All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[Dalak]

Am I embarrassed by my state? You better believe I am. :/

I'm there with you in spirit, if still in Texas.

[Mister Mets]

There's a difference. Nobody defended Weiner, for example. The calls for him to step aside were pretty immediate. He did.

Meanwhile, Roy Moore is getting deflections like 'King David had 500 concubines' on major networks and GOP officials declaring 'Well, no big deal'. The Democrats didn't do this with Weiner.

There's a sickness in your party, Mets, and you're too willfully blind to see. You can't hide behind equivocations like this any longer.


Meanwhile, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Matt Davies came out with this brutal piece:

Attachment 57630

To some Republicans, 'Eh, he just harassed a 14 year old girl outside her custody hearing for sex but at least he's not a Democrat' is actually something that they're willing to say.

Weiner was one out of 435 members of Congress, who was seen as a showboater by his colleagues. There weren't immediate serious consequences to abandoning him.

Potentially losing one of 100 Senate seats is a big deal. There are some other circumstances. This is one claim about a crime that happened 30+ years ago. It's enough, but it's a different allegation than recent behavior.

That said, there have been plenty of calls for Moore to drop out. McCain and Romney have done it without the "if true" caveat.

And Democrats haven't been willing to insist Menendez resign, even though he has been on trial for corruption, largely because they don't want Chris Christie to appoint his successor.

[Tami]

Weiner was one out of 435 members of Congress, who was seen as a showboater by his colleagues. There weren't immediate serious consequences to abandoning him.

Potentially losing one of 100 Senate seats is a big deal. There are some other circumstances. This is one claim about a crime that happened 30+ years ago. It's enough, but it's a different allegation than recent behavior.

That said, there have been plenty of calls for Moore to drop out. McCain and Romney have done it without the "if true" caveat.

And Democrats haven't been willing to insist Menendez resign, even though he has been on trial for corruption, largely because they don't want Chris Christie to appoint his successor.

Excused Menendez juror predicts 'hung jury,' passes note to judge

First off, Bob Menedez has not been accused of a sex crime. Second, unless he is convicted of something there is no reason to insist he resign. Third, if he is, I am certain he will voluntarily resign though of course the NJ Democrats will do what they can to wait until after Phil Murphy is in office as Governor. A few months won't make that much of a difference.

It's only fair considering what the Republicans in Congress did regarding the Supreme Court.

[Kevinroc]

Weiner was one out of 435 members of Congress, who was seen as a showboater by his colleagues. There weren't immediate serious consequences to abandoning him.

Potentially losing one of 100 Senate seats is a big deal. There are some other circumstances. This is one claim about a crime that happened 30+ years ago. It's enough, but it's a different allegation than recent behavior.

That said, there have been plenty of calls for Moore to drop out. McCain and Romney have done it without the "if true" caveat.

And Democrats haven't been willing to insist Menendez resign, even though he has been on trial for corruption, largely because they don't want Chris Christie to appoint his successor.

So it's okay that Moore went after kids because Menendez is corrupt?

[zinderel]

It's hard to prove, since there are so few cases of this happening with Democrats recently for them to react to. Democrats have three examples of inappropriate conduct similar to Moore who absolutely, POSITIVELY were booted from office. Two of the three were mayors, and not members of Congress. All three have been disowned by the party, which for someone math or overall fact-challenged is a rate of 100%.

• Anthony Weiner: Sent dick pics to women with their consent. Resigned, attempted a political comeback... more dick pics. Disowned completely by Democrats, who hadn't embraced him again, really, save for a few when he got caught again. Once one of the women he was still sexting was a minor, he got put on super-bonus-disowning-f***-that-guy territory.
• Joe Morrissey, former mayor of Richmond, not just disowned by his party, but sued by them.
• Ed Murray, mayor of Seattle, forced to resign. Democrats do not defend his actions or circle the wagons. Democrats worked to move on immediately to the next mayoral candidate.

Nice try at producing a false narrative again, it was almost as pathetic as your attempts to defend the Confederacy as a noble cause.

Thanks, WBE. I gave up on trying to deal with ouro on any level other than ignore. Defending white supremacist rallies, lying about the history of Southern states and their love for slavery, now ignoring the reality of the right wing's sexual predator problem in favor of the old 'but Democrats!' narrative...I have no interest in trying to talk to the deplorables like they were people, anymore.

[InformationGeek]

Heeeeeelllllllooooooo breaking news!

BREAKING: According to an individual with firsthand knowledge of the judging of the 2002 Miss Universe pageant, Trump tried to rig the outcome of the international contest to award the prestigious “Miss Universe” title to Vladimir Putin’s then-mistress, Oxana Fedorova.

[Mister Mets]

So it's okay that Moore went after kids because Menendez is corrupt?

Personally, I think Moore should step aside AND Menendez should resign.

Excused Menendez juror predicts 'hung jury,' passes note to judge

First off, Bob Menedez has not been accused of a sex crime. Second, unless he is convicted of something there is no reason to insist he resign. Third, if he is, I am certain he will voluntarily resign though of course the NJ Democrats will do what they can to wait until after Phil Murphy is in office as Governor. A few months won't make that much of a difference.

It's only fair considering what the Republicans in Congress did regarding the Supreme Court.

Moore has not been convicted, prosecuted, or even the subject of a criminal investigation.

And while Menendez isn't accused of a sex crime, he is prosecuted for a crime related to his duties as a legislator.

[Kevinroc]

Personally, I think Moore should step aside AND Menendez should resign.

I'm just having trouble seeing the correlation. I'm seeing equating what Moore did with what Menendez did and saying "both sides."

If you think Menendez should resign, that's all well and good, but it has nothing to do with discussions about Moore and serves only as a distraction to discussions about Moore.

[Tami]

Personally, I think Moore should step aside AND Menendez should resign.

Moore has not been convicted, prosecuted, or even the subject of a criminal investigation.

And while Menendez isn't accused of a sex crime, he is prosecuted for a crime related to his duties as a legislator.

And he will be tried in a court of law. Shame that the Statute of Limitations won't allow Moore to be tried for what he is accused for. Especially considering that Alabama probably never would have given the accuser a fair hearing if she had come out when it happened. She never had a chance to bring Moore to trial, society was on his side from the beginning regardless if he was guilty or innocent.

I want to see a society where an accusation of sexual crimes would be treated the same as any other criminal accusation, without the victim/accuser being the one placed on trial.

[Tami]

I'm just having trouble seeing the correlation. I'm seeing equating what Moore did with what Menendez did and saying "both sides."

If you think Menendez should resign, that's all well and good, but it has nothing to do with discussions about Moore and serves only as a distraction to discussions about Moore.

I agree 100%.

[Mister Mets]

I'm just having trouble seeing the correlation. I'm seeing equating what Moore did with what Menendez did and saying "both sides."

If you think Menendez should resign, that's all well and good, but it has nothing to do with discussions about Moore and serves only as a distraction to discussions about Moore.

I brought up the Menendez thing because the discussion had expanded to Democratic and Republican reactions to crimes and scandals.

[Kevinroc]

I brought up the Menendez thing because the discussion had expanded to Democratic and Republican reactions to crimes and scandals.

People react differently to sex scandals than any other kind of scandal. Particularly sex scandals involving minors.

As I said, it's all well and good if you think Menendez should resign. But if you equate what Menendez did to what Moore did, people will react negatively to it.

[Tami]

Rep Matt Gaetz has to be on WBE's list. Watching him being interviewed on The Beat makes me want to Face Palm.

[ouroboros]

It's hard to prove, since there are so few cases of this happening with Democrats recently for them to react to. Democrats have three examples of inappropriate conduct similar to Moore who absolutely, POSITIVELY were booted from office. Two of the three were mayors, and not members of Congress. All three have been disowned by the party, which for someone math or overall fact-challenged is a rate of 100%.

• Anthony Weiner: Sent dick pics to women with their consent. Resigned, attempted a political comeback... more dick pics. Disowned completely by Democrats, who hadn't embraced him again, really, save for a few when he got caught again. Once one of the women he was still sexting was a minor, he got put on super-bonus-disowning-f***-that-guy territory.
• Joe Morrissey, former mayor of Richmond, not just disowned by his party, but sued by them.
• Ed Murray, mayor of Seattle, forced to resign. Democrats do not defend his actions or circle the wagons. Democrats worked to move on immediately to the next mayoral candidate.

Nice try at producing a false narrative again, it was almost as pathetic as your attempts to defend the Confederacy as a noble cause.

The only "false narrative" would eventuate if no one could produce any names whatsoever.

I never said the Confederacy was a noble cause. I said that it didn't bother me-- as it does others here-- if Southerners choose to believe it so.

That "false narrative" must have really shaken you, since a while back you guys didn't want to address it any more-- and now, here you are, bringing it up when I've not said word one on the subject.

[ouroboros]

Which office is Moore holding, sweetheart?

Pitiable semantics. He's a former office-holder who's in the running for an office and there are demands, in advance of a trial or even a formal charge, for his party to condemn him. That's the whole story, bubie.