DC Press Corpse

Mark Halperin sat out his #MeToo issues for almost two years (14 dog’s years, people!) and now he has another book with interviews of 75 Democratic operatives, including this list of co-conspirators:

Jill Alper, David Axelrod, Bob Bauer, Donna Brazile, James Carville, Tad Devine, Anita Dunn, Karen Dunn, Adrienne Elrod, Jennifer Granholm, Ben LaBolt, Jeff Link, Jim Margolis, Mike McCurry, Mark Mellman, Amanda Renteria, John Sasso, Kathleen Sebelius, Bob Shrum, Ginny Terzano, and David Wilhelm.

Fuck all those people, collectively and individually.

It has been nearly two years, so it’s worth recalling what conduct Halperin was accused of in 2017. Back then, I spoke to multiple women who said that Halperin sexually harassed or assaulted them. The stories of harassment ranged in nature, from him propositioning employees for sex to kissing and grabbing one’s breasts against her will.

Three women who spoke to me described Halperin as, without consent, pressing an erection against their bodies while he was clothed. One woman told me Halperin masturbated in front of her in his office, while another told me that he violently threw her against a restaurant window before attempting to kiss her, and that when she rebuffed him he called her and told her she would never work in politics or media.

Halperin apologized in 2017 for some of his behavior, but he denied grabbing a woman’s breasts, pressing his genitals against women, masturbating in front of anyone, and threatening the career of a woman.

I’m trying to imagine the inner dialog that caused these folks to talk to Halperin:  On the one hand, we have women risking their careers to report a sexual predator.  On the other hand, some of my friends/competitors are getting quoted in a DC insider’s book.  Nobody reads those things anyway, so I’ll talk to this guy, even though he’s personally despicable and political poison for Democrats.

Halperin’s strategy is painfully obvious:  apologize for the less awful things, deny the more awful things, hide and resurface like a turd you can never flush. If it succeeds for Halperin, then it’s going to succeed for a bunch of other predators.

Who’s Who of Reasonable Centrist EnablersPost + Comments (172)

I didn’t watch any of Mueller’s testimony yesterday, except for a couple of snippets. What I saw was damning, but it’s getting meh reviews from America’s foremost theater critics, the establishment press. Here’s Dan Balz’ take, which essentially assumes that impeachment is off the table because of Mueller’s performance.

Am I the only person who thinks that Mueller’s report contained enough evidence to move forward with either impeachment inquiries, or at a minimum some kind of select committee to investigate the charges further? That was obvious when the report dropped, and it’s obvious today. It’s also obvious that polling is a trailing indicator. If Democrats don’t do anything to keep all of Trump’s bad acts and his administration’s bad actors front and center, the polls on impeachment aren’t going to move.

Given that the least familiar place on earth for a lot of Democrats is the inside of a polling booth, you’d think that the House members who are dragging their feet would be concerned about a drop off in enthusiasm, but I can see little evidence of that.

My Congressman, Joe Morelle, who has a relatively safe seat, voted against the recent impeachment resolution, and is having one town hall this recess, on gun violence. Other than his recent vote, the only other utterance I could find was his statement that he’d consider impeachment if there were clear evidence of treason on Trump’s part. He’s probably typical of most of the mushy center of the House Democrats – he’s ducking and hiding and hoping it will all go away. Sorry, Joe, it’s only going to get worse.

Edited to add: Did Mueller have to give a performance like this to get the right amount of attention:

Waste Your Summer Praying in Vain for a Savior to Rise From These StreetsPost + Comments (186)