After promising explosive investigations, the House GOP is holding hearings that have so far landed as duds, at least outside the Fox News cinematic universe. Josh Marshall at TPM asks why:
Some point to Jim Jordan not having the organizational abilities or chops to run impactful hearings. Others point to Jordan getting crosswise with the other top GOP investigator, Jim Comer. The most obvious explanation is that they’re just lame and underwhelming because they don’t have the goods. But even that doesn’t work as an explanation because the same could be said about the previous times we did this under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Something’s different.
I wish I knew what the difference was. I’m not sure. I keep thinking that it’s McCarthy signing over too much of the reins to the Freedom Caucus. Or maybe it’s that the right-wing media bubble has become too insular. It may be all of these things. But each is either not really different from the old days or is just a circular argument. So I’ve struggled to figure it out.
Marshall examines two additional factors that may be behind the hearings coming off as sad, low-energy affairs outside the wingnut-o-sphere, including more energetic pushback by the Democrats on those committees. I think that’s absolutely a factor.
Democrats like Reps. Goldman, Plaskett and Raskin called bullshit on the “weaponization” subcommittee proceedings and thoroughly exposed the witnesses Jim Jordan called to testify. They didn’t pretend the hearings were a good faith effort to get at the truth and responded to GOP colleagues and witnesses with the contempt and/or incredulity they deserve.
The other factor Marshall cites is the ETTD principle coming home to roost:
They’re backward looking. They are a particular kind of grievance-driven special pleading that only really matters to a minority of the electorate. And at core they’re mostly about Donald Trump.
I think that’s right too. Trump’s grievances are the subject of these dumb show trials, and his House disciples are running them. In other words, low quality hires are in charge, so of course the results have been underwhelming.
Jim Jordan was on the Benghazi committee too, but he wasn’t running it. Trey Gowdy was, and while Gowdy may be evil, he, unlike Jordan, is capable of abstract thought. There’s the difference.
Open thread.
Rocks
The difference between lawful and chaotic evil.
Old School
They should work Hillary into the investigations. The media would be much more interested.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
So…give her the gavel?
bbleh
Concur re ETTD, but I think it’s only a particular case of a general principle, in the same way as Trump was much more symptom than cause IMO.
Trumpism is really modern Republicanism, an almost inevitable result of trends that have been evident for decades. And like other authoritarian movements, it has a systemic flaw, ie the motivation to keep drawing more and more distinctions to exclude people over, to feel special about, to be angry about. If your central motivation is to be part of a select In-Group, then you’ll keep redefining it more narrowly in order to keep feeling special.
It’s a death spiral. And they — and more importantly, their media — are caught in it. They’re losing people every day (see, eg, recent election results), and there’s no end in sight.
MattF
We’ve seen all their tricks before, several times now. “Oh, look, they’re sawing the lady in half. Again. And it’s the same lady they sawed in half last night.” They were excited to think that Hillary would be locked up, now it’s boring.
Frankensteinbeck
There’s a big ‘chicken and the egg’ question here, a process of spiraling downwards. Why are these committees such a flop? Because the Republicans on them are incompetent dumbasses whose evidence isn’t bad, it’s a silly joke. Because they believe their own bullshit conspiracy theories, so they’re completely flatfooted when the evidence doesn’t support them. Because their current crop of conspiracy theories center around Trump, their last champion, and everything around Trump is stupid. Because they’re playing to their primary base of delusional dumbasses who live in a fantasy world.
There is no way to separate any of that. All those turds tie into one steaming Gordian Shit Knot of constipated failure. It’s part and parcel of Trump being a champion of Stupid Fascism, and being elected because after having to endure eight years of an intelligent black man in charge, Stupid Fascism is what Republicans were begging for.
Benghazi is a fine display of the differences. It was a fishing expedition, and the occasional wander into Cloud Cuckoo Land went unnoticed. Now Cloud Cuckoo Land is the point.
@Old School:
There is wisdom in what you say. Benghazi would have been a fishing expedition dud if the national press didn’t hate Hillary so virulently that they grabbed onto a dull, inconsequential discovery and hung onto it for years, obsessively harping on it like they’d caught her committing murder.
Princess
@Old School: I think you put your finger n the “problem.” There’s no story for them, no persuasive issue, no clear “villain” (Hunter Biden? C’mon, man.). Not even any sex. It’s boring.
ETA: plus Frankensteinbeck’s Gordon shit knot of constipated behavior. Hard to overcome that.
NotMax
What else can you expect after putting the monkeys in charge of the circus?
//
Ryan
Jordan is uniquely incompetent. But I am also glad that Goldman is there.
Jackie
Semi-related:
”Now that Hate has Become the GOP’s Main Political Weapon, What Can Americans Do?”
https://hartmannreport.com/p/now-that-hate-has-become-the-gops
“Now is the time for Republicans to show the courage of Mandy Connell and loudly and publicly leave their party. As Germans learned by the late 1930s, if they don’t act now it may soon be too late…
Denver conservative radio host Mandy Connell publicly changed her party affiliation from Republican to independent on her program this Monday, a week after giving a thoughtful and largely apolitical interview to Talkers Magazinepublisher Michael Harrison on his podcast. On her own program she was blunt:
Baud
The audience is different. Particularly the casual Dem. We’re a lot more battle hardened.
Dan B
@Ryan: I would bet good money that Jordan is swearing about the “Jew” getting the best of him. He probably uses a less polite term in private.
Jackie
Semi-related:
“Now that Hate has Become the GOP’s Main Political Weapon, What Can Americans Do?”
“Denver conservative radio host Mandy Connell publicly changed her party affiliation from Republican to independent on her program this Monday, a week after giving a thoughtful and largely apolitical interview to Talkers Magazinepublisher Michael Harrison on his podcast. On her own program she was blunt:
Denver’s Channel 9 News, reporting on Connell’s leaving the GOP, notedMonday:
It’s a long article, but imho, well worth the click.
https://hartmannreport.com/p/now-that-hate-has-become-the-gops
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yep. Marshall argues that the Beltway press is responding to these hearings differently, treating them more like the clown show that they are, and I think that’s accurate. The absence of a hate-fetish object probably helps too.
different-church-lady
Probably a great number of reasons. But one of them might be that once Trump lost all the air/fun went out of the balloon for the audience. And if the audience isn’t having fun, then media doesn’t amplify as much.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
yes, there’s no there, there, but it’s also gross incompetence. they keep using crackpot witnesses who are easy to cut to pieces because of their paper trail
different-church-lady
@Princess:
Never really realized this before now, but it’s odd that they continuously put the emphasis on Hunter, and not on Joe. They’re not making a connection, they’re just going “Hunter, Hunter, Hunter” like we’re supposed to just understand that it makes Joe evil.
HumboldtBlue
Speaking of House GOP clowns, Randy Rainbow has outdone himself by miles with his new song dedicated to George Santos (if that’s his real name).
different-church-lady
Another thought: the last group of witch hunters were crafty, but this group is just insane.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
They’re not having fun, and also, before Trump, the media always treated the GOP as having gravitas. I think that’s gone.
Maxim
The GOP has been alienating an increasing percentage of the population for years now. Outside of Faux viewers, nobody much cares what they’re whining about.
Jackie
For some reason the excerpts from this article I copied and pasted won’t post.
Long story short, since Saturday, 133 Colorado republicans have changed their Republican registration to unaffiliated! They refuse to be a member of *The Party of TFG/Hate.*
“Now that Hate has Become the GOP’s Main Political Weapon, What Can Americans Do?
Now is the time for Republicans to show the courage of Mandy Connell and loudly and publicly leave their party. As Germans learned by the late 1930s, if they don’t act now it may soon be too late…”
It’s a long, but good article.
https://hartmannreport.com/p/now-that-hate-has-become-the-gops
Jeffro
Speaking of low quality (people) – first, the effect: Ron Reagan is spinning in his grave as increasing numbers of Republicans are questioning support for Ukraine
And here’s the cause: our boy Tuckums
delphinium
In addition to what others have said, I also believe it is the very obvious contrast of Dems vs Reps, (from what I have seen): Stating things clearly, pushing back on any stated BS, and having the needed info in front of them or memorized without having to scramble; while the Reps are flailing, just reading/repeating whatever is written on the papers before them with little understanding, and unable to produce any good comebacks for what Dems say.
Not that any of this will matter to MAGAs, but think it will impact Independent viewers.
Geminid
@Ryan: I wonder if Jim Jordan is a little scared of Dan Goldman. I mean, I’m not personally involved with any of this stuff, and Goldman still scares me. He’s just a scary guy.
Delk
Ides of March open thread story:
I never thought it would happen in my lifetime but eleven years ago today my husband and I were legally married. Even more surprising to me was Iowa being ahead of Illinois in regards to same sex marriage.
After tying the knot in Dubuque we drove up to Madison for a quick honeymoon. When we checked into the Hilton there was a little sign that welcomed the guest of the day. It was my husband’s name. We asked and the woman said they randomly draw a name each day and she handed us a gift bag with some goodies. We laughed and told her that we just got married and I showed her our license. She congratulated us and said she would be right back. A few minutes later she came back and said that the honeymoon suite was vacant and her manager said we could have it. An incredibly nice and completely unexpected gesture.
Burnspbesq
Meanwhile, out on the Great High Plains, it looks like at least even money that MAGA’s Favorite District Judge is going to find some bullshit premise on which to reverse the 23-year-old FDA approval of mifepristone.
Central Planning
@Frankensteinbeck:
Nominated!
Baud
@Delk:
Happy anniversary.
Sad about Iowa though.
Cameron
I think the average intelligence of Republican politicians has been going down for a long time, too. They’re not just nuts, they’re dumb as stumps. Remember when people thought the Tea Partiers were really squirrelly? They didn’t have Jewish space lasers, a concept that’s not only nuttier than Mr. Peanut (who the woke have not misgendered yet) but stupid as fuck.
different-church-lady
@Jackie:
133 down, 73,999,877 to go.
karen marie
@Jackie: Wake me when they stop voting Republican.
Central Planning
@Jackie: I did not read TFA, but are they changing their votes too? Or are they still on board with all the republican hate and anger? Because if they don’t change their votes, this is not a BFD.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Delk: Sometimes the world suprizes you with good people. Congrats on your anniversary.
Percysowner
Breaking from CNN Texas takes control of Houston Independent School District
This is all we have right now. Do any of the Jackels who live in Texas know what is going on? Is this the school district wasn’t funded? Or are they to “Woke”.
Craig
One thing is that with Benghazi something actually happened. There was an attack and Americans died. This shit is all just, nothing. It’s all just what Charlie Pierce used to call Conjuring Words. To a semi normal person the gibberish that they spew sounds like, well, gibberish, and as noted the Dems on the committee are willing to disdainfully call Bullshit.
Dan B
@Burnspbesq: The judge said the approval of Mifeprestone was rushed. Four years is a rush job in Magaland. Hmmm.
different-church-lady
Another one to throw on the pile: before times vs. after times. Pre-COVID it was all fun and games, but once the plague hit shit got real in people’s minds. That hasn’t worn off yet, so there’s less patience for idiotic circuses.
Cameron
@Percysowner: Somebody’s been paying attention to what’s happening in Florida.
Dan B
@Delk: Big congratulations!! Quite the story. And the Honeymoon Suite courtesy of some great allies!
Betty Cracker
@Delk: What a nice surprise, and Happy Anniversary!
Hoodie
This alleged “weaponization of government” is largely undefined, even harder to define than “woke” (which at least is dog whistle for “black”). It’s impossible to identify what the hell they’re talking about and, if it ain’t easy for the press to convey to the general public, it ain’t getting traction. Moreover, to the extent it is identifiable, it relates to 1/6, which to most people brings up associations that are not good for Republicans. In contrast, Benghazi was a real event where people died and somebody needed to be blamed, which made it easier to get the press’ attention.
Dan B
@Percysowner: As I recall test scores went down (covid!?) and the lege used it as an excuse to meddle. I also recall that there are more black students as a percentage than other school districts in Texas, so added helping of racism.
Burnspbesq
@Dan B:
And H-Town is a Democratic stronghold, to boot.
The problems at HISD are real. But this is unquestionably the wrong answer.
Splitting Image
C. Northcote Parkinson described in 1957 how an institution could be overrun by people who embodied a toxic combination of incompetence and jealousy. After systematically ejecting every capable worker out of the institution, those that were left would always hire people less competent than they were. Second-rate bosses would hire third-rate managers, and third-rate managers would hire fourth-rate workers.
Eventually you would wind up with an actual competition in stupidity. People would pretend to be even stupider than they were.
Checks out.
(Parkinson’s cure for this situation was to give letters of reference to all of the toxic employees and send them off to “whatever rival institutions they regarded with particular hostility”, heavily insure the buildings, then set them on fire.)
pat
@Delk:
A few minutes later she came back and said that the honeymoon suite was vacant and her manager said we could have it. An incredibly nice and completely unexpected gesture.
That is sweet. (I don’t think I did this copy-paste properly.)
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
I can define it, “weaponization of government” simply means “consequences for law breaking.” It’s just not politically correct to discuss in those terms because it’s mainly Republicans breaking laws.
Fake Irishman
@Percysowner:
This has been trundling forward for five years now. Overall district is pretty good, but one school failed state tests 10 years in a row, which prompts a takeover. There were also some shenanigans on the board. The board members weren’t re-elected, the school has now passed.
yes this is bullshit, but we’ll see.
The Education commissioner Maroth isn’t an ideologue,
My daughter will be attending a dual language school in HISD next year, so I am nervous, but we’ll see.
Dan B
@Burnspbesq: Wrong answer is not in doubt. Will the lege appoint a batch of rural yahoo’s to run the fourth biggest American city’s schools?
Magic 8 Ball says “That is correct”.
Dan B
@Fake Irishman: That’s good to hear about Maroth.
sab
The late Paul Newman’s has a company with dogfood at 4 bucks a can that my dog wants to roll in it so good. She would never, as a picky eater, not eat it. It is that good.
Betty Cracker
@Jackie: Looks like your previous comments exceeded the maximum link allowance (which is 5, I think, but I’m not 100% sure). I approved them when I saw them. Sorry for the delay.
Fake Irishman
@Dan B:
Actually didn’t have anything to do with COVID scores,
it was one high school in a district with several dozen. It has been in compliance since. There are 186,000 students in the district.
Redshift
I think in addition to basic incompetence and stupidity, they’ve withdrawn entirely into their bubble and only deal with friendly softball environments. It’s gone on long enough that they don’t even realize they’re incapable of handling a challenge, and think it will all play out the way they planned it in their heads (because it does on Fox, where the host not only pitch softballs, but prompt them to give better answers.)
Baud
@Fake Irishman:
I would have guessed more students than that.
Joe Falco
@Jackie: Republicans too embarrassed to call themselves as such doesn’t mean they won’t stop voting or passing legislation that way, but if it means the eventual crackup of the party, I’m all for it. Maybe Republican will become as much as a name for ridicule as they made the word “liberal” from the ’80’s onwards.
Baud
@Jeffro:
Did you see this?
Roger Moore
@Princess:
One of the points Josh Marshall makes is that the hearings aren’t really about the things they’re supposedly about. A good example is the thing about Hunter Biden’s laptop. The contents of the laptop are at least potentially interesting if they pointed to corruption among President Biden and his family, but that’s not what the hearings are about. Instead, the hearings are mostly about whether the story about the laptop was unfairly suppressed before the election. They wanted their October Surprise, dammit, and the hearings are their chance to vent and whine that it didn’t work. It’s a transparently BS topic for hearings. Even worse for the Republicans, the media has an inherent bias toward not giving it any oxygen because the Republican narrative makes them villains.
Fake Irishman
@Dan B:
Maroth gets to name them; not the ledge. I’m nervous, but not panicking.
Burnsesq is right the the district has some issues, but it is extraordinary for the diverse population it serves. My wife and I have been planning to send my daughter there since she’s been born; we were blown away by the dual language options.
lollipopguild
@Percysowner: Here in KY the GOP controlled state leg made loud mouth noises about taking over Jefferson County schools basically the school system for Louisville. The teachers here have a union which was a no-no, also lots of black kids which means that the right wingers have to come in and take over. This was going to happen until it did not this was several years ago and somebody talked them out of it. So far they have stayed away, looks like in Texas they just could not resist taking over.
Mike in Pasadena
@Delk: Yours is a wonderful story to story to read. My husband and I married last year after being together for 40 years. Los Angeles county was booked up months in advance so we made an appointment with the Riverside County Registrar Recorder’s office. We expected the worst from the inland county, but were treated warmly by everyone involved from the security guards at the front door to the young woman handling our paperwork and ceremony. It left me thinking the best about Riverside County and its employees.
Redshift
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation:
More specifically, it’s people in law enforcement and intelligence not reflexively siding with Republicans like they’re supposed to. TFG’s “drain the swamp” was, from the beginning, “get rid of anyone who tells me I can’t do whatever I want,” and “weaponization” was just a new coat of paint on that.
The hearings also exposed their “whistleblowers” as, among others, FBI agents who’d been fired because they didn’t want to investigate the insurrection, which pretty much laid the whole thing bare.
schrodingers_cat
OT: They have arrived.
Fake Irishman
@Baud:
District boundaries are odd down here. The district actually doesn’t cover the entire city, so there are several other large school districts within Houston.
Redshift
@Delk: Awww!
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Thought you meant aliens, but that’s much better. Congratulations.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: I just found a bunch of your comments in spam. I released them.
Baud
@Fake Irishman:
Thanks.
Quiltingfool
OT? Home with a new, painful knee (well, painful for a time!)
I shall refer to my husband as “Mr. Wonderful,” as he has waited on me hand and foot! He got me a tall toilet seat extension! (TMI?) I like being tall, but to get one’s heinie on a toilet seat requires much knee bending and right now, hoo boy, it hurts!
Gone from knife stabbing pain to dull throb, so good. Stabby pain will probably return as I need to walk to the potty. Sigh. It will get better.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: That would be me. When I first came to this country my INS designation was non-resident 👽, then it became resident 👽, now it is naturalized citizen
Anyway
@Redshift:
“We create our own reality” paraphrasing Karl Rove and other Rethug operatives. They have their own judges who are ready to overrule FDA and Congress and state leges (NY’ s gun laws as example) —
Princess
@different-church-lady: And Hunter, if we’re being most uncharitable, comes across mostly as messed up, impulsive, maybe a little corrupt trading on his Dad’s name, a little desperate, drugged-up, flailing etc (these aren’t my own views of him — my view is that I feel compassion for him). Even under this reading, he’s not exactly a supervillain. And he hasn’t made life worse for anyone in this country aside from his own family, again, at worst.
sab
Me being a used to be higher quality hire at my firm 20 years later. Now I am low hire. Complicated home life, so limited attention to work.
Actually it quite amazes me that they cannot replace me, They are good people, so I wouldn’t expect them to toss me into the street. But I haven’t performed up to any anyone’s standards and yet here I still am. Good worker who wants very limited hours.Tight labor market if you want dependables
When I am there I am good. But they cannot count on me being there since family issues often dire.
Anyway
@Delk:
Awww, what a cute story – thanks for sharing.
Happy Anniversary!
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Fake Irishman
@lollipopguild:
this is t a whim, there’s actually a law that may mandates the takeover. It’s a dumb law and it wasn’t aimed at Houston (there have been other districts taken over) I’m just hoping this is going to be a relatively quick two or three year deal. TEA really doesn’t Have the ability to run a school district this big.
zhena gogolia
@Quiltingfool: It will.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Good that India has a new ambassador. I have no idea, though who he is.
Dan B
@Mike in Pasadena: Congratulations to you and your husband and thank you for another heartwarming story.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: They are awesome 😎. My second most expensive art purchase so far. This despite getting a really great deal.
Dan B
@schrodingers_cat: Former Los Angeles Mayor. I believe he was a good one.
Baud
@Dan B:
If you read the article, it was a weird vote.
Danielx
@Jeffro:
Ol’ Ron may be spinning like a high speed centrifuge, but from what I can tell his legacy is irrelevant to today’s Republicans. Ronald Reagan would be dismissed as a hopeless and hapless RINO today, he’d be booed off the stage at a Republican primary debate. I want to say that TFG used “Reagan Republican” as an insult in the last few days but I can’t swear to it.
We do tend to forget that we’re farther away in time from Reagan’s election in 1980 than that election was from the end of WW2. It’s a different world, to point out the blindingly obvious, and most Republicans today could give a fiddler’s fuck about Ronald Reagan.
Baud
@Danielx:
They only care that Reagan owned the libs.
smintheus
Ukrainians are enduring a brutal war for survival, which has changed everything for the country because the Trump party cannot be trusted to help Ukraine fight Putin’s aggression. Trump’s first love is Putin, and his first impeachment was over his attempt to use aid for Ukraine to extort political favors to use against Biden in his re-election campaign. What Trump wanted was for Zelensky to lie. The Republicans’ hearings are all about promoting Trump’s own recriminations and defending Trump for his many manifest crimes, his lies, and his disastrous policies. So for Americans and the news media to invest themselves in Jordan’s circus, they would have to be prepared to turn their backs on Ukraine and ignore Trump’s record of carrying water for Putin…as well as all Trump’s lies. That’s a non starter for the majority of Americans.
Dan B
@schrodingers_cat: That’s an aamazing haul! Enjoy!
Dan B
@Baud: I saw that. Very strange the Dems who voted against Garcetti.
WaterGirl
@Quiltingfool: It all gets better from here! Kudos to your husband. Did he take off work this week to be with you?
cain
@Mike in Pasadena:
Yes, they’ll be gunning for poor kids especially black kids education. I’m not sure what the plans are going to be.
Delk
Thanks everyone!
UncleEbeneezer
kalakal
@Quiltingfool: Glad you’re home.
Heh, I remember being mr Ice pack for Mrs kalakal for the first period when she got home from a knee replacement.
It will get better & keep at those bends, it’s worth it
prostratedragon
@different-church-lady: Really I think the point for those cruel bastards is that they expect it to hurt Joe, and also to bait him into the kind of shit they do to their critics and whisltblowers against them.
Quiltingfool
@WaterGirl: Yes, he took off work (no paycheck as he doesn’t have any vacation accrued). I am grateful! I thought this would be no big deal and I could handle it, but oh no. My niece lives next door and she will take me to rehab next week and beyond. I don’t have kids, but I’ve decided she is our daughter! I figure having extra parents to love you is a bonus for everyone!
schrodingers_cat
@Dan B: Thanks! It is their set of 84. Neocolor II Caran d’ache crayons.
Dan B
@Quiltingfool: Speedy recovery and your husband sounds llike a gem! Send him praise from me.
WaterGirl
@Quiltingfool: I’m glad your husband was smarter than you! In this one instance, I’m sure. :-)
Yes, everyone I know who had 2 moms or 3 moms has felt very lucky indeed.
Dan B
@schrodingers_cat: Yes, I followed your story about the crayons and who knew there were so many different colors.*
*Remembers paint chips and recants.
WaterGirl
@Dan B: Did you not have some kid in your classroom who had the box of 96 crayola crayons? Or the 128?
schrodingers_cat
@Dan B: You are right my other crayon and /or pastel sets top out at 48.
Actually Caran’dache used to have a bigger set of 124 IIRC which they discontinued. You can get them open stock though. I am happy with this.
zeecube
@schrodingers_cat: Now that’s a set! Have fun.
Roberto el oso
Very long-time lurker, 1st time commenting …
Re the takeover of HISD: Abbott and his cronies in Austin have had their knives out on this plan since 2019, the flimsy pretext being the “poor” performance of one particular school, which, in the meantime has shown definite improvement. Texas is a classic example of solid blue cities and red rural areas, and for Abbott et al., the primary driver is malice, the desire to fuck with urban areas because they will never go GOP again, and therefore put the lie to the notion that the state as a whole is conservative. But, being the GOP, the other drivers are mostly the chance to grift and to push the charter-school agenda. The opportunities for making money by supplying ‘teaching materials’ for charter schools and homeschooling scams on the part of RWNJs (and their friends and families) is too good for them to pass up (remember that Barbara Bush was pushing the craptastic products of her failson Neil back when Houston was taking in Katrina refugees).
persistentillusion
@HumboldtBlue: Watched it twice. Santos will only be memorialized by Randy, please.
Ruckus
@bbleh:
@Frankensteinbeck:
Rethuglicans have lost the plot.
They have become even more ridiculous commercial writers trying to sell used toilet paper. And more and more people are opening the box and becoming rather unhappy seeing what they paid for.
Jackie
@different-church-lady: That’s just one state – and just since Sat. The article states thousands across the country are abandoning the GQP. It’s an inspiring and hopeful article.
schrodingers_cat
@zeecube: Thanks. It is lovely. Can’t wait to use them.
Jackie
@Central Planning: The title states they’re leaving the Hate Party. I assume most will vote D – or not vote at all.
Baud
@Jackie:
There’s no audience for that here.
Percysowner
@Fake Irishman:
So they have a fig leaf to cover themselves with if accused of impropriety and apparently a law they can fall back on as well. That’s a little better, but mostly it sounds like a big damned way to hit at a liberal city and its schools.
WaterGirl
@Roberto el oso: Welcome to commenting!
Brachiator
I don’t get it. The GOP leadership knows that this stuff is little more than distraction and lame attempts at getting even with “bad” Democrats. And yet they waste time and taxpayer money on this stuff.
Even the political rewards are tiny.
Jackie
@Baud: Sad… I thought the OTHER party was the pessimistic one. 🤷🏼♀️
WaterGirl
@Jackie: It would be sad if he meant it!
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
It’s not as if they have any serious legislative goals to achieve, or that they would be able to achieve them with a Democratic Senate and President. So they’re left with posturing and trying to get their ugly mugs on TV.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
When even the leaders have lost the plot, as in thrown it away, set it on fire, sold it for 2 bottle caps, because they didn’t understand even the concept of a plot, this is what it looks like.
kalakal
@Roger Moore:
Also the Republican ‘leadership’ can’t lead, they’ve lost control to the crazies over the years. All those astro turf movements like the tea party have metastized into ‘moms for liberty’, anti vax loons etc etc. They’re spineless cowards, rather than say no they watch while creatures like MTG become speaker pro tem. They got on the tiger now they daren’t get off. They hadn’t the decency, courage, and love for their own country to impeach Trump after Jan 6th. There is no leadership, merely selfseeking lickspittles
cmorenc
@Quiltingfool:
Strongly recommend you rent a progressive knee-flexion machine for a couple of weeks (if your insurance company isn’t already providing it). Some orthopedists and insurance companies will try to tell you these devices give no benefit that use of a towel or yoga strap won’t give, but that is complete bullshit – they gave me one with my first (R) knee replacement, but my first ortho retired and my ortho for the second 3 years later did not (hence insurance co did not) and i quickly found after trying to get by wit towel-pull, i contacted the company that provided it for my 1st relacement – cost $250 out of pocket, money very well spent. You lay down, strap your leg in device, which looks vaguely like a reclined kids car seat, set the initial degrees of range of motion, and turn on the motor, and try to increase a few deg each day. You can watch tv while it works on your leg, but don’t mistake this for something that provided effortless no-pain therapy – same discomfort and incremental progress as with a towel or strap, but much more efficient and it does not allow you to cheat or cut yourself slack.
Ilieitz
Off topic but on this day in 1979 we flew into Jamaica as a new group of volunteers(group 25). We were greeted the next day by the major paper headline ” 60 CIA agents arrive in Jamaica” Welcome
SuzieC
@Ryan: IIRC Gowdy was an attorney. Jordan was a wrestling coach, who ignored sexual abuse of his athletes.
Jeffro
@Baud: no, but a) thanks and b) NICE!
Jeffro
@Danielx: it matters to the olds, though…and it’s important to keep hammering just how far the GOP has fallen.
StringOnAStick
@Quiltingfool: The first week after knee replacement is rough, but it gets better. Don’t get behind on your pain meds!
Ksmiami
@Dan B: they need to ignore the judge and reduce his jurisdiction…
sab
@Ksmiami: In a proper legal system you cannot just ignore a judge. If you can ignore a judge you don’t really have a legal system. That is the problem with this judge. His behavior damages the credibility of the whole system.
sab
@sab: Distreasing that jackals do not see this
JBWoodford
@Brachiator:
“Even the political rewards are tiny.”
AFAICT, it’s not the potential rewards that motivate them–it’s the certain losses if they don’t do something like this. Even though it doesn’t play well outside the bubble, its absence would destroy them with their base.