June 9, 2019

Unconvincing transcendentalism.

"For Democrats, Trump impeachment question is a personal struggle transcending politics" — headline at The Washington Post this morning.

(Article not read. I don't believe the article really exists. It's just ballast for a free-floating headline. No?)

177 comments:

Quaestor said...

Transcendent insanity.




Well, it's new, at least.

tim in vermont said...

They should just impeach him already. What are they afraid of? I think that they are forked, as they call it in chess, no matter what move they make, they will suffer. That is the source of their anguish.

Kevin said...

People with degrees in political science keep telling us Trump "transcends politics" by getting elected and governing in the national interest.

That's not a scientific explanation.

tim maguire said...

“Extreme Political Partisanship Transcends Politics”

Seems unlikely.

Anonymous said...

A personal struggle? Sure. Ramifications range from losing their seats at the next election to sparking a civil war.

Transcending politics? What arrant horse shit. The Democrats haven’t done anything that transcends politics since about 12 September 2001.

Leland said...

I don't believe the article really exists. It's just ballast for a free-floating headline.

Thanks for the hearty Sunday morning laugh, Althouse. That's the perfect description of modern clickbait journalism.

As for impeaching Trump, it's been 2.5 years now; I'm bored with the story.

tim in vermont said...

Nut graf, as expected:

It is testing long-standing friendships, fueling emotional debates with family members and forcing lawmakers to navigate unfamiliar and competing forces. Many feel caught between party leaders fearful that impeachment will spark a political backlash and a growing sense that history will judge harshly those who chose not to act in the face of a norm-smashing president many Democrats believe has abused his power and broken the law.

For a clueless idiot, Trump is sure good at discomfiting his enemies.

tim in vermont said...

This account of the unfolding drama among the rank and file of the House’s majority party is based on interviews over the past week with 45 Democrats spanning the caucus’s ideological, racial and generational divides..

Kevin said...

This is Nancy Pelosi signaling to her base how to move away from impeachment without splitting the party.

Old meme: impeachment is a remedy for high crimes and misdemeanors. The President clearly broke the law and must be removed from office.

Newer meme: impeachment is a political act! It is our Constitutional duty to hold the President accountable for his lack of accountability, even if the Senate won't go along.

Newest meme: impeachment is a personal decision which transcends politics. Reasonable people can disagree and no one should criticize another for their choices. Especially in 2020.

Kevin said...

spanning the caucus’s ideological, racial and generational divides..

You know who's constantly seeing racial divides?

Racists.

tim in vermont said...

Just about any commenter here could have mailed in the story of the dilemmas that the Democrats have created for themselves.

jaydub said...

The real obstacle to impeachment is the little problem of defining the impeachable offenses without giving the President the opportunity to defend himself and demonstrate the absurdity of the Dems' case.

Wince said...

“A personal struggle transcending politics” means it’s all about self-interest, right?

Karen of Texas said...

Quit dithering, just do it already. If you believe a majority of your constituents want impeachment, then impeach. There should be no dilemma. Your job is to represent your constituents. Sucks to be you if House leasdership will slit your throat for doing your job.

rhhardin said...

Liszt Transcendental Etudes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E9-RxvYixw

En équilibre (2015) Cécile de France

Wilbur said...

"... the little problem of defining the impeachable offenses without giving the President the opportunity to defend himself"

If the House decides to proceed with impeachment, what leads us to believe the Dems would permit a defense to be presented, or even allow debate on the matter? That would only piss off their base.

wwww said...

Transcendentalism. Thought this post was going to be about Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau and Margaret Fuller.

I am impressed with the ability of daily domestic politics to hold the interest of others. The incessant repetitive news stories or the tweets or the response to the tweets or the general domestic narrative -- I don't get why it's compelling. It's predictable.

jaydub said...

"If the House decides to proceed with impeachment, what leads us to believe the Dems would permit a defense to be presented..."

The trial occurs in the senate.

traditionalguy said...

Maybe it is a Hoax Article. But the writer gets bonus points for working Trans into the headline.

The poor Dem Paper is confounded by DJT, whom they say cannot act Presidential, acting perfectly Royal for three days on uninterrupted free BBC TV.

David Begley said...

“What about my grandkids?”

That’s their test. How will history treat them for not removing Trump. For what?

This whole thing is ridiculous.

Wilbur said...

""If the House decides to proceed with impeachment, what leads us to believe the Dems would permit a defense to be presented..."

The trial occurs in the senate."


Exactly the point.

narciso said...

Good grief:

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/06/arrogant_conceit_and_pratfalls.html

David Begley said...

The so-called impeachment inquiry starts tomorrow. Look for details and facts. Supposedly Trump obstructed justice. Exactly how? Firing Comey? Not firing Mueller? Providing millions of documents? Allowing White House Counsel to testify for hours?

This is ridiculous.

Impeachment is about driving Trump’s numbers down so they can win in 2020.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Old meme: impeachment is a remedy for high crimes and misdemeanors. The President clearly broke the law and must be removed from office.

Newer meme: impeachment is a political act! It is our Constitutional duty to hold the President accountable for his lack of accountability, even if the Senate won't go along.”

This is fairly scary. What that says is that they are ready to implement a major shift in our Constitutional form of government. Instead of impeachment being a last ditch method of removing a corrupt a President, it now becomes a method for the Legislative Branch to exert control over the President. If one side, one party, doesn’t like the results of an election, they can just impeach the President, and then try to get them removed in the Senate.

rhhardin said...

The article shows that seriousness is a subgenre of frivolity, not its opposite.

Bob Boyd said...

They could charge him with Obstruction of Social Justice.

Bob Boyd said...

And creating a nuisance.

rhhardin said...

Party loyalty transcends under the bus.

Bruce Hayden said...

“The so-called impeachment inquiry starts tomorrow. Look for details and facts. Supposedly Trump obstructed justice. Exactly how? Firing Comey? Not firing Mueller? Providing millions of documents? Allowing White House Counsel to testify for hours?”

We have been through this ad nauseum. The only way that they get to Obstruction is to rewrite the requirements for Obstruction, among other things, turning it from a specific intent to a general intent crime. A standard rejected by the DoJ, AG Barr, and every court that has heard the theory. They got to lay out their highly aggressive rewriting of the legal requirements by the subterfuge of laying out their fact patterns, and their theory, then refusing to determine whether or not Trump committed Obstruction, utilizing the AG rejected excuse that DoJ can’t indict a sitting President. It was a subterfuge because they were screwed either way if they had made the determination, because they would either have to have rejected Obstruction if following DoJ statutory interpretations, or explain to the AG why they were exempt from following such if they had found that Obstruction had occurred. Instead, we have a lot of Democrats claiming that the Mueller Report had shown Obstruction.

The absurd thing is that just now I saw a film clip of Crooked Hillary talking about Trump having been found by the Mueller investigation to have Obstructed Justice. This maybe tops her shamelessness. This is the woman whose people deleted emails under subpoena, but more importantly here, provided the intelligence that the entire Russian Collusion hoax was based on, and then provided several of the attorneys working on the Mueller Report. Indeed, that extraordinarily aggressive Obstruction interpretation on show in Part 2 of the Report was very likely developed by lead prosecutor Andrew Weissman, who was at the party election night where Crooked Hillary was planning on announcing her victory. Making things even more interesting, there was speculation last week that much of Christopher Steele’s Dossier was actually laundered opposition research material from long time Clinton confederates Sid Blumenthal and Cody Shearer.

narciso said...

That's probable how Blumenthal essentially did the same with French and German intelligence through the late drumheller and murray,

Meade said...

"They could charge him with Obstruction of Social Justice."

How can people be so heartless? How can people be so cruel?

narciso said...

Blumenthal got his start out of Brandeis working with festernwalds band of assasination researchers that's how he ended up teaming up with phillip agee a real asset if the Cuban regime and neddless to say kgb.

Paco Wové said...

"I don't get why [daily domestic politics is] compelling. It's predictable."

To beat a trope further into the ground, "You may not be interested in daily domestic politics, but daily domestic politics is interested in you."

rhhardin said...

construction of justice.

narciso said...

These speculations were collected in govt by gunplay, where he and agee speculated about food riots, in 1976, global warming was not blamed, in the early 80s he got a gig on the Graham post, where she took potshots at any body fighting soviet propaganda like neocons

h said...

Impeachment: Do it for the children. For many many people, the conclusion that Trump is not a legitimate President and must be removed from office is an article of faith, not a hypothesis subject to disproof. If the Mueller Report failed to reach this conclusion, that's not because Trump is a legitimate President, it's because the Mueller Report failed to turn over the evidence proving that Trump is not a legitimate President. There must be evidence to that effect somewhere, and if Barr will testify (again), or if Mueller will testify, or if the Presidents private attorneys will testify, or something, the evidence will turn up. But there will never be a point in time when we conclude maybe we can't find the evidence because Trump really is a legitimate President. The lack of evidence will if anything be in and of itself evidence that Trump is not a legitimate President.

gilbar said...

telling us Trump "transcends politics" by getting elected and governing in the national interest.

you know? That's So Crazy, that it just might Work!

narciso said...

Like Michael ledeen pointing out the siviet influence with the brigatte for instance, which got him a post at state on counter terror issues. Blumenthal pursued this vendetta a decade later in an ostensible libel suit arising in a claim on drudge.

rehajm said...

If they do more than grandstand whatever they invent will be used against them. Not that that is a good remedy but it shows how deluded and short sighted they are.

n.n said...

Obama spied, Clinton colluded, Biden obstructed, DNC denied, and the press anxiously sustains a multi-trimester cover-up.

That said, Democrats are straddling the twilight fringe. Can we abort and keep him, too?

Bruce Hayden said...

What I would love to happen is for Andrew Weissman and the other Mueller prosecutors be tried for Obstruction of Justice under the legal standard that they we’re trying to impose on Trump. They actually were interfering with ongoing investigations with their hoax witch hunt. And with Weissman’s involvement with Steele starting before the election, they had actual knowledge that the Russian Collusion claim was a hoax. At a minimum, the Mueller investigation was utilized by the FBI to refuse to answer questions about Russian collusion, probably at least a year after the Mueller prosecutors had determined there not to have been any such collusion. And the Mueller investigation also froze the ongoing OIG FISA abuse investigation. Note that since the Mueller investigation was completed, OIG is now readying the report promised last August, and another USA has been delegated by AG Barr to investigate SpyGate, which very likely is going to expose that a number of the Mueller prosecutors owed loyalty to Clinton, whose people had supplied much of the (uncorroborated and often false) evidence that was supposed to prove Russian Collusion.

Back to my question of investigating the Mueller prosecutors for Obstruction of Justice for perpetuating their investigation that resulted in adversely affecting several investigations.

Bob Boyd said...

All the world's problems go unsolved for one reason. There are scary people out in the sticks watching the wrong channel on their TVs. We were so close to being able to solve that problem in 2016. So close.
But then...
And now...
Shit. What a mess.

narciso said...

Blumenthal used a Soviet foreign ministry thinktank to float his theories about anerican politics, are you getting the projection here, its like the valdai forum that mifsud hooked Carter page with.

n.n said...

"They could charge him with Obstruction of Social Justice."

Social justice anywhere is injustice everywhere.

narciso said...

Yes I've become an expert on the loathsome apparatchik, in 92 he speculated that the jail break that freed Perots Ed's crew eventually led to the hostage taking

Hagar said...

"Transcend" implies something rising above something else. For this, a word implying sinking below into madness is needed.

narciso said...

This is along way of saying these have all been at best Soviet fellow travellers along the way strobe talbott another conduit got his start through a KGB fixer.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

DEMOCRACY DIES IN DARKNESS!

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

ot

https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/285830/spies-are-the-new-journalists

Creepy FBI corruption rice bowlers all work at CNN. How weird?

narciso said...

There is a certain continuity say the alsops who were the inspiration for a certain family in mccarrys series

Bay Area Guy said...

Hah - transcendent struggle on whether to impeach?

Double hah!

The Dems don't have no "transcendent struggl" to impeach. What kinda new age political nonsense is that?

They simply don't have the votes even in the House! Recall, to retake the House in 2018, they won a buncha swing districts, where Trump beat Hillary, but a "moderate" Dem won the seat.

Roughly, I count 31.

These 31 won't vote for impeachment.

Can you imagine how stupid the DLF Party (Delusional Leftwing Fuckheads) will look if they lose an impeachment vote in the House?

Nancy may be old and ditzy, but she ain't dumb.

1. There's no evidence of High Crimes & Misdemeanors to support impeachment;
2. The House still lacks the votes, despite large Dem majority;
3. The Senate will acquit.

There's your "transcendent struggle". Impeachment vote leads to failure, likely loss of House, and likely re-elect Trump.

Mike Sylwester said...

Yes, BleachBit ...

Democracy Dies in Darkness!

elkh1 said...

A personal struggle, a jihad.

A jihad to destroy the duly elected President of the United States by suicide-bombing the American electoral system with an Impeachment Explosive Device.

Bob Boyd said...

Maybe they could pass a resolution that Trump is appalling. Maybe.

tcrosse said...

This impeachment push started out as a scheme to install Hillary as president, but over the past few years fewer and fewer Dems actually crave that result. But they persist.

Big Mike said...

Many feel caught between party leaders fearful that impeachment will spark a political backlash

Will it ever! The people pushing for impeachment are generally folks who have nothing to lose — shadowy billionaires like Tom Steyer, Reid Hoffman, and George Soros; hacks writing for the Times or the Post; talking heads on CNN or MSNBC; and Democrats from very, very safe districts. Out in the real world there are Democrats from purple — and even red — districts who are going to have to face voters in November, and two-thirds of those voters are opposed to impeachment.

As Nobody put it in his comment way upthread, the Dumbocrats have forked themselves — it’s a chess term but there’s a vulgar near-homophone that accurately describes what they’ve done to themselves. But it’s s triple fork — bring up an impeachment vote, and risk enough defections to see the vote fail, or twist arms to pass impeachment on essentially a party line vote and Pelosi risks losing her gavel a second time, or not vote on impeachment and see the famous Dumbocrat circular firing squad in action. Well played, Dumbocrats!

David Begley said...

Meade

Easy to be hard.
Easy to say no.

Fernandinande said...

I don't believe the article really exists.

What-everrrr.

Two dweebs want to impeach so that their kids will read in the story books that their Parent-dweeb voted to impeach the Orange Man Bad.

Another dweeb wants to impeach because (s)he's sure the the Orange Man is Bad and impeachment would be the easiest way to get evidence of the obvious badness.

But wait! Not all dweebs are the same!

For ease of comprehension, the dweebs have been skillfully divided up into these three categories by the Reporting Professionals:

- dweebs who want to impeach.
- dweebs who don't want to impeach.
- dweebs who are not sure.

Rory said...

"I think that they are forked, as they call it in chess, no matter what move they make, they will suffer. That is the source of their anguish."

When indictments start coming down against the coup plotters, they'll have an excuse to get back out in the streets again. That'll lift their spirits.

narciso said...

So it turns out klimnik was as much a state department asset as anything connected with Russian intelligence, mifsud had long standing western intelligence connections, fusion which directed the trump tower meet ditto, Simpson supported a coup in the emirates.

Rory said...

"...Trump is sure good at discomfiting his enemies."

It couldn't happen if they weren't as awful or worse than him.

narciso said...

It's been a total fraud start to finish a put up job, but this spook/flack network

Ken B said...

Nice phrase, “just ballast for the free floating headline”.

Michael K said...

The people pushing for impeachment are generally folks who have nothing to lose

And their fundraising is going good. This is all about the Benjamins. Look at fundraising numbers.

The problem, for the country, not the pols, is that money is coming to support open borders (GOP) and impeachment (Dims).

Narayanan said...

, “just ballast for the free floating headline”.

Pretty well encapsulates currently prevailing attitude about the Constitution.

Diogenes of Sinope said...

Leftists will keep the impeachment cauldron boiling, bubbling, hissing and stinking until Trump is out of office. The somewhat sane Democrats know not to let the public examine or taste their impeachment gruel by actually exposing it to public hearings in the congress.

Narayanan said...

Blogger Michael K cited...
The people pushing for impeachment are generally folks who have nothing to lose

What layer of the pushing are you/they talking about?

chickelit said...

BleachBit-and-Hammers said...Creepy FBI corruption rice bowlers all work at CNN. How weird?

LOL. I'm imagining guys with a muscular and overdeveloped left arm -- the asymmetry is the problem; CNN is one sided.

SGT Ted said...

Democrats have long confused their partisan political biases with their own personal struggle.

SGT Ted said...

It's not transcendent whatsoever, but rather shallow.

Bob Boyd said...

"For Democrats, Trump impeachment question is a personal struggle transcending politics"

Its amazing how romantic Democrats are about themselves.

madAsHell said...

At what point does journalism become pandering?

This is re-assurance for the cognitively dissonant. All the conflict in your head will be removed after impeachment!!

On the other hand, I never would have guessed this was a viable business model.

gilbar said...

Bay Area Guy said... They simply don't have the votes even in the House!

It's worse than that! They'd HAVE TO get those votes; and then they'd (for sure) Lose the house in 2020. The pressure on those 31 'moderates' would be unstoppable, which would lead to them being kicked out.
MY new rep, the Honorable Abby Finkenauer is one of those 31.

Sam L. said...

Yes. Times 1,000,000.

Limited blogger said...

The dude is Orange, and a Man, and Bad!!

Narayanan said...

Will Trump pull an "Aral Vorkosigan"?

Will he pull out the middle from both parties to build his coalition?

Asking for Barrayar - I mean USA.

Limited blogger said...

WaPo has a paywall, so just reading the headline is sufficient.

Limited blogger said...

Oh, wait, I got to the article.

wild chicken said...

What a long roundabout way to call Trump Literally Hitler once again.

Michael K said...

What layer of the pushing are you/they talking about?

I was quoting someone else. The ones pushing are in safe seats with lots of rabid Trump hating constituents.

The trouble is that there are not a national majority of those seats or constituents,


Kevin said...

Supposedly Trump obstructed justice. Exactly how? Firing Comey? Not firing Mueller? Providing millions of documents? Allowing White House Counsel to testify for hours?”

LLR's will tell you he obstructed justice by not testifying in person under oath.

IF ONLY he'd been forced to answer questions, the truth of his real crimes would have slipped out!

Therefore his lack of testimony constitutes obstruction of the justice they seek.

tim in vermont said...

"The article shows that seriousness is a subgenre of frivolity, not its opposite”

LOL, yes, there’s the “frivolous” and the “frankly frivolous."

iowan2 said...

LLR's will tell you he obstructed justice by not testifying in person under oath.

If only Mueller would have thought to subpoena the President. (one of those 'fact' things the left avoids like a check at dinner.)

wild chicken said...

it now becomes a method for the Legislative Branch to exert control over the President

Worked on Bill Clinton. I wish we hadn't done that one. It didn't seem necessary at the time either.

tim in vermont said...

The problem being of course, that the Democrats control only half of the legislative branch, and only got that majority by lying about what they wanted.

iowan2 said...

What layer of the pushing are you/they talking about?

I was quoting someone else. The ones pushing are in safe seats with lots of rabid Trump hating constituents.


Some one pointed out weeks ago that the donor class is the largest driver. They demand action, or donations will be re directed. Apply that test as a motivator, and the amount of positive hits is illuminating

narciso said...

Most of his Ill deeds had happened before like the cra revisions, selling out to China, admittedly the Cisneros 8nvestigation was a little like the Cohen kerfluffle.

narciso said...

He paid his mistress and didnt declare taxes or something, mark rich bought his pardon for breaking the Iran sanctions.

narciso said...

Kind of like that Taiwanese company that hired black cube to do the same, the story is the opposite of the narrative.

Howard said...

Democrats who don't believe in realpolitik think this transcends politics.

Narr said...

Reading WaPo or NYT headlines is more than sufficient, and is certainly unhealthy.

The D's suffer from a transcendent lack of conviction, beyond their narcissistic conviction that the political and electoral well-being of D's constitutes the highest and best use of all human energy and imagination.

Narr
Bless their hearts!

Earnest Prole said...

Here, Washington Post, let me show you what a strong edit looks like: “For Democrats, impeachment is an infernal itch that will drive them mad if they don’t scratch.”

Bay Area Guy said...

Professor Laurence Tribe (D-Harvard) has many creative ideas about impeachments, indictments, Grand Inquests.

He is quite active on Twitter,. although much less active in the actual courtroom. You know, that place where one's legal strategems get tested in the real world.

Professor Tribe taught Con Law at Harvard. So, he is very smart. Well, maybe I should rephrase that. He is very educated. Extremely educated.

He is also in the trenches of suing Trump for Emoluments! I'm not even really sure what an Emolument! is, but it's in the Constitution.

Article 4:

"No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

So, I think President Trump - in addition to colluding with Russia and obstructing justice - has accepted an Emolument! without consent of the Congress.

I surely hope Congress with will give its consent for the Emolument! that President accepts. I'm not exactly sure what the Emolument! was, but I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it.

tim in vermont said...

And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

It was, of course, zero problem when Trump’s opponent, Hillary, IIRC, collected hundreds of millions for the foundation she and her husband directed from kings, princes, and foreign states. I am sure that these people would have been foursquare behind impeachment of Hillary for this. Right? Right?

Yancey Ward said...

It is pretty easy to understand that headline and the article that it titles- WaPo is describing a struggle to reach a House majority for impeachment. I am guessing there are, perhaps 180-200 votes for impeachment, but they will need 218, so impeachment is around 20-40 votes short, and I could easily be overestimating the number for impeachment support.

What you are seeing right now is the media working those Democrats who are no votes, and this article is one of those efforts.

buwaya said...

The big money is in a state of uncertainty.
Their instructions to their agents are mixed, torn between risk-reward analyses.
They will come to an agreement between themselves presently, and we will find out the result of that through their agents.
If vulnerable congressmen decide to throw themselves into the fire, it will be due to assurances that they will be well compensated for their sacrifice.

rcocean said...

Wasn't Emerson involved in Transcendentalism? I couldn't remember, so I looked it up. And yes he was. But like almost all of Emerson, I had completely forgotten it. Then I looked up "An Introduction to transcendentalism and found this quote:

Even more than most "isms," American Transcendentalism defies neat definition, now and in the nineteenth century. A loose collection of eclectic ideas about literature, philosophy, religion, social reform, and the general state of American culture, transcendentalism had different meanings for each person involved in the movement,

No wonder I'd completely forgotten it!

Amadeus 48 said...

I grew up in a household heavily influenced by New England transcendentalism. We spent a lot of time trying to separate the real from the apparent. I think the Democrats are going a different direction on this. They are ignoring both the real and the apparent.

Sad (unless you are a Republican).

rcocean said...

"No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

You can however, become a lobbyist for a foreign government AFTER you leave office AND make 1 hour speeches for $100,000 a pop or have foreigners give $$$ to your "foundation". IOW, bribes are OK, as long as you delay them or filter them through a bogus non-profit.

Earnest Prole said...

He is also in the trenches of suing Trump for Emoluments! I'm not even really sure what an Emolument! is, but it's in the Constitution.

Laurence Tribe’s legal theories increasingly resemble the in-class brainstorming of first-year law students at a fifth-tier law school.

Narr said...

I went to a holistic dentist once and asked him about pain relief. He told me I should strive to transcend dental medication.

Narr
Newsflash: Panic at the Pride Parade!

Amadeus 48 said...

On the other hand, the Dems are re-enacting a revival meeting from the Second Great Awakening. They want all those folks who aren't sure of their salvation to come down to the Anxious Bench, where we can see 'em and pray for 'em. It's amazing how many get religion after a while.

buwaya said...

There is literally nothing to Emerson. That whole thing was a would-be cool kids club of the 19th century.

Amadeus 48 said...

"Laurence Tribe’s legal theories increasingly resemble the in-class brainstorming of first-year law students at a fifth-tier law school."

If you read David Garrow's biography of Obama (Rising Star), you see that this is what Tribe loved about Obama--the endless flow of baloney couched as legal blather. Obama was great at spit-balling nonsense in front of the class. Garrow says the other students played a game called "Obamameter" when Obama started to speak, holding up a number of fingers representing the number of minutes they estimated he would speak.

Those Obama press conferences started a long time before he was elected POTUS.

But this history says a lot more about Tribe than Obama.

Narayanan said...

BAG quoted - And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.".

Parse that once again : if SoS is not Office of Profit Hillary claim free to do whatever stands.

The document is not tightly worded. Citizens need to tighten it up while keeping an eye on lawyers and professors.

tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
chickelit said...

Most certainly the Clintons were deeply into emoluments and other lubes, especially Bill.

Amadeus 48 said...

Emerson wrote great paragraphs. It was when he strung them together into an essay that the wheels came off.

This is from a poem, but you get the idea:

"The horseman serves the horse,
The neat-herd serves the neat,
The merchant serves the purse,
The eater serves his meat;
'T is the day of the chattel
Web to weave, and corn to grind;
Things are in the saddle,
And ride mankind."

Hagar said...

Ascend, descend, transcend, whatever, but it is indeed beyond a disagreement about politics - the rules by which our society should be governed - when Pelosi tells her flock the remainder of this congressional term should be devoted to "investigate" until they can determine what crime Trump is guilty of and find evidence to prove it, so that they can indict and convict him after he has left office.

This is not "politics," this is personal hatred of the bad bad Orange Man.

chickelit said...

The Democrat's basic problem is that they present no viable alternative to Trump. None of them cut it, and all for different reasons. The right candidate just hasn't evolved yet. It's not very sporting to watch them all fail -- and they all will fail -- but that's all the Dems offer at this time: failure.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

from their visceral hatred he is metaphysically impeached

"From Hell's heart I transcendently stab, metaphorically, at thee"

Crimso said...

"The dude is Orange, and a Man, and Bad!!"

The bastard child of Anita Bryant and Shaft.

cubanbob said...

I'm surprised that Trump hasn't told the Democrats to go ahead and impeach him. No more threats, no more teasing, just do it and do it now. Trump knows they won't do it so why not call them out on it? And if they did, it would be a godsend for Trump. Just imagine what Trump's savage defense lawyers will do the witnesses called to testify in the Senate trial. And imagine the crazed efforts by the Democrats to avoid such luminaries like Mueller, Weisman, Comey, Clapper, Brennan, Power, Lynch, Yates and Obama amongst others being subpoenaed to testify under oath. The shitshow will be one for the ages. Bruce Hayden as usual, nailed it above thread.

cubanbob said...

Blogger chickelit said...
The Democrat's basic problem is that they present no viable alternative to Trump. None of them cut it, and all for different reasons. The right candidate just hasn't evolved yet. It's not very sporting to watch them all fail -- and they all will fail -- but that's all the Dems offer at this time: failure."

Every Democrat running is running for either World Presidency, Central American Presidency, North American Presidency, North, Central and South American Presidency whereas Trump has and will again run again for the presidency of The United States of America. The Democrats are making it rather obvious for the voters.

Gk1 said...

I am not sure I buy the "the democratic base is thirsting for impeachment" any more. I was reading an article in the LA Times how Trump is actually more popular than the state democratic congress and that 54% of california voters think impeaching trump is a waste of time. And this is in blue, blue, california. Maybe democrats are finally catching on that Nadler and the rest are just wasting time with little to show for taking over congress? https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-skelton-california-legislature-disapproval-rating-20190606-story.html

Hagar said...

Trump should never even been nominated, much less elected, and having been elected - however that happened; there must have been some mistake - his tenure should have been a total fiasco.

This is all extremely frustrating and not to be borne!

Michael K said...

54% of california voters think impeaching trump is a waste of time. And this is in blue, blue, california.

Remember that California citizens are not as blue as advertised. Prop 8, which defined marriage as one man and one woman, passed with 63% of the vote. Then a judge threw the result out as "unconstitutional" and married his gay lover.

Prop 187 passed with majorities even in Hispanic areas. Judges threw it out.

A lot of those voters have left the state, like me, but many are still there but being outvoted by fraud.

Gk1 said...

I thought it was notable that the LA Times was pointing out that a majority think impeachment is a waste of time. Prop 8 was defeated, like what, in 2005? The republican party is dead here. We haven't had a republican governor since Pete Wilson in the 90's (Arnuld doesn't count) Yeah, I'd say the place is getting bluer. Our only hope is a 3rd party actually develops after the democratic party crashes the place.

Hagar said...

Trump is a third party, and has got the White House.

Gospace said...

The headline is a freestanding lie. It's all about politics, period, and nothing but politics.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Will Trump pull an "Aral Vorkosigan"?

Will he pull out the middle from both parties to build his coalition?

Asking for Barrayar - I mean USA.


You have just cast Baron as Miles..

I would like to see that play out!

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

When Hillary loses, the baby WaPo cries.

Jim at said...

They don't even have 60 votes in the House. It's nothing more than attempting to placate the drooling imbeciles in their base.

Bruce Hayden said...

LLR's will tell you he obstructed justice by not testifying in person under oath.

IF ONLY he'd been forced to answer questions, the truth of his real crimes would have slipped out!

Therefore his lack of testimony constitutes obstruction of the justice they seek.


In regards to Trump not testifying under oath - the Mueller team never came close to proving that they needed in order to get him under oath. Precedents say that you can only interview the President when you can prove that you can’t get the evidence you need elsewhere, and every time that the Mueller prosecutors asked for a personal interview, the reply was thousands and thousands of pages of documents. He was just too busy doing the country’s work to be bothered by their nonsense, etc.

They were supposed to be investigating Russian collusion, but it was pretty obvious by early 2018 that they had found nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada. They kept the investigation going in order to investigate Obstruction of Justice (and to stall the SpyGate investigation) even though that was supposed to be just ancillary. They had two problems with showing that Trump had Obstructed Justice. First, there was no underlying criminality, and thus no Actus Reus. The second was that they couldn’t prove Mens Rea without a personal interview of Trump. He had legitimate reasons for doing everything that they tried to pin on him as Obstruction, thus making proving an illegitimate reason beyond a reasonable doubt almost impossible, absent a person interview under oath. Thus, for example, Comey was fired based on the recommendation of DAG Rosenstein and proof that Comey had lied to Trump. Clearly, Comey was fired for cause under the laws in effect throughout this country. Firing for cause is a legitimate reason for firing a Senate confirmed Principal Officer under the laws of our country. How to show thatvComey was fired for an illegitimate reason, instead of the legitimate one given by the Trump Administration? They needed a smoking gun, and were only going to get it with a personal interview of Trump.

Of course, the real reason that they probably wanted to personally interview Trump under Oath was that their last and best shot at getting Trump on Obstruction was in a perjury trap, similar to what they did with his NSA, Gen Flynn. By all indications, Trump has been a horrible witness under oath in the past. I expects that he rambled and exaggerated there, just like he does the rest of the time. If they could interview Trump under oath, there might be a possibility of showing Mens Rea in one of the possible Obstruction charges that they had cooked up, but almost assuredly would trip him up in their perjury trap. Of course, Trump’s lawyers knew this too, and were going to shove documents by the pallet at the Mueller team, since they couldn’t actually explain in court why they needed to have a personal interview of the President in order to spring a perjury trap on him, when they were supposed to be investigating Russian collusion.

Earnest Prole said...

Remember that California citizens are not as blue as advertised.

Affirmative Action is still illegal in California.

Hagar said...

So who cares. We will do as we want anyway!

Gospace said...

Bay Area Guy said...

He is also in the trenches of suing Trump for Emoluments! I'm not even really sure what an Emolument! is, but it's in the Constitution.


Nobody is sure what an emolument is. I for sure am not sure. It's like a word from a spelling bee that no one actually uses in day to day conversation, but has some meaning somewhere. But there's also people saying that the constitutional prohibition against accepting them doesn't apply to POTUS anyhow. The thing is- no one, not anyone, anywhere, can show anything resembling a quid pro pro (a not obscure legal term but still subject to misunderstanding) arrangement with Donald Trump and foreign money. Straightforward business agreements predating his election, yes- but that's not a quid pro pro.

OTOH, Hillary Clinton, a few million dollars to the Clinton foundation, and the sale of U.S. uranium to Russian sources, well, to T.C. Mits, that looks a lot like a quid pro pro type thing. Along with various other weird coincidences involving contributions to that charity and subsequent U.S. actions while she was SECSTATE.

Bay Area Guy said...

Maybe the Dem Party should have a "transcendent struggle" over whether to abort post-birth babies or repeal the long-standing Hyde Amendment.

narciso said...

It sounds painful, anyways I pointed out sid bvuxious and strobe talbott red sympathies. College age Hillary followed Carl oglesby one of the older sds with the conspiracy theory of sun belt plotters against yankee JFK. AMD we know her sympathies with the Panthers at yale law.

Bay Area Guy said...

If anyone is interested, here's the Legal Dream in charge of the Emoluments litigation against President Trump.

What'd I like to say to this cohort of highly reputed legal geniuses is, No, we're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you.

Emoluments!

p.s. Bonus points for the first Dem presidential aspirant who mentions "Emoluments!" in any public speech or debate.

p.p.s Triple and quadruple bonus points if David Begley asks Sen. Kamala Harris to answer a question about Emoluments! in Iowa.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The Dems not only play and manipulate with the general public's stupidity, They depend on it.

narciso said...

Going down the list of those on the cfius panel that approved uranium we have then company chief leon Panetta, well once upon a time he was a liberal Republicans but by the 80s he was firmly in fellow traveling circles

narciso said...

Like I said it's like scaramangas hall of mirrors
https://www.wnd.com/2011/06/311485/

gilbar said...

rcocean said... IOW, bribes are OK, as long as you delay them or filter them through a bogus non-profit.

bribes are OK, as long as YOU ARE A DEMOCRAT
fify!

Amadeus 48 said...

Bruce Hayden at 1:24.

Yup.

Dowd, Cobb, and McGahn outsmarted Team Mueller. They gave Mueller everything he wanted except the thing he most wanted--an interview of Trump. Kudos to Trump's legal team and to Trump for listening to them.

Of course, it was essential that there was no coordination or conspiracy. They would have had to play it differently if Team Trump had some things they didn't want to discuss.

wwww said...

"There is literally nothing to Emerson. That whole thing was a would-be cool kids club of the 19th century."

Not a fan of the Concord Renaissance, eh? Personally, I prefer Emerson, Margret Fuller and Alcott over these WA Post stories. & I enjoy the writings of Henry James.

narciso said...

It's the Seinfeld show by James rebhorn:

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/9/martha-barcena-mexican-ambassador-denies-cbs-news-/?fbclid=IwAR0O5-8x6XGq-AmNCm8L16wEDQM6VMepp7n2mvFxNT32rOBfkazBX8NARJM

Amadeus 48 said...

That Emoluments Legal Dream Team would have landed OJ in jail for 150 years. They ought to try something more their speed--like trying to keep Lori Loflin a free woman.

narciso said...

Skippy is still desparate:

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/beto-orourke-bluntly-answers-whether-trump-committed-prosecutable-crimes-he-did/

tim in vermont said...

“I think that’s clear from what we have learned from the Mueller report,” O’Rourke continued, adding “But I think those crimes might extend beyond what we’ve seen in the Mueller report. Using public office for personal gain for himself and for his family, the relationship that he has with Vladimir Putin, which has never been properly explained, from the invitation as a candidate to have Russia involve itself in our elections, his efforts to obstruct justice, the fact that he called Vladimir Putin after the Mueller report was released, called it a hoax, thereby giving him a green light to further participate in our democracy and in our elections.”. - Beto Gigolo O’Rourke


CLEARLY he committed crimes! And he MIGHT HAVE committed even more!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

There is a dental care providers underground who refuse transsexuals oral hygiene?

And they wish to become a religion?

madAsHell said...

Slightly O/T, but I think they may have hit the the red line.. Now your chocolate comes with extra guilt!!

Anonymous said...

The fact that is very possible that Nancy doesn't have the votes for impeachment did not clearly strike me until today's conversation. No wonder she's dancing as fast as she can. Of course she doesn't, and won't, have the votes. Can you imagine the effect of failing in the House. Half the Democrat party would explode into open war with the other half. Delicious!

Sebastian said...

"For Democrats, Trump impeachment question is a personal struggle transcending politics"

Haven't read all the comments. Sorry if this is too obvious, but:

For progs, nothing transcends politics.

Bay Area Guy said...

In the 11th Grade, I had a "transcendent struggle" with Cathy's bra strap in the back seat of my parents' car.

She was probably a Democrat.

Bay Area Guy said...

According to the DLF Party (Delusional Leftwing Fuckhead), Trump should be impeached for attempting to obstruct the false charge of Russian collusion.

And, according to Professor Emeritus Laurence Tribe (D-Harvard), the House can impeach and conclude -- without having the Senate further obstruct these proceedings to get the bottom of the obstruction.

narciso said...

what do you do with delusional people who are unable or unwilling to see reality,


https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/09/mcaleenan-trump-mexico-deal/

Nichevo said...

buwaya said...
There is literally nothing to Emerson. That whole thing was a would-be cool kids club of the 19th century.

6/9/19, 11:41 AM


Not fair. I quite enjoyed Tarkus and Pictures at an Exhibition.

narciso said...

we seem not to have learned anything since Libya in 2011


https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/msm-mourns-death-of-cia-backed-syrian-al-qaeda-isis-ally-466d12a597de?postPublishedType=initial

Rosalyn C. said...

I call BS. The impeachment obsession for Democrats is a big league hoax/deflection in order to avoid working with Trump and doing the work of Congress which the country needs to get done. Dem's are afraid Trump will get credit for being a great president if Democrats cooperate. The outcome of this farse is that the country suffers. I think the voters are smart enough to see this. Maybe not, we'll see.

This much is obvious: one, the Democrats are not offering any genuine workable plans to deal with immigration, healthcare, infrastructure, etc.; two, the Democrats can not point to any actual genuine crime(s) committed by Trump. We know now that he had no working plan to collude with Russia to win. All the fuss from the Mueller Report revealing appearances of something fishy -- had no consequence nor produced any evidence of wrongdoing. For that Democrats want and need to continue investigating everything Trump has ever done in his lifetime. How weak and boring the Democratic Party has become!

tim in vermont said...

Tribe is scheming to deny Trump his day in court. LOL. They can also, I. suppose, find a way to limit cross examination by Republicans in the House, why not?

Bay Area Guy said...

How weak and boring the Democratic Party has become!

That's why they need to abandon the racist "Democrat" Party name, which was founded on slavery, and borrow from Minnesota the DLF Party, which there stands for Democrat-Labor-Farmer Party.

Nationally, it should be called, the Delusional Leftwing Fuckhead (DLF) Party, which captures where they are these days.

Dave Begley said...

Bay

I’ll be asking China Joe a question on Tuesday!

tim in vermont said...

Tribe knows that they can’t prove anything.

Hagar said...

It is not a question of "proof." It is that they cannot get enough air into the balloon to make it lift off, regardless of how much the huff and puff.

Hagar said...

Or their charges are like nailing Jello to a wall; they just won't stick!

Bay Area Guy said...

@Begley,

You should ask Joe Slow-Hands why he was so mean and racist to Anita Hill.

TJM said...

The Dems are retarded. There is no basis for impeachment. With Obozo the Magnificent, there were solider grounds for impeachment, but that would have been racist or something.

The Godfather said...

Please, please, PLEASE House Democrats, impeach Trump! You will ensure Trump's reelection (popular vote majority too) and a Republican Congress. Impeachment turned blow-job Clinton into a national hero. What couldn't it do for Trump?

Big Mike said...

Can you imagine the effect of failing in the House

Quite easily.

chickelit said...

Bay Area Guy said...In the 11th Grade, I had a "transcendent struggle" with Cathy's bra strap in the back seat of my parents' car.

I dunno -- that sounds pretty cis to me.

narciso said...


Part of the FISA surveillance:


https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/9/robert-mueller-exploited-cell-phone-gps-track-trum/?fbclid=IwAR2BISxdrX6mj5P-95MP2pCUQOwJUMYIfMIfRwV7lGmZ8fgb1bp7Y74vdq0

Kevin said...

If only Mueller would have thought to subpoena the President. (one of those 'fact' things the left avoids like a check at dinner.)

A judge would want to see evidence a crime occurred.

Hence, Mueller’s predicament.

madAsHell said...

I’ll be asking China Joe a question on Tuesday!

Really?? How do you know that?

I sincerely thought all the questions for Joe were scripted, and nothing left for chance, but you have penetrated the Praetorian Guards??

It appears that Slow Joe will be in Iowa on the 11th. I believe Mr. Begley has claimed living in Omaha. So, you're driving in from out-of-town?

Will there be video??

Achilles said...

Dave Begley said...
Bay

I’ll be asking China Joe a question on Tuesday!


Ask him if he would be willing to have his and his family's dealings with Ukraine and China be as thoroughly investigated as Trump's and his family's dealings with Russia.

Mention Hunter Biden's very lucrative contracts with oligarchs from both countries and the fact that those countries clearly support him over Trump.

madAsHell said...

I had a "transcendent struggle" with Cathy's bra strap

Two years later, Cathy was popping my cherry at the frat house. No....really.....her name was Cathy, and I have no idea where she might be today, but I sure hope she's happy, and healthy.

We also learned that you need extra lubrication to fuck in a swimming pool.

Kinda gives a whole new sense to swimmers in the pool......

chickelit said...

We also learned that you need extra lubrication to fuck in a swimming pool.

Well you don't in a lake. Must be the chlorine.

Narayanan said...

... A judge would want to see evidence a crime occurred. ..

From what I've read so far, not so in the case of NSA Michael Flynn.

madAsHell said...

Well you don't in a lake. Must be the chlorine.

She had vaseline in her purse. It wasn't her first rodeo.

Michael K said...

Watch out you don't run into those Nazi Buttpeg supporters in Iowa.

Although they seem more courageous with girls.

wildswan said...

"Impeachment should be safe, legal and rare, only occurring when a Republican holds office. It is a deeply personal decision which should be made between a politician and his fundraisers. I have always supported the transcendent identity ... what?... what?" At this point the interview recording was somehow erased.

stlcdr said...

Well, you have to talk at the level of all those sociology majors (aka. The educated ignoramus). Keep the populace ignorant of the law and how the real world works, and try the case in the court of public opinion.

This is how the Democrats are leveraging democracy for evil ways.

TJM said...

The Dem Party is a crime organization masquerading as a political party. My late father, a lifelong Democrat, said the real change came when the Clintoons took over the party. He never voted for the Horndog, such was his disgust

Michael K said...

My late father, a lifelong Democrat, said the real change came when the Clintoons took over the party.

Lyndon Johnson did serious damage but the criminality in office came pretty much with the Clintons. From the first days with Travelgate, they were obvious grifters. Hillary was the worst and least competent,

Narr said...

Yah, Bill and Hill the Arkansas grifters . . . they are little-admired among the folks they left behind, when they went off to improve the lives of others.

Narr
They're crooked and corrupt, but at least he's cynical about it

Bilwick said...

Elizabeth Warren . . . the Margaret Fuller of the Stupid Years.

PM said...

H at 7:52 nails the left to the floorboards. xlnt.