There’s a handful of showboating, self-styled moderates in the House who fancy themselves a check on the Biden agenda. More notoriously, a pair of alleged centrists in the Senate have taken a wrecking ball to that agenda. One of the latter is occasionally called “President” Manchin given his ability to dictate his terms (“nothing”), and if his fellow obstructionist wasn’t such a flake, she’d probably get co-president billing.
But there’s one congressman who is not only an honest-to-dog moderate Democrat (in that he has a record of taking an incremental approach rather than defining himself in opposition to his own party, wherever it happens to be) but is also able to bend national politics in his direction without laying waste to his party: Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.
Clyburn is credited with resurrecting Biden’s faltering campaign with his endorsement in 2020. He also urged Biden to pick a black woman as his running mate and nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court. And now he’s using his considerable clout — and the temporary absence of New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Lujan — to try to swing the pick to his favored nominee, Judge Michelle Childs of South Carolina:
“I know how to count. I’m the whip,” Clyburn said. “It has to be bipartisan. So I’m reaching out to the two Republicans from South Carolina. I’ve asked them for their support, but I’m talking to other Republicans, as well.”
Clyburn did not say who the other Republicans are that he had spoken to besides Graham and Scott, who he dined with Wednesday in Washington. Graham shared a photo of the trio to his Twitter account. Graham has committed publicly to supporting Childs, if Biden chooses the University of South Carolina Law School graduate.
Senator Lujan is expected to make a full recovery and be back at work in 4-6 weeks. Biden committed to naming a pick by the end of February. The Biden admin chose Doug Jones to act as a “sherpa” for the nominee, signaling that even if they fast-track the nomination, they plan to conduct meetings with senators. They aren’t going to ramrod Biden’s nominee through with the undue haste Republicans did while playing “Beat the Election Clock” with Bony Carrot.
So what’s the big rush, aside from the ever-present terror of the Democratic majority hinging on the health of every member of the caucus, some of whom, unlike Lujan, are truly ancient? It almost seems like Clyburn is manufacturing the bipartisan imperative to gain an edge for his favored pick. That’s either damned cheeky or extremely shrewd or both, depending on your point of view:
In an interview on Friday afternoon, Clyburn said that he met with the Republican senators to seek their support for Childs’ possible nomination.
“The meeting was just about informing them of what I was doing, and knowing full well that you got to have more than 50 votes to get anybody on the court, and it’s got to be bipartisan for us to do that,” Clyburn said.
“We only have 49 votes up here. We have 50 Democrats, with one that will be out for several weeks because of a stroke, and we cannot get it done, unless we get 50 votes,” Clyburn said.
The McClatchy article linked above says Biden spoke with Senator Durbin, who chairs the judiciary committee, as well as Grandpa Grassley (ranking member) and Mitch “Grim Reaper” McConnell. Biden reportedly said he wants “the advice of the Senate as well as the consent.”
If you’re an eleventy-dimensional chess kinda person, you might suspect Clyburn and Biden are orchestrating this whole thing in an attempt to gain Republican support, however scant, for a Biden pick. Maybe. I suspect it’s just another example of Clyburn being an extremely effective and powerful lawmaker who gets what he wants.
Open thread.
burnspbesq
Whatever works.
Cermet
Nothing at all to lose regardless – a few thugs might even vote ‘Yea’ (and while Mitch the bitch won’t, he’s likely to give a behind the scenes OK for any that do want to vote ‘Yea’. That is, if Biden “follows Senate protocol and pretends the bitch gets to have a say.)
MazeDancer
Only a fool would ever bet against Mr. Clyburn.
Out of the very long list of qualified candidates, there are really only 2 confirmable options: Jackson and Childs.
Michelle Childs has control of her future. She has to perform well in her upcoming hearings for the circuit court job.
It would be good to have a “Woman of the People” type from a state school background. OTOH, it seems harsh to hold Judge Jackson’s Harvard credentials against her.
Baud
I suspect that this will be a “normal” process because it’s a lib replacing a lib and, frankly, the Republicans probably think they can get more mileage with their voters by playing the “affirmative action” card than by actually preventing a black woman from being appointed (which they realize is next to impossible unless they can turn Manchin.)
Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan
Good move by Clyburn, one I suspect President Biden is fully onboard with.
Just get it done.
germy
sab
I kind of hope he is successful. She didn’t go to Harvard/Yale. She went to Univ of SC for law school, then Duke. She also has a business Masters in Employment and Human Resources. She has worked on the Restatement of Employment law. So diverse in legal background in addition to race and gender. Her dad was a cop who died when she was a teen in Detroit, so mom moved them to South Carolina. Not a child of privilege like most of the Court.
dww44
From what I’ve read it seems that Clyburn’s pick may be more palatable to Senate Republicans because in her rulings she’s s shown herself to be a pro business and anti worker jurist.
I find it ironic that given its one opportunity to place a judge on the court the Democratic Leaders would choose a person who would be less progressive than the justice she would replace. Would like to know why Clyburn is so enamored of her.
Another Scott
I have no inside knowledge, but Biden was (of course) intimately involved with this stuff for decades in the Senate. He’s probably been talking with Clyburn (and others) for months. They’re doing the usual work to build support and momentum, and make the GQP pay a price if they oppose.
If Biden ends up announcing someone else, for whatever reason, Clyburn will be on board. But sensible whispering campaigns from Democrats are usually to minimize surprises.
Cheers,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
@germy: who is the fcuker?
Baud
@dww44: How else would we crush the left?
Baud
@zhena gogolia: # 8 in this thread.
oldster
I’m happy to have Clyburn talk about bipartisanship, as long as he doesn’t believe it. And I’m happy to have everyone talk about avoiding unseemly haste, as long as they don’t believe it.
What really matters here is getting a new Biden justice on that court, soon, with whatever votes are available. If that means tomorrow with not a single R vote, then that’s good enough for me.
We’re facing the fierce urgency of now: one heart attack loses us the seat. This is not the time to dally or worry about trivialities. Just get it done, however we can.
It’s good politics to talk the happy talk of bipartisanship and process. The problem with Manchema is they believe the bullshit.
debbie
@MazeDancer:
Especially when it’s other Ivy Leaguers doing the holding against her.
Starfish
@dww44: This has been the entire theme of “how Joe Biden got elected.”
Playing it more conservatively has won elections.
However, once in power, the progressives have been more disciplined in delivering the Democratic agenda despite all the whining in the comments section of this blog.
debbie
@germy:
Who is “this fcuker”? Not finding any info on Twitter.
My #8 doesn’t have a name? Or #7 or #9.
John S.
@dww44:
Labor groups have already come out and said they are not thrilled with her record on labor matters. But it’s highly unlikely she would function on the SCOTUS as anything other than a standard liberal justice. She’s not a stealth conservative.
Danielx
@Starfish:
But whining and snarling are what we do best!
Baud
@John S.: Plus, Breyer, while better than any GOP justice, is the worst of the liberal justices
ETA: I don’t know the details, but her being a judge that has to follow 11th Circuit precedent can’t be a good thing for labor.
burnspbesq
@germy:
So according to Our Brogressive Betters (who seem to be all white boys), it’s disqualifying to have practiced management-side labor and employment law.
On one level, it’s good to know we’ll never have to worry about Justice Steve in ATL. But on the level that matters, it’s total bullshit. Are women and minorities not allowed to go into specialties that pay the big bucks?
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Huh? I don’t drink coffee any more so I don’t know what anyone is talking about.
germy
@zhena gogolia:
@debbie:
Alex Sammon, writing for prospect magazine.
He and his associates seem to have picked a few things from her record and amplified them into an air raid siren.
Ohio Mom
@dww44: Ugh. Anti-worker, pro-business? If this is true, I might turn into one of those “there’s no difference between the parties” nut.
Nah, I’m too old and cynical to be thrown off like that, I’ll continue voting straight Blue, as always. My level of enthusiasm does not make my vote count any differently.
zhena gogolia
@debbie: Thank you. I guess I’m not crazy.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
Alex Sammon, I think?
sab
@zhena gogolia: alex sammon
zhena gogolia
@germy: Thank you. Never heard of him. I thought it was going to be Bernie.
Another Scott
@zhena gogolia: The tweeter is complaining about “@alex_sammon” who cites a prospect.org story he wrote.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
@germy:
His tweets do make him seem dickish.
zhena gogolia
@burnspbesq: I know — this makes me crazy.
It reminds me of a (white) student complaining that Lin-Manuel Miranda made a lot of money off Hamilton.
germy
Here’s a good overview of her career so far:
https://www.afj.org/document/j-michelle-childs-fact-sheet/
Geminid
@sab: I am impressed by the fact that Judge Childs has tried cases as a U.S. District Court Judge since 2010, and was a South Carolina Circuit Court Judge. That kind of trial experience is rare on the Supreme Court these days. Justice Sotomayor has it, and she seems a better Justice for this.
Baud
@burnspbesq:
Literally
sab
@burnspbesq:Agreed. With her education, she probably had a hell of a lot of school debt. And then she went on to be a judge, with a lot of surprising holdings for a South Carolina judge. Her court record sure seems different from her private practice attorney record.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
“Joe Rogan’s casual embrace of and repeated engagement of the “n” word in a contextual way, which I do not support, represents the highest principle of free speech for which he should never suffer criticism.”
– Glenn Greenwald, probably
burnspbesq
@dww44:
That is, to put it bluntly, complete and utter bullshit, being put forth by the same white boys who smeared the Vice President as being pro-cop and anti-justice because she was once a DA.
It is ALWAYS false, and sometimes defamatory, to assume that any lawyer shares the values of their clients. There is nothing evil about choosing to work for people who pay their bills on time.
debbie
@dww44:
Breyer? Progressive? Liberal, for sure, but…?
different-church-lady
@Danielx: But, considering it’s the only thing we do, it’s also what we do worst.
@germy:
Which is also what they “do best.
Betty Cracker
@MazeDancer:
Yeah, that bothers me too. I’ve long been of the opinion that it would be better if the SCOTUS wasn’t so engulfed in a tangle of Ivy, but we finally get around to considering institutional diversity, and it’s at the expense of a black woman? Ironic.
oldgold
Wise Solon that he is, Clyburn understands that politics is the art of the possible.
Glad he gave up the piano for a career in politics.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
I’ll add this about Rogan’s “n” word use – they’ve removed 70 segments.
My maternal grandfather (born 1909 inCentral KY to a hardscrabble sharecropper white father) was casually racist, and unfazed by any potential criticism of the things he said. I’d heard him drop that word at the drop of a hat, but I’m damned if I think he said it in my presence 70 times.
Steeplejack
“Doing your own research just got a whole lot easier!” A PSA from MeResearch.
sab
@Betty Cracker: I like Childs broader background. I think we have way too many elite college to elite law school to clerkship justices on the Court already. Childs didn’t follow a direct path for somebody hoping to someday be on the Supreme Court. I think that’s a good thing.
She reminds me of Sotomayor
ETA I guess what I am saying is there are too many people on the Court now whose legal experience and life experience seems to be mostly elite schools then a string of clerkships, without much real life experience outside of that.
Omnes Omnibus
Poke through any judge’s cases and you can find something that looks bad a first glance. Sometimes it is an actual bad decision. Sometimes it was something dictated by precedent over which the judge had no control. Sometimes it’s the fact of the case or the quality of the lawyering. A consistent pattern is one thing; nutpicking is another.
Just an observation. Not picking sides.
Another Scott
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Yup. 70 recorded instances is a lot. You know there’s more out there, waiting to be dropped on him and Spotify. There’s always more.
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” – Maya Angelou
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@John S.:
So old I remember when Sotomayor was an anti-abortion Trojan horse moved into place by the secret Republican Barack Obama
I don’t feel strongly about it, but as others have mentioned I’m not sorry to see the Harvard/Yale pattern broken up for once.
Another Scott
ObOpenThread: Meanwhile, in Youngkin’s Virginia punching down starts at the top. BlueVirginia.US:
Go Ethan!
There are no “moderate” GQPers.
We have to fight them every single day.
Grrr…,
Scott.
germy
Joe made the fox look dumb. They bet against Joe and they lost.
Geminid
@sab: A typical career pattern for Supreme Court Justices is to go from elite law shool to federal clerkship to Supreme Court clerkship, then rotate between law professor and Justice Department policy posts. Then as little as two years on a federal Court of Appeals.
Justice Sotamayor come from a federal appellate court, but before that she was a Federal District Court Judge for some years. Sotomayor began her legal career as an Assistant Attorney for Manhattan County, under the highly regarded Robert Morganthau. She was in private practice when nominated to be District Court Judge.
Another Scott
@Another Scott: For example, …
(via Popehat)
Cheers,
Scott.
Layer8Problem
@germy: Paraphrasing Henry Blake, you’re always wrong Fox, that’s what’s so Right about you.
germy
@Another Scott:
The “it’s just science” racists are the most prevalent online. Their God is, of course, Andrew Sullivan.
Steeplejack
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
It’s up to 113 now. Dunno if they’re all because of the n-word.
germy
@Layer8Problem:
“If this is wrong, I don’t wanna be right…” (Doocy)
Chief Oshkosh
@burnspbesq:
You know who else paid their bills on time?…
/s
Betty Cracker
@sab: I don’t know enough about either one to have a preference, but it just occurred to me that if Biden’s pick is confirmed, 100% of the sitting justices nominated by Democratic presidents will be women. Interesting!
different-church-lady
@Steeplejack: Now if they’d only treat the episodes with COVID misinformation just as seriously.
different-church-lady
@Chief Oshkosh: My parents?
sab
@Betty Cracker: How odd, since women are more than half the population. //
All nominated by presidents with working wives.
debbie
@Another Scott:
He’s too afraid to attack an adult. “Read the room, buddy.”
germy
Mai Naem mobile
I don’t care whether its Jackson or Childs – i want whoever is more liberal. Childs is Catholic and on the board of a local Catholic school so she doesn’t seem like a cafeteria Catholic. I do think the USSC has too many Catholics. Jackson is 5 years younger so I may favor her just based on that.
sab
@John S.: South Carolina AFL/CIO likes her.
debbie
@germy:
Since when is it fun to mock job losses of any size? ?
sab
@Mai Naem mobile: Jackson is also Catholic.
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
Team Youngkin has deleted the tweet they sent to the high-school kid, but, as we know, the Internet is forever. Ethan’s tweet and Team Youngkin’s reply here.
debbie
@Mai Naem mobile:
It might be fun if she sides with abortion rights, or at least doesn’t condemn them out of hand, to watch the Church’s collective head to explode.
Cameron
@germy: “Everybody?” Clan Moran at Fox may be “everybody” in his world, but surely isn’t “everybody” anywhere else.
Mai Naem mobile
@germy: i had a client, a Fox Noose watcher who was just giddy when Chicago lost their Olympics bid in ’09. Remember, the economy was in the toilet and we could have used any boost we could have gotten but this woman was happy that Chicago lost the bid because it make Obama look bad. Her daughter let me know that Obama went to vacation in Hawaii every year like it was some elite luxe vacation(this after W going to Texas every weekend.) I honestly don’t think she knew Obama had roots in Hawaii. Thankfully I don’t have to deal with these people anymore.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: I remember when Sotomayor’s Catholicism meant that she was going to oppose reproductive choice.
FFS, no Democrat is going to nominate an anti-choice Justice. Whoever gets the nod will be a solid liberal and will disappoint some people on some issues because no one’s Platonic ideal of a Justice actually exists.
A Good Woman
@Another Scott:
The tweet has been deleted. I did see the thread where Youngkin was being dragged about it.
Mike in NC
@Another Scott: He needs to be called Glenn Trumpkin every single day.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: Have you followed the voter registration story out of South Florida? Last fall it was news when Florida’s Republican voter registrations exceeded those of Democrats. Now it turns out that Republican canvassers have been tricking voters into switching party registration.
Miami TV station WPLG Local10 had a story about this February 3. Their reporter interviewed three senior citizens who were surprised to discover their party registration was changed. Then yesterday The Daily Beast reported that Miami Beach-Dade County(?) Mayor A. Levine Cava says she wants to get to the bottom of this matter..
different-church-lady
@debbie: When you have contempt for the working class.
schrodingers_cat
I have no opinions on who should be the next Supreme Court judge. I am sure whoever Biden picks will be a better justice than the Conservative 6.
I woke up today to a sad news. The voice of India, Lata Mangeshkar is no more. Her voice defined at least 3 generations of music in India. Her career spanned decades from the 1940s to the mid aughts. Besides giving her voice to innumerable leading ladies of Indian cinema in the myriad languages of India. She also composed music for 6 movies.
She was 92. And she passed away yesterday due to COVID related complications.
There will be no one like her ever again. She was also from Mumbai and just one degree of separation from me. RIP Lata Didi.
Some of her best.
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
Sorry to hear of the loss of this artist. Thanks for the link to the clips.
dww44
@burnspbesq: what I read came from Sarah at Crooked Media. I don’t know who Alex Sampson is and I don’t read the American Prospect. In checking her sources, I see Lazarus linked to his article. I just read it and thought the article was measured. Others say examples he provided were not representative of her judicial rulings, but for me personally I am suspicious of the GOP’s early support of this nominee. They would never support a truly progressive nominee.
Mai Naem mobile
@sab: I did not know that. I like the idea of a non Ivy League USSC justice. I hope if Childs gets it, she doesn’t have any kind of imposter syndrome not being an Ivy league grad.
Leto
@Omnes Omnibus: Omnes out here shattering the unicorns and rainbows coalition… //
Kay
@Another Scott:
I didn’t think anything could surprise me, but that surprised me. Youngkin will come to regret declaring himself superintendent of every public school in the state. Tens of wealthy and arrogant finance types have run aground on that in politics, and he will too. School boards are local for a reason. Mayors have trouble navigating public schools and many mayors have much authority over public schools than a governor does- he wants to micromanage every public school in the state? Good luck with that.
We should start administering and scoring a basic civics test that every wealthy asshole who wants to enter politics has to take and pass. They don’t seem to understand our basic governing structures, despite their extremely expensive private educations.
Omnes Omnibus
@Leto: I gotta be me.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat: I’m sorry.
The greatest Gogol scholar, Yury Mann, died on 2/4, also at 92.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: I did see that, and I hope someone gets to the bottom of it. Within the past couple of years, there was a similar story up near where I live, i.e., hundreds of miles from Miami. Same kind of deal: a voting registration canvasser who changed people’s party affiliations to Republican without their knowledge.
I have no idea if there’s any connection to the Miami case, but we do know FL Repubs have been doing a big push to drive up numbers so they could crow about overtaking Dems. And given that FL Repubs are crooked as hell at the individual and institutional level, it wouldn’t be surprising if the fraud was coordinated.
Mai Naem mobile
@schrodingers_cat: saw that this morning. For non South Asians on BJ, Lata Mangeshkar dying is like losing a combo Aretha Franklin/Barbara Streisand/Dolly Parton. She dominated female Bollywood playback singing for decades. She’s going to have a state funeral and the Indian flag is being flown at half mast in mourning. She just had an incredible life.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mai Naem mobile: Good context. Thanks. RIP
schrodingers_cat
@Mai Naem mobile: A. R. Rahman (known to western audiences because of Slumdog Millionaire) said it the best, her voice wove the nation together. (I am paraphrasing).
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: Tricking voters into switching party registration seems petty and obnoxious. This tells me that the effort was deliberate and coordinated by Republicans.
prostratedragon
Living a great adventure, from Togo to Greenland.
Lacuna Synecdoche
Michelle Childs will be 56 years old next month.
Ketanji Brown Jackson is 51.
Leondra Kruger is 45.
Given GOP intransigence, I’d prefer one of the younger nominees for SCOTUS over Childs – which is to say, I’d prefer whoever is likely to last longest on the bench.
Betty Cracker
A Republican on one of the Sunday shows has an opinion about Biden’s SCOTUS pick:
Recall that Murkowski voted to shove Coney Barrett down our throats as an election loomed. Only Democrats are obligated to manufacture bipartisan support and unity.
different-church-lady
I really want to say “Don’t be a sap” but I’m not going to.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Obviously. But not every Dem nominee is a Catholic.
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: To whom do you want to say it?
different-church-lady
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m not going to say that either. But it ought to be easy to figure out.
Kay
I think Democrats should make an effort towards bipartisanship if there’s some political payback for it, either with a reciprocal concession by Republicans or some actual, measurable benefit with voters. I’m just not convinced voters care about it. If they did there would be very few Republicans elected. The theory seems to be that voters care a lot if Democrats are bipartisan, but care not at all that Republicans aren’t. That doesn’t make sense to me. If they’re loosely ideologically attached voters wouldn’t they insist both sides seek bipartsanship? I know “bipartisan for Democrats, partisan for Republicans” is the media rule, but is it the voter rule? Have Republicans ever suffered any political repercussions at all for seating really far Right judges? Not in my lifetime.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
CNN says she also says this:
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: Vomit!
different-church-lady
@Kay: The warfare is hella asymmetrical. That probably factors in to Clyburn’s approach. Dems have no choice but to put on a show of bipartisanship that repugs don’t.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: “Why don’t you bore a hole in yourself and let the sap run out?”
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
And the threat seems to be they’ll lose voters if they don’t. But is that true? If it is true, why isn’t it true for Republicans? After all, they’re swing voters, or so we’re told.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay:
Arguably in 1992. Possibly in the ’18 mid-terms. I don’t remember a lot of discussion of the USSC in presidential campaigns from 2000 to 2016
Miss Bianca
@debbie: As opposed to all the thoroughly mediocre – to say nothing of outright hackish – white guys and gals Murkowski supported for SCOTUS when nominated by Republicans.
If anyone still has any doubt that the central tenet of white supremacy is affirmative action for white people, doubt no longer.
different-church-lady
@debbie: Well it sounds like she’s got at least four to pick from.
Of course she could always go the “just not that black woman” route…
Mai Naem mobile
@schrodingers_cat: i didn’t really appreciate Indian music till I was well into adulthood. Heck, I didn’t even know Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar were sisters till google. Ofcourse, she did way more than pop music but good pop songs are hard to do and she probably did dozens of really good memorable ones.
debbie
@different-church-lady:
You’re likely right.
Kay
@different-church-lady:
I’m questioning whether Dems have “no choice”. I think it’s a period where Democrats should start looking at assumptions they have operated under in a real way- revisit all of it. When things are bad you can go one of two ways – you can retreat to what you think you know or you can revisit what you think you know and see it if still holds up. I want Democrats to step back and ask why they do what they do and what it’s based on. I don’t deny any of it is true. I’m saying it’s worth taking a hard look at it and see if these approaches still have value.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I’ve seen surveys where voters express disgust at political bickering and say they want the parties to work together. That’s a plausible, if annoying, general attitude. But do voters actually punish candidates for being too partisan? It sure doesn’t seem so.
Leto
@debbie: I think it was Tennessee that a school board removed a book about MLK because it “promoted CRT.” As thethinblackduke told me two days, “this was always the end goal.” The apartheid party continuing to do its thing.
Edmund Dantes
@oldster: This. He can dog and pony it however he wants so long as it doesn’t interfere with the speed factor.
If he is doing anything to slow down the process cause he thinks it helps him get his preferred candidate, then fuck him. Cause as noted above any of the Candidates will be a fine democratic jurist. The most important thing is getting one on the court before we are forced to deal with Mitch McConnell as majority leader again.
Cermet
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: That’s because he also used “Planet of the Apes” as a racist theme as well. So not just the “N” word but the “A” word as well. That fucker is a deep racist and proud of it.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
Right but “political bickering” (perceptions of) is mostly optics and management, right? They only notice there’s “political bickering” when a Manchin and a Sinema are permitted to make that the single narrative for 9 months. I mean, there was some political bickering going on with Barrett, so Republicans jammed it thru it 27 days, aware that the longer that went on the worse they would look.
They just effectvely overturned Roe v Wade by decree, a completely partisan and ideological and radical lurch. If this theory were true I would expect a shellacking for them in the midterms, yet they’re poised to pick up seats.
Mai Naem mobile
@Betty Cracker: maybe its because you’re talking about a survey of general voters vs a survey of primary voters. Even more clarification with general every 4 year voters vs partisan primary voters who vote in every single election.
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: Thank you for sharing.
prostratedragon
[To schrodingers_cat; for some reason my browser sometimes doesn’t give the reply reference lately]
Sorry to hear that. As I suspected, hers is the voice I’ve come to recognize from many movies, in an impressive range of material. RIP
Baud
@Kay:
It’s still abstract to most people outside of Texas.
James E Powell
@Lacuna Synecdoche:
I’m with you. Others are looking at the women on the short list & checking their published opinions. I’d be checking their family’s health history, parents still alive or age when they passed, etc. I’m only half kidding.
And with respect to past rulings & past employment, I think we overrate those things. Once she’s on the court, she can be the jurist she’s always wanted to be. She can also change and grow in the job, as many justices do.
Whoever Biden picks, let’s get excited, get her confirmed, and celebrate the win. This is a great moment in our history.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Good point. I like the idea of questioning assumptions.
James E Powell
@debbie:
That reads like a set up for “I will support an African American woman, just not this African American woman.”
Baud
@James E Powell:
Who knows? Their words mean nothing.
prostratedragon
Guardian obit, Lata Mangeshkar
James E Powell
@Kay:
Because the defining characteristic of all Republicans is that they hate Democrats and everything we stand for. Every day they tell their people that we are evil and out to destroy their way of life. They cannot make a deal with any Democrat.
Swing voters are default Republicans who have an occasional bout of decency, but that is often overcome by threats of horrible things, like a female president.
schrodingers_cat
@Mai Naem mobile: Not just Hindi films. She sang in Marathi and Tamil, Punjabi and many other languages too. She was phenomenal.
Here she is singing after India’s defeat in 1962 against Chinese incursion.
A song that brought tears to the eyes of Nehru. It was sung for the first time on the Republic Day in 1963.
Steeplejack (phone)
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I’m sorry.
JML
Republicans always find a reason to vote no. Then the media pretends it’s the Democrats fault for making them vote no. This is why I want to go through the DC media corpse with a flamethrower, get all of those insider losers out of there and start fresh. The DC media is fatally corrupt and they have no idea about it and can’t see how far and deep the rot goes. Everyone else can see the patterns and these fools pretend they’re the last honest people in the district, when the truth is they’re as much to blame for the gridlock and failure on the Hill as the lunatic GOP (which should really rename itself the Know-Nothing Party and bring that smidgin of honesty back).
The worst political trends for me over the last 30 years:
Glory b
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I read a short time ago that it’s now up to 110.
James E Powell
@Kay:
Agree with one (maybe) exception. I have no evidence but I think Amy Coney Barrett cost them votes.
I know two tote-baggers of the “you have to admit that Democrats aren’t good either” variety who were outraged & driven to action when Trump & McConnell rammed Barrett through. Pretty sure their anger was fueled by the fact that they had assured themselves and everyone they knew that something like that would never happen.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Another Scott:
Not to worry – Spotify is paying him superstar pro sports money for that sort of content….
Baud
@Glory b:
@Steeplejack (phone):
Who would have guessed being an antivaxxer was one of his better qualities?
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: She has the most beautiful voice. Thank you for sharing. Gives me chills.
Baud
@James E Powell:
Interesting. First I heard of their existence. Too bad there weren’t more of them in Maine.
Kathleen
@Kathleen: Oh, and on my You Tube rotation after this piece is a delightful documentary about Vince Guaraldi, (The Gospel According to Vince Guaraldi), which features his delightful music as well as interesting tidbits about the creation of his Peanuts soundtracks. It is so uplifting. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB4w5LO4ESY&ab_channel=TimVanNoord
mrmoshpotato
@Steeplejack: LOL! Well done, Sara!
Glory b
@schrodingers_cat: I saw that and how important she was. RIP.
debbie
@James E Powell:
If she goes that way, she’ll need to be asked very publicly exactly what it is about that candidate that’s so wrong. You just know Jen will be there immediately to ask that question as many times as it takes to get an answer.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
“More moderate” doesn’t and shouldn’t mean “more conventional”. There are and should be moderate politicians in the Democratic Party because there are a lot of moderate Democrats, but having them shouldn’t mean we don’t question political assumptions we make. Obama won with appeals to bipartisanship, but is that why he won? Or was he a really talented individual who had a whole range of appeals and that one was not as important as some others?
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
Had she retired? I can’t remember how many times she performed, but the number was so huge, it seemed she would have worked all day, every day for years and years.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
A very sweet description.
This news of her passing is very sad, and doubly so that her death was Covid related.
She certainly seems to have had a long and remarkable career.
May she rest in peace.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Thank you for that.
different-church-lady
@Kay: You might be right, but the press is the middle man. Dems will get the shit beat out of them in the media the moment they try to fight fire with fire, and clearly at least some voters will be swayed by it.
mrmoshpotato
Just a friendly reminder.
WaterGirl
@raven: What does that mean?
Yutsano
Since the thread be open…this seems relative to our interests. Plus, well….feed your raptor!
debbie
@mrmoshpotato:
Wish he’d remembered to include Trump’s releasing 5,000 Taliban prisoners as part of his “deal” with the Taliban.
trollhattan
Oh, look, as though we needed another reason to hate crypto “money.”
mrmoshpotato
@Yutsano: Or at least leave some food out in the kitchen.
Brachiator
@sab:
Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and received her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, where she was an editor at the Yale Law Journal.
I will accept and applaud whoever Biden nominates. I certainly don’t care if they have an Ivy League background.
I like Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson because she has experience as a public defender. I also think it would be cool to have a Justice named “Ketanji.”
I also like Justice Leondra Kruger because she is from my state, California.
Of course all of these women, and others whose names have been mentioned, are supremely qualified.
I don’t care about the bipartisan nonsense, but if Childs would get GOP support, it would look good to the dim-witted.
I would love it if Biden gets to make more Supreme Court nominations, and I would love it if every nominee was a black woman.
mrmoshpotato
@debbie: Notable and deplorable (the traitorous, orange shitstain) but outside the point.
Redshift
@different-church-lady:
I don’t think we should just assume that’s unchangeable and give up. Part of the reason Republicans don’t get beat up like that is because everyone (and in particular, everyone in the media) knows they’re like that, so it’s not “news” when they do it. (Similar to how “Republicans acting like assholes” is expected, so not news.)
Arguably, if Dems abandon the bipartisanship fetish, it could also cease to be news after a while. It’s not a sure thing, but a period when the GOP is officially behind overthrowing the government to put TFG in power seems like a good time to try.
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan: You would’ve thought idiots would’ve smartened up after MtGox shut down and stole everything.
mrmoshpotato
What the duplicate, Batman?
Geminid
@Kay: Most people seem to approve of bipartisanship when stated as a principle. I wonder if as many care or notice in practice. I am reminded of how a majority of people will tell pollsters that they dislike negative political advertising, while other studies show that negative advertising still works.
James E Powell
@Brachiator:
I feel the same way about the senate. It may be my last remaining shred of optimism or naivete, but I believe if the quivering masses of white, (semi-) independent voters simply saw & heard more African-American men & women in positions of authority, they would get used to the idea and stop freaking out about it.
Gin & Tonic
Dorothy A. Winsor
OT but have we heard from JR in WV today? He was in the ER with his wife last night. They thought she’d had a small stroke
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
The public expects Congress and the president to get things done. In polling, the public seems to be unaware of Republican obstructionism, or they discount it. It is weird how the general public consistently ignore the details of Beltway news. Or they just get annoyed at the political in fighting and don’t care who started it.
Trump supporters blamed “both sides” for political gridlock, even though they also particularly hated Democrats.
When the GOP pull stunts like shutting down the government, voters pay attention and will sometimes punish Republicans.
ian
@burnspbesq:
What about Sydney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Lin Wood, or John Eastman? Can I make assumptions about their values? If they were just doing it for the money, does that absolve them?
sab
@Brachiator: I know she has Ivy League education, but she then went on to have real legal jobs in private practice and in DAs office. She didn’t just go from clerkship to clerkship to think tank.
James E Powell
@Brachiator:
Although I am wary of “messaging” as a major issue, it annoys me that we Democrats are not pounding this into the brains of the American voters. Ads should be running on every social media platform.
We spent months talking about Manchin & Sinema, when it was really the entire Republican party.
Frank Wilhoit
@burnspbesq: Well, … no. What this neglects is the profound corrosiveness of performance. It is not a question of whose performance, or which performance, or better/worse performance; it is a question of any performance. Our problem — everybody’s problem — is “lol nothing matters”. This is reinforced by every performance, whether it is revolutionary or nostalgic. Even the violence, which is the new hot box-office smash, is video-game violence. The people who are willing to initiate it think, on some level, that if you die you just restart the game. Witness the perfectly genuine, and genuinely panicky, reactions of the headbreakers who are being prosecuted — and, at that, mostly fairly gently.
Clyburn radiates gameplay here and it is gameplay per se that is toxic, not any particular style of gameplay.
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
Is he good to follow for information about Ukraine? I remember when he was with NPR, but he seems to have soured on them.
Spanky
@Dorothy A. Winsor: No, but a late night in the ER means he’s exhausted and probably has his hands full. Waiting is not easy, I know.
Brachiator
@Redshift:
I like that Biden kinda talks about a bipartisanship of the American public as much as he talks about working with the Republicans.
But I get tired of Fox News and other conservative media sources deliberately ignoring GOP obstructionism.
And when the GOP has a majority, they have no problem with excluding Democrats when legislation is drafted, and then demanding that Democrats demonstrate bipartisanship by voting for it.
schrodingers_cat
@debbie: Her last movie was in the mid aughts IIRC.
Do Paal 2004 Veer Zaara (about star crossed loved lovers from India and Pakistan)
Tere Liye (For you)
Do Paal (Two moments)
zhena gogolia
@James E Powell:
Right on!
Kay
@Geminid:
Look at two issues. Abortion and guns. Republicans have gone far, far Right on both of them over the last ten years and it has not harmed their political prospects at all.
The mainstream anti-abortion position on the Right now is that a woman should be forced, by the state, to carry the child of the womans rapist to term. There’s no further Right to go.
Guns? They oppose any gun regulation of any kind. None of this was “bipartisan” at all. They paid no pilitical price at all. What’s the harm in Democrats taking the assumption off the table and asking the question anew- “does ny of this make sense for us politically what is it based on, and why do we do it?”
ANY organization should do this periodically. It is past time Democrats did it.
Mike E
@James E Powell: And, the entire 4th Estate.
Brachiator
@James E Powell:
I admit that I have a bias against the notion of “narratives” and “messaging,” but I also think that the average person votes and then just gets on with life, and expect Congress and the president to do their jobs. The people prefer to remain ignorant of the work of politics and will resist most attempts to try to “educate” them.
This is not to say that voters are stupid or low information. They are just stubborn about not caring about politics, or paying a great deal of attention to it.
And yeah, this can be bad or dangerous, but thinking about politics is just not a priority for many people. They just want results and don’t care how it gets done.
lowtechcyclist
@Steeplejack: Like I said a day or two ago, he really hasn’t wasted any time showing his true colors. He is, to use a political science term of art, an asshole.
lowtechcyclist
@Gin & Tonic: Wow. I sure hope that general is careful to only eat and drink food prepared by people he trusts, and stays out of tall buildings.
You’d think even GOPers would realize that someone who practices ‘cancel culture’ the way Putin does is one of the Bad Guys.
dww44
@debbie: I don’t believe I was calling him a progressive; I used the term “less progressive.” I believe many of us out here in the hinterlands use the terms interchangeably and don’t find it necessary to distinguish between the two.
What is the difference as applied to Stephen Breyer? The fact that he sticks up for the non-existent comity on the current court and his desire to continue to view it as not political? I think that makes him a bit purposefully obtuse and naive.
Mart
@Betty Cracker: Tonight on Tucker Carlson, Why do Democrats hate white men? “100% of the sitting justices nominated by Democratic presidents will be women. Interesting!”
Geminid
@Kay: We do not yet know if Republicans will pay a price for their latest gun rights extremism. Now that they are about to pass permitless concealed carry in Ohio, Democratic state legislative candidates should make it an issue, I think. I know Democrats in Virginia made gun safety a winning issue in 2017 and 2019. Last year Youngkin succeeded by keeping his positions on gun rights and reproductive rights in the background.
Starfish
@Leto: I believe it was the Tennessee school board that removed the book Maus. It was a North Carolina school board that removed a book called Dear Martin. It is confusing because a lot of bozos everywhere are doing this.
trollhattan
Oh, Canada. Pants optional.
ETA would move to new thread, too lazy.
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
Thanks. It seemed to me, hearing bits of Indian films over the years, that the same woman always seemed to be singing, but I didn’t realize until now that that was literally true.
Geminid
@Brachiator: My friend Stephanie would watch the lousiest ball game before she watched the best political show. She has paid little attention to the issues people here wrangle over. Stephanie is a very aware person though and has formulated her politics through life experience. She never misses an election, and she always votes Democratic.
Brachiator
@sab:
Which of Biden’s potential nominees worked for a think tank?
I am glad that the black women being considered have shown that they have excelled on the judicial track used to assess white male candidates. It undercuts many bullshit arguments. That’s just political and racial reality. But yeah, it would be good to get beyond this.
Ultimately, though, I want a judge who is as thoughtful and as humane as David Souter, who was furiously opposed by many groups for being a stealth candidate without a paper trail. People feared he would be a right wing ideologue, or Scalia’s puppet.
But Souter said this at his confirmation hearing:
TriassicSands
I want the best justice. Not going to an Ivy League college is NOT a plus, just like going to one is NOT a requirement.
I care about past judicial and professional records and Sammon’s articles give me pause concerning Childs. Let’s be honest, we want the best, strongest voice for a particular interpretation of the Constitution, and we can’t afford surprises (a reverse “Souter”).
Yes, African American women can go for the big bucks, just as long as they are willing to answer for their records. Just like everyone else.
Personally, I would set a minimum age for the SCOTUS at 50, and, given the way the GOP plays this game, older is not better. That would, at this point, have be leaning in the direction of Jackson.
Geminid
@Brachiator: Souter had an atypical path to the U.S. Supreme Court. Like Sandra Day O’Connor, Souter was a state Supreme Court Justice first.
trollhattan
@TriassicSands:
Disqualifying: eats live bats, member of Federalist Society.
Not necessarily in that order.
lowtechcyclist
@Brachiator:
Say simple things. Say them over and over again. In many cases it’ll be necessary to do this for years, before it gets on TV or in the newspapers or in social media often enough to sink in so that it registers with people, not necessarily as something that’s true, but just that it’s something being said.
A Good Woman
@Betty Cracker:
I read through this thread, found the CNN report and tweeted the good Senator about her flip. I have no problem calling these people out by name on Twitter and she needs to be reminded the internet is forever, as are Senate votes. Thank you Ballotpedia!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: I wearing pants a requirement?
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Robes for everybody!
Pants, schmants.
J R in WV
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I’m at the hospital now, wife is still in bed 11 in the ER, people are on beds in the hall, there are no open beds in the hospital.
They now think she didn’t have a stroke, because her symptoms are not limited to one side. But what it is remains obscure.
Covid has had a catastrophic impact on a great institution here… thanks, Covidiots! Miserable people in a bed in the hall, with no privacy, at least they are wired into nursing central and in line for a room eventually. And gER etting good care in the meantime.
Wife had a 2nd MRI, is having high blood pressure issues but not miserable. The ER isn’t really designed for long-term care, they are doing the best they can though!
trollhattan
@J R in WV:
Thank you for the update, and wishing for a proper diagnosis, effective treatment, and a quick exit from that hospital!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: Hope they find the issue and can fix things. I know even pre-COVID, there was a wait for rooms here, I was in the ER for about 12 hours after my fall about 12 years ago.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: President Biden will be coming out with an announcement about cryptocurrency – I don’t know the exact date, but Jen Psaki mentioned it last week.
NotMax
@Mart
cough/em> Merrick Garland cough/em>
planetjanet
@germy:
The funniest thing about the clip from Steve Doocy is that at the end, he said he talked with Fox’s White House correspondent, who still lives upstairs. Doocy Two can’t even rent his own apartment?
zhena gogolia
@J R in WV: So frustrating. I hope things look up soon.
Mart
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “I don’t remember a lot of discussion of the USSC in presidential campaigns from 2000 to 2016” – you are not attending your local megachurch.
schrodingers_cat
@debbie: There have been other greats too. Her sister Asha Bhonsale and Geeta Dutt to name just two. Just that no one has had either her range or longevity.
schrodingers_cat
@Kathleen: Thanks! She was the voice of my childhood and she was my grandmother’s generation. Her first hit was in 1949 and I know its every word.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
I’m old enough to remember when Kagen was being denounced as …. [checks notes] ….. “unqualified” by LGM and Big Orange and the firebaggers.
It takes some kind of knucklehead to say the first female Solicitor General in US history and the first female Dean of Harvard Law is “unqualified.”
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: Though she was in the public eye she feels like a friend and loved one. May she Rest In Peace.
schrodingers_cat
@Kathleen: Thanks. Not just for me but for people of Indian heritage in India and the diaspora. She was one constant for rapidly changing country for over 70 years.
rikyrah
@Brachiator:
Ketanji with locs. The thought of a Supreme Court Justice with locs would have been unimaginable when I was a child.
There was a Tik Tok video that had a screenshot of the rumored top nominees. The guy in the video pointed to Childs’ picture and said.
Pick this one, Joe.
Though, I believe that the picture of Childs was chosen to make her look bad, to the Black eye, Childs had on the face that said
” I wish a muthaphucka would. ”
I had to LOL with the pic.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Thank you for sharing.
Rest In Power??
rikyrah
@J R in WV:
????????