Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

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

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Open Thread: Due Respect for Senator Romney

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This, right here. It hasn’t changed how I feel about Mitt Romney, and if he still lived in Massachusetts I might not be able to bring myself to say this, but he did the right thing by voting to impeach Trump.

And if that’s because he finally got to behave in a way that would make his old man proud… well, I’ve never heard a harsh word about George Romney from the Michiganders who lived through his governorship there. Which among others would include my Spousal Unit, along with political professional Dana Houle.

And he’s just made himself all the right enemies…

And he’s changed the top line in his obituary from that dinner with Trump:

Take your victories where you find them!

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Monday Morning Open Thread: Bigger Than the Super Bowl, Even

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First, an excellent idea concerning last week’s Republican clown show: Commentor Debbie suggested people nominate Adam Schiff for the JFK Library’s Profile in Courage Award, because he has earned it, and because it will piss off all the right people. Here’s a link to the nomination form. And here’s what commentor Zhena Goglia submitted:

Adam Schiff has done heroic service to his country in chairing the impeachment hearings in the House Intelligence Committee and as House Manager of the impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump. His performance in both of these roles was nothing short of miraculous — he displayed keen intelligence, broad and deep knowledge of the facts and of the legal issues, and unerring moral insight and courage. During the impeachment trial he spoke eloquently, vividly, and forcefully for hours on end. He was threatened by our mob boss of a president in the middle of the trial, but never lost his composure or his steadfast determination. In the face of unbelievable bad faith and pusillanimity on the part of the president’s counsel and the Republican senators, he never lost his focus on the truth and on his valiant attempt (perhaps a failed one) to save our democracy.

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Elsewhere, out in The Field… ICYMI, this mishap had the Politically Online extremely busy Sunday:

Note from a Iowa inhabitant:

show full post on front page

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Breaking: John Bolton Tries To Get Himself Out of His Self Constructed Bind

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The New York Times has just reported new information regarding the President’s attempt to extort Ukrainian President Zelensky to announce an investigation into the Bidens in exchange for both US military and other aid, as well as a White House visit.

From The New York Times (emphasis mine):

WASHINGTON — More than two months before he asked Ukraine’s president to investigate his political opponents, President Trump directed John R. Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton.

Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president’s impeachment defense.

Mr. Trump told Mr. Bolton to call Volodymyr Zelensky, who had recently won election as president of Ukraine, to ensure Mr. Zelensky would meet with Mr. Giuliani, who was planning a trip to Ukraine to discuss the investigations that the president sought, in Mr. Bolton’s account. Mr. Bolton never made the call, he wrote.

The previously undisclosed directive that Mr. Bolton describes would be the earliest known instance of Mr. Trump seeking to harness the power of the United States government to advance his pressure campaign against Ukraine, as he later did on the July call with Mr. Zelensky that triggered a whistle-blower complaint and impeachment proceedings. House Democrats have accused him of abusing his authority and are arguing their case before senators in the impeachment trial of Mr. Trump, whose lawyers have said he did nothing wrong.

The account in Mr. Bolton’s manuscript portrays the most senior White House advisers as early witnesses in the effort that they have sought to distance the president from. And disclosure of the meeting underscores the kind of information Democrats were looking for in seeking testimony from his top advisers in their impeachment investigation, including Mr. Bolton and Mr. Mulvaney, only to be blocked by the White House.

While all of the reporting and the reporters on this are focusing on what does this mean for today’s/this evening’s votes. Specifically whether this will force the votes on motions to bring witnesses and then to dismiss the impeachment charges against the President back until sometime over the weekend or next week. While that reporting is interesting, it misses the larger point: John Bolton’s information has a shelf life. And we are fast approaching that information passing it’s use by date.

Bolton’s information and use as a fact witness who directly observed what the President and other members of his senior staff – Chief of Staff Mulvaney, VP Pence, WH Counsel Cippolone, and others – has a limited shelf life. That information only has value if he can get it out before the Senate dismisses the impeachment charges against the President. Once the Senate dismisses the impeachment charges, his book is going to fail its pre-publication classification review, because it will be made to fail it’s pre-publication classification review in order to keep it from ever seeing the light of day. The person overseeing that review, National Security Council Counsel John Eisenberg is one of White House Counsel Pat Cipollone’s deputies. Bolton will likely sue to force his book to be approved, which is the normal response to these things, and that suit will be resolved several years from now. While that suit drags on, as soon as the Senate dismisses the impeachment charges against the President, the President will have AG Barr go after him the way that Deputy FBI Director McCabe and others have been targeted. Bolton’s only chance now is to get ahead of what’s coming. And that chance has a very quickly oncoming expiration date.

Today just went sideways for Senator McConnell, the President, and Pat Cipollone whose long suspected complicity and involvement in all of this has now been further exposed to the light of day. The question is whether Senator McConnell can regain his footing to do what we all know he is planning on doing.

Open thread!

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Friday Morning Open Thread: Really?

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Warren’s best mom voice: I’m not mad at you, I’m just very, very disappointed with you.

And I missed this, Wednesday:

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Today’s GOP Star Disgrace: Rand Paul

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The name of the guy Rand Paul would like to believe is the whistleblower is now all over the web, so he’s achieved his goal — and it’s not as though Rand Paul needed to worry about his reputation; this is the kind of petty self-aggrandizing bullshit that’s his trademark. I don’t even think that Rand is explicitly paid by Putin, or blackmailed by the GRU. He just likes being the center of attention, and the only way he’s capable of achieving that is by being a dick.

I’d like to believe that Chief Justice Roberts would care enough about his own not inconsiderable self-esteem to bring the full force of his powers down on Paul, but I’d also like to believe that my favorite potato chips are health food, and that ain’t happening either.

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: The Daily Grind

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Jennifer Rubin, in the Washington Post, “Republicans Are Trapped, Thanks to Nancy Pelosi”:

If not for the foresight of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to shine a bright light on the purpose of a trial — an evaluation of evidence — and to delay sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate, the White House, Republican senators and a hapless chorus of sycophantic pundits would not be in meltdown mode.

With an assist from former national security adviser John Bolton, Pelosi cornered Senate Republicans who had hoped to escape the spectacle of a full airing of President Trump’s unconscionable conduct. They can acquit, and in all likelihood will, but they cannot facilitate Trump’s cover-up without implicating themselves and entirely discrediting the process. They face humiliation when evidence eventually comes out. If they vote to acquit without hearing from Bolton, Trump will be denied the satisfaction of exoneration by a credible process.

Voters are far ahead of Republican senators. In the latest Quinnipiac poll, registered voters want witnesses by a margin of 75 to 20 percent. That includes “49 percent of Republicans, 95 percent of Democrats, and 75 percent of independents.” In a party known for its cultish obedience to the White House line, Trump cannot even peddle his “no witnesses” snake oil.

Trump has also lost a majority of voters on the merits. “More than half of voters, 53-40 percent, say President Trump is not telling the truth about his actions involving Ukraine. … More than half of voters, 54 percent, believe President Trump abused his power regarding his actions involving Ukraine, while 42 percent say he did not. A similar 52 percent think that President Trump obstructed Congress regarding its investigation of his actions involving Ukraine, while 42 percent think he did not.” They don’t buy that there was a legitimate reason to suspend aid (52 percent “think the Trump administration’s withholding of U.S. aid to Ukraine was not justified, while 34 percent say it was justified”)…

There are only two escape hatches, both distasteful for Trump. First, he could stipulate to every fact presented by Democrats, essentially admitting that he and his lawyers lied. He could then rely on his “not impeachable!” argument. Second, Republicans could start brokering a deal for censure. Trump is not one to admit error, however, so the chances are slim to none that he would agree to either…

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What Kind of Fuckery Is This?

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Last night the news broke that McConnell doesn’t have the votes to block a vote on having witnesses. What this means isn’t clear, but if there’s anything clear about this whole ordeal, it’s that Comrade McConnell is going to engage in the maximum fuckery possible. In last night’s comments on a post with a different topic, Martin made this point:

As part of the process, they have a vote of whether to consider witness. That’s the vote in question here. Then there’s a process of submitting witness requests to leadership, I think it is, and they introduce individual motions for votes. They don’t need to introduce every rando request, but things they think are relevant. It could be none will pass. There will probably be some negotiating in how the motions are structured, whether individual witnesses, open or closed session, all that garbage.

That sounds possible to me, but as the ever-shifting needs of the weaker links in his caucus to have fig leafs of “I did too vote for witnesses” bump up against the desires of safe seat Senators to just get it over with, how this thing ends up will probably be at least a little unpredictable.

That first story linked brings up a Republican talking point that witnesses will cause the impeachment to be delayed by a side trip into the courts as witnesses resist their subpoenas. My understanding is that this is bullshit: Roberts will rule from the bench and his ruling is final. Congress has the sole power to impeach and remove, and there is no appeal for a ruling from the presiding officer, the Chief Justice.

I’m sure Trump, who has skirted the law by dilatory legal actions for his whole life, disagrees, but unless anyone can cite a non-wingnut legal authority, I’m thinking that any witnesses called will show up.

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