DL Open Thread Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023
They held a session of Congress yesterday and the Jerry Springer Show broke out. In a Senate hearing, Oklahoma Sen. Sen. Markwayne Mullin threatened to fight Teamsters union President Sean O’Brien until Bernie Sanders made Mullin sit down. In the House, defenestrated speaker Kevin McCarthy bumped Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee in a hallway while Burchett was talking to a reporter, leading Burchett to accuse McCarthy of elbowing him in the kidney. I’m starting to see how a person might develop contempt for democracy.
So we know Republicans are good at posturing. Governing, though? Not so much, and they get mad when someone does – for example, when the new House speaker passes a stopgap spending bill with the votes of Democrats. It makes one wonder how long MAGA Mike – who was smart enough to call Trump dangerous in 2015 while craven enough to later recant – will remain Lord of the Flies.
Bad news out of Georgia: Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis says Trump’s trial won’t conclude before election day, meaning that even if he loses yet again the news won’t be Trump-free for the foreseeable future. They’ll still be obsessing over him when the next asteroid wipes out life on Earth.
Bad news out of Michigan: A judge ruled you can’t keep Trump off the ballot just because he’s a traitor. Remind me again, is the Constitution a suicide pact or not?
Moms for Liberty, the ironically named book-banning outfit, got scorched on Election Day as their radical-right “parents rights” candidates were rejected almost everywhere – except, of course, in ruby red areas. If ignorance is good enough for them, it’s good enough for their traditionally gendered children, by jiggity!
I don’t follow the politics of Israel and the Middle East – I can’t solve Rubik’s Cube, either – but Tom Friedman of the New York Times does. The Mustache of Understanding is having a return to relevance with the war in Gaza, and his column about his recent 9-day stay in Israel explains why Netanyahu is being so hard-line:
He has to appease the hard-right hawks in his coalition to keep his job. Israel’s democracy isn’t as advanced as ours, as Bibi has not yet threatened to beat anybody up.
The floor’s yours.
That Markwayne Mullin is a former MMA fighter. The Teamsters guy was pretty beefy as well.
Given time, FanDuel would have put odds up.
The entire Republican Women’s Caucus in the Delaware General Assembly resigned today.
Ruth Briggs King ( 37th RD Georgetown) resigned today because her new home is outside the district. She was the only woman Republican in the state legislature
It sounds absolutely bonkers to say, but I truly believe this is a pickup opportunity by the dems. If the committee would pick a good candidate
For the record, I present the Democrats’ record in that district facing RBK:
2022 unopposed
2020 unopposed
2018 unopposed
2016 62% vs Paulette Rappa
2014 65% vs Paulette Rappa
2012 55% vs Elizabeth McGinn
2010 61% vs Frank Shade
2009 54% vs Rob Robinson
When we haven’t even tried for the last 5 years, including the last presidential year, it’s hard to know what kind of a pickup opportunity it is. There are a couple hundred more Rs than Ds, but about 4,000 “other.”
It is appropriate now to remind the readers here that Jane Hovington is a do-nothing resume-inflating “leader.”
True. However, Hovington won’t pick the candidate. The members of RD 37 will.
Assuming that there IS a functioning RD 37 D committee.
Who knows? If the Rethugs pick a RWNJ, the D’s might have a chance. Unlikely, I know, but possible.
John Schroeder who represented the 37th in the past century before it was eviscerated by re apportionment was a great fit. If Julieanne puts up a bomb thrower there is a non-zero possibility of the D’s drawing an inside straight. RBK presents as a pleasant person, and she was on top of constituent services. a D who is perceived as a hard-working and empathetic could do well.
“Bad news out of Michigan: A judge ruled you can’t keep Trump off the ballot just because he’s a traitor.” Or, you can’t keep a plutocrat from doing whatever he wants…
Michigan Ruling Delivers Another Black Eye to Faltering Biden
[Please note that I know that Biden had nothing to do with it. I’m just trying to beat the NYT to this erroneous headline.].