Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Consistently wrong since 2002

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

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Hot air and ill-informed banter

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Thursday Morning Open Thread: As Always, Proud to Be A Democrat

Thursday Morning Open Thread: As Always, Proud to Be A Democrat

by | 97 Comments

This post is in: , ,

And here the GOP, and their media enablers, were so hoping for a prolonged civil war…

Here’s a new debate topic for y’all… at MSNBC, Frank Figliuzzi argues that “Biden should order background checks of Trump’s Cabinet picks”:

… The FBI has conducted background investigations of White House nominees since at least the tenure of President Dwight Eisenhower’s time in office. Even so, there’s no law clearly mandating presidents or presidents-elect to submit their nominees and appointments to the FBI for investigation. In 1953, Eisenhower issued Executive Order (EO) 10450, calling for investigations of prospective federal employees. Yet, executive orders don’t have the full effect of a law and are only binding on the executive branch. Worse, Eisenhower’s executive order is subject to interpretation. Consider Section 2, “The head of each department and agency of the Government shall be responsible for establishing and maintaining within his department or agency an effective program to ensure that the employment and retention in employment of any civilian officer or employee within the department or agency is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security.” There’s lots of wiggle room there.

Section 3 of that executive order reads, “The appointment of each civilian officer or employee in any department or agency of the Government shall be made subject to investigation … but in no event shall the investigation include less than a national agency check (including a check of the fingerprint files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation).” That means that Trump, who claims he’s using private firms to conduct background inquiries, might get by with having whatever firm that is simply checking FBI fingerprint files. Yet, despite there being no mandate, the intent here was a government inquiry involving the FBI…

The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 directs the FBI to conduct such background checks “expeditiously” for “individuals that the President-elect has identified for high level national security positions.” But what if he never formally identifies and submits his picks to the Department of Justice and the FBI? In his last administration, Trump overrode security adjudicators who denied clearances for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and many others, after FBI background checks resulted in national security concerns. This time, he appears poised to dispense with the FBI checks and potentially with the Senate confirmation process by making recess appointments.

That leaves us with two pertinent memorandums of understanding (MOU) which should enable President Joe Biden and/or the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to quickly do something to preserve national security and the Constitution’s advice, and consent powers conferred on our elected lawmakers.

First, Biden should rely upon the existing MOU between the Department of Justice and his office, as well as the Presidential Transition Act, to investigate the people Trump says he wants to put in office. The MOU sets out procedures for requesting background investigations of nominees “at the request of the president.” It doesn’t say the president-elect, it says “president.” That’s you, Joe. As for the transition act, it reads as applying to people “…the President-elect has identified” for high-level positions. Well, the president-elect has already publicly identified those people. And Biden should respond…

The Senate Judiciary Committee has its own pertinent MOU with the Counsel to the President. That document says the committee “shall have access to” the FBI reports on nominees for attorney general, FBI director or summaries for “all other DOJ nominees and non-judicial nominees.” Emphasis on all other and non-judicial. We know senators want the details of the House Ethics Committee inquiry into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick for attorney general. An FBI background investigation would certainly include a request to review that report, as well as the DOJ criminal investigation, now closed, into Gaetz. The Senate Judiciary Committee should make a bipartisan request for an FBI background check of Trump’s picks now. Regardless of party affiliation, if senators relinquish their advice and consent authority or confirm a nominee without benefit of knowing the risk they pose, then they set a precedent for never again exercising their constitutional powers.

You’d be right to ask, “What’s the point?” After all, Trump is unlikely to read, let alone act upon, any derogatory information developed in FBI reports. The point would be to force Trump’s hand. Drop the reports on his desk and let him go forward with nominees who potentially are either found through investigation to be unqualified, at risk of compromise, or even a national security threat. Let Trump order White House security clearance adjudicators or his hand-picked agency heads to grant security clearances to seemingly unqualified candidates. Let the Senate affirm nominees after they’ve read details about the kind of people who may lead the DOJ or serve as the director of national intelligence…

Sad trombone coda (hopefully not a premonition… )

Reader Interactions

Commenters

No commenters available.

  • Another Scott
  • Baud
  • Belafon
  • Caustictity.acerbity
  • Chris Johnson
  • cmorenc
  • danielx
  • Dorothy A. Winsor
  • Elizabelle
  • Emily68
  • Geminid
  • Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
  • I WereBear
  • Jackie
  • kwAwk
  • LAC
  • Layer8Problem
  • MinuteMan
  • Mr. Bemused Senior
  • NotMax
  • Old Man Shadow
  • Omnes Omnibus
  • Quiltingfool
  • ron
  • schrodingers_cat
  • Shakti
  • Soprano2
  • Starfish (she/her)
  • tam1MI
  • taumaturgo
  • TBone
  • Tony G
  • UncleEbeneezer
  • WereBear

Filtered Commenters

No filtered commenters available.

    Settings




    Settings are saved immediately; press X to close the box.

    97Comments

    4. 4.

      Layer8Problem

      Luntz forgot the price of vodka.  It’s probably tracked in the Russian business pages, because important commodity.

      Anybody seen Matt McIrvin lately?

      Reply
    7. 7.

      kwAwk

      I ventured into the world of cable news for the first time since the election to watch Chris Cuomo on NewsNation for a bit.   Cuomo’s take seemed to be to ask if Trump was trying to be provocative with his cabinet picks and feigning a larger strategy, and it’s like Jesus Christ Cuomo.   No, the simplest solution is usually best.

      Trump picked Gaetz to be the Attorney General because he thought Gaetz was the best person to be Attorney General.  Trump picked Gabbert to be DNI because he thought Gabbert was the best person for the job.

      None of that makes sense if you think the job of Attorney General is to competently manage the Justice Department of course, but if you think the job is to manage Trump’s ego, like Trump does, it all makes perfect sense.

      Reply
    9. 9.

      Soprano2

      I like Figliuzzi’s idea. MAGA’s would howl, who cares? It’s due diligence for the American people.

      I’ve decided that for me taking prednisone sucks balls. On Friday I started feeling jittery. On Monday I started having the feeling you get when you’re taking stuff like Benadryl, and my pulse felt high. I took my blood pressure, it was 150/80. I contacted my doctor’s office; they said to monitor my BP for the rest of the time I’m taking the meds, which is three more days. I sure hope it fixes my shoulder problem! I hate this, I almost feel like I’m vibrating sometimes. The weirdest thing is that my pulse is normal – 63 this morning while the BP was 150/79.

      Reply
    10. 10.

      Layer8Problem

      @Belafon:  I was being a touch sardonic.  Keeping the price of a society’s self-medication down is important in tough economic times and I’m sure the Russian state is on top of that.

      Reply
    11. 11.

      Belafon

      House Speaker Mike Johnson blocked an effort by a fellow Republican lawmaker that would have allowed women in Congress who just gave birth to vote by proxy—a way to let them recover from birth and bond with their child while also giving a voice to their constituents.

      Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs of California introduced legislation in January that sought to allow members of the House who give birth to vote remotely for six weeks postpartum.

      The bill has 34 co-sponsors, including some right-wing Republican men, such as Rep. James Comer of Kentucky and Tim Burchett of Tennessee.

      But Luna said on Wednesday that Johnson told her he will not put her legislation up for a vote.

      https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/21/2287602/-Pro-family-GOP-speaker-doesn-t-want-new-moms-to-vote-in-Congress?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_1&pm_medium=web

      Reply
    12. 12.

      Geminid

      @Baud: The House was close again. Whereas 270,000 votes in three states made the difference in the Presidential race, I’d bet 10,000 votes spread over five Congressional districts would have made Jeffries Speaker.

      Reply
    14. 14.

      Soprano2

      Hmmm, comment got eaten somehow. I like Figliuzzi’s idea about the background checks. MAGA’s would howl, who cares? Biden would be doing due diligence for the American people since TCFG is unwilling to do that.

      I’ve decided that for me taking prednisone sucks balls. On Friday I started feeling kind of jittery. On Monday I started feeling the way you do when you take Benadryl – hyper and tired at the same time. I took my blood pressure because I thought I could feel it was high, and it was – 150/80. I contacted my doctor’s office, they told me to monitor it until I was done with the meds, which should be on Sunday. I hate this, I feel so weird. It better fix my shoulder! At least I’ve only gained 2-3 pounds, and I don’t feel hungrier than normal. Exercise does help take the edge off.

      Reply
    15. 15.

      Soprano2

      Hmmm, this comment worked I had two other eaten. Weird.

      I like Figliuzzi’s idea. MAGA’s would howl, who cares. Biden would be doing the due diligence for the American people that TCFG refuses to do.

      I’ve decided for me taking prednisone sucks balls. On Friday I started feeling jittery. On Monday, I started feeling like you do when you take Benadryl – tired and high at the same time. I took my blood pressure – it was 150/80. I contacted my doctor’s office, they said to keep monitoring it until I was done with the meds. Today it was 150/79, but my pulse is 63. Exercise helps take the edge off – sometimes I feel like I’m almost vibrating! I’ll be glad when I’m done with this, I hope it helps my shoulder pain. At least I’ve only gained a couple of pounds, hope it comes off fast when I’m done with the drugs.

      Reply
    17. 17.

      TBone

      @Soprano2: hugs.  Can you try some edible marijuana?  When I had to take that stuff, it helped immensely.  Sleeping, eating, adrenaline surges calmed considerably.

      Reply
    21. 21.

      Starfish (she/her)

      What’s the price of windows with proper locks in Russia?

      Here is a list of suspicious deaths since the invasion of Ukraine. This is top of mind because of that ballet dancer that fell off his building five days ago after criticizing the war.

      Reply
    23. 23.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @TBone:

      Knowing these people, they’d probably force her to give birth in that jail cell Congress used to use when they held people for Contempt of Congress

      Reply
    24. 24.

      I WereBear

      @Soprano2: taking prednisone sucks balls

       
      I avoid it, now. Long term studies not encouraging.

      While my diet/supplement anti-inflammatory regimen, doctor approved, has my markers at an all time best. I keep up with the latest and so does he, a great working partnership.

      There’s been incredible advancements the last decade, but I have to take the initiative. Especially since, at my age, they won’t take me seriously unless I bring some research paper.

      Then they have to see my angle 🤣

      Reply
    28. 28.

      Soprano2

      @Geminid: I think Democrats should message this election as a 50/50 election, because that’s what it was. The R’s certainly don’t have any kind of mandate for anything, and I think most of what they’re planning isn’t what people voted for. I don’t think either side can say they’re the majority right now.

      I’ve been thinking that in some ways we’re repeating the 1920’s. I hope we don’t do a horrible immigration reform bill like they did.

      Reply
    29. 29.

      Emily68

      Will Putin blame Russian inflation on Biden? I mean, Biden’s causing Putin to spend all that dough in Ukraine, so inflation must be Biden’s fault.

      Reply
    31. 31.

      Soprano2

      @I WereBear: I only have to take it for 12 days. I would not do this long term, I would insist on another approach. I had never had it before, and what I heard about it was all over the map.

      Reply
    32. 32.

      Starfish (she/her)

      So in the stories about the cutting of the internet cables under the Baltic sea, there is this about targeting DHL

      A Western security official told NBC News this month that Russia was responsible for sending two incendiary devices to DHL logistics hubs in Germany and the U.K. in July as part of a wider sabotage campaign to possibly start fires aboard aircraft bound for North America.

      Reply
    36. 36.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @Geminid:

      Haven’t been following the weather too closely, but I know we’re getting snow flurries for a few hours today. I think it’s the first snow of the season

      Reply
    38. 38.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @Omnes Omnibus:

      I know you’re being sarcastic, but I’ll be honest and say I’ve had my concerns about her. I saw a CNN interview she did a month and a half ago with Jake Tapper and she did not sound well. She was slurring her words a bit. I remember others here mentioning that she looked disheveled earlier in the year in July too in public appearances and that wasn’t like her

      Reply
    39. 39.

      schrodingers_cat

      I thought I had read it all until I read on this very site, Kamala Harris described thus:

      A gun toting prosecutor who steadfastly refused to stand up for minority groups ostensibly in her coalition certainly strikes me as republican lite…

      And that’s a direct quote.

      Reply
    40. 40.

      Layer8Problem

      Plus old.

      I have nothing but respect for her Speakership.  She was pragmatic and things got done one didn’t expect possible.  And I eagerly await the memoirs from the various principal characters of the last six months to find out precisely what happened and who did what to whom.

      Reply
    41. 41.

      Jackie

      Question: Say the senate refuses to confirm Gaetz, Gabbard, Hegseth, RFK jr, and other abysmal picks: Will TCFG’s second choices be even worse? I sure don’t see TCFG capitulating to normal/approved selections when his entire intent is to destroy  our Constitution.

      Anyone else wondering about this?

      Reply
    44. 44.

      TBone

      Blame and recrimination are what the Russians want for us Dems.

      We fought well and hard against the opposition.  That’s where my energies shall stay focused.

      Reply
    45. 45.

      WereBear

      As a parentified child, I recognize how Democrats are trapped into that same place.

      All of the responsibilities, but none of the power. An Impossible Task, the “other” Mind Killer.

      Time to use all the powers we have. I’m not interested in “getting along.”

      Reply
    46. 46.

      Layer8Problem

      @Omnes Omnibus:  I’d say that’s definitive.  Has the Times noted this or have I missed the first tranche of articles?  Mark my words she’s going to bring us all down in the next election.

      Reply
    48. 48.

      Shakti

      @Belafon:

      TL,DNR: On principle I care about access to the workplace for women. This would be a good common sense reform.  But I’m not calling out the feminist cavalry on this.

       

      But on spite, it’s not even my workplace or applicable to any workplace I might be in, and also fuck my rep in particular. She’s so ineffective she can’t even get this through the house when her party controls it and I’d bet sweet money she supports Mace’s  sweeping anti-trans bill and the voters in my district reelected her on the strength of… FEMA being broke and her blaming it on migrants.  She couldn’t even get anyone not from Florida to vote on something about making home insurance payments easier —and fucking Mike Johnson is from Louisiana, a state that gets it every hurricane season. I know that fuckhead hates a plurality black city (NOLA) but there’s nothing else in Louisiana besides Baton Rouge, and that’s a trivia question for anyone outside the state (exaggeration).

      This beep is all about “feminism” and lady solidarity when it’s for her and her fake ass gunfluencer girlbossing. I thought she had managed to get it through — I guess not. Why doesn’t she get MTG to threaten Johnson by releasing his porn buddyson accountability logs, lmao?

      Reply
    50. 50.

      Chris Johnson

      @kwAwk: Trump doesn’t have agency in the way you pretend, you silly person. Every single one of those people are either vatniks or hilariously compromised AND psychotic criminals.

      What Trump wants has nothing to do with it. It’s a bust-out, which if things were about Trump’s popularity would reflect very poorly on him. But what people think of him doesn’t matter. He has to tolerate Musk and Thiel and put up with RFK lecturing him on his diet because he has to appoint Putin’s choice of wrecking balls to ruin all our shit.

      This is not complicated.

      By all means let’s have those FBI checks. Bring it. MAGA won’t believe it until it’s proven to be true by their shit being ruined, but Putin trusts that he can continue to muddy the Zone no matter what happens, and hopes to turn people’s rage onto immigrants, Californians, trans people etc. which is underpants gnome conspiring, but that’s what we’re looking at.

      None of this is complicated. MTG fucking publically threatened her fellow republicans with kompromat. We know what’s going on.

      Reply
    55. 55.

      cmorenc

      @Soprano2:

      @Geminid: I think Democrats should message this election as a 50/50 election, because that’s what it was. The R’s certainly don’t have any kind of mandate for anything,

      If winning the Presidency by <600 votes, a narrow house majority of 221-210 and a 50-50 Senate split for George Bush did not inhibit him from governing as if he had a mandate, it sure as Hell won’t inhibit Trump to have won the presidency by 1.5% and 1.6 million votes, a 3-seat Senate majority and less then 5 seat HOR majority.  Didn’t stop Trump when he lost the popular vote by 3 million in 2016 either, so why should it this time around?

      Reply
    56. 56.

      Chris Johnson

      @Dorothy A. Winsor: He does have to also go against Republicans, and they’re better than us at being sneaky and deceitful and at holding grudges.

      It’s very important that Trump ‘winning’ thanks to Russia, with Russia in the state it’s in, means that Russia has to wreck our shit posthaste, which emphatically includes wrecking all the Republicans. He’s trying to cling to control long enough to obey his real boss, who’s not subtle about expressing his demands, so in that intention Trump is backstabbing all the Republicans who know full well what’s up with that. I’m certainly rooting for injuries, insults, and betrayals.

      Reply
    57. 57.

      ron

      I saw various randos on bluesky in replies say that the Biden should order FBI background checks.

      Maybe Russia can elect Trump to solve the inflation problem since it has already been solved here by Biden, though that would be news to most voters.

      Reply
    60. 60.

      MinuteMan

      The Biden administration ought to get off their duffs and provide Congress with Felonius Punks tax returns that they requested so long ago: better late than never.

      Reply
    61. 61.

      Old Man Shadow

      @Soprano2: Problem is, regardless of intent, the voters handed them all the power which they plan on using. And they’ll make sure to stack the deck hard against the voters holding them accountable for what they do.

      So it doesn’t particularly matter if the voters just wanted cheap milk and eggs, they’re going to get the fuck package and they’re going to get it good and hard.

      Reply
    63. 63.

      Old Man Shadow

      I think Democrats should message this election as a 50/50 election, because that’s what it was. The R’s certainly don’t have any kind of mandate for anything,

      Except they do. They won. Doesn’t matter if people were stupid and didn’t know what they were voting for. They’re getting the full GOP package and they’re getting it good and hard.

      And the GOP will do its best to insulate themselves from the voters like they do whenever the voters hand them complete control of state or local governments. Assuming Trump doesn’t just light the Constitution on fire, declare himself president for life, and shoot anyone who disagrees, getting them out of power will be a Herculean task.

      Reply
    65. 65.

      WereBear

      Sitting here in the pharmacy because nothing computer can be done competently after all the IT firings.

      And corporate is bulging with successful psychopaths. MBAs with shark minds.

      I don’t want to BUY anything. That’s what they’ve done to me.

      Reply
    66. 66.

      TBone

      @Another Scott: my point in posting that yesterday was that journalists and experts were supposed to be itching to go through and report on those.  But the Pecker’s catch and kill worked again!

      Reply
    68. 68.

      Geminid

      @Jackie: I don’t think Trump could pick a worse DNI than Tulsi Gabbard, at least not one who could be approved.

      As for Gaetz, he’s probably no better or worse than whomever Trump will choose if and when Gaetz goes down, which I’m beginning to think will happen.

      Reply
    71. 71.

      cmorenc

      @TBone:

      @Soprano2: how much longer you must abide with unpleasant side effects is how to consider whether trying edibles might be worth it.

      One of the lesser, but still unfortunate side effects of Trump winning is that downward reclassification of marijuana in the Federal drug schedule is probably on indefinite hold.  IIRC Harris was inclined to do that, and Biden certainly should have done that while in office.  Whether marijuana should be available as a recreational instead of medicinal drug is another question entirely, but it’s absurd that it’s still in the same class as heroin with severe drug penalties and vendors in states where it’s legal cannot use the banking system due to its severe schedule 1 status.

      Reply
    72. 72.

      Soprano2

      @cmorenc: I’m talking about messaging to the voters. We have a limited ability to stop him, but we need to figure out how to message what this election was about, and it certainly wasn’t about TCFG having a mandate to go after his supposed enemies and destroy the federal government.

      Reply
    73. 73.

      TBone

      @cmorenc: I am in one of those states.  Luckily, I have always had wonderful friends who don’t let me suffer.  Will drive 3 hours to help me out.  I need weed for insomnia every winter season.  Plus, I just like it.  Prohibition can bite my ass.

      Gah.

      Reply
    75. 75.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @cmorenc:

      and Biden certainly should have done that.

      I don’t know why he didn’t. Same with allowing DeJoy to remain postmaster general when prior to Biden taking office, everybody wanted him gone. He had the Senate to confirm Postal Board appointees to remove Dejoy

      Reply
    76. 76.

      LAC

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):The Board of Governors itself is made up of as many as nine governors, who are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. No more than five governors at any one time may be from the same political party. The governors select and have the SOLE authority to remove the Postmaster General.

      Reply
    79. 79.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @LAC:

      Looking at current membership, Biden has indeed appointed 5 members, but 1 is an independent and one a Republican. Two positions are still vacant. So to my mind, why would he appoint people who apparently don’t have any sense of urgency to get rid of a man ruining the Postal Service?

      Reply
    82. 82.

      Geminid

      @Soprano2: I’m not sure this is good messaging for outsiders, but I think it’s a good thing for Democrats to keep in mind themselves. I’m seeing a lot of, “We got shellacked! Time to purge inneffective leadership and remake the Party into what I’ve thought it should have been all along. We suck, the voters have said it, so what do we have to lose?”

      This line is most often pushed by people who have little to lose themselves.

      It’s right that we take a critical view of our Party past, present and future. But we have to start out from solid premises. One of mine is that this was a close election and the Democratic coalition was strong, just not strong enough.

      Reply
    83. 83.

      LAC

      All I am doing is to provide information instead of your endless framing:

      The Board comprises 11 members, 9 of whom the President appoints by the advice and with the consent of the Senate. Not more than five governors may belong to the same political party. The governors are chosen to represent the public interest, and they may not be representatives of specific interests that use the Postal Service. The Postmaster General and Deputy Postmaster General are also voting members of the Board.

      President Biden has nominated the following to fill seats on the board. They await Senate confirmation.

      Name
      Party
      Term expires
      Replacing

      Val Butler Demings
      Democratic
      December 8, 2030
      Anton George Hajjar

      William Zollars
      Republican
      December 8, 2029
      Reappointment

      Gordon Hartogensis
      Republican
      December 8, 2031
      Roman Martinez IV

      Reply
    84. 84.

      Soprano2

      @Geminid: I think it would be good messaging any time the TCFG administration is doing something controversial that the voters didn’t say they wanted. We need to point out that they didn’t have a mandate to do all of the crazy things in Project 2025, that actually those things were unpopular with the voters and that’s not what they wanted. The messaging “we got shellacked, he has a mandate” is just wrong. If they had won 50 seats in the house and he had won by another couple of percentage points in the vote totals that would be a different situation, but that’s not what happened

      The pull of the “one weird trick” idea is strong, I hope they can resist it.

      Reply
    85. 85.

      Geminid

      @Soprano2: I’ll be looking at the messaging put out by Reps. Jeffries, Clark, Aguilar and other House leaders. This is a shrewd bunch, and they will work with a common plan.

      I see a lot of people dumping on Jeffries like he’s their non-performing mule, an idiot. But I’ve been watching Hakeem Jeffries closely ever since he was elected Caucus Chair six years ago this month. People who think Jeffries is an idiot have the “idiot” part right, but Jeffries is not the idiot here.

      Reply
    87. 87.

      Geminid

      @Soprano2: The thing about the various “one weird tricks” is that the people proposing them will have little to do with the future course of the party. That will be set by Democratic primary voters in 2026 and 2028.

      Although, this issue will get hashed out in next year’s New Jersey Governor’s primary and that will provide some data points.

      The debate won’t be so informative in Virginia’s primary, because even if there are more entrants, Virginia Democrats will decide that their future is with Abigail Spanberger. The general election will attract a lot of interest and if 2021 is a guide, plenty of bad takes afterwards.

      Reply
    89. 89.

      Mr. Bemused Senior

      @Geminid: they watch too much TV. Alas, so does much of the public.

      [I confess, when I was a kid I memorized TV Guide each week, ETA especially the Saturday morning schedule.]

      Reply
    90. 90.

      Quiltingfool

      We know we’re screwed and things are going to suck, and many people will be terribly injured by Shitgibbon’s policies.  All of us will be harmed in some way.

      Trump voters are going to get screwed too, and they voted for that.  I didn’t.

      Cold comfort, indeed.

      on a positive note, I got four vaccinations this morning – Covid, flu, tdap and pneumonia.  By golly, if military folks can handle multiple vaccinations at one time, I’ll give it a go!  I may go back later and do the measles vaccine (you should if you were born after 1957, or so the guidance leaflet stated).

      Reply
    91. 91.

      Quiltingfool

      I know that some Democrats want our elected Democrats to throw big ol’ hissy fits right now and are quite upset that isn’t happening.

      Watch what they do, not what they say.  Do you want to win a battle, or the war?  I’m not a Senator, so I am not privy to their thought processes,  but there should be NO dem votes for any cabinet positions.  The Republicans can vote for them and get them confirmed without any Dem assistance.  They can take the heat.

      Reply
    95. 95.

      Tony G

      @Soprano2: That’s right.  I did my best to read the entire text of Project 2025, but I ran out of time before Election Day.  I’m pretty sure that very few people have read the whole damn thing.  One of the many examples of the sheer lousiness of the corporate media is how they ignored Project 2025.  They could have reported on the who thing, one element at a time, for about 120 days prior to Election Day.  There is very little in that document that would be supported by anyone who is neither a billionaire nor a Christian Nationalist.  The corporate media has always been part of the problem.

      Reply

    Leave a Comment

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    If you don't see both the Visual and the Text tab on the editor, click here to refresh.

    Clear Comment

    To reply to more than one person, click the X to save & close the box.