Huckleberry used to pretend
by digby
‘I have argued to you that when you found that a judge was a perjurer, you couldn’t in good conscience send him back in a courtroom because everybody that came in that courtroom thereafter would have a real serious doubt’
— @LindseyGrahamSC (January 1999) pic.twitter.com/A5D3yx2iIS— RetroNewsNow (@RetroNewsNow) September 28, 2018
I don’t think he ever meant it.
Benedict Arnold sold out for money. Mitch McConnell did it for power.
by digby
We’ve heard the official version of this, but I never heard the threat before:
Yikes. WaPo’s @GregPMiller describes a tense moment from 2016 involving a CIA director trying to sound the alarm on Russia and a senior U.S. senator wanting none of it… pic.twitter.com/iuQEiOs5Bh— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) October 2, 2018
I think I’ve been remiss in failing to properly recognize McConnell’s malevolent role in all of this. Ryan’s too. They knew what was happening. They understood that a foreign adversary was interfering in the election on behalf of their candidate and they threatened anyone who tried to sound the alarm.
It’s bad enough that Republican leaders, like everyone except their celebrity dazzled base, knew that Trump was a narcissistic imbecile. But they also knew he was was compromised in ways that put the entire country — and the world — in danger. They didn’t care.
Mitch McConnell is a traitor. Perhaps not in any legal sense, but in a moral sense he certainly is.
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Politics and Reality Radio: Brett Kavanaugh and the Right’s Long Judicial Coup
by Joshua Holland
This week, we’re joined by People for the American Way Executive Vice President Marge Baker to talk about where we are in the gut-wrenching confirmation process for Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick who faces charges of sexual assault and lying to Congress.
Then we go back to the archive to put all of this into a larger context with an earlier interview with Johns Hopkins political scientist Steven Teles, author of The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement: The Battle for Control of the Law, a seminal book on the conservative movement’s long, well funded campaign to push the center of gravity in American courts to the right.
Playlist:
Salt-n-Pepa: “Here We Come”
Queen Latifa: “U.N.I.T.Y”
Rocky Rivera: “Pussy Kills”
As always, you can also subscribe to the show on iTunes, Soundcloud or Podbean.
It looks like the “Kavanaugh will motivate the base” strategy might not work
by digby
Philip Rucker analyzed the new Quinnipiac poll:
Given how polarizing Kavanaugh’s nomination has become, it’s probably not a surprise that most Democrats oppose the nomination and most Republicans support it. But the shift in opinions by party is interesting. Democrats are 12 points more likely to oppose Kavanaugh than a month ago. Independents, more supportive than not early last month, have now flipped to be more likely to oppose his nomination. While support for Kavanaugh’s nomination increased among Republicans, opposition to his nomination increased more. (The percentage of undecided respondents decreased.)
There are obvious gender divides in views of Kavanaugh’s confirmation, in part because of partisan identity, in part out of concern about his position on abortion and in part, it’s safe to assume, because of the nature of the allegations he faces.
A plurality of women opposed Kavanaugh last month, while a plurality of men supported him. Now, more than half of women oppose his confirmation, an increase of eight points.
Those gender differences, though, aren’t uniform across party identity. Independent men, for example, still support Kavanaugh’s confirmation by a narrow (statistically insignificant) margin. The margin among Republican men narrowed while Democratic men became much more likely to oppose his nomination.
But not as much as Democratic women, who went from opposing Kavanaugh by a 68-point margin to opposing him by 84 points — a net 16-point shift. Among independent women, who were about split on Kavanaugh last month, there’s now a wide split. Part of this is because fewer independent women were polled, making the margin of error larger. But part of it, clearly, is a shift in attitudes.
Republican women, interestingly, didn’t see much change in net support for Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
In fact, Republican women were the only group in which net support for Kavanaugh’s confirmation increased. Otherwise, net support fell. That was particularly true among Democrats and independents, driven by the drop in support among Democratic and independent women.
I don’t know what to say about these idiot Republican women… Apparently, they just love a screaming jackass.
What are the consequences? Well …
In the abstract, this isn’t great news for Kavanaugh’s confirmation. An increase in overall opposition is not a trend his supporters would want to see.
But in the context of an election where women are poised to support Democrats over Republicans by historic margins, it should be particularly troubling for Republicans. Men are about where they were before the last month of revelations, but women have shifted against Trump’s nominee. The Supreme Court is cited as the most important issue to midterm voters.
Kavanaugh, subject to a vote not by the American public but by a Republican-led Senate, may well still be confirmed. Republicans have argued that confirming him is necessary to keep Republicans motivated to come out to vote. Quinnipiac’s poll results don’t appear to show the sort of surge in support that might reinforce that claim, but even if the argument is true, it will be interesting to see whether it was worth potentially turning away independent women in particular.
Bill Gates is still walking into that bar
by Tom Sullivan
In a Rose Garden press event Monday, the sitting president called on ABC’s Cecilia Vega.
“She’s shocked that I picked her,” Trump told the crowd before Vega’s question.
“I’m not. Thank you, Mr. President,” Vega began. Trump misheard that as, “I’m not thinking.”
“That’s okay. I know you’re not thinking. You never do,” the misogynist-in-chief replied.
“I’m sorry?” Vega asked, taken aback.
A pained “Oh!” swept through the crowd.
Trump calls on Cecilia Vega of ABC News. He says that she's shocked that he picked her. Then he adds, "That's OK. I know you're not thinking. You never do." (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/FnrIDeyqyN— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 1, 2018
Trump was there to boast about the glories of his new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. He managed to rebrand NAFTA without plastering his name on it. It is now the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). TRUMCA would have sent the wrong signal to Wall Street.
Catherine Rampell thinks it could have been worse. There are some iffy protectionist measures for auto makers and sunset provisions to allow the parties (Trump) to periodically assess whether they are winning enough. Overall, Rampell writes in the Washington Post, despite the president’s claims, NAFTA remains mostly intact. But the sitting president got a press conference and another chance to insult women out of it.
Some of the new language, she writes, appears cribbed from Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership. A TPP supporter herself, Rampell writes:
In fact, a bunch of NAFTA 2.0 language appears squarely aimed at returning to Obama’s alliance strategy for isolating China — which, to reiterate, only requires rebuilding because Trump destroyed it.
For instance, the NAFTA-replacement deal includes “protections against misappropriation of trade secrets, including by state-owned enterprises,” one of China’s major trade sins. Likewise, there’s also language designed to disincentivize NAFTA 2.0 signatories from making free-trade deals with “non-market” countries, widely understood to be targeting China. Some have speculated that Trump may press for similar language in negotiations with other countries, such as Japan.
In other words, Trump has wrought a lot of destruction in service of landing us in roughly the same position we would have been in had we simply stayed in TPP and pursued more amicable negotiations with Mexico and Canada on other outstanding issues.
What does it all mean though for workers?
Despite Trump’s boasting about the lowest unemployment figures in nearly a half century, workers are not enthusiastic. Their adjusted-for-inflation earnings have actually declined during the two years of the Trump presidency, writes Robert J. Shapiro, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
The White House touts a boost in “average earnings” for all people employed in the economy. President Bill Clinton’s undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs, Shapiro argues rising inequality means high-income at the top of the scale gives the “illusion of progress.” Examine the pay of the average or “median” income earner and the gains evaporate. Bill Gates is still walking into that bar. On top of that, the White House is using figures not adjusted for inflation.
“In real terms, the weekly earnings of a typical working American fell $16.80, or 1.9 percent, during Donald Trump’s first 18 months as president,” Shapiro explains:
Another blow to the White House’s preferred economic narrative: The current earnings decline is a new development. Using the same measure, real median weekly earnings increased substantially during Barack Obama’s final 18 months as president.
“Yes, low unemployment is something to applaud,” Shapiro concludes, “but there might be a good reason that so many who have jobs aren’t clapping.”
To make things worse, Trump cannot even claim credit for the “glowing effect” supporters believe he has had on the economy. He is merely riding trend lines already set in the Obama administration, Rampell explains in a short video:
Rampell quips, “Donald Trump has turned around the economy in the same way Tim Cook turned around Apple.”
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For The Win 2018 is ready for download. Request a copy of my county-level election mechanics primer at tom.bluecentury at gmail.
This happened and it’s beautiful
by digby
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| The Illuminator |
The Illuminator projects images on to buildings to make a political statement. This one was perfect.
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The future and the past is colliding in Texas
by digby
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday described Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) as “cult-like” in the way that he’s garnered attention in his bid to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
“He’s been a cult-like, very popular figure the way that he’s run the campaign, but you don’t vote on cult, you don’t vote on personality when you get to the U.S. Senate. You vote on the issues,” Abbott said on “Fox & Friends.”
He should ask Donald Trump about that.
If this is a cult, it’s an empowering, uplifitng, forward-thinking, inclusive, cult.
This is a campaign of people. All people. pic.twitter.com/4z8q8sEN75— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) September 30, 2018
We’ll have to see if Texas want more of that. Or if they prefer the servile Trump sycophantic hypocrite who used to say this:
We’ll see.
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QOTD: A Federal Appeals Court judge
by digby
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| Interesting that Lady Justice has a blindfold. And a sword. |
To be a good judge and a good umpire, it’s important to have the proper demeanor. Really important, I think. To walk in the others’ shoes, whether it be the other litigants, the litigants in the case, the other judges. To understand them. To keep our emotions in check. To be calm amidst the storm. On the bench, to put it in the vernacular, don’t be a jerk. I think that’s important. To be a good umpire and a good judge, don’t be a jerk. In your opinions, to demonstrate civility—I think that’s important as well. To show, to help display, that you are trying to make the decision impartially and dispassionately based on the law and not based on your emotions. That we’re not the bigger than the game…There’s a danger of arrogance, as for umpires and referees, but also for judges. And I would say that danger grows the more time you’re on the bench. As one of my colleagues puts it, you become more like yourself—and that can be a problem.
Who said this?
Why it was Judge Brett Kavanaugh in 2015, who else?
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The world is watching
by digby
And like most Americans, they are appalled by what they see:
As transfixed as Americans were Thursday by the testimonies of Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh before the Senate Judiciary Committee, so too was the world.
Readers from South Africa to Scotland told us that they watched, with equal amounts of fascination and repulsion, the hearing in which Dr. Blasey accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in high school, and he vehemently denied doing so.
Many expressed despair for America’s future and shock over the public airing of the allegations. Others decried the spectacle of the hearing as unsubstantial and frivolous.
Their statements have been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
‘I hope she really understands the impact she has’I don’t think people in the U.S. know how closely we are watching this, and I didn’t know, until now, how deeply this testimony would affect me personally. We have been watching the downfall of the American democracy for a while now. We have been watching the #MeToo movement for a while now, not knowing what to think of it.
Well, I didn’t know until now, and there I stand watching this testimony, feeling really stupid, dragged into reality. I’ve been there. It happened to me. I only told one person. It was 28 years ago. I thought it was my fault, my responsibility. I was 13 years old. I just realized that it wasn’t.
I hope she really understands the impact she has on all of us, around the world. And I hope she knows she’s making history. Whatever the outcome may be.
— P., Belgium
‘Should a judge on the Supreme Court not be independent?’I am an outsider, and as I was watching — with great interest, I must say — the proceedings yesterday, I was wondering after listening to Judge Kavanaugh’s opening statement and the very harsh words he said about the senators from the Democratic Party whether he would be ever in a position to rule impartially in any matter involving the Democratic Party.
Should a judge on the Supreme Court not be independent? Kavanaugh behaved like a member of the Republican Party.
Nobody will ever know for sure what happened in that bedroom, but we all saw what happened in the hearing room. And only on that basis Kavanaugh is totally disqualified to be a judge — at any level, let alone the Supreme Court.
A very bad week for America on the world stage.
Her trauma is real and so is his anger. And if the highly emotional testimonies leave us back to the starting point regarding this specific allegation, the rational side of me turns to the only objective question at hand — does his behavior, temperament, tone and clear antipathy toward Democrats make him a suitable candidate for a lifetime appointment to a body that is supposed to be an impartial branch of government?
— American Abroad, Dubai
‘There are nothing close to facts’Clearly there must be a better way of dealing with accusations of this sort, be they true, have foundation or simply malicious. This is just as true in the wider world as it is in this particular arena.
I don’t disbelieve either party, but then there are nothing close to facts.
America truly is the laughingstock of the world.
Regardless of whether Kavanaugh really did what he is accused of (and how is this going to be decided with no evidence?), this is ridiculous. What is to stop anyone from making such unsubstantiated claims about anyone else in the future? What it does show is just how far towards insanity and away from common sense American society has gone. Trial by believability on TV.
With all the problems and issues in the world today, the United States is fussing about something a middle-aged man may or may not have done 36 years ago when he was in high school.
— Garth Stevenson, Grimsby, Ontario
‘Your country has lost the plot’I simply cannot imagine any country in Europe carrying out such a bizarre hearing, least of all one for all the world to see. It showed the U.S. in a very poor light.
Some might say that it was at least transparent, but what it showed was a country massively at odds with itself and in no way fit to lead in the world.
Your country has lost the plot. It’s not about power and my seat in Congress, it’s about inequality and disenfranchisement. Shame on the Democrats, too. Archaic political system.
If this is the best America can do to fill one of nine seats on the highest court in the land, America is a country in serious decline.
— John Townsend, Mexico
‘I watch in despair as America slides back’I have visited America more times than I can count and always loved the country, and most of the people I met were friendly, welcoming and open. I watch in despair as America slides back into the Dark Ages and loses its reputation on the international stage. It is really very sad seeing America implode.
This is not good for America. Trump & Co. may bulldoze and taste temporary success in trade wars.
But the genuine cries of women may not be that easy to ignore! Times are changing.
This story has obviously touched a raw nerve in so many men and women in the U.S. and around the world. Perhaps it is a turning point (one can only hope) in men finally getting it.
Women need to be heard and respected as they have not been up until now.
— Greg Hodges, Truro, Nova Scotia
The United States is burning through unbelievable amounts of good will. You can do better.
We deserve this, I suppose. America has been hubristic and arrogant for a very long time. But the fact remains that most people didn’t vote for this freak show and it’s falls upon that majority to do what it takes to turn this around.
America is a laughing stock, which isn’t really the end of the world. But we are still the most economically and militarily powerful nation on earth. It’s dangerous for everyone including ourselves for this behmoth to be seen this way:
Trump opened his speech the same way he opens his campaign rallies, TV interviews, and probably conversations with every visitor he meets: “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”
The response from the leaders assembled in the room? Laughter. The entire world literally laughed at the US president – and they weren’t laughing with him.
Even Trump himself was taken aback: “I did not expect that reaction …”
And while reporters and foreign policy experts could not recall another leader ever before drawing derisive laughter at a UN speech, it did not end there. When Trump made another claim – “Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy …” – the cameras revealed the German delegation laughing and snickering to one another.
With Trump’s own behavior and policies as a backdrop, the substance of Trump’s speech merited laughter – it was an incomprehensible joke.
The main theme of Trump’s speech was protecting US “sovereignty” and he said that all countries should do likewise. He claimed: “The United States will not tell you how to live, work or worship. We only ask that you honor our sovereignty in return.” But shortly thereafter Trump spent portions of his speech telling Iran and Venezuela what to do at home.
In the Middle East, Trump claims his “new approach is yielding great strides and very historic change” as he announced that the United States is working with Gulf countries, Jordan and Egypt to establish a strategic alliance. Moments later, Trump reversed course and launched a broadside against Opec (of which the Gulf states are the key members) for “ripping off the rest of the world”.
Unfortunately, the consequences of the policies embedded within Trump’s speech are no joke. They can inflict lasting damage.
They already have. We just don’t yet know the scope of it.
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Your gross presidential behavior of the day
by digby
…well, so far. He has a rally tonight.
WOW — Trump alludes to an unnamed Democratic senator who has a drinking problem, says he thinks it's "unfair" to scrutinize Kavanaugh's drinking and sexual misconduct when he was in high school pic.twitter.com/zI60aDuyaK— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 1, 2018
WHOA: Trump mockingly criticizes a female reporter who tries to ask him a question for not thinking — "you never do," he tells her — then refuses to answer her question about Kavanaugh pic.twitter.com/OA3AFdinq3— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 1, 2018
Look at those finerobots behind him all nodding in agreement.
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