All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[numberthirty]

I think the Democrats are in a near impossible position in this particular case.

Effectively they have asked him to resign so he can concentrate on clearing his name, and he has refused.

Can they go further than that legally (do they have power to sack him?)?

And if they can sack him...is it the right thing to do morally? (At what point should some one be sacked as a result of accusations that have not be proven in court?)

But as a general point..any party is bound to make mistakes, take wrong positions, etc...at some point you have take the “helicopter view” and ask which is the better overall.

The guy just started a run for a higher office.

While I kinda get where you are coming from on "Can They Sack Him?...", they can decide to make his time running as a Democrat about as miserable as they can.

As for "Right Thing To Do Morally?..."?

Trump was accused of the same sorts of things. I had no problem with folks calling for him to step down, and think that his party just made itself look worse than it already does by not calling for him to step down.

Back to the Dems...

If you are going to say "Grab 'Em By The..." is disqualifying, you are going to need a pretty good reason why being an accused rapist isn't. So far, I haven't heard anything like a pretty good reason from the party.

[worstblogever]

Attachment 102679

Just a reminder things aren't over.

So a few days ago, you sourced the Epoch Times.

Today your source is "The Mark Levin Show" and Robert Barnes, who was, I s*** you now, Alex Jones' lawyer.

Can't say I'm taking your case any more seriously.

[PaulBullion]

Biden’s lead in Milwaukee increases after Trump blew millions on Wisconsin recount: report

In Trump's defense, he did not blow his OWN millions.

This entire campaign might have been the most he's ever done to redistribute wealth in the US, ever.

[numberthirty]

...

Just a reminder things aren't over.

I've got a box of jellybeans that says nothing like this will wind up happening in Pennsylvania.

[worstblogever]

In Trump's defense, he did not blow his OWN millions.

This entire campaign might have been the most he's ever done to redistribute wealth in the US, ever.

Regrettably most of it got redistributed to Brad Parscale and his extended family.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of Scott Esk, a candidate running for Oklahoma’s House of Representatives who on his campaign website, stated his support for nullification (y’know, the idea that started the American Civil War) regarding both federal laws on firearms regulation and abortion rights. Esk also refused to support any budget that contained even a penny of taxation “not in the proper role of government” and specified that he had never seen a single Oklahoma state budget he would have voted for. Esk also was determined to revisit divorce law and make it impossible to list “incompatibility” as a valid reason to request a divorce from one’s spouse. But most glaring amongst his policy stances, was his desire to enact biblical law and stone gay people to death. Esk was too extreme, even for Oklahoma, to get elected and should remain that way.

It was in both 2015, and in 2016, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted profiles of Mike Christian, an Oklahoma state legislator who attempted to push forth a bill that created a higher paying job for State Senator Debbe Leftwich if she agreed to not run for re-election, and then Christian would be able to swoop in and nab her seat. But corruption scandals aren’t the only sort of black mark on the personal political history of Mike Christian. You see, in 2014, he and several Oklahoma Republicans were outraged when the Oklahoma Supreme Court granted a stay of execution to a man named Clayton Lockett, because the state intended to use an untested drug cocktail when they were going to execute Lockett by lethal injection, and until the source of those drugs could be determined, they would not proceed. Christian had the level-headed response to file articles of impeachment against the entire Oklahoma Supreme Court, who balked under pressure, and allowed Lockett’s execution to proceed. That execution was botched, and Lockett died slowly and in excruciating pain for roughly 43 minutes, and public outcry over his death grew. Mike Christian, however, seems to only have his surname ironically, as his support for capital punishment was dedicated enough that he told the media that he “doesn’t care if inmates are killed by lethal injection, electrocution, a firing squad, a hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions”. (At least he didn’t mention crucifixion as one of the methods, I suppose.) As you also might expect, Mike Christian’s legislative history in the Oklahoma House of Representatives is a road map that covers a good swath of the conservative extremism that has pervaded the Sooner State the past several years, including voting for a patently unconstitutional resolution to make English Oklahoma’s official language, a nullification bill meant to see Oklahoma exclude itself from federal firearm laws, an attempt to pass an unnecessary ban on Sharia Law in their state, another bill to allow students to express their religious viewpoints in public schools, and he also co-sponsored SB 1848, a law that amended abortion restrictions in the state of Oklahoma to force physicians at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges to be able to perform the procedure. This “Trap Law” was of course, meant to close down the majority of clinics in the state. Mike Christian is a former Oklahoma state trooper, and opted to not run for re-election to the Oklahoma House of Representatives, even though he was still four years away from being term-limited. Instead, he chose to try and run for Oklahoma County Sheriff. With current Sheriff John Whetsel mired in controversy regarding his office having an improper audit, it seemed like maybe Christian would be able to convince voters to boot him. That is, until Christian’s record as a police officer was released that included being disciplined for sneaking alcohol into the police academy, and immoral conduct with a female cadet who would become his future wife. Mike Christian was unable to spin this incident into being a good thing, as if he was Steve Guttenberg’s character from the Police Academy franchise and just a fun-lovin’ cop and lost the election.

On this date in 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Bud Pierce, a Republican who sought to become Governor of Oregon in the 2016 special election, who pestered Gov. Kate Brown after she had to step in and take over for Gov. John Kitzhaber after he resigned due to ethics concerns. He had an 86% rating from the NRA, and felt that gun control didn’t have an effect on gun violence and going into the final stretch of the campaign, during a debate, the topic of domestic violence came up and Kate Brown mentioned she was a survivor of it. Bud Pierce done f***ed up, down, and sideways while commenting on that… said, “A woman that has a great education and training and a great job is not susceptible to this kind of abuse by men, women or anyone.” Brown visibly was hurt by that remark, and turned away briefly to gather herself as the crowd immediately started booing Pierce, because WTF. A woman’s education or job status has no bearing on her ability to avoid abuse, Bud. He at least did not double down on his comments, and repeatedly apologized, but his candidacy was dead in the water from there. Pierce lost to Kate Brown, managing a still surprisng 43.5% of the vote, even after his comments. He remained in Oregon politics, trying to get a ballot initiative passed to establish term limits for state legislators, because he doesn’t have as good of a chance of unseating one of them in a blue state, so getting time on his side to help him snag a seat in the legislature is his only option.)

On this date in 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Jeb Hensarling, the former U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 5th Congressional District, who served in that capacity from 2003-2018. Now, obviously at several points during his sixteen years in Congress, Hensarling was a Texas GOP Congressman, so you know his voting record was as extreme as you might find. There are Republicans who have become so radical in their obsession with “smaller government” that they started voting against disaster relief in the past few years. Normally, they do so without comment. Well, after flooding from Hurricane Harvey in September of 2017, Jeb Hensarling went and voted against disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey, made himself an even more known quantity by telling his fellow Texans that they should realize that the flooding was a sign from the Heavens above, telling them, “God is telling you to move.”Go figure, he’s also a climate change denier. Hensarling’s rise to the head of the House Financial Service Committee was perhaps the highlight of his career, where he could be the lapdog for the worst ideas that Wall Street bankers could float across his desk with a paper bag of campaign donations. No, we’re not going to be shy about how tight this guy was with Wall Street… he literally went on ski vacations with Wall Street executives. There’s corrupt, and then there’s just brazenly terrible. He retired to become what else? A K Street lobbyist.

[worstblogever]

On this date one year ago, Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Tom Patton who has bounced around the Ohio state legislature on and off since 2003. He spent his six years in the Ohio House of Representatives, and then jumped to the upper chamber in the 2008 election. The then spent eight years in the Ohio State Senate, representing that not at all pretentiously-named town of Strongsville, before making an ill-fated attempt at getting elected to Congress in 2017 in a special election to replace Jim Renacci as Ohio’s U.S. House Representative for Ohio’s 16th Congressional District. That left him out of office, but in 2018, he scrambled back into place into the Ohio House of Representatives to serve District 7.

Now, there have been two moments in the media that have brought Tom Patton to the attention of CSGOPOTD for a profile. The first was a corruption scandal, when back in 2012, during the trial of former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Joe Dimora, that J. Kevin Kelley, a distant cousin of Patton’s, who testified that Patton bribed him with $10,000 to lock in a contract for a copier firm to do business with the district during his tenure. Kelley had some strong motivations for telling the truth, given that he had to cut a deal with the FBI to turn state’s evidence and not end up in jail himself. While investigations have shown there are many ethically suspicious charges within Patton’s financials, he oddly has never been charged.

The second time we saw Tom Patton’s name to appear in the news that caused some consternation was in 2016, when after his opponent, Jennifer Herold, announced her challenge to him, he gave a radio interview that maybe showed he has some issues with the ladies in his attitude:

"The gal that's running against me is a 30-year-old, you know, mom, mother of two infants. And I don't know if anybody explained to her we've got to spend three nights a week in Columbus. So, how does that work out for you? I waited until I was 48 and my kids were raised, and at least adults, before we took the opportunity to try."

"I want to tell her, 'Hey Sweetie, I just got 27 percent of the pie in just my district, which is nine times what should have been done.’"

There might have been a way to challenge her on being politically inexperienced that didn’t sound that misogynistic and like he was practically telling her to get back in the kitchen, but Patton wasn’t about to use it. Though, why would anyone get the idea that Patton was sexist… oh just because he used his official Facebook account as a State Representative to “Like” posts from a 19 year old adult film actress and professional “party companion” in October of 2017. Interesting how he found himself looking at that account…

There’s been a link drawn between sexism and anti-choice support, and go figure, Tom Patton’s voting record fits that pattern, as well as mirroring other conservative idiocy. This includes support of unconstitutional legislation like fetal heartbeat anti-abortion bills, a bill aimed at making all state business to be done in English (per a 1996 precedent by the Supreme Court), attempts to nullify the Affordable Care Act, a bill to allow the use of silencers, and a bill to allow students to make religious expressions in public school classrooms (separation of church and state, dude).

We regret to report Thomas Patton was re-elected in 2020 with 56% of the vote. Considering the amount of shady dealings he’s already been publicly associated with, as well as some revolting quotes, we’re unsure if his constituents or investigators are his eventual undoing first.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Attachment 102679

Just a reminder things aren't over.

It's a reminder of how pathetically desperate the far right is getting. I see that the election fraud proof is as real as the Hunter Biden laptop propaganda.

[worstblogever]

It's a reminder of how pathetically desperate the far right is getting. I see that the election fraud proof is as real as the Hunter Biden laptop propaganda.

It's more about delegitimizing a substantial election victory, so I feel like "Biden didn't win" is the new "Obama's birth certificate".

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It's a reminder of how pathetically desperate the far right is getting. I see that the election fraud proof is as real as the Hunter Biden laptop propaganda.

If you ask me, the far right has always been pathetic, they’re just taking things to all new extremes. Imagine how crazy those loons would’ve gotten if Hillary Clinton won four years ago, heads would’ve exploded from coast to coast.

[Kirby101]

Attachment 102679

Just a reminder things aren't over.

Seriously, you asked not to be mocked, then you post this after the Epoch Times foolishness. What media are you following to come up with this stuff and then feel it worth posting here?
Whosoever Twitter you are following, I would take a good hard look. It's a little embarrassing that you think that post has any connection to reality.
And yes, it is over.

[Mister Mets]

Franken got kicked quickly, what's the Democratic equivalent to Roy Moore? It's night and day between how the parties respond to controversies, Democrats have standards.

With Franken, it didn't cost the Democrats much to push him out. There are enough members of the party who think it's a good thing that an elderly white guy would be replaced by a woman.

Roy Moore was kept from the Senate by Republican voters opting to go for a Democrat, which cost the party a Senate seat.

Republican John Ensign had resigned due to an investigation into his affair in 2011. He was the only other Senator to resign due to ethics reason in the 21st Century.

A few Republican members of Congress have resigned due to the consequences of inappropriate behavior, including Blake Farenthold, Pat Meehan and Trent Franks in 2018.

[Tami]

Attachment 102679

Just a reminder things aren't over.

Some additional reading on this subject

Pennsylvania Slams Judge’s ‘Overreach’ in Certification Ruling

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and other state officials assailed a Pittsburgh judge for issuing what they described as an unprecedented order halting additional steps in the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.

“Since the birth of our nation nearly 250 years ago, no court has ever issued an order purporting to interfere with a state’s ascertainment of its presidential electors -- until today,” state officials said in an appeal filed shortly after Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough’s Wednesday ruling in a lawsuit brought by Pennsylvania Republicans. “There is no conceivable justification for the lower court’s issuance of such an order in this case.”

It’s unclear exactly what further steps in the process can be delayed, but the plaintiffs suggested there were several including the assembly of electors. The Electoral College vote doesn’t take place until Dec. 14.

Wolf and Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar, both Democrats, asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to lift the order by McCullough, a Republican, and dismiss the underlying suit, which claimed a state law passed to expand use of mail-in voting was illegal.

Pennsylvania appeals court blocks further certification of election results pending hearing

In response lawyers for Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar called the complaint “breathtaking” but noted that not only did the plaintiffs lack standing to bring the suit, but also that it was not timely filed. Act 77 provided that a challenge to the Act should have been brought within 180 days of its passage. The defendants’ lawyers also called attention to the lateness of the lawsuit itself, pointing out that there have been two elections between Act 77’s passage and the plaintiffs’ complaint. Three of the plaintiffs, Kelly, Parnell, and Wanda Logan, were actually on the ballots for the June primary election and November general election, and “presumably garner[ed] votes cast on the same mail-in ballots that they now claim to be unconstitutional.”

Nonetheless, Judge McCullough issued the injunction preventing further certification of election results pending an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Friday. The defendants immediately filed an appeal of the injunction with the state supreme court, with state attorney general Josh Shapiro tweeting reassurance that the “order does not impact yesterday’s appointment of electors.”

PA’s Top Court Expected To Act Quickly On Appeal To Let State Proceed With Election Certification

Kelly, who represents the state’s northwestern 16th district, filed the suit last weekend claiming Act 77 is unconstitutional. That’s the law enacted one year ago that let Pennsylvanians vote by mail without an excuse and ushered in other changes to election administration.

On Tuesday, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf certified Pennsylvania’s election results. Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar signed the certificate of ascertainment for the slate of electors, awarding the state’s 20 electoral votes to Biden.

At the time, Boockvar’s office declined comment on why statewide certification happened one day before the last two of 67 counties were set to complete final certification. The announcement came within a couple hours of a filing deadline in the case in response to Kelly’s request that the court block or rescind certification, which Kelly’s attorneys claim prompted the state to rush the process. Lawyers for the state later denied that in court documents.

Then, on Wednesday, Republican Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough ordered Wolf’s administration to stop moving forward with steps in the certification process.

The administration says McCullough’s order could still interfere — without specifying how or why — with Pa. seating its electors by the so-called safe harbor deadline Dec. 8.

[Mister Mets]

Seriously, you asked not to be mocked, then you post this after the Epoch Times foolishness. What media are you following to come up with this stuff and then feel it worth posting here?
Whosoever Twitter you are following, I would take a good hard look. It's a little embarrassing that you think that post has any connection to reality.
And yes, it is over.

Is this how you want people to respond to you if you get something wrong?

Katherine Lauren Hill

Katie Hill had a relationship with a 22 year old campaign staffer, and there were leaked photos.

She was probably not going to win reelection in a swing district.

Again, it comes down to the actual policies, not what you or each side believes the policies represent.

I completely understand that Democrats will argue that their policies are clearly superior, and generally believe it.

But if someone thinks that their party's policy superiority means that they shouldn't take an electoral hit when there's a scandal, they should maintain that position if Republicans might take an electoral hit because of a scandal.

[PaulBullion]

With Franken, it didn't cost the Democrats much to push him out. There are enough members of the party who think it's a good thing that an elderly white guy would be replaced by a woman.

Roy Moore was kept from the Senate by Republican voters opting to go for a Democrat, which cost the party a Senate seat.

No, I think enough Republicans were disgusted with him to stay home or not cast a vote in that election. That doesn't really make them heroes. Meanwhile, many black women worked very hard to get more minorities registered to vote in that election, yet you don't see them.

The black women who voted in Alabama deserve more than your gratitude