I cannot watch the video without screaming at the screen. Having turned it off after a few seconds, I will blog from the text:
MADDOW: “If the Brett Kavanaugh nomination is now hurdling into the suns...""Hurdling" or "hurtling"? Is the nomination running on its own and jumping over obstacles or has it been thrown with great force?
"... which is what I think, and that’s just my take on it. I don’t know if that will be proven right or wrong, there is the question about how the Senate should handle this matter going forward. I mean, there is this screwy precedent now where Republicans would not let President Obama fill an opening on the Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Scalia for nearly a year until they got another shot at the White House in the 2016 election. Some Republican senators during the election campaign said that if you were elected in 2016, they fully intended to hold that seat open for all four years if necessary to give a Republican another shot at holding it. Given that extreme recent history, do you think that Democrats should play that kind of hardball too, be prepared to use those kinds of tactics so as not to be sort of the Patsy being pushed around on this, or do you think Democrats should just go through regular order with whoever Trump has to put up next if the Kavanaugh nomination fails?”(Funny to capitalize "Patsy."*) But that's a great, well-framed question by Rachel Maddow. I just have a problem with the interlocutor, Hillary Clinton, who worked hard to push back the women who accused her husband. She has no credibility on this issue. Make her talk about Juanita Broaddrick first!
CLINTON: “What I would like to see is a democratic majority that actually has the chance to make that choice right now the Democrats have very few tools at their disposal to stop the Republicans from going full speed ahead and engaging in the kind of unprecedented behavior as they did with the Garland nomination. So I’m not in favor of either unilateral disarmament or Defcon-10."I had to look up "Defcon-10." Urban Dictionary, with lots of down votes, says it means "awesome." Wikipedia has an entry for "Defcon," showing levels of military readiness that begin at 5, the lowest level, normal readiness, and go up to 1 — "maximum readiness," "imminent nuclear war."
Why would Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State, say "Defcon-10"? What is that, one tenth of normal readiness?! Does she not know Defcon is a 5-point scale and that the lower the number, the more intense the situation? Saying "Defcon-10" is stupider than saying "It goes up to 11" or "I support him 1,000%," because she not only got the scale wrong, she had it going in the wrong direction.
"I think there has to be some effort to try to get back to regular order, try to get back to having a system, a process in place so that we are not subjected to the hardball behavior of the Republicans.... I mean, there can’t be one set of rules for Democrats and one set of rules for Republicans...."That is, we need to play hardball, because they play hardball. We'd be foolish to unilaterally disarm.
That’s one of the reasons why people don’t have any confidence in the Congress. How can you? You don’t know what’s going to happen from day to day. I remember back in the Thomas hearing when senator bird...Patsy Bird?!
... was asked what he was going to do...."He" = him:
... and he said in a situation like this we should give the benefit of the doubt to the court and the country. And that’s what the Republicans should be doing right now, from the White House down Pennsylvania avenue to the Senate, give the benefit of the doubt to the court and the country. And that means have an investigation that will then lead to a hearing that will then lead to a vote if appropriate.This is the new move of the Democrats: After Republicans acceded to a hearing, they demanded an investigation. To be followed by hearing. And with the words "a vote if appropriate," Hillary reveals the planned goal: There will never be a vote. Make that happen.
And instead, they are playing the hardest of hardballs...They are playing hardball. You're playing, what? Rope a dope?
... to try to pack the court with, you know, another nominee, regardless of the questions....Everyone is always trying to pack the Court. The other side will always have more questions. It's challenging to play from the down position, but the Democrats are trying. It's working pretty well too!
But do I need to hear from Hillary on this subject?
That's — and I'm choosing my words carefully — looney tunes.
__________________
* "Patsy" is a common noun. It means, to quote the unlinkable OED, "A person who is easily taken advantage of, esp. by being deceived, cheated, or blamed for something; a dupe, a scapegoat." But it originated as a proper noun, in the context of — surprise! — a minstrel show:
1889 H. F. Reddall Fact, Fancy & Fable 404 A party of minstrels in Boston, about twenty years ago, had a performance... When the pedagogue asked in a rage, ‘Who did that?’, the boys would answer, ‘Patsy Bolivar!’... The phrase..spread beyond the limits of the minstrel performance, and when a scapegoat was alluded to, it was in the name of ‘Patsy Bolivar’..the one who is always blamed for everything.My favorite "patsy" quote is — "Patsy" being a nickname for Patti/Patty — something Patti Smith sang about Patty Hearst:
And I was standin' there in front of that flagAnd now the F.B.I. is looking for Brett Kavanaugh... in the Democrats' dream. Well, 60 days ago, he was such a lovely child...
With a car bomb between my legs
You know, I felt so free of death beyond me
I felt so free, the F.B.I. is looking for me baby
But they'll never gonna find me, no
They can hunt me down like a dog
And I will stay on the run
And they can speculate what I'm feelin'
But daddy, daddy, you'll never know just what I was feelin'
But I'll tell you
I am no little pretty little rich girl
I am nobody's million dollar baby
I am nobody's patsy anymore
I'm nobody's million dollar baby
I'm nobody's patsy anymore
And I feel so free...
AND: I had a feeling I'd riffed on "patsy" before. Here: "Let's look at the word 'patsy' — used yesterday by Donald Trump to describe the United States" — back in 2015. Look how similar my stream of consciousness was, complete with Patti Smith. BUT: In the old post, I had Lee Harvey Oswald. That was suggested by Meade though, and didn't come out of my stream of consciousness. My stream got diverted.
Posts
174 comments:
Fat chance.
Good faith is about what soap opera women will thing, because they decide what stories suppress all others in the news cycle.
The call to denounce the husband is another play for the soap opera women.
Which one wins with soap opera women?
Guys don't care about any of it.
For some reason, I initially interpreted the headline as a quote, and was delighted! Finally, someone was willing to say that to her! Then, I realized it was just Althouse’s (quite correct) take. I should have known better then to get my hopes up that someone in the media might have a little intellectual honesty.
I was listening to a “feminist” podcast from Slate the other day (pre-this mess). There was a discussion about Clinton, and someone asked if his (not even hers, just his) legacy should be tarnished. The response was “Wow, that’s a good question.” Theses feminist intellectuals had literally never thought of this issue. And they barely engaged with it then. Infuriating.
That said, if this is a war, then sacrificing principles to secure principals is probably the right call. She's Pro-Choice. She's not technically a bigot.
The soap opera woman trap annoys Althouse. On the one hand, you don't want to be a soap opera woman. On the other hand, it resonates, sucking you in. Althouse being on the denounce your husband side.
Guys don't care if Bill Clinton is denounced. They don't care about #MeToo. It's all women's mind fluff.
I'll be super happy when Hillary is dead.
Most of us have known for decades that not only is Hillary venial and corrupt..she's pretty dumb too.
Lyssa - I thought the same thing. It was a hope that was quickly dashed.
The hack -D press love them some corrupt hypocrite Clinton crime family.
Aw c'mon A-House. You're supposedly a legal beagle. Both the Clintons should be in a cage and you know it. Everyday women confirm that the 19th amendment has to be repealed.
When Hillary comes out to defend you, as a fake victim, you've really arrived.
Her victims are real and the pets are dead.
What's pissing me off the most is the pressure to stake out an absolute position automatically. You're not allowed to consider the known facts and circumstances when trying to decide if she's telling the truth. And god forbid you consider the possibility that she is but he should be confirmed anyway.
It's not just careful thinking that has been destroyed on the alter of political activism. Redemption is dead. Forgiveness is dead. Democrats have made it clear that they will burn it all down if that's what it takes to get what they want. (In Game of Thrones speak, they will rule over the ashes.)
Even if Ms. Clinton were to denounce Mr. Clinton's behavior (which I think she absolutely would do if it would advance her political future), based on her track record I would never consider any of her statements to be in good faith.
She's referring to defcon the rat poison.
Hillary is the ultimate war monger. Right after her money grubbing using a Private Server.
This is all theater. What the Senate does is political. It is ALL political. Why is that so hard to understand? When the Senate refused to consider Obama's nominee, the voters wanted that, they affirmed their desire with a vote. If the Dems want to do the same, they too will get their answer at the next election. Let us not forget, the Dems are crazy, nuts, about the Supreme Court of the United States. Because SCOTUS is where the Dems attain their goals. Those items that the Democrat Party is unable to legislate honestly because they do not have the support of the electorate. Abortion could have been codified into federal code, but despite the lie that most people want unrestricted, unregulated access to abortion upto and shortly after birth.
SCOTUS has been the Democrats political action committee.
Bill Safire about the Clintons: It is not just that they lie, but that they lie so easily that disturbs me.
One person's "10" may be another's "1".
I did think Bo Derek was a "10"
The stupid, it burns, it burns.
Kavanaugh will be confirmed if he still wants the job. Ruth Bader Ginsberg's statement about how Supreme Court confirmations are being conducted not only resonated with people on both sides, it also showed the world how fragile she is. Trump needs to seriously line up a woman to replace her if he hasn't already. Cut the "Me, too" movement at its knees. Make the Democrats find a new boogey man. Show all women the Democrats are not the "Party of Women". Trump is already making inroads into other voting blocks. It's time to use The Democrats' identity politics to divide and conquer. Look at this fiasco as the gift it is.
Oh please, please, please keep putting Hillary Clinton in front of cameras.
I watched some in real time. HRC in full hypocrite mode. One system of justice for D and one for R. Like the one that let her off the hook for multiple felonies.
Thank god she isn't President.
"Some Republican senators during the election campaign said that if you were elected in 2016, they fully intended to hold that seat open for all four years"
Which ones? How many? I don't believe it and I cannot except the premise that they would hold the vote open for 4 years. That WOULD be unprecedented. Holding it open until the 2016 election was not.
Therefore, the rest of the question is based upon a false condition, that the Repubs would indeed hold the seat open, therefore the Dems are now allowed to choose this option if they wish.
Subpoena the accuser right now and get her behind closed doors (unlocked) and ask her straight forward questions. E.g. how did you get to the party? Who else was there that can corroborate that the event took place and Kavanaugh was there?
Else, hold the vote. Else, never nominate another man for the court, as the other side will find an accuser in the nick of time.
The Democrats' identity politics to divide and conquer.
Yes. Fortunately, once Kavanaugh is appointed, there are quality men and women to follow. So, diversity, including racism, sexism, etc., and its appearance, can be safely ignored.
Make 2018 about defeating the Clintons again.
Over and over and over and over, we must defeat the Clinton Crime Family.
Denounce Donald Trump, if you want to have credibility on the Hillary Clinton issue.
Maddow, the democratic socialist, would never ask corrupt Hillary a tough question.
Hillary can't have any illusions that an FBI investigation is going to reveal the Truth.
Things that do not exist:
1. Leftover bacon
2. Hillary's "good faith."
I have a problem with part of the question lead: "Some" ?
Who? You are a reporter! Say who said what. That's your job. Saying "Some" is not credible.
Say: "Senator Jones, Smith & Wong stated in 2016 that..."
Takes 3 extra seconds. Show your work. Don't say Some.
It may be acceptable as a reporter to say "Many" if, for example, you are using it to identify that maybe 60-70 senators have all sent/ stated their near identical boilerplate condolences at the recent death of Mr Johnson's turtle. "Many senators have expressed sorrow..." even then you wonder if that needs to be reported.....
But "Some" is part of why people stop listening.
What does "Some" do better than "Smith Jones and Wong"?
Well, if Smith said it, Smith owns it. So say Smith.
But when you use an adjective to suggest it was not just Smith. Maybe Wong can be tarred to by your purposeful non-specific.
You didn't do your job. Tell us who said what.
That's your job. Don't talk down to people by framing snippets.
Say what. And who.
Trump should make her ambassador to ISIS.
did Hillary ever work for an institution where 25% of the women who attended were raped?
The problem with being a baby boomer is that you will be stuck with these baby boomers your whole life.
As a strategy to stop Kavanaugh's appointment, this is ... not helpful. Only true believers are yelling attagirl at Hill these days. We will soon see how effective this is at bringing that Blue Wave we've all heard about so much. GOPers should act as though its working and get their people out like never before.
That's won't happen by calling me three times a day to remind me to vote, though.
OT - do people actually believe that ringing a bell to randomly interrupt someone's day will dispose them to like you and vote for you? I can't believe we put up with that for so long. Someday it will be as anachronistic as smoking.
Igv beat me to it. Damn these thumbs!
You're not allowed to consider the known facts and circumstances when trying to decide if she's telling the truth. And god forbid you consider the possibility that she is but he should be confirmed anyway.
Yesterday Matthew Dowd claimed only "MAGA folks" and Republican partisans base conclusions of guilt or innocence on facts and circumstances rather than the gender of the parties. I don't agree - I think it's more accurate to assert this of the non-left generally - but the remarkable fact is that he considers this a criticism.
Dowd - The MAGA folks are out in droves bashing anyone who says we should believe the woman. It is a full on attack mode by gop partisans on anyone who stands up for dr. Ford. Fyi, I also believed the women who accused Bill clinton.
(In Game of Thrones speak, they will rule over the ashes.)
I've always seen the democrats more as the white Walkers, attempting to turn everyone into mindless zombie followers.
The world's smartest woman on display.
Diane admits it might all be BS.
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California conceded Tuesday that she can’t attest to the veracity of Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school.
“[Ford] is a woman that has been, I think, profoundly impacted. On this . . . I can’t say that everything is truthful. I don’t know,” Feinstein told reporters on Capitol Hill when asked if she believed the allegation.
"As one Twitter user noted, “And there we go. Why Feinstein sat on it for months. She didn’t buy it either. But she needed a last-minute Hail Mary so this is what she went for.” "
The Democrats jumped the shark on this one. Maybe DiFi knew this was an own goal and sat on it until the crazies got after her.
Trump needs to seriously line up a woman to replace her if he hasn't already.
I still lament that Janice Rogers Brown is too old. The Democrats filibustered to keep her off the DC Circuit. They knew she would be impossible to oppose for the USSC.
Well, it's a crisis: American Democracy is in crisis!
Why? Because Hillary wasn't elected, of course! "It’s been nearly two years since Donald Trump won enough Electoral College votes to become president of the United States."
Hillary Clinton explains:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/09/american-democracy-is-in-crisis/570394/
"Some Republican senators during the election campaign said that if you were elected in 2016, they fully intended to hold that seat open for all four years"
Hate it. Name them or it's a lie.
Of course I screamed this at my television for much of eight years when the prior POTUS would say, "Some people would say...." and then spout nonsense.
Hillary tries to sound cool and insider-y but she just doesn't know what she's talking about.
As we all learned from "Wargames," Defcon 5 is the lowest state of alert while Defcon 1 means "Nuclear War is imminent."
Defcon 10 is, like, I'm taking off for the weekend.
Ford’s real identity is as secretive as Deep Throat’s was. Weird.
This is evil. I'm not talking about Clinton. We already know she is malignant.
I'm talking about the idea that a woman should be able to accuse a man of some wrong and that based only the woman's word that that man should lose their job or suffer some other profound harm.
That is what is evil. It's the acceptance of this that is evil.
You might choose to believe some woman's evidence-free accusation based on your sense that she is being truthful. But to act on the belief, other than in your own personal relationship with the accused, and to encourage some formal or substantial public sanction, is to cross a line.
Once you've crossed that line, you are for injustice. It doesn't even matter if your guess was right. The consequence of what you have done is a world where evil people, lying people, and self-deceptive people have the upper hand.
Seriously, how can any thinking and rational person buy the total BS from HRC? She's a criminal and an idiot.
If the Mafia ran a secret private server to conduct its criminal activities, you sure as hell would be sure that no one found out about it.
"What did you think the "C" meant on a classified document? I don't know, I guess alphabetical order, A, B, C, ...."
GOPers should act as though its working and get their people out like never before.
Yes. Nod your head. Give them a fleeting glance. Empathize with their diverse deficits. Appoint Kavanaugh. Wish them well. A novelty oversized gavel would be cliche. Don't stare.
That said, we have passed the point of viability. There will be no barbie for baby. They will need to Change their Plans and endure the burden NOW and on a Forward basis for the foreseeable future.
Maybe Hillary went to Defcon-10 in Benghazi when the guys on the roof were lighting up the terrorist targets waiting for the laser guided missiles from drines we had in the area to save their asses.
Maddow, the democratic socialist, would never ask corrupt Hillary a tough question.
No one would. Hillary never appears on TV without an ironclad agreement. She gets all the questions in advance. As we saw in 2016, even in a debate.
there is this screwy precedent now where Republicans would not let President Obama fill an opening on the Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Scalia for nearly a year until they got another shot at the White House in the 2016 election
That is the Biden Rule.
*drones*
HRC can’t denounce WJC without denouncing herself and everyone who ever supported or voted for either one of them. The Clintons are a stain that will take the Democrats decades to wash out. Delightfully, they seem disinclined to even try. The GOP is often derided by it’s base for a lack of solidarity and discipline but having Hillary, of all people, weigh in on the Kavanaugh thing? Sheer anarchy.
Diane Feinstein would not be doing this dirty trick against Brett Kavanaugh if he were Jewish.
Not only is Kavanaugh a goy, he attended a Jesuit high school.
Feinstein believes fundamentally that Roman Catholics should not be federal judges.
When a Roman Catholic woman, Amy Coney Barrett, was nominated to a judge position on the 7th Circuit a year ago, Feinstein criticized Barrett for being too Roman Catholic. Feinstein declared:
[quote]
Why is it that so many of us on this side have this very uncomfortable feeling that — you know, dogma and law are two different things. And I think whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma. The law is totally different. And I think in your case, professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for years in this country.
[unquote]
Feinstein does not make such critical declarations about Jews who are nominated to judge positions.
When Feinstein received Ford’s letter accusing Kavanaugh, she surely — if Kavanaugh had been Jewish — would have discarded the letter as being irrelevant to the nomination.
Make HILARY and STROZK the faces of the corruptocrat party
Democrats, Kavanaugh, and ‘The End of Civilization’
(C) means confidential. Somebody decided long ago that each paragraph should be labelled with its level of classification.
Sic the FBI on all your enemies. Since the FBI is corrupted with disgusting democratics and corrupt-thinking fucktards, it makes sense.
Psota, 8:32, re DefCon:
"Hillary tries to sound cool and insider-y but she just doesn't know what she's talking about."
She can sure tell the viewing public the time between a president's giving the order and an ICBM launch. That's OK though because we all kind of knew, and former missileers have written books.
Thanks for the "Narcissistic Looney Tune' loop. LOL.
Perfect. Funny because the real narcissistic looney tune is Hillary herself.
Tony Podesta and Kieth Ellison?
Joe Biden establishing The Biden Rule on the Senate floor in 1992.
At that time Biden was the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He would not conduct any hearings on a Supreme Court nomination during a Presidential election year.
Schedule the vote, confirm the judge, then he should sue her for this false claim.
Hillary belongs in a cage, and femnist career rape accomplices like Althouse should be mocked for the rest of their lives at every opportunity.
No civility bullshit tag?
The whole “we need an investigation before we can have a hearing” is just a higher level of civility bullshit.
Michael K said...
The Democrats jumped the shark on this one. Maybe DiFi knew this was an own goal and sat on it until the crazies got after her.
I posted over at Insty, that we are watching in real time the scrubbing of history. The history of the last 72 hours, and maybe the next 48. This morning I tuned into Mika and her Gigolo. Their take has swung 180 degrees from yesterday. Ford refusing to sit before the committee and tell her story, has left them bewildered. DiFi admission that she is not sure all is truthful, Flake and Cornyn have already said they will listen to Ford, and honor her decision if she chooses not to sit with committee, they will go forward with the vote. Everthing is unraveling. The Dems have been exposed as class A assholes for springing all of this in the 11th hour. DiFi exposed Ford's identity as a last ditch effort to stall the vote, but I don't think she fully understood that there were zero facts to support the allegation. Republicans are hammering on DiFi's handling of this and always say that It's Not Grassely that is at fault, but DiFi for not moving on this when she got the letter, but again, yesterday, she got caught on tape thinking out loud and saying what any rational person would say when presented with the facts. "I'm not sure all of this is truthful"
Pay attention, we are watching history getting scrubbed as we speak. Evidence of the Dems attempt at smearing Judge Kavanaugh will be harder to find than the assassination attempt on the Republican baseball team.
“Why would Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, say "Defcon-10"?“
Imagine the week-long outcry if Trump had said it.
It is not appropriate to get angry about this sort of thing.
This is a conflict being fought on a fundamental level, as in an actual war.
There is no virtue in this. Only victory matters, or, failing that, advantage.
Its as if one were to attach sentiment to the squares and pieces in a game of chess, or to ascribe ethical implications to the moves. Absurd.
Its an amoral, unsentimental game, and the successful players have the most disciplined type of amorality.
Why the White House should ask the FBI to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s unauthorized use of a private server during her years as Secretary of State.........
there FTFY
This is what your party has always been, Professor.
We weren’t crazy for telling the country that for years.
I know you have your hard cutoffs but, you inch closer to your Come to Jesus moment.
Someone did an excellent job with Hillary's makeup and lighting. Good to know that there are still some competent people out there.
It's not hardball. It's playing to soap opera women because they edit the news cycle.
Hardball would be pointing it out. Insult the poor ladies and see who gets behind you.
This morning The American Thinker published an article titled 'I'm sorry, but you don't have a case' written by William Dodd.
The article reminds us that Debra Katz (lawyer of Christine Blasey Ford) made the following three statements publicly in 1998 in regard to Paula Jones' accusations against Bill Clinton:
* Paula Jones' suit is very, very, very weak. She's alleged one incident that took place in a hotel room that, by her own testimony, lasted 10 to 12 minutes.
*[This was] clearly a one-time incident that took place in 10 to 12 minutes, she was not forced to have sex, she left on her own volition" and thus not enough to create a valid sexual harassment claim.
* If a woman came to me with a similar fact pattern, I would probably tell her that I'm sorry, it's unfair, but you don't have a case.
Why would Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, say "Defcon-10"?“
Because her 3am phone is ringing.
Let us not forget, the Dems are crazy, nuts, about the Supreme Court of the United States. Because SCOTUS is where the Dems attain their goals. Those items that the Democrat Party is unable to legislate honestly because they do not have the support of the electorate.
Do not forget. Leftie lawyers found the loophole in that screwy setup those wig wearin' slave fuckers set up. SCOTUS is the backstop that prevents things from unraveling back to the will of the people.
Patsy De La Serda
A reform-minded supervising nurse at the facility, Patsy’s sexuality is fairly ambiguous.
Defcon 11 - now that would have been funny.
Look, I hate to say this but the only reason I was even tempted to vote for Trump is that I thought he'd appoint better judges. The Libertarian-Conservative has a chance at a generational control of the SCOTUS and I'm not sure our country needs anything more than a reset on the role that government plays in our lives. We're massively in debt with an out of control administrative state. We're in constant, unconstitional wars. We spy on our own citizens. And there seems to be no check on the powers of the federal government. We have a chance at a 10-15 year majority. We also have a remote chance at a hyper majority. Democrats are going to pull every dirty trick in the book to get it.
“Why would Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, say "Defcon-10"?“
Because she's credentialed rather than productive. Production requires the immediate understanding not only of the facts but how each relates to other facts. Credentialism only requires you be able to name drop. The difference is why she looks good among other credentialists but can't implement effective policy.
MADDOW: “Some Republican senators during the election campaign said that if you were elected in 2016, they fully intended to hold that seat open for all four years if necessary to give a Republican another shot at holding it.“
Really? I’m guessing that’s a lie. Or, at leasr, a gross exaggeration.
> Its an amoral, unsentimental game, and the successful players have the most disciplined type of amorality.
Biden, Reid, and (Bill) Clinton were very good at it. Trump is the first Republican who can play on the same field and not look lost. I think we are going to need more like Trump in order to fight this war.
When will Juanita Broaddrick get her interview on the Mafdiw show?
What about Keith Ellison?
If there were a real Purge and it only involved the major Beltway muckety mucks, answer the following questions:
If you are a Dem, list the Top Five Repubs you'd like to see eliminated.
If you are a Repub, list the Top Five Dems you'd like to see eliminated.
[The sight and sound of Hillary Clinton always brings out the best in me].
Andrew McCarthy - Sept 18, 2018:
"Not that long after Clarence Thomas’s nomination was very nearly defeated, and within easy memory of Bork’s character assassination, President Bill Clinton got to nominate two Supreme Court justices. How did Republicans react? They couldn’t leap on the confirmation bandwagon fast enough. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer were confirmed by the lopsided margins of 96–3 and 87–9, respectively.
Justices Ginsburg and Breyer were well qualified. But, of course, so had been Bork and Thomas. Because they were Democrats, however, Ginsburg and Breyer sailed through.
In the Obama years, even as it finally dawned on some Republicans that unrequited solicitude might not be the best strategy, the question was still not whether Democratic nominees could be confirmed to the High Court but by how much — Judge Sonia Sotomayor by 68–31, Dean Elena Kagan by 63–37. Those were easy rides compared to last year’s 54–45 nail-biter for President Trump’s first nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch."
They play to soap opera women because that is the terrain on this battlefield.
We can complain that the human landscape is poorly managed, so much of what should be well drained fertile fields being left as malarial swamps, but it is what it is.
I'd say before Hillary is made to denounce her husband; the WH should ask the FBI to reopen an investigation, the one into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information and why her staff, that also mishandled classified information, were given immunity to provide testimony that was not used to prosecute the crime. We need to have that investigation to make sure none of these people are ever allowed in positions of power again.
Everyone is always trying to pack the Court.
The traditional meaning of "pack the court" is increasing the number of justices and therefore getting the appoint all the increase. I think you should ding her for either not knowing this or lying about it instead of accepting her redefinition.
What I would like to see is a democratic majority that actually has the chance to make that choice
Yep, that's the Biden rule, and it was implemented by the democratic majority to block the nomination of Garland. I actually am not a fan of the rule, but if that's the rule then I'm game. By the way, democratic majority has the change to make that choice again, which is why Kavanugh will be confirmed.
ALL Clinton crimes are memory holed by the loyal D hack press. Maddow is queen.
Denunciation is a Marxist tactic.
I don't really think that Ford and her Soros funded handlers ever believed that the FBI would re-enter the investigation into Kavanaugh. The Soros cabal in fact would fear the FBI re-starting this. The FBI has gone into Kavanaugh's life 6 times. The FBI has interviewed hundreds of people that know Kavanaugh, have been in highschool with him, have been in collage with him, have spent looong hours working shoulder to shoulder with him. One on one, late into the nite. Hundreds of people interviewed. If the FBI goes back, and finds someone that says "Yes, I was at a party where something like this happened and Kavanaugh was there". Chances are very good that person coming forward would have already been interviewed and sung the praises of Kavanaugh, in one of the preceding 6 background checks. Creating another inconsistency in the narrative, which at this moment is a narrative of one.
Nothing brings credibility to the subject of sexual abuse like Hillary Clinton.
Blogger buwaya said...
They play to soap opera women because that is the terrain on this battlefield.
The Gramscians got to education and turned most of the female population into soap opera women.
60% of college students are women now.
It's gotten down to 1st grade and kids now know more about recycling than about math.
But do I need to hear from Hillary on this subject?
Apparently so.
If Hillary Clinton ran over Bill Clinton with a snow plow, I would still not accept anything she says in good faith.
"...That was suggested by Meade though, and didn't come out of my stream of consciousness. My stream got diverted."
Perhaps Althouse's stream-of-consciousness needs to get its prostate checked.
I am Laslo.
Hillary Clinton defended a rapist as a lawyer and attacked the woman on the stand.
Interesting to see Hillary rallying the KKK vote in that clip. How come there's never any acknowledgement by the Left that Hillary would have had the Supreme Court puck if she had just done the "inevitable" thing and win? This is the only reference I've seen to it and it's Maddow positing a fantasy of Republican obstructionism that might have been the reality if Hillary had won. But then what Maddow is fantasizing about is a Republican tactic that has never been employed or even discussed. "Four years?" Do there Leftist crazies ever deal with reality that is here and now?
Our usual leftist cohorts are radio silent now on Kavanaugh. My local rag, full of stories over the last few days about how "Flake will embarrass Trump" and "questions emerge about party" and so forth.... nothing today. Odd, wouldn't you think?
By Saturday it will be "Ford? Nice car, right? What else could you possibly mean? Oh, President Ford!" And the Maddows and the CNN's will all be complaining about how the Democrats just allowed Kavanaugh to be confirmed and how they shouldn't have treated him so nicely......
At least McConnell had the decency to not drag Garland's reputation through the mud as a pretext for denying his nomination. I'm disgusted.
Thomas and Kavanaugh should be referred to as the Scotusboro Boys. That interview was conducted in a room crowded with elephants. Not just Bill Clinton. Harvey Weinstein was her donor and frequent dinner companion. I think Rachel should have asked her if she ever saw him turn on the charm in his bathrobe. If not, did she feel subtly rejected by him?
Whew! I'm glad that's over.
Despite your best efforts, Althouse, you've now invoked the classic Marxist tactic... denunciation.
I know you want to believe that feminism has some basis other than Marxism, but reality is setting in, isn't it?
First to go is the assumption of innocence. Then we move on to ethnic and gender blood guilt. And, I am by no means trying to justify Bill Clinton's terrible and possibly criminal behavior.
Feminism and gay rights were the wedge issues to bring about this state of affairs, that is the demand for jettisoning the assumption of innocence and the assertion of blood guilt. The outcome is the reality.
Feminism is Marxism. There is no feminism that is not Marxism.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Husband, Richard Blum, Grows Fortune on the Ruins of the American Dream
Diane is the Teddy Kennedy from CA. The voters keep schlepping her in.
Original Mike said...
"MADDOW: “Some Republican senators during the election campaign said that if you were elected in 2016, they fully intended to hold that seat open for all four years if necessary to give a Republican another shot at holding it.“
Really? I’m guessing that’s a lie. Or, at leasr, a gross exaggeration."
You left out the obvious - projection.
Eleanor: Ruth Bader Ginsberg's statement about how Supreme Court confirmations are being conducted not only resonated with people on both sides, it also showed the world how fragile she is. Trump needs to seriously line up a woman to replace her if he hasn't already.
Ann Coulter!
Can you imagine how much fun that confirmation hearing would be?
I'm thinking that Ford slipped the message to Feinstein some time ago hoping that DiFi could derail the nomination without having to be investigated herself or to testify. After the Democrat clown show failed in it's purpose to derail the nomination, Feinstein pulled out the Hail Mary play and put Ford directly in the hot seat. The latter knew that if it happened at all, at bestir was a teenager trying to steal 2nd base and would never pass real investigation. Ford's only play at this time is to hunker down in the tall grass and fail to show up for the hearing.
I asked one of my police detective patients to investigate a possible crime involving 2 teens that happened 35 years ago. He just laughed. In the real world this is how this is being treated.
It's so cool that Hillary brought Robert Byrd into the conversation! That old Klansman would like to have seen Clarence Thomas hangin' from a tree. It was a high-tech lynching.
Not all rape victims are created equal. Patty Hearst claimed that she was thrown into a dark closet for several weeks. She was periodically taken out and raped. Given the nature of her abduction, it was a credible story, but, at her trial, the jury didn't believe her. Too many people, including Patti Smith, wanted to think of her as an outlaw bank robber rather than as a rape victim.
Millionaire Senator Dianne Feinstein collects $1m+ in tax-funded pensions from San Francisco
Keep voting democratic royal ass, oh precious idiot D-loyalists of Hillarywoodland CA.
“Patsy” is a nice word to highlight. Another word describes what the Dems are doing here and also hints why they will lose this round: “Proxy”. Dems are fighting this battle by proxy. Ford has no visible presence. The ridiculous incognito photo of her being used says it all. She is not really real. Kavanaugh has a natural right to face his accuser. Any Senator need only rise in the august chamber and remind us of the right to face one’s accuser. Dems will lose because they are hiding the indenting of this Ford woman. There is the conspiracy.
A probable lunatic cries attempted rape and murder, and now she is basically running our country.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s warm relationship with and advocacy for Communist China go back decades and involve millions, if not billions, of dollars.
If you think Ford has courage to come forward, think how the first poor man or woman will be treated If and when they come forward with a negative story about Ford.
"It is not appropriate to get angry about this sort of thing.
This is a conflict being fought on a fundamental level, as in an actual war.
There is no virtue in this. Only victory matters, or, failing that, advantage. "
You are a wise man, Buwaya.
I started out very angry with the Democrats before I realized that this is a war that is either won or lost - emotions just cloud the judgment.
That old Klansman would like to have seen Clarence Thomas hangin' from a tree. It was a high-tech lynching.
Byrd preferred the low tech variety,
I understand why the gutless NeverTrump “moderate Republicans” denounced Roy Moore but Kav is a Bush/Romney stalwart. By not standing up for him, they are just showing how they don’t have a speck of “true conservatism”, no matter how loudly they whine about Trump.
Finally AA comes clean
"Everyone is always trying to pack the Court. The other side will always have more questions....."
So this feminism stance is bs. On a previous post someone said Debra Katz can't be a feminist, she defended Bill. Well just remember AA's word . It's not justice but power, power, power and a pension comparable to any male professor ( I ain't getting cheated, hell i was a valedictorian and first in my law class.)
Ann also said " but the Democrats are trying. It's working pretty well too!"
What makes you think so?
And again did you have any dealings with Debra Katz?
Thomas received 11 Yes votes from Dem Senators, many of them from the South.
Two GOP senators voted no. Bob Packwood, who resigned in disgrace from the Senate in 1995 for his repeated sexual assaults and harassments and Jim Jeffords, who was a useless senator from Vermont whose seat The Millionsire Socialist now occupies.
Chris Dodd voted no. He had been outed in a magazine article in 1990 for sexuallly assaulting a waitress. He’s now in Hollywood running the MPAA. Perfect Scum for the job.
The Grand Kleagle Byrd voted No on Thomas.
"'His penis is distinctive in a certain way'"
Let me guess. It has "TRUMP" in yuuuuge letters on both sides, and it never apologizes and it never backs down.
I have difficulty grasping why Democrats think Merrick Garland could have been confirmed as a Supreme Court Associate Justice. I simply can’t see him getting the 60 votes that would have been necessary to get past a filibuster and be confirmed.
Vance: "By Saturday it will be "Ford? Nice car, right? What else could you possibly mean? Oh, President Ford!" And the Maddows and the CNN's will all be complaining about how the Democrats just allowed Kavanaugh to be confirmed and how they shouldn't have treated him so nicely......"
I can't wait for Trump's 3rd selection for the Supreme Court so we can see the dems resurrect Kavanaugh as the "good selection" and the latest selection relegated to Hitler/Stalin/anti-woman/racist/bigot status.
"Defcon-10" is stupider than saying "It goes up to 11"
The in-joke around here is to combine the two to make "Defcon 11."
"I cannot watch the video without screaming at the screen."
The Althouse we like and respect. And right you are.
I wonder just how many lefty/dem/LLR's remain safely esconced within the NSA with access to all the raw electronic intercepts that could be illegally (since when has that ever stopped the dems/left/LLR's?) accessed to find dirt on Kavanaugh or his family?
The temptation to do just that must be incredibly high for these deep staters.
My guess?
It has already happened and there was nothing "actionable" there.
And don't tell me about "safeguards" or greater scrutiny after Adm Rogers shut down the unauthorized searches or even about Judge Woods sending out that scathing report regarding 85% of all searches being illegal.
There is not way that Wray or Rosenstein would ever investigate or prosecute those individuals.
Ever.
"Defcon-10" is stupider than saying "It goes up to 11"
Hillary needs a better class of "corpsemen" to assist her.
I wonder just how many lefty/dem/LLR's remain safely esconced within the NSA with access to all the raw electronic intercepts that could be illegally (since when has that ever stopped the dems/left/LLR's?) accessed to find dirt on Kavanaugh or his family?
O'Keefe has been doing a good job outing these people.
When asked directly by one of O'Keefe's undercover journalists whether she uses her DOJ LexisNexis account, another comrade of Hrabar's, Natarajan Subramanian, who appears familiar with her activities and works for the Government Accountability Office, says: "I mean she has used it, she uses it probably on her work computer ... we are all walking a line in a lot of ways."
They are using federal resources to identify the schools that Trump admin members' kids attend.
a Department of Justice employee admitting that she does research on the home addresses and license plates of private individuals who are then targeted for loud protests at their homes by socialist demonstrators. Other socialist protesters familiar with the process for discovering home addresses of targets strongly infer that Justice Department LexisNexis accounts are used by a socialist Justice Department employee to identify home address of targets.
The Justice Department employee, Allison Hrabar, organized a loud heckling protest of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen while she ate a private dinner at a D.C. restaurant. Hrabar was able to locate Nielsen on a Tuesday evening last June.
I just emailed the President: Please, Mr. President, don't 'wimp out' on Kavanaugh. This matter [and the party involved] should never have been taken seriously.
It's not justice but power, power, power
It's all about defending the "right" to kill your unborn child.
The Bill Clinton allegations were at least 10 years *after* the Ford/Kavenaugh thing supposedly happened.
Just in case people want to pretend it has to do with the times.
It's all about defending the "right" to kill your unborn child.
That's a stand-in that plays well with some of their audience. It's about control of the branch of government that can advance their interests without popular support needing to be obtained. The popular opinion is too often against them.
They're married.
Can we ask a wife to denounce her husband? Isn't that crazytalk? Not as bad as those demonically demanding Melania divorce Trump, but it still sounds unreasonable to me. We can say Hillary hasn't behaved well. We can ask her to make him confess. But - ultimately - all we can demand is he tell the truth, and nothing more.
That's how I see it.
Gabriel
Correct. And this woman's calculation is that she will be enshrined as the woman who made it possible to kill all the life you wish. And she likely calculates correctly.
Hillary is not only stupid--but I will repeat myself several times on that; amoral, prevaricating and a seasoned Bimbo Eruption Stamper Downer, but she has no historical memory. That's convenient if you are a prevaricator, she doesn't even know she's lying.
As for the "unprecedented" refusal to consider Merrick Garland, has she not heard of the Biden Rule? That certainly applied to the Garland situation.
I got through about two minutes of the Maddow interview of Hillary before I couldn't stand it any longer. But then as good old Slow Joe Biden said, I'm one of those "dregs of society".
Example #200,233 supporting the proposition that Hillary Clinton is running for president in 2020.
Cracker makes the right point- Shelob can't denounce her husband any longer without denouncing herself. Shelob will never admit a wrong.
Dickin’Bimbos@Home - what an appropriate handle for this post!
Can we ask a wife to denounce her husband? Isn't that crazytalk?
Probably. Could we ask her to have the decency and self-awareness to stay out of these discussions then?
Is that too crazy for her as well?
Why hasn't anyone figured out Ms. Ford was likely told by D insiders not to testify and to ask for the FBI investigation?
She testifies on Monday in a he-said/she-said, and it's all over. They need something to delay or tarnish him worse than that.
What astounds me about the Democrats is that it never occurs to them that the shoe could ever be on the other foot. That realization could have saved them a lot of trouble (which they deserve). They probably believed all that nonsense about a Permanent Democratic Majority.
The clock is now ticking. There will be no FBI investigation and she has no plans to show up on Monday.
They need to dig up another accuser over the weekend, credible or not, to throw the whole thing into chaos.
What astounds me about the Democrats is that it never occurs to them that the shoe could ever be on the other foot.
The shoe is on the other foot. Keith Ellison is wearing it quite nicely with no ill effects.
As long as they continue to control the media, they can control the national narrative. They can say or do anything and it will be wiped away in the next news cycle.
Blogger tcrosse said...
What astounds me about the Democrats is that it never occurs to them that the shoe could ever be on the other foot.
What makes you think it will be? Democrats benefit from the "By Any Means Necessary" and the "Personal is Political" ethos. This creates the idea that anything is justifiable in the pursuit of politics. Even if it's a small percentage in any large population some number will be willing to do just about anything.
Combine this with their complete control of many industries including media and academia. Their control and insularity means they can reward people for taking these actions with sinecures so in addition to morally justifying actions they reward them financially also. For example Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dorn, but include the professors from the Duke Lacrosse fiasco and the various Title IX debacles also.
The right doesn't have this network and so cannot protect people. You can see people like James Damore fired for perfectly legitimate disagreement easier than left wingers can be disciplined for just about anything. In contrast a left winger only pays a price when they embarrass leftism a la Mary Mapes. Even in that case they paid her off with a movie deal.
Kevin observes: As long as they continue to control the media, they can control the national narrative.
This is it in a nutshell. An aunt I recently visited is a retired banker and is a faithful follower of Rachel Maddow and can cover all of the Prog talking points in just a few sentences.
A vote and confirmation of Kavenaugh will be enough to demonstrate (sic) to the hard core loony left that Republicans are demonstrably evil and must be stopped art the next election.
Not hard to imagine a couple of republican senators joking about delaying nomination for four years. Or, even pretending to be serious.Politicians say what they think will get approval at the time they say it. Depends on who they are talking to.
Kind of jumping the gun to be celebrating apparent victory. It ain't over 'til it's over. Even poorly educated me can easily imagine a couple more claims about K suddenly popping up over the weekend, or someone to verify Fords account.
This falls under Gloria Steinem's "one free grope" rule, so lets move on with the vote.
tcrosse said...
What astounds me about the Democrats is that it never occurs to them that the shoe could ever be on the other foot. That realization could have saved them a lot of trouble (which they deserve). They probably believed all that nonsense about a Permanent Democratic Majority.
The people in control of the democrat party and who used to be in control of the GOPe don't think like that.
They don't care about what happens to their tools.
Until you start going after the Redstone's and the Disney's and Roberts's and applying the same insect politics to them they are applying to us.
Take CBS and put them on cable channel 247.
Break up Comcast and put NBC under new ownership.
Pass a law that prohibits TV content producers from owning distribution outlets and force the Disneys to sell off all their shit.
This will be the only effective gambit.
Mezzrow wrote:
"That's won't happen by calling me three times a day to remind me to vote, though.
OT - do people actually believe that ringing a bell to randomly interrupt someone's day will dispose them to like you and vote for you? I can't believe we put up with that for so long. Someday it will be as anachronistic as smoking."
I'm an activist and I can tell you from personal experience that to a political campaign disturbing people at home is the highest good. It's driven by the telemarketers among them and it returns a number to report. "We made three thousand calls today!" Until the election there is nothing else to go by. I myself prefer the battle of the lawn signs, it is to me a key indicator. Get a name out to the voters that they can see and remember later when they vote.
DEFCON 10? How dare you point out that Hillary's cognitives are that of a goldfish? I'm waiting for her celebrity cameo for the Addiction Network. Safire called her a compulsive liar years ago. She's only been honing her craft. Certainly more repugnant than John Wayne Gacy.
I'm sure the Democrats never thought the Biden Rule or Harry Reid's Nuclear Option would be used against them.
I'm an activist and I can tell you from personal experience that to a political campaign disturbing people at home is the highest good. It's driven by the telemarketers among them and it returns a number to report. "We made three thousand calls today!" Until the election there is nothing else to go by. I myself prefer the battle of the lawn signs, it is to me a key indicator. Get a name out to the voters that they can see and remember later when they vote.
I'm not an activist, but I once was and know the sort of folks of whom you speak. Tell the money people for me that they're wasting their money of these leeches and pissing people off. Put 25% of that in yard signs and paper the world. Stop being so needy and insecure. There are much better ways of getting data, as Facebook and Google have demonstrated in the creepiest manner possible. It is an anachronism, like Judge Roy Moore. Stop doing that.
I need to make a retraction.
Yesterday my comments included passing on the story that Kavanaugh's mother as a judge ruled against Ford's parents in a court case. On conservative talk radio today I heard that was bullshit. I'm assuming it is bullshit if people on the right are saying so. I apologize for spreading crap. Ain't nobody got time fo dat.
That is what is evil. It's the acceptance of this that is evil.
Exactly. And the left doesn't give a shit because it's their path to power and control.
This will not end well. And I don't care because they will have brought it all upon themselves.
Defcon 10 is the condition operating when Hillary landed in Bosnia under sniper fire.
There's an Irish song about Patsy Fagan. It's mostly interesting because when Kruschev visited Ireland he was dubbed Fatsy Pagan.
Patsy, BTW, is the Italian-American nickname for Pasquale.
Bagoh 20: Thanks for the retraction. We all get misled from time to time and it can be hard to separate chaff from wheat.
mezzrow wrote:
" I'm not an activist, but I once was and know the sort of folks of whom you speak. Tell the money people for me that they're wasting their money of these leeches and pissing people off. Put 25% of that in yard signs and paper the world. Stop being so needy and insecure. There are much better ways of getting data, as Facebook and Google have demonstrated in the creepiest manner possible. It is an anachronism, like Judge Roy Moore. Stop doing that."
From your mouth to God's ears!
There is also a healthy small industry in phoning programs and data. Republicans love their data is the saying I hear. And of course when the Do Not Call legislation was written it curiously exempted political calls!
"Worse political class ever," Glenn Reynolds like to write.
And may I remind you to vote this coming election day, November 6, 2018, and if you need information on how to get to the polls in your precinct please stay on the line for further assistance...
I always make it clear to whatever campaign I work for that I won't make phone calls.
Our former Secretary of State (and the smartest person to ever run for President) doesn't know the Defcon levels. 'Sigh!'
De[a]f [and dumb] con [woman] [turned up to] 10.
Does she not know Defcon is a 5-point scale and that the lower the number, the more intense the situation?
1) No, she doesn’t, which is strange because ...
2) she was Secretary of State for four years.
Hillary Clinton calling for an FBI investigation into the past.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
"What difference, at this point, does it make?"
Don't you know that DEFCON goes to 11?
Bagoh20@10:17AM LOL.... Good one...
Why hasn't anyone figured out Ms. Ford was likely told by D insiders not to testify and to ask for the FBI investigation?
That was figured out before the media even reported her asking for an FBI investigation. DiFi referred the letter to the WH and FBI when she released it. Of course they want an FBI investigation that will last as a long as the Mueller investigation.
But what's the fun in discussing the obvious, Captain?
"I'll be super happy when Hillary is dead."
To the contrary: I want her kept alive. Alive and talking. Talking and publishing memoir after memoir. Giving interviews. Sharing her views. On The View. Forming her baskets. Deploring Americans. Finding herself to be cute, satisfying, superior. May she live on and on and on forever and ever. Amen.
On conservative talk radio today I heard that was bullshit.
She was the judge in the bankruptcy case. They managed to refi the house and avoid foreclosure. She approved the motion to dismiss.
I still see it as a possible motive due to the embarrassment. Rich girl goes to exclusive private school. Meets "elitist" boys and then sees her parents's house go into foreclosure,
This from the smartest person ever to run for President.
HRC is the gift that keeps on giving to the Republicans. Over and over and over again she proves how thoroughly lacking she is in self and situational awareness.
-sw
I agree, Meade! Hildebeest is the GOP's best friend.
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