SIMPLY PUT, NOT UP TO THE TASK: Disordered commander receives a boost!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Too soft to be self-governing: Ruth Marcus' column in Sunday's Washington Post hit almost every basic point.

At first, the column seemed a bit soft in the head. Hard-copy headline included, Marcus started like this:

MARCUS (9/20/20):  Ramming through a replacement would be a disaster

There must not be confirmation of a successor to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the election; indeed, before the inauguration of the next president. Ramming through a nomination at this late date would tear the country even further apart than it already is. It would destroy what is left of the Senate’s ability to operate in a bipartisan way. It would be terrible for the Supreme Court.

To our ear, that sounded almost inanely naive. 

There must not be a quick confirmation? Donald J. Trump, our disabled commander, shouldn't try to ram one though?

That sounded inanely naive. Why would anyone think that Donald J. Trump, with votes from at least fifty of the 53 Republican senators, wouldn't try to ram a nomination through? 

Why would anyone even imagine that this wasn't going to happen?

Will Trump end up getting those fifty votes? We can't necessarily tell you. However, we can tell you this:

Given the situation which now  exists, three Republican senators could vote their consciences (or could be allowed to say they're doing so) and the commander's vice president would proudly cast the deciding vote in a 50-50 Senate.

In this way, a president who lost the 2016 popular vote by a substantial margin would decide the makeup of Supreme Court for the next many years. 

Having lost the popular vote, he would ram this lifetime appointment though on the basis of a tie vote! A one-term president who lost the popular vote would have selected one-third of the Court, which has long since become a political branch of the government. 

Is that what's going to happen? There's no way to know for sure. That said, an even worse disaster lurks as a result of this sudden, though actually not-so-sudden, turn of events:

With this less than sudden turn of events, the whole landscape of the presidential election has likely undergone a change. 

Before this not-so-sudden turn of events, we would have spent the next six weeks discussing the commander's crazy behavior with respect to the coronavirus. 

It's even possible that our major journalists—or even Candidate Biden himself!—would have stumbled upon gruesome data like those shown below. It's possible that the public would have had a chance to think about what these astounding statistics might possibly seem to suggest:

Deaths from Covid-19, September 10-16:

United States: 6,258

Germany: 30

Canada: 35

United Kingdom: 78

Japan: 68

Shall we adjust for population? Germany is about one-fourth our size; Japan is more than one-third. In short, our floundering nation's ongoing death rate represents an astonishing failure to bring the virus to heel.

Before the recent (not so) sudden event, it's possible that American voters would have had an opportunity to learn about those numbers. They might have had a chance to think about the commander's performance in light of numbers like those.

That said, our vastly incompetent media stars hail from Harvard, Columbia, Yale. For that and various other reasons, the odds are good that they wouldn't have emerged from wardrobe, makeup and hair long enough to become aware of those astonishing data.

(Or from the "showmanship" lessons Chris Hayes described in 2013, soon after he was made a nightly cable news performer/entertainer.)

In all likelihood, the electorate would never have seen those numbers. For many years, with respect to quite a few major topics, this is the way our failing nation's reindeer games have been played.

Still, the commander's lunatic handling of the virus would have been center stage for the next six weeks. Now, the commander will get to fight a different battle—a battle he's likely to win!

The conversation will turn to that; there will be no astonishing data for the public to ponder. Not-so-suddenly, we're facing a very different election, one our disordered commander-in-chief may be more likely to win, at least in the Electoral College.

The election may not unfold that way, but it certainly could. And this remarkable shift will have emerged from a sudden turn of events which actually wasn't real sudden.

As yesterday's column continued, Marcus quickly stopped sounding soft in the head. She cited almost every basic point which exists at this stage of play.

(In our view, the one major point she failed to cite is the way the election's central topic has now suddenly changed.)

Marcus hit almost all major points. She even mentioned the point we highlight below—but not without apologizing for having said the thing we've all been told not to say:

MARCUS: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” Ginsburg told her granddaughter in a note dictated just before her death.

Here, with some hesitation, I must pause to observe that this catastrophe could have been averted by Ginsburg herself. The justice chose not to retire before the end of President Barack Obama’s second term and bristled at suggestions that she ought to do so, in case. As it turned out, Ginsburg’s bet that Hillary Clinton would be elected, and that her successor could be named by the first female president, was disastrously wrong.

"With some hesitation," Marcus said that Justice Ginsburg disastrously lost a bet.

Most likely, Marcus spoke "with hesitation" for several reasons. On the one hand, it isn't polite to seem to criticize a good and thoroughly decent person who has recently died.

On the other hand, the fact that "this catastrophe could have been averted" is a highly significant point. For better or worse, we've been told by our failing tribe's thought police that we mustn't discuss it.

We'll discuss that  admonition tomorrow; it emerged from a usual source. For today, we'll only say this:

As everyone knows, this sudden turn of events wasn't real sudden at all. And Marcus's assessment is perfectly accurate:

Justice Ginsburg's gamble concerning her own mortality has quite possibly "turned out [to be] disastrously wrong."

Her gamble may re-elect Donald J. Trump. Even if the commander is defeated, her gamble may repeal Roe v. Wade. It may doom the Affordable Care Act.

Such results wouldn't make Justice Ginsburg a bad person or a villain. But our tribe's reaction to her potentially disastrous gamble says a great deal about us.

As a group, are we too soft to be self-governing? Is there any sign—any sign at all—that we're actually up to that task?

The children are writing their feel-good, personality pieces even as this potential disaster takes shape. They keep providing us with the warm, cozy feelings in which we love to wrap ourselves as we hide inside our caves and our tents.

Our failing tribe's journalistic sachems have been behaving like they're soft in the head for at least three decades now. We're supposed to be a self-governing people. Is there any sign, over here in our tents, that we're actually up to the task?

We'll examine that question all this week. Top experts say the answer may be a less-than-sudden no. 

Tomorrow:  Commissar instantly speaks


37 comments:

  1. Our disabled commander, dear Bob? Nice.

    He-he. What is your Demigod rapist-candidate, then: a rotting corpse? Oh dear. Thanks for the laughs.

    "Japan: 68"

    But where is the score of Taiwan, an island province of China, dear Bob? Oh dear, I won't be able to sleep tonight, not knowing. You liberals are so cruel.

    "Justice Ginsburg's gamble concerning her own mortality has quite possibly "turned out [to be] disastrously wrong.""

    Tsk. How sad. Don't gamble, children, especially with your mortality.

    But then, if you're in a cult, you probably got no choice anyway. Bummer, eh, dear Bob?

    "Even if the commander is defeated, her gamble may repeal Roe v. Wade."

    Whoa, how terrible - people of individual states will be able to decide for themselves. And 'em people, they always decide wrong, as far as your zombie cult is concerned, dear Bob. Right?

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  2. From Political Wire:

    "A new Harvard Institute of Politics poll of voters aged 18 to 29 years old finds that 63% indicated they will “definitely be voting” in the 2020 presidential election compared to 47% during this same time in 2016.

    The young voters prefer Joe Biden over Donald Trump by a large margin, 60% to 27%."

    ReplyDelete
  3. One day we are told to give up our pipe dreams, the next day we are told we are too soft.

    Somerby is a clown.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Why would anyone think that Donald J. Trump, with votes from at least fifty of the 53 Republican senators, wouldn't try to ram a nomination through?"

    Somerby himself says it later in his essay. Some Republicans might vote their conscience and oppose such an effort. But Somerby, cynically, doesn't believe they would actually be voting based on conscience. For him, there is no such thing, apparently.

    There is a word for people without a conscience. It is sociopath. But Somerby says he cannot even imagine why Democrats might expect Republicans to have conscience. Perhaps it is Somerby who is lacking that essential part of what it means to be a human being?

    Beyond that, naked self interest dictates that you not abuse those who will be in power in the near future, because what goes around, comes around. Why would Democrats show any restraint if Republicans take this unfortunate occurrence as an excuse to pack the court, against both fairness and the will of the American people (based on polling)?

    Somerby's count of votes is a bit self-serving too. He is ignoring several conscience-voters who have not yet said how they will vote, including Jeff Flake and Mitt Romney. He is also ignoring the outcome of the AZ special election, which may put Mark Kelly into office in time for such a vote. And Somerby ignores the Republican senators who are up for reelection and must answer to their constituents (McConnell is one).

    There is no place among liberals for the kind of cynicism Somerby expresses. He didn't even have the presence of mind to express empathy for the position we liberals find ourselves in, no word of condolence over RBG's death, not even lip service to the unfairness of what Republicans seem to be attempting.

    The mask is off. Somerby is no liberal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Flake is no longer a senator

      Delete
    2. Nobody knows if Republicans will vote to confirm a new SCJ. Somerby thinks they will, and you think they won't. I predict that reality will prove his view, and yours will look delusional.

      Delete
    3. There is a difference between making an unfulfilled prediction and being delusional. You like to throw these psychological terms around, but you clearly don't know what they mean.

      If we all take a vote, can we get Mao back and send you away?

      Delete
    4. So it's not just basic math that Glaucon X can't grasp?

      Delete
  5. "Here, with some hesitation, I must pause to observe that this catastrophe could have been averted by Ginsburg herself. The justice chose not to retire before the end of President Barack Obama’s second term and bristled at suggestions that she ought to do so, in case. As it turned out, Ginsburg’s bet that Hillary Clinton would be elected, and that her successor could be named by the first female president, was disastrously wrong."

    Why doesn't Somerby take this argument all the way? First, if the Republican controlled senate wouldn't confirm Merrick Garland, what makes Somerby think they would have confirmed a judge named to replace RBG? Second, Justice Kennedy made a deal with Trump to resign during his term so that a Republican president could name his replacement. Why is this Ginsburg's fault? Maybe Obama didn't make the terms sweet enough. Third, Marcus and others seem excessively focused on Roe v. Wade, which can be rescued easily by enacting federal legislation to ensure women's health care rights. What about the many other cases that Ginsburg influenced during the addition 5 years spent on the court?

    But Somerby has said not one single word about her importance as both an attorney and later a jurist. He uses Marcus's essay as an excuse to blame RBG for Trump's actions and to ultimately blame Hillary for letting the Russians and Comey steal the election. Somerby almost considers RBG a dupe of Clinton, a fool for believing she could win, again with no mention of how Trump's campaign colluded with Russia. He has also never mentioned his own contribution, as a Bernie supporter, to ensuring that a handful of progressives went third-party in three key Democratic states and swung the electoral college Trump's way. Instead of supporting the Democratic Party candidate, Somerby spent the pre-election months criticizing liberals and predicting that Trump would win. Just as he is doing now.

    Somerby thinks that a major champion of women's right should have bet against the female presidential candidate! Just as he thinks that Republicans should have no conscience and pay no attention to what the American people want. What an empty, hollow place Somerby's soul must be. RBG spent her life doing what she considered the right thing, despite hardships and despite losses and never "bet" on the sure thing instead of pursuing justice. Somerby should side with justice or what is inspiration for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. By not retiring in 2014 RGB was also betting that the Republicans would never take back the Senate and block any Dem nominee like they did in 2016 before the election. In 2014 it was unknown whether Hillary would even run. Somehow she unbelievably convinced herself that Dems were invincible even after the electoral carnage of 2010.

      Delete
    3. RGB lived for six years after 2014 and made important contributions to many cases. Why should she have retired on someone else's timetable? Supreme Court justices are not supposed to be making political calculations or basing their judgments on political considerations instead of the law. It is to her credit that she did not retire early and that she did not base that kind of decision on Hillary Clinton or anyone else's plans to run for President. All justices have a duty to the entire population of our country. Partisanship shouldn't affect their judgments. So, these kinds of speculations are distasteful and run counter to the duty of the justices confirmed to the court.

      Delete
    4. Supreme Court justices are not supposed to be making political calculations or basing their judgments on political considerations instead of the law.

      Well, sorry to break it to you, but that horse has left the barn. See Bush v Gore.

      Delete
  6. I totally support the closing of Ivy League schools. Particularly their business schools, which are destroying the nation and the world.
    What's the plan, Bob?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Step 1 -- release a deadly virus.
      Step 2 -- do nothing to combat its spread.
      Step 3 -- close all schools.

      Seems simple.

      Delete
  7. Somerby insists that liberals should try to understand The Other, by listening to Fox News and Rush. Tom Sullivan at Digby's blog quotes Tyler Childers, a country-bluegrass singer in Kentucky who is suggesting that his neighbors try to walk in their black neighbors shoes to understand the BLM upset over Kentuckian Breonna Taylor's death:

    "In a video explanation of what inspired the song, Childers asks white fans to do a little self-examination on race and to walk a few steps in the shoes of black neighbors, even if they have never had any:

    "What if we were to constantly open up our daily paper and see a headline like “East Kentucky man shot seven times on fishing trip“? And read on to find the man was shot while fishing with his son by a game warden who saw him rummaging through his tackle box for his license and thought he was reaching for a knife?

    "What if we read a story that began, North Carolina man rushing home from work to take his elderly mother to the ER runs a stop sign and is pulled over and beaten by police when they see a gun rack in the truck?

    "Or a headline like “Ashland Community and Technical College nursing student shot in her sleep“?

    "How would we react to that? What form of upheaval would that create?


    Childers asks rural, white listeners to consider what they might do faced with that treatment:

    "I mean to say, if we were met with this type of daily attack on our people we would take action in a way that hasn’t been seen since the Battle of Blair Mountain in West Virginia. And if we wouldn’t stand for it, why would we expect another group of Americans to stand for it? Why would we stand silent while it happened, or worse, get in the way of it being rectified?

    "Perhaps we could find more productive ways to preserve our heritage, he suggests, than “lazily defending a flag with history steeped in racism and treason.” Maybe take up hewing logs or canning food, tanning hides or quilting."

    https://digbysblog.net/2020/09/tall-tales-and-hearsay-and-absolute-lies/

    ----------------

    The difference is that Somerby wishes liberals to become conservative whereas Childers wants conservatives to become liberal.

    ReplyDelete
  8. “For better or worse, we've been told by our failing tribe's thought police that we mustn't discuss it.”

    Somerby really likes saying stuff like this.

    Here is Erik Loomis, at Lawyers, Guns and Money blog, last Friday:

    “Ginsburg’s entire legacy is voided by her refusing to retire the last time Democrats held the Senate.”

    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/09/the-end-3

    Even Ruth Marcus mentions this criticism. So Somerby fails to state which of our “thought police” are telling us not to discuss this point.

    ReplyDelete
  9. “Why would anyone think that Donald J. Trump, with votes from at least fifty of the 53 Republican senators, wouldn't try to ram a nomination through?”

    Marcus says they shouldn’t, not that they won’t.

    Then Somerby goes on to ruminate about how Republicans may end up voting on the nominee. Some may express concerns, as Collins and Murkowski already have.

    Obviously Marcus is making a public appeal to Republican Senators to hold off on the process.

    It is likely futile, as Somerby implies, but that doesn’t mean the appeal shouldn’t be made and the reasons why ramming the nomination through is a bad thing spelled out.

    ReplyDelete
  10. “Disordered commander receives a boost!”

    Somerby never specifies why he thinks this will result in a boost for Trump.

    Nor does he discuss the possibility of how this might boost Biden.

    Somerby was making similar noises during the Kavanaugh confirmation, which took place just before the 2018 midterms, in which Democrats took back the House in a huge comeback.

    So we are left with the one clearly true thing Somerby said: the deathless, if utterly meaningless, “The election may not unfold that way, but it certainly could.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you're right. It's hard to say how this act of God will affect the election. But getting the unexpected gift of an extra Supreme Court justice does give Republican spirits a boost.

      Delete
    2. "But getting the unexpected gift of an extra Supreme Court justice does give Republican spirits a boost."

      I thought that's what the videos of police killing unarmed black men is for.

      Delete
    3. Armed or unarmed hardly matters. The rioter's spirits get a great boost in either case, as do ghoulish yokels like you.

      Delete
    4. Judging by campaign contributions, Democrats are energized.

      Delete
  11. Somerby jumps aboard the “Nyah Nyah Nyah-Nyah Nyah” train, pointing fingers at Ginsburg and the “failing” liberals, implying that this potentially loses the election and proves what a failure liberals supposedly are. (Nice bit of circular reasoning there.)

    But in reality, this kind of backward looking carping at Ginsburg at this moment would be more likely to make liberals look weak and be redolent of failure.

    The thing to do now is to propose solutions going forward, which many liberals and prominent Democrats are doing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's the President's JOB to nominate replacement Justices when there's a vacancy on the SC. Now, there may be reasons or excuses not to perform this function at this moment. However, to make a routine part of the President's job sound outlandish shows the effectiveness of SPIN.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, you are incorrect about this.

      It is the job of the president to offer sympathy to the family and friends of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and to comfort the many women and men who are distressed at her passing, but I didn't hear him do that.

      It is the job of the president to do so many things that Trump has failed to do. And it is the job of the president to refrain from doing criminal and unethical things that this president has done repeatedly.

      Republicans are not off the hook on this one because this argument just won't fly.

      Delete
    2. Of course, Nitwit in Cal was singing a different tune in 2016 with the Merrick Garland nomination to replace Fat Tony Scalia. Hypocrisy and the GOP - in other news, the Sun rose in the East today.

      Delete
    3. prior to the election in 2016, when everyone thought Hillary Clinton would win, cause it was still inconceivable that Americans in significant numbers would vote for the abomination who is Donald J Chickenshit, a number of Republican Senators explicitly stated that they would block any SC appointment by a president Clinton, for four years.

      "the actual rule McConnell announced and abided by in 2016 was that republicans won't confirm a democratic president's nominees. that's it. that's the rule" Chris Hayes

      Delete
    4. David claims to be a strong supporter of women's right to choose and control of their own bodies. That's why he is eagerly looking forward to seating a looney tune fruit loop theocratic non-entity with a total of 2 years experience as a judge who will certainly vote to take those rights away.

      With this 3rd appointment to the SC by Donald J Chickenshit, Acting President, there will be 5 justices out of 9 on the SC who've been appointed by a republican president who had lost the popular vote. Think about that.

      Delete
    5. Republicans have been anti-democratic since Reagan was President. That the corporate-owned, Right-wing media (AKA the media) doesn't report it, doesn't mean it's not true.

      Delete
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