There’s A Pony In There!
You might think that this morning’s shitshow had no redeeming qualities. I found one.
It appears that the Democrats actually have a plan if Robert Mueller is fired. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware was willing to go on the record.
Almost immediately, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer would consult with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, while Democrats would demand a floor vote on a bill retroactively protecting Mueller and protecting his materials. In both the Senate and House, rank-and-file Democrats would contact a list of sympathetic Republicans who have signaled privately that they’d be willing to act should Trump pull the trigger.
And in cities across the country, rallies would be hastily scheduled for 5 p.m., if Mueller is fired before 2 p.m. on any given day. If he’s fired in the late afternoon or evening, the protests would be set for noon the following day.
The Democratic group MoveOn.org has been organizing 933 such rallies, with locations picked out and sponsors enlisted to handle logistics. The list includes rallies in big cities like Los Angeles, along with protests in more remote areas, such as the federal buildings in Bismarck, North Dakota, and Hilo, Hawaii.
Sounds like Lucy and the football, but
Coons predicted that “within minutes” of a Mueller firing, dozens of Republicans would either voice opposition publicly or phone the president or his chief of staff to register their objection privately. But he acknowledged that many Republicans have been coy, refusing to say even behind closed doors what actions they’d be willing to take.
Here’s the MoveOn page for demonstrations. Put your zip code in and find out if one is planned for your area.
Paul Waldman is sanguine that Mueller will prevail.
And given how meticulous they’ve been, it would be a shock if Mueller and his team haven’t prepared for the eventuality of being shut down. Perhaps they’ve kept a running, frequently updated report outlining everything they’ve found, a report that would one way or another find its way to the public. I’m guessing that if Democrats take over the House in November as everyone expects, they’ll use their power to subpoena documents and witnesses to do everything they can to bring the information assembled by the Mueller team to light.
Senator McConnell is throwing a temper tantrum in the well of the Senate. Everything is the mean Democrats fault smearing a good man. He has made it very clear that they will vote to confirm Kavanaugh regardless.
@Adam L Silverman: Good. He’s usually more controlled than that.
And Charlie Brown will consult with Lucy to reach an agreement about the football.
@Cheryl Rofer: He is unusually angry for him. Or at least in publicly displaying his anger. I think he’s seen the reporting this morning that the President is being counseled to pull the nomination and he’s trying to 1) stiffen the President’s spine and 2) make sure there’s clear audio and video of him doing everything he could to get Kavanaugh through for when the President throws McConnell under the bus.
@Adam L Silverman: And Kavanaugh sounds pissed off as hell, judging from his latest letter.
@Adam L Silverman: if he had the votes he’d call the vote.
I just saw the feed… awww, little turtle man is having a little meltdown. Sounds like it’s nap time!
@Adam L Silverman: So Mitch is angry that he finds himself defending a nominee that he didn’t want in the first place.
I really believe Mitch is wishing Hillary Clinton had won the election. He’d certainly be having more fun these days.
This morning was the Trump Loop run to perfection.
The Trump Loop:
1. Start doing awful thing.
2. Stop doing awful thing at last second.
3. Get praised as a hero for not doing awful thing.
4. Repeat.
My Twitter feed is now full of complacency trolls wondering why you’re overreacting, things aren’t that bad…
@germy:
That letter is quite something. I said this on LGM, but it’s worth repeating: I bet that, despite his professed desire to answer questions, that there are a bunch of questions that he won’t answer, all of which will be coming from Democratic Senators.
@Major Major Major Major:
Every day that goes by without a vote, the odds that he will end up having the votes get worse.
@germy: You didn’t read the whole post!
If I were in McConnell’s place, I’d definitely be trying hard to make it look like I fought like crazy for this nomination. It’s the best strategy for the Republican base.
Thinking was optional?
For them to fight this hard for this asshole, you know there has to be more on the table than just Roe v Wade.
@randy khan:
Will this be televised? I want to watch.
Every plan is perfect until it meets the enemy.
@The Midnight Lurker:
Good, I hope McConnell is miserable, physically, emotionally, and psychologically. I hope he’s wracked with every gastrointestinal malady known to medicine. In short, that his inner ugly matches his outer.
@The Midnight Lurker:
Handmaid’s tale as documentary, not a warning.
If the last 20 months have taught us anything, its that Coons prediction is wildly overoptimistic.
I don’t know Mueller, but I do know he is smart. I suspect (and I could be completely wrong) that he has complete packages of charges with evidence, exhibits and witness testimony ready to Fedex to each State Attorney General should he get fired. I don’t know how many State AGs are partisan hacks, but I do know that a lot of them would pick up the ball and run with it. Do what you will with Mueller, but that does not shut down State AGs bringing charges against the whole lot of them.
What frustrates me is that the issue is being described as whether he did any of these lewd actions. The issue should be whether he is being honest about these actions now. He is a liar about his past. The past could be past if he were willing to be honest about it, but he is not.
@Adam L Silverman: You know that scene in ‘Being John Malkovich’ where all the dialog is just ‘Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich’? The proper reply to McConnell’s hissy fit is ‘Garland Garland Garland’. And then to slap him in the face with a large flounder.
@The Midnight Lurker:
Gerrymandering. There’s a whole wishlist of asshole conservative stuff McConnell wants, but more than anything else, he needs a purely partisan Supreme Court majority or gerrymandering and voter suppression get axed. If that happened, the Republican Party would be fucked for a very long time, and with it the rule of rich, old white men. For McConnell, that is the most holy cause.
@Cheryl Rofer: Well that was a sewer. Warning next time please.
I’ve always assumed that if Trump breaks the glass (fires Mueller), then Mueller will break his own glass (gives the go-ahead to the NYAG to unseal an indictment against Don Jr. )
Congressional subpoena power will certainly be tested to its limits next session. Is it likely to withstand the test? Will the procedures and penalties for contempt of Congress really prevail in battle against no-holds-barred partisans? Even assuming a stable SCOTUS I have my doubts.
@Lapassionara:
Confessing opens him up to state charges.
@germy: I’ve never seen self-righteous spelled this way before: “sounds pissed off as hell”.
Lot of people seem to be giving credit to Republicans which I have yet to see any evidence that they deserve.
@ElegantFowl:
No. SATSQ.
Dick Cheney and Karl Rove flouted it with impunity. The standard still holds.
@Cheryl Rofer: He sounds pretty pissed off, doesn’t he? How _dare_ those lesser beings question his right to claim this prize?
This is the one point where I’m more optimistic. There will be no waiting until the next day. In DC, at least, the rally will start as soon as a significant number of people can get there, even if the firing occurred at midnight.
Word is floating around the GOP have given-up on Independents and are going for a 100% base election. McTurtle’s hissy fit lends support for this thesis.
@Cheryl Rofer: So are we going to have dueling TV interviews, then? Because if I were Professor Christine Blasey Ford and I saw that, I would be arranging to go on Ellen and Oprah, and a whole lot of other shows.
@TenguPhule: lying under oath opens him up to disbarment.
@WaterGirl: It’s a self-righteous anger.
For anyone keeping track of my battle of sadness vs. rage, rage is now winning.
@Cheryl Rofer: I can’t be the only one who’s seeing the final scene of _The Godfather_ (movie) in my mind.
@germy: I’ll give you that!
@The Midnight Lurker: It is my understanding that there is a case coming before the Supreme Court that would prevent states from pursuing a criminal case if the feds step in and file charges. Should this be decided against states, it would enable Trump’s Justice Department executing an end run against New York, for instance.
Why doesn’t the McConnell SCOTUS rule also work for the Senate? Shouldn’t we wait for the election results and let the American people voice how they want the Senate to proceed on a nominee? Turtle is a lame turtle.
@WaterGirl: He was born to be a supreme court justice.
We’re robbing him of his birthright.
It’s robbery, plain and simple.
@Cheryl Rofer: Oh great, the little woman standing by her man. I remember when Hillary told 60 minutes all those years ago that she wasn’t some kind of Tammy Wynette, I cheered. She made me feel much better about the Big Dog, who had struck me as a used car salesman.
@karen marie: by… charging Trump themselves? Not following.
@Lapassionara:
Confessing would mean he’d die in prison.
@Major Major Major Major:
File charges, fuck up the case, lose.
I’ve been signed up for the MoveOn protest since Twitler fired Comey. At that time I had to go 60 miles to LA, now it’s about six blocks from home.
@dmsilev:
Yep. Every response should be “Merrick Garland says Fuck You!”.
@The Midnight Lurker: abortion is how they get church picnic voters to vote for the country club banquet agenda. Deregulation, campaign finance, union-busting, attacking the ACA…
I’m sure BK shares say GW Bush’s sentimental affection for “babies”, and that if one of his daughters had a… situation… he or his wife would have a discreet word with a doctor friend. If anyone remembers Susan Carpenter MacMillan, a parade float of a woman who got famous by using her money to promote Paula Jones in the name of being ‘pro-life”, it was revealed late in the whole mess that her doctor had performed a “therapeutic miscarriage” when she had an unplanned pregnancy.
@The Midnight Lurker: They know that if they don’t get this particular asshole, they’re probably not going to get another chance. The Orange Clown may nominate one, to be sure, but by the time they can schedule hearings and a vote, the Senate will be in Democratic hands.
I can’t stand it when men hide behind their wives like this.
@WaterGirl: #TeamRage
Like I’ve said to my friends, I’m like Bruce Banner. I’m always angry. I just don’t express it or anything else.
Grassley has sent a letter to Ford.
Please, Colbert, don’t be on reruns this week!
@TenguPhule:
He could have admitted to bad behavior in his youth, claimed he didn’t think he did anything like Ford says but he’s very sorry if he made her uncomfortable. Nothing legally actionable, and a lot of people would accept it as he-said-she-said and maybe stop the hemmorhaging of public support. A bit scummy, but it might have worked.
That ship has definitely sailed, though.
@oatler.: He’s not!
What has happened in the last week shows just how much of a political animal Kavanaugh has always been. These tactics — ratf*cking the accusations by trying to implicate one of his classmates, denying he had anything to do with it when it blew up in their faces, and now, going on tv with his wife — these are things that happen during the course of a political campaign. They are completely out of line for any kind of presidential appointment, but especially one on the Supreme Court.
I used to be a huge Colbert fan, on Daily and the right wing character (though the time seemed right to retire that), but I just find most of his monologues/desk pieces too much preaching to the choir. I watch his interview segments more than anything.
@Cheryl Rofer: I haven’t read it yet. Let me guess:
Dear Little Lady,
We will of course hear you out with the greatest of respect, as long as it’s clear that you know your place, and then we will vote to seat your would-be-rapist with a lifetime seat on the highest court on the land. Oh, and don’t forget, your hands will be tied behind your back and the rules in the hearing will be different for you and your would-be-rapist.
Sincerely, (and Fuck You)
The Guy with all the Power
@Cheryl Rofer:
Camille Cosby said all of those women accusing her husband were liars, too. Just sayin’.
@mad citizen:
Because his “rule” was always a lie, and everyone knew it.
@germy:
So Antony Kennedy is not going to get the undying thanks he expected from the GOP for resigning ( but also demanding Kavanaugh as his replacement), sad.
@ruemara: Same here.
@Barbara: Every word you said is true. This whole thing has been a campaign but a very political partisan hack, not by a judge. That’s one of the reasons they want him so badly.
@Ridnik Chrome: They might have a chance in the lame duck session, but that would paint a target on their nominal moderates. It’s there now, of course, but if they’re looking to 2020 to regain the Senate, rubber-stamping a lame-duck nominee of an increasingly embattled and unpopular president is a bad look.
@randy khan:
I watched Kamala Harris question him. I would bet that he’s gonna pull his entitled douchebro schtick at some point during questioning. It’s not going to be a good look, and the more he gets pushed the more the mask will slip. Regardless of what happens, I think Kavanaugh could be his own worst enemy. (Except for Mark Judge — I know for a fact that Republicans are desperate, desperate, desperate not to put Mark Judge anywhere near a microphone. I maintain that’s what they’re really scared off. You could hear McTurtle lying on the Senate floor that statements taken by the Senate from these people are under penalty of jail, which is bullshit. There has been no official questioning of these people and they really, really, really don’t want there to be.)
Right now we need Katrina Kaif as the avenging angel in Tera Noor
The republicans aren’t trustworthy, and don’t count on them to support the democratic members if Trump fires Mueller. It is as likely imo, as Susan Collins voting against Kavanaugh. It’s not going to happen.
@Cheryl Rofer: Wow, the letter is worse than I thought. I completely forgot the part about how she did it wrong.
I was right about the Fuck You part, though I didn’t have it as a P.S.
What a total bag of shit Grassley is.
@mad citizen: I agree, but on the other hand, Fallon.
Even if Republicans said they were going to take specific action X, getting them to actually do it would be challenging.
If they’re not even willing to show integrity during a hypothetical crisis, there’s no chance they show any in a real one.
Everybody please stop saying “as everyone expects” when it comes to November.
@Adam L Silverman:
If he had the votes, it would be done today, followed by the GOP figuratively dropping their pants and telling people to kiss it. He ain’t got the votes.
Whatever happened to the dirt digging on Kavanaugh’s bizarre financial situation? Is the consensus that mommy, daddy and the in-laws just gave him mountains of cash because they love him?
@Mandalay: I’ve been wondering that too…the extravagant home, the credit card debt that vanished…
@Cheryl Rofer:
Wow, hissyfit leadership I can depend on. He sounds So Very Disappointed with how he’s been treated.
Poor li’l Brett, should’a taken Truman’s advice and got a dog.
@Mandalay: What happened is that Senate Republicans suppressed most of the documentation about him, and no journalist had yet turned up anything on it.
@The Dangerman:
They can’t vote until they have gone through the motions of pretending to listen to “her”, but I suspect they still have the numbers.
I’m pinning my hopes on Avenatti delivering a video of Kavanaugh wearing a stud collar and dressed up as a ballerina, cavorting with a pantomime horse, though perhaps even that wouldn’t prevent his appointment.
@Mandalay: It’s apparent that they have been bailing him out all of his life, why not continue.
@HalfAssedHomesteader: True, it gives me flashbacks to October 2016.
@Mandalay:
No reporter of any note wants to do the hard work of asking a financial question.
@Mandalay:
Does anyone else suspect Kavanaugh ever took trophy pictures of his drunken “victories” post-ejaculation?
@Mandalay:
I think they’ve lost Murkowski. maybe even Collins (although I don’t think she has the spine). Flake … well, who the fuck knows. I think it’s 10 to 11 right now.
I’ve always thought/assumed that Mueller has a detailed plan for what-to-do if Trump fires him. By now, the Report is nearly finished, and it will be published, one way or another. Trump’s apparent assumption is that if Mueller goes, then the problem is solved. But I’m pretty sure that’s just false.
Is it possible for Schumer too organize anything other than a protest by Wall Street? He doesn’t seem to have an activist bone in his body.
It would be a look though, lotsa $$ worth of suits.
@mad citizen: First the constitutional originalists need to show me where the Senate’s advise and consent has a time limit. Bet Merrick Garland would be interested in that text too.
@TenguPhule: Drunk = consensual. I pretty much detest humanity. The fact that this isn’t unusual and what is unusual is the attempt to call him to account is grating on me.
The balm of Mitch McConnell having a good cry for being stymied by his rapey little fuckstain of jurist having a modicum of the harm he’s caused come back on him… it’s not fucking enough. Razing this world with fire doesn’t seem enough.
@Adam L Silverman:
if mcconnell is that pissed, it’s because he’s not sure he has the votes anymore. ten bucks says murkowski called him earlier to give him some bad news.
@JPL: I guess so. An inappropriate email or photo from twenty years ago might destroy someone’s life, yet when a Harvard graduate candidate for SCOTUS is obviously a complete train wreck at managing his finances over a period of years it barely raises a ripple of concern.
Even if he has done nothing illegal, the mere fact that he can’t manage money and relies on mommy and daddy looks like a huge character defect to me. Not something that should prevent anyone getting a job as a janitor or a ditch digger or a politician, but how is that not highly relevant for SCOTUS candidates? Is it not a sufficiently salacious failing?
@ruemara:
I like the world fine. I just want to set fire to most of the people occupying it.
@Redshift:
Curious to know if any of the intrepid reporters at the NYT bothered to look. We should ask Maggie.
@TenguPhule: He does sound like the kind of a-hole to do it.
@karen marie: This is disturbing. If the States have no ability to even bring suit against local criminal activity there could be massive foul play. Although I don’t think the GOP cares much about “the law”. Being able to ooerate within the law dramatically reduces political consequences.
In 1944 and 1948, voting in South Carolina was down to about 10% of the population, almost 99.9% of that 10% was also white and males. I think that is the Republican/Koch Brother goal for the whole U.S. if they can get ol’ Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.
@ruemara:
Weren’t there some fucknozzle libertarian bros trying to argue a few years ago that if you violated a woman while she was unconscious, it should be no harm, no foul because she wouldn’t remember it anyway? Those were some dickwads who needed to wake up with a large dildo shoved up their asses with no memory of how it got there.
@WaterGirl:
I’d be contacting 60 Minutes first. Then The View, Ellen, The Talk…all the women’s shows. I’d plaster myself all over the highest rated tv shows, daytime especially. But 60 Minutes is who I’d call first. That coward Kavenaugh wouldn’t have the stones to go on there and be questioned by any of the real journalists there. That’s why he’s going on FOX. He’s playing to the base, just like any other cowardly GOPer.
@WaterGirl: The thing that really raised my blood pressure is that he put a handwritten note on the bottom that he is looking forward to her testimony and signed it “Chuck.” Fuck you, Chuck.
@Mnemosyne:
That would have been during the swimmer rapist incident in CA and the dudebro judge that gave him a light sentence, IIRC. Judge got voted out of office, so one small happy ending there.
@Dan B: ? Why am I supposed to be mad at Schumer? Didn’t you see the contingency plan listed above? We need congressional leadership to set up a protest?
@mad citizen:
I’ve been finding Colbert too cute and too happy these days.
It’s not funny anymore; his style of comedy just doesn’t work for me now.
@The Dangerman: Actually you may be right about Murkowski flipping…
Without making light of the victim in that assault, serendipity has put Murkowski in a bad place.
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: And it sounds like the kind of evidence that would wander into a lawyer’s hands.
I want the Democrats to ask Kavanaugh exactly who and when and how much people “repaid him for baseball tickets.” Then I want the media to go after those people and ask for bank transactions. Did they give him a check or cash? Pay all at once or a bit on payday? Senator Whitehouse sent him written questions to this effect and got back an answer that said “everyone who repaid me paid exactly what the ticket cost me, no more, no less. Objection, unresponsive. Also want to see receipts from the ticket office. That all smells to high heaven.
@The Dangerman: @Mandalay: I wouldn’t be surprised if Murkowski wasn’t still pissed about them not helping her with the Tea Party challenger and making her run as an independent.
@Mary G: It’s amazing how the he said she said sexual scandal has been the focus when the “hey, you fucking geniuses, this couldn’t be more obvious signs of bribery & corruption if he walked in with sponsorship stickers all over his ass” stuff gets blown off.
@TenguPhule: Oh da…rn, you’re back.
@ruemara:
Because WALL STREET BILLYUNAIRE FAILYUH
@grubert: Me too. I was excited when it was announced he was taking over for Letterman, but his new persona has always been off to me, even before trump. The jokes are there, but his delivery is just too…. something, soft, vanilla, wide-eyed, I don’t know.
@Cheryl Rofer: Reading that letter, in the middle of feeling for the hellish situation she’s stepped into by coming forward, I have to admire the artistically dismissive “I am spending considerable time managing death threats…” Well done, and stay safe.
@Dan B: It’s not like Karen reported. I just signed on to an amicus brief in the only case that comes close to that description —
Since at least 1959, the supreme Court has held that you can be tried for the exact same criminal offense in both state and federal court with no double jeopardy complications. It’s called the dual sovereignty doctrine.
This has allowed — mostly — the feds to take a crime already tried and punished by the state to do it again to also get federal time. In one case I worked on, the crime was a drug sting run by state law enforcement, with no federal involvement whatsoever, tried in the state court and the client was sentenced. Then the feds didn’t like the sentence and wanted to squeeze the defendant more, so they charged the same crime based on the same facts, all witnesses being state police, and got a second conviction and a consecutive punishment. No problem under current law.
The case wending it’s way to the supreme Court seeks to allow for only one prosecution and one punishment in such circumstances.
“(CNN) Amber Guyger, the police officer charged with manslaughter in the shooting of a man inside his Dallas apartment, has been fired from the department, according to a statement Dallas Police Chief Ulysha Renee Hall.”
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/09/24/us/dallas-police-officer-fired-botham-shem-jean/index.html
@Mary G:
@ruemara:
In fact, I’m guessing the reason Feinstein sat on Dr. Blasey Ford’s letter for so long was that she was hoping she could turn some Republican votes by using the other evidence of Kavanaugh’s obvious and open corruption, but the Republicans didn’t give a shit about any of that. So she had to pull out the big guns.
@Mary G: Yeah, that was the “fuck you” i was referring to.
He thinks women are so stupid we are not going to notice his dismissal of attempted rape and his condescending bullshit.
@sherparick: Wow.
That is some statistic.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the verbal assurances Schumer got will go the same way as the promises made to Gary Cooper in High Noon, if the moment of danger arrives
@Mary G: Yeah, if he’s got a “no rapes today” calendar from 1982, he sure as $hit would have a F*cker owes me money repayment calendar.
@TenguPhule:
Nope. No cell phones for high school kids in 1982.
Democracy is always full of contention and harsh words.
But who could have foreseen such a clusterfuck in our lifetime? I really thought Watergate would spell an end to that sort of dirty politics, but I guess there is no changing the spots on the leopard.
Hope that Mr Mueller is prepared for anything! Neighbors have tee shirts with
on them. Big hit at the local demos!
I’ve said it all along: Mueller has a “Dead Hand” in place, and I bet it will be worse for Trump than if he let it lay as it does now.
@catclub:
Back then they had actual cameras and somthing called polaroid.
@catclub: Believe it or not, there were these devices that took photographs in the pre-cell-phone days.
I remember the massive response to the executive order banning travelers from Muslim countries. I am optimistic these rallies will be even bigger. this has been in the works for a long while.
@Emma:
I think given how fucked up everything has become, contingencies should be based more on goals instead of actual plans because we don’t want to stick to a plan that’s failing, we want to Xanatos gambit so that we win any which way.
@different-church-lady: Barbara “Dead Hand” Underwood. If he fires Mueller between the mid-terms and the New Year, the Rough Beast might find out that lame ducks can put a hurt on a criminal, and his criminal children.
Rebecca Traister, who better get a Pultizer this year, or women will have to invent a new award, has a new essay up in NY Mag/The Cut. (And yes, I am still angry that NYM and WaPo put stories by and about women in their own little ghetto) It’s called When the Muzzle Comes Off and I can’t decide which paragraph to quote because they are all so good, but here’s one:
So much good.
@Immanentize:
Can it at least wait till after every Republican in federal government is subject to this first?
I’m not sure about all the confidence that Mueller has a contingency plan in place.
From everything I hear, he is totally a “by the book” guy. So I just don’t see it. Unless sealed indictments that lay out the story are in place and could immediately be unsealed.
On the other hand, Mueller has spent pretty much his whole life dedicated to the rule of law, almost entirely in service of his country, and he can’t possibly take kindly to Trump and the whole administration’s giant FU to the rule of law, not to mention the conspiracy with Russia to subvert our democracy.
@Mary G:
A Herlitzer?
@WaterGirl:
Only a complete idiot at this point would not be prepared for Trump to do something stupid, illegal and damaging.
Mueller is by all accounts, definitely not stupid.
@TenguPhule: You will still be able to try people for both state and federal crimes — even on the same conduct — as long as they are different crimes. Like tax evasion in state court, money laundering in Federal court. It will not be a huge change, but it will give more meaning to the intentions of the 14th amendment.
@different-church-lady:
I like that idea very much
@eclare:
I assert that the Allied Entitled Rapist Association fronted him the money through a 501(c)(3) while claiming a charitable deduction.
@Mandalay: We had neighbors from posh New England families. The father of four had drinking issues, and routinely had job loss, went deep into debt. He would brag that it will take a couple months, but they would bail him out again. He would holler at his in-laws for mo money in the room next to a kitchen full of guests. Would not surprise me if worked for Kav.
Somebody’s source is doubling down:
John Barron, I presume?
@patrick II: It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
@ruemara: Were you asked to be mad at Schumer? I just feel his image is mostly broker for Wall Street. I’d be more persuaded by Move On, Indivisble, and the Women’s March. If Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and my wonderful rep, Pramila Jayapal were out in front there would be less cognitive dissonance. Mazie Hirono with a bullhorn would be excellent!
@Mary G: Who told who at DOJ to draft that, I wonder? Or is it like a good newspaper that just keeps draft obituaries ready for the fateful moment?
@Mary G:
Tomorrow should be fun. And by fun I mean terrible.
Wow
one of the withdrawn names is Louisa Garry, star of the (I believe) Koch funded ad that assures that BK is a nice guy
@catclub: Instamatic cameras were quite available then and as I said Kavanaugh sounds like the kind of a-hole to want trophies (he did save his calendar after all…). Keep in mind so far it’s been the classmates outing these assaults, not the victims, so that sounds like Kavanaugh was bragging.
I am just not getting what the Thursday hearing will look like — when Dr. Blasey Ford testifies, there will be a woman lawyer doing all the questioning for the GOP while the Rep. Senators (pale and male) remain silent? Then the Democratic Senators will ask questions like normal….
Then with Kavanaugh, what? Back to only senators doing all the questioning? That is going to look super awful bad
Wow, you’re so right. Another part, though not the center:
@Immanentize: earlier today there were reports they were trying to draft Kelly Ayotte to come back and do the questioning for them.
@Mary G: It’s been interesting watching the gendered reactions to the me too movement.
Women: Well, this is not surprising.
Men: OMG Almost every woman I know has been sexually assaulted–that is horrifying and not OK.
It’s actually been encouraging to see men come to terms with what that means. Because–and perhaps I’m being naive–the majority of them seem to be pushing back pretty firmly on the idea that all of this is acceptable/OK/”everybody does it.” There definitely seems to be a particular strain of entitled violent jackasses who are committing these crimes (and attempting to dismiss them as nbd).
@Dan B: Yeah, you did. Your question has a framing that puts responses including protest onto Schumer. This literally has nothing to do with his image, so I asked a valid question of why I’m supposed to be mad at him or looking at him or anyone of those you mentioned as organizing a protest response. Especially when we’re already organized with protest responses and I’d much rather their time be spent doing what the above link for this post says they’ve been doing – crafting as many contingency plans as possible.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: BWAAHAAHAAHAA.
OMG they have no idea how out of touch they are. This is what happens when you only listen to the men at the club after dinner over cigars and Brandy when the ladies have been removed.
Gallipoli
@grubert:
I don’t know about Colbert in particular, but I think a lot of people here feel that the stakes are getting way too high now for constantly coming up with new insults for Trump, and making light of Republican failings.
Recall the revelation about Trump’s mushroom the other day? A few months ago that might have been an ongoing joke here for days, but it barely raised a mention after a few hours. I have drifted from hot emotional fury to ice cold anger over what Trump is doing to the country, and I know others who feel the same way. So clever Colbert quips with cutesy musical riffs in the background just seem inappropriate at the moment.
@Mary G: Thanks! That is an excellent article. I plan to share it with some folks on Facebook.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Or just doing in public like a barn yard animal, good gods….
@Immanentize: Or did it happen at all? The source is Axios.
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I think the FBI should get a warrant for Kavanaugh’s home PC. I think its contents would be informational.
@Immanentize: I read that Christine Blasey Ford objected to the outside counsel asking questions, and i thought we were back to senators asking questions. But maybe not?
Sorta not off topic. But hopeful! Many know about my son, the Immp, who is a senior in high school. Overheard last night while he was online talking to his mates:
“Do you know what book is shockingly good? Emma by Jane Austin.”. Someone must of said, “who?” Because he then said, “She writes about relationships between rich people in the late 1800’s….”
@The Dangerman: Once again, I happy to slag on Senator Collins – I thoroughly detest her and her ‘independence.’ What a vile human being.
@WaterGirl: Glassley told her that she could pound salt on that because Senators get to decide that issue.
@C Stars: Yes. On the one hand I have been encouraged by the men who are not at all okay with rape culture once it is made explicit to them. On the other hand, I am saddened and appalled by the sheer number of rapes. I’ve been relatively lucky – just the usual continuing harassment and several minor assaults.
@Cheryl Rofer: Excellent point. Axios runs with what is fed them.
@The Midnight Lurker:
SCOTUS will start hearing cases in October. That’s a whole bunch of cases there that could be used to push the Republican agenda. Without a confirmation now, a lot of those cases would get decided on a 4-4 vote and the lower court rulings would stay in place, some of which, I assume, are not favorable to Republicans.
Plus there’s the law suit by 20 Republican states attorneys general trying to destroy the PPACA, which could come up before a friendlier SCOTUS, with Kavannaough on board.
@Immanentize: They have no idea what they look like when bullying a woman like this. I hope they all rot in hell. Hopefully a hell of their own making.
@WaterGirl: They are in hell, they want to drag all of us there.
@Mandalay:
Colbert keeps me sane as I watch the rest of the rational people turn into me.
@Barbara: You would think that admitting to being frequently blind drunk, and also under age while drinking, would be disqualifying for the Supreme Court, even without the sexual assaults. Can’t they find someone better for a lifetime appointment?
AND another thing. I think it was one of the vile King memeber so fhte House of representatives who said if these claims stop kavanaugh then no man will be able to make it to the SC, and I thought, OK!, how about a 200 year break where no men make it to the Supreme Court, kind of like the 200 years at the start of the Republic when no women made it.
@WaterGirl:
Moments like these are the only times I wish I believed in an afterlife. A never ending afterlife of righteous retribution and revenge.
But I don’t.
I want this, but have no money because I sent it all to Democrats:
Will it be on streaming? Off to check with Amazon.
@Immanentize: You and Julie raised a good ‘un. Has he decided which colleges to apply to or does the tour continue?
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: And for days they’ve been repeating that the witnesses back up Kav instead of Dr. Blasey, even though at least one says she believes Dr. Blasey but didn’t know Kav and doesn’t remember him or the gathering. McConnell repeated today:
“Here are the facts before us: This is an allegation of misconduct which all four supposed witnesses either flatly contradict or are unable to back up. It’s not just one alleged witness disagreeing with the allegations — it’s literally every person who was supposedly there.”
I’m sick of them misinterpreting and editing the reporting; they’re not an ad agency.
@Immanentize: Give yourself and your dear departed wife a pat on the back, you have raised and insightful, sensitive young man with wide ranging interests. Any young man who enjoys Austen in the face of what this culture provides as entertainment is exceptional!
Thanks for sharing that anecdote.
@catclub:
members of the House of Representatives
Can I have edit please?
@Aleta:
and yet, the Judiciary committee has no interest in having ANY of those persons testify, especially Mark Judge.
@Mary G: he is down to 10. Still working on it. Top choices are Rice, UT Austin, UCLA, Michigan, and Northeastern (the local choice). Also St. Andrews in Scotland because, why not?
They’re everywhere!
@Immanentize: I admire the Immp even more now.
I think McConnell still has the votes and that we’re going to lose this – just like with Clarence Thomas. Maybe we’ll get Murkowski, but I wouldn’t count on even that. Flake is a Flake and Collins is a concern troll, not a moderate. What has happened has only hardened views – the pro-choice Alan Simpson, who got more and more angry in pushing Clarence Thomas onto the Court (so that he could – predictably – vote for 40 years to overturn Roe) is the best historical example.
I wouldn’t trust any Republicans for a nanosecond. None of them will go on record as opposing Trump.
Also, if something happens soon, none of these Republicans will want to hurt the party’s chances in the mid-terms by having Trump talk bad about them for defying him.
@The Midnight Lurker:
In the scheme of things that is way down the list at the monment. Top of the list must be what decisions “fail” to get enough votes while there are only 8 warm seats on SCOTUS, and (horror of horrors!) the possibility that Democrats win the Senate.
And apart from all that, I’m not at all convinced that there are many Republican politicians who truly want Roe v. Wade to get overturned. If there is a blue tide going on right now, that decision would result in blue tsunami.
@Cheryl Rofer: Oh my. “VERY concerned.”
@Mandalay:
I must demur. They’re not insults — they’re slurs. As in “an insinuation or allegation about someone that is likely to insult them or damage their reputation”. They’re to remind us that we hate him (and all the GrOPers) that we hate him and them with the heat of a thousand suns all going nova at the same time. There’s nothing wrong with using humor to kick these fuckers. And nobody confuses laughing at them, with pity or sympathy or anything other than intense, visceral hatred.
Something else too: tyrants can’t stand mockery. It’s GOOD to mock them.
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: These were rich privileged kids. They wouldn’t have had cheapo instamatics, they would have had top of the line stuff. Probably mini spy cameras.
@Cheryl Rofer: hahahaha Then she say that’s unfortunate.
@ruemara:
That’s largely because the Republicans have given up even pretending to care about bribery and corruption, while at least a few of them still have to put on a show of caring about rape.
@Immanentize: I chuckled on reading that. Reminds me of my own exceptional middle son who named his pug Emma in honor of the heroine of that novel. Boys who understand and enjoy Austen are winners in my book.
@TenguPhule: Kavanaugh pimps for John Roberts, well that explains a lot. Morally depraved from the top to the bottom.
@Mandalay: I completely disagree. Replacing Kennedy was always going to be about Roe and that is the fight we are having right now. And everyone knows it. This is the culmination of the fight that’s been going on since 1973 and Roe is THE issue right here right now.
@Immanentize:
That should be, “early 1800s” (Austen died in 1817), but very perceptive. Cool kid.
@Immanentize: The jury is still out for me on that. If there is an afterlife, I’d say the so-called christianists and evangelicals are in for a heap of trouble.
@Aleta:
It’s shorter to just say “lying”.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Now we watch all the girls he messed around with come out of the woodwork.
@patroclus:
11 Democrats voted for Thomas.
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The word I like the most in what he said was “shockingly.”
@Mary G:
Obviously an overused pickup line of his.
My only reason for optimism is that a lot of these senators have wives – at least some of those women are surely connected enough to reality to help them see that a yes vote would look very bad.
@Mary G: Wow. He is just trying to brazen his way through this.
@WaterGirl:
Wealth closes all eyes and silences all mouths.
@TenguPhule:
Kind of wondering why David Fahrenthold hasn’t been all over Kavanaugh’s sketchy finances. It’s his kind of story.
@patroclus:
Roe v Wade is the big, public issue, but it’s not the one the Republicans’ billionaire backers care about. They care about all the rulings that are capable of undermining everything going back to the New Deal and returning us to Lockner-era jurisprudence. Roe is just the shiny object they use to get the rubes to go along.
@Mary G: Evangelical’s doublespeak about sex has been coming up for a while ; that’s why all the ass sex and hummers – to protect his virginity because only vaginal intercourse is sex in their world, like only sluts who enjoy sex get pregnant from rape in their dumb minds, and I am not being snarky.
@Mary G:
Oh how I wish she would show up Thursday, take the oath, and respond to the Chair’s first question with “Well, Chuck…”
@TenguPhule: That is true. Depressing but true.
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Sounds serious, we should send her our “thoughts and prayers.”
@Cheryl Rofer: She is very concerned but sees no reason not to vote yes, I’m sure.
@WaterGirl: I don’t think of them as wives so much as collaboratrices who understand that maintaining the system as is requires their fullthroated support as well as the disdain for the lesser women they developed back in grade school.
@Mary G: My understanding is in some Xian circles, teenaged boys and girls claim virginity when they’ve done “everything but…”
@Immanentize: I’m an English professor and I approve this message! (Pedant says: *early* 1800’s. But still, yay!)
I hope the Immp is doing well with applications. Thing 1 hasn’t written essays and it’s stressing me out!
@Brachiator:
Oops, my bad, he said late 18th century. Which is more accurate. I just reported that wrong
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Now, you be nice! If you look at Collins’s twit pic/avatar, you can see her brows furrowed ever-so-deeply.
@Chetan Murthy:
One of the first things Vladimir Putin did was to stop a show and jail the producer of a comedy show that had puppets made in the images of Russian politicos at the time. Plus, the comedy talk shows like Colbert, Seth Meyer, and later Jimmy Kimmel were the only broadcast television shows telling people like it was for quite awhile. I am not sure any other broadcast station does still. The essence of good comedy is truth, which bleeds through smiles and laughs.
@patroclus:
Roe is the shiny object to distract from all the other damage he’s going to aid-and-abet.
@Mandarama: Immp has drafts at least.
@Immanentize: Aw, we don’t have overlap anymore! Except Michigan. Although I guess that is the point of visiting colleges; they find out what really has the right feel for them. My kid was electrified by places that felt stark and detached to me… I’m such a product of small LAC-world. He’s completely different. I just worry because he’s shooting for the moon and we have to worry about affordability as well! Lots of potential disappointment.
:: breathing into paper bag ::
@SFAW: Roe is the legal embodiment of women’s liberty and the sexual revolution.
@SFAW:
Uh, Roe is more than a “shiny object” to the women of this country. Did you mean that it’s a shiny object for Evangelicals to distract them from the rest of the plutocratic agenda?
@Mandarama: so which ones does he like? Immp is also mostly in the reach plus category
@patroclus:
Which is what makes it such a great shiny object to wave in front of the rubes. But ending Roe is not the big goal of the Republican Party’s ultra-wealthy backers. They want to destroy the regulatory state, for which control of the Supreme Court would be incredibly valuable.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
When I was in high school in Little Rock, AR, back in 1983, 84, the focus on both boys & girls remaining virgins was just coming about. There were plenty of kids who thought backdoor activities didn’t count.
@Mnemosyne:
Not so much to distract them from the plutocratic agenda as much as it is to align them with it. The plutocrats desperately want control over the Supreme Court because it would let them undermine so much of the regulatory and social welfare aspects of the government that have been such a major success since the New Deal. Making Roe such a big deal gets the God botherers to go along with the need for control over the Supreme Court.
@WaterGirl:
He has a large staff of competent people. While there might not be a master contingency plan (note: would not bet on this if I were the a Republican tactician), there are almost certainly other, perhaps informal contingency plans. It would get very messy. The investigation has surely turned up a lot of damaging information that would never see the light of day unless it were leaked. Consider it potential (American) kompromat .
@Mary G:
Excellent piece. (Other pen1s-Americans, read it!)
I did not know about the “16th-century torture device called the brank”. Sigh.
(Been reading this (and related), reasons.)
@Mnemosyne:
No, I meant it’s a high-profile issue that (I think) draws attention/resources/effort away from addressing/attacking all the other fucked-up things that a Justice Kavanaugh will enable. And some of those other issues have the potential for far greater impact than Roe being nullified. For example, I think the nullification of Griswold has the potential to affect/harm far more women and men. But I also realize that I wouldn’t be directly affected by Roe’s loss (nor Griswold’s, for that matter), so it’s difficult for me to determine if my assessment is correct.
@Mandalay:
That’s a more comprehensive way to state exactly what I feel.
@ruemara: I don’t hate Schumer. I’m nit fond of him. He’s a blue dog and Wall Street schill at times but that is the political necessity for most any elected in NY. I’m happy to have him work on the Senate Dems role in the contingency. The article seemed to suggest that he might be, or some electeds, might be part of the protests. Thats probably not part of the plan. However I’d like Schumer at the rear if that’s the case and the other folks I mentioned in the lead. I don’t believe Schumer or other blue dog men would bring much to the protest part of the plan. Give me some Mazies and Kamalas instead!
@gene108: Good dig yes! There are so many awful cases on their way to the court. If K gets dropped and they put the woman from Nitre Dame forward what nightmares happen then? We don’t have a rapist but we still lose Roe, ACA, and maybe immigration and minority rights.
It still feels like the planet about to be destroyed by the Death Star.