Sessions is still a Senator representing Alabama. And reading a letter written by another counts as “directly or indirectly, by any form of words”.
On the plus side, Warren now has some great video for her reelection campaign.
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You appear not to have read some of macunningham’s earlier post. I’ve repeated it above for you. Hope that helps you unmuddle your thinking. When she reads it again as an argument against him being a Senator, perhaps you’ll have a point.
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PS So you DO admit that evidence of being a racist scumbag IS unbecoming for a Senator. Well, that’s something. I guess the GOP reps who silenced her also agree that being a racist scumbag is unbecoming. The truth is unbecoming? What quaint rules.
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Jesus. She wasn’t calling him an idiot, or acting in any way unruly, which McConnell knows damn well is what that rule was intended to prevent. She was calmly reading a letter by a very well respected civil rights figure. To invoke an arcane, ambiguous rule that’s almost never been invoked is clearly an attempt to silence the opposition.
This is a confirmation hearing for god’s sake–the circumstances are clearly exceptional and require open and free discussion of the candidate, including reasonable criticisms. When you start saying pertinent information can be repressed because it “imputes unbecoming conduct” to the nominee you’ve made a farce of the whole process.
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I’m sure McConnell and crew were rubbing their hands and thinking “ooh, she’ll never expect this!” when they pulled that rule out. It had its desired short-term effect: it shocked Elizabeth Warren and prevented her from speaking during the rest of the hearings.
But context is super important here. This wasn’t one Senator “imputing” another (which is something that happens every day, all the time, and is never censured), it was a Senator bringing very pertinent historic evidence specific to the subject during a confirmation hearing.
But its larger effect should’ve been super easy for Mitch to predict: they just literally censored the words of Coretta Scott King on the Senate floor during Black History Month. They’re not just giving their opponents ammunition, they’re loading the gun for them.
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Indeed and exactly. By voting to silence her they were admitting that his prior conduct WAS ‘unbecoming’ - a threat to his successful nomination. But as professional hypocrites, they will not be capable of recognising that, even if their lives depended on it. (If only they did!)
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Perhaps you’d like to share exactly where the words she read imputed to another Senator conduct or motive unworthy, although you have a long history of claiming guilt and then not only failing to provide real evidence but willfully ignoring the evidence.
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Fact: She did not break any Senate rules. She was not stating her own opinion. Fact, she was reading a letter from someone else stating their opinion.
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Surely being selected for high office by the Trump administration “imputes unbecoming conduct”.
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No, actually. Thurmond never entered it into the record. Maybe not surprising - he was very much of a piece with the current pieces of work representing the Republican Party.
You’d think. I’d say that any serious problems with the actions or character of a candidate for AG would need airing during a confirmation hearing. I’d say that Sessions is being discussed in his role as AG candidate, not in his role as Senator. It’s possible for even a Senator to have two different personae depending on the context (you’d think).
Must be the cabinet position (/s). Cruz accuses McConnell of a lie in the Senate, nothing happens. There are plenty of other examples.
They aren’t conservatives. Your Democratic Party is conservative by most nations’ standards. Your Republican Party is authoritarian - they’re would-be totalitarians for all the reasons you so eloquently state: egoism, nihilism, opportunism. The lucky thing for you (insofar as any of this can be called luck) is that the Republican regime isn’t very competent.
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And how I fucking hate it.
One party is bought and paid for and has no real functional counter to get them to improve and clean house.
The other is staffed full to sociopathic jackoffs that wouldn’t look out of case on a parody of Saturday morning cartoons.
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Need something like the NDP. Our Liberals get out of hand, the NDP picks up their seats.
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We need more people in government with the guts and backbone of Elizabeth Warren. She is someone we need to support if we want our country taken back from these neo-nazis.
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I’m not sure how reading that letter “impugns” the senator. She’s reading someone else’s opinion.
If the good senator is such a butt hurt special snowflake that he feels impugned by that, maybe he’s just not strong enough for the job.
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well they are working on the wall, so you may be in luck.
See also ‘direct or indirect.’
Then again this is the person’s confirmation hearing. This is where you air concerns and grievances that would make them unfit for the position.
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I see that the GOP poltroons and opportunists in the Senate are joining the executive branch in doing their bit to undermine liberal-democratic institutions. Who needs checks and balances, right?
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Hours after GOP leaders blocked Sen. Elizabeth Warren from reading a letter critical of Sen. Jeff Sessions during his confirmation hearing for attorney general, Jeff Merkley picked it up and read the document uninterrupted.
Hmmmmmmmmmm.
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I think “liberal agenda” of letting brown people cast votes.
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Don’t worry, he’ll “apologise” for the “misunderstanding” as he always does. After wasting your time trying to defend his position with increasingly dodgy links, of course.
Don’t attempt to unmuddle his thinking. Willfull confusion is all the poor guy has in the end (except when it involves African-Americans or Muslims accused of crimes – then it resolves into crystal clarity, with none of his usual “Just Asking Questions”).
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