US Politics, December 2019: Profound procedural deficiencies

we're only a few years from "climate change is real...and liberals SECRETLY CAUSED IT AND TRIED TO COVER IT UP". so yeah, viborg otm

Yes that was actually the exact Orwell quote I had in mind.

lmao what the fuck is this

“hey you’re bringing your briefcase today for your nationally televised impeachment hearing right?”

“no no i’ll be fine with this.”pic.twitter.com/Uw27J337ra

— j.d. durkin (@jiveDurkey) December 9, 2019

i gotta respect that, briefcases are lame as shit

On climate change I'm afraid that them moving past outright denial isn't necessarily any kind of progress on the issue. It's getting to where outright denial is becoming politically untenable

Office buildings are being evacuated in Sydney because the fire alarms won't stop going off. the Prime Minister says it's "not the time" to discuss whether climate change is involved, is approving more coal mines, refuses to meet with firefighters or allot emergency services any emergency funding, but is pushing one piece of legislation today: to make it legal again to refuse employment or services to gay and trans people

lol we're all gonna die

That's right

good morning!!

lol this is a new one

Read the Transcripts! “us” is a reference to USA, not me!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2019

I think I tried something like this in 4th grade, "oh oh you said DUE Friday, I thought it was DO Friday..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFELNIpeTjY

it depends what the meaning of us is

Pelosi has literally scheduled back-to-back press conferences to announce articles of impeachment against Trump and then support for his trade deal.

This is insane. What is the message here pic.twitter.com/QGlHjM7JOK

— Will Stancil (@whstancil) December 10, 2019

was thinking about this, because it does seem intentional. i guess the message is "we [democrats] are not obstructionists who are against everything the president does - we are working with him wherever we can bla bla bla" and/or countering the republican talking point that nothing is getting done in congress because of the democrats' obsession with impeachment

yeah seems obvious. Whether it works is another matter.

Of course, there hasn't been much attempt at bipartisan compromise on the many, many bills passed by the house, so I guess that plan only works in one direction.

seems like compartmentalization to a silly degree

the president is illegitimate; his NAFTA replacement is p much a matter of putting his name on something

I think it will be taken in the spirit it was intended and that the GOP will tip their cap to their coworkers across the aisle. They may not agree with them, but dammit they have to respect them.

was thinking about this, because it does seem intentional. i guess the message is "we [democrats] are not obstructionists who are against everything the president does - we are working with him wherever we can bla bla bla" and/or countering the republican talking point that nothing is getting done in congress because of the democrats' obsession with impeachment

brilliant move Nancy, now Republicans are sure to never use that criticism again

the neverending Dem wimp factor

Anytime you temper your response in an attempt to deflect GOP criticism, you walk into their trap and you lose.

What are they going to do, hold up the deal? This is a no-brainer. Get out in front of it, take credit b4 they do.

In general I'd say there are ways to attempt to take the wind out of their sails. However letting them drag you into their narratives by arguing their talking points directly is definitely getting caught in their trap.

Well, I suppose she could potentially sell it as a Dem win for the election. "Trump wanted to tax Canadian toilet imports, but we talked him out of it" or whatever.

truly a gamechanger

"Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while, and President Blind Pig has found a trade deal. That'll do, pig."

In an interview with ABC News, Wray declared there was “no indication” that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. And then he went a step further: He urged people to be savvier consumers of news.Not to put too fine a point on it, but he’s basically saying he doesn’t want them listening to the president of the United States.

“We have no information that indicates that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election,” Wray said, adding: “Well, look, there’s all kinds of people saying all kinds of things out there. I think it’s important for the American people to be thoughtful consumers of information and to think about the sources of it and to think about the support and predication for what they hear.”

letting them drag you into their narratives by arguing their talking points directly

this isn't a narrative or a talking point though, it's an immensely complex hemispheric trade deal they've working on for a long time

Trump is going to tout the deal no matter what, why not deprive him of the "do-nothing Democrats" line?

Well, he sure can't use it now! What a frustrating development for him.

I know it's like when Liz shut down the whole "Pocahontas" thing and he's never said it since

He said it a couple of days ago.

Republican: That rotten democrat keyed my car!
Democrat: (supplies the in-depth results of a year-long investigation which proves beyond all doubt that they were not the party responsible for keying that car)
Republican: Just what I'd expect from a no-good, car-keying democrat!

xp Exactly.

I'm loving the subtly variegated shades of irony this morning.

xxp I shouldn't say "deprive"—of course he'll keep saying it—but at least they're providing a counternarrative that they are in fact legislating

there are a lot of people who don't understand how many bills the house has passed and have been convinced the impeachment process has taken over the entire agenda

I don't believe this group^ is 100% MAGA

There's a very large portion of Americans who don't understand how Congress works and sees its failings as just a general problem with politicians rather than the partisan obstructionism that it really is.

yes

it's been an essential component of the GOP playbook for twenty years to wreck the workings of government enough so that when Dems take one of the two chambers and/or the presidency the GOP can blame the cleanup as part of the Failings of Gummint.

I sort of have the impression that Democrats are voting for this trade deal because it's good policy that's likely to help insulate the people they represent from Trump's insane "who kissed my ass suffiicently hard this week" approach to global trade. Yes Trump will assert it as a victory. And if they didn't pass it he would assert whatever crazy shit he did instead as a victory. That is all Trump does! The people who are inclined to believe it are going to believe it!

The Dems should counter his Do-Nothing Dems claims by calling themselves the Can't-Do-Nothing Dems, and then blaming the Republicans for being dicks. Just offer the litany of "things that would benefit you that would get passed or happen if it weren't for those assholes."

dems should call themselves the 49er Joe Montanas, and then call the republicans the Arizona Dbags

I think we could maybe just dispense altogether with diplomacy when discussing the GOP and maybe describe them as the overtly- and intentionally-malignant force they are to everyone below a particular income bracket (and, well, I guess anyone who values a livable planet).

Yeah, I wonder how far off we are from someone during a debate just calling the Republicans full of shit assholes.

cage match, no subs, no backsies

xp people do that, but then they get escorted out while everyone else in the room pretends to not notice what's happening

Judiciary releases impeachment articles profoundly flawed by the fact that they will be practically meaningless to those who don't understand the highly complex argument about why the national security of the United States requires giving military aide to Ukraine; and 1/2

— Rick Perlstein (@rickperlstein) December 10, 2019

...highly offensive to those who understand the argument but disagree. This in an explicit attempt to make them as understandable, consensusual, and politically galvanizing as possible. This is truly a token of how out-of-touch Democratic Party leaders in Washington are.

— Rick Perlstein (@rickperlstein) December 10, 2019

cage match, no subs, no backsies

We already have a wrestling heel as president. Going full UFC (with free KFC) would only expand the electorate, imo.

I don't understand Perlstein's point.

I'm not sure I do either. He has been pretty much anti how the Dems have been handling this for weeks.