December 14, 2019

"I have a problem with this whole damn place. If you can figure out an exit strategy for me I’d appreciate that. This is crazy. The whole thing is crazy. It will take some time to get over."

Ken Buck, a Republican congressman from Colorado (and member of the Judiciary Committee), quoted in "Icy silence, frayed connections: Impeachment takes a toll" (AP).

39 comments:

Michael K said...

This disaster will not be treated well by history. Of course, that assumes history will still be written.

gilbar said...

I was going to tell Professor Althouse about the typo in her headline, which she already fixed (thanx!); so, instead i'm going to point out a typo in the ap wire
they said...
Ever since Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s president sparked official proceedings against the president, impeachment has been a force that’s bent congressional business around it, with severe strain.


I'm sure you all see the typo
The word "Election" is Not spelled "July 25 phone call with Ukraine's president"

gilbar said...

Dr K said...
that assumes history will still be written.


Of course history will still be written. The Question IS:
Will it be written in Arabic? Or Chinese?

Big Mike said...

Mr. Buck's personal exit strategy is easy: announce your retirement if you don't have the guts to fight for your constituents. The exit strategy for the House as a whole? Never elect a Democrat again.

elkh1 said...

Exit strategy as exit from Congress? Don't run next year, problem solved.

madAsHell said...

You know what I hate??......Narrative written for women who will search to the end of the story for meaning. Failing to find anything meaningful, they then. insert their own meaning........usually involving fairness.

The article is a fucking Obama speech. You can walk away with whatever feel good story you want.

Mark said...

Dude -- they have been signaling and actively working for the destruction of the most basic of human/social institutions for DECADES. They even openly called for the "fundamental transformation" of America. And you are only now catching on when they turn in this direction?

mccullough said...

Apparently Buck isn’t one of the swamp anointed. The exit strategy for the likes of Paul Ryan is to get even more money from your benefactors by leaving office. They pay you for the water you carried. Like Netflix and Obama.

You could stay on in Congress and have the money funneled to you through guys like Hunter Biden. But it takes awhile to reach that level.

traditionalguy said...

The corrupt Congress people never knew they had to work for their sacks of free money . And the slush fund sources of secret cash bribes is being removed right before the swamp owners' eyes.

They used to be good at doing what they do splitting up the loot for "reasons." But now their taking Foreign government loot to destroy the USA is being exposed and called a crime. It is a hard life.

On top of that, mean Jim Jordan keeps on wrestling them so hard all they are getting is mat burns.

daskol said...

I’d like to say this is a day that will live in infamy, but as Ken Buck understands, it’s merely the further descent into corruption and irrelevance for the institution of Congress. I’d like to say that saddens me, but I’m actually pleased. Like the major organs of media and our organs of law enforcement and intelligence, they have behaved so badly that their self-destruction is in the interest of the nation. Burn it down, make the rubble bounce and all that. Then we’ll try again, and we’ll be nearly certain to do better.

buwaya said...

The conflict has come to a point where there is no longer any common ground, as all sides perceive all their interests (or those they perceive to be most important), to be in opposition.

And this is a question of the people themselves being in conflict, not just the often artificial facade the political class puts on. Behind this kabuki of conflict is the reality of conflict.

A curious thing, really, as the times are relatively good, in a material sense.

rehajm said...

Get in the tub, finish off a bottle of wine and find the box cutter handy. I think it’s part of the Congressional handbook.

Michael K said...

A curious thing, really, as the times are relatively good, in a material sense.

The French Revolution was not begun by the poor. Robespierre and Danton were lawyers. Marat was a physician and journalist.

Rory said...

Slice off thirty million or so people into little city-states on the coasts. Then amend the Constitution to reinforce federalism and individual rights for the next hundred years or so.

Skeptical Voter said...

Mr. Buck rightly feels like he could use a shower. Wrestling with Fat Jer and his Democrat wing men is like wrestling with a pig. You get dirty and the pig enjoys it. Ignore the fluff and puff about "it's a sad day and we are just doing our duty" etc. It's all mud (and or pig manure).

narciso said...

Fidel mao ho chi minh che all upper class

narciso said...

Back in 2010 the top men cut buck at the knees over some comment about abortion in the senate race.

wildswan said...

When I used to watch high school and college football games played in the rain and slush of Wisconsin, you'd see every now and then a player whose uniform was immaculate among all the muddy jerseys and pants. That was some boy who didn't want to get hit and knocked down in the mud and who was just pretending to hold the line. Everybody on Trump's side, top to bottom - Trump, Melania, Mike Pence, General Flynn, Supreme Court nominees, Cabinet members, fundraisers, supporters in Congress, and gen pop supporters including teenagers and college students - everyone is getting knocked about either by being smeared and/or shunned or by being physically assaulted by Antifa or by some lout or by a teacher or a professor - everyone has a dirty jersey. If you don't, you aren't trying. So, Congressman, you've met the left as it really is and they knocked you down, rolled you in the mud and laughed - as they did in Russia, as they are doing in China, Cuba and Venezuela. Recover over Christmas and come back with a realistic fight plan, including recovery periods. You can tell your grandchildren someday you had a dirty jersey.

Big Mike said...

From the AP story:
"But trust — by Americans toward Congress — seems to be suffering. And it’s not clear the proceedings are changing minds."

Actually, polls tell us that the proceeding really are changing minds, by turning independents away from the Democrats. And (allegedly) moderate Democrats like Abigail Spanberger are getting an earful when they hold town halls with their constituents. She's not the only one.

Big Mike said...

From the Babylon Bee:"Dems Vow To Learn From Labour Party's Mistake Of Not Going Far Enough Left"

David Begley said...

Hank Johnson is on the Judiciary Committee. He voted for impeachment. He’s the same guy who asked a general if Guam would tip over because of a new air base that would be added to the island.

Bruce Hayden said...

“A curious thing, really, as the times are relatively good, in a material sense.”

“The French Revolution was not begun by the poor. Robespierre and Danton were lawyers. Marat was a physician and journalist.”

Didn’t Lenin have the same problem? The worst revolutionaries are farmers. Ok maybe no worse than today’s homeless. I think that you really need the involvement of the middle class to make one work. A lot of our Founders were essentially middle class (plus some of the very wealthy like Washington). They were the educated elite of their time, able to change minds by the way they spoke (Adams) and wrote (Jefferson). Putting themselves on the Brits’ Most Wanted list, and expecting to be hung if caught just for an ideal.

narciso said...

Admiral, who flew the inverted mig in top gun.

Achilles said...

""I have a problem with this whole damn place. If you can figure out an exit strategy for me I’d appreciate that. This is crazy. The whole thing is crazy. It will take some time to get over.""

Greta Thunberg has a good idea on what to do with leaders like the democrats in congress.

Michael K said...

Here is an essay on the UK election that is worth reading.

If you look at the working class constituencies that turned blue, most of them voted to leave the European Union in 2016 by a significant margin—Great Grimsby, for instance, an English sea port in Yorkshire, where Leave outpolled Remain by 71.45 to 28.55 per cent. Labour’s problem, according to this analysis, is that it didn’t commit to taking Britain out of the EU during the campaign but instead said it would negotiate a new exit deal and then hold a second referendum in which the public would be able to choose between that deal and Remain. This fudge may have been enough to keep graduates on side, but it alienated working class Leave voters in England’s rust belt.

This analysis doesn’t bear much scrutiny. To begin with, the desertion of Labour by its working class supporters—and its increasing popularity with more affluent, better educated voters—is a long-term trend, not an aberration. The disappearance of Labour’s traditional base isn’t just the story of this election, but one of the main themes of Britain’s post-war political history.


This is the story of the US Democrats and really most of western culture.

A careful analysis of the policies set out in Labour’s latest manifesto reveals that the main beneficiaries of the party’s proposed increase in public expenditure—which the Conservatives costed at an eye-watering £1.2 trillion—would be its middle class supporters.

For instance, the party pledged to cut rail fares by 33 per cent and pay for it by slashing the money spent on roads. But only 11 per cent of Britain’s commuters travel by train compared to 68 per cent who drive—and the former tend to be more affluent than the latter. Corbyn also promised to abolish university tuition fees at a cost of £7.2 billion per annum, a deeply regressive policy which, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, would benefit middle- and high-earning graduates with “very little” upside for those on low incomes.


This is coastal and urban elite versus the rest of us. Many of us are prosperous but the culture war is the factor.

Achilles said...

buwaya said...


A curious thing, really, as the times are relatively good, in a material sense.


This is the reverse of the French Revolution. The impeachment is a revolt against the voters.

Prosperity is being shared. The aristocracy does not like that. They are losing control over their serfs.

The poor and middle class have never been as prosperous as they are now. The left can not abide that.

It will end the same way as the French Revolution though. The masses will win this one too but this time it will end in prosperity.

Achilles said...

Michael K said...

The French Revolution was not begun by the poor. Robespierre and Danton were lawyers. Marat was a physician and journalist.

This revolution was started by lawyers too.

narciso said...

For different purposes, locke b
Vs rousseau.

Charlie Currie said...

There must be some kinda way out of here, said the joker to the thief...

Michael K said...

This is the reverse of the French Revolution. The impeachment is a revolt against the voters.

Have you read Revolt of the Elites ?

It is interesting and the left is rediscovering it as they try to explain Trump.

walter said...

Books: Drain the Swamp: How Washington Corruption is Worse Than You Think

rcocean said...

Ken Buck Sounds like a loser. Waah, waah, I want to "reach across the aisle" and D's are so mean and unfair.

Here's your exit strategy Ken: Quit.

dreams said...

These crooked and or just plain stupid democrats are going to get what they deserve come NOV. 2020.

rcocean said...

Don't repeat the myth that Labour was "neutral" on Brexit. They were AGAINST Brexit. They stopped Johnson from doing a "crashing out" in October 2019, and they stopped May's deal in May 2019.

Their platform was to hold a 2nd referendum and give EU citizens and 16 y/o's the vote. There would've given 2 choices: stay, or stay with EU customs union. First Labour was going to negotiate a "Deal" with the EU Full of "protections" and a "Customs Union". Then the British public could choose between Fake Brexit and staying.

In order words like McCain they were going to "Build the Dang fence". But I'm sure some boobs bought the lies.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

The Three Steps to Justice for the Spygate Scandal

https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-three-steps-to-justice-for-the-spygate-scandal_3173918.html

narciso said...

truly considering who designed the eu architecture, not monnet not spaak, but aldo Spinelli, former?? Italian communists, yes it would be hard to be antibrexit left.

daskol said...

Heartily endorse Michael K's suggestion of Christopher Lasch's book, Revolt of the Elites. He saw it all, 20+ years ago, and wrote insightfully and sometimes even beautifully about it.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Just chill, Ken. You get paid either way.

Freeman Hunt said...

I don't know how people stand serving in Congress.