t go away.”
Azhrie139
Honestly, pretty depressing how in denial about the state of things people in this comment thread are. To be clear, I am not saying throw in the towel, but if this is in any representative of the broader Dem party I would bet on long-term minority rule, unfortunately.
Cacti
Republicans goal now is either a fascist dictatorship, or their rule over an undemocratic republic, created through gerrymandering, vote suppression, and Judicial chicanery.
Should they seize power again, they’ll nuke the legislative filibuster in a second the moment it becomes a hindrance to the above goals.
Baud
@Azhrie139:
This crowd hung tough after Trump won in 2016 and helped us claw back. But to each his own.
MomSense
@Omnes Omnibus:
!!!
Cameron
@JMG: Things have really changed in PA since I left five years ago. I’m delighted to hear it and look forward to more!
Baud
@JMG: That’s excellent news.
HinTN
@zhena gogolia:
We’ll never devolve into FDL territory.
JoyceH
@catclub:
Jest an ollllllll country lawyah!
Cameron
@Cacti: It helps to have a very simple agenda: tax cuts for the rich; fuck the poors; and fundie morality laws for anybody who can’t buy their way out. Compare that with something like the ACA – I mean, that’s hard work!
2liberal
@popehat on trump org criminal upgrade: “This is roughly as significant as me saying “my intentions towards Jennifer Lawrence are no longer purely platonic”
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1394838328126541827
HinTN
@Geminid:
Actually, that’s Nickajack Lake. The river channel is lots further. All we’d have to do is lower the lake level and they’d be SOL.
Cacti
@Cameron: I think there’s still a broad level of denial over how close the whole American experiment came to going tits up on January 6, 2021.
And the danger hasn’t subsided in the least.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Thanks, she passed in her favorite place.
Chief Oshkosh
@Ruckus:
Cousin!
Cameron
@Cacti: Absolutely. If you have no interest in actually governing, you can devote all your attention to suppressing votes and spreading disinformation. Will be a long, hard slog fighting this crap, but it’s doable – doesn’t mean we’ll get it done, but it’s doable.
Minstrel Michael
Isn’t a “Manchinema” a medical procedure where they stick a catheter in both sides?
Chief Oshkosh
@zhena gogolia:
Uh, isn’t that what a blog is all about?
Chief Oshkosh
@Barbara: Didn’t it win one against Florida?
Citizen Alan
I read all these comments and all the articles elsewhere and I just feel completely hopeless. I told friends after Bush V. Gore that I expected American democracy to end in my lifetime. Nothing that’s happened since has changed my view except to make me even more pessimistic.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
Just to be clear on my Tish James comment: My issue isn’t that she’s moving too slow. It’s the pre-announcement of starting a criminal investigation. There’s no reason to raise hope (false or real). Just do the work and schedule a press conference when you have results.
hueyplong
@Chief Oshkosh: That was a football game. Sometimes they have effectively claimed Jacksonville.
gvg
@Spanky: In Florida, the cities want to curb the Governor from preventing mask orders and health rules. Our idiot won’t let us require vaccines.
zhena gogolia
@Salty Sam:
It just feels as if every time I come to BJ it’s a bash-Democrats-fest. I have no time for it. Maybe I misread you. If so I am sorry.
gvg
@Bex:
He was supposed to have flipped 2 years ago. I don’t understand his status.
hueyplong
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: There is a theory that the announcement was generated to pressure Trump’s accountant into flipping and worry Trump into thinking that the flipping has in fact happened (and disbelieve the accountant’s denials).
I am fond of that theory and therefore (wishfully) ascribe to it.
zhena gogolia
@Salty Sam:
I now see that this was the sentence in your comment that exasperated me. So sick of this kind of thing.
prostratedragon
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: As I understand it the announcement follows a notification several weeks ago to tfg’s attorneys. So, maybe just a way to control the narrative.
Elizabelle
@hueyplong: Thank you. Good comment.
Omnes Omnibus
@Citizen Alan: Are you simply ignoring the things the Biden Admin has done? It sounds to me like you like you are seeking out the news about problems and ignoring the good news. That creates a negative feedback loop. Try to break out of it.
Geminid
@HinTN: If Georgia ever got it’s hands on that lake, they’d lower the level real quick. But they’ll never get the boundary moved. It’s just part of pipedream of the humungous Atlanta of the future
The story of the early 19th century survey is kind of funny. The surveyers asked the Georgia legislature for better equipment, but were denied. So the surveyors stumbled through the last part. They were probably ready to go home.
Elizabelle
@Omnes Omnibus: I repeat. Thank you. Good comment.
Kelly
@Citizen Alan: Justice has always been been difficult achieve and maintain.
Geminid
@JMG: trump surely motivated Democrats, but I’ve seen no sign of a let down. From what I see, Virginia Democrats are still as united and enthusiastic as they have ever been. Maybe even more.
citizen dave
@Citizen Alan: This view is very depressing but not unrealistic. Thanks, I guess. We need to take our democracy seriously, and teach it to the young-uns
ETA: TFG holding rallies? I doubt it. I don’t think he’ll do jackshit, unless it’s lawsuit defendant.
hotshoe
@Barbara: I will believe Atlanta (and Georgia in general) is serious about water issues when they ban lawn watering altogether, give cash to home and business owners to repair/replace leaking plumbing/toilets, invest capital in capturing/treating/storing roof runoff from storms, etc etc.
Water is probably going to be the worst problem of the rest of this century. Global warming is going to make it so. If we can’t get serious about living within existing limits, how are we going to live with each other when the water limits get stricter?
NB: I live where summer (June through Sept) rainfall is zero. (Okay, technically not zero, average 0.06 inch per month). I have never once watered the landscaping. I don’t mind people “wasting” water where there is water to waste … which is almost nowhere, nowadays.
JoyceH
@citizen dave:
I agree with you – his little turns as wedding crasher don’t show the sort of energy needed for rallies (I suspect they got him off the steroids they put him on when he had COVID), and yet – he and his ‘people’ SAY that he’ll soon start holding rallies. If they don’t at least think that’s possible in the near future, I don’t understand why they’re saying they will.
polyorchnid octopunch
@Barbara: I’ll bite. For far too many years highly placed people have been able to skate on their crimes. This has led to a situation where the crimes happen non-stop because people correctly conclude that the risk to them is close to zero. That needs to end. Personally, I’d suggest going after both the Trumpanzee crime gang and a lot of the Bush crime gang (for their crimes against humanity in Iraq) and really clean up, but I suspect that’s just not going to happen.
All that said… basically until people start seeing that there are consequences for bullshit they’ll keep engaging in bullshit. A good way to get people to see that there are consequences for bullshit would be getting the Trump family to have some.
James E Powell
@zhena gogolia:
That’s like hyperbole upon hyperbole.
Nobody’s bashing any Ds, but there is widespread frustration at the continuing search for bipartisanship and reluctance to confront the Republicans with more forcible rhetoric.
Expressing frustration is one reason there are blog comment sections.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Happy to see this comment, and you.
TomatoQueen
@catclub: Two of the most astonishing days of my young life, John Dean and Alexander Butterfield. My own Senator Lowell Weicker, who couldn’t quite…but got very close. And then, Peter Rodino and Miss Barbara Jordan, may all the gods bless her. And the origin of the PBS News Hour. And best of all, the Constitution, ticking over nicely alla damn time, every damn day, worth a little effort just to keep it going.
ETA 405 errors on Win10Edge have returned yelling “Miss me?”
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: This post set the tone for despair. Definitely a glass half-empty post.
Ruckus
@Barbara:
The republican party has been broken for a long time, decades long. They are a gang, masquerading as a political party.
Omnes Omnibus
@James E Powell: What does confronting Republicans with more “forcible rhetoric” do that going around them and governing doesn’t? Except make some blog people happy I guess.
I’ll take what Biden’s doing over big talk anytime.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
Me too
ETA: I’m not in the Alan Grayson/Anthony Weiner school of rhetoric. And I’ll risk attack by adding Katie Porter in there too, although she’s better.
Ruckus
@hueyplong:
A group of humans who are losing their status and position of power will most often get more and more desperate as their position becomes more precarious, just as a spoiled child will start having tantrums as their bullshit becomes more and more obvious and restrictions are imposed. Fairness and grace were not in their toolbox and it takes time to get them established. We are taking away their ability to be assholes and profit from that and we have to expect them to be pissed about that.
Soprano2
Yep, too many people want to live where there isn’t enough water for them, plus climate change making it worse, makes for a terrible situation.
sdhays
@Barbara: I think it’s highly likely that Donald Trump and his family have been laundering Russian mob money for decades. I think it’s basically an open secret. He shouldn’t have gotten away without legal scrutiny for so long, but with the extra (not enough, but still) scrutiny he received as a major party candidate and then President, it’s obvious that there’s some serious shit going in the Dump Org. As a country, we can’t allow the fact that he was President to let him to continue to get away with his crimes. We’ve normalized enough corruption.
I’m not impatient, and I don’t see it as the most important thing happening, but I do think it’s important, especially since this thing doesn’t rely on Joe “Fucking” Manchin or Krysten “You’re shitting me” Sinema.
You’re right that it might charge up Dump voters, but since 2016, when Dump is what the country is talking about, Republicans have lost elections. Anyway, like impeachment, it has to happen, regardless of the political calculations.
James E Powell
@Omnes Omnibus:
Biden is fine. I’ve got no problem with the president. He strikes the right tone for a president. But the evidence that being good at governing wins elections is pretty thin.
Cable news needs to be fed a constant diet of outrage & drama. If they aren’t getting it from Ds, they will never get off their diet of Republican bullshit.
What prompted my remark was the latest adventure in bipartisan land. It was the subject of a post here by Adam. Today, after both McCarthy and McConnell said they were against it, why not announce that they killed any chance of cooperation and appoint a select committee with seven Ds? Tell McCarthy he gets five members. And get moving on the Jan 6th investigation.
Am I going to not vote D for any reason? No. Are you or any of the others who comment here? No. Are a very large number of people waiting to see whether they will vote and for whom? Yes.
People believed Hillary Clinton was evil & corrupt because there was somebody on TV & cable saying that for years. There was never any evidence, but it was believed. I don’t even watch TV or cable and people with brains are not going to be swayed by anybody coming on and calling Republicans evil & corrupt. But we need a majority.
taumaturgo
Since Trump’s departure, the D’s can’t use the go-to “Trump is evil” meme, and they seem lost without a coherent message to oppose the triple threat of gerrymandering, voter suppression, and policy messaging. Ask any democrat under 40 and you’ll find they share your sense of despair at the lack of urgency and the incomprehensible desire to work 1980 circa. Unless the D’s get their act together and put up a real 2021 fight, the stage is being set up for a repeat of what just happened in Chile.
Barbara
@sdhays: I don’t oppose prosecuting Trump, it’s just not on my list of the most important things that need to be accomplished. The trend you are talking about is bigger than Trump, and even though I get it and agree with you, you don’t fix a trend by going after one high visibility target. That, itself, is part of this trend whereof you speak.
James E Powell
@Barbara:
I agree with you and would add that focusing on Trump as the be all and end all allows the rest of them to avoid consequences.
Cf. Getting Nixon to resign.
Geminid
@James E Powell: I bet you would like that M.D. Russ article too. It’s in the Virginia political magazine Bearing Drift, titled “Donald Trump is the Real Republican President.” A retired Army officer and self-described conservative independent, Russ delivers a perceptive and devastating critique of the modern Republican party.