Butthurt BernieBros Safespace and Snowflake Refuge

undo wrote:

chrondog wrote:I mean, is it not fairly easy to understand that rage? Republicans blocked a sitting president from even getting hearings on his Supreme Court nominee.

I feel like we had
It was a bullshit game we never should have played but once we agreed to it -- and we definitely did --

Did we? Maybe I'm not really in touch with what games people decided to play in Washington but it's nothing I signed up for.

I also doubt democrats would have straight up denied a sitting president from seating a supreme court justice, but I share Raj's concerns about seeking to block Gorsuch, both in making this sort of thing the new way the government (fails to) operate and that I just don't really think it's gonna work out so well as a strategy.

chrondog wrote:There is not a balance here. Republicans have consistently told people that they should be able to nominate whatever Scallia-esque hardliner they want and that Democrats should nominate moderates. The politics of obstruction have been ultimately successful for the right, Garland is the ultimate example of that. It's bad for the country and Republicans haven't balked once while doing it for a decade.

Who was Obama going to nominate to the left of Sotomayor and Kagan? I don't remember all the names that were shortlisted but I thought those were exactly the people he wanted to nominate. Obama is a moderate and he nominated moderates.

The interesting thing to me about this is that the Supreme Court is a major litmus test for many conservative voters, and it doesn't seem to be the same with (typical) liberal voters. I think the one big (the only?) test that Trump had to pass with those voters during the campaign was to signal he would nominate someone like Gorsuch.

It's time to shove it in their fucking faces.

Through a symbolic vote that they will easily overcome? I just don't think this is the battle where the face-shoving happens.

raj gibson wrote:Would Schumer or Reid have done the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot? It seems quite likely.

It really doesn't. They chose not to filibuster Alito.

Schumer, Feinstein, Clinton, Obama all voted in support of filibuster. They just couldn't get enough other democrats on board.

Gorsuch getting confirmed would be disgusting. Watching these Freedom Caucus fuckers not support this bill because it doesn't hurt the poor and elderly enough is disgusting. They are all disgusting people who can be relied on to do nothing but disgusting things.

If the argument against filibustering the nominee is that they might take away the filibuster, then there effectively is no filibuster. So they should just do it and see if they have the balls to nuke it away for real.
Keeping in mind that they're doing it in support of a minority-elected president, already wallowing in massive unpopularity, just off a humiliating political defeat, currently under investigation by the FBI, etc.

Schumer stated today that they have every intention of doing that.

Trump and his artful deal making is trying to pressure Dems on health care. It's time to propose medicare for all in the House. 72 representatives have already supported this. Announce this a week before the next town hall weekend and let the resistance put in work.

undo wrote:It was a bullshit game we never should have played but once we agreed to it -- and we definitely did -- it's really hard to act like we were cheated out of it over a whole year later.

And yes, I'm totally aware that that exact line of thinking is exactly what they want us to feel right now. Go ahead and neg me, I deserve it.

i'm with Duff, i didn't sign up for this. Obama himself seemed to push hard on the Garland issue for about a month before giving up. this is the kind of defeatist shit that allows right wingers to mop the floor with liberals time and time again. then "good liberals" come out and say we need to play fair and "make sure the government still works" while archconservatives are nuking every institution we have because their stated goal is to grind the government to a halt and dismantle it piece by piece.

Duff... wrote:I also doubt democrats would have straight up denied a sitting president from seating a supreme court justice, but I share Raj's concerns about seeking to block Gorsuch, both in making this sort of thing the new way the government (fails to) operate and that I just don't really think it's gonna work out so well as a strategy.

i share zero concerns about this. nuke the fucking Supreme Court. burn it all down. the thing that is hurting this country is letting cynical Republicans bend the rules and deploy extreme tactics in order give the police more power to shoot you at a traffic stop or put abortion clinics out of business.

raj gibson wrote:Who was Obama going to nominate to the left of Sotomayor and Kagan? I don't remember all the names that were shortlisted but I thought those were exactly the people he wanted to nominate. Obama is a moderate and he nominated moderates.

he wasn't, that's the problem. he triangulated. he played nice. he thought if he appointed nice moderates he would get some goodwill from the GOP. instead, they fucked him in the asshole with Garland.

raj gibson wrote:
Through a symbolic vote that they will easily overcome? I just don't think this is the battle where the face-shoving happens.

YES! draw a damn line in the sand. do what you think is right and give people something to vote for down the road. more mealy-mouthed chatter about process and decorum does not move the needle one iota.

raj gibson wrote:Would Schumer or Reid have done the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot? It seems quite likely.

It really doesn't. They chose not to filibuster Alito.

Schumer, Feinstein, Clinton, Obama all voted in support of filibuster. They just couldn't get enough other democrats on board.

thank you for the fact check. like i said i do appreciate that there has been some bipartisan politicization of the process. i'm trying not to let my disdain for other GOP actions color my view of the court stuff toooo much. it clearly makes me viscerally angry in a way that other issues don't. the Supreme Court is one of the biggest issues for me in electing a president and i think you're right that other liberals don't value it as much and it makes me upset.

from my watching it over the past decade i just don't see how an accomodationist stance on the court wins Democrats any political points or helps them win in the actual decisions.[/quote]

Definitely not gonna sign on to a "burn it all down" agenda. I appreciate that winning when you're playing by rules that the other side barely even pretends to care about is a very difficult thing, but if that's the way we're gonna go then I don't know that there's anything left worth fighting for.

Why were 200 civilians killed in Mosul by American drone strikes? The increase in civilian casualties since January 20th is noticeable and there are leaked reports that Trump is trying to push these limits. He also campaigned on committing war crimes.

It is always disgusting and morally reprehensible when these things happen regardless of who is President, but considering how brashly he has stated his intentions this cannot be excused by anyone. In general this most recent episode in the House has me feeling calmer about what his administration is actually capable of doing legislatively (although obviously it is still very early days), but reading these reports is sickening.

A reality television star is the commander of the largest and most technologically advanced military force in the world's history and has every intention of using this force to indiscriminately slaughter innocent people.

The increase in civilian casualties should not be a surprise. He campaigned on that and his supporters don't care one bit about more dead innocents. They're all terrorists to them.

Trump has had the healthcare and Russia issues competing for front page news that his war crimes haven't registered much attention. Oh by the way, an additional 200 troops are heading to Iraq.

Can't wait until he comes out with a book of paintings and the media embraces him just like GWB!