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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tuning Spork USA (Open Thread)

Tuning Spork USA (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  December 23, 20224:59 pm| 82 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

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Remember Charlie Kirk, the Turning Point USA Republican youth organization guy who has a cantaloupe-dimensioned face on a watermelon-sized head? (No really, google images for the name — he’s just odd looking!) Anyway, he’s attempting to flex on the RNC in ways that are roiling that already roiled organization, according to WaPo (gift link):

In a Monday email to the 168 members of the Republican National Committee, [Kirk] told them that donors and activists would desert the party unless it changed. The result, he said, would be colossal failure in the 2024 presidential election.

“How do we plan to win in 2024 if you so boldly reject listening to the grassroots, our donors, and the biggest organizations and voices in the conservative movement?” he asked in the message, which was obtained by The Washington Post. “If ignored, we will have the most stunted and muted Republican Party in the history of the conservative movement, the likes of which we haven’t seen in generations.”

The extraordinary message came in the midst of a bitter GOP leadership contest, with incumbent RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel seeking to beat back a challenge from Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney and committee member from California who has been paid for legal consulting by former president Donald Trump’s political action committee, among numerous clients. Kirk and his allies have vigorously promoted Dhillon, hosting her on various media platforms and staging a straw poll at a recent Turning Point summit in Phoenix.

There’s an intraparty slap-fight here in Florida between Dhillon and McDaniel proxies too, and I can’t quite suss out what’s behind it as it’s not breaking down across known GOP fault lines. Known by me, I mean. Maybe y’all know? Anyhoo, rooting for injuries, let us savor, etc.

Open thread!

ETA: I get that the GOP faithful are pissed off about underperforming in three straight cycles, but is this a pin-the-loser-tail on McDaniel thing? Because it looks like Dhillon and McDaniel are both pretty Trumpy. And he’s the loser. Is this a function of denial? A refusal to see the gigantic, loser-stinky orange elephant in the room?

 

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Reader Interactions

82Comments

  1. 1.

    trollhattan

    December 23, 2022 at 5:05 pm

    Is it more complicated than a power play? Seems foremost is always pocketing the most money, and getting jerks elected is the bonus trip past the dessert buffet.

    ETA crap, CDC just placed the county on its “high” covid level.

    Case Rate per 100,000 population: 214.62

    New COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population: 16.6

    % Staffed inpatient beds in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19: 9.4%

  2. 2.

    Tom Levenson

    December 23, 2022 at 5:08 pm

    I hope the contest is prolonged, bitter, painful to all involved, and imperfectly resolved, so they can do it all again next year.

    Santa: that’s my holiday wish. Not too much to ask, amirite?

  3. 3.

    p.a.

    December 23, 2022 at 5:09 pm

    The infighting is harder to figure than the old USSR/Kremlin power rankings.  All claim to want Republican nirvana *shudder* but who are the true believers, who are the scammers and grifters, and who are a mix?

  4. 4.

    H.E.Wolf

    December 23, 2022 at 5:10 pm

    Ronna Romney McDaniel.

    Like Newton Leroy Gingrich, apparently she’d rather her middle name not be used.

  5. 5.

    Bobby Thomson

    December 23, 2022 at 5:11 pm

    McDaniel has been in charge while bad things happened, so it’s not unusual a lot of people would want someone new.  This isn’t like when Steele got sacked despite good results.

  6. 6.

    JanieM

    December 23, 2022 at 5:14 pm

    I can’t quite suss out what’s behind it as it’s not breaking down across known GOP fault lines.

    If there’s anything in it besides what @trollhattan: said, maybe they’re each sure the other one’s doin’ it ‘rong. I.e., *they* would be handling Clickbait more effectively.

  7. 7.

    Jeffg166

    December 23, 2022 at 5:15 pm

    More purity purges in the GQP. Hope the last one standing turns out the light.

  8. 8.

    Ladyraxterinok

    December 23, 2022 at 5:16 pm

    I read Dhillon’s resume. and the info about the lawyers working for her firm. The resume and info seem (to a non-lawyer) to be quite impressive.

    She appears to be very smart. It seems like she’d be a strong force helping GOP candidates.

    And what is behind her resume statement of ‘civil rights work’?

  9. 9.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    December 23, 2022 at 5:19 pm

    Maybe the true believers are getting ticked at the grifters? I mean the lines can be a bit blurry, but that is the best I can come up with. If they tossed the con-artists out and went full fascist, we would really have a problem on our hands. Its disturbing how much that appeals to a segment of the population.

  10. 10.

    Mike in NC

    December 23, 2022 at 5:21 pm

    On the plane I started reading “The Destructionists: The Twenty Five Year Crackup of the Republican Party” by Dana Milbank. Starts with the greatest hits of the 1990s, like Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay,  and Karl Rove.

    Pat Buchanan went from lunatic fringe of the GQP to mainstream MAGA, if not RINO.

  11. 11.

    WereBear

    December 23, 2022 at 5:24 pm

    @Mike in NC: You mean he should have seen it coming.

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    December 23, 2022 at 5:26 pm

    Tempest in a tea party pot. Victor will be whomever can massage the wallets and egos of steady money with vigor.

    Frankly, I don’t give a damn.

  13. 13.

    Kelly

    December 23, 2022 at 5:26 pm

    So New York Guv Hochul said she never wanted to have a political litmus test in response to objections to LaSalle’s record on labor/abortion rights.

    Weird. I think of a litmus test as a simple, reliable, easily understood way to test for ph. What’s wrong with simple, reliable, easily understood political tests?

  14. 14.

    MattF

    December 23, 2022 at 5:26 pm

    It’s all quite difficult to figure out. The two groups believe different sets of impossible things and have only contempt for the sorry, misguided libtards on the other side who believe the wrong impossible things. And, viewing it all from the elevated position of an actual libtard, both sides appear to be entirely cuckoo. Hmmmph..

  15. 15.

    Another Scott

    December 23, 2022 at 5:29 pm

    I assume it’s the usual faction trying to take over the party to tilt the playing field for faction’s candidate(s) power play.

    Robert Costa used to be the supposed “reasonable Republican whisperer” but he doesn’t seem to have had much to say about this (other than recently noting the #2 person at the RNC resigned).

    Injuries, YAY!!1  Otherwise, we need to keep our eyes on the ball.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  16. 16.

    cmorenc

    December 23, 2022 at 5:31 pm

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    And what is behind her resume statement of ‘civil rights work’?

    Pure speculation on my part, but to RW sensibilities that could mean working on behalf of hard-core evangeleicals claiming special privileges / exemptions from laws and regulations.  Or on behalf of small business-folk claiming special privileges / exemptions from laws and regulations, or objecting to such.

  17. 17.

    cmorenc

    December 23, 2022 at 5:32 pm

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    And what is behind her resume statement of ‘civil rights work’?

    Pure speculation on my part, but to RW sensibilities that could mean working on behalf of hard-core evangeleicals claiming special privileges / exemptions from laws and regulations.  Or on behalf of small business-folk claiming special privileges / exemptions from laws and regulations, or objecting to such.

  18. 18.

    cmorenc

    December 23, 2022 at 5:33 pm

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    And what is behind her [Dhillon’s] resume statement of ‘civil rights work’?

    Pure speculation on my part, but to RW sensibilities that could mean working on behalf of hard-core evangeleicals claiming special privileges / exemptions from laws and regulations.  Or on behalf of small business-folk claiming special privileges / exemptions from laws and regulations, or objecting to such.  Or maybe “reverse discrimination” work on behalf of white folks.  (??)

  19. 19.

    Delk

    December 23, 2022 at 5:36 pm

    Why does Ronna even want the headache?

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    December 23, 2022 at 5:38 pm

    I don;’t follow RWNJ outlets much (if at all). Anyone in the know about what the most recent “war on Christmas” outrage du année might be?

  21. 21.

    sukabi

    December 23, 2022 at 5:38 pm

    Does it matter WHY they’re fighting? I say we hand them knives, spill barrels of gas and throw in a couple of lighters and let them go at it…

  22. 22.

    Burnspbesq

    December 23, 2022 at 5:44 pm

    Dhillon was a board member of the NorCal chapter of the ACLU for a while. For many Republicans, that’s a per se disqualifier.

  23. 23.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    December 23, 2022 at 5:48 pm

    @sukabi: Sure it matters why they are fighting. If we don’t understand the basis of the divisions, how are we going to exploit them for political gain?

  24. 24.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 23, 2022 at 5:48 pm

    From the other end of the horseshoe

    The omnibus passes the House. AOC was the only Democrat to vote against it. Nine Republicans voted for it.

  25. 25.

    AWOL

    December 23, 2022 at 5:49 pm

    @Kelly: She’s a DINO. Pure trash.

  26. 26.

    WaterGirl

    December 23, 2022 at 5:51 pm

    @H.E.Wolf: Funny how they liked to use Barack Obama’s middle name – surely a sign of respect.

  27. 27.

    Citizen Alan

    December 23, 2022 at 5:54 pm

    @NotMax: I’d not heard of any thus year, other than Tuckums claiming that Zelensky “declared war on Christianity” when he, as a Jewish man, wished everyone a Merry Christmas during his speech to Congress (or something like that).

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    December 23, 2022 at 5:54 pm

    RIP Thom Bell.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    December 23, 2022 at 5:54 pm

    @cmorenc: I deleted the two duplicates.

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 23, 2022 at 5:55 pm

    I don’t get into the weeds on their spats, but I thought Dhillon was charging with Rhona notRomney with insufficient fealty to The Beast

    @Delk: to paraphrase what Tom Nichols says about these people, you think Rhona wants to go back to Grosse Pointe? and spend next August auditioning for Tucker and Laura’s guest hosts? seeing Uncle Willard’s grimace of benign disapproval from across the whitest potato salad you ever did see?

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    December 23, 2022 at 5:55 pm

    I want whoever is the least competent to head the RNC.  No idea which one that would be.

  32. 32.

    H.E.Wolf

    December 23, 2022 at 5:56 pm

    @WaterGirl: @H.E.Wolf: Funny how they liked to use Barack Obama’s middle name – surely a sign of respect.

     Well, it is when I use it! :)

  33. 33.

    H.E.Wolf

    December 23, 2022 at 5:57 pm

    @WaterGirl: I want whoever is the least competent to head the RNC. No idea which one that would be.

    “…there’s small choice in rotten apples.”

    ETA: omg, that’s Shakespeare! Big Will knew what he was talking about. :)

  34. 34.

    wonkie

    December 23, 2022 at 5:59 pm

    What does asshole Kirk want to change? It seems to me that a big reason why the Republicans are losing races is because of shitty policies (God loves rape babies) and rhetoric that is both stupid and irrelevant to real problems facing the voters (Wokeism is destroying America!). Does he think they can win by being even more hateful?

  35. 35.

    Splitting Image

    December 23, 2022 at 5:59 pm

    @NotMax:

    I don;’t follow RWNJ outlets much (if at all). Anyone in the know about what the most recent “war on Christmas” outrage du année might be?

    I have no idea what they are raging about specifically, but I’ve noticed this year that a lot of businesses went without the Christmas music throughout November and December. A few people I spoke to were quick to agree, in the “a guy on TV said the same thing” kind of way.

    I mean: it would be a good thing if more businesses got rid of the schmaltzy music. Everyone has their favourites that they play during the season, but everybody has different favourites and nobody likes hearing the same 20 songs played over and over again for two solid months.

  36. 36.

    sab

    December 23, 2022 at 5:59 pm

    @WaterGirl: I am with you on that.

  37. 37.

    E.

    December 23, 2022 at 6:00 pm

    I think it is just the right wing of the GOP using whatever outrage they can come up with to further purify the party. This is the same playbook that has been used forever — most recently in the Newt Gingrich-Tom Delay- Michelle Bachmann – Donald Trump – Josh Hawley lineage. It ends either in holocaust or major reform of the party in time to oust the fascists. Cf. Nazi Germany, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Spain, various South American regimes plus the main two, and I suspect in the Central American right-wing regimes too.

  38. 38.

    cmorenc

    December 23, 2022 at 6:03 pm

    @WaterGirl: Sorry bout that.  My laptop sometimes lags giving feedback that I have actually pressed “enter”, and acts as if the Chrome window has hung up.

  39. 39.

    gwangung

    December 23, 2022 at 6:06 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Aw, man….another part of my coming to age music gone away.

    Quick! Protect Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson!

  40. 40.

    lollipopguild

    December 23, 2022 at 6:06 pm

    @p.a.: They are ALL scammers and grifters. These are two gangs fighting over who gets to steal the most.

  41. 41.

    Geminid

    December 23, 2022 at 6:07 pm

    The knives are really out for Kathy Hochul. Not a great way for her to start her first full term as Governor.

  42. 42.

    Almost Retired

    December 23, 2022 at 6:08 pm

    @cmorenc:  you’re pretty much exactly right.  I’ve known of her since early in my career.  I am a plaintiff side employment lawyer first in San Francisco and now (mostly) Los Angeles.  She was a competent attorney defending employers.  I was never up against her but my colleagues were. She used to be asked to join panels at Bar events as the “reasonable conservative.”  She was smart and engaging.  Trump broke her brain and she started filing all sorts of the kind of legal actions that you described.  But she could be dangerous if she’s not too sloshed with MAGA Kool-aid.  I hope the feckless miss former Romney prevails.

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    December 23, 2022 at 6:09 pm

    @Splitting Image

    But- but- Walkin’ ‘Round in Women’s Underwear is a classic!

    // :)

  44. 44.

    Ken

    December 23, 2022 at 6:11 pm

    @WaterGirl: I want whoever is the least competent to head the RNC.  No idea which one that would be.

    Who has Trump picked?

    (I forget whether it was The Peter Principle or Parkinson’s Law that advised companies to be on the lookout for executives who were always wrong, and keep them around so the company can simply do the opposite of what they recommend.)

  45. 45.

    H.E.Wolf

    December 23, 2022 at 6:11 pm

    @Geminid: ​”The knives are really out for Kathy Hochul.”

     Alas, that’s not uncommon for women in leadership positions. I think of it as the misogyny tax.

  46. 46.

    WaterGirl

    December 23, 2022 at 6:12 pm

    @cmorenc: The thing is, WordPress should always catch duplicates – it’s built into WordPress itself, not our site.  So it’s a mystery.

  47. 47.

    Cameron

    December 23, 2022 at 6:13 pm

    Ms. Cracker, apropos nothing, but y’all on!y have until the end of the month to take in Cabaret at the Asolo. Astonishing theater. Well worth the trek to this neck of the woods.

  48. 48.

    Horatius

    December 23, 2022 at 6:13 pm

    @Kelly: Kathy Hochul is Cuomo in a skirt. She’s nominating an Amy Coney Barrett equivalent to the NY State Supreme Court to entrench a conservative majority. When will Democrats learn!

  49. 49.

    Geminid

    December 23, 2022 at 6:13 pm

    @Almost Retired: This fight over the GOP Chairman spot might be a proxy battle between the Trump and DeSantis forces. I recall that Charlie Kirk’s outfit sponsored some appearances by DeSantis this summer for Republicans running in Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    December 23, 2022 at 6:13 pm

    @Geminid: In this case, it seems that it’s because she is fucking up with the judges, right?  I don’t see why we would attribute the displeasure about that would be related to gender.

  51. 51.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 23, 2022 at 6:16 pm

    @Geminid: Eric Adams has also made an odd choice for a storm that’s been looming for almost a week now. Big City mayors need to be visible in storms (and that’s the first I’ve heard of a fire on SI)

    Katie honan @katie_honan

    Mayor for today Lorraine Grillo ready to brief the press on today’s weather emergencies and the deadly fire on Staten Island. NYCMayor is not in NYC and is currently “resting” at an undisclosed location

    Who the hell doesn’t know that “resting” is not a good thing to say about a politician? unless I missed the news of some medical event

  52. 52.

    Geminid

    December 23, 2022 at 6:22 pm

    @H.E.Wolf: I think that may be part of it. Also, New York Democrats seem to have a longstanding feuds that are never far from breaking out into the open.

    Tom Watson has covered this new controversy some on his Twitter feed. Watson’s a NYC resident and seems to be a knowledgeable and honest observer. There will be a confirmation battle in the state Senate, and Watson thinks that the position New York’s labor unions take on this nomination will be an important factor.

  53. 53.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 23, 2022 at 6:24 pm

    Is Dhillon still a Sikh or has she changed her religion like Nikki Haley? If yes how will that go down with the evangelical wing of the R party.

  54. 54.

    Geminid

    December 23, 2022 at 6:27 pm

    @WaterGirl: I did not say anything about gender. But now that you mention it, I’ll posit that it might contribute to the vehemence of Hochul’s critics.

    I think a woman might be more attuned to this than me, though.

  55. 55.

    cain

    December 23, 2022 at 6:28 pm

    @NotMax: Strangely, it’s very quiet – I think it’s because we are nominally in charge of congress. Next year though it will be lit.

    The Jan6 stuff also quiet them down a bit.

  56. 56.

    Almost Retired

    December 23, 2022 at 6:32 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: I am fairly sure she is still active in the Sikh community, and IIRC she has brought discrimination actions for Sikh employees.  As for the evangelicals, I think they can be remarkably accepting as long as you do absolutely nothing to challenge their world view.

  57. 57.

    dm

    December 23, 2022 at 6:33 pm

    Probably a dead thread, but…. this kind of fight is going on in the Massachusetts Republican Party, too, though they’re so irrelevant I haven’t paid attention to the details.  They turned their back on one of the most popular Republican Governors in the country (Charlie Baker), and went more-or-less full MAGA (this in a state that gave Trump 33% of the vote), and there’s some teapot-tempestry going on between the Olde Guarde and the Red Capped upstarts.  They might be better off to fold their tent and just let the Libertarian Party run candidates against Democratic incumbents.

  58. 58.

    Geminid

    December 23, 2022 at 6:45 pm

    @dm: The same thing happened with Maryland Republicans this year. The radicals grabbed the steering wheel and wrecked the car.

    But Wes Moore was a good candidate and I think he’ll make a good Governor. Larry Hogan’s pick probably would not have beaten him. She would have come closer than the wingnut who won the primary, though.

  59. 59.

    Geminid

    December 23, 2022 at 7:01 pm

    @dm: Have you heard anything about Scott Brown? He moved back to Rye, New Hampshire after his stint a Ambassador to New Zealand, but he’s given a couple of interviews to Massachusetts newspapers about that state’s politics. Brown has one foot in the Bay State already; he’s the girls basketball coach for Amesbury High School.

    Brown tells reporters that being a head coach has always been on his “bucket list.” Makes me wonder what else is on his bucket list. At age 65, he might still have political ambitions.

  60. 60.

    WaterGirl

    December 23, 2022 at 7:09 pm

    @Geminid: Oh, sorry, it was someone who had replied to you who said that.

  61. 61.

    karen marie

    December 23, 2022 at 7:12 pm

    @p.a.: Someone else probably already said it but I’m going to say it anyway:  AOT,K.

  62. 62.

    Tom Q

    December 23, 2022 at 7:13 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It was a fire on the Staten Island Ferry.  They had to evacuate passengers onto tugboats.

  63. 63.

    Geminid

    December 23, 2022 at 7:16 pm

    @WaterGirl: No problem.

    I’m curious enough about this matter to look up reporting in state newspapers. Democratic infighting is always a hot topic there. The nomination was announced yesterday afteroon so there ought to be a lot of reporting tomorrow.

    Although I imagine the battle is already raging on Twitter. Like I said, that’s one feuding state party, and people all over the country are always ready to join in.

  64. 64.

    Jackie

    December 23, 2022 at 7:17 pm

    @H.E.Wolf: I thought TFG MADE her drop *Romney* as a proof of loyalty to MAGA?

  65. 65.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 23, 2022 at 7:36 pm

    @Tom Q: Shit, that sounds scary. Can’t believe it’s not getting more coverage

  66. 66.

    lowtechcyclist

    December 23, 2022 at 7:43 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    From the other end of the horseshoe

    You be you.

  67. 67.

    Another Scott

    December 23, 2022 at 7:44 pm

    @Tom Q: That’s bad.  :-(

    I assume that it wasn’t the decommissioned one that Jost and Davidson bought to supposedly turn into a night club.

    (I mean, it couldn’t be the same one, but it just seems weird that both are in the news less than a year apart.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  68. 68.

    H.E.Wolf

    December 23, 2022 at 7:52 pm

    @Geminid: ​
     Thank you for the additional info. “Inside baseball” details are always interesting!

    Meanwhile I suppose we’ll have to take advice from a prior NY politician, and practice Patience And Fortitude. :)

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1098075.Patience_And_Fortitude

  69. 69.

    H.E.Wolf

    December 23, 2022 at 7:52 pm

    @Jackie:”@H.E.Wolf: I thought TFG MADE her drop *Romney* as a proof of loyalty to MAGA?” ​

     Might could be. :-)

  70. 70.

    Another Scott

    December 23, 2022 at 7:53 pm

    @Another Scott: For completeness, SILive.com says it was a new ferry and the fire was caused by a fuel leak.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  71. 71.

    la caterina

    December 23, 2022 at 7:55 pm

    @H.E.Wolf: Sorry, but she deserves it,  Her pick for the Court of Appeals is anti-choice and anti-worker, to name just two of his bad  qualities.

  72. 72.

    eachother

    December 23, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    Open Thread

    Hurricane coming from the North.

    Category I right now out of the North. All kinds of weather records. Huge area of impact.

    Keep the water pipes warm and in your thoughts.

  73. 73.

    mrmoshpotato

    December 23, 2022 at 9:23 pm

    Let all of them slap the living shit out of each other.

  74. 74.

    Geminid

    December 23, 2022 at 9:23 pm

    @H.E.Wolf: So, New York political journal City and State put up an article today about the LaSalle nomination titled ” ‘It’s on life support’: Hochul’s judge pick faces existential opposition.” The “life support” remark came from a labor leader who added, “They just haven’t pulled the plug.”

    . The article also cites a Carpenter’s Union spokesman who said that while the union recognized “the historic nature of Judge LaSalle’s nomination (he would be the state’s first Latino on the Court of Appeals), it could not support his promotion to the state’s highest court because of his pro-management rulings.

    Seven members of the state’s congressional delegation including Nydia Velasquez and Yvette Clark have come out on favor of the nomination. The politicians who will decide are the state Senators though, and the labor official says the votes for confirmation are not there. I guess we’ll find out for sure next month, unless the nomination is withdrawn first.

  75. 75.

    H.E.Wolf

    December 23, 2022 at 9:39 pm

    @la caterina:

    @Geminid:

    No worries – I’m in agreement with you about the disappointing (I’m being tactful) judicial pick.

    ETA: Maybe it’ll fall through and the Gov. will choose better on the 2nd nomination. We can live in hope….

  76. 76.

    Anyway

    December 23, 2022 at 9:39 pm

    @Geminid:

    LaSalle is also anti-choice which should be a big fat NO for a Dem-appointed justice.

  77. 77.

    Geminid

    December 23, 2022 at 10:19 pm

    @Anyway: Is he really anti-choice, though? I understand that LaSalle had a bad ruling regarding regulation of “pregnancy crisis centers” but I don’t know that he has ruled against a woman’s right to choose.

    I’m not saying LaSalle is an acceptable nominee, and I think it’s a good thing that he likely will not be confirmed.

    But I am saying that maybe Governor Hochul is being smeared by means of exaggeration. I’ve seen LaSalle called “another Amy Coney Barrett,”  but I don’t believe intelligent and staunchly pro-choice Congresswomen like Yvette Clark and Nydia Velasquez would support him if he was.

    There have been people with an anti-Hochul ax to grind ever since she took office. They tried to scapegoat her for the Democrats’ poor performance in the midterms and now they’re slagging her as “Cuomo in a skirt.” Kathy Hochul deserves fair and good faith criticism over this nomination but some people just see an opportunity to prosecute one of the New York Democrats’ many feuds.

  78. 78.

    Another Scott

    December 23, 2022 at 11:52 pm

    @Geminid:

    Made me look. BoltsMag.org:

    […]

    If he is confirmed by the state’s Democratic-run Senate, LaSalle would fill a vacancy left by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, who abruptly resigned this summer. On the court, DiFiore was part of a bloc of four judges—all appointed by Cuomo—who have consistently banded together around rulings that strengthened the hands of law enforcement, management over labor, landlords, and prosecutors in a slew of cases, the publication New York Focus reported in June.

    DiFiore’s departure broke that bloc’s control over the court, but LaSalle’s record suggests he would reconstitute a conservative-leaning majority.

    The main case highlighted by the law professors’ letter last week was a ruling, joined by LaSalle in 2017, that partially protected crisis pregnancy centers, which are run by anti-abortion groups, from an investigation into possible fraud by the New York attorney general’s office.

    Another LaSalle ruling that has gained scrutiny came in a 2015 case that authorized the corporation Cablevision to sue union officials for defamation despite state laws that are meant to protect labor leaders. Communication Workers of America released a statement on Wednesday, before LaSalle’s nomination, denouncing his “anti-union stance that directly contradicts the rights of New York’s workers to organize.”

    LaSalle has also drawn criticism from criminal justice reform advocates for regularly voting against defendants who brought lawsuits challenging their arrest or conviction.

    Simonson, who teaches criminal law, pointed to a 3-2 ruling in a 2014 case known as People v. Corbin, in which LaSalle sided with the majority in holding that a defendant had waived his right to challenge the constitutionality of a warrantless search when he pled guilty. “Judge LaSalle has demonstrated a troubling lack of concern for the rights of people charged with crimes, especially when it comes to the ability of courts to review unconstitutional police conduct,” she said.

    LaSalle would be the fourth former prosecutor on the seven-member court. He is, in fact, the third consecutive appointment to the court who is a former prosecutor, after Cuomo-appointee Madeline Singas and Hochul-appointee Shirley Troutman.

    The court currently has no member who has worked as a defense attorney.

    […]

    Hochul’s choice was constrained to a list of seven names selected by the state’s Commission on Judicial Nomination, a body made up in large part of appointees of Cuomo and DiFiore that created controversy for excluding some prominent liberal jurists and candidates of color.

    Still, the list presented a clear ideological choice for Hochul. Three of the jurists on the list, including LaSalle, had a record closer to that of the court’s current conservative bloc. Three others were endorsed by the progressive coalition, The Court NY Deserves, as the likeliest to counterbalance the right-leaning bloc.

    LaSalle was one of three judges on that list to receive the highest qualification ratings from both the New York State Bar Association and New York State Trial Lawyers Association; the other two who did were among the jurists who were championed by progressives. LaSalle has also received strong support from Hispanic and Latino lawyers’ bar associations in New York.

    After Hochul’s decision, several progressive groups in that coalition, such as the Working Families Party, quickly called on the state Senate to reject LaSalle.

    […]

    He seems like a needlessly antagonistic nominee for a Democrat to pick.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  79. 79.

    Geminid

    December 24, 2022 at 3:45 am

    @Another Scott: I think you are correct in your conclusion, and the comments here bear this out.

    But I was speaking to the question of Governor Hochul fitness, and the nature of the attacks on her. I think there is an animus towards her that is independent of this questionable nomination and that people with an anti-Hochul ax to grind are using it to tear her down. That’s what I meant when I said “the knives are out for Hochul.”

    They are and if people think that cutting up the Governor will be good for the New York Democratic party I disagree. I don’t believe LaSalle’s nomination will be confirmed and I hope it is withdrawn before it gets to the floor of the New York Senate.

    But the effort to damage Hochul will continue because some Democrats and third party members never liked her and never will. They will use this matter to discredit her long after it is over, whether or not she is a good Governor.

  80. 80.

    WaterGirl

    December 24, 2022 at 8:44 am

    @Geminid: I agree with Scott’s conclusion.

    I also think that if you have enemies and you know they are going to attack you whenever they can, the smart and pragmatic move is to not do things that will anger and disappoint your supporters while also giving your detractors a big fat opening for attack.

    Double fail on Hochul’s part.

    Especially dumb when the Democratic governor before you was hated by his own party because he enabled Republicans.

  81. 81.

    Geminid

    December 24, 2022 at 3:21 pm

    @WaterGirl: I just replied to the commenter that “I think you are correct in your conclusion” (#77).

    I’m not disputing the proposition that LaSalle was not a good choice. I’m questioning the more general conclusions that some people are pressing as to Hochul’s fitness for the office.

  82. 82.

    Geminid

    December 24, 2022 at 3:58 pm

    @Geminid: I would better to have said, “Hochul’s fitness as a Democrat for the office.”

    That’s more to the point.

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