One republican senator - the absolute dumbest one, in fact! - held up 400 military promotions for a year. On his own, from the Senate minority. - ThreadSky

edburmila.bsky.social • 24 days ago

One republican senator - the absolute dumbest one, in fact! - held up 400 military promotions for a year. On his own, from the Senate minority.

Reposted from Oliver Willis

when democrats vote for cloture 97-0 for these whackjob nominees and then tell you "its complicated" when you complain about them aiding and abetting trump, be very aware: they are lying. none of this is complicated at all. all they have to do is oppose.

Comments

beelteabcba.bsky.social•24 days ago

The dumbest Senator in fact

keepingtherepublic.bsky.social•24 days ago

Senate Ds need to be as tough as McConnell was during Obama’s term

andrewwmiller.com•24 days ago

Obama got all his cabinet appointments?

andrewwmiller.com•24 days ago

I guess like, technically 3 withdrew but not because they couldn't get the votes from Republicans. They were bad choices who had scandals that killed their nomination.

keepingtherepublic.bsky.social•24 days ago

Right—Daschle, Richardson, Gregg. But Senate D’s had between 56 and 58 seats in Obama’s first year and the longer game Mitch was able to play was over judicial/SCOTUS appointments

andrewwmiller.com•24 days ago

Yes. I think we'll definitely see Dems do everything they can on judicial nominees but SCOTUS rules are already changed. I don't think there's much we can do on cabinet appointments unless we can peel off Rs (which I think we maybe can today).

keepingtherepublic.bsky.social•24 days ago

Yeah—RFK looks just terrible today, and Gabbard seems to be losing a lot of R support also

mmmccarthy.bsky.social•24 days ago

Was about to respond with some quip about how you find the dumbest Republican Senator but then I remembered that it was Tuberville so absolutely the dumbest one.

dumpsterbobcat.bsky.social•24 days ago

Me, when I read this post: Wait... Tommy Tuberville is dumber than Marsha Blackburn?!

merz.bsky.social•17 days ago

That is not the same rule. You're being at least slightly disingenuous and you are smart enough to know it.

edburmila.bsky.social•17 days ago

"It's not the same rule" is not a very effective criticism of a statement that they apply to *every rule*.

merz.bsky.social•17 days ago

The problem with that framing is its false equivalence.

You lump democrat with the worst and least effective ones. You're making whataboutism easier.

merz.bsky.social•17 days ago

You are not a Putinis. But whataboutism is the very core of the Putinist methodology. Reinforce the idea that everything is the same, and you make it easier for your opponents to adopt the same framing.

bcnjake.bsky.social•24 days ago

When you call their offices (which you should be doing), SPECIFICALLY ASK that they grind everything to a halt. No Cloture, no Unanimous Consent, NOTHING.

lsadinger.bsky.social•24 days ago

I was just thinking this yesterday. Thanks for posting. I hope the Senate Dems (or at least one courageous one) read this.

williamadler78.bsky.social•24 days ago

If I were a senator, I would simply get on the floor and start reading into the record the entire text of the Bible until I collapsed. Then I'd go again the next day, and the next.

jessterraformearth.bsky.social•24 days ago

I would have done that instead of confirming Trump.

words.bsky.social•24 days ago

there are waaaaay better things to read on the floor than the Bible

williamadler78.bsky.social•24 days ago

well the advantage is it's looooooooooooooooooooong

words.bsky.social•24 days ago

wikipedia is longer than the bible and more informative

finnegans wake would be fun to read as a filibuster because you could make all the silly thunder sounds and hakf nonsense really theatrical

reading the federal code out loud on the floor would maybe open a bureaucratic singularity wormhole

catblanketflower.yuwakisa.com•23 days ago

Generative AI would be an infinite source of filibuster slop

globey.bsky.social•17 days ago

I see where you are going with this. I think reading the Bible on the floor would be really great bcos the GOP ❤️ the Bible and should not have a reason to object to it. And I know this might be a remote chance but maybe they might accidentally hear some good advice that they would like to follow.

michaeljameshawk.bsky.social•24 days ago

morganstringer.substack.com•24 days ago

I wish my long pre-existing hatred of Tuberville hadn’t aged this well.

leftsedfred.symmetricforests.online•24 days ago

Ed, my friend. You obviously forgot about the parliamentarian.

I was told by a ResistLib I was a fucking r-word for forgetting the parliamentarian and I should enjoy the camps because of it.

absolutereality.blog•24 days ago

Democrats think obstruction is morally bad, but it’s not. Obstruction is morally neutral. The WHY of obstruction is what really matters.

edburmila.bsky.social•24 days ago

“We can’t use that rule because then the GOP will change the rule, which we can’t use, so we won’t be able to use it!” do you people even listen to yourselves

wexcelsior.net•24 days ago

Listen to themselves is all they do actually

timdhfowler.bsky.social•24 days ago

Dogs can't play basketball, Ed.

dwilliamesq.bsky.social•17 days ago

It’s a win-win. Either the GOP keeps the filibuster and thus we stop Senate business, or they GET RID OF IT FOR US and if we retake power it’s gone forever. Which it should have been years ago. There’s literally no downside to using it.

schroedinger.bsky.social•24 days ago

But if the Democrats manage to take back power, the Republicans won't be able to slow them down while the Democrats kayfabe about how they'd really like to get more done but the Republicans just won't let them. :(

iplayguitarbad.bsky.social•24 days ago

"Remember to vote for us, the opposition, because Democracy is at stake. And donate to our campaigns because if you vote for us you'll be able to vote for us again in the future." is pretty much their whole pitch. We should be there not to fix things, but to be there. Not compelling!

ottersimple.bsky.social•24 days ago

The past few weeks have done little to challenge my personal belief that most Democratic officeholders and primary voters simply agree with Trump on policy.

yevkras.bsky.social•24 days ago

Exactly

dantethek9.bsky.social•24 days ago

I've been saying since 2017, they don't actually have a problem with Trump on policy. Their issue was that he was so...impolite about it.

haksaeng.bsky.social•24 days ago

Democrats are still trying to placate the mythical RW voter they can win over in their districts

neilsinhababu.bsky.social•17 days ago

Senator Brian Schatz from Hawaii is holding up all of Trump's State Department nominees until Trump and Musk stop holding up the USAID money.
https://www.schatz.senate.gov/news/press-releases/schatz-announces-blanket-holds-on-trumps-state-department-nominees-until-attack-on-usaid-is-reversed

fenraven.bsky.social•17 days ago

Heads or tails, they and we still lose.

fenraven.bsky.social•17 days ago

Maybe not the dumbest one, but he seemingly has a very low double-digit IQ. I can't understand why Wisconsin keeps voting that jackass in. Has he done anything other than obstruct and shoot off his mouth?

wayoutinthe.bsky.social•24 days ago

I genuinely think they are so fucking hardwired to be the “good governance” crew that they struggle to understand the virtue of obstructing a fascist program. Which is to say they care more about process than outcome.

sleepyredpanda.bsky.social•24 days ago

took a class on social policy well over a decade ago where the professor concluded exactly this. democrats (and left leaning people in general) care about process and doing things properly. it's a good trait in abstract, but completely inadequate at fighting fascists who flaunt rules

sleepyredpanda.bsky.social•24 days ago

at some point, you have to recognize the opposition is an existential threat and pursue methods of stopping them that actually work. but dems couldn't even take the idea of court packing seriously (even though FDR is a progressive icon)

iplayguitarbad.bsky.social•24 days ago

But if even one Dem played hardball like that, how would Schumer, Pelosi, and the other geriatrics say in interviews how much they want to be bipartisan?! Why, they'd be *uncomfortable* at some point, and maybe have to actually *do* something without being in the majority.

jrwren.dev•24 days ago

democrats LET HIM DO THIS

jtdc.bsky.social•24 days ago

Being the dumbest Republican senator is, in itself, quite the achievement

djtomdog.bsky.social•24 days ago

“But we can’t” - Dem motto whenever Republicans hold a third or more of either the House of Senate

lesterdiamond.bsky.social•17 days ago

With zero consequences to Republicans I might add

urban-achiever.bsky.social•24 days ago

If ever there was a time to "burn the boats"* where arcane senate rules and norms are concerned, this is it.

*I find this expression deeply irritating. I'm sorry.

laryatflint.bsky.social•24 days ago

No, I think it's in the Rules somewhere, that when in minority, only Rs get to be opportunistic with blocking, Ds need to agree with every disastrous thing.

Ah, yes, it's just after the rule for Ds to bring only butter knives to a fight. But it grants them all cucumber sandwiches they've buttered

flxible.bsky.social•24 days ago

Yes, and that was very, very stupid.

"Be as stupid as them, if not more so," doesn't really sound like a winning midterm pitch.

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