Impeach Trump Y/N

to the Blue Dog constituents: "We don't want your votes, hillbillies"

July-August 2009 and again from September to, I think, January

The perfect time!

(My thesis incorporates the idea that the populace would have been exceptionally receptive to being sold transformative policy [possibly quickly, possibly over months and years] at that point. The opportunity existed for leadership to pitch and campaign on long-term changes, but instead they rushed to slap one rubber cement patch on a leaking dinghy, and assure the people that they ought to go back to not thinking about anything, especially not how much their boat had sunk already.)

I think Hakeem Jefferies is speaking now? not bad as these things go

Is there a reason why this isn’t blanketing every network?

NBC is showing something called “Ellen’s Game of Games”

The networks don't have to show this and they are afraid of both bad ratings and politically-motivated reprisals from the FCC.

Dems needed an ideological purge like the de facto one the Repugs have had

Exactly. I told my Mom, who is mostly liberal/left, but keeps asking who is going to pay for everything, that I want the left version of Steve King. Like mandatory abortions for everyone. Then maybe we can talk about compromise.

Had this on for a good part of the day while puttering around the house, running errands, napping, cooking, etc. I only paid attention for maybe an hour. So I was encouraged a little while ago to hear Carl Bernstein call it a "devastating" day for Trump, but, at the same time, keep waiting for one of those old-guard media guys to start down that road and stop himself cold: "It was a deva--ah, fuck, what difference does it make?"

Does the NYT stylebook just have an entire chapter on synonyms for both-sidesing now? pic.twitter.com/VQTog1ZBNF

— Jonathan Myerson Katz (@KatzOnEarth) January 22, 2020

oh the acrimony

I humbly submit that the honorable gentleman from the great state of Kentucky is, and ever has been, both a scoundrel and a popinjay. Nay, a scallywag!

a pettifogger!

why would any value be assigned to Carl Bernstein in 2020?

Roberts now needs to recuse himself from the upcoming Supreme Court states rights case arguing the legality of pettifogging in Florida. Good job, John.

Roberts looks like suddenly aged 135 years in the last 24 hours.

If only Scorsese had his technology

i had this terrible sinking feeling, as i watched the proceedings last night at midnight (central time): "i'm going to end up listening to almost all of this, aren't i?"

on the plus side i've been doing some painting recently and impeachment proceedings make for very nice listening imo

In 1987 I had a job removing rotting insulation from an old house; it was the summer of Iran-Contra.

To this day if I chance to listen to political-procedural news, I associate it with the smell of fiberglass and mold.

I missed it but did they vote on witnesses yet? Did Collins vote for if so? I’m assuming not since I’ve seen nothing

I want to watch, and tried, but don't have the stomach for it

No witnesses until they get through the main part of the trial, at which point they'll vote on it again. All votes for witnesses so far have failed.

What would even be the point of calling witnesses in the trial of someone who is innocent and has nothing to hide? Surely those witnesses would rather be fishing or reading a good book, why bother them and waste everyone's time with a bunch of repetitive exonerating testimony.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell thanked Chief Justice Roberts for his “patience” as the first day of the trial stretched past 12 hours. “It comes with the job,” Roberts responded. There was some applause for the chief justice in the chamber.

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFT

from what i witnessed yesterday, roberts' duties as the presiding justice in this case are 1) be the timekeeper. periodically announce how much time each side has remaining.

that's it.

oh yeah, i forgot, 2) lend the facade of dignity and formality to the complete bullshit taking place directly in front of him

3) to go to sleep and never wake up, while Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Thomas simultaneously do the same

He did get snippy late last night!

Someone undercook his Moons over my Hammy?

what a fucking prick, all of them

Not a way to talk about Denny's employees

Trump said he would prefer to have Bolton and others testify but then added, “The problem with John is that it’s a national security problem. ... He knows some of my thoughts. He knows what I think about leaders. What happens if he reveals what I think about a certain leader and it’s not very positive and I have to deal on behalf of the country?”

damn imagine if some leaders knew what he thought about them

And vice versa.

I'm sure every world leader just assumes that Trump either has talked shit about them or has no idea they exist.

peach rump

i heard the clip of the sarge-at-arms goin "hear ye hear ye" yesterday and man, he sounded like he was on Zoloft.

Cokie Roberts woulda been scandalized.

what a fucking prick, all of them

― But guess what? Nobody gives a toot!😂 (Karl Malone), Wednesday, January 22, 2020

new board description imo

He did get snippy late last night!

that word always makes me think of the story where Dubya fumes on the phone when Gore withdraws his concession on Election Night 2000, and Gore said "You don't have to get snippy about it."

i have to say, i am enjoying this part here - the 3 days straight of the house managers presenting the case without being interrupted. especially with the senators being forced to attend, with no phones or talking out loud. don't get me wrong, i understand that it won't affect the republicans' votes. but this is almost certainly the first time that any of them have been forced to sit and listen to exactly how fucking wrong they all are, at length, indisputably, since they were children (if that).

if nothing else, when future generations rightly wonder how in the fuck this all happened and why a whole party could unanimously side with a corrupt villain rather than bear the indignity of having to retire or getting voted out of office, we can always remember this glorious moment of republicans being forced to stfu and listen for 3 days straight, and that the correct decision was abundantly clear, not obfuscated whatsoever

that is pretty much the only value unless any citizens who are hearing/watching wake up

Schiff was terrific yesterday, and even Nadler looked for once out for blood

nah, there's more value than that. even if/when the impeachment vote fails, it's still important to at least try to hold corrupt people accountable. when we stop doing that, even, we forfeit our right to complain (a right i very much intend to hold onto). also, it would be very hard to explain to people in the future why he wasn't impeached. "but we knew republicans wouldn't vote to impeach him! so it wasn't worth trying!!" would not be a winner. much better to do the right thing, let the republicans do the wrong thing, and make as many people as possible understand that in November and beyond.

^otm

and Den senatorial candidates can use excerpts in campaign ads

perhaps. i may have a lower opinion of its effect on the Unwashed.

In an incredible exchange at Davos, @realdonaldtrump admits he is comfortable with the status of the impeachment trial because the White House is withholding evidence. "Honestly, we have all the material. They don't have the material." As always, he says the quiet part out loud. pic.twitter.com/Gk3h1QZyAi

— Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) January 22, 2020

Schiff is presenting such a complex, yet coherent, timeline (to me) of all of the behind the scenes emails and conversations that it’s hard to imagine anyone not following the trail or agreeing with it. But you still have his base focused solely on that one ‘perfect’ phone call.

And the fact that it’s Shifty Schiff.

Schiff has been amazing in his ability to speak with logic at length on all of this. I'm really impressed

Pierce agrees:

Schiff led off the House managers’ 24 hours of presenting their case, and he came up with a bravura two-hour recitation of the facts that connected one dot to another. Schiff has a remarkable facility to organize and present a chain of events logically and with perfect clarity. He mixed in video clips drawn from various sources during the past eight months. He had particular fun with White House Chief-of-Staff Mick Mulvaney’s blundering press conference in which Mulvaney pretty much admitted that the Ukraine aid was indeed a quid pro quo, and in which Mulvaney argued that this kind of thing happened all the time, advising the rest of the country to "get over it."

Every time Trump or some toady repeats ‘read the transcript’ I want to scream. It’s a chain of events, not one fucking phone call.

Meanwhile, over at Fox News, “Restless lawmakers struggle to sit through Schiff’s opening argument.”