Fauci just destroyed Rand Paul, moments ago. Watch this now. pic.twitter.com/nlV8fDl6ov
— John Aravosis ?????️? (@aravosis) January 11, 2022
Dr. Fauci didn’t actually use the phrase ‘two-bit grifter’, but you could see he was thinking it…
Dr. Fauci to Rand Paul: "I just want to say, I'm actually stunned by the amount of misinformation."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 11, 2022
Dr. Anthony Fauci, in another contentious exchange with Sen. Rand Paul, says Paul's attacks against him "kindles the crazies out there, and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children." https://t.co/FAyLHnXdT6 pic.twitter.com/WoQM4vBbd2
— ABC News (@ABC) January 12, 2022
Dr. Fauci shuts down Republican Rand Paul: "You just do the same thing every hearing."
"We are here at a committee to look at a virus now that has killed almost 900,000 people … And you keep coming back to personal attacks on me that have absolutely no relevance to reality."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 11, 2022
I don’t condone, defend, or approve of Rand Paul’s neighbor. I’m just saying I understand him.
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) January 11, 2022
TONIGHT: Dr. Anthony Fauci joins @chrislhayes to discuss the latest on Covid-19 and the Omicron variant, as well as his heated exchange with Senator Rand Paul at today’s Senate hearing.
Tune in to @allinwithchris at 8pm ET on @MSNBC. pic.twitter.com/ryaLDAc7Kt
— MSNBC Public Relations (@MSNBCPR) January 11, 2022
Baud
I think Rand Paul’s neighbor should get a Medal of Freedom.
Roger Moore
The big thing for me is the doublethink on display. On the one hand, COVID is a gigantic nothingburger, and we shouldn’t be taking the kinds of steps we’re taking to combat it. On the other hand, Dr. Fauci is responsible for millions of deaths from the pandemic. It’s unreasonable to believe both things, but unreasonable has never stopped the Republicans.
NotMax
Goody goody gumdrops. Open Thread.
Couple of things which caught the eye today.
1) Justice Dept. creating unit focused on domestic terrorism.
2) A Devout Christian Conservative Kicked Off His Campaign For Governor With… A Shofar?
SiubhanDuinne
From the morning’s open thread:
I knew the minute it happened it was going to be A Story, and sure enough, it’s led almost every newscast and political Twitter account!
Baud
@Roger Moore:
If it weren’t for doublethink, they wouldn’t think at all.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Every GQPer was Rand Paul today.
japa21
Does anybody know what Paul was talking about when he accused Fauci of politically attacking top epidemiologist.
NotMax
@Baud
Don’t doublethink paired with halfwit cancel each other out?
//
Gin & Tonic
I got a fair amount of pushback here for criticizing the glacial pace of ambassadorial appointments by Biden and Blinken. Well, it gets worse, as they seem committed to appointing hacks when they bestir themselves to move the process. George Tsunis, whose only apparent qualification is being a campaign donor, is nominated as Ambassador to Greece. In his last appearance before the Senate, when Mr. Tsunis was nominated by Barack Obama to be Ambassador to Norway, he beclowned himself so badly that he withdrew.
If this were a country to which the US had a history of posting hacks, it would be one thing, but the current Ambassador is the very highly regarded career Foreign Service Officer Gregory Pyatt.
I know the previous administration did not take diplomatic relations seriously, but I had hoped that would change.
delk
Fauci was also caught on hot mic calling Roger Marshall (Kansas) a moron.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Was rooting for raven to be appointed. He’s already in Athens.
Lost that bet.
:)
Cacti
I don’t condone Rand Paul’s neighbor so much as I celebrate him.
japa21
@Gin & Tonic: I am somewhat dismayed myself. Methinks I will bestir myself to write to my Congress critters and the President. Thank you.
Scout211
Open thread, but slightly off topic. But really on topic regarding idiot Republicans, though.
The USPS under DeJoy is just awful. I sent my daughter a box of N95s and KN95s on Friday and it took less that 24 hours to reach Seattle (which is less than 2 hours by truck to her house). Instead of being delivered to her house on Monday, it disappeared from tracking and then was finally scanned . . . in AUSTIN, TEXAS!
And oh yeah, we just got the Christmas card she sent to us . . . TODAY! Sigh.
There’s a lot of differing opinions here, but on Rand Paul and Postmaster DeJoy, I am pretty sure we all agree.
Dan B
@Gin & Tonic: You’re not the only person upset with this appointment. But Rufus Gifford got the second in command at State and he seems great plus gay. He’s got charisma in spades.
Bex
@NotMax: Let’s hope he doesn’t have much to shofar it in the election.
Dan B
@Scout211: We got a Christmas card from my neice in Durham, NC yesterday. There are many horrible people to ferret out of government.
SiubhanDuinne
Don’t know whether anyone here watches Chris Hayes on MSNBC, but I understand Dr Fauci will be his guest sometime during the next hour to talk about (inter alia) his antler-locking today with Rand Paul and Roger Marshall.
Eunicecycle
@Scout211: oh no, not Austin! Because I’m pretty sure there’s a black hole at the post office there. My son lives there and we have a terrible time mailing things to him. They disappear or are returned to us although the mailing is addressed properly. It’s bizarre.
Gin & Tonic
@Dan B: I must be missing something – how do his charisma or his gayness get qualified Ambassadors nominated more quickly?
RaflW
I’m certainly glad that Dr. Fauci has taken the gloves off.
Unfortunately, I just don’t think the GOP is ever going to be impacted by any Joseph Welch “At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” type moments.
bbleh
No no, you see, Senator Paul is just asking questions, to which the American People deserve answers!
I mean, if Dr. Fauci isn’t making millions of dollars personally by promoting a fake pandemic scare, well then let him prove it, out in the light of day where everyone can see, and not in his secret underground George-Soros-funded Big Pharma / Big Tech elitist hideout, along with Hillary Clinton and the Pelosi Squad! (I’ve heard they’re holding JFK Jr prisoner there too!)
Really, if everyone just drank their own urine, instead of paying Big Pharma for their Death Jabs (and don’t talk to me about how they’re free), then we wouldn’t have any of this to worry about!
bbleh
@NotMax: Actually it’s subtractive, so they’re negative 150% intelligent.
RaflW
@delk: Truth is a defense.
I’m sure the civility brigade will pass out cold from the shock. But I also think that kabuki has lost its impact, what with Margarine Traitor Greene, CO’s Lorena Bobbitt (no, that’s not quite right, is it) and so on.
bbleh
@delk: Dr. Fauci is a scientist and a physician. It was a professional diagnosis based on evidence.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
Rand Paul and the other right wing idiots have been pushing the “Covid is nothing, we should just return to normal” nonsense since forever. They will continue to do so in hopes of people getting tired of Covid and getting tired of attempts to fight it. Ultimately, they want to get rid of or neutralize public health officials.
Quebec, for example, recently saw the resignation of their chief health official:
It doesn’t matter to these dopes how many people die or suffer from Long Covid. And so, they will keep bringing pointless challenges to Fauci and the CDC.
The right wing nut jobs will play this down or link it to some insane conspiracy theory that suits their purpose.
Anne Laurie
Back in October 2020 — when the pandemic was in full spate and there were no proper vaccines — three Radical Free-Thinking Scientists published their Great Barrington Declaration, basically claiming that if ‘we’ would just lock up all the Olds and the Cripples for a few weeks or months, the Youngs could go back to their pre-pandemic freedoms and the magic of Herd Immunity would become universal salvation. This document was signed by ‘thousands’ of ‘important scientists’, only some of whom were obvious frauds like Dr. Hugh Jarse, Chief Epidemiologist at Fekk U.
The people actually trying to quench the pandemic reacted to this with the predictable anger & outrage, and of course some of their private messages were selectively edited & leaked. It’s clear in hindsight that the Geenyus Plan was bullshit on stilts, but its very existence has become a magical talisman, especially among glibertarians like Young Prince Rand — if only we’d had the clearsighted WILL to let the takers & eaters die quickly, think of the Galtian paradise we’d now share!
Brachiator
@Gin & Tonic:
I had not been paying attention to this process. But it seems to be a game of nonsense and double nonsense pushback by GOP asswipes. From a December 15 story,
Hawley seems to want to punish Biden for Afghanistan.
Apart from this, there is a long practice of some cushy ambassadorships (UK, France, Luxembourg) going to big donors or other VIPs. Deputies and other folk would be foreign service veterans.
Eolirin
@Gin & Tonic: I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that the nominated Ambassadors were mostly ceremonial postings and that the career staff did all of the actual work anyway?
HalfAssedHomesteader
Paul knows just when to start to talking over Dr. Fauci. It’s like we have a Congress where half the members are all Joe McCarthy.
Gin & Tonic
@Brachiator: Hawley and Cruz cannot delay a nomination that is not even submitted, as in the case of Ukraine and a host of other countries. And Greece is not typically a country to which a clown is nominated.
Brachiator
@Anne Laurie:
And in the meantime, in the real world, protection of immuno-compromised people will be an ongoing challenge, even if Covid becomes extremely mild, because it is not going to magically just disappear.
Gin & Tonic
@Eolirin: Most US Ambassadors are career Foreign Service Officers. Yes, countries such as the UK or Japan will get a friend or donor, but most don’t.
Brachiator
@Gin & Tonic:
I am not really disagreeing with you. However, if the GOP nitwits are going to continue to block nominations anyway, their antics will make things worse.
But clearly, the Democrats also want to take care of their friends.
This guy is also a big Democratic party donor.
Also, I see that when Obama was trying to get ambassadors approved, Norway went 23 months without an ambassador.
The whole process stinks.
Steeplejack
For Suzanne, SiubhanDuinne and others: Wordle strategy.
Link to game site. (New game every day at midnight EST.)
Gin & Tonic
@Brachiator: Maybe Norway went 23 months because Barack Obama nominated a wildly unqualified donor who embarrassed himself before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and withdrew?
Is it OK to point out that the Biden administration is mis-handling a critical process here on B-J?
Brachiator
This Covid related story is interesting:
I bet this would make Rand Paul howl.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Bob Menendez. That explains a lot
Unique uid
I think my doctor signed onto that Great Barrington Declaration. I’d been sort of laid back about it, but I had an appointment last week. I called up several days prior to try to convert to video meeting (high covid numbers…). The scheduler said that “No, Joe doesn’t do that tech stuff”. I ended up just totally cancelling.
I’m thinking I should look for a new doctor…
Suzanne
@Steeplejack: Someone also made a version with unlimited words per day!
Brachiator
@Gin & Tonic:
Again, you are picking a fight with someone on your side. Is it OK to provide some context?
I agreed with you that the Greece nominee is primarily a Biden buddy.
I personally know a foreign service veteran who was pointlessly delayed when Obama tapped him for an assignment and who was given a super shitty slot under the Trump regime. He was justly rewarded later by Biden with something that acknowledged his talents.
But yeah, some of Biden’s picks are not good. But they are also part of an long tradition of rewarding friends. Hell, Reagan’s choice for ambassador to Mexico was former actor John Gavin.
Dan B
@Gin & Tonic: Not. He just seems like a good hire. He’s one bright spot. More nominations not connected to his hire.
Scout211
@Unique uid:
I would be thinking the same thing If I were in your situation. Finding a new doctor is not always an easy thing to do but it could be worth it.
Citizen Alan
@Cacti:
Rando’s neighbor should put up a go fund me page that just says I’m the guy who punched Rand Paul. Is it make a million dollars.
dopey-o
If your doc can’t manage to do Facetime or Zoom, he probably isn’t up to speed on aerosol spread or infectious diseases.
My sister had to postpone a much-needed surgery because her surgeon didn’t subscribe to all that ‘contagious virus’ stuff. When he died on a ventilator, he left a wife and 4 kids bereft.
You definitely want a new doctor. Your first conversation might start with their views on hand washing and germ theory, then move up to contagion and exponential spread.
stinger
@Brachiator: At least Gavin’s mother was Mexican.
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
I saw that. I’m going to have to ration myself!
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
@Baud:
Double think? They don’t seem to be able to actually think at all. Bullshit, scream(or what is it that little kids do, shrill bullshit?) stomp their wittle feets, and cry for their daddy, SFB, now that they can do. As others are saying, they claim Dr. Fauci, is both responsible for and doing nothing about the same problem. They say and repeat this in the same sentence. Their logic is totally no logic whatsoever, more commonly known as pure fucking bullshit.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
I can’t disagree. But. What does an ambassador actually do? My understanding is that they are a communication point between countries. And depending on the country they may have a tougher job than that, but most do not. I would ask how many presidents in the last 50 yrs has filled positions any faster than Joe Biden? I don’t know the answer but I’d bet this isn’t far away from the norm, one way or the other.
I believe it’s just one more point to draw bullshit negativity upon President Biden.