Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

How stupid are these people?

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Come on, man.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

When I was faster i was always behind.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

“woke” is the new caravan.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Santos Booted

Santos Booted

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From TPM’s Kate Riga:

Rep. George Santos’ (R-NY) short, but, by any measure, extraordinary political career crashed to its ignominious end Friday as he was expelled from Congress by over a third of his own conference.

Santos, wearing a coat and watching the totals accumulate, walked around the House floor and shook hands with some of his supporters as it quickly became clear that he’d lose the vote.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) gaveled the vote to a close, and said that the governor of New York would be notified. A smattering of applause followed his remarks.

Riga noted that in a press conference yesterday, Santos indicated knew this was coming and was already focused on post-congressional life:

“The future — the future is endless,” Santos said, smiling, as he wrapped up his Thursday press conference, the sun breaking over the House office buildings. “You can do whatever you want next. I’m going to do whatever I want.”

Hopefully he wants to try to make a lot of money by peddling scandalous stories about former GOP colleagues. Maybe they’ll even be true! But who would believe him?

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

201Comments

  4. 4.

    Baud

    Two Democrats voted against expelling Rep. George Santos from the House.
    They were Bobby Scott of Virginia and Nikema Williams of Georgia. Meanwhile, two Democrats voted present: Jonathan Jackson of Illinois and Al Green of Texas.

     

    The resolution required a two-thirds majority vote to succeed. House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that 311 members of the House voted to expel Santos. Another 114 voted against the expulsion, with two members recording themselves “present.”

    He is the first member of Congress to be expelled since the Civil War who wasn’t first convicted of a felony.

  7. 7.

    RaflW

    Saw on Bsky that Emmer and Stefanik voted NO on expulsion. GOP leadership is just the sleaziest creeps. Power at any cost, including — at least should be — to their reputations, in defending a guy who stole from multiple people through blatant credit card fraud. Including stealing from a fellow GOP Rep and the Rep’s mom.

    THAT’s what Emmer and Stefanik defended. Disgusting

    And once they knew he was out, why even vote no? It’s stupid as well as craven.

  8. 8.

    Alison Rose

    From the NYT:

    Asked by a reporter for his reaction as he strode off the House floor, Santos said: “What reaction? The House voted; that’s their vote.” He warned they just set a dangerous precedent.

    Yes, that very dangerous precedent of kicking out people who lie about literally every single thing about their entire life and identity. OH NOES TEH HORROR. God, what a dramatic little twit.

  9. 9.

    Scout211

    His statement.

    GOP Rep. George Santos told CNN after the House voted to expel him that “it’s over.”
    “The House spoke that’s their vote. They just set new dangerous precedent for themselves,” he added.

    When asked if he would still stay and use nonmember privileges because he is not convicted, Santos said, “Why would I want to stay here? To hell with this place.”

    Pressed if he knew this was how it was going to go, Santos said, “I had no skin in the game.”
    And then he said, “You know what? As unofficially no longer a member of Congress, I no longer have to answer your questions.”

    Classy, as always.

    ETA:  Alison Rose got there first.

  10. 10.

    Rob

    Oh happy day!!

    However, this news is delaying my departure to look for two rare birds on the other side of my county, as I message friends and we share in the good news.

  11. 11.

    RaflW

    @Betty “Hopefully he wants to try to make a lot of money by peddling scandalous stories about former GOP colleagues. Maybe they’ll even be true! But who would believe him?”

    If he claims he was in a four-way with FL GOP chair Zeigler, Moms-for-book-banning wife & their lady friend, I’d chose to believe that.

  12. 12.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Hopefully that’s the last we hear of Mr. Santos other than minor footnotes in the historical record.

    More importantly, what happens to the district now? The Grauniad indicates that there’s got to be a special election within 90 days; do the Dems have anyone ready to contend for that seat?

  13. 13.

    Shakti

    I’m shocked they actually expelled him.  It’s not like being a pathological liar or a thief or an enabler of child molesters or an insurrectionist who endangers their colleagues  is enough. Maybe the line was “my mom has to sign up for LifeLock now”?  But that can’t be it.

    Whatever could it be?

    *straight face

  14. 14.

    sdhays

    @RaflW: Now, who among us hasn’t dabbled in a bit of light credit card fraud?

    And, remember, the “us” here are Republican politicians.

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    All in all, it’s been a pretty good week.

    We gave a beautiful sendoff to a great lady.

    Henry Kissinger died.

    Trump was re-gagged.

    Sandra Day O’Connor died.*

    And George Santos was expelled from Congress.

    And it isn’t even noon on Friday yet.

     

    *I have mixed feelings about her. Fully aware that she gave us #43 and all that that entailed, and still does, but I don’t celebrate her death the way I do Henry the K’s.

    OTOH, if you had asked me last night if SDO’C were still alive, I would have stated, with great confidence, “No! She died years ago.”

  17. 17.

    CaseyL

    Eh.  It was a grift that succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.  He now has a nice financial cushion to launch his next scam – and an online constituency no doubt eager to support him.

    It will be mildly interesting to see what he does next.  Maybe return to Brazil – he does face federal indictments, though, so maybe Argentina (if they still don’t have an extradition treaty with the US).

  18. 18.

    MazeDancer

    @RaflW: Stefanik’s whole-hearted endorsement of Santos, or whatever his name is, helped him immensely.

    People believed he was a nice, gay Jewish boy.

    Hoping LI is mad enough to abandon the GOP.

  19. 19.

    Ken

    Now is when he reveals his One Weird Trick — the House voted to expel George Santos, but he’s really Anthony Zabrovsky, so he’s still in!

  23. 23.

    bbleh

    But who would believe him?

    Oh, the people who want to, plus a lot of people would pretend to believe, or at least to give the benefit of the doubt, because clickbait or political interest or whatever.

    Let’s not write him off just yet.  He could be useful, and in any case the whole thing is very entertaining.

  24. 24.

    Bobby Thomson

    He ain’t gonna say shit.  He’s got a cushy future in TV after he serves whatever sentence he gets.

  25. 25.

    Urza

    I’d ask who would hire a known liar and con man that even the GOP wouldn’t let on the wingnut wurlitzer.  But he’ll probably just change his name again and dress in drag to get a job.

  26. 26.

    Alison Rose

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: According to NYT:

    Democrats were expected to coalesce around Thomas R. Suozzi, a tested centrist who held the seat for six years before Mr. Santos but gave it up for a failed run for governor in 2022. Mr. Suozzi, 61, is a prolific fund-raiser and perhaps the best-known candidate either party could put forward. Anna Kaplan, a former state senator, is also running and has positioned herself to Mr. Suozzi’s left.

    Not familiar with either of them.

  29. 29.

    twbrandt

    With Santos (R-WTF) being expelled, the house GOP majority just went from 9 members to 8 – 222 republicans, 213 democrats to 221 republicans, 213 democrats.

  30. 30.

    Scout211

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    From CNN live updates:

    Two Democrats voted against expelling Rep. George Santos from the House.

    They were Bobby Scott of Virginia and Nikema Williams of Georgia. Meanwhile, two Democrats voted present: Jonathan Jackson of Illinois and Al Green of Texas.

  32. 32.

    Betty Cracker

    I don’t know how prosecution for public corruption works, but I’ve heard talk about corrupt elected officials using resignation as a bargaining chip to reduce charges, e.g., I heard some analysts speculating that’s why Gold Bar Bob in the Senate won’t resign. Was Santos simply too dumb to take that route, or are deals of that kind less common than analysts suggest?

  33. 33.

    mrmoshpotato

    Now his shitass can go back to his college women’s volleyball career!

    (I can’t believe the Rethuglicans actually did something morally right for once!)

  35. 35.

    Urza

    @Scout211: Yea, there should be questions why any Democrat wouldn’t want to expel this guy.  There are no moral high grounds for even abstaining unless they weren’t present.

  36. 36.

    Leto

    Hopefully his future includes an orange jumpsuit within a secure living facility for a couple of years.

    @Bobby Thomson: I don’t think he has a Faux gig, but could see a second/third tier landing spot like OANN or Newsmax. Or RT. He’s RT material.

  39. 39.

    Shakti

    @SiubhanDuinne:  Not being a full tilt asshole with logorrhea helps tremendously.

    Also, she was actually smart and (over) qualified like genuine firsts of underrepresented groups have to be if they’re not obviously set up to be puppet mouthpieces.

    Still, my first thought of her was she wrote the Bush v. Gore opinion.  (It was per curiam afaik)

    Courtney Milan has some warm personal recollections of her on Blue Sky.  https://bsky.app/profile/courtneymilan.bsky.social/post/3kfikrekqqw2v

  44. 44.

    Jackie

    @CaseyL:

    He now has a nice financial cushion to launch his next scam

    He won’t be getting severance pay from Congress; he has to serve a minimum of three terms to qualify.

    He will probably start a Go Fund Me lol

  45. 45.

    narya

    @Betty Cracker: AKA “Taking an Agnew.” Okay, it’s only known as that as of this comment . . . That said, it does seem to be a thing, but I think in this case there were just so many charges that it might not have been on the table for him. It sure seemed that every time he turned around, more charges were added, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are still more to come.

  48. 48.

    Bill Arnold

    @RaflW:

    Power at any cost, including — at least should be — to their reputations, in defending a guy who stole from multiple people through blatant credit card fraud.

    Santos stole a F-in election from the American people through résumé fraud, and provided key votes for the razor-thin GOP majority.

  49. 49.

    narya

    @zhena gogolia: He said (on MSNBC the other night) that he was waiting for either conviction OR a full ethics committee report, and the report was extremely damning, fully bipartisan, etc.

  50. 50.

    BC in Illinois

    On the argument that it’s a bad precedent to expel a member who has been charged, but not yet convicted . . . I can’t find the Tweet or Thread that said it, but the reason that most corrupt congresspeople who are caught as badly as Santos aren’t expelled, is that the vast majority of them have the grace to resign.

    + + +

    And, giving credit where [some] credit is due.

    My St Louis County Rep, Ann Wagner ( R – safe Republican vote ), joined 104 Republicans and 206 Democrats in voting to expel George Santos from the House of Representatives.

    She was the only Missouri Republican to vote to expel Santos.

    Maybe she’s trying to run next year as a “Reasonable Republican.”

  51. 51.

    dmsilev

    But, how will Congress manage without the services of the only astronaut who has won two Nobel Prizes and a Michelin star?

  52. 52.

    Leto

    Cy Young winner, and NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year, former Rep George Santos announces his intention of returning to his former position as Chair of the Yale University Ethics, Politics, and Economics program. The university recognizes the significant, and unique, contributions former Rep Santos, US Air Force 12 OUTSTANDING AIRMEN OF THE YEAR award winner, has made to the nation, and welcomes his continued leadership of the program.

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    Santos stole the money he raised to treat a homeless veteran’s dog, and the dog died. He won’t go to jail for that, but I hope he does hard time for his other crimes because the fake animal charity alone proves he’s a sociopath.

  54. 54.

    Ohio Mom

    @SiubhanDuinne: I also was pretty sure Sandra Day O’Connor had already died.

    My positive memory of her is her reaction when it was revealed that her senile, institutionalized husband was having an affair with another memory care resident. She was all for whatever made him happy. That struck me as sensible and humane.

    Other than that, eh. Will forever hold her at least partially responsible for foisting GW on the world.

  55. 55.

    Captain C

    @Leto:

    his former position as Chair of the Yale University Ethics, Politics, and Economics program

    Does this mean he’ll be Bobo’s boss when Bobo teaches another course on how to seem ethical while defending fascism, selling your own (non-text)books to your students, and ditching your wife for your much-younger ‘research assistant’?

  56. 56.

    Leto

    @Captain C: That’s just the intro course; wait till you see what’s next! *With this one easy trick, you too can be a NASA astronaut while also being a top CIA spy!

  57. 57.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker: It would ironic if future Santos is shivved in prison, not for his corruption or for the laws he has broken, but for falsely raising money to treat a homeless veteran’s dog, and then letting the dog die.

    Speaking of which, do we know how Chauvin is doing after being knifed in prison?

  60. 60.

    Ruckus

    @Shakti:

    It wasn’t that he did just one of those things, it was that he did them all and everybody knows that he did.

    One is supposed to be better at the criming. I’ve wondered if his district elected him to get him out of town…. Also he’s such a nice representation of rethuglican ethics. Does/did he enhance or degrade the party?

  64. 64.

    zhena gogolia

    @narya: Thanks.

    I just watched the film about Don Rickles and Bob Newhart that rikyrah recommended — it’s great! On the New Yorker site. I have a subscription, but the version I watched had ads because I didn’t sign in, so I guess if you don’t mind ads you can watch it without a subscription. So moving.

  66. 66.

    Geminid

    @Alison Rose: Suozzi beat Santos by 12 points in 2020, in a slightly different 3rd CD. Then he gave up that seat to run for Governor last year, and Cathy Hochul beat him. A couple of Democrats who were already running in next year’s primary dropped out when Suozzi bigfooted them last week.

    Kaplan was a state Senator until she lost last year in the New York Republican mini-wave.

  70. 70.

    Leto

    @Ruckus: a lot of the reporting out of his district was about how his constituents felt fooled, and wanted him gone. Hopefully this cascades to the rest of the seats that the R’s picked up in NY, but need Dems to go back on the offensive in those districts.

  73. 73.

    dmsilev

    So, the GOP majority shrinks by (net) half a vote now, and probably another half  if a Democrat wins the special election in a couple of months. Spare a bit of schadenfreude for Speaker Johnson, whose job just became that much more difficult.

  74. 74.

    jonas

    @Urza:  Yea, there should be questions why any Democrat wouldn’t want to expel this guy.  There are no moral high grounds for even abstaining unless they weren’t present.

    I think it’s less about not wanting to expel him and more about making the GOP take responsibility for their own corruption. The fact that it took dozens of Democratic votes to get rid of this guy speaks volumes about what a lot of Repubs value: nothing but power

    ETA: I understand that it was going to need 2/3 to expel, so some Dems had to vote yes. But the fact that half the Republican caucus voted no is a disgrace.

  75. 75.

    Another Scott

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Is Colbert back?  I saw a headline few days ago that he suffered a ruptured appendix and was being treated in a hospital.

    I haven’t seen anything since then (but haven’t looked).

    It’s yet another example that life is fragile and nobody knows the future…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  77. 77.

    RaflW

    @Alison Rose: Suozzi spammed me with a funrdaising text within minutes of the Santos vote. Even though I’ve never interacted with him or any of his campaigns.

    I’m so f’ing exhausted by text fundraising. They ALL rent their lists to each other and pester the living __ out of me. Some days, exp near the end of the month, I get more texts from campaigns (despite endless use of “Stop” by me) than from family and friends.

    I hate that about being a Dem donor. I want to give on my terms and I never, ever, ever give via unsolicited text. Gaaah.

  81. 81.

    jonas

    Santos is going from Congress straight to trial and then to jail. Possibly for a long while. That will no doubt give him time to find Jesus, become straight, and make up a comeback story on which to restart the grift. I assume there will be a book with a foreword by Steve Bannon and everything.

  82. 82.

    Leto

    @RaflW: I woke up this morning to about 20 fundraising emails; a good number from Biden, Newsom, and a few on everyone’s behalf. It was like a spigot was turned on. Totally agree with you on being a Dem donor.

  83. 83.

    Ruckus

    @Leto:

    Dems need to be on the offensive politically all the time everywhere.

    We are seeing the slow, agonizing, stupid, scandalous results of the rethuglican party. How many of them are actually for good governance, positive realistic growth of this nation, the concept that non white humans are equal in every way – OK possibly better than them, and that life isn’t about being best at greed and corruption?

    I’m sure there is more that could be added to the above and that there are likely good, decent republicans somewhere on this planet but no one is looking for them. The concepts of the rethuglican party of today really isn’t any different than it has been for far more than my decades on this planet. Power of select groups, equality for them – as long as it doesn’t affect their bank accounts……

  84. 84.

    Geminid

    @cain: This brings up an interesting (to me) question: what is a Centrist? It’s often used as a dirty word. Personally, I view “Centrism” as a political strategy that calls for Democrats generally to run towards the political “Center.”

    But now the label “Centrist” is typically used to denote a moderate Democrat, often in a dismissive way. From what I know of Suozzi, he is basically a moderate within the broader party,

    That may or may not suit the Democrats in this affluent suburban district, but we probably won’t get to see until next year’s primary. I believe that for the special election, party District Committees will select one candidate each.

    A Suozzi/Kaplan primary contest will probably be framed as a big “Progressive vs.”Centrist” showdown, but my prediction is that Kaplan will have a hard time differentiating herself from Suozzi on salient issues.

  85. 85.

    RaflW

    @Leto: Emails, while annoying, are minor IMO. Maybe I can find a setting to change this, but texts ‘ding’ and get my attention, emails just silently slide into my ‘promotions’ or ‘update’ tabs.

    If a PAC texts me, I write back like 15-20 one word texts, because as I understand it, they pay for each inbound and outbound text to the platform. And I fucking hate PACs, even Dem ones. They’re a cancer, they scam money with tons of scare words, and rarely really flow it to candidates IMO.

  86. 86.

    Alison Rose

    LOL

    A handful of constituents in New York’s Third Congressional District have stopped by a field office in Douglaston, N.Y., after the vote, some taking photos of a soon-to-be-replaced awning bearing the former congressman’s name. Michael Foubister, 62, a retired HVAC technician who has lived in the area for 55 years, said Santos had “duped everybody,” adding: “You reap what you sow.”

  88. 88.

    cain

    I see Dick Durban has been doing some good shit turning the tables on the GOP by using their own rule breaking against them. It’s about time the Dems start giving the GOP a taste of their own medicine. For too long the GOP has been using the same playbook and the Dems keep falling for it because they want to keep following the obscure senate rules. But now… now they are using whatever the Republicans have done and now they are pissed. Good for our side!

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dick-durbin-judiciary-committee-biden-judges_n_6568fef4e4b066e398b6fb64

  89. 89.

    Tony Jay

    Those 311 Representatives are going to look ever so stupid when His Excellency George Santos ascends to the Papacy next year as Pope Innocent XIV.

    But he’ll forgive them.

  90. 90.

    smith

    Just fired off an angry email to my rep, Jonathan Jackson, for his voting “present” instead of “yes.” I hope I’m not alone. There is no political or ethical reason for him to hesitate — this is a solid D district, he’s one of Jesse’s boys, his seat would not be endangered in the least by a yes vote.

  92. 92.

    cain

    @Geminid: I think I’ve always thought a centrist is more corporate or business friendly. There is nothing about the Democratic platform that is “left” it’s what it was since the new deal. So when I see centrist – I see someone willing to compromise more than your usual politician and I’m at the stage that we don’t need to compromise with the GOP on anything – they don’t even have a platform of governance as we all know.

  93. 93.

    cain

    @cain: oh man, the exchange in the article is hilarious:

    Soon Republicans were talking over each other and hurling insults and threats at Durbin.

    “There’s going to be a lot of consequences coming here,” warned Cotton. “I cautioned a lot of you. Listen to me! I cautioned a lot of you!”

    Cornyn suggested that Republicans might walk out of the hearing right then and deny a quorum, meaning the committee couldn’t conduct any votes.

    Cotton got so mad he started talking about himself in the third person.

    “Mr. Cotton says the chairman needs to rethink his decision,” said Cotton, as his name came up in the roll call. “That’s what Mr. Cotton says.”

    When Blackburn said again she wanted to talk, Cotton interjected, “Now I guess Sen. Durbin is not going to allow women to speak ​_either. I thought that was sacrosanct in your party!”

    “Congratulations on destroying the United States Senate Judiciary Committee,” Cornyn dramatically told Durbin.

    Fucking clowns. 🤡🤡🤡

  94. 94.

    Ken

    @Geminid: This brings up an interesting (to me) question: what is a Centrist?

    Cole defined it years ago:  Someone who thinks they can make both sides happy by ordering pizza with anthrax for dinner.

  95. 95.

    Tony Jay

    Didn’t a lot of Dems vote against expelling Santos last time because he hadn’t actually been found guilty of anything, yet. What changed?

    The idea, as I understood it, was that the precedent of expelling House members for being accused of things was one that Dems shouldn’t rubber stamp because Republicans would be ever so happy to take it up and misuse it.

    Now it’ll be investigation after investigation after investigation with Republican Speakers insisting that an expulsion vote by their caucus translates to the majority having ‘the right’ to treat Democrats they don’t like as if they’re provisionally expelled.

    It’ll be fuckery wherever you look.

  99. 99.

    Old School

    @Tony Jay:

    Didn’t a lot of Dems vote against expelling Santos last time because he hadn’t actually been found guilty of anything, yet. What changed?

    The House Ethics Committee released its report.

  103. 103.

    Geminid

    @Ken: Well, I hear the word used all the time by people unfamiliar with Balloon Juice nomenclature, and that’s what I’m talking about here.

    Sometimes it gets applied to groups like No Labels, and sometimes it gets applied to moderate Democrats representing purple districts, like Tom Suozzi.

  109. 109.

    moops

    “You can do whatever you want next. I’m going to do whatever I want.”

     

    and by want, I mean going to federal prison.  He can do Whatever he Wants when he finishes serving his Time.  Not sure there will be as many opportunities for a convicted felon.   Perhaps a spot on Fox.

  111. 111.

    trollhattan

    Didja know he keeps his Nobel on the rosewood mantle next to the Heisman and Emmy? Things go better in threes.

  112. 112.

    Jackie

    Cornel West is nearly broke. Here’s my tiny violin enlarged for visibility: 🎻

    Newly uncovered divorce filings reveal allegations of a “secret life” and help explain why the presidential candidate, who has earned millions of dollars over the years, has hardly anything left, Forbes reports.

  113. 113.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Urza: I’ve heard the argument that any replacement for Santos would be harder to defeat in an election than he would be, so Democrats should not have wished for his expulsion.

  116. 116.

    Tony Jay

    @Ken:

    The mind boggles. Since he was also the singer-songwriter behind Milli Vanilli, the first non-Scot to win every event at the Highland Games and taught master-level campanology in Portugal’s seminaries he could be the first Singing Flinging Bell-Ringing Space Pope too!

  118. 118.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: Democrats would have had to defeat a tougher candidate anyway. Santo said he would not run again but if he did, he would not have won the Republican primary.

  120. 120.

    Leto

    @Jackie: He’s still trying to get used to his human suit.

    In other news: GOP Melts Down As Dick Durbin Uses Its Tactics For Advancing Biden Judges

    It wasn’t until after Democrats voted out both nominees and the complaints had somewhat subsided that Durbin had a chance to spell out why this was happening: He was following a precedent set by the last two Republican chairs of the committee, who violated committee rules to advance nominees and legislation without giving Democrats a chance to weigh in.

    In other words, Durbin was giving Republicans a taste of their own medicine.

    “The two preceding chairs of this committee violated the letter and spirit of Committee Rule IV,” he said, referring to a committee rule that requires at least one member of the minority to vote with the majority to end debate on a matter before moving to vote on it.

    Durbin said one former chair, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), violated this rule with a vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, and Graham was chair when he broke the rule to advance a partisan immigration bill without Democratic input.

    “In doing so, Republicans established a new precedent that I followed on one occasion last Congress and will follow again today,” said the Illinois Democrat. “I’ve said time and again there cannot be one set of rules for Republicans and a different set for Democrats.”

  121. 121.

    PST

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I’ve heard the argument that any replacement for Santos would be harder to defeat in an election than he would be, so Democrats should not have wished for his expulsion.

    That’s a really stupid argument (not blaming Matt for mentioning it, of course). The next year matters, and we now have one less R and the prospect of one more D sooner than later.

  123. 123.

    EarthWindFire

    @jonas: I think it’s less about not wanting to expel him and more about making the GOP take responsibility for their own corruption

    If that was the intent, why would anyone except this approach to work in both sides America? Now it’s just see, even two Democrats voted against expelling Santos, therefore, 100+ Republicans absolved!

  124. 124.

    bjacques

    Historical moment!
    (From CNN)

    US House of Representatives expulsions:

    Member Date Reason
    John B. Clark 1861. Fighting for the Confederacy
    John W. Reid. 1861 Fighting for the Confederacy
    Henry C. Burnett. 1861. Fighting for the Confederacy
    Michael J. Myers. 1980. Convicted of bribery
    James A. Traficant 2002. Convicted of bribery
    George Santos. 2023 Fighting for the Confederacy

     

    EDIT: Sorry, you’ll have to turn your phone sideways for this one.

  126. 126.

    Ivan X

    @RaflW: It is too late for me, but my advice to younger generations is: when donating, use a burner email, and if you have to provide a phone number, get a free Google Voice number. It’s insane. I’m worried I might not give to anybody at this point because the quantity makes it all just fucking noise.

    I was at least able to create a filter in my Gmail to automatically siphon most of the campaign emails to a folder where I don’t see them.

  128. 128.

    West of the Rockies

    Still ten months until his criminal trial…  I am hard-pressed to imagine who would hire the little toad for anything.   I wonder if he has much of a true social support network to keep an eye on him.  He seems more likely to try to ruin other people’s lives than to self-harm or disappear quietly.

  131. 131.

    Tony Jay

    @Old School:

    Ah. The laws of mere mortals. 8-) Got it.

    I wonder how long it’ll take for Republicans to replay their impeachment trick and pretend that a GOP-only ‘Special Ethics Committee’ finding of fault is enough for their majority to declare Democratic Reps pseudo-expelled (for all necessary propaganda purposes).

  135. 135.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Tony Jay: The last vote was before the House Ethics Committee had released its report. Noteworthy, when the Committee released its report they said they didn’t wait to issue formal recommendation of impeachment, which would’ve taken more time, because the findings were so damning.

    Plus the allegations Santos stole from another member of Congress, and his mother, plus potentially other Congress critters (via credit card fraud) may have tipped the scales.

  139. 139.

    HumboldtBlue

    Over 300 members of Congress voted to remove George Santos from Congress. So why does it feel like Biden is the one getting expelled?

  142. 142.

    cain

    @Sister Golden Bear: I bet Santos was hoping because of the very small majority the GOP have that they’ll be forced to keep him. Meanwhile, he’s a predator and is milking some of his own people in congress.

    “He isn’t harming the people he should be harming!”

  143. 143.

    West of the Rockies

    @Geminid:

    Well, here’s hoping Santos experiences–what’s it called here?–the unforgiving dildo of consequences

    Hopefully,  it remains busy, what with Bannon and Trump and Eastman and a hundred other GOPers queued up.

  145. 145.

    jonas

    @EarthWindFire: I would have liked to have seen Jeffries make Johnson come up with a virtually unanimous vote from the R side before offering Dem votes to clinch the deal and dump Santos, but Johnson said he wouldn’t whip the votes on his side and Jeffries decided to let it slide. It would have been nice if at least a solid majority of the Republican caucus could have taken a stand on someone as completely grifty and crimey as Santos, but here we are.

  146. 146.

    Leto

    @Alison Rose: ​ I wanted to say, even when they’re doing something right, they’re doing something wrong. Also I’m surprised they let an unlicensed quack do anything medical related. But modern GOP and all…

  147. 147.

    Tony Jay

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    The guy is basically a fictional character from some madcap 80s comedy transported to our reality by a misplaced wish in a magical funfair, isn’t he?

    He’s not bad, he’s just written that way.

  153. 153.

    frosty

    @Leto: ​ I don’t know how many fundraising emails I get. I think 99% of them go direct to Spam and I never look at that folder. Which once or twice has been a problem when an email I was expecting didn’t show up.

  155. 155.

    Anyway

    @Tony Jay:

    The guy is basically a fictional character from some madcap 80s comedy transported to our reality by a misplaced wish in a magical funfair, isn’t he?

    Santos reminds me of the title character in “The Talented Mr. Ripley”

  158. 158.

    frosty

    @RaflW: ​ Interesting idea. How about this, save the effort of writing a reply and copy and paste their text two or three times and send that back!

  159. 159.

    Citizen Alan

    @SiubhanDuinne: I don’t hate SDO’C. I just have contempt for her. She spent decades cultivating a reputation as a sensible moderate conservative. And then she gave the White House to Bush for purely selfish reasons, and he repaid her by replacing her with a Shiite Catholic who will ensure that nearly every legal principle associated with her will be overturned (and most already have been).

    That’s why I’m absolutely convinced that Anthony Kennedy was somehow blackmailed into resigning when he did. Planned Parenthood v. Casey was the one positive thing he ever did on the bench, and his successor, one of his own former clerks, helped eviscerate it.

  163. 163.

    FelonyGovt

    Any indication how likely it is that Santos’s seat will wind up back in Democratic hands? I know Long Island is tricky.

  164. 164.

    Citizen Alan

    @Bobby Thomson: Does he? Every time I’ve ever seen him speak, I’ve wanted to recoil from that oily, creepy weirdo with the shiny skin who insists on wearing sweaters all the time. I think he’s way too deep in the Uncanny Valley to ever cut it on TV.  Maybe on Fox, late at night. They’re still running Trey “Draco Malfoy” Gowdy’s show at 9pm on Sunday, I think.

  167. 167.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Tony Jay:

    The guy is basically a fictional character from some madcap 80s comedy transported to our reality by a misplaced wish in a magical funfair, isn’t he?

    Nah, the writers’ room would’ve rejected him as too outlandish to be believable, even by movie logic.

  168. 168.

    Bill Arnold

    Depending on the timing of the special election for Santos’s seat (within 90 days?) the House GOPers may/probably will have to deal with their early-2024 twin shutdown attack threats with a razor thin majority sharpened even thinner by one vote.
    Additional hilarity/dysfunction/chaos should be expected.

  169. 169.

    Alison Rose

    @FelonyGovt: It’s true. Kennedy v Nixon vibes. It’s not necessarily that DeSantis is supremely ugly, he’s kinda just average boring middle-aged dude. But next to Newsom, he looks like garbage. Especially considering Newsom is 11 years older, which is hard to believe.

  170. 170.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … RollCall.com

    [Speaker] Johnson is scheduled to head to New York City on Sunday to headline a major fundraiser for House members of the New York congressional delegation, without Santos, POLITICO reported.

    C.R.E.A.M.

    Here’s hoping the New York Democrats will have their act together for the special election…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  171. 171.

    Bill Arnold

    Another fraud in the GOP House majority is Andy Ogles.
    No hints of seriously criminality, but perhaps he should be asked to resign for résumé fraud, for political effect.

  172. 172.

    WaterGirl

    @Geminid: Personally, if they clearly had me dead to rights, I think I would try to stay out of prison for as long as I could.  Unless an early plea deal significantly reduced the jail time, in which case I would do as you are suggesting.

  173. 173.

    Ken

    @Sister Golden Bear: So go the Barbie approach, and make him from a fictional universe. He looks a bit like Bunsen Honeydew, though he might have to be the one from the Mirror Universe where everyone is evil.

  175. 175.

    Soprano2

    I just read an article that said Tuberville is going to end his hold on all the military nominations next week, and will only block the “woke” officers from now on. I wonder if that means anyone who isn’t a white man. I guess it’s because Republicans were ready to join with Democrats to stop his fuckery.

  176. 176.

    Anyway

    Love how wholeheartedly Newsom defends and talks up the Biden-Harris admin’s economic and civil-rights record.

  177. 177.

    WaterGirl

    @FelonyGovt: My guess is that there is a decently good chance that the seat could go to a Democrat.

    Why do I think that?  Because it was the NY Republicans in the House who were pushing for expulsion.  The best reason I can come up with for why they would do that is that they want to hang on to their seats in 2024.  So I think all the House Rs in NY are vulnerable.  The NY Rs are pretty much a laughingstock after they voted in Santos.

  179. 179.

    jonas

    @FelonyGovt: It’s a pretty purple district — moreso than most of the rest of LI — and was held for a long time by centrist Dem Tom Suozzi. He’s now running for it again and I think is likely to flip it back. No idea who the R’s will put up.

  180. 180.

    WaterGirl

    @Another Scott:

    Here’s hoping the New York Democrats will have their act together for the special election…

    I’m confident that they will.  If they had their shit together in 2022, we would have the House, the Senate and the White House right now.

    edit: I’m also giving you the side-eye, California.

  182. 182.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Soprano2: I see the Rethuglicans have tired of their own bullshit.  Better 40+ years late than never I guess.

    Would’ve liked to see Newt get booted though – into the Sun.

  183. 183.

    narya

    @Omnes Omnibus: Question for you about Perry’s phone contents: given that they were inadvertently revealed/posted by the court, does that affect the ability to use the contents in any charges or indictments? The last I’d heard, the Special Counsel hadn’t yet gotten permission for the contents, just the device, and there were still questions about whether the contents were covered under speech & debate.

  187. 187.

    dr. bloor

    OT, possibly discussed above, but Sandy Day O’Connor and Henry Kissinger will be dining together this evening.  Let’s hope things continue like this in groups of three, or multiples thereof.

  189. 189.

    Hob

    @Geminid: That’s a decision that would be taken by a sensible person whose actions have shown that they take risks, consequences, and appearances seriously. Santos so far has been… not that.

  192. 192.

    Citizen Alan

    @Geminid:  Generally, I see it used to describe Democrats who veer closer to the GOP position (in their voting habits if not personally) on some issue that is normally considered liberal orthodoxy. It can be because of genuine differences of opinion on such matters or it can be for tactical reasons, i.e. Jon Tester opposing some Dem priorities because he represents a Red state dominated by (AFAICT) libertarian cattle ranchers. I think “Centrists” are less of a thing now than, say, during the 90s when there were enough Dems who were opposed to gays in the military to force Don’t Ask Don’t Tell on Clinton. I would say there were more “Centrists” in Congress when Obama actually had a filibuster proof Senate than there were when Biden was getting stuff passed with Kamala providing the tie-breaking vote.

  195. 195.

    Jackie

    @HumboldtBlue: Gavin Newsom is a great advocate for the Biden/Harris ticket. I’m willing to bet he’ll be barnstorming for them next year – along with Obama and possibly the cranky senator from VT. (Why he appeals to the yoots is beyond me, but he does.)

  197. 197.

    AxelFoley

    Georgie Porgy pudding pie

    Kiss your grifting days goodbye

    Kiss your grifting days goodbye

    Kiss your grifting days goodbye 

     

    Sung to the tune of Toto’s Georgie Porgy

    LOLOLOLOL

  198. 198.

    piratedan

    @Tony Jay: as the introducer of the phrase into the Balloon Juice lexicon…

    The Dildo of Consequences, rarely arrives lubed….

    all additional adjectives, adverbs and additional nomenclature are allowed as long as the usual Oxford Comma protocols are followed….

  199. 199.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Shakti: 300,000 dead Iraqis and 4500 dead US military members might not have the same equitable thoughts.

    And that doesn’t include the fundamental response to “bin Laden set to attack in US.”

    No Shrub, none of that happens.

    When the call came, she failed, and she failed to petty political reasons.

  200. 200.

    George

    @Urza: ​
     Jesus, this is a dead thread by now, I guess, but still I ask why anyone whines about any Democrat who didn’t vote to expel Santos.

    It’s not like he hasn’t been expelled, or that Democrats comprised the margin that kept him un-expelled. Instead of celebrating the fact that Santos is gone and that 98 percent of Democrats voted to expel while not even half of the Republicans voted to expel, people are sweating that two Democrats voted No and that two more voted Present?

  201. 201.

    E.A. Blair

    On departing the House floor, Santos admitted to being an habitual liar.

    Nobody believed him.

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