The American Politics Thread

This is a major achievement for Trump even though Mitch McConnell was the engineer. Oh, well, it was still a good fight. But I have to agree with Collins that Dr. Ford was secondary in this procedure and I do feel bad for her but it was all that the Dems had to fight with. Her claims and nothing else.

Except a serial killer would leave dead bodies in their wake.  We need either some evidence of the crime having happened (which is impossible without CCTV footage) or some corroboration from witnesses, from people who knew both the accuser and accused.  There was neither here.  There could have been other reasons not to vote Kavanaugh in but the lack of corroboration renders the sexual harassment/abuse claims a false flag at this point.  Whatever may have been Jeff Flake's motivation for giving in and allowing an FBI enquiry, allowing it will likely prove to be a political masterstroke.  He probably calculated that the odds of anything turning up against Kavanaugh after 36 years were remote and therefore it was best to allow it and appease women voters.  Not all of them will be appeased but I doubt all of them are going to buy the Democrat line that the investigation was a sham.  The worst is some may have even flipped Republican for a while to come, believing that Democrats were only interested in thwarting a Republican nominated judge and misused somebody's tragedy for said purpose.  That's probably why it's best not to declare upfront that you want to block the opposing party's nominee by hook or crook.  Because then if you happen to find a legit reason to do so later, you will not be easily believed. Mitch McConnell didn't fail to rub it in yesterday.

as a note..  in less than 24 hours the PAC set up to win Collins's seat in 2020 has recieved more than 2 MILLION DOLLARS in donations.  Note that most Senators have a total campaign warchest of single digits millions. Her vote was, I do believe, done knowing she will not be facing reelection for that seat.  She was already likely facing a tough primary opponent from the right (don't forget her Obamacare vote) .. now knowing full well she was losing most non-Wynette women with that yes vote.. she knew going into that vote that a Yes vote wouldn't save her from the far right.. but lost any chance of crossover moderates and independents.  There has been a lot of talk about her and 2020. I think that Kavanaugh vote was a huge hint she does not plan to seek reelection in 2020.

that overlooks a few fine details.. some of which i just spelled out.  And I did not even touch in that the continued decline of the 'angry white voter' as a share of the overall vote, nor the exodus of educated, suburban moderate voter/politician from the Republican Party. 

what you express is a reaction that would be regional.. rather than national...and they already hold those seats

which is why political forward thinkers see the Republican Party declining to a regional rump party.  Without outreach to women (hah) and minorities (HAH!) they are left with appeal to only the bible belt. Which loses the House, Senate and the Presidency. Unless the Republican Party moderates.. ie turns left... under Trump it has set fire to those bridges with those important constituancies and the only way they can appeal to them is to risk losing their core supporters.  ie ... career suicide for those who hold safe offices.  

and if I suspect happens in 2020.. that Democrats do play the economic card, not ID politics, and start listening to working class whites..  they eat signficantly into a base of what will be left of any sense of a national not regional Republican contituency.

As an outsider, I'm watching all this and wondering: dear God, as Americans, how can they stand this?

That's apparently what US women need: a good old-fashioned kick in the teeth. Good grief!

I beg to differ. It looks more like abuse of democracy to me.

Democracy does not mean: you elected us so we can do what we want until the next election, although it's undoubtedly and increasingly treated that way.