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Demented and dumb

Published by digby on September 30, 2023

And they love him more than ever

Tom Sullivan already did a great post on the Trump speech in California yesterday and I can’t think of anything to add. But I do think you should see some more of what he said. It’s truly unbelievable:

 

Cheers from the audience that has been having a full blown hissy fit over the assault on decorum in the Senate if men don’t wear suits.

Here’s some truly demented babble:

And then there was this:

Marge is the most powerful woman in the US congress

Published by digby on September 30, 2023

And that says everything

Betraying Ukraine is her issue. It’s all she’s been talking about and she told her boy MyKevin that there was no way she would ever vote for a bill that contained funding to support it. And as I write this, the only continuing resolution MyKevin believes may pass with all GOP votes is one that keeps everything going except her pet issue — abandoning the Ukrainian people:

Just hours before a government shutdown, the House planned to vote on a measure to keep the government open for 45 days at current spending levels, adding money for U.S. disaster relief but none of the billions of dollars for Ukraine that the White House has sought, Rules Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the bill would pass the House or what its fate in the Senate would be. The government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. Sunday if a deal is not reached.

She is evil. And she is very powerful in the Republican Party right now. She’s no gadfly like Michele Bachman. She’s the real thing.

I don’t know if this will pass. Who know, even some Democrats may vote for it just to keep the government open for 45 days in the hope they can get it back into the spending bills in conference. But appeasing Marjorie Taylor Greene is a mistake. This woman is dangerous and she’s learning how to get what she wants very quickly.

Matt vs MyKevin

Published by digby on September 30, 2023

Politico Playbook took a look at the feud between McCarthy and Gaetz. Nobody really knows why they’re so hostile but whatever it is, it’s definitely personal:

To hear him tell it, Rep. MATT GAETZ is on a good-government crusade. The 41-year-old Florida Republican has railed against continuing resolutions, the short-term spending stopgaps that he blames for Washington’s fiscal dysfunction. He has insisted on regular order for appropriations bills and the devolution of power to the House rank-and-file.

That’s why, he says, he’s spent months relentlessly hounding House Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY — to the point that he’s almost certain to lead a charge to remove him in the coming weeks.

Most other House Republicans watching as Congress lurches toward a federal shutdown see something else entirely: “This isn’t a function of him being concerned about process,” Rep. MIKE LAWLER (R-N.Y.) told Playbook. “This is a function of personality.”

“He wants Kevin,” added a Gaetz friend. “That’s it, and everything else revolves around that.”

With less than 48 hours until the shutdown deadline, we thought we’d step back and dive deep on how this one deeply chaotic relationship has evolved and helped shape the present standoff.

Gaetz has by no means done it by himself. But he has harnessed the anti-establishment fervor inside the House GOP like no other member, setting trap after trap for a speaker desperate to please his detractors and keep his job.

Past government shutdowns have been organized around a demand — reversing the Affordable Care Act, for instance, or building a border wall. This one, should it come to pass Sunday, is better understood as being centered on a long, nasty grudge.

The tensions spilled out again yesterday, with Gaetz angrily confronting McCarthy in front of the entire GOP conference, rekindling the question that our Olivia Beavers closely examined yesterday: “What does Matt Gaetz really want?”

As Olivia writes, there’s certainly layers to Gaetz’s recent behavior. He’s reportedly exploring a run for governor, which might compel him to turn his antics up a notch. And he has been persistent in his policy demands of late — never mind that he voted repeatedly for CRs under President DONALD TRUMP.

But the real throughline is Gaetz and McCarthy’s mutual antipathy, according to those who have watched the two men closely in recent years.

“There is something between them, and I don’t know what it is,” Rep. MIKE ROGERS (R-Ala.) told Playbook. “And that’s the impression I’ve gotten from McCarthy, too: It’s not policy-driven; it’s personal.”

COMPETING FOR ATTENTION: Both men brush off the suggestions of animosity. “Matt is Matt,” McCarthy has said. Gaetz says he’s more concerned about McCarthy’s broken promises than any personal issues.

Yet the two have persistently clashed, dating back to Trump’s presidency, when they were engaged in what might be best described as a political love triangle, competing for Trump’s attention and affection. As one former House leadership aide put it to us, “I wouldn’t underestimate the jealousy factor.”

Gaetz would often float ideas to Trump, only to see McCarthy intervene and kill them, according to senior GOP aides on the Hill and in Trump’s White House. During Trump’s first impeachment, for instance, Gaetz publicly pressured McCarthy to name MAGA-minded members to the House Intelligence Committee, which was leading the public hearings.

McCarthy phoned Gaetz and excoriated him for launching a public campaign without a heads-up, according to a lawmaker with knowledge of the situation. McCarthy then convinced Trump that he’d be better served with the members already on the panel, though he ended up subbing in Rep. JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio), a Trump loyalist.

Another incident from that era was captured in a new memoir written by former Trump White House aide CASSIDY HUTCHINSON. Late at a 2019 Camp David retreat, Hutchinson says Gaetz followed her to a cabin he thought was hers — only to find McCarthy, who had gathered a bunch of Republicans for drinks and conversation.

Gaetz said he was lost, she writes, and prodded Hutchinson to escort him back to his cabin. “Get a life, Matt,” McCarthy said, shutting the door. (Gaetz denies the exchange.)

PUTTING KEVIN IN A BOX: McCarthy has offered olive branches over the years, according to people close to the speaker. He helped Gaetz land seats on the House Armed Services and Judiciary committee, which the Floridian was pining for, according to one senior GOP aide.

But when it came time for McCarthy to fulfill his own ambitions and claim the speaker’s gavel, Gaetz quickly emerged as his fiercest critic — mocking him publicly and leading a conservative revolt that was settled only after four days, 15 ballots and a series of tense episodes on the floor (including one where Rogers lunged at Gaetz).

While other conservatives flipped their votes to McCarthy in exchange for a suite of policy and process promises, Gaetz never once voted for him — agreeing only to vote “present,” passively allowing him to secure the gavel.

Meanwhile, those promises — which reportedly included allowing regular order for the 12 yearly appropriations bills — set the stage for the present showdown. Now McCarthy’s only way out will be to pass a bipartisan CR, reneging on his January deal and empowering Gaetz to seek revenge.

“Gaetz has boxed McCarthy in,” said one senior GOP aide close to McCarthy world. “People think Gaetz is dumb, but he’s fucking smart — he’s really smart.”

But should Gaetz take the next step and move to oust McCarthy from the speaker’s chair, it will not be without risks. Actually removing McCarthy will require Democrats to join the band of rebels, and some Republicans believe that will never happen — instantly rendering Gaetz irrelevant.

“If he wants to, he can keep the attention … and that keeps people asking about him,” said one senior House GOP aide who predicted Gaetz might flinch. “The moment he calls the motion to vacate, the charade is up. It’s put up or shut up.”

Gaetz is probably smarter than McCarthy but that isn’t saying much.

Gaetz is building a MAGA brand. And it’s popular.

Are we really this insane?

Published by Tom Sullivan on September 30, 2023

A time for choosing again

President Joe Biden routinely expresses a kinder, gentler American exceptionalism. “This is the United States of America!” Uncle Joe begins. He tells us there is nothing Americans cannot do if we do it together. How many of us in our accustomed cynicism roll our eyes at the naivete of it? But on the other hand….

Maybe Biden’s sunny vision reflects a defense mechanism that is now part of him. The working-class kid from Scranton who overcame his childhood stutter has confronted so much tragedy in his life, so much deep personal loss. Perhaps his Catholic faith tells Biden there has to be a plan. God has a deep purpose we cannot always see. We just have to have faith. Personally, and as a nation.

Biden’s most likely presidential opponent in 2024 has no faith, endured no sobering personal losses, never learned empathy. Donald Trump was born on third base with a sliver spoon up his ass. And a trust fund in the hundreds of millions. And a father who taught him to get further ahead by cutting ethical corners and standing on other people’s heads.

Trump’s mentor in young adulthood, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy’s (R-Wis.) legal hit man, taught him ruthlessness: “1. Never settle, never surrender. 2. Counter-attack, counter-sue immediately. 3. No matter what happens, no matter how deeply into the muck you get, claim victory and never admit defeat.”

The Republican Party has since the late-twentieth century longed to return to an imagined golden age of the 1950s, the “great” in the “G” on the MAGA caps. It was a soft-focused time of Ozzie and Harriet, of Ward and June Cleaver. Men were breadwinners, women were housewives, the underclasses knew their places, and Mexicans were the McCoys’ non-threatening farmhand. The party knew what it believed: family values, small government, and a strong national defense (meaning to fend off the Russians).

That was then.

“Who are these people?”

Trump spoke on Friday to the California Republican Party convention in Anaheim. The Associated Press politely describes the speech as “occasionally dark and profane.” Marty McFly had to admit that his parents’ 1950s selves were not ready for guitar-shredding. The American press is still not ready to call Trump’s batshit lunacy “some weird shit.”

Trump advocated shooting on sight anyone who robs stores. He recommended solving the state’s wildfire problem by watering the forests with free water from the north of the state. It was an applause line. The MAGA champion belongs in a padded room.

The crowd cheered as Trump spoke of standing up to “crazy Nancy Pelosi.” Trump added snidely, “How’s her husband doing, anybody know?”

A fringe right attacker, inspired by such language, broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home last year looking to attack her. She was not home. So he bashed in her husband Paul’s skull with a hammer. He survived.

“Imagine being the type of person that would laugh about an 82 year old man being assaulted with a hammer to his head,” responded MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough. “Who are these people?”

Sociopaths Anonymous?

“The speech [Trump] gave today was beyond meandering,” former Sen. Claire McCaskill posted. “It was deranged, vicious, out of control, bizarre, and sick. And they all laughed. And it was on a teleprompter. So someone wrote that shit? Seriously scary. And they all laughed.”

When he promised to end “American carnage” in his inaugural speech, Trump signaled to his mirror-world followers his intent to dial it up to 11. (He had help from COVID-19.) Now facing four indictments and 91 felony charges, the twice-impeached former president hopes to double down with a second term defined by spite:

“In 2016, I declared, ‘I am your voice,’” Mr. Trump told the crowd in National Harbor, Md. “Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

MAGA Republicans don’t want to govern. They mean to rule.

History has brought us to, Biden said this week, “a new time of testing.” We face the MAGA movement, “an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy.”

Whoever the Democrat and Republican candidates for president are next year, the choice Americans face at the polls will be between Uncle Joe’s sunny America and Trumpian autocracy. Conservative nostalgia for the 1950s is gone. Vengeance is the agenda. There is no policy to be found among most Republican members of Congress, no vison for a more perfect union. Nothing but catch phrases and buzzwords.

So what will Americans choose in the privacy of the voting booth? Are we really that insane? I did not think so in 2016. I was wrong.

As twee as it may sound, there is something still authentically appealing in Uncle Joe’s “This is the United States of America!” I imagine even the most cynical among us felt a secret thrill in dark theaters the first time Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi mentioned “the Force.” We still want to believe government can be a force for good, built on ideas that bind us together. Or are we too jaded for that kind of faith?

Biden spoke in honor of the late Republican Sen. John McCain, quoting him: “We are citizens of the world — the world’s greatest republic. A nation of ideals, not blood and soil. Americans never quit. They never hide from history. America makes history.”

What sort of history we will make is up to us.

Friday Night Soother

Published by digby on September 29, 2023

The other day, after glancing out at their walkup front porch, a family in Wellington, New Zealand, happened upon an adorable scene of peace and tranquility.

There, curled up next to their door mat, the family saw a tuckered-out animal — a little fur seal, dozing away without a care in the world. But arriving to that cozy locale, a short ways from the sea, had been no easy task.

“[The seal] had been on a bit of a mission,” New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) wrote, “climbing up the seawall stairs, crossing a road, hiking up a footpath, a driveway, and finally another set of stairs, before reaching its nap spot.”

While conservation officials note that resting seals may be mistakenly perceived as needing rescue, they evidently agreed that this little guy’s choice of sleeping spot wasn’t so ideal.

So, an officer was called out to help him find a better one.

“[He was taken] further around the coast, to a safe place away from dogs and traffic,” the DOC wrote.

Fortunately, the seal looked to be only slightly groggy following his unplanned awakening.

This species of fur seal, known locally as “kekeno,” can be found throughout the coasts of New Zealand and Australia — though not usually on people’s porches.

Around this time of year, however, youngsters recently weaned from their parents (like the one above), are known to leave their colonies to explore the surrounding region, “making it a prime time to see them out and about,” writes the DOC.

During this period, called “silly season” by residents, people are encouraged to peacefully coexist with the occasional wayward or sleeping seal — at one’s front door, notwithstanding.

Via the Dodo

Who’s their daddy?

Published by digby on September 29, 2023

The NY Times:

“I’d shut down the government if they can’t make an appropriate deal, absolutely,” Mr. Trump said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Mr. Trump’s view of how shutdowns work was shaped by his own experience as president, when the longest government shutdown in history took place from December 2018 to January 2019. He incurred the public blame for it, as he publicly embraced the idea of a shutdown while holding contentious talks about a budget agreement with two Democratic leaders, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and the House speaker at the time, Nancy Pelosi of California.

“I’ll be the one to shut it down,” Mr. Trump told the leaders in a contentious Oval Office meeting in December 2018 shortly before the shutdown. “I will take the mantle. And I will shut it down for border security.”

There is no reason to believe that Mr. Biden would be granted outsize blame, if any at all, for a shutdown that a group of Republican holdouts in Congress are encouraging. Mr. McCarthy has privately noted what Mr. Trump said publicly at the time in 2018, according to a person with knowledge of Mr. McCarthy’s comments.

In an earlier post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump suggested he believed the shutdown could “defund” the federal investigations he’s facing, although people have told him that such a belief was not likely to become reality, according to a person briefed on the conversation.

“The Republicans lost big on Debt Ceiling, got NOTHING, and now are worried that they will be blamed for the Budget Shutdown,” he wrote. “Wrong!!! Whoever is President will be blamed, in this case, Crooked (as Hell!) Joe Biden!”

Mr. Trump’s view of how shutdowns work was shaped by his own experience as president, when the longest government shutdown in history took place from December 2018 to January 2019. He incurred the public blame for it, as he publicly embraced the idea of a shutdown while holding contentious talks about a budget agreement with two Democratic leaders, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and the House speaker at the time, Nancy Pelosi of California.

“I’ll be the one to shut it down,” Mr. Trump told the leaders in a contentious Oval Office meeting in December 2018 shortly before the shutdown. “I will take the mantle. And I will shut it down for border security.”

There is no reason to believe that Mr. Biden would be granted outsize blame, if any at all, for a shutdown that a group of Republican holdouts in Congress are encouraging. Mr. McCarthy has privately noted what Mr. Trump said publicly at the time in 2018, according to a person with knowledge of Mr. McCarthy’s comments.

He was blamed because he caused it. The Republicans held both houses and the presidency. And they still shut down the government. It was stupid.

They say that while Trump is publicly agitating for a shutdown he hasn’t been whipping individual members personally. I’m guessing Matt and Marge are doing that as his surrogates.

Yet Mr. McCarthy, whom Mr. Trump supported at the last minute when he ran for speaker, is facing an existential threat to his leadership, with his Republican critics looking to force him from his role amid the calamity of a likely shutdown.

Aides to Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Trump declined to comment.

People close to both men maintain that the looming government shutdown was not a strain on their relationship, nor was it a sign of a bigger rift. Nonetheless, a person close to Mr. Trump acknowledged that his support for a shutdown was providing encouragement to Mr. McCarthy’s adversaries.

Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, a leading supporter of a shutdown, said in an interview that one of Mr. Trump’s posts on social media endorsing a shutdown may have had an influence on some members of Congress.

“I think there might have been a few people on the fence who were persuaded by that statement,” Mr. Gaetz said. “I view that as consequential.”

Yet Mr. Trump is not being faulted, at least overtly, for his stance. In Congress, some Republicans dismissed the notion that Mr. Trump could do something to push Mr. Gaetz and his allies in the other direction, away from a shutdown.

“I think it certainly helps with some of these folks when they hear from the former president, like during the speaker negotiations or the debt ceiling,” said Representative Mike Lawler of New York, a Republican member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. But he said it was Mr. Gaetz who was “creating a crisis.”

A person close to Mr. Trump maintained that the former president did not view the situation in terms of helping Mr. McCarthy, nor did he view the speaker as being especially imperiled. Mr. Trump “doesn’t think Kevin needs rescuing,” the person said. In Mr. Trump’s view, the person said, a government shutdown isn’t a terrible thing so long as it’s not consequential.

He means “consequential for him.”

And there has been another issue at play: Mr. Trump’s bid for the White House.

The person close to Mr. Trump insisted the former president had not been frustrated with Mr. McCarthy over his lack of an endorsement in the Republican presidential primary. Yet others who have spoken with Mr. Trump throughout the year said he had raised Mr. McCarthy’s lack of a formal endorsement several times.

Mr. McCarthy has all but endorsed Mr. Trump in recent weeks — taking public shots at his chief rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, and talking up Mr. Trump — but he has delayed making it official.

Earlier this year, Mr. McCarthy’s reasoning, according to three people with direct knowledge of his thinking, was that he was eventually going to endorse Mr. Trump but needed to hold off for fund-raising purposes. He has said that major donors who are essential to funding House Republican campaigns would cut off funds if he endorsed Mr. Trump and that he needed to raise as much money as possible from donors who do not like the former president before making the decision official, the people with knowledge of his thinking said.

Another person in contact with Mr. McCarthy, while not disputing that he expressed those sentiments about fund-raising, said that he was one of the most prolific fund-raisers in the Republican Party, and that he expected to raise money regardless of Mr. Trump.

Then there’s this inane demand:

Mr. Trump has also had an eye on expunging his impeachments. He asked Mr. McCarthy and his allies what they’re going to do to clear his impeachments — though it remains unclear whether they have any power to do so.

Despite the lack of formal support, Mr. McCarthy has made sure to tend to the relationship with Mr. Trump since he said in a television interview earlier this year that he was uncertain the former president was the strongest nominee in the general election. That comment enraged Mr. Trump, who told his aides he wanted it fixed.

More recently, Mr. McCarthy has struck a different note, saying: “President Trump is beating Biden right now in the polls. He’s stronger than he has ever been in this process.”

It’s pretty clear who their daddy is and daddy’s calling the shots. Gaetz and his people have their own agenda (God knows what it is other than blowing things up) but they have the putative Republican nominee for president on their side and everyone knows it. Especially MyKevin who’s trying to thread a needle that just isn’t threadable.

New PPP Poll of important swing states

Published by digby on September 29, 2023

I realize that people only want to talk about what a terrible loser Joe Biden is, and I hate to burst their bubble, but it’s not actually true:

New PPP polls in the key states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin- where wins for Joe Biden next year would be enough to get him to 270 electoral votes- find him leading Donald Trump by 3 or 4 points in each of them.

Biden is up 48-44 in both Michigan and Wisconsin, and 48-45 in Pennsylvania.

Most recent coverage of the race has focused on Biden’s struggles, and it’s true that he’s not terribly popular with favorability ratings of 42/51, 40/49, and 41/51 in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin respectively.

But elections are a choice and not a referendum. And Biden is popular in these key swing states compared to his likely opponent of Donald Trump and his likely foil of Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans.

Trump’s net favorability rating is -23 in Michigan at 35/58, 14 points worse than Biden’s. It’s -20 at 35/55 in Wisconsin, 10 points worse than Biden’s. And it’s -16 at 38/54 in Pennsylvania, 7 points worse than Biden’s.

And as House Republicans move toward shutting down the government this weekend, Biden looks positively popular compared to their brand. In Michigan House Republicans have a 22/60 favorability spread and Kevin McCarthy has a 19/53 approval rating. In Pennsylvania House Republicans have a 22/57 favorability spread and Kevin McCarthy has a 20/54 approval rating. And in Wisconsin House Republicans have a 25/57 favorability spread and Kevin McCarthy has a 22/54 approval rating.

Democrats did very well in this key trio of states last year, winning Gubernatorial races by an average of 10 points in them and flipping legislative chambers in the two of the states that have fair district maps. It’s not surprising against that backdrop to see Biden with leads in them now that exceed his 2020 margins of victory.

It will be close because almost half of America’s voters are in a cult and there’s no obvious way to deprogram them. He’s the world’s greatest sore loser and won’t admit it if he loses again but we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. (It won’t be pretty)

I don’t want to blow smoke and suggest that it will be easy. We are in a dogfight. But it’s not at all predestined that the voters will choose the crazy, criminal sore loser over the old guy who’s done a good job. Are we really that far gone?

The impeachment clown show begins

Published by digby on September 29, 2023

It was worse than we expected

The House Republicans have been promising that the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden was going to be filled with fireworks from the word go. We would see evidence of bribery and extortion and payoffs from foreign companies in the tens of millions of dollars, the “Biden Crime Family” would finally be exposed as the international gangsters they are Donald Trump would be exonerated. Or something. They held their first hearing yesterday and all those fireworks blew up in their faces.

Keep in mind that they decided to hold this preposterous hearing two days before the government is set to shut down because a tiny rump faction of extremists in their party is demanding that they get everything they ever wanted or they’ll hold their breath until they turn blue. Nobody knows exactly what that is other than to torture Speaker Kevin McCarthy and make America miserable again. It’s been reported that they have no plans to table their “inquiry” when the government is shut down even though their staff won’t be paid and all regular business is usually curtailed until an agreement is reached. Not this time. It’s full speed ahead.

It would be one thing if they had even bothered to prepare for this silly hearing. But clearly they did not. The day before the hearing we caught a glimpse of just how bad it was going to be when Jason Smith, R-Mo., the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, one of the committees tasked with pursuing the “inquiry,” was asked a question by NBC reporter Ryan Nobles during a press conference.

That was a perfect preview of what was to come in the hearing the next day. They have been blatantly manufacturing what look like WhatsAp messages based upon IRS summaries of what was allegedly in them. In the hearing on Thursday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., caught them red-handed creating a fake Whats Ap message that totally distorted the actual text.

The fabricated text message implied that back in 2018 Joe Biden’s brother James told Hunter Biden that he would “work with” his father alone for some nefarious purpose to give Hunter a “safe harbor.” Even though, once again, Joe Biden wasn’t in office at the time which these Republicans don’t seem to realize means that he wasn’t in a position to commit treason or whatever they think he’s done, they sure made it sound suspicious.

But more importantly, the rest of the summary, which they left out, showed that Hunter (then in the throes of substance abuse disorder) needed help from his father to pay for his alimony and his kid’s school tuition and his uncle Jim was offering to talk to his Dad to help out. This had nothing at all to do with business of any kind. It’s a personal text dealing with a family matter. They knew that and they purposefully doctored the text to make it sound fishy. I doubt it’s the only time their “evidence” has been similarly manufactured.

That was pretty much how it went all day long with Republicans stepping in it over and over again. The Democrats, led by the extremely competent Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin and aided by excellent committee members, Ocasio-Cortez, NY Rep. Dan Goldman, Jasmine Crockett, D-Tx., Maxwell Frost, D-Fl., and more all of whom obviously did much more homework than any of the Republicans who babbled their way through the hearing, casting aspersions and throwing out innuendo with no evidence that the president had done anything wrong.

Even their “star witnesses” who had no evidence of their own to present, testified that a president could not be lawfully impeached with the evidence that has been presented although one of them, the perennial GOP impeachment witness Jonathan Turley, did say it was absolutely fine to go on a fishing expedition to see if they can find something that would fit the bill. (He didn’t say it quite that way, but that’s the gist of it.)

It’s clear that the plan is to use the hearings to curry favor with their Dear Leader, smear Biden and hope that a smoking gun emerges that they can use as an excuse to vote to impeach. But it seems that they themselves have lost the thread and no longer even know what they are accusing the president of doing. When confronted with facts, they can’t explain it.

Their Republican colleagues were dismayed. Stephen Neukam of The Messenger reported that one GOP aide told him “Comer and staff botched this bad. So much confusing info from Republicans and Dems are on message. How can you not be better prepared for this?”

The right wing media, or certain elements of it, also seem to be shocked that the hearing was such a train wreck. Fox News’ Neil Cavuto seemed somewhat befuddled by what he’d just watched:

I don’t know what was achieved over these last six-plus hours. The way this was built up — where there’s smoke there would be fire…but where there’s smoke today, we got more smoke…The promise of explosive testimony and proof …did not materialize today. The best they could say now after this six-plus hours of testimony back and forth is that they’re going to try to get more bank records from Joe Biden and his son. Said that they’re needed to determine if a crime was committed. Understood. But none of that was presented today, just that they would need those records to further the investigation after months of Republican probes that failed to provide anything resembling concrete evidence.

That is exactly correct. On the other hand, some of his colleagues were convinced that this is all part of a master plan:

I think we can all agree that blowing witnesses at a House inquiry would be a risky strategy. That’s something you definitely want to save for the trial.

Sadly, this will not be the end of it. It’s very likely that they will proceed to an impeachment vote and it’s also quite likely it will fail which is going to make Donald Trump very, very unhappy. They’d better hope that he is so busy with the two civil cases and 91 felony indictments he’s juggling that he doesn’t have time to pay close attention to this farce.

Salon

Still chilling

Published by digby on September 29, 2023

That was the day Senator Dianne Feinstein first came to national attention and she never left it. She became mayor and then ran for the senate in the 1992 “year of the woman” becoming one of the most powerful women in American government.

Dianne Feinstein now has a complicated legacy with many people loathing her for being old and refusing to step down. And she had a centrist viewpoint that often drove progressives crazy.

But she was great on guns and really tried to do something about the carnage. And I’ll always be grateful for what she did on the great stain of American torture. Her Senate investigation was serious, so much so that the CIA actually infiltrated it. And she defied President Obama to release the summary of the torture report that exposed the grotesque practices this country perpetrated in the War on Terror.

RIP.