Romney Checks Out

How normalized has the crazy gotten when the former nominee of a major party says this to a collective shrug:

“A very large portion of my party really doesn’t believe in the Constitution”

— Mitt Romney, who announced yesterday he’s retiring from the Senate.

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Author: craigcrawford

Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.

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Pogo
1 year ago

i believe Mitt has put his finger on the problem with the Republicans, no belief in the Constitution. i saw a comment on Quora a few days ago from a European in response to an inquiry about how Europe views American politics. He said that Europeans see America as having one conservative party and the Republicans.
So KGC, I guess you won’t have Willard to kick around anymore.

patd
1 year ago

Attribution: The New McCarthyism by Christopher Weyant, The Boston Globe, MA

patd
1 year ago

Mitt Romney condemns ‘demagogue’ Trump as he announces retirement | Mitt Romney | The Guardian

Of threats at home, as demonstrated by the pro-Trump mob which attacked Congress on January 6, Romney said: “I think it’s of paramount importance to maintain our commitment to the constitution and the liberal constitutional order … I do believe that our institutions, while under constant barrage, are strong, that our court system is strong and that, fundamentally, the American people stand by the constitution and the constitutional norms.”
Mitt Romney condemns ‘demagogue’ Trump as he announces retirement.
Utah senator, 76, who lost 2012 election to Obama, to step down next year, depriving Republican party of key critic of Trumpism
Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, a former presidential nominee and a rare relative moderate in the Republican party of Donald Trump, has said he will not run for a second term next year, depriving the party of one of its fiercest critics in Congress of the former US president and his political movement.
“It’s pretty clear that the party is inclined to a populist demagogue message,” he said in an interview with the Washington Postin which he announced his retirement.
[…]
Speaking to the Post, Romney said: “If there were no cost to doing what’s right, there’d be no such thing as courage … I think it’s fair to say that the support I get in Utah is because people respect someone who does what they believe is right, even if they disagree with me.”
He also released a video message.
[…]
He rejected the idea of a third-party candidate, as floated by the centrist group No Labels, perhaps Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator from West Virginia.
“I lobby continuously that it would only elect Trump,” Romney said.
[…]
Contradicting his earlier contention that the next election would be 50-50, Romney did predict defeat if Trump is the Republican nominee again.
“I know that there are some in Maga world [a reference to Trump’s slogan, Make America great again] who would like Republican rule, or authoritarian rule by Donald Trump,” he said.
“But I think they may be forgetting that the majority of people in America would not be voting for Donald J Trump. The majority would probably be voting for the Democrats.”

Blue Bronc
1 year ago

When I heard the “breaking news” on WTOP it did not surprise me.  The decision was probably based on having enough of the antics of his party.  Maybe seeing McConnell and Feinstein up close and personal (old, but still good phrase) would help make any retirement decision easier.  Take the money and live where and when you like. Drop the stress, the horrible hours of work, and, the constant stream of vindiictive.  Does he need the stupidity of people like Boebart getting tossed out of a play? No.  No more need to deal with the failed circus. 
Will he be missed?  No.  Who will replace him? It is Utah, look for a Morman eleder to answer that question.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Old Berman addresses Romney
 
B-Block (26:54) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Mitt Romney’s going to retire at the end of his Senate term. I wonder if anyone will notice. My GOD they’re treating this like Daniel Webster leaving the Senate in 1850. In fact, Mitt Romney is one of the dumbest, least perceptive people ever in public service – a man so dim that it wasn’t until after January 6th that he realized smart colleagues like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley might not actually think Trump had won but were just LYING FOR PERSONAL GAIN AT AMERICA’S COST. And for me, nothing will erase from my memory the day I awoke to find that Mitt had tweeted about me, complained about me, and as Tommy Vietor replied “It’s long past time to break ground on a Both Sides museum in Washington, DC. This comparison of the President of the United States to Keith Olbermann MUST be preserved for future generations.” But it what Mitt was complaining ABOUT that will always resonate: that I had despoiled American politics by calling Trump a terrorist.
Three months later Mitt was a virtual hostage inside the Capitol, pinned there by… Trump’s terrorists.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Old Ber on Ms welker:
And then there’s the other media shoe dropping. A month ago Kristen Welker was one of a dozen reporters who took a meal with three Trump goons. Today, Welker will pre-destroy her career as host of “Meet The Press” to get a sit-down with Trump. The Executive Producer of her show – who didn’t make the cut to join the Countdown staff 20 years ago – actually says of this garish soulless nonjournalistic stunt “We are in the business of covering politics. It’s not our job to pick and choose the leaders. The American people get to do that. And so our job is to make sure that the American people understand who the people in power are, what they stand for, and what they plan to do.”
It’s not our job to STOP the arsonists, it’s just our job to give equal coverage to the firefighters AND the arsonists.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

The best image of Romney is that image of him cowering in front of thump while kissing his ass and trying to be a part of the new mob.

patd
1 year ago

thrust and parry … the GA sword fight continues

Willis argues Meadows can’t move Georgia charges because he is no longer federal official | The Hill

Georgia prosecutors argued Wednesday that Mark Meadows cannot move his criminal charges to federal court because he no longer works at the White House.
Meadows, former President Trump’s White House chief of staff, is trying to move his two charges so he can assert immunity. After a federal judge previously rejected his attempt, he is now appealing to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The outcome is poised to impact not only Meadows but also several other defendants in the case, who are similarly attempting to move their charges.
They cite a statute that allows federal officials to move criminal charges out of state court in certain circumstances. Before ruling on Meadows’s appeal, the 11th Circuit asked Meadows and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) to opine on whether the law extends to former officials.
“The answer is ‘yes.’ A former official may remove under § 1442(a)(1), ” Meadows’s attorneys responded in court filings Wednesday
>Willis took the opposite view.
“While it appears that no court has ever squarely addressed this jurisdictional question, well-established principles of statutory construction and the federal interests served by 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1) answer it: Only current federal officers may remove state actions to federal court under the authority granted by Section 1442(a)(1),” prosecutors wrote.
[…]
Beyond Meadows, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and three pro-Trump figures who signed documents purporting to be Georgia’s valid presidential electors are also trying to move their charges out of state court.
Trump himself has also signaled he may make such an attempt.
The provision at issue is silent as to whether it applies to former officials, and central to the debate is the impact of a neighboring section, where the distinction is spelled out.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

What’s this I hear about Judge Cannon issuing a gag order on Thimp?
 
lol

patd
1 year ago

sturge, she didn’t have to issue one for me, i gag every time i see/hear/think of him.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Yeah, what’s really insane is how many there are who don’t gag.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Former Representative Joe Walsh seems to be one of the few ex-conservatives who realize that this dysfunction junction didn’t start with trump…..that the current phase started with Reagan.  With Atwater and Gingrich.  The conservatives of the last 40 years are totally responsible for the current state of affairs.   And the current conservatives are pouring gasoline on the flames.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Why do I get the feeling that a group of American democrats are standing off a world-wide fascist movement.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Time for Television to earn its keep.  

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Romney could have made a difference but chose to not.     Romney, Schmomney.  
Feel free to fuck off, Mitt.     

Sturgeone
1 year ago

This is so insufferably dumb.   

blueINdallas
1 year ago

So, are Cheesbro and Powell the test balloons?  Does this actually help the prosecution, because if it goes poorly for defendants, do the others who haven’t gone to trial flip on tRUMPsky?

blueINdallas
1 year ago

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/09/13/plan-25-republican-government
 
 
I did find Willard’s comment about tRUMPsky only being about rehashing 2020 and revenge being the only problem in the Republican Party, and leaving it up to a new generation.  There are younger MAGAts in the so-called ~Freedom~ Caucus that want to destroy the country. 

“…the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation has been working on Project 2025. The plan aims to dramatically reshape federal agencies, reduce their independence, and give more power to the president. They are working to assemble an “army of aligned, vetted, trained, and prepared conservatives to go to work on day one” if a Republican wins the presidency, to “deconstruct the administrative state.”

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/project-2025-heritage-foundation-christian-nationalism-rcna103510

“A coalition of far-right groups, led by the Heritage Foundation, is planning for the next Republican administration. Project 2025 has received considerable media attention for its $22 million budget, for its plans to expand presidential power over federal agencies, and for specific policies, like rolling back environmental protections.”

“However, the plan’s theocratic elements have gone unscrutinized.
Project 2025 published a book of policy proposals, titled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” for the next Republican administration. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts opens the book by prioritizing the securing of “our God-given individual rights to live freely” against a “woke” threat. “Today the Left is threatening the tax-exempt status of churches and charities that reject woke progressivism,” he claims without evidence. “They will soon turn to Christian schools and clubs with the same totalitarian intent.”

“Another startling section by Severino concerns Covid-19 policies, opposition to which has galvanized conservative Christians. He criticizes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s actions and wonders “how much risk mitigation is worth the price of shutting down churches on the holiest day of the Christian calendar and far beyond as happened in 2020? What is the proper balance of lives saved versus souls saved?”

“Conservatives often frame their policy crusades as part of an effort to expand “religious freedom,” a narrative deployed across the Trump administration to gut civil rights protections. But now “Project 2025” is saying the quiet part out loud: Right-wing groups do not want to ensure all Americans have religious freedom, but want to impose conservative Christian views on our religiously-diverse country.”

blueINdallas
1 year ago

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12513549/Lauren-Boebert-mystery-man-revealed-DEMOCRAT-bar-owner-Quinn-Gallagher-secretly-dating-month.html
 
Lots of video clips of Bobblehead and her implants being given the boot from the theater…and her date was, reportedly, a Dem.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

“Turning it all over to the younger generation” has the same problem as “elect more women”.    It’s the same lame-ass thing for them to say to sound like they’re making sense when they’re all just talking a bunch of rot.

When Romney says it it comes out as: “Elect a younger asshole.”.

patd
1 year ago

‘File The F**king Motion’: Kevin McCarthy Dares GOP To Oust Him | HuffPost Latest News

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) dared his right-wing haters to try to take away his speaker’s gavel during a closed-door meeting Thursday morning.
“If you want to file a motion to vacate, then file the fucking motion,” McCarthy told his Republican colleagues, according to Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), a McCarthy supporter.
[…]
Gaetz responded Thursday to McCarthy’s expletive with one of his own.

“How about just move the fucking spending bills?” he told CNN.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Republican mega-donors LOVE a president who is senile—the more senile , the better.   Just keep up the tax cuts for the rich, ok?    I mean that’s where YOUR money comes from, you dig?

Bink
1 year ago

i respect Romney for voting to convict and speaking out against his party when it mattered.
 
That nazi niece of his can pound sand, though

Bink
1 year ago

…listened to Olbermann for the first time in ages and it was like 2004 all over again!  Sounds exactly the same and still making hay out of nothing that will come to nothing.  Luckiest guy in showbiz

Bink
1 year ago

Throw out those charges- TrumpSCOtUS ruled all gun control unconstitutional 

Blue Bronc
1 year ago

I keep wondering if one of the judges will send the orange moron off for mental health testing prior to trial or sentencing.  The fg attorneys would never do it, but a judge could.

Blue Bronc
1 year ago

Put one in the hopper.
 

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Olbermann is lucky alright….mainly things like discovering at 8 years old what he wanted to be in life (Baseball announcer), being just intelligent enough to do the gig, having parents who were able to and who backed his play, picking Cornell instead of Boston U (where they had offered him a Full Ride) because of the radio station etc.  Like Dylan he always jumped in the right direction. And now he lives at Central Park.   That’s lucky.

blueINdallas
1 year ago

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/ron-desantis-accepted-gifts-wealthy-donors-1234824857/

“DeSantis Lived Large on Undisclosed Private Flights and Lavish Trips: Report”

“Self-styled “blue-collar” Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis spent late 2018 living large on gifts from his wealthiest donors — without disclosing them to ethics regulators.”

“I was a blue-collar kid growing up,” DeSantis said during a May speech, “I was given nothing, I had to earn what I got.”

“Florida ethics rules allow for public officers to “reimburse” a donor for the cost of travel at “the same value as an unrestricted coach fare,” potentially allowing them to accept expensive, private flights, not spend more than a standard ticket, and not be obligated to report the travel. According to documents reviewed by the Post, the DeSantis campaign kept a list of donors with access to private aircraft, and DeSantis’ spokesperson did not clarify if the governor had personally reimbursed the providers of the flights.”

“In one instance, DeSantis accepted a trip to the Congaree Golf Club and the Augusta National Golf Club in the company of Mori Hosseini, a Florida real-estate mogul. He traveled to the prestigious golf course on Hosseini’s private plane. During the trip, ground transportation for the party was provided, in at least one instance, by DeSantis’ government-funded security team. At Augusta, DeSantis stayed in a suite on the property built for former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The cost of his room and dining expenses were not reported in his disclosures.”

“DeSantis’ relationship with Hosseini has been scrutinized in the past. Earlier this year, the governor’s administration confirmed that Hosseini had supplied DeSantis with a golf simulator on “loan” for use in the Florida Governor’s mansion. Over the pandemic, the DeSantis administration directed $92 million dollars in Covid relief funds to a highway interchange project sought by Hosseini, who planned to develop properties in its vicinity.”

blueINdallas
1 year ago

https://www.businessinsider.com/lauren-boebert-called-pregnant-woman-miserable-beetlejuice-vaping-phone-2023-9

“A pregnant woman said Lauren Boebert called her a ‘sad and miserable person’ for reporting the congresswoman to an usher after she refused to stop vaping during ‘Beetlejuice’

Well, Bobblehead looks even worse now. Refusing to stop vaping next to a pregnant woman. ~That was a very pro-life thing to do.~

“The pregnant woman, whose name the Post did not release because she feared “backlash” from Boebert and her supporters, said she complained to the usher about Boebert’s conduct at intermission and when she returned to her seat, she said Boebert took aim at her and called her a “sad and miserable person.”

https://www.romper.com/pregnancy/is-secondhand-vape-smoke-bad-for-pregnancy

“Cigarettes and nicotine vape pens both increase the risk of miscarriage, bleeding, stillbirth, asthma and sudden infant death (SIDS),” says Dr. Lisa Thiel, an OB-GYN and maternal fetal medicine specialist at Corewell Health. If you are pregnant and live with a partner who vapes, they should not vape in the house and should avoid vaping near you at all times.”

Bobblehead is grandmother; she should know better.

blueINdallas
1 year ago

~As for Hunter Biden, whelp, if there’s one thing Republicans care about, it’s gun control.~

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/10/texas-gun-fatalities-laws/

“Deaths from firearms in Texas — the vast majority of them suicides or homicides — have continued rising in Texas, reaching levels not seen in almost three decades.”

“Texas lawmakers have approved more than 100 bills that loosened gun restrictions since 2000.”

Bink
1 year ago

i’m guess she was vaping ThC

Blue Bronc
1 year ago

bId – famous quote “think of how that person with a 100 IQ is and that half the population is less than that”.  I guess Boebert is on the climb to 100 and needing a rope to get over that 73 shelf.

blueINdallas
1 year ago

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/14/media/alex-jones-sandy-hook-court/index.html

“Alex Jones spent more than $93,000 in a month, but Sandy Hook families still haven’t been paid a penny, court documents show”

“In July alone, Jones spent $93,180 — excluding legal and professional fees — including $15,184 on payments to his wife Erika Wulff Jones, $7,900 on housekeeping, $6,338 on meals and entertainment, and a separate $3,388 on groceries, an August 29 court filing from lawyers for the families shows. The payments to Jones’ wife, the lawyers alleged, were textbook “fraudulent transfers” under a claimed prenuptial agreement.”

“His May and June bills were equally hefty, with Jones spending $63,925 and $85,114, respectively, again without taking stock of legal and professional fees, the filing said.”

“Jones filed for bankruptcy in December 2022 after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to Sandy Hook families over his false claims about the elementary school massacre. At the time, he estimated his assets to be worth between $1 million and $10 million, and his liabilities to be between $1 billion and $10 billion, CNN previously reported.”

“In filing for bankruptcy, the money Jones owes the Sandy Hook families is put on hold until a payment plan is established. Jones declined the initial budget proposed to him by attorneys representing the families in December 2022 that would have allowed him to pay the liabilities and spend a diminished amount on himself, court documents show. Jones instead responded with a budget of his own on May 8, proposing that he be allowed to spend over $700,000 a year. Despite this figure, Jones’ monthly operating reports indicate that he’s surpassed his own proposed budget.”

How does this jerk operate like this if he’s in the hole? Garnishment sounds in order. To heck with any payment plan.

blueINdallas
1 year ago

https://www.salon.com/2023/05/18/lauren-boeberts-divorce-exposes-the-dark-little-secret-of-red-state-life/

“Republicans across the country are now reconsidering no-fault divorce,” even though it’s been legal in most states for decades. State Republican parties are adding the repeal of no-fault divorce to their party platforms, and even the national party looked at the issue in 2016. (And probably would have taken it more seriously if their candidate, Donald Trump, wasn’t twice-divorced.) The reason isn’t mysterious: 70% of divorces in the U.S. are initiated by women.”

“As journalist Lyz Lenz writes in her newsletter, “Maybe 70 percent of women file for divorce because having a husband adds seven extra hours of housework, work that a wife is expected to do. Maybe it’s because women, despite also having full-time jobs, still do the majority of childcare and housework.” A lot of women are sick of it — even women who claim to disagree with feminism. But it’s also no surprise that men aren’t going to let all that free labor get away from them so easily.”

“A lot of the culture war issues that wind up Republicans are, to them, mostly abstractions: Drag shows they don’t go to, “woke” pop culture they don’t consume, books about racism they don’t read, cosmopolitan lifestyles in big cities they don’t visit. But, when it comes to gender and power, the struggle is keenly felt, even in Republican households. Right-leaning women may talk trash about feminism, but, as Republican men often learn the hard way, even conservative women have their limits on how much crap they’ll take from men. This is about keeping power over their own wives and daughters, not just controlling some strange women who live far away. Boebert and Taylor Greene may insist their divorces are merely “personal,” but as any feminist could tell you, the personal is political, baby.”

ps – I cried several times during the “Barbie” movie. I’ve never felt so seen.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

I guess she’s not heard of gummies.    

But then they’re not offensive to people you have to sit next to. I imagine the motive is to offend people and then when they object you scream at them about who you are and stuff.

Blue Bronc
1 year ago

Sturgeone – I cannot imagine her sitting with a box of brownies offering them to all sitting around her.  Maryland going all in and a great summer, the shelves are almost bare.  Time to visit D.C.
 

Oregon Democrat OD
Oregon Democrat OD
1 year ago

I’m voting for Joe and Kamala!!!🇺🇸…

IvyGreen
1 year ago

https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/adam-frisch-leads-rep-lauren-boebert-by-2-points-in-democrats-campaign-funded-poll/

“A new poll conducted on behalf of Adam Frisch shows the Democrat just ahead of Rep. Lauren Boebert in a rematch for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District in 2024.”

I’m for Adam.

patd
1 year ago

NEW THREAD by trail friend Blue Bronc