Here’s the live feed. Scroll back to the beginning for the whole thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAjP5xUHZyE
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
So very ready.
Giving up is unforgivable.
Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.
They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.
That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.
Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.
JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?
“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”
Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.
They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.
This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory. oh, and pink furry handcuffs.
There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.
In my day, never was longer.
I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.
Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.
Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.
Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.
Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!
Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!
Let there be snark.
Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers
How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.
My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.
Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.
You are here: Home / Politics / An Unexamined Scandal / FBI Director Comey’s Testimony Before the House Oversight Committee Live Feed
schrodinger's cat
So tired of Republicans and their show trials.
piratedan
well, that’s obvious if the questioning stops with Mr. Buck, it always stops with Mr. Buck
Trentrunner
At the hearing’s opening, Chaffetz said there will be further investigations and hearings into whether Clinton lied in her testimony to Congress previously on emails.
This. Will. Never. End.
JPL
For mental health reasons, I refuse to listen to the repubs indict Hillary. An update would be helpful. I did read that none of the email headers, were marked classified. Three had a c further down.
Formerly disgruntled Clinton supporter
Well, those clowns in Congress are at it again. What a bunch of clowns.
How does it keep up with the news like that?
Do. Not. Praise. The Machine.
piratedan
still grasping with the idea on who the fuck is the NSA to deny the SOS with a secure means of communicating via e-mail. Then how in the fuck is this is in any way different from what Colin Powell and Condi Rice did.
Is there any way that we can try these asshats for the crime of impersonating Congressmen?
chopper
so where’s that fucking jobs bill, assholes?
JPL
@Trentrunner: It won’t end, but I just read this
link
redshirt
Is Clinton convicted yet?
dr. bloor
Yeah, there’s no way I’m getting out of the boat to watch this goatfuck live. I’ll trust y’all to make some funny comments about the “proceedings” so I can laugh rather than cry.
Emma
@JPL: The State department just released two more, saying they were mistakenly marked classified.
It would stop if the Democrats would make the Republicans pay a political price. Who’s running against Chaffetz? Why isn’t the DNC pouring money and advertising into his/her campaign?
Formerly disgruntled Clinton supporter
@chopper: Priorities, where do they come from?
debbie
@Trentrunner:
Had you thought it would?
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Trentrunner: If you remember Bill Clinton’s first term, the GOP had already decided to sandbag him in the courts, starting with “Travelgate” and Whitewater. Didn’t stop him but did slow them down a lot. And the Clintons were in court/under investigation from the day he was inaugurated until the day W. took office. Cleared on every single charge, but that really wasn’t the point. The GOP knew that would happen.
That will be the working strategy this time as well, because if there’s one thing the GOP is good at, it’s taking 25-year old political stratagems and pretending that they are relevant and will work in today’s world.
dr. bloor
@Emma: Chaffetz is from Utah 3rd. He won with 70+% of the vote in ’14, so we can assume he gets sent to DC to stage this nonsense. Kind of an uphill push for a Democrat…
dogwood
@Emma:
He’s from Utah’s second district. When we need 30 seats to take back the House, pouring money and energy into Utah 2 would be malpractice.
ETA: oops Utah 3. Point still stand though.
Emma
@dr. bloor: I know, and I don’t expect anyone to win. But just maybe we can start tearing down their stronghold.
Dogwood: I suppose so. But the Democrats have allowed themselves to be punching bags for the Republicans for too damn long.
Formerly disgruntled Clinton supporter
@dr. bloor: Yep. But win enough other seats and the dude won’t be chair of anything.
redshirt
@CONGRATULATIONS!: The only way to prevent it again is to take the Senate and House.
And then – gosh! Real governing could happen. Think of it!
raven
This Mica dude is a piece of work.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Since this is an open thread… A week or two ago, somebody here talking about the presidential race made an analogy to having to choose between your mother’s pretentious, slightly irritating friend to babysit your children, or the psychopath from down the street. In one case, you’ll come home to find your children in bed, well fed and asleep, and in the other, you’ll find your children dead, your dog raped and your house on fire. I don’t know if it was a front pager or a commenter, but I wanted to find it so I could quote it, but I can’t. Does anybody else recall that? If so, can anybody get me a link?
dogwood
@Formerly disgruntled Clinton supporter:
Yup. You aren’t going to replace guys like Chaffetz with democrats. You spend money to assure he becomes a backbencher.
Kryptik
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Its done its job of seeding in the public consciousness that Clinton by default is the most super-dishonest mega-monster in the history of ever. You can’t fool all of the people all of the time, but they’re banking they can fool enough of the people enough of the time to drag down Dems enough to win by default. And it’s been a strategy with good returns for them considering what they own politically now.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Also, what is it about Chaffetz that makes him look like such an insufferable fuckface? I’m more or less a pacifist, but every time I see him, I want to beat his vile face in. Stephen Colbert once called him a “seductive beaver mascot,” but I think he was wrong on this one. There’s nothing cute or lovable or seductive about Chaffetz.
different-church-lady
Wile E. Congressional-Majority is SURE to get that Road Runner this time!
Miss Bianca
@Trentrunner: Is there going to be any hearing on Chaffetz’s dropping classified info on the House floor? Does he get to preside on that one, or would he have to step aside? Asking for a friend.
Emma
Comey shoots down the Petraeus comparison.
Peale
@Emma: But he’s a boner fide hero and she’s a bitch! She’s gotta be charged! You’re so unpatriotic for stating otherwise.
Keith P.
I nominate Chaz Dean
lumpkin
When Democrats took over in 2009 they had a legitimate reason to publicly trash the reputations of many republicans and actually hold people accountable and bonus – could have actually learned something about what went wrong and taken steps to fix it. But no – we had to look forward, not back.
Refuse to fight back and the bully will never stop.
Just Some Fuckhead, Clinton Supporter
It isn’t going to stop until there’s a massive public outcry because Republicans, who keep putting taxpayers on the hook for their political oppo, have no motivation to stop.
Bloggers should organize a ten million person march on the Capitol. Just shut that whole part of the city down for a week or more.
That may start to turn the tide.
dogwood
@Emma:
Isn’t Comey supposed to be stoking these kooks fears about Hillary? His presser teed it up for them. I guess he thought they’d leave him alone if he gave them some juicy political sound bites.
different-church-lady
@Just Some Fuckhead, Clinton Supporter: Oh. So in other words, Republicans are perfectly safe.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@lumpkin: I actually think this is why they are so scared of Hillary. I think she will relish delivering some payback for this and past nonsense. And I hope she delivers.
dogwood
@Just Some Fuckhead, Clinton Supporter:
Hard to get a massive public outcry when the majority of the public don’t pay much attention to this stuff.
different-church-lady
@dogwood: Maybe Comey is actually interested in doing his job the right way.
I mean, yeah, kind of old fashioned, but…
dr. bloor
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Well, for one thing, he’s an insufferable fuckface.
Gin & Tonic
@different-church-lady: When he led with “bloggers should organize” you should have known it was satire.
Just Some Fuckhead, Clinton Supporter
@dogwood: And it would require you worthless fuckers to leave your house too.
Emma
@dogwood: I think he thought they were intelligent enough to realize all the soundbites he had given them were a goldmine. He’s from the older, cannier style of ratfvckrer; he miscalculated the stupidity of his successors.
hueyplong
There are times when I wish Hitlery would be the bitch the pukes make her out to be. I’d be pleased to watch her drive Chaffey around the block.
hovercraft
@dogwood:
That was a presser where he could spout any bullshit he wanted, this is testimony under oath where if he spouts bullshit he can be hoisted on his own petard. Should have left well enough alone, now democratic superpacs will have soundbites to rebut the ones he gave the gop on Tuesday.
Hal
I wonder if Comey wishes he would have just released a statement and left it at that. Trying to play both sides didn’t work out so well.
Barbara
@Emma: This is exactly right. He seems to have not gotten the message that Congress has descended to comic book levels of political partisanship.
Adam L Silverman
@Emma: He’s a Tea Party incumbent in Utah who is also a convert to Mormonism. Any Democratic challenger would be a sacrificial lamb at best. Watch Congressman Chaffetz’s performance. He’s basically a more handsome, more telegenic, lower key, more polite version of Senator Cruz.
Ella in New Mexico
Comey has actually done a good job of pushing back at the assertions that he should be conducting his business to suit THEIR political agenda, as opposed to trying to be a fair investigator and the chief law enforcement officer of the land.
He’s pretty much mocked their ignorant asses.
Mary G
Until the voters in this country wake up, pay attention and act, there’s really nothing to be done. Katy Perry has a record-breaking more than 10 million Twitter followers and I know she’s been very active for Hillary, but young people don’t vote enough to get rid of the assholes.
dogwood
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap:
“Hillary the Bitch” is a republican meme. Can’t find anyone who knows her who thinks she’s anything of the sort.
Matt McIrvin
One or two of my Sanders-supporter friends have now completely embraced the Republican narrative on this, and believe that Hillary going to jail over the emails, clearing the way for the nomination of Bernie Sanders, is the only way we can beat Trump.
Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Chaffetz has an effect on me not dissimilar to the feeling I have when seeing the sneering face of that piece of shit Fred Barnes – I have to restrain myself from shooting my television, and I have to satisfy myself with the mental image of punching him in the face until my fists bleed…
Bruce K
“The offender has been found guilty. The sentence is death. Let the trial begin.”
Cacti
@redshirt:
Sentence first, verdict afterwards in the Court the Red Quee…I mean the House Republican Caucus.
Ella in New Mexico
@Adam L Silverman:
Who grew up a Jewish Democrat but let his buddies at BYU “convert” him, which I’m sure had nothing to do with his future business or political aspirations.
There’s gotta be a whole lotta guilt and shame hiding deep in that psyche that will someday pop out and bite him in the ass.
petesh
@Hal: I think the plan is working beautifully. Comey (Tatus) comes out of this as a straight shooter not afraid to enrage both sides. The idiots in the house come out looking like idiots. (I read elsewhere that Comey said to their faces that he had always been a Republican until recently.) And Clinton suffers a two-day hit and then walks away with most people saying she got unfairly slammed. Win-win-win.
Cermet
So one of the thugs asked if he can investigate Hillary’s testimony to congress; comely said only if congress so directs and then he will. THug said within a few hours he would get the directive! Here it starts again!
different-church-lady
@Adam L Silverman:
That description could also fit any item chosen at random from the produce aisle.
Adam L Silverman
@Trentrunner: @CONGRATULATIONS!: @redshirt: It wouldn’t matter if she wasn’t even running. It is important to remember that we got here because of FOIA requests filed by Judicial Watch. Given what Judicial Watch is, it would not surprise me, just as we learned with the edited Planned Parenthood sting videos, that there was collusion between them and GOP members of Congress. Though in this case Judicial Watch is savvy enough not to leave any loose ends. Regardless, Judicial Watch was going to FOIA anything Secretary Clinton did at State even if she was simply retiring from government service to be a grandmother and assist with the Clinton Foundation. Because they would then go after the Clinton Foundation. This would have led to post Secretary Clinton public service hearings to taint whoever the Democratic nominee would have been with “this is just endemic of the perfidy and corruption and self dealing of the Democrat machine!” And then Judicial Watch would be FOIAing whoever the Democratic nominee would be in the absence of Secretary Clinton (VP Biden, Senator Sanders, Governor O’Malley, whoever), the media would feast on it, and the GOP controlled House would be holding hearings on it.
Dolly Llama
@Emma: Did Comey really fucking say that Petreus hid highly “compartmental” (code-word-containing) classified shit in the insulation of his attic? And then lied about it to investigators? And that’s a misdemeanor?
Ella in New Mexico
@Matt McIrvin:
So has the completely irrelevant Jill Stein. Maybe they were never gonna vote D in in the first place? Tell them to go throw their money down her rabbit hole of a campaign.
Jeezus, even BERNIE rejects the whole thing.
raven
@Dolly Llama: yup
different-church-lady
@Mary G: One of these days we’ll get around to realizing that quantity of Twitter followers is meaningless as a metric.
dogwood
@hovercraft:
Thought I read that several committees were going to investigate this. Issa advocates shutting down the government until she’s indicted. Trump is doing an excellent job of feeding the base, you’d think congressional republicans would try to appeal to a broader audience. Might be the effect of gerrymandering in the House. The surest way for most republicans to lose their seat is to sound sane.
chopper
@dogwood:
please, GOP, take this sane and sober idea and run with it.
WarMunchkin
@Matt McIrvin:
Obviously there’s no shortage of people to blame for the current state of affairs, but this is why I believe that Mitch McConnell is the GOP’s MVP. He has done more than anyone else to ensure that Democrats pay a political price for Republican obstructionism, in the form of disillusioning the Democratic base. A disillusioned base is vulnerable to gradual sway by alternative narratives and explanations, and ours is now primed to accept broad Republican explanations and policies. Sanders was responsible for catalyzing it, but he’s not the originator of the disillusionment – McConnell’s political strategy is.
raven
“That great constitutional scholar, Mr Trump”!
chopper
@Ella in New Mexico:
damn, it’s gotta be some serious horseshit if bernie himself doesn’t buy into it.
Miss Bianca
@Dolly Llama: IOKIYARG
Quinerly
@JPL:
Comey has been quite good. Repugs aren’t prepared. At all.
Roger Moore
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Maybe you’d think different if you were a beaver.
GregB
Have the Republican’s held one hearing to look in to the crimes of Dennis Hastert?
Roger Moore
@lumpkin:
So instead of trashing the Republicans, we got Obamacare, Lilly Ledbeder, stimulus, etc. The Republicans only have time for endless “investigations” because they don’t care about doing real work.
hovercraft
@Matt McIrvin:
If the FBI and the DOJ have exonerated her of any criminal wrongdoing do they think the House Sargent of Arms is going to arrest her and imprison her in the house jail or something. He lost just give up the ghost already.
Quinerly
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Weird family background. Check it out. His dad was Kitty Dukakis’s first husband.
chopper
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
he always reminds me of Hesh from Sealab 2021.
Quinerly
@dogwood:
Comey is doing a great job. The Repugs are making fools out of themselves. I thought the Dems might hang him up a bit with some of the stuff he spread in his presser but from what I’ve seen, they shouldn’t even try to rough him up.
Felonius Monk
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
I don’t know about that, I’ll bet that Denny Hastert would like him to be his bitch.
Dolly Llama
@Quinerly: “11-Hour Hillary Benghazi Testimony II: Electric Boogaloo.”
Mike J
cmorenc
@Emma:
Because Chaffetz represents UTAH’s third congressional district – which even for dark-red Utah is an especially dark-red district (look at the map – it includes none of Salt Lake City (where the one patch of light blue is in Utah) but does include Provo (home of BYU) and extends to cover much of southeastern Utah. Let’s put it this way -the democrats are at more risk to lose California’s 12th Congressional district (as hard-blue as they come, entirely within the city of San Francisco and represented by minority leader Nancy Pelosi) before Chaffetz is seriously threatened by a democrat in Utah’s 3rd district. In short, even with the most pedal-to-the-metal 50 state strategy, Utah’s 3rd district is at the very bottom of pickup possibilities – we would need the kind of astroid-hits-earth type tidal wave election where the dems 400 or more seats for Rep. Chaffetz to be threatened by the possibility of a democratic pickup of his seat.
Quinerly
@raven:
I smiled
Miss Bianca
I wasn’t going to put the testomony on live at work, but maybe I’ll have to plug in the headphones and follow along. Now I know I’m a junkie.
schrodinger's cat
@Adam L Silverman: More handsome than a Cruz is a pretty low bar. Chaffetz is not all that handsome, actually.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@dogwood: I agree, from everything I’ve read people say she is genuinely nice. But, I think she would like to get a little payback, as we all would after being treated the way she has been. Again, I hope she delivers.
terry chay
@Matt McIrvin: They were always going to vote for the Republican. You may think otherwise, but if you look at Trump’s demo, you realize just because they supported Bernie this time around, they had (R) stamped on their passport of life.
Jacel
@Adam L Silverman: Very very true. Never stop hunting, where the Clintons (or Democrats in general) are concerned.
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
Judicial Watch’s raison d’etre is to persecute ahem prosecute Clinton misconduct. So as you say they were always going to investigate her regardless because they need to keep those donations coming in. They are an arm of the RNC and the GOP as much as the NRA is. They were one of the first organizations back in 1994 to pop up to keep a up a constant barrage of litigation to perpetuate the impression that the Clinton’s are always up to no good and are always under investigation.
Quinerly
@Matt McIrvin:
I’m still convinced that many of these Bernie Dead Enders were RON Paul supporters. They would have never voted for a real Democrat. Fuck them.
Frankensteinbeck
@lumpkin:
What steps? Because
Elected Democrats do that all the time. Passionately and cruelly. Nobody knows, because it’s not what the national news wants to talk about. They want to talk about whether Hillary Clinton is a criminal.
Who? How? You quote the ‘look forward, not back’, so I guess you mean prosecutions? Since the odds are much higher that trying to prosecute anyone in the Bush administration would result in their being found innocent and their actions enshrined in law as legal by a conservative Supreme Court, how would that have helped?
I’ll take the ACA instead.
hovercraft
@Dolly Llama:
They had recommended a felony charge Eric Holder reduced it to a misdemeanor charge.
dr. bloor
@hovercraft: They’re going to get the People’s Grand Jury on the case right after they incarcerate the Oregon State Police and the FBI for shooting Lavoy Finicum.
Just Some Fuckhead, Clinton Supporter
@Hal:
He’s a Republican and they always outsmart themselves.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike J: Here’s the link.
abcnews.go.com/Politics/rep-jason-chaffetzs-business-card-lists-gmail-address/story?id=29368587
If its on there in addition to his official congressional email address he’d be okay as an alternate way to get ahold of him if he can’t be reached at the official one. If its the only one on there, that’s a problem.
terry chay
@dogwood: Gerrymandering can backfire. In order to win the seats, they had to add a lot of non-voting Democrat-leaners to safe Republican districts in order to win the new districts. If these people are riled up enough to vote (because someone is building a wall?)…
MattF
@Ella in New Mexico: So the Twitter reports. Comey says he’s ‘no longer’ a registered Republican, which itself earns a ‘Hmmm’. But the House Rs have apparently been stepping on rakes all through the hearing.
hovercraft
@dogwood:
Epistemic closure strikes again, it’s all over right wing media that this is the biggest scandal ever much like Benghazi, so yes every republican committee chair in both houses is calling for hearings. It worked out so well for them last time that all I can say is mazel tov. Ole turtle may be able to stop them in the senate to protect his majority, but the granny starver will not be able to stop the rabid hyenas in the house. This meat it too red to be resisted.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodinger’s cat: I make no judgements. That’s often how he’s referred to in the media.
Adam L Silverman
@MattF: A lot of political appointees, especially in senior law enforcement/other enforcement positions, as well as general officer/flag officers in the military, register as independents once appointed. This is intended to demonstrate that they are not playing for a specific side. When I’m on term civilian orders or a contract I do the same thing. And I’m not all that important. Just a professional acculturation type of thing.
Miss Bianca
AAAGGH I CANNOT EVEN WITH THIS SHIT ANYMORE
sorry. I really thought I was tough enough to handle hearing the bs in real time. Now I’m ready to punch this Walker guy in the face. “WHY WHY WHY AREN”T YOU PROSECUTING HILLARY CLINTON”
Felonius Monk
@schrodinger’s cat:
Well, he’s handsome in the same way a Pug dog is handsome. In fact, I see great similarity between the two, but Pugs are definitely lovable whereas Chaffetz is detestable.
dmsilev
The alternative to Hillary emits word-like noises:
Article One, in case Donald happens to be reading this, is all about the structure and power of Congress. I guess it’s good to know that Trump stands behind the 12th Amendment and the changes it made to the Electoral College with regards to Presidential and Vice Presidential votes.
FlipYrWhig
@Matt McIrvin:
Why it’s almost as though a significant proportion of nominal Sanders supporters are dedicated Hillary-haters who reason their way backwards from wanting her gone into whatever they profess to believe at any given moment, as opposed to being a vanguard of adherents to True! Left! Populist! Principles!
dogwood
@terry chay:
Exactly. Problem is in these gerrymandered districts, you can swipe a seat during a presidential election cycle, but you just can’t hold it longer than 2 years.
Chyron HR
So is
BernieJill Stein president yet?Felonius Monk
@dmsilev:
Actually, Blake, he blows it out his ass. But given that you, Mr. Farenthold, often hold first place in the Stupidest Congressman sweepstakes, you probably meant to say “He speaks from the fart.”
FlipYrWhig
@dmsilev: When it comes to anything that doesn’t stand to make him money, Donald Trump is the kid giving a report without actually reading the book, or one of those bosses who’s been illiterate and getting away with it for decades.
Ella in New Mexico
@Miss Bianca: What Comey just said in regards to his dedication to being a-political so that the American people know that in government, there are good people who work hard every day to be fair and honest was great.
He’s really slapping them back, as far as I can see.
hovercraft
@dmsilev:
Yes his morning meeting went really well.
Cacti
Even Megyn Kelly has taken to mocking the House GOP for their outrage that Comey won’t carry their water.
hovercraft
@Felonius Monk:
I’ll raise you one Steve King and one Luie Gohmert.
Felonius Monk
@hovercraft:
No problem. It’s often a photo finish between these three.
D58826
In the mean time across the pond
debbie
@raven:
Is that something Mica said? How’s the hairpiece holding up?
lumpkin
@Roger Moore:
Some people can walk and chew gum at the same time.
cmorenc
@Formerly disgruntled Clinton supporter:
Chaffetz can have Clint Eastwood’s empty chair. I’m willing to support him if he wants to run for that chair.
The Dangerman
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I’m curious why they didn’t use the same tactic against Obama; sure, they’ve bitched and moaned about Benghazi and Solyndra, et al, but nothing that could be compared to the 90’s and the Clintons. Wonder why that is?
raven
@debbie: No, some dem on the committee was snarking.
Frankensteinbeck
This is ridiculous. Comey did everything short of actually betraying his job to smear Hillary, and because that’s one line he’s made it clear before he won’t cross, other Republicans are having a shit fit. THEY CAN’T ALL BE JOHN YOO.
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: Mica’s looks like its done by professionals.
MattF
@Felonius Monk: King is more shameless than stupid, IMO.
Cacti
@The Dangerman:
Obama is squeaky clean. It wasn’t for a lack of trying.
They tried to gin things up like Solyndra, but nobody outside the wingnutosphere bought into them.
dmsilev
@hovercraft: Isn’t he or his campaign supposed to be releasing the Convention speaker list today? I wonder how many last-minute cancellations he’s gotten over the past few days.
Aleta
“Honest people don’t need to lie, is that right?” What a question in this setting.
Miss Bianca
@Ella in New Mexico: I am listening again but it is really fucking hard to sit here thinking, “of all the ACTUALLY USEFUL SHIT you people could be doing, you’re wasting time on THIS?”
It’s just hard to really face the fact that these people are, if not actually evil, stupid and venal enough to DO evil.
debbie
@raven:
Ah, okay. Sounded like something Mica is stupid enough to say.
MattF
@Cacti: I remember, early on, Rush Limbaugh tried to make some sort of drug-dealing innuendo about Obama. Didn’t work.
cmorenc
@Cacti:
Although Megan Kelly most of the time loyally serves her GOP propaganda Fox-masters, she does occasionally have brief lucid moments when the kool-aid wears off and she challenges them. Such her famous put-down of Karl Rove’s disbelief on election night 2012 when Fox data analysts had just declared that Obama had won Ohio, which effectively put the final stake in the heart of Romney’s chances of winning.
Shell
Because they never had any actual chew toy they could grab onto, only the things they imagined that Obama was gonna do. Like take away their guns, shred the Constitution, be a secret Muslim, etc, etc,…….
hovercraft
@The Dangerman:
They tried remember Fast and Furious, they tried to gin that up but no one was buying. To get where he is today Obama had to be squeaky clean. He would never have been elected with Bill’s baggage. So the mud never stuck.
The Dangerman
@Cacti:
Ding ding ding, winner, winner, chicken dinner.
So, Obama is squeaking; what does that make Bill or Hillary?
Bottom line, I will miss Obama as President.
Lolis
OT: Hillary Clinton just sent out a direct Black Lives Matter tweet. I’m a social worker so I have no idea how to post it.
gene108
@Emma:
Democrats would need a political/media machine to rival what the Republicans have, in order to make Republicans pay a price for their bad behavior.
They’d need the MSM to frame things from a liberal perspective.
They’d need their own cable news network.
They’d need multiple liberal papers and magazines churning out stories on the bad behavior of Republicans.
They’d need influential think tanks to push their ideas to the media, Congress and others.
I don’t think Americans really favor a center-right nation, but the political infrastructure we have is geared towards treating center-right as the norm, extreme right-wing politics as an acceptable deviation and anything else as crazy talk.
D58826
@Cacti: They tried to gin up Fast and Furious and tie the the IRS ‘scandal’ to the WH. And in all honesty the Clintons do at times give the GOP a club. Monica and the server are two examples. Neither warrants the amount of time wasted but there is a very tiny higgs boson sized grain of fact behind the hot air.
hovercraft
@dmsilev:
The entire line up is up in the air seeing as he keeps stepping on rakes, I mean he was supposed to announce his vp next week but the short list keeps changing as people pull their names off and yesterday it was reported that it’s getting longer not shorter. At this point the only known speakers are drump and his family. That will be a lovely image for the nation a convention dominated by speeches from one family, we do love our monarchies here right?
Calouste
Eric Trump Is Totally Creepy When Asked About His Sister As VP
I have said before that I thought the ticket would be Trump/Trump. I just thought it would be Donald Jr., not Ivanka.
Matt McIrvin
@terry chay: I think many Bernie-or-Busters are habitual non-voters or third-party people.
Others I hear this stuff from aren’t actually American; they’re watching the US election campaign from across the ocean with an “all Americans are insane right-wingers” POV, and thinking of Sanders as the one candidate who sounded halfway viable from, say, a European social-democratic ideological perspective. Hillary is just another warmongering American neocon to them, so they’re not going to be enthusiastic.
Aleta
Mr. Carter: Wouldn’t it have made sense for the FBI to arrest Sec. Clinton right then during the interview? I’m just trying to understand.
‘
MattF
@hovercraft: When the Family Trump discovers that Daddy plans to take it with him, they’ll drop out too.
Trollhattan
@Chyron HR:
With 24 California countin’ hours to go, Bernie has totally
wonlocked in 2nd place.2,745,293 for the lyin’ liar.
2,381,714 for the not-a-Democrat running for the Democratic nomination.
Cacti
@D58826:
As mentioned above, as a black man with aspirations of being President of the United States, Obama didn’t have the luxury of being sloppy about anything in his personal or professional life.
Chyron HR
@Trollhattan:
But don’t true progressive allies like Jason Chaffetz get a say in the results? Why do you hate Democracy?!
Trollhattan
@Calouste:
Jesus, creepy is right. One wonders how dad introduced Eric to “becoming a man.”
The whole skeevy crew need to be deported.
Quinerly
politico.com/story/2016/07/jared-kushner-family-trump-holocaust-225210
Worth a peek.
The family of Trump’s son in law aren’t happy.
Shell
@Trollhattan: But he wa s so close, so that means he should stay in the race! (Bernie supporter justification.)
Trollhattan
@Chyron HR:
With his 8,500 votes I’ll farm that role out to Roque De La Fuente, by far the bestest name among presidential hopefuls.
MomSense
Have these douchebags held hearings on Zika yet?
ETA: Dear FSM you really screwed up with Gowdy. Even his voice is smarmy.
schrodinger's cat
@Adam L Silverman: I see that Republicans are graded on a curve on just about everything by our MSM.
Matt McIrvin
@The Dangerman: With Benghazi it was a matter of timing. It was technically about the Obama administration, but since Romney’s early attempt to capitalize on it flopped instantly, it became all about Hillary Clinton–because Obama was term-limited and Hillary was probably next in line.
Miss Bianca
Trey Gowdy? How is this man allowed to do anything around the House anymore?
Peale
@Cacti: He was also a novice to the big life. Eventually the actions of major pols are going to run up against the laws we put into place to prevent them from going out of the bounds we set for them. Obama’s career hadn’t actually expanded out to hit those lines yet because his career was short.
Trentrunner
@Calouste: Jesus Christ, the Trumps really are the Lannisters, minus the charm and moral sense.
scav
‘f course they’re graded on a curve, they’re loopy. Stands to (un)reason.
D58826
@Felonius Monk:And there is a new entry in the horse’s petutie race – Rep Mulvaney said that he was pretty sure that you can’t fire the president because we (i.e. GOP) tried.
They really must test these people for stupidity. I mean a random sample of 240 or so congress critters would not skew so far to the stupid.
Omnes Omnibus
@Trentrunner:
Minus the big money as well.
Peale
@D58826: They were so hopeful early on that those “missing” calendar entries early on in Obama’s career and the time spent on the golf course were covers for a coke habit Marion Barry style affair. I could fill buckets with slobber that had been welling up in 2009.
Ella in New Mexico
Gowdy just said Hilary not handing over her emails until Congress decided to investigate and asked for them is an indictment of her guilt. I think that’s what he said.
Makes sense. I always call 911 to send a cop with a radar gun out to my location, just in case I was actually going 37 in a 35 zone. Just continuing to drive to fucking Target means I have to be guilty of speeding, or else I would have wanted someone to check me out.
Jeezus, these guys have absolutely no qualms about being complete and total hypocrites who twist words better than a pretzel maker in order to win.
And they’re losing this one, bad.
The Thin Black Duke
@D58826: How stupid can they be if they keep on getting elected?
D58826
@Ella in New Mexico: Well I guess, after the 11 hour Hillary fiasco, they figured they needed bigger shovels. And today they are trying them out.
Trollhattan
Will somebody please find Glenn Greenwald and give him a vigorous dope slap? This is moronic and willful blindness, even for him.
Yeah, she’s totally getting a pass.
Adam L Silverman
@Quinerly: I saw the initial tweet from his cousin yesterday. This isn’t surprising. I also expect a lot of familial pressure will be brought to bear on the wife of Trump’s social media director as well.
ETA: I’ve also fixed your link embed in order to keep it from including the reply button.
Trollhattan
@MomSense:
But ahh, the magnificent haircut.
dmsilev
@Ella in New Mexico: What an idiot. At this point, if the GOP Congress asks Clinton for just about anything, her response will be “that’s an obvious politically-motivated fishing expedition and go piss up a rope”. Hopefully in those exact words.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Yeah, did you catch Georgia’s own Buddy Carter? What a fucking embarrassment.
Aimai
@Peale: right. If obama had spent more time in Chicago politics he would have ended up much dirtier–even if only by association.
Quinerly
@Adam L Silverman:
Thanks!
dmsilev
Trump takes his comedy show to the Senate
1.5 weeks to go until the GOP Convention…
Edit: OK, one more quote:
Miss Bianca
Do ANY other Democrats belong to this committee? Does anyone get to ask any questions who isn’t either tongue-bathing Comey or pretending to know what the fuck they are talking about?
Matt McIrvin
@Ella in New Mexico:
I’m not actually convinced of that. Trump is about 5-6 points down in the national polls, but because a lot of that is comparative weakness in deep-red states, he’s only about 3 points short of flipping the Electoral College. If they can get Democrats dismayed enough about all their choices that enough of them go to Gary Johnson or Jill Stein or write in Bernie or stay home in disgust, and Trump gets conservatives to come home and vote party-line, he can eke out a win–with a popular-vote minority even smaller than Dubya’s in 2000.
Roger Moore
@lumpkin:
Being able to do more than one thing at once does not gift one with the power to do an infinite number of things at once. The 111th Congress was already extremely busy; it’s hard to see how they could have devoted a substantial amount more time to investigating the Republicans without letting other stuff drop.
Cacti
@Trollhattan:
Meanwhile, stealing classified info and fleeing to Vladimir Putin?
Patriotic and heroic.
dr. bloor
@Miss Bianca:
His wife won’t let him do anything more around theirs, and the fire department got tired of showing up every time he started a fire in their dumpster.
Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill
@Calouste:
Some family cultures are VERY strange, with sexual relationships occurring within.
I have an unfortunate amount of knowledge about one large local Irish Catholic family headed by a now deceased drunken newspaper and book writer of regional prominence from 50 years ago. All of the daughters were regular sexual partners, and this was also passed along to the sons. In the courthouse, there’s a transcript of an exchange in a divorce and custody case that goes something like this:
These weren’t rednecks or snake-handlers, either. They were all college educated Irish Catholic. The sister referenced is a lawyer, her brother fuckbuddy a pretty damned talented writer himself.
MomSense
@Trollhattan:
Right? It’s like he was stuck between two elevator doors in a wind tunnel. Or maybe Moses himself parted his hair down the middle.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
now some of the classified emails weren’t marked classified? That’s a detail that could almost make me entertain some kind of conspiracy theory where Comey was leaving dope-bait for the media and Future Senator Jason Chaffetz
and is it just a sign of old age that I think so many Republican rising stars look like high school sophomores borrowing their dad’s suits, or is there something unusually Callow about Chaffetz, Rubio and Ryan? I don’t feel that way about say, Justin Amash, thought I don’t see much of him on TV, or Cathy McMorris Rogers, who I think is in the same age cohort
Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill
@Calouste:
Some family cultures are VERY strange, with sexual relationships occurring within.
I have an unfortunate amount of knowledge about one large local Irish Catholic family headed by a now deceased drunken newspaper and book writer of regional prominence from 50 years ago. All of the daughters were regular sexual partners, and this was also passed along to the sons. In the courthouse, there’s a transcript of an exchange in a divorce and custody case that goes something like this:
These weren’t rednecks or snake-handlers, either. They were all college educated Irish Catholic. The sister referenced is a lawyer, her brother fuckbuddy a pretty damned talented writer himself.
Frankensteinbeck
@The Thin Black Duke:
It’s a good question, and the answer is ‘racism.’ If you’re selling a product people desperately want, you don’t have to be a good businessman. Trump’s primary win is the purest example of this.
gvg
i think a factor in the difference between the constant investigations of Clinton versus Obama is the times had changed mediawise and people could actually look things up for themselves and debunk the GOP now as opposed to when Bill was president. However I am not sure that will totally help Hillary because we have a whole generation who have been raised to think it’s normal for a Clinton to be under investigation and too many people have been subconsciously influenced by the prior nonsense. they put up with the substanceless attacks on Obama without the actual investigations (mostly).
In addition Bill followed Bush I who was I think sane and tried to be smart but was seen as out of touch economically. GOP policies are bad for the economy anyway so that worked out but contrast that with the circumstances of Obama following Bush II……..totally different dynamic of what people would let pass and a lot of people were riled up and fact checking anything said by the republicans in the beginning.
This time we will have democrat following popular democrat and a visably nuts portion of the population. Possible recession in Europe/UK. I don’t know how it will go this time.
There were probably still some GOP who remembered the Bill investigations backfired on them when Obama was elected. Now we have such extreme teaparty nuts who weren’t mostly around that far back and I am not sure they won’t revert to “type”.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m not watching but that sounds to me like an easy set up for someone to point out that this hearing is politics-as-other-means for a party that can’t win national elections
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Matt McIrvin:
I just saw a poll that has Hillary up 67% over Trump with Latinos. That isn’t going to get it done for Trump.
Mike J
Trollhattan
@Cacti:
Did not fully comprehend the deep, abiding, rage-inducing hatred for Hillary that exists outside the Republican establishment. It’s mindboggling and has me suspecting she broke into each of their homes, tied them up and made them watch her stomp their kittens, cook them into omelets, forced them to eat while praising her beauty and cooking skills, then wash and put away the dishes while singing the “Hillary is our lord and master” song.
dogwood
@dmsilev:
Going after Jeff Flake ain’t gonna help Trump in Arizona. Mormons already hate Trump. Attacking Flake would pretty much guarantee they vote Clinton or third party.
Chyron HR
@Trollhattan:
Like his True Progressive allies in the GOP congressional majority, Glenn is very outraged that an Obama appointment got through.
Trollhattan
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
But, that’s 33% for Trump, not 27. I demand recount!
The Dangerman
@dmsilev:
This is a repeat from last night, but if I were a bett1ng man (ok, I like black–jack, but that’s about as close to a 50/50 bet as you’ll find in a cas1no), I’d drop some serious coin on Trump not being the nominee if I got some good odds.
Ella in New Mexico
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Oh, and Chaffetz thinks Clinton’s attorneys should be prosecuted for receiving “classified” emails from her in the process of representing her when they don’t have government security clearances. They must face consequences, he says.
Comey just said “what consequences would you suggest?”
“PROSECUTE THEM!!!!”
It’s now, in Chaffetz’s mind, illegal to tell your lawyers the truth and hand over everything you might have about your situation if you may accidentally reveal evidence that could implicate you and they don’t run to the DA and share it.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Naah. The ‘dope bait’ effect is because Comey did his damnedest to use weasel words in his report to slime Hillary, but they want him to actually lie, and that’s a bridge too far.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: These open, televised hearings are not about fact finding. They’re also not about getting information from those being questioned. They’re attempts by the members to get their image out to their constituents and to the TV news bookers. While I’m a big fan of transparency, I have long been convinced that televising these things actually has made Congress worse and more dysfunctional, not better because everyone can see what’s going on and thereby hold their elected and appointed officials accountable.
Elizabelle
@Mike J: Picture or it did not happen.
Do you think Comey guessed he would be called before Congress?
O. Felix Culpa
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yes, that’s when I tuned in and immediately tuned out. Watching his smarm put my new computer monitor in imminent danger.
Keith G
The last time the GOP revved up a circus like this, it came back to bite them. Actually, that has happened several times. Long term, they won’t have any better luck with this.
Trollhattan
@Ella in New Mexico:
What’s next, interpretive dance? Is Squidward by any chance a Republican Congressman?
The Dangerman
@Matt McIrvin:
I think 538 has him at 20%; that feels a little high, but anyone that has Trump below, say, 1 in 10, is a fool. So, call it between 10 and 20% that we are well and truly fucked. Have a nice day.
Punchy
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Who the fuck are the Hispanics who are actually in favor of this shitbag?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Miss Bianca
OK, *now* we’re getting to the shit. Go, Rep. Cummings!
James E Powell
@The Dangerman:
They didn’t need to. Since he’s black, they had 30-35% of the country prepared, even eager, to believe any bad thing they accused him of doing.
Emma
@Dolly Llama: Sorry I’m late. RL called. Yep he did.
dogwood
@Adam L Silverman:
BINGO! I used to watch a lot of CSPAN Senate hearings. And back in the day, my favorite republican was Nancy Kassebaum. She never gave those 5 minute political speeches before she started questioning, and if her questions had been posed and answered prior to her turn, she would usually pass.
O. Felix Culpa
@Adam L Silverman:
You mean the GOP is engaging in self-serving political theater? Say it ain’t so…
//
ETA to fix incorrect block quote.
Trollhattan
@Punchy:
I know a pretty wide swath of Latinos and a few are vociferously Republican/Libertarian, right down to the “welfare makes you lazy” meme. Diversity you can
believe inbe frightened by and a damn good reminder to never presume.Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: What he’s referring to is that during the classification review as a result of the FOIA request, it was determined that material that a different government agency other than State had determined that information to be classified. State is pushing back on the basis that 1) how was anyone in State supposed to know if the Department of Whatever classified X, but didn’t notify anyone and 2) this is routine, after the fact upclassification as part of the FOIA process.
Matt McIrvin
@The Dangerman: I think that 10-20% chance of a Trump win feels about right. He probably can’t manage it, if only because it’s hard to make up even a few percent of lost ground against an obviously competent opponent when your campaign is so ramshackle and you’re personally disgusting. But he’s in the zone where some game-changing event could do it if he could manage not to self-sabotage immediately afterward.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike J: Those are the specific staffers he brought that he thought might be necessary to refer to for information in case he got a question he couldn’t answer.
Matt McIrvin
@The Dangerman: What odds would you take for that? I think it’s almost certain not to happen; the Republicans are on the Trump train now and they’re going to ride it as far as it goes.
D58826
Chaffetz considers it a crime that Hillary is still breathing
Roger Moore
@Punchy:
They’re ones whose have fair skin and/or families that have been in the US for generations. They think Trump is just talking about darker skinned recent immigrants, so they’ll be OK.
divF
@Trollhattan: Actually, no. Up by 67% means no more than 16% for Trump.
Mike J
@The Dangerman:
Ladbrokes will give you 10/1.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Would televising these “investigations” also be a factor in considering that time that might possibly, conceivably have been spent taking care of actual business is now being taken up with political theater?
Ella in New Mexico
@Matt McIrvin
My comment was specifically about how they’ve conducted this particular hearing, not the race. Even so, not gonna happen.
Whole lotta “ifs”, and apparently the only reason anyone left in the Republican Party still thinks Trump’s worth riding. But they’re the minority. I repeat, if they are Sanders supporters who say they’re not going to vote for Clinton vs. Trump then they were always in the blurry-fringe of Jill Stein/Gary Johnson/any of the other people on this list of loonies:politics1.com/p2016.htm
Rabble Arouser
@chopper: “‘Fetz wants sex!” Yeah, that sounds about right.
hovercraft
@Trollhattan:
GG is in the throbbing hate for Obama and the Clinton’s club, nothing they do is innocent, everything is part of an evil plot to destroy the innocent and liberals. They are corporate whores, who deliberately kill innocents. I exaggerate only slightly.
The Dangerman
@Matt McIrvin:
Anything between 5:1 and 10:1 would start to get my attention; anything north of 10 would be damn tempting. Recall, yesterday, Trump acted like he was on something and I don’t think the Right can live with another 100 days (or whatever it is) of Trump shooting off his mouth about things like Saddam.
ETA: I note that link above calling it 10:1 Trump isn’t the nominee; I assume that bakes in a whole lot of stray possibilities (medical, etc) beyond what I’m talking about (i.e. he gets dumped at the convention). Feels about right.
Matt McIrvin
@Roger Moore: I haven’t seen that particular poll, but I’ve seen many in which Trump got roughly Mitt-Romney-like numbers with Hispanics, between 20 and 30 percent support. Since Hispanics aren’t anything like a cultural monolith, I think it’d be interesting to break it down further–ask about national origin, how long their families have been in the country and especially whether they consider themselves “white”. I’ve long assumed that Mexicans, Central Americans, etc. will be assimilated into “whiteness” within a few generations like Scandinavian, Slavic and Italian immigrants before them, with all the political implications of that.
Miss Bianca
And now the tongue-bathing of the FBI in general. Gaaahhh…
O. Felix Culpa
@Miss Bianca: You watch this, for why?
Revrick
Hat tip to neighboring Congressperson, Matt Cartwright (PA-17), for eliciting the testimony that the “classified” emails were not, in fact, properly designated as classified and that it was therefore a reasonable deduction on Sec. Clinton’s part that they weren’t classified.
gwangung
@The Dangerman:
Human.
Obama is….superhuman, actually, when it comes to integrity and competence.
Irony Abounds
@schrodinger’s cat: Ummmm, that steaming hot pile my dog just dropped on my lawn is more attractive than Ted Cruz, so saying someone is more attractive than Ted Cruz is about as low a bar as could possibly be set.
Mike J
@Matt McIrvin: This story has a scribd link with the poll.
If I were elected dictator, I would execute people who posted things to scribd.
O. Felix Culpa
@Revrick:
Oh pshaw, let’s not have facts with their known liberal bias get in the way of a good witch hunt.
Miss Bianca
@O. Felix Culpa: what was it some eminent FP-er said a little while ago? – something about the responsibilities and duties of citizenship being a burden that we bear for Liberty, or some such…?
ETA: Or maybe I’m just a masochist. That could definitely be part of it.
Prescott Cactus
@Miss Bianca: A taste worse than asparagus.
hovercraft
It’s funny evertime I watch one of these kangaroo court hearings I think this must be the committee where the stuck all their dimmest bulbs, and then a different committee holds a hearing and I realize that gop congresscritters are mostly dim bulbs.
redshirt
@Matt McIrvin: I assume South Americans will be granted that “privilege” long before Central Americans and some Mexicans. Light skinned Mexicans yes, but other Mexicans, no.
O. Felix Culpa
@Miss Bianca:
Then you’re a far, far, better woman than I. Was ready to gouge my eyes out about 20 seconds in. Thank you for bearing Liberty’s burden for those of us with weaker constitutions. I’ll just read the comments and weep.
ETA: Not just weep…but also organize for Hillary, downticket, and GOTV. We need a new Congress.
redshirt
@Miss Bianca: As if they’d be doing any real work anyways. It’s all a waste.
Uncle Cosmo
@O. Felix Culpa: Call it by its proper name: KKKabukkki.
PaulWartenberg2016
Has it been 11 hours of tesitmony yet?
Wake me when we get there.
Miss Bianca
@Prescott Cactus: oooh, I see what you did there…nice! (there being asparagus *and* asparagus, if you know what I mean…)
Roger Moore
@hovercraft:
FTFY.
Roger Moore
@hovercraft:
That’s because we’ve been forced to replace our wonderful traditional lightbulbs with those awful compact fluorescent lights./wingnut
Roger Moore
@Prescott Cactus:
Are you casting aspersions on my asparagus?
TriassicSands
We can only hope that the vast majority of Americans didn’t and won’t see any part of this hearing.
Prescott Cactus
I wouldn’t cast aspersions
LouieRoger, I’d grill it, lightly brushing with garlic butter.Trollhattan
@divF: Innumeracy is a personal hallmark. I could be Republican!
Trollhattan
@hovercraft:
Suspect your exaggeration might meet the accuracy gold standard. He pops up on Maher once and awhile for a knob-polishing and it’s interesting insomuch as there’s sometimes a rabid winger on the panel too, meaning he has to pivot his venom to them. It’s not easy, being Greenwald (with apologies to Kermit).
Trollhattan
@Roger Moore: Aspparently.
Prescott Cactus
@Miss Bianca: I am knowing, at least sometimes.
Mike J
BTW, the smirkers behind Comey were not his staffers as ID’d by twitter, but McKinnon and Halperin
Dmbeaster
@The Dangerman: What makes you think there has been any diffrence? Talk to a right wing nut, or go read their nonsense. They have the same litany of beliefs about Obama as the Clintons.
The real difference is no blow jobs, no independent prosecutor to gin it up and keep it going, and a press atmosphere that was openly nonsensical about the Clintons but less so as to Obama. In substance, there is not much difference between the Foster suicide paranoia, Whitewater and Travelgate for the Clintons and birtherism as to Obama. But there was no independent GOP prosecutor investigating birtherism for 8 years, and the media would not run the story.
Matt McIrvin
@Trollhattan: Keep in mind, Greenwald was a Republican who deserted the fold over Bush’s wars. He basically has little interest in left-liberal causes apart from foreign policy/military/security stuff, and gay rights. I could see him supporting the Republicans again in a heartbeat if he felt they’d become more isolationist.
Jacel
@The Dangerman: When Bill Clinton became president, there was an establish industry in Arkansas of people Making Crap Up about Clinton. The national GOP didn’t realize how much they owed to that existing infrastructure to repeat and build on until Obama came on the scene without that available.
Trollhattan
@Matt McIrvin:
Explains a lot. I only discovered him after George got his war on, and was mostly impressed at the ability to spew forth ten-thousand words at the drop of a hat. Did not know the backstory.
FlipYrWhig
@Trollhattan: @Matt McIrvin: IMHO Greenwald is a small-r republican.
See under “Republicanism,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Libertarianism is part of the story, as is the interest in “civil liberties” per se. Because Greenwald first got excited about civil liberties issues under Bush, and Bush was a right-winger, Greenwald appears to have concluded that his own viewpoint was ideologically on the left. And then when he continued to be excited about civil liberties issues under Obama, he appears to have concluded that he’s to the left of Obama as well. But his arguments aren’t from a left perspective at all. He’s a civil libertarian with small-r republican tendencies especially when it comes to corruption, citizen virtue, and civic rectitude. I think Greenwald belongs in the same box as Jonathan Turley, with grave doubts verging on paranoia about pretty much all exercise of executive power.
J R in WV
@Prescott Cactus:
Fixed that for you.
ETA: Not having listened to or watched any of this hearing, just from the comments, it sounds like the usual republican failure has been conducted today. Maybe it will be on the national news as such tonight?
john fremont
@Matt McIrvin: Ahh yes, socially liberal and a fiscal conservative, meaning ” I’m cool with the gays getting married, but don’t make me pay more for Social Security or food stamps because that’s more money out of my pocket “
bmoak
@Uncle Cosmo:
How about KKKabukkkakkke?
bmoak
@TriassicSands:
Don’t worry! I’m sure the American political media will accurately report what went on!
Prescott Cactus
@J R in WV:
Thank you. Not being a watcher of national news, I would still imagine it would be on most and be a lead for Faux. Solid punching and counter punching. I didn’t start watching till I heard FBI Director Comey was borderline losing his cool w. Rethub’s.
Interesting times indeed.
amk
@Adam L Silverman: well, the dem admins could always say fuck you to judicial watch and make them fight their fraudulent foia requests through the courts. the thugs would.
Johannes
@Trentrunner: Flummery. Their defining characteristic categorically excludes the Trumps: “A Lannister always pays his debts.”