3407

Or with Trump’s err, member in his mouth.

3408

I was only able to watch a few minutes of the hearing at lunch time when the Rs got their chance. And I wasn’t wearing my glasses so when Nunes gave his speech it looked like his plaque said “Raving Member” rather than Ranking Member, which seemed appropriate. He was surprisingly low key but typically gaslighting.

3409

Mushroom soup is forever ruined for me.

3410

these guys are well spoken and quotable

3411
3412

I feel like it might be a godsend for them, because it’s yet another off ramp, and these days it’s becoming painfully obvious where Trump’s road leads.

I could see them seeing the next big thing, almost no matter what it is, and suddenly all say, “well obviously THIS is unacceptable!”

3413

I really do admire your ability to believe that there are still Republicans with a moral center in Congress.

3414

Yeah. They will never abandon him. They are riding this one all the way down, Slim Pickens style.

3415

Comics everywhere are lining up to take Rep Welch’s course on how to deliver a punchline.’ Man that was perfect.

3416

Oh, i think they would abandon him, not out of a sense of right and wrong, but because they don’t want to get dragged down when he falls.

3417

Matt Oswalt recycled that one from a month or two ago, but still funny, and apropos.

3418

As far as I understand it, the Republican defense is two things:

  1. There could not have been a quid pro quo because Zelensky didn’t know that the military assistance was on hold.

This might work in the court of public opinion, but it is nonsense because certainly Zelensky knew he had to be on Trump’s good side to get the assistance, plus quid pro quo is a distraction anyway, since the point is that Trump was trying to use foreign policy to benefit himself to the detriment of U.S. national security

  1. Trump was obviously not extorting Ukraine because the U.S. has provided more assistance (including “lethal arms” assistance) than the Obama administration did over the last two years. Also, the claim that he wanted to trade assistance for investigations can be dismissed because the assistance was delivered and there were no investigations. The hold on the assistance was only because Ukraine had a new president and the administration wanted to determine if the new Ukrainian administration was on the up-and-up.

Again, this might convince some people, but again, it is nonsense. This is the Sideshow Bob defense, that attempted bribery isn’t a crime.

Anyway, that’s my takeaway from the parts of the testimony today that I heard.

3419

I mostly missed this today. What’s with the signs in the background? Who’s signs are they? One said “93” in huge numbers. What the heck does that mean?

3420

LOL

3421

Fun fact – My son was in a bad car accident when he was seven and Rep Welch was our attorney. (There was clear fault and the insurance company paid the maximum immediately but he was a super nice guy.)

3422

Several Democrats impressed me of what little testimony I heard. Schiff, Mr Welch and I also saw Jim Homes on Meet the press, Sunday and CNN. Both cases demolishing Republicans talking points. Jordan and Nunes are such clowns, I have to believe this was a good day for Democrats.

3423

I agree, but don’t bother trying to convince the Trumppalos of that.

3424

Jim Jordan is so happy with himself though, I mean he was on cloud 9 he believed his points were hitting home! You going to deny him that ecstasy?

3425

I’d prefer to give him fentanyl.

3426

These deep fakes are getting out of hand. I can barely tell the difference!