GOP Cannot Be Trusted To Do The Right Thing...

“Senators have been muzzled. So I will now say three things that committee staff has explained are permissible to say without violating committee rules. … One: This was not a full and fair investigation. It was sharply limited in scope and did not explore the relevant confirming facts. Two: The available documents do not exonerate Mr. Kavanaugh.

And three: the available documents contradict statements Mr. Kavanaugh made under oath. I would like to back up these points with explicit statements from the FBI documents — explicit statements that should be available for the American people to see. But the Republicans have locked the documents behind closed doors.” - Elizabeth Warren


An honorable exception:


SENATOR LISA MURKOWSKI: I did not come to a decision on this until walking onto the floor this morning. I have been wrestling to really try to know what is fair and what is right, and the truth is, that none of this has been fair. 
This hasn’t been fair to the judge, but I also recognize that we need to have institutions that are viewed as fair and if people who are victims, people who feel that there is no fairness in our system of government, particularly in our courts, then you’ve gone down a path that is not good and right for this country. And so I have been wrestling with whether or not this was about qualifications of a good man or is this bigger than the nomination. 
And I believe we’re dealing with issues right now that are bigger than the nominee and how we ensure fairness and how our legislative and judicial branch can continue to be respected. This is what I have been wrestling with, and so I made the — took the very difficult vote that I did. 
I believe Brett Kavanaugh’s a good man. It just may be that in my view he’s not the right man for the court at this time. So I have taken my vote here this morning, I’m going to go back to my office and write a floor statement that is more fulsome and have the opportunity to have that. 
But this has truly been the most difficult evaluation of a decision that I have ever had to make, and I’ve made some interesting ones in my career. But I value and respect where my colleagues have come down from in their support for the judge, and I think we’re at a place where we need to begin thinking about the credibility and integrity of our institutions.


Comments

  1. Democrats are not doing The Right Thing either. The Right Thing would be
    1. Leak the damn report.
    or barring the ability to do that
    2. Tell the public what it says.

    The FBI works for us. We deserve to know what the report says. National Security is not an issue!

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    Replies
    1. I agree. This is too important. Not only did this report provide the most threadbare possible fig leaf for Flake and Collins to cower behind as they voted yes, but we're not even being allowed to see the fig leaf.

      Confidentiality of individuals who spoke to the FBI is a legitimate concern, but the report could be leaked with names and identifying data removed.

      Screw the rules and traditions of the Senate. Republicans break every rule in the book the moment they have something to gain by it. They're playing us for saps.

      Delete
    2. Partisanship is understandable. Complete disregard for doing the right thing and ignoring the common good is not. Unfortunately our system is so poisoned by extreme partisanship I frankly believe we're beyond being able to ever find common ground again. Sad

      Delete
  2. Agreed Jerry. But we must remember, rules of the Senate are rules ALL Senators are expected to observe. It is about protocol and decorum, something all club members respect and few, if any, will venture to ignore.

    While the FBI is supposed to work for us it in reality works for the President. The director reports to and takes their orders from the President. As long as the director retains a high degree of independence and integrity to the rule of law as well as impartiality so does the institution of the FBI.

    We all know that tRump expects and DEMANDS a high degree of loyalty. tRump wanted Kavanaugh. Flake orchestrated a move that caused the political decision that lead to the supplemental FBI investigation. tRump approved and so ordered. Even giving the appearance that the agents would be given pretty much a free hand for 5 days. Then tRump and the GOP leadership tightly controlled the process to orchestrate the outcome they desired. In short, the supplemental was a sham.

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  3. I think I heard Murkowski is going to vote "present." Naturally the right winger blogs are calling her an idiot. Much as I am sure a number of left wing blogs are calling Manchin the same for voting in favor of Kav.

    We've made ourselves a partisan ball of "I've got to win" mess.

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  4. Dave, when the belief that the common good or common welfare means concern only for what's good for me and those who think exactly as I do is the definition of liberty you know the nation is on its way to embracing tyranny. The tRump GOP fits that belief exactly.

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  5. And yet RN, here's the struggle. I know Shaw does not want to believe it, but I am, at this point in time, 100% sure Trump will be reelected. Look, what narrative do the Dems have? How do they combat the following if we continue on the same trend...

    Best economy in 50 years. yes, I know it started under Obama, but that's the cookie crumbles.
    Best Unemployment numbers in 50 years. And that's the same for black ppl, latinos, asians, you name it. Every group is better now than they were 4 years ago.

    Sure we're treating ppl without papers horribly, but...

    The Dems best bet is to accept Trump, get what they can from him, like infrastructure, and work on making sure the House and Senate are in Dem hands to be a check on his wilder tendencies.

    I've been asking ppl by what standard they judge whether a person is, or has been a great pres. The left struggles to answer that question. You got any thoughts?

    Maybe he's just the 100% polar opposite of Jimmy Carter. Carter was a great man and a lousy pres. Maybe Trump is a vile man, but a great president?

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  6. I'm rarely 100% sure of anything, save my own name Dave. But I must admit you might very well be right.

    Obama pulled us out of the greatest economic crises since the Great Depression. He guided the recovery that has continued under tRump. Unfortunately cons and repubs give him no credit while lauding tRump's "great" ability. It IS of course bullshi*, but, like the Dwarf Sleepy America, at least 1/2 anyway, appear to be asleep. Or don't care as long as good times roll.

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    Replies
    1. As for thoughts on what makes a person a good president, I have many. But let's start with intelligence, wisdom, honesty, integrity, leadership skills, vision, inspirational, just, humble, empathetic, the ability to appoint people who are as smart (or smarter) than they are and are willing to listen to and take their advice.

      IMO tRump, other than juicing the Obama recovery fails in ALL other dimensions.

      Delete
  7. The US experiment are some bright pages in history and the era of Trump will be an ink stain, Although the far right bristles at comparison to fascism (as I do at being called a commie socialist).
    The sight of rallies of over enthusiastic crowds at Fargo & Topeka look much the same as those at
    Munich & Nuremburg. There has to be an ememy: for the nazis it was trade unions, Jews, communists and socialists; for the trumpites it is immigrants, minorities, women guns and progressives. My daughter in Topeka, stuck in TrumpRally traffic reported “Gee, Dad, they are all old overweight white people. That is why IMO the TrumpPhenom will be shorter and less disasterous than the Third Reich. Demographics: citizens who think progressively are young, minority, highly educated and growing quickly. Change cannot be stopped or reversed, only prodded this way or that.

    We consider the major flaw in the constitution: slavery. Slave owners insisted that their freedoms included owning slaves. As clearly oxymornic as it was, they feared both abolistionist and federal government and used all the tricks that Senator McConnell uses. So enevitable change was postponed by 'four score and seven years', costing the lives of more young American men as have died in all other wars. The South, like the far right GOP was a minority (Trump lost to Clinton by about 3 million votes) and followed the dictum that the ends justify the means( voter suppression, huge $$, and a decades long agitprop about Clinton and even birth control pills. Now women are starting to leave,
    the old sign wavers are succumbing to age and the ink stain is starting to dry.

    Bob Dylan noted that 'the times they are a changing'. They always have and always will. Think
    demographics and change and ponder the future listing to a 7 year old girl sing the Star Spangle Banner. An American, Malea Emma
    Trjandrawidjadja's performance has been view 1.8 million times on Youtube

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  8. Thank you BB Idaho. VERY well said!

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  9. Dave, I just read this and want to pass it along to you:

    "President Donald Trump's approval rating has dropped in every state since he was inaugurated, and in three states it fell from at least 50 percent to majority disapproval, according to a new poll.

    Trump saw the biggest loss in Utah, where about 58 percent of residents approved of him when he took office, and now 50 percent disapprove of his job performance and just 45 percent continue to support him, a Morning Consult poll on the 50 states updated last Thursday shows.

    “Trump’s presidency has been largely about what people are willing to overlook for what they think is most important,” Jason Perry, director of the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics, told the Salt Lake Tribune on Monday.

    “Right now we are seeing that even with a conservative Supreme Court nominee, new trade deals and the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, the balance has shifted in the minds of many voters as they react to some of the president’s more controversial qualities,” Perry continued.


    SOURCE

    BB-Idaho is spot on in his analysis.

    Have any of you read about what's happening to the children who've been separated from their parents? According to the Associated Press, those babies and children who've been in foster care after their parents were sent back to their countries (there was no system to reunite parents and children), those babies and children can be adopted by the foster parents.

    My question is: How can a country take innocent babies and children away from their parents and allow them to be adopted??? Aren't there laws against stealing people's children and giving them to other people? Where's the outrage on this? Do the Trumpanzees agree with this monstrous policy? You know, the same Trumpanzees who howl at the thought of a woman's right to choose. They awfully silent about taking children and giving them to other people. It' monstrous and a crime against humanity.

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  10. Shaw... sadly, I think ppl are “Show me the money” folks... I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. Truly.

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  11. Dave, from what I've read in economic news, it's the 1% who are doing well, but wages are still stagnant for the middle and low-income earners. This is what reality is for most Americans:

    For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades
    BY DREW DESILVER

    On the face of it, these should be heady times for American workers. U.S. unemployment is as low as it’s been in nearly two decades (3.9% as of July) and the nation’s private-sector employers have been adding jobs for 101 straight months – 19.5 million since the Great Recession-related cuts finally abated in early 2010, and 1.5 million just since the beginning of the year.

    But despite the strong labor market, wage growth has lagged economists’ expectations. In fact, despite some ups and downs over the past several decades, today’s real average wage (that is, the wage after accounting for inflation) has about the same purchasing power it did 40 years ago. And what wage gains there have been have mostly flowed to the highest-paid tier of workers.





    SOURCE

    The above may explain why Trump has not been able to break 50% approval for the job he's doing. That and his constant lying, bragging, bullying, and overall boorish behavior.

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