US Politics, October 2018: next week will be even longer

UPDATED: kavanaugh criticized Ramirez to Senate investigators for calling around about the incident.

And he told them he “probably” attended the same wedding but doesn’t have any recollection.

Texts show a photo from the wedding was sent to his team 3 days earlier. https://t.co/hkNbpofnzn

— Leigh Ann Caldwell (@LACaldwellDC) October 2, 2018

It's one thing to lie about big things, but the true standard of a liar is when they lie about little things when they don't have to.

haha josh yes that was the place I had in mind

so much better than the “native undergrads” who were like into the Chief. and they like beer.

Kavanaugh is fucked, I feel. Or if they push him through the republicans will lose voters. The Ramirez texts thing is so blatantly sneaky.

i'm sure the rightwing press will be falling over themselves to report the facts in good faith on this one

I didn’t say all of MAGA country would turn on him. But it looks really bad, will put Flake et al in an uncomfortable position, and demoralize enough Republican voters to hurt them in the midterms. I have a crystal ball trust me here

They already made the calculation: push him through, lose voters.

Doesn't a good man deserve the chance to defend himself? Multiple times? Every time something new comes up? Again and again?

I heard that Washington Post reporter interviewed on NPR yesterday about his new book, about Russian interference and what not. It is remarkable how many times Flynn and the WH lied about his contacts with Russians, again and again and again, until finally, he relented. What is that Mark Twain line, something about telling the truth means you never have to keep your story straight?

Btw, one downside of this Bart circus is it has to play out as it is playing out. There is no easy way for him to bow out, because his reputation will remain in tatters and that is a tacit admission of guilt at this point. He has to gamble on the process playing through, but hopefully he will be voted down.

If Bart were a celebrity this is the point where he would be announcing that he is heading to rehab and hopes people will respect his privacy.

I still think they'll ram him through tbh, though I hope I'm wrong (obv). And yes it will have electoral/popularity costs down the line, though we may be overimagining those.

JiC - I mean he could easily do the "for the sake of my family and the country I have asked president trump to withdraw my name from consideration" and top it off with another entitled grievance rant about how it's all a smear and his life has been ruined like kuzco the emperor-llama whining in the rain. his base would buy it, he'd get a book deal and troll bots would spend thirty years demeaning his accusers just like they're going to do anyway. he's not doing that because his ego and his privilege and his toxic masculinity won't let him, not because there's no way out.

he could do it, but his reputation and career would be in tatters. He has to gamble on the chance of exoneration, or appointment despite everything.

but yeah, his ego and whatnot is why he is willing to gamble on that.

his reputation will be fine with republicans, the story's already been written that it's a giant smear and he's the victim. guaranteed he will be allowed to coach basketball or w/e in his social circles for as long as he likes. and it's not like being confirmed will win him back respect among everybody else.

His reputation is toast no matter what, and his career would go on fine. He is still a Circuit Judge, and there really was only one possible promotion from that, and only a minuscule number of people get that promotion. And he clearly does not deserve it. It's only entitlement that keeps him from withdrawing.

I agree. Clarence Thomas is on the Supreme Court but his reputation is in the trash can. Such is the fate of National Lampoon’s Bart O’Kavanaugh.

his base would buy it, he'd get a book deal

kavanaugh's true american flaw is that he probably wouldn't even get the book deal

This book would end up on the sidewalk bargain tables after 10 months.

that's where i found my copy of the starr report

oh man i was working in a DC bookstore when the starr report came out

correction: i found my copy on the sidewalk, in a pile of free stuff with john grisham paperbacks

i was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar

That much is true

xxxp Karl, hope you have the WSJ’s full 5 volume set of their Whitewater editorials on the shelf next to that.

oooof, i'm so glad to have never read a single one of those editorials during that era

Clarence Thomas is on the Supreme Court but his reputation is in the trash can

To whom? Not to conservatives who think he's the new Rufus Peckham. Reputation doesn't matter to these people.

“incredible new U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement called USMCA.” = INUSMCA

not USMC

Here's a new one: NRCC ad that dramatically portrays a woman who's unable to visit a doctor because Medicare for All has become law. https://t.co/SrOLsf06VX

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 2, 2018

Bart already lost his Harvard gig under pressure, and his position on the circuit court is threatened if he withdraws for legal/ethical reasons.

no it's not. who's going to remove him? and he would be withdrawing "for his family," not for legal/ethical reasons.

“But the administration did not offer this dire forecast, premised on the idea that the world will fail to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, as part of an argument to combat climate change. Just the opposite: The analysis assumes the planet’s fate is already sealed.“

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-sees-a-7-degree-rise-in-global-temperatures-by-2100/2018/09/27/b9c6fada-bb45-11e8-bdc0-90f81cc58c5d_story.html

Great stuff.

this man is a red flag porcupine

Older anti-Reaganites thought nuts like James Watt had precisely this in mind: these Christians thought the world was doomed anyway, so why not hasten its demise?

W used to say "I'll be gone, you'll be gone"

That doomsday theology stuff seems as antithetical to decent government as like taliban ideology

With enough Florence's and Sandy's this failure of an administration will be voted out. Hopefully not too late, but honestly human self-destruction seems likely if not in this way tham in a nuclear winter. Other biota will survive and nature will say "well THAT species didn't work out!"

This is why I'm trying to get humans to mars NOW!

It’s such a disgrace that we haven’t been able to lead the world in the move to renewable energy. It’s not designing time machines, the technological challenges are surmountable with enough politica will.

Lovelock's Gaia theory seems to hinge upon an objective homeostatic force taht wouldn't value human above anything else that was messing up the ability for the planet to heal itself and might just remove anything that was causing too much danger.
He has a thing about the world feeling as easy in a state of lengthy ice age as one that would nourish the human race.

That sounds fake. I think we could solve this problem (or could have — maybe the time has passed) if it wasn’t for capitalism and its demand for constant growth in the short term.

Indeed, China is leading the way on renewable energy! Of all places, the middle kingdom.

And also lazy short sighted politicians

How can the people protect themselves from terrible leaders!

Honestly i think the recklessness on this front is some sick death drive shit. It demands a psychoanalytic explanation because there’s never been a real reason to not address this. Investing in green technology would have created jobs, it would have liberated us from dependence on places like Saudi Arabia, it was just win win win win win

And republicans wouldn’t move an inch.

And not all of these guys really believe jesus is coming back. They don’t behave as if they truly fear god. It’s a con.

Dr. c, we might be talking past one another. I am not talking about the excuse he gives, I just mean that if he drops out because of so many irrefutable instances of lying, doesn't that open him up to disbarment? Impeachment?

I think he’d say that he’s not doing it bc of that, it’s to spare his family from the Witch Hunt

sure. But it's already been established that it doesn't matter what he says. He is gambling for the illusion of exoneration, by way of Investigation or by way of appointment to the Supreme Court.

The real power structure of the world revolves around powerful money - of course - our democracy is an afterthought - look at the "new nafta" - it has strong similarities to whatever the TPP was supposed to be - these decisions are made without concern for the common person or the future of the earth - why develop green technologies ? what money is in it?

Its so cynical and yet when do voters ever get a real choice, a democrat who really will cause radical break ups and regulations and reign in the "free market" - hopefully this November!