Robert Mueller, Former F.B.I. Director, Is Named Special Counsel for Russia Investigation

LOL...

 

Will it really though? It happened for Clinton, but this situation is different in many ways. I don't necessarily buy that this history will repeat.

I think you're right about what the Democrats' focus will be. I don't think it is what it should be. As you've mentioned before, on a board full of liberals, you're one of only a few that would actually call themselves a Democrat. I think the focus should be on enforcing the sanctity of the presidential office by impeaching and punishing high crimes regardless of the political price they would have to pay to do that. I don't have that political loyalty to worry about their 2020 races.

 

Don't misunderstand me, JV. If Mueller's report comes out with damning evidence against trump, I'll be one of the first here calling for his impeachment. Under the current circumstances, though, I think it would be a distraction. As for "political loyalty," I criticize any politician I think deserving of criticism. While Obama was in office, I criticized him a lot for what I still consider major blunders in his handling of foreign policy. I also criticized him for not getting more accomplished domestically when Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate.

While I'm happy to call myself a Democrat, I'm an equal opportunity critic of politicians when it comes to what any of them do while in office, from either party. Mr. trump, however, is beyond the pale. He is an on-going catastrophe for our country and our friends and allies. Just when you think he couldn't do anything worse, he finds a way.

The most bizarre aspect of trump, at least to me, is that any intelligent, otherwise sane member of American society could support him after his first two years in office. It truly astonishes me. To be "blind, deaf, and dumb" to someone so grossly incompetent as "president," a "man" who is a clear and present danger to the United States, in my opinion, after everything he has done? How can that be possible for someone reasonably intelligent and reasonably informed? I simply don't understand it.

 

at the risk of being criticized for offering "Ethics Alarms" as a source, here's one possible view:

https://ethicsalarms.com/2019/01/05/the-trump-presidency-and-the-caine-mutiny-a-reminder/

 

So the turn the other cheek idea. Be loyal, respectful and supportive of the president, LOL.

 

Sounds like I had implied you're too loyal. If I did, that's not what I meant. Sorry. Just meant that you're loyal like you'd expect from a party member, and I'm not loyal at all.

 

here's another one, from a comment in the NYT

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2019/01/i-did-not-vote-for-trump-and-have.html

"I did not vote for Trump and have concerns about his behavior and policies, but I will not stand-up idly and condone what appears to be an effort to conduct a coup..."

"... and unseat a duly elected President. How so? I read and hear all the rhetoric about his misdeeds, but where is the meat? That he obviously lies. So? I recently read a study in which it was concluded that ALL presidents have lied to the public and knowingly did so. That Trump is more blatant in his lies and lies more often does not make him worse (or in need of impeachment) than his predecessors. Surely, you remember G.W. Bush and his justifications for invading Iraq and then blaming it (that his justifications were baseless) on 'bad intelligence'; those lies lead to the death of over 5,000 American military personnel, over 40,000 wounded and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian (read: non-combatant) deaths and injuries. That Trump refuses to 'act' in a manner that the political elite demands is not grounds for impeachment. That Trump has and is inciting the tyranny of the masses is not grounds for impeachment. Again, I am not a big fan of Trump, but until hard proof is provided that he has committed high crimes and misdemeanors, I will support his presidency, even if I do not support one or more of is policies or agree with his behavior."

Writes one commenter, very aptly, on "The People vs. Donald J. Trump/He is demonstrably unfit for office. What are we waiting for?" by David Leonhardt (in the NYT).

Posted by Ann Althouse at 7:25 AM
January 6, 2019​

 

I used to be that way, JV. I considered myself to be an independent voter. That was until Reagan (who I voted against twice) was elected and it sunk in that only one of the 2 major parties came anywhere near representing the things I value. That the continued attempts to produce a viable 3rd party were going nowhere and that it would remain that way for the foreseeable future.

It wasn't that I didn't admire some Republican politicians. I did. Everett Dirksen, the Senate minority leader, made the civil rights bill (a Kennedy legacy pushed through by LBJ) possible. Nelson Rockefeller, a leading GOP moderate, and William F. Buckley Jr., one of the founders of modern conservatism, were very intelligent, thoughtful people that interested me, even if I disagreed with much of what they had to say. Buckley Jr. wouldn't recognize the bizarre "conservatism" trumpeted today by extremists who support trump.

I'm a broad minded fellow, more liberal than I likely appear here at times, but open to new ideas. I just figured out that electing politicians that would appoint and confirm lifetime federal judges that would interpret the Constitution the way I viewed it was more important than pretending that not getting behind one of the two major parties wasn't of paramount importance. That it didn't matter if I actively supported one or the other. It did and it does, at least in my opinion.

 

No, COLLUSION!

 

Manafort shared polling data on 2016 election with Russian intelligence
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...estigation-2016-election-latest?CMP=edit_2221

To understand the true illegality of this, internal polling data is property of the campaign. Every donor to the campaign financed this thing of value to assist the campaign in legal avenues.

What they actually ended up funding is a foreign government's intelligence operation to collate U.S. citizen's data for a foreign country to weaponize. This isn't not financing a hush- money payment to a p*rn star campaign finance violation. This is stealing from the campaign to generate espionage material for a foreign state.

How many more times treat me the way you wanna do?
How many more indictments and charges are we going to get before repugs look at the clouds around them BWAHAHA



SAD! is damm right.
LOCK HIM UP

 

Manafort shared polling data on 2016 election with Russian intelligence
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...estigation-2016-election-latest?CMP=edit_2221

To understand the true illegality of this, internal polling data is property of the campaign. Every donor to the campaign financed this thing of value to assist the campaign in legal avenues.

What they actually ended up funding is a foreign government's intelligence operation to collate U.S. citizen's data for a foreign country to weaponize. This isn't not financing a hush- money payment to a p*rn star campaign finance violation. This is stealing from the campaign to generate espionage material for a foreign state.

How many more times treat me the way you wanna do?
How many more indictments and charges are we going to get before repugs look at the clouds around them BWAHAHA



SAD! is damm right.
LOCK HIM UP

 

No Collusion, just conspiracy and Treason.

DD

 

And gee, lets look back in time...



I wonder???

 

lol