Today's Empty Cartoon

(click on image to enlarge)



(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(h/t for the high heels on Rubio!)

Quote Of The Day: Republican "Panic Masquerading As Strength"

From The New York Times editorial board on Republican obstruction on the SCOTUS vacancy:

Unfortunately, for too many Republicans moderation now equals apostasy. These Republicans have stubbornly parked themselves so far to the right for so many years that it is hard to tell whether they can hear how deranged they sound.

The truth is they are afraid — and they should be. They know Mr. Obama has a large pool of extremely smart and thoroughly mainstream candidates from which to choose a nominee. They know that if the American people were allowed to hear such a person answer questions in a Senate hearing, they would wonder what all the fuss was about.

So Mr. McConnell and his colleagues plan to shut their doors, plug their ears and hope the public doesn’t notice. The Republican spin machine is working overtime to rationalize this behavior. Don’t be fooled. It is panic masquerading as strength.

As Americans, we need to do whatever we can to clean out this nest of rats that's been plaguing the U.S. Senate for too long.  Once again, here are four Democrats running against vulnerable incumbent Republicans that deserve your support:

Russ Feingold (WI)

Maggie Hassan (NH)

Tammy Duckworth (IL)

Ted Strickland (OH)

BONUS:  Here are two more (in addition to Maggie Hassan) to consider.

Letters We Wish We'd Written Dept. - Who Gets To Choose?

In today's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Charles E. Grassley showed that congressional Republicans live in a bubble. They argued for a delay in appointing a Supreme Court justice, justifying their stance by referencing the 2014 election: “It is today the American people, rather than a lame-duck president whose priorities and policies they just rejected in the most-recent national election, who should be afforded the opportunity to replace Justice Scalia.”

I don’t recall any candidate running for a national office in 2014. The most consequential elections in 2014 were for senators, representatives and governors. The most recent election in which someone was running for a national office was in 2012, an election in which President Obama trounced his competition. The people spoke, and they spoke loudly. While people can make national statements with their votes in statewide elections, Mr. McConnell and Mr. Grassley neglected to mention that voter turnout in 2014 was the lowest in 70 years, at 36 percent, whereas turnout in the 2012 election was 58 percent. Which election gets closer to a national endorsement or rejection of Mr. Obama’s policies?

The question of whether Americans should get a chance to weigh in on a Supreme Court nominee was already answered, and overwhelmingly so, in 2012.

Doug Parsons, Takoma Park

Such are the b.s. "arguments" being mustered by Republicans like Sen. Mitch "Missy" McConnell to justify delaying President Obama a Supreme Court appointment.  It's time to change course for a Court that's had a conservative Republican majority since 1971 and, given Republican obstructionism, the 2016 election (Presidential and Senate) may be the last, best opportunity for a long time for progressives to get that done.

UPDATE:  One Fly directs us in his comment to a blog post containing a rather ironic quote from the writings of one Mitch McConnell circa 1970.  Seems he's on the same page as St. Ronnie of Hollywood.  LOL.

Today's Cartoon And Vid - Mitch McConnell Clogs The Works

(click on image to enlarge)



(Jeff Danziger, via gocomics.com)

... which somehow brings to mind this scene (sorry!):



Who does "number two" (Mitch McConnell) work for?  Not the American people!

Twitter Tilt Of The Day - Let The People Decide!

As usual, Republican National Committee Chairstain Reince "Prepuce" Priebus comes unarmed to a duel of wits:

This is not about the person this is about the Court. The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next SCOTUS Justice

— Reince Priebus (@Reince) February 17, 2016

Republicans want the majority who voted for Obama to count as much as the majority who voted for Gore when it comes to the Supreme Court.

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) February 17, 2016

And the rakes they abounded.

BONUS:  A whole lot of people aren't having what Prepuce is selling. Check out the replies.

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon - The Inherently Political Appointment

(click on image to enlarge)


(Tom Tomorrow, via Daily Kos)

See posts below.

BONUS:  If there's any doubt how the "mainstream" corporate media is framing the narrative of this outrage, check this out.   It would seem that the President, by exercising his responsibility under the Constitution, is provoking a "partisan battle."  What gutless, clueless, corrupt assholes, especially this d- bag.

Tweets Of The Day - Where's That Clause In The Constitution?

From our favorite Senator:

.@SenateMajLdr is right that Americans should have a voice in selecting the next SCOTUS justice. In fact, they did: when @POTUS won in 2012.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 14, 2016

Art II Sec 2 of the Constitution says the President nominates Supreme Court justices with the advice & consent of the Senate.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 14, 2016

I can’t find a clause in the Constitution that says “…except when there’s a year left in the term of a Democratic President.”

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 14, 2016

We need to make sure Republicans catch Holy Hell for this latest, most egregious act of political extremism -- now and at the ballot box in November.