This a thousand times. Yes.
Democratic President, Republican Senate, dead hard-core conservative judge equals a moderate Democrat judge.
I hope Garland gets nominated in the lame duck session just to re-establish the precedent that yes, President’s terms do last 4 years.
If there’s any lesson to draw from the last 8 years is that maintaining the democratic institutions matters more than winning individual battles.
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No, it means no judge at all. This ain’t your granddaddy’s GOP; the old norms no longer apply.
The only way to get a non-harmful Justice is to overthrow the GOP control of the Senate. Which should happen, if Trump loses. If Trump wins, y’all have bigger problems to worry about.
Another lesson is that if you try to fight by Marquis of Queensbury rules in a cage match you’ll get your arse kicked the second the bell rings.
Respect for norms and traditions only works when they’re bipartisan. The GOP have completely abandoned them, and they aren’t coming back. Pretending that the GOP will magically become reasonable if the Dems just wish for it extra hard is asking for an amplified repeat of the failures of Obama’s first term.
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So I guess we’re going to finally dispose of the notion that a judge is impartial, and renders judgment based upon the facts of the case, and does not enter into deliberations with a verdict already decided?
Good to know.
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Politics decrees that if the Democrats win the presidency they need to punish the republicans for failing to accept a moderate candidate by nominating the most black lesbian liberal they can possibly find.
I wonder would they though?
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Ultimately the effect could be that the Republicans block all nominations until die-off of the dinosaurs ensures there is no Supreme Court any more.
The constitutional problem is that the whole idea of checks and balances falls apart when one side realises that, over a period, it can take over one of the supposed balancing organisations. A supreme court can work if you have a fully independent judiciary, but with a politicised system it just becomes a way for the winning side to overturn decisions through the back door. Citizens United is an example of democracy being turned into plutocracy by a politicised judiciary.
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I missed Michelle Obama’s speech, bit I’ll be sure to catch the repeat by Melania Trump.
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My preferred outcome would be not just a Democratic president, but a defeat stinging enough to deal a blow to both Donald Trump personally and his supporters as a faction. Every vote counts toward that goal, which I encourage you to adopt.
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What people aren’t getting, is that those most vocal supporters never belonged to the Democrats to begin with. They were attracted to Sanders message because he inspired hope in honest-to-god change. They were opposed to a candidate like Hillary to begin with. It’s what drew them to Bernie. So to assume that they are throwing a temper tantrum because they did not get their favored candidate, is shooting real wide. They didn’t just not get their candidate, the nomination of Clinton is a complete and abject denial of the only thing that energized them. (TLDR: This ‘forget all the ugly because unity’ doesn’t work with people who began this process already disillusioned with the D’s, and that was before the complete clusterfuck and molesting of the media and the process by unbelievably inept and venal party leaders ). Personally, I will continue to do what I have always done, vote for the candidate that deserves my vote.
Also, instead of shaming these people for not being happy about eating a shit sandwich, visualize the many opportunities the Ds had to win them over, yet promptly and enthusiastically told them to fuck themselves (one example: the sideways ‘firing’ of Wasserman-Schultz right into the HRC campaign honorary chair and cabinest short-list).
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“Hillary Clinton Understands…”
…which is why her cynical insincere politics are all the more mortifying. She understands, and yet she still licks the belly of the beast, still lacks strong ethics or credible integrity, still pretends to be a liberal and “a progressive,” even though her actions and ideology place her in the 1980s Reaganite fold of Republicanism.
Trump must not be elected. Clinton must not be elected. What are we going to do? Elect either and we will not tackle global climate change. Elect either and we will not tackle electoral or regulatory or legislative corruption. Elect either and the United States will not know peace. Elect either and we condemn ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren to a diminished world. Elect either and we will not have a rational decent government. Elect either and we will not have domestic social order or unity. Elect either and we will have have intensified hell on earth and the planet will be filled with woe.
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Great speech. And I am so tired of seeing headlines saying “Bernie supporters think Hillary is as bad as Trump”, and news stories saying Bernie supporters refuse to support her.
SOME Bernie supporters, is the fact they ignore, for the sake of drama, I think. None of the ones I know. Me, and the others I know who supported Bernie in the primaries, are dang right going to vote for Hillary.
Is she problematic? Sure, in some ways. Is Trump? He’s beyond problematic, he’s apocalyptic. He simply MUST NOT WIN.
So as the slogan goes, I’m with her. And I’m glad and proud that the Bernie phenomenon will at least put some breaks on any further right-wing slide by the Democratic party, and maybe even tug it to the left again.
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This speech did a better job of highlighting Clinton’s positives than any Clinton speech I’ve seen so far. I don’t like Clinton, but I am reminded that I can trust her on a lot of issues.
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Doubling down on fear. Do you believe the D party represents progressive values? I don’t.
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After watching Bernie’s speech and knowing what his involvement has added to the DNC platform, absolutely. He’s brought many of his progressive values to the Democrats.
I think that protecting progressive progress isn’t “fear”. It’s pragmatism. What’s your option?
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My fellow Sanders supporters need to take a look at what we accomplished here. Our numbers got Hillary Clinton and the DNC establishment to accept platform planks they never would have after 25 years of depending on big-money donations, especially donations from Wall Street. Of course, Clinton will renege or drag her feet on most of those policies once elected, but a year ago she and the party didn’t think they’d have to address them at all.
I’m planning write Sanders in on the Presidential line this November, since my vote doesn’t count in a state Clinton will win handily. But Sanders supporters in swing states should vote for Clinton so that some of the policies Sanders mentioned have a hope of getting passed. They should also do it because their inaction may result in a POTUS who’s a childish narcissist, a Putin fan, and a confidence artist who couldn’t make a casino resort profitable.
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I think the first half of the speech was to placate and congratulate his supporters and then start making all the points where Hillary is backing what the progressives want. Great speech IMHO.
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Our local county Auditor is a friend of mine – the Auditor’s Office is in charge of counting votes. Write-ins slow down vote counting and make the job of the people counting the ballots much harder. We’ve had people actually elected in write-in campaigns, but protest write-ins annoy him because they cause so much work and are so pointless.
Besides @timstellmach’s approach is much better. Crush Trump, full stop.
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Sorry to hear that, but I’ll still be doing it. I promised myself I wouldn’t vote for Clinton again after I experienced first-hand in 2003 the contempt she has for her constituents. I won’t be bothering with Stein or Johnson, either. I’d stay home entirely, but I think the downticket races are just as if not more vital, so a spoiled Presidential line it is.
While I don’t think write-ins have a chance of getting Sanders elected, I do think they’ll serve the purpose of more than a protest vote in this case. Clinton has to understand that, even though she’ll win my state, it’s no more a sure thing than she thought her lock on the nomination was. She has to know that if she doesn’t follow through on at least some of the Sanders policies that a second term for her isn’t a sure thing, either.
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