Romney is okay with voting on a nominee before the inauguration. Proceed to Plan B.
Mitt Romney is the rarest of birds. He is not corrupt, he is not grifting, I donāt think he is a sexual deviant or being blackmailed. He is not stupid. I actually think he has some integrity. Not much, lol private equity and all, but some.
I guess thatās a long winded way of saying he is perhaps the last remaining actual true believer.
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Iām actually fine with Romney moving forward on the vote from a mental perspective. It was going to happen regardless and now I donāt have to waste any more energy on it. I have to accept it and move on.
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Iām trying to understand the logic behind Trump announcing his nominee on Saturday. People want to watch football. The cable news channels play canned programming in prime time. Their staffing isnāt what it is on a weekday. Any ideas about why he would want to choose a Saturday for the announcement?
Mittens can fuck off. President so dangerous and criminal that he should be convicted on impeachment, but totally cool approving of him appointing another sc justice to help him commit more crimes.
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Iām grunching a bit as I have needed a sanity break from all this but the following seems pretty obvious to me:
We have debated long and hard whether the Dems are even attempting to accomplish anything or just give the appearance of it while ceding more and more power to the GOP. I have argued that it is very very likely that it is the latter. If you are a Dem senator and the money is flowing in AND you get to virtue signal and let Mitch and the GOP look like the bad guys this is as good as it gets for you. If you try to do anything you risk the money spigot getting turned off and potentially losing all of that. You also risk whatever you accomplish blowing up in your face like the ACA did. Most of them have not forgotten that.
The natural extension is that most of them likely donāt really care if the SC falls and the Dems become the permanent minority party. You get to permanently be the āgood guysā without an ounce of personal discomfort or sacrifice. Now the few AOC types might get rounded up and put into camps but why would the GOP bother doing that with a Jerry Nadler or Diane Feinstein. They both actually help to further the GOP agenda.
Lastly has anyone ever had a name more mismatched with their face than Mitch McConnell.
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I had some hope when Manchin said heād stay with the Dems, but Romney calling for a vote means thereās zero pathways for the Dems to block the nominee. They need two more defectors, and if Romney isnāt going against Trump I donāt know who else would flip.
Bork was the one who agreed to carry out Nixonās Saturday Night Massacre after his two superiors refused, and conservatives are still mad 3 decades later this disgraceful hack was blocked and view that as the beginning of the āCourt Wars.ā Alternate realities, this country is so so fucked.
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Thatās a good idea but you canāt put 45 liberals on and make it 48-5 and not expect massive ramifications. Iām not saying we should live in fear of ramifications but if we add more than four we need to make it look a little bipartisan.
Itās interesting how having no viable state wide opposition has led the Democrats to Senators like Feinstein and Schumer. People usually assume a party without opposition will go nuts, but really it just means conservatives in NY and CA are inside the party.
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I guess i kind of forgot to post my conclusion. Court packing is pure fantasy without a complete purge of the Dem party. It is being used right now to make us feel better but there is just no way on Earth the DemE crew ever all goes for it.
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Lieu is not that liberal/progressive. Heās not not liberal/progressive either - just like average or something. For example, that law a while back that would have criminalized advocating a boycott of Israel? He was a co-sponsor.
Oh God I had no idea they made Alitoās wife cry.
One has to appreciate the difficulty of that given her choice of partner.
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Yeah, wasnāt this asshole taking a twitter break for the mental health of his daughter? Fuck her, I guess. These takes are too hot to not put in the twitterverse right away!
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This is really really important to remember: weāre currently at a massive electoral disadvantage due to voter suppression, gerrymandering, shitty voting processes/systems, etc. Regardless of whether we pack the courts, Voting Reform is MANDATORY.
If we address those issues and make Election Day a holiday, Georgia and Texas are swing states. North Carolina is probably like Virginia 5-10 years ago: blueish about to be reliably blue. South Carolina could be in play. Iowa is swingier.
Then add Puerto Rico and DC as states to balance the Senate a bit more.
If we do all that the landscape tilts towards Democrats because there are more Dems than Republicans in this country and the current GOP is a horrible party.
So the backlash to court packing would be offset by all that. I think Dems would net benefit significantly.
This is sort of an own goal. Just like going moderate on healthcare to avoid being called socialists only to be called socialists. Pack it and move on. Imagine a huge case coming up and drawing a three judge panel with Thomas and Alito.
I agree, but Iāll also say that if his brand of conservatism were enacted wholesale it wouldnāt be as bad as even the current landscape. Romneycare ~= Obamacare. Exchange and subsidies.
Heād have given $2,000 a month UBI in the pandemic.
If there is such thing as a compassionate conservative, itās Romney. But heās a true believer and not passing up a chance to shape the court for 40 years.
The absolute first thing they should do if given the chance is to end the filibuster.
The second should be voting rights. It is the single most critical issue, by far.
The third should be packing the court so the second isnāt undone.
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Dumbest tweet ever. Itās not like Reid woke up one day and nuked the filibuster on federal judges for fun and games. McConnell was blocking all Obamaās appointees wholesale.
Blocking Bork was the only patriotic thing to do.
Thomas and Kav hearings, I dunno, maybe find some judicial nominees who didnāt sexually assault anybody?
Might as well add āParty of Noā to the list, and of course taking innocent people hostage constantly to barter with their lives.
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Unfortunately weāre going to spend the first 6 months dealing with COVID. At least.
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My Dad is still mad about it to this day. Iām not sure if he knew who Bork was because when I explained it you could see the cognitive dissonance wheels turning. He settled on something like āHe was just following orders and you canāt ruin someoneās life for it.ā
Iām not saying kill him and bury him in a shallow grave, jail him for life, or make him homeless. How about not giving him a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land, and working from there?