• jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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      10 months ago

      That and denying a Supreme Court nominee a hearing. He’s totally OK violating the Constitution.

      “he (the President) shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for”

      Although given how Garland turned out at DOJ, we may have dodged a bullet there.

      • cogman@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Garland was a compromise pick by obama. He was the most centrist republican that obama could find to try and get him appointed. He just wasn’t a federalist society whack job.

        • frezik
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          10 months ago

          Right. He put up a candidate the Republicans couldn’t possibly object to . . . and yet they did anyway. This is what you get for trying to play Republicans at their own game.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              10 months ago

              That’s the point. If they were being reasonable and honest they would have held a hearing for him, because he’s a candidate they could agree with. They were forced to make a choice to admit playing a cheap game or elect him and give up their possible future of absolute control of the SCOTUS. Sadly making them admit this seemed to not actually sway many peoples opinions, and they only went further if anything.

          • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com
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            10 months ago

            Yup, they literally had no objections to him but blocked him anyway. It was probably a reasonable attempt by Obama to minimize damage, since Garland certainly would have upheld Roe and moderated other conservatives on the Court.

            But in retrospect, since it didn’t work, I think we all would have liked to know what a “swing for the fences” pick plus a media shame blitz on McConnell would have accomplished.

            But that was Obama - a politician that was good objectively, but didn’t really take any risks or press any advantages out of fear of being labeled extreme, so also squandered a depressing number of opportunities to improve the country.

    • HenchmanNumber3@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      He also stacked the SCOTUS by contradictory practices, denying Obama a pick in the last year of his presidency but giving one to Trump. That has had grave consequences for recent rulings since Trump only nominated extreme conservatives.

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          10 months ago

          If you count the elections where it should have gone the other way based on the popular vote, more like 6-3 liberal majority, and arguably even 8-1 with Thomas being the sole holdout.

          Trump’s 2016 “win” gave them three justices. Bush didn’t get any nominations his first term (which he only won via the electoral college), and then went on to get two his second term (where he did get the popular vote). So it depends on if you expect Republicans to win the popular vote in 2004 or not if they didn’t already have the office.

          • ares35@kbin.social
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            10 months ago

            more like 6-3 liberal majority, and arguably even 8-1 with Thomas being the sole holdout.

            this is also true. but thomas shouldn’t even be there, either.

  • jontree255@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Fuck this asshole. Few people have done as much damage as he has and the worst part is we’re only going to get someone worse.

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      10 months ago

      It can’t get worse. He found the bottom and decided to go deeper. Nobody can replace his level of destruction of the United States. It will take a genuine master class asshole to come close.

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        10 months ago

        I think that you are correct here. He comes from an old school way of looking at the world, pre-Boomer, which was really a lot of “I get mine and it’s ok if I take yours to get it”. These people built out the country to exclude minorities and take away power from women. His replacement will certainly be much younger and have a completely different viewpoint on the world.

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          10 months ago

          God I hope so, but I have a feeling it’s going to be another monster; just without the spectre of death looming over them like the rainbow after a storm.

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            10 months ago

            It can be another cluster but I’m also hopeful that a younger person will tone it down. The senate tends to be more moderate too.

      • UnculturedSwine@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        It most certainly can though I agree it would take someone with exceptional skill and complete moral bankruptcy. Every time I think the 'pubs can’t sink any lower, they betray my expectations.

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      10 months ago

      I don’t think we’ll get someone that’s both as evil AND as effective as him.

      What has made him the big bad for so long is that he’s really good at what he does. He’s a perfect mixture of professional competence and evil. Trump is a cartoon villain, but what enabled Trump was the terrible machine that Mitch built.

      I don’t know if the US has ever had a politician who has had a more harmful impact. Without Mitch we’d be in a much better place even if the GOP held all branches of government.

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    I haven’t voiced this before, but after seeing him and his actions for the last 10-15 years… I’ve grown to literally hate him. That smug turtle faced prick. I hate him so much. He’s done so much damage to America. He stalled us on decades of progress. He’s a piece of shit that deserves his shitty health and to rot in hell.

    I’m sorry if that’s harsh to say about another human being, but, he is one who truly does not care about anyone but himself and to ‘stick it’ to everyone else who isn’t on his side. He’s truly an evil man.

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        10 months ago

        I feel similarly but this guy’s face will never be as punchable as Matt Gaetz. I would pay lots of money to see him get kicked in the nuts.

        • Orbituary@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          You mean statutory rapist Matt Gaetz? The one that sexually assaulted a woman? That Matt Gaetz? Of Florida?

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      It’s ok. Politicians are not people, they are symbols. You can hate a symbol all you like. You can also hate someone who would become that symbol. It doesn’t make you a bad person to point out that someone else is causing the world harm.

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      10 months ago

      It is a harsh thing to say about another human being. It’s also being kinder than he deserves.

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      10 months ago

      He says that the recent death of a close family member caused him to re-evaluate priorities, I can get on board with that.

  • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Retiring as leader but still keeping his senate seat. Any day that man is still allowed in Congress is a bad day, no matter what chair he sits in.

    • very_well_lost@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Believe it or not, McConnell’s home state of Kentucky currently has a Democratic governor, so if McConnell vacated his seat, the governor would appoint a Democrat to fill it until a special election could be held. No way in hell a guy like Mitch would allow something like that to happen while he’s still drawing breath.

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    10 months ago

    fuck him. he should resign from the senate completely.

    sincerely, lifetime kentucky resident

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      I’d like him to also resign from being alive. Unfortunately, the damage is already done, so him dying really has a negligible effect other than not having to hear from him anymore, which is a grace I think this planet has earned.

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        10 months ago

        not necessarily. if he dies our democrats governor gets to pick the next senator despite what an unconstitutional law says.

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        10 months ago

        I’m not one to bet however I would be willing to bet my first born and the farm, on the basis that McConnell is a lich.

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      10 months ago

      I would devote a year of full time work to exercise and training if I knew I’d get one chance to punch him right in the face

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      The only good outcome from Trump getting elected was seeing Mitch McConnell squirm for 4 years.

      Mother fucker still played the game though.

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        10 months ago

        Yea of late the House had been so crazy that Mitch supporting Ukraine and the boarder deal makes him seem moderate. Which is a horrid sign of where things are. I equally wouldn’t be shocked if he said he was stepping because of the party’s shift. Also a horrid sign since he as a massive factor in making it crazy.

    • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Kissinger wasn’t a traitor for foreign pay against his adopted homeland.

      We’re going to have to agree to disagree on that one. Henry Kissinger is uniquely responsible for the modern quagmire of a relationship that exists between the United States and Israel.

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          I agree with all of the things you said. However, Henry Kissinger was essentially the father of modern neo-conservative foreign policy, and those policies are largely what led to the manipulation of the United States government by AIPAC and the Israeli government. There are a multitude of other factors as you suggest, but don’t act for one second like Henry Kissinger wasn’t Jewish first and American second.

  • abbadon420@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Does he know he’s stepping down? Has anybody told his nurse to give him the message?

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    Good riddance. I’m sure his successor with be much worse, but I’ll welcome this news for now.

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        10 months ago

        I agree they shouldn’t be downvoting you, the math is not good for senate Democrats. But it wasn’t good last time, either, and they gained a seat.

        Anything can happen.

      • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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        10 months ago

        I haven’t actually looked at the Senate races this year, but let’s take a look!

        20 Democrats, 11 Republican

        • dhork@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          And one of those Democrat seats is WV. While Democrats like to complain about Joe Manchin, he is probably the only Democrat who could win any statewide office in WV. His decision to not run makes keeping his seat nearly impossible for Democrats. And the 11 Republican seats are all quite safe. Rick Scott in FL and Ted Cruz in TX are the only ones Democrats have any shot at all at.

          The best Democrats can hope for is to keep the rest of their seats, which will leave the Senate at 50/50 (leaving control up to whoever the VP is).

            • dhork@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              Remember she’s technically an independent now, and the Democrats are running someone against her.

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                Last time I read anything about that race, I believe the Dem was leading polling in a potential 3 way race there.

                I would have to imagine that if Synema did not run, that would overall help the Dem candidate.

                Fingers crossed.

          • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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            And one of those Democrat seats is WV. While Democrats like to complain about Joe Manchin, he is probably the only Democrat who could win any statewide office in WV.

            Yeah. I’ve voted for him every general election, and usually against him in the primary but people really need to understand this - your choices are Manchin or a Republican, not Manchin or a different Democrat.

            WV was a safe blue state until 2000. But it was a blue state because of the unions. And Gore was the one who really started pushing hard against the largest union industries in the state, which is why the state flipped so hard and so suddenly.

            • hydrospanner@lemmy.world
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              WV was a safe blue state until 2000. But it was a blue state because of the unions. And Gore was the one who really started pushing hard against the largest union industries in the state, which is why the state flipped so hard and so suddenly.

              This is a huge thing that a lot of people, especially young people (millennials included here), tend to miss.

              I may not have narrowed it down to Gore specifically, but at some point between, say…1985 and 2000…the Democratic party really seemed to just take unions and blue collar workers for granted…people who’d been a historic pillar of the party.

              I’m not sure why this happened, but I suspect deep pockets of donors in big business had a part in it. Regardless, that decision may have had its desired effect in the short term, but in the long term, it basically put the Rust Belt in play. PA, OH, IN, MI, WI, and MN could/should be solid bets to break blue in every national race, but now you have these states full of registered Democrats who have voted Republican in at least half of the last six elections.

              I always thought that WV was more about coal, but the union angle makes a ton of sense as well, and through that lens, it makes perfect sense to include them as maybe “Rust Belt adjacent”.

              • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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                I may not have narrowed it down to Gore specifically, but at some point between, say…1985 and 2000…the Democratic party really seemed to just take unions and blue collar workers for granted…people who’d been a historic pillar of the party.

                They backed away from unions and started putting more emphasis on identity over that period, but for WV it was Gore attacking the coal industry that triggered the switch over. WV was only Democrat because of the unions and the largest union industry was the coal miners. It doesn’t matter if you pay lip service to supporting unions if you’re also expressing a dedication to shutting down the biggest union industry in the region.

                I always thought that WV was more about coal, but the union angle makes a ton of sense as well,

                The two are fundamentally linked. What do you think the biggest union in WV was? There was never a solid Democrat support of coal, but so long as they were pro-union and didn’t actively attack coal they were going to keep WV. Instead they went increasingly

  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Don’t let the door hit your ass on the w-- actually scratch that, I hope the door hits you so hard on the way out that you spend the remainder of miserable life managing broken ass related complications.

    People like you make me wish hell was real.

    Fucking traitor.

  • Pero@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Isn’t this the guy who literally froze during a press conference? He looked so lost, like he escaped from an elderly home just to hold the conference