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You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Repub Venality Open Thread: Lindsay Graham Is Giving His Voters What They Want

Repub Venality Open Thread: Lindsay Graham Is Giving His Voters What They Want

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It may be a tell, but it ain’t no mystery. Graham’s seat comes up again in 2020, in South “Too small for a republic, too big for an insane asylum” Carolina. You don’t need to postulate Russian kompromat or other mysterious Oval-Office-Occupancy blackmail threats to explain his behavior; Senator Graham knows what his voters want, and he’s prepared to give it to them. THA SAKERD SUTHRUN TRADITIONS may be changing… but the people who donate to Graham’s campaign and who pull the lever by his name in the voting booth are, defiantly, *not*.
 
So he’s going all out on Kavanaugh. Last night, per Rolling Stone:

As America continues to vet the sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, we are handed competing narratives. One thing, however, is clear: Lindsey Graham has jumped the shark. On Monday night, the senator from South Carolina sat down with Sean Hannity to discuss his feverish obsession with forcing Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court, sexual allegations be damned. So laser-focused is Graham that he thinks President Trump should re-nominate Kavanaugh for the position should the Senate vote against him after the FBI concludes its investigation at the end of this week.

“I would appeal the verdict of the Senate to the ballot box,” Graham said. “This good man should not be destroyed. If you legitimize this process by one vote short, woe be unto the next person. I’d hate to be the next person nominated. I would feel horrible that we destroyed Kavanaugh. I’d renominate him and I’d take this case to the American people. I’d ask voters in Indiana and Missouri and North Dakota and other places where Trump won, saying who he would nominate if he got to be president, and see if the voters would want to appeal the verdict of their senator.”…

That wasn’t all. Graham also veered into “enemy of the people” territory by pointing a finger at NBC, whom he accused of working with the Democrats to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination. “They’ve been a co-conspirator in the destruction of Kavanaugh from my point of view,” he said, going on to suggest they wouldn’t report on sexual assault allegations if they were made against a Democrat…

Emma Dumain, at McClatchey, “Graham’s defense of Kavanaugh has conservatives applauding. How long will that last?”

…[D]uring a speech that could become his campaign ad two years from now, the South Carolina Republican on Thursday delivered a scathing takedown of Democrats and full-throated defense of Brett Kavanaugh, the nominee to be a Supreme Court Justice accused of sexual assault.

By Friday morning, Graham had cemented himself as the most public face of the Republican Senate’s support for the embattled federal judge — a role that has endeared him so greatly to the conservatives he needs to fend off primary challengers.

But Graham knows how such love is fleeting: Conservatives could turn on him at any moment…

Every six years, he finds himself at risk of being ousted in a Republican primary election by someone claiming to be farther to the right.

And every time, Graham is able to survive. In 2014, Graham won his Republican primary with 56 percent. His chances of holding on, however, become more and more tenuous with each gesture he makes towards Democrats…

Voters are unlikely to shoot him down for his court views this time. During his fiery speech on Thursday, Graham accused Democrats of playing politics with the Kavanaugh nomination.

“Boy, do you want power,” he yelled, his voice shaking. “God, I hope you never get it.”

Graham’s take-down of colleagues on the other side of the aisle might have been an encouraging sign to many GOP voters who want a true, partisan hardliner representing them in Washington…

Reader Interactions

275Comments

  3. 3.

    Baud

    he thinks President Trump should re-nominate Kavanaugh for the position should the Senate vote against him after the FBI concludes its investigation at the end of this week.

    I agree.

  4. 4.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Yeah. Like Kavanaugh is gonna age well in a week or two.

    I hope we can stop Trump from nominating any more justices. None. He is a crook, as the FTF NYTimes has proved this afternoon. No appointing anyone to benefit himself and his family, legally.

  6. 6.

    piratedan

    makes me think that the Russian Dark Money paid off Kavanaugh’s debt and bought his new palatial estate because of how his pro-offered opinions on how to handle Presidential “ethics” unfold and the idea that states cannot pursue legal recourse once federal pardons have been issued. Mitchie and the boys could all then get their get of free cards once treason charges are handed out by the Mueller investigation….

  7. 7.

    AThornton

    All kinds of reports white suburban women are switching to Dem.

    Which may explain the sudden panic on the part of the GOP for the Tennessee seat.

  8. 8.

    RedDirtGirl

    It does feel a little bit like “the other side” is starting to bump up against life outside the echo chamber…

    In little ways,
    and I imagine it’s only gonna get worse,
    and then MAYBE change for the better,
    or maybe all just go up in flames.

  9. 9.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    So do the same thing back? Sounds more like a preschool playground than the Senate ought to. How about instead we pressure Trump to nominate Garland?

  10. 10.

    Baud

    @RedDirtGirl: It has to get worse. The GOP only has two tricks left. The first is to rev up their base with hate like they did in 2016. The other is to let Dems control everything and then join the pile on from the usual suspects. Option 2 isn’t available to them until 2021.

  14. 14.

    donnah

    It’s the Upside Down. Republicans run the show and we have to stand by and watch. It’s infuriating and it’s frustrating, but I’m hoping that after the Midterms and Mueller’s report, the Upside Down gets tossed and sanity returns. Please!

  17. 17.

    TenguPhule

    @eemom:

    Graham is such a disgusting lying hypocritical sack of shit.

    The Guild of Hypocritical Sacks of Shit are on line two with a defamation suit pending.

  18. 18.

    Mary G

    Politico has another Lindsey Graham rah-rah piece that says pretty much the same thing. Written by lobbyist also from South Carolina:

    Combine what Graham sees as a breach of institutional norms with a personal betrayal and for him it’s explosive—the political equivalent of mixing sodium with water (or worse, putting mayonnaise on barbeque). It may have other political benefits, but based on my over 20 years listening to and following Lindsey Graham, it is fundamentally a compromise of honor both personally and institutionally that, as he says, really pissed him off. In this case, “bless your heart” was not going to cut it.

    I continue to doubt all this, still thinking he blew up because the prosecutor lady was coming too close for comfort to the July 1 calendar entry, but who knows?

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    @piratedan: It was dark money, but not necessarily Russian. Rather it was the dark money that funds Leonard Leo’s various operations and organizations, as well as his personal life. This includes the Federalist Society, the Judicial Crisis Network, his own consultancy, and a variety of his other endeavors. Give this a read, from my old friend (we went to elementary and middle school together) and excellent investigative journalist Jay Michaelson.
    https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-secrets-of-leonard-leo-the-man-behind-trumps-supreme-court-pick

  20. 20.

    TenguPhule

    @piratedan:

    Mitchie and the boys could all then get their get of free cards once treason charges are handed out by the Mueller investigation

    And all of them mysteriously wind up committing suicide by stabbing themselves in the back and zipping themselves up into those sport duffle bags.

  22. 22.

    hueyplong

    And if Kavanaugh fails on that second nomination, GOPers must try a third time. This is the precise hill they need to die on, with Kavanaugh as their very best leading man.

    I have two words for the Democratic majority: Extreme vetting.

  23. 23.

    TenguPhule

    @Mary G:

    What Graham sees as a breach of institutional norms

    That Graham did not immediately burst into blame is proof that there is no just loving god.

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    @Mary G: Even Wittes talks about the significance of the July 1 date on Kavanaugh’s calendar.

    I am not the biggest fan of Benjamin Wittes — the understatement of all understatements — but I commend him for writing his most recent article and taking a stand. I think that could help give cover to the more cowardly senators.

  25. 25.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    The GOP only has two tricks left.

    No. They have lots of tricks left. Do they have the fanatical manpower to attempt some of the worse ones? Hard to say.

  26. 26.

    Mary G

    @Adam L Silverman: Does the Federalist website also belong to them, or do they just have the name in common? I always see people asking the editor where he gets his money, implying that it’s Russia.

  27. 27.

    Ladyraxterinok

    FBI not talking to Dr Ford? Or to possible witnesses other than Judge? Investigation to be completed on Wednesday? Only T and senators to see results? How will ‘we the people’know who and what was actually investigated?

    The claims of so many Yale people that the FBI won’t talk to them. One claims a field office said they didn’t deal with that, another that an office claimed to have no knowledge of what the potential witness was talking about.
    It sure sounds like the fix is in.

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mary G:

    it is fundamentally a compromise of honor both personally and institutionally that, as he says, really pissed him off.

    Merrick fucking Garland.

  29. 29.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: Wittes is a conservative, but he’s not a Federalist Society type. He, like all of us, has his personal and professional blind spots. And as a non-lawyer who is a legal/judicial scholar, he’s spent a lot of time interacting with these folks and developing friendships with them.

  32. 32.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: amen, dig in on Kavanaugh. Don’t give Hardimann or Coney Barrett a shot

    I remember when Lindsey was an impeachment manager, and he ramped up his Southern accent and played the regretful warrior, duty-bound to perform that unpleasant task. What a fucking phony.

  34. 34.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mary G: As far as I know, they’re not related. One of the major issue with The Federalist site is that they don’t disclose who funds them. So it could be the usual suspects like the Kochs or the Mercers or it could by the Saudi or Emirati sovereign wealth fund or the People’s Republic of China or Putin. Or the Girl Scouts.

  35. 35.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    After we scare the shit out of him in November, we then invite him to the Senate to participate in a discussion about restoring the Supreme Court to its position of eminence.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: Literally Republican PR

    Bruce Haynes is vice chairman of public affairs for Sard Verbinnen & Co., a global public relations firm. A native of South Carolina, Haynes was chief of staff to former U.S. Represenative Bob Inglis (R-SC), and former staff counsel to former Governor Carroll Campbell.

    Vande Hei may be gone from Politico, but his stench lives on.

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ladyraxterinok: That’s a single report in The NY Times sourced to Mitch McConnell and unnamed Republican senators as sources. It may be accurate. But it may also be McConnell trying to use Information Ops to set the conditions to knuckle Flake.

    Do I believe that there are still constraints on the FBI in terms of the scope of the investigation? Yes, which is why the FBI is leaking about this like a sieve to try to change the dynamic.

    If McConnell had the votes, he’d call the vote. Until he does, everything else is noise.

  39. 39.

    Mary G

    @Adam L Silverman: Any thoughts on the disappearance of WaPo writer and Saudi critic, Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared after last being seen going to the Saudi embassy in Ankara?

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    @piratedan: If I was advising the Democrats in the House and the Senate, the first thing I’m advising the members on each chambers Judiciary Committee is that despite the sturm and drang it will cause, the Federalist Society, the Judicial Crisis Network, Leonard Leo, and Leonard Leo’s other activities all need a good dose of committee investigatory sunlight as a disinfectant. Drag Leo and his operations and his funding into the sunlight and see how appealing and palatable he, them, and it are to the American people.

  41. 41.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Remind him he no longer has the votes and that he’ll look like a loser if he doesn’t compromise. That compromising is the only way for him to win from now on.

  42. 42.

    Honus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: fuck Lindsay and his southern accent. I’ve lived in Virginia 45 years and whenever I hear a southern accent talking about honor and integrity and tradition they’re invariably justifying fucking over black people.

  44. 44.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman:

    If McConnell had the votes, he’d call the vote. Until he does, everything else is noise.

    Matthew Daly @ MatthewDalyWDC
    Murkowski appears in no hurry even as McConnell pledges to move forward with Kavanaugh vote this week. ‘He talked about a vote last week, too,’ she told AP. Collins, riding with Murkowski on the Senate subway, smiled and told Murkowski, ‘Good answer.’

    You think Murkowski remembers when she lost a primary to a Tea Bagger and the Turtle pretty much abandoned her? I think she does. Not that I have any fantasies that she’ll flip. She’s a conservative from a conservative family in a conservative state, but it’s fun to watch her tell the Turtle to go pound sand for a couple days.

  45. 45.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Drag Leo and his operations and his funding into the sunlight and see how appealing and palatable he, them, and it are to the American people.

    These would be the same people who think Trump is a swell guy doing a great job.

    Gonna need something a bit stronger then plain old ozone filtered sunlight.

  46. 46.

    TenguPhule

    @debbie:

    Remind him he no longer has the votes and that he’ll look like a loser if he doesn’t compromise.

    Trump doesn’t do deals with Democrats unless he expects to cheat them at it.

  48. 48.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman: IANAL but it seems to me that doofus with the CSI: Zillow case gives them a hook, and they can bring in McGahn and that other guy, Burck?, who seems to be up to his jowls in this

  49. 49.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    So it could be the usual suspects like the Kochs or the Mercers or it could by the Saudi or Emirati sovereign wealth fund or the People’s Republic of China or Putin. Or the Girl Scouts.

    Girls Scouts wouldn’t allow that kind of incompetence. They have strict standards.

  51. 51.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman: What about this?

    Trump’s ambassador to NATO sets off diplomatic incident with a nuclear edge

    Asked during a news conference at NATO headquarters what the United States might do about a new class of Russian missiles that appear to violate the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Hutchison said, “The countermeasures would be to take out the missiles that are in development by Russia in violation of the treaty.”

    The woman only clarified her remarks nine hours later.

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: My understanding is she’s a no vote because her Native Alaskan constituency is opposed and they put her over the top as a write in to retain her seat after she lost the primary. Flake is right now giving her cover, as well as Collins.

    McConnell’s gambit here is that he can humiliate Flake, pressure Flake, embarrass Flake and that Flake will look crestfallen and give a sad, mournful speech on the Senate floor and then vote the party line. Based on Flake’s past performance, that would be a good bet. However, given how Flake has been behaving this week, I’m not sure it is as good a bet as McConnell thinks it is.

    Finally, no matter what happens in regard to the FBI investigation and its scope, journalists are now on this story and they’re not going to let it go. Kavanaugh may well be voted on to the Supreme Court because McConnell has the barest majority to make it happen. But that won’t make the investigations go away. Kavanaugh’s life as he knows it is over.

  54. 54.

    James E Powell

    Emma Dumain, at McClatchey is doing a lot of work for Graham by calling it a scathing takedown of Democrats. First of all, it was really and unhinged paranoid hateful tirade. Recall that the entire press/media world felt that Howard Dean’s shout to his supporters showed a man too crazy to be president. But this now is a sign of some strength or virtue? Second, I’m not aware of any Democrats who were taken down nor any who are backing down.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Not caving means no deal. Trump needs to make deals like sharks need to swim to breathe. Stand strong and wait for him to cave. If he won’t, we at least know the SC can function with eight judges. The last option should be to “Garland” his next choice. You couldn’t do a better job of justifying their cries of “Both Sides!” Far better to Resist.

  58. 58.

    TenguPhule

    Project JEDI. No, this is not the Onion.

    At the center of it all is the Pentagon’s newly appointed Chief Information Officer, Dana Deasy, a polished and soft-spoken executive who left a retirement filled with hiking with his wife in North Carolina to plunge into one of the most controversial and highly-charged Pentagon procurements in years. In his role, he works directly with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and top Pentagon officials, who he said are following the process closely.

    In his most extensive comments to date on the cloud contract, which could be worth as much as $10 billion over a decade, Deasy laid out his strategy for what’s known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) program, and told The Washington Post during an interview at the Pentagon, “I’m here for a very specific purpose. I want to help the Defense Department put the best long-term technology in place.”

    Deasy does not have a military background and was most recently the global chief information officer at JP Morgan Chase. Even though there is tumult and contractor warfare swirling all around him, Deasy said his philosophy is to “keep pushing ahead. We are going to build the right cloud environment. I tell the team every day, ‘Just focus on that.’” He reiterated that the department is running a fair and open competition, with no favorites. An award is expected next year.

    I predict like so many other things, this will not end well at all.

  63. 63.

    Martin

    @TenguPhule: I would hope Schumer would tell Trump that the Senate will consider any nominees Trump wants once they hold a hearing for Merrick Garland for that seat. Trump can either nominate Garland, or the supreme court will have 8 or fewer seats until 2021.

  64. 64.

    TenguPhule

    @debbie:

    Trump needs to make deals like sharks need to swim to breathe.

    No.

    Trump needs headlines of himself “winning” and will lie brazenly about everything to get there. Remember, every “deal” he makes must give him something and take something from someone else. That’s his whole life philosophy in a nutshell.

  67. 67.

    TenguPhule

    @Martin: Requires a spine that Schumer hasn’t shown. He’s a creature of laws and regulations, not the best choice to confront a rulebreaker and law ignorer.

  68. 68.

    Ruhroh

    This twitter thread is remarkable — another friend of ol’ Bart talking about spiking drinks and being a “transporter” for the local Klan:

    This is Donald Joseph Urgo. He went to Georgetown Prep with Brett Kavanaugh.Brett Kavanaugh was accused of spiking punch with Quaaludes and Bacardi 151 to take sexual advantage of women.Urgo lists in his yearbook “Killer Qs and 151.”The FBI has been told not to investigate. pic.twitter.com/FhEuU5eoxP— Alt. U.S. Press Sec. (@AltUSPressSec) October 1, 2018

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    @Major Major Major Major: I think you are going to look even better and smarter in your new glasses than Governor whatzisname outta Texas with the smart goggles.

    Now Rick Perry is someone we NEVER hear about, and he’s still in the cabinet, right? (Or is he??) Who saw that coming? (I know. It’s because so many other Cabinet members are more whack and more in the public eye …)

  74. 74.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    oh for fuck’s sake, Hayes, nobody wants to hear from fucking Wilmer. Have him over for dinner if you feel the need to fawn over the old fool

  75. 75.

    Martin

    @TenguPhule: Rulebreaking requires support from the caucus. But yeah, I don’t generally disagree with you. That’s a kind of hardball that Democrats in general aren’t comfortable with.

    That said, I expect the Dems to constantly point out that Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator and should be disqualified from even making an appointment to the court. Garland got praise from GOP members of the Judiciary committee. I think there’s a political argument they can make there.

  76. 76.

    Baud

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I was just thinking he had been very quiet about Kavanaugh. When is he going to make McConnell look out the window.

    I wonder if Hayes thinks Wilmer and Michael Moore represent where he will be in 30 years.

  84. 84.

    B.B.A.

    @TenguPhule: Schumer suggested today that a Democratic majority would bring back the 60-vote rule for SC nominations…

    This is why I say never send a man to do a woman’s job.

  87. 87.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @B.B.A.: A sixty vote rule– in a still very hypothetical and very slim majority caucus– allows Dems to block nominations without forcing Doug Jones(2020) and people like Claire McCaskill, who I believe is very sincere if wrong in her Blue Doggishness, to take part.

  88. 88.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: That’s what I thought, but then this sentence made no sense to me:

    “When is he going to make McConnell look out the window.” Why / how could Sanders get McConnel to do anything? Sorry If I am slow on the uptake tonight.

  92. 92.

    Baud

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s a reference to the 2016 primary.

    In other words if I’m sitting in a room with Mitch McConnell and I say, you know Mitch, I think it’s important that public colleges and universities be free and we’re going to lower interest rates on student debt and we’re going to pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. Well, I kind of know what Mitch McConnell is going to say. He doesn’t think it’s a great idea.

    But if I say Mitch, take a look out the window there are a million young people who are marching, who know what’s going on, who support this legislation, who are not going to vote Republican unless you do the right thing and don’t burden them for half their lives with this outrageous [debt] then Mitch’s thinking changes on that issue. We have to change the dynamic of American politics.

    http://time.com/4188073/bernie-sanders-winning-white-house/

  96. 96.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Instead of stonewalling Trump’s nomination, we would be proposing a compromise (Garland). I don’t see those as the same thing, but okay.

  97. 97.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    It’s a large part of why we are where we are today.

    Don’t forget not making sure Nixon’s operatives died in prison. We could have avoided many disasters had they never gotten into Reagan and Bush.

  99. 99.

    TenguPhule

    @debbie:

    Instead of stonewalling Trump’s nomination, we would be proposing a compromise (Garland).

    Seeing as everything Trump touches, dies. I see no reason to risk him infecting the Democrats.

  100. 100.

    B.B.A.

    @Major Major Major Major: I don’t know that if we go to 60, two years later there will be 50 votes to go back to 50. All the crap with getting Conrad and Lieberman and Nelson on board during the ACA process is coming back to me.

  106. 106.

    Adam L Silverman

    Also, McConnell can’t control this:

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman: he’s in Ohio, right? I hope Kasich gets his righteous on

    and before anyone feels the need to tell me, I know. I’ve had my eye on Kasich since he was the first version of Paul Ryan, but too arrogant and prickly to play Eddie Haskell for the Sunday shows. But he’s a self-righteous bantam with a chip on his shoulder and he hates trump.

  110. 110.

    Jeffro

    @hueyplong:

    if Kavanaugh fails on that second nomination, GOPers must try a third time. This is the precise hill they need to die on, with Kavanaugh as their very best leading man.

    I have two words for the Democratic majority: Extreme vetting.

    I have two myself: Merrick. Garland.

    I have two more: Court. Packing.

  112. 112.

    eemom

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Wittes is a conservative, but he’s not a Federalist Society type. He, like all of us, has his personal and professional blind spots. And as a non-lawyer who is a legal/judicial scholar, he’s spent a lot of time interacting with these folks and developing friendships with them.

    Interesting series of non sequiturs.

    He strikes me as, at the very best, a long winded Beltway concern troll….including in his pious hand wringing drek today.

    @WaterGirl:

    I think that could help give cover to the more cowardly senators.

    If it accomplishes that, great. I kind of doubt it, though.

  113. 113.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    I don’t play alternative history.

    When the usual suspects keep popping up in every major government failure of the last 38 years, its a pattern.

  115. 115.

    Mnemosyne

    Ugh. I’m starting to suspect that this cold may actually be the flu. I tried to go back to work today and ended up having to go home early because by mid-afternoon even pseudoephedrine was not helping my urge to curl up under my desk and take a nap. ?

  116. 116.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Trump is now mocking and imitating Christine Blasey Ford: “I don’t know. I don’t know. Upstairs, downstairs, I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

    Is this his “Where the WMD at?” moment?

  118. 118.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman:

    If I was advising the Democrats in the House and the Senate, the first thing I’m advising the members on each chambers Judiciary Committee is that despite the sturm and drang it will cause, the Federalist Society, the Judicial Crisis Network, Leonard Leo, and Leonard Leo’s other activities all need a good dose of committee investigatory sunlight as a disinfectant. Drag Leo and his operations and his funding into the sunlight and see how appealing and palatable he, them, and it are to the American people.

    Yes x a million or more

    Sunlight Dems, you have your orders!

    Letting these roaches run around in the dark just breeds more and bigger roaches.

  123. 123.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman: you mean a 2020 primary? Who knows. But with barely a month until mid-terms, a trump-aimed tantrum from Kasich could be mighty useful. But I’ll defer to Kay and other Buckeyes.

  126. 126.

    Jeffro

    @Randalms:

    67 votes to remove a justice. 50 plus one to seatt one. Come 2020 eleven is the new nine. [email protected]&k the norms and save the country

    Ay-effing-men. 51 votes on everything, including increasing SCOTUS to, oh, 15 justices. Just to be sure.

  127. 127.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: I do not know. The question is whether Flake folds, which has been his normal SOP, stands fast, or just shatters under the pressure. McConnell and the President are counting on the former. But the more things like this that are done, or like the just published NY Times article with a hand written letter from Kavanaugh to his buddies where he signed it with Bart, which is reported with confirmation by one of his buddies as his nickname from when a teacher had mispronounced Brett, the more pressure there is on Flake.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/us/brett-kavanaugh-georgetown-prep.html

    Judge Kavanaugh — nicknamed “Bart” after a Georgetown Prep teacher garbled “Brett”…

  129. 129.

    Adam L Silverman

    @JPL: It is who they are. It is who they have always been. And they will do anything and support anyone to be allowed to carry on as they always have.

  130. 130.

    TenguPhule

    John Clune, an attorney for Ramirez, said Tuesday on Twitter that his client spoke with the FBI for more than two hours Sunday in a “detailed and productive interview.” The agents “were clearly motivated to investigate the matter in any way they were permitted,” he added. But he asserted that Ramirez had provided the names and contact information of more than 20 witnesses who might be able to corroborate her allegation that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party when they were at Yale, and that, as far as Clune knew, the FBI had not contacted any of them as of Tuesday.

    “Though we appreciated the agents who responded on Sunday, we have great concern that the FBI is not conducting — or not being permitted to conduct — a serious investigation,” he said.

    Attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who said she was assaulted by Kavanaugh when they were teens and who testified to the Senate last week, wrote FBI Director Christopher A. Wray on Tuesday to say they were concerned the FBI had not sought an interview with her.

    “It is inconceivable that the FBI could conduct a thorough investigation of Dr. Ford’s allegations without interviewing her, Judge Kavanaugh, or the witnesses we have identified in our letters to you,” the lawyers wrote, demanding an immediate answer to what they said were days of silence from the FBI.

    This is perfectly Normal. Normal. Normal. //

  132. 132.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Adam L Silverman: I kind of doubt this even hurts them at this point–it may even help. Anyone still supporting the Republicans is not going to be repelled by Trump insulting rape victims; they probably think it’s cool. Their opposition can hardly get any more outraged or riled up, but Republicans could be more energized than they are. Throwing them some douchey red meat to turn up the heat some more might work.

  135. 135.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    You do realize that I’m not actually advising the Democrats, right?

    You need a well paying job. Democrats need to fire all their current political advisers and consultants. Its a win win.

  136. 136.

    Barbara

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think there are at least six senators who do not want to vote on Kavanaugh at all and that right now there is a game of chicken between them and McConnell. It is why Kavanaugh made a point of saying he is not going to withdraw, but really if more bad stuff comes out I wager that McConnell will blink. I don’t know how it ends but I don’t think McConnell is playing from a position of strength.

  137. 137.

    Mnemosyne

    @JPL:

    Sadly, yes. The right wing propagandists tell lies about Christine Blasey Ford and their followers repeat them until they convince themselves that she is a lying liar who lies and Kavanaugh’s drunken histrionics just prove how sad he is to be falsely accused. ?

  138. 138.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    huh, Rupert not airing the Sixty Minute Hate

    Laura Rozen @ lrozen
    no one covering it, not even fox

  140. 140.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Kasich (and/or Flake, and/or ?) can try all they want, but odds are that after the midterms, Trumpov continues to limp along his own mad self, possibly to the 2020 nom, possibly not, but almost certainly causing the much-delayed GOP civil war along the way.

    My bet is that he is not the Republican nominee in 2020, personally. He’ll do whatever it takes to try and salvage his “fortune”, since it’s all that really matters to him. But Kasich, Flake, and the other “moderates” can’t hold a candle to whomever will be waiting in the wings (Cotton, Ernst, Trump Jr) to harness that white resentment one more time.

  141. 141.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I recorded Murphy Brown, but I had extremely low expectations, figuring I would likely watch that one episode and then cancel the season pass. It was way better than I expected and I did enjoy Hillary’s cameo. If outward appearances mean anything, she seems to have come to terms with it way better than I have!

  142. 142.

    danielx

    Kavanaugh does seem to be bring out teh crazy in all kinds of ways; he has become a hero to the ‘incel’ people. I can’t really call that group a community or movement, since their common thread seems to be that they are too repulsive to get laid and IT IS SOCIETY’S FAULT.

  146. 146.

    WaterGirl

    @Adam L Silverman: Un-fucking-believable. Except that it’s not. Oh my god, he is openly mocking a very credible woman accusing a very prominent man of sexual assault; he thinks it’s funny. Just like the reporter who never things. My god, this man truly disrespects and hates women. All day, every day.

  147. 147.

    TenguPhule

    Does Kavanaugh get staggeringly drunk nowadays? Doubt it. Does he get aggressive and belligerent now? He was certainly rather animated last week, but wouldn’t you be, too, if your character were suddenly scrutinized for hours in a public forum?

    I’ve interviewed more than a dozen women who have known and worked with Kavanaugh in the grown-up world. Without exception, they love and admire him as a gentleman — compassionate, thoughtful and honest. Speaking of which, by what distortion of virtue does a man such as Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who lied about serving in Vietnam, get to challenge another’s honesty?

    I’ve written this before — in a book prematurely titled “Save the Males” — but hating men, and specifically old, white men (OWM), is both trite and counterintuitive. The justification seems connected to some sort of retributive justice combined with concerns that OWM want to restore the 1950s. (I would support this only if it meant continuous reruns of “Queen for a Day.”) Meanwhile, they conveniently forget that OWM created the Constitution, the three branches of government, and the ideas of due process and the rule of law.

    Americans shouldn’t suffer from the delusion that the attempted ruin of Kavanaugh, his career and family has solely to do with Christine Blasey Ford. And the fact that she sincerely believes what she remembers does not without evidence diminish Kavanaugh’s sincere denial of wrongdoing.

    Kathleen Parker decides she’ll go all in on supporting RapeyMcRapeface.

    The attempted ruin of Kavanaugh is about more than Ford’s allegations

    “he is the real victim here! how dare the democrats try to destroy this man among men!”

    I have to wonder what dirt Trump has on her.

  148. 148.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Matt McIrvin: Of course those people are lost. They aren’t who we are looking to persuade. We want the people who couldn’t be bothered, the people who didn’t thinking voting made a difference. We need to show them that it does. Talking about reclaiming Trump rally people is a red herring.

  151. 151.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: “A man’s life is in tatters. A man’s life is shattered.” – DJT

    Yes…he has been treated…well, wouldn’t you almost have to say unfairly, Donald?? That’s probably the best word to describe it, isn’t it?

    It’s not even textbook-worthy, it’s so obvious, this guy.

  153. 153.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: @Jeffro: I was providing informal nat-sec advising for someone running for a Democratic senate nomination. That candidate did not win their primary. I had disclosed this to Cole at the time and told him if this candidate had won the nomination, and as a result the relationship was firmed up, that provided I wasn’t asked to sign an NDA, I would disclose it. If I was asked to sign an NDA I would simply not write about that candidate on the front page or comment about that candidate in the comments.

  155. 155.

    hueyplong

    Looking again at the thread title (Lindsay Graham Is Giving His Voters What They Want) calls to mind the fact that, once upon a time, hard core southerners were wont to say they didn’t care for rapey Yankees.

    Even a-hole Confederates are worse now. There is no floor.

  159. 159.

    Jeffro

    @TenguPhule: I doubt anyone has (or at least, is using) any dirt on her…this is just her responsive “I know this guy and have met him and hung out with him multiple times and he’s got a great wife and kids and this is just too terrible for me to think about so I’m JUST GOING TO BLOT IT OUT AND TRY TO MAKE IT GO AWAY!!!”

    Kathleen, one of them is lying: who? Make a decision. Don’t blame the Democrats, don’t blame Hillary, don’t get silly – you saw Dr. Ford get up there in front of a worldwide audience and describe her sexual assault at the hands of Brett Kavanaugh. BK denied it. One of them is lying: who?

  160. 160.

    Mary G

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Ratings must be down. He says pretty much the same lines every time, as evidenced by Daniel Dale’s tweets. Throw in one current thing, like Dr. Blasey Ford and the rest is all the Electoral College, Lock Her Up, The Economy is the Best Evah,” yada yada yada.

  164. 164.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Daniel Dale is taking the night off, but…

    Brian Tashman @ briantashman
    36m36 minutes ago
    Trump’s now complaining about how the media covered his inauguration’s crowd size!

    39m39 minutes ago
    Trump is now talking about ………… Roseanne

  168. 168.

    WaterGirl

    @eemom: I am thinking back to canvassing for Barack Obama in the final weeks before the Iowa caucus in the first week of January.

    You might be surprised by how big an impact Andrew Sullivan’s big article in support of Barack Obama had. People who were squishy – maybe they liked Barack but it seemed like a bridge too far…. it wasn’t once Andrew Sullivan came out for Barack. Hoping that happens here, too.

  174. 174.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Baud: It had a few good moments (my favorite being a moment when the young social media guy and Miles disagree completely on whether it’s good or bad to feed a troll), but I’m afraid it’s not aimed at the young demographic sponsors love.

  176. 176.

    B.B.A.

    @Adam L Silverman: For the past few days, my default thought pattern has been BURN IT ALL DOWN KILL KILL KILL KILL

    and just when I think maybe I’m overreacting a little, this happens.

  190. 190.

    frosty

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Kavanaugh’s life as he knows it is over.

    This is as good a definition of “Everything Trump touches turns to shit” as any. Manafort, Cohen, Flynn, Gates, etc. etc. They had a nice little grifting life and Trump fucked it all up by turning the spotlight on them.

  192. 192.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I do think they’re going to manage to force it through and put him on the court, with Pence casting the tie vote.

    But I also think that the genie is out of the bottle now and more recent accusations are going to start bubbling up. People like Kathleen Parker are doing desperate damage control to prevent that from happening, but once the dam breaks, there’s no holding back the water.

    At this point, my wish is that the SC goes back down to 8 justices because Kavanaugh ends up serving a prison term and the Republicans still refuse to vote to impeach him.

  194. 194.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Adam L Silverman: Um, Adam, it doesn’t matter, since they’re all playing on the same team: The Global Oligarchy Putsch. Loot the rich countries’ treasuries & taxpayers & move capital out at the speed of light while the proles are trapped within their borders with no one to blame but Those Others

    Srsly, it all makes sense once you realize that to the Kochroaches & Mercers & Adelsons, Vlad the Paler is just one of them, doin’ de Lawd’s work by wrecking those eebil gummints that might be able to stand up to them. By the time they realize that a bazillionaire with nuclear weapons, nerve gas & assassination squads is a qualitatively different sort of oligarch, it’ll be too fucking late for them. Or us, probably…

  196. 196.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I believed in Barack and fervently believed it was my job to get him past Iowa so others would believe, too.

    Whatever works, even if it was Andrew Sullivan.

  197. 197.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Please don’t give in to that. People have been in worse positions and fought on. You and I are reasonably privileged white people. People like lamh and rikyrah aren’t throwing in the towel. Why should we?

  199. 199.

    WaterGirl

    @Adam L Silverman: I seldom actually watch him, except for on the late night shows.

    I thought that was a throwaway, off-the-cuff line. But no, he was revving up the crowd with it, and he went on and on.

  200. 200.

    TenguPhule

    @debbie:

    Engaging in the same crap gets us nowhere.

    Sometimes the only way to fight a dumpster fire is to use an even bigger fire to smother it.

    The time to go high is over. Low it is. To the knife, if it comes to that.

  201. 201.

    JWL

    If Graham did give the people of South Carolina what they wanted to see, then South Carolinians wanted to see a Vivian Leigh impersonator throw an hysterical public snit as he spit incoherent gibberish and invective…

  203. 203.

    TS (the original)

    @Elizabelle:

    He is a crook

    And he scammed the American, media, the GOP and the American people more than any Nigerian scammer could have dreamed about

  209. 209.

    Mike in DC

    If they lose the Senate I hope Trump blames Mitch for it. I also hope we find a Beto-type candidate for KY in 2020.

  210. 210.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    from Rachel Maddow : New York State tax authorities reviewing NYT story.

    Maybe trump’s brother and sisters will flip.

  211. 211.

    WaterGirl

    Goodnight, all. My laptop is at 5% battery; time for me to close the laptop for the night.

  213. 213.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MagdaInBlack: That was payback to Avenatti, he doubled down this afternoon with another accuser.

  214. 214.

    TenguPhule

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    People have been in worse positions and fought on.

    For the record, few of those had happy endings for those in the crosshairs.

    Those of us lower on the pigment chart have BEEN HERE before. And its not comforting to be told “well we survived it last time”. Because those of us who are not white are thinking “What is this ‘we’ thing, Kimosabe?”.

  215. 215.

    Martin

    @MagdaInBlack: Just to try and set a different perspective on that. Most women that are raped by men enjoy having sex with men. That doesn’t mean any of them enjoy being raped. Some women surely enjoy having sex with multiple men. That doesn’t mean any of them enjoy being raped by multiple men.

    Swetnicks sexual preferences are irrelevant. Hatch wants people to defend his accusation against her. It doesn’t matter. Don’t let him set the rules here.

  220. 220.

    Martin

    @MagdaInBlack: Fair. I don’t know anything about you. But so far every take I’ve seen on that story elsewhere was focused on litigating her sexuality – including her defenders. It’s driving me crazy.

  221. 221.

    Mike in DC

    @Adam L Silverman: Hope his vetting has improved. Swetnick changed details of her story, and her 4 corroborating witnesses to this point were either dead(1), didn’t remember her(1) or could not be reached(2).

  222. 222.

    Adam L Silverman

    I don’t think the FBI is going to be done tomorrow…

  230. 230.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Adam L Silverman: They only interviewed the initial 4? Not the other witnesses named? Not the people disputing Kavanaugh’s descriptions of his behavior? Not the character witnesses or other accusers?

    Yeah, the fix was definitely in.

  237. 237.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Alaska Public Media reporter

    Liz Ruskin @ lruskin
    Sen. @lisamurkowski says the volume of calls from Alaskans on Kavanaugh is unprecedented. Deluge is larger than before the health care vote. “All the voicemail boxes are are literally filled within the first hour,” she says.

  241. 241.

    Mnemosyne

    @RedDirtGirl:

    I’m on the Let America Vote email list and he said that he’s been struggling with suicidal ideation as a result of the PTSD and needs to step away so he can get treatment. I’m sad for him, but I hope his treatment is successful and he’s able to come back to the fight. He’s a good egg.

  242. 242.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Susan Hennessey @ Susan_Hennessey
    One of the pivotal and defining moments of 2016. McConnell really hasn’t gotten his due as a central villain in the Russia plot to undermine the US election, but I’d guess history books will correct that over the long term.

    Seems like just yesterday, though I think it was five years ago, all the great minds of the Beltway told me that gridlock in Washington was due to the fact that Barack Obama refused to have Mitch McConnell to the White House living quarters for a drink.

  244. 244.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @RedDirtGirl: I hope he does what he needs to do to get well and comes back to the fight. Most importantly, I hope he does what he needs to do to get well.

  246. 246.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Here too, if I was advising the Democrats in the Senate, I would recommend that if they retake the majority, that they invoke the Senate’s own rules about senators determining who is and is not fit to be seated as a senator in any given Congress and bring a motion to expel McConnell from the chamber because of this.

  249. 249.

    khead

    @FelonyGovt:

    The Venn diagram of the folks who say “If you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about” and “It is terrifying that at ANY time, ANY girl can make up ANY story about ANY boy and COMPLETELY ruin his life” is one circle.

  250. 250.

    Amir Khalid

    @Adam L Silverman:
    You mean, The Tertle lied?!!?! And he looked like such an honest man! How can we ever believe anyone ever ever again? Oh, woe is upon us! (Wails. Gnashes teeth. Rends garments in despair.)

  251. 251.

    Mary G

    @Adam L Silverman: We can only dream. I want the Democratic Congress to pass a law making 501(c)(4)s publish their sources like any other charity. This ‘infringes on freedom of speech if I can’t give money without it being anonymous’ is stupid. Same with shell companies buying and selling real estate.

  252. 252.

    different-church-lady

    Ah yes. I remember the days when a nominee had to withdraw in shame because they hired non-documented domestic help…

  254. 254.

    TS (the original)

    @MagdaInBlack: And they wonder why women never report being sexually abused/raped. Old white men attacking women for the sins they committed in their youth.

  256. 256.

    Mary G

    This weasel:

    It’s important to talk about mental health like all other health. When people like former Secretary of State Kander are willing to do so, it moves the entire discussion in the right direction.— Senator Roy Blunt (@RoyBlunt) October 2, 2018

    You can talk about it, but I voted Yes to gut the ACA so the question is, how are you going to pay for it.

  258. 258.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: I get the feeling Sullivan himself is gearing up to go all in for Trump in 2020. More in sorrow than in anger, etc., but the mean feminists just went too far and there are foreigners everywhere he looks…

  259. 259.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @different-church-lady: my complete uninformed speculation: Murkowski wants to vote no but doesn’t want to be the one to take K down; Collins wants to get to yes but is terrified of that $1.7M (last I checked) pledged against her; Flake wishes there were a proper Shakespeare to appropriate chronicle his noble angst, and he has to settle for McKay Coppins.

  260. 260.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: @Amir Khalid: Hasn’t this essentially been out there – maybe not ‘common’ knowledge, but certainly known – since about June 2017?

    “The Apprentice” looks like a good book, but nothing terribly new that most of us haven’t known/been following/been freaking out about since, oh, spring of 2015?

  261. 261.

    TS (the original)

    @Martin:

    Some women surely enjoy having sex with multiple men

    You might want to phrase this differently. There would probably less than 1% of women under 40 today (excluding virgins) who have only ever had sex with one man. You could probably say under 70 and that would still hold. Whether women have sex with multiple men is irrelevent as is whether they “enjoy” it. Women have relationships – as do men. Many such relationships are intimate. This has NOTHING to do with whether being raped/attacked has any type of correlation with the prior sexual activity of a woman. There is NO correlation. It is not something that should ever be discussed by OLD WHITE MEN in their privileged role as US senators.

  263. 263.

    eemom

    @different-church-lady:

    I remember the days when a nominee had to withdraw in shame because they hired non-documented domestic help…

    Or toked on a joint. Nobody ever even ASKED poor old Douglas Ginsburg if he smoked enough to black out.

  265. 265.

    Mnemosyne

    @TS (the original):

    There’s also the fact that it’s quite common for survivors of sexual assault to act out sexually as a way to try and feel in control of their bodies again, so it is not in the least incompatible with her allegations for her to also have a checked sexual past where she tried to cope with her trauma.

    Also, I think what Martin was delicately trying to say was that she’s being accused of being a slut for having multiple partners at the same time, not just, like, more than one partner ever.

  267. 267.

    Gretchen

    This is small, but I notice that none of the Trump guys wears a wedding ring, and neither does Kavanaugh. It’s like they don’t want those women’s thinking they’re important or anything. To be sure, my husband doesn’t now since it’s too small, but he did the first 20 years or so.

  268. 268.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jeffro: What had been reported was that he told Obama that he’d politicize it rather than join a bipartisan pushback with Obama. What had not been previously reported was that when DCI Brennan briefed him as Senate Majority Leader he threatened Brennan in order to get Brennan to not go public.

  269. 269.

    Calouste

    @Martin: In this context, you should ask a conservative if they give to charity. If they say yes, tell them that as they like giving away money, they shouldn’t have an objection to being taxed.

  271. 271.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gretchen: My dad has been married to my mom for 54 years. He has never worn a ring. I didn’t wear one when I was married.
    Rings feel weird on my hand. Sometimes, my ex didn’t wear hers; I didn’t care.

  273. 273.

    J R in WV

    So. I spent several hours doing phone calls this afternoon and evening, 4 to 7 roughly.

    We use some web based slick laptop based tool which does the dialing, and a cell phone connected to the laptop, with a headset. When a number is successfully dialed, you get a name to ask for, and a script for the candidate.

    The first hour I got wrong numbers and hangups. The second hour I got mostly Republicans. I think all the people/numbers were registered voters. After around 5:30 I started getting mostly Democrats, in between the hangups and wrong numbers – of which there were a ton. Think about it – if you get a new phone number, do you first thing update your voter’s registration data? Of course not, no one ever updates that unless they move to a new precinct!

    I got quite a number of people who were going to vote Democratic, and specifically for the candidate I was calling for, my congressional district Democratic candidate, US Army Airborne Major (ret.) Richard Ojeda. One Republican (who claimed to be a lifelong Dem) told me “Have you seen that guy? He’s a loose Cannon!” but of course he’s actually a US Army Airborne Major (ret.) trained in forceful projection and blowing things up and killing people, which is somewhat hard for some people to accept as a mien for a politician. I used it as “He won’t be intimidated by DC politicians!” which seemed to work for some folks.

    One lady told me her husband was going door-to-door for Ojeda as we talked. Another told me that she and her husband would be voting for him, her daughter and son-in-law would be voting for him, and her son and daughter-in-law would be voting for him – Six with one phone call… Sweet!!!

    One guy, claimed to be another life-long dem asked me, “Is he in favor of Trump?!” and I said “Of course not, he’s a Democrat!” Then he asked “I suppose he’s against Kavanaugh as well?” and I said, “Well, probably, Kavanaugh perjured himself on live TV all afternoon!” and hung up on him – for a Republican contact that was pretty funny.

    While the first hour or 90 minutes were pretty bad, the last part was pretty good. I told the professional organizer that I thought the first group of people we talked to were not working, and thus were all Republicans. The last group that we talked to were people getting home from work, and were hence all Democrats, hard working folks. That got me a laugh. All the teachers I talked to were Ojeda boosters, as he IS a teacher and supported the “work stoppage” last school year for a wage increase and budget improvement for school material like books and such.

    This was my second afternoon of this election cycle. The new dialer software was better than last cycle’s tool set. I don’t know if it means anything, but around here ALL the signs are Ojeda signs. The Republican candidate is from Huntington, the western edge of the district, while Ojeda is from very near the office I was calling from.

  275. 275.

    Aleta

    @different-church-lady: I’d almost forgotten. Now whole towns are dependent on undocumented immigrants — tree work, yards, dairy farming, chicken processing. Esquire has an article about Nunes and his unpublicized Iowa farm.

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