US Politics November 2017

despite the high stakes of a lost senate seat i think mitch would probably feel like he has nothing to lose here. moore in office would be out of control (it's basically his career-defining selling point!), and a huge millstone around the necks of any blue- or purple-state senator: the party of roy moore, why has senator x not voted to censure roy moore, etc. may as well score some fraction of PR points by appearing to condemn him. didn't apply to trump but hey.

obviously mitch's own seat is safe, if he even wants to keep doing this shit into his 80s. and as others have observed he may well find it personally easier to be the leader of a united opposition that keeps anything he opposes from getting accomplished, than the leader of a divided majority that's unable to get anything he supports accomplished.

mcconnell's no dummy when it comes to at least being dimly aware of the fact that a Moore win would further push the already-racist GOP further right in the eyes of voters nationwide and particularly in key states where 2018 R-candidates are on the hot seat. i'm not sure he'd be *happy* to lose the seat, but i don't think anything makes Mitch happy except for seeing his enemies suffer humiliation.

there are levels of survival he is prepared to accept

Possible effect of Gloria Allred working with a Roy Moore accuser: It could bait Trump into responding. She also represents Trump accuser Summer Zervos.

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) November 13, 2017

I have a tough time imagining Trump watching the Fox segment on this press conference, seeing Allred, and not at least thinking about a tweet.

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) November 13, 2017

"Gullible Gloria...Not A Ten! Get Back To Chasing Ambulances!"

do you think Trump pays close attention to who opposing counsel is on cases here he's being sued?

I mean, I would lean toward yes, but his attention is very sporadic

She was very public about taking the case of Trump's accuser, and she's a woman who had the audacity to oppose him, so I'm sure he remembers. Embittered grievance is his food and drink.

Gloria Allred is also famous, which is one of Two Scoops' main gages for individual value.

he still talks about Rosie O'Donnell iirc

Rosie attended his wedding in the early 90s!

I read that last quote from caek as "seeing Alfred, and not at least thinking about a tweet."

"The Eagles Were One Of The Greatest Bands Ever! "Don't Stop Believing" in #MAGA"

I have now read Mr. Moore’s statement and listened to his radio interview in which he denies the charges. I did not find his denials to be convincing and believe that he should withdraw from the Senate race in Alabama.

— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) November 13, 2017

I inspire Trump tweets, see.

hope this is the thing that shreds the GOP as a party but that's probably hoping for too much

some real brain salad surgery here:

One idea now being discussed under this scenario, brought up by two different White House officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, would be for Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama to block Mr. Moore if he wins, and then immediately appoint Attorney General Jeff Sessions to what had been his seat when it becomes vacant again. Mr. Sessions remains highly popular among Alabama Republicans, but his relationship with President Trump has waned since he recused himself from the investigation of the role that Russia played in last year’s campaign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/11/13/you-want-to-see-how-to-stand-up-to-trump/

everything's coming up KASICH

Question I haven't seen answered anywhere: If Moore wins and the Senate refuses to seat him, what happens? Does the Senate just operate with 99 until the next election? I can't imagine the answer is that the Senate or the Governor would have the authority to just appoint any random person to the seat in his place or immediately hold another election, because if that was true then they'd DEFINITELY already be planning on doing that.

We've seen this playbook before: last October after the Access Hollywood tape. If Jones doesn't win, then Roy Moore will go to the Senate.

everything's coming up KASICH

Given how much my educator-heavy OH family despises Kasich, this is somewhat scary, but at least it's scary in the sense of "I don't think this man will use Twitter to get us into a nuclear war".

obviously I hope Jones wins but the idea of Moore showing up to Capitol Hill and being a gigantic ass cancer to the entire GOP is hardly the worst consolation prize.

right up until he starts a wave of repellent nightmare senators/reps in 2018

the nice thing about the national level is that the ability to fuck up the education system is broader in reach but much shallower in scope, as school privatization jerk DeVos has been figuring out

and the Senate refuses to seat him

this isn't going to happen

idk, as much as deep cynicism has been richly rewarded the past year and a half, i do think Alabama is its own fairly special hell.

the GOP folded like a wet napkin for Trump, they'll do their scolding and folding routine if Moore wins too.

US Politics November 2017

it seems like the only reason they wouldn't refuse to seat him though is they lack any alternative. I'm sure McConnell and co. would rather have anyone in America with an R next to their name occupy that seat than Moore at this point.

Every state is its own special hell in one way or another; it's built directly into the way the country works.

I mean, you'd think that Kansas would be enough of a cautionary tale to people about where all of this is heading but people generally don't give a rat's ass until it happens to them, and even then they only blame the actual people who did it to them 50% of the time.

What's up guys Lib Destroyer 67 here, today I'm gonna fuck up this snoopy sno cone machine for reasons unclear even to me

— vineyille (@vineyille) November 13, 2017

I rarely read the old fraud anymore, but George Will otm.

Moore campaigns almost entirely about social issues — National Football League protests, the transgender menace — and the wild liberalism of Jones, a law-and-order prosecutor and deer and turkey hunter who says he has “a safe full of guns.” Jones’s grandfathers were members of the mineworkers’ and steelworkers’ unions: Birmingham, surrounded by coal and iron ore, was Pittsburgh — a steel city — almost before Pittsburgh was. Jones hopes economic and health-care issues matter more.

Evangelical Christians who embrace Moore are serving the public good by making ridiculous their pose as uniquely moral Americans, and by revealing their leaders to be especially grotesque specimens of the vanity — vanity about virtue — that is curdling politics. Another public benefit from the Moore spectacle is the embarrassment of national Republicans.

tbh some of the states with the worst education are now at the point where they don't understand the nature of what's happening to them because the school never taught them how government works

The post I linked spells out that they *have* to seat him. They're only option is to have a 2/3rds majority vote in the Senate to expel him *after* he has been seated. Good luck with that.

xxp

lol Alfred was just about to link to that Will piece

*I* was just about to link to it, I meant

republicans in the house still fondly refer to their method of maintaining speaker control as "the Hastert rule" so I don't think they have any qualms about anything, really

haha yes I was trying to find some previous post I made about how the GOP is fine with pedos, it was just a month or two ago

"Pedophilia's OK when GOPers do it" = the *real* Hastert rule

but if they voted to expel him, THEN what would happen? that was my original question. I'm assuming there are no good options, otherwise I don't see why this route might not at least be entertained (unless you're assuming Democrats would uniformly vote to not expel Moore as a way to make the GOP eat their own shit).

but if they voted to expel him, THEN what would happen?

Roy Moore shoots every GOP senator.

Roy Moore supporter Brandon Moseley of @ALReporter on CNN just now compared sexual touching of a 14-year old to stealing a lawnmower, stressing it was a misdemeanor pic.twitter.com/UJ1Bf7JehZ

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) November 13, 2017

the lawnmower gambit

I mean, you don't usually steal a lawnmower with your penis.

At least, not more than once.

If they don't seat him, they have a scapegoat whenever someone accuses them of being misogynists or apologists. They'll point to not seating Moore as a moral pinnacle and continue being horrible in every other way.

dude looks like he is sexually touching a 14yo while being interviewed

xp

if the Senate expels him, doesn't that just mean that AL has to have another election

Alabama, that's not what a lawnmower is for

these guys treat every moral/legal problem they've had like jaywalking, and also think anyone who's not them should get beat up by a cop for jaywalking

"beat up", we should be so lucky

kneeling on a sports field: deport them
pursuing underage children: execute them
pursuing underage children while republican: elect them