I’m sure it has some effect. In fact I’d say I’m positive it has.
But that said, I’d wager that Joe would be falling to somewhere close to where he is now even if this hadn’t come up. The blush is off the rose, and other candidates are working harder than he is right now.
It also sends a message to Ukraine, Russia, and to the rest of the world of Trump’s motivations and that he can be bribed. It hurts US foreign interests.
Thrag
4072
It’s hard to attribute the drop to any one thing. Biden was falling off as the front-runner before all this.
David2
4073
True, though the impact of a face to face sit down is minor compared to millions of dollars in aid. Still, it shows a willingness to ‘play ball’ verse being akin to playing hardball with a stick of lit dynamite.
Yeah, it was basically the Sideshow Bob “Attempted murder, what is that, honestly?!” defense.
jpinard
4075
No. Biden’s drop is of his own doing. He’s in a field of capable people with ACTUAL plans. He’s a big do nothing but smile dude. We don’t need that kind of person. We need someone with guts and ideas. Plus, he’s showing his age something terrible.
Maloney vs Sondland… ouch, ouch, ouch. That is absolutely brutal. But well deserved.
As any kind of attorney (or - honestly - any kind of human with integrity), it must be absolutely excruciating to sit and deal with the kind of behavior that Sondland has displayed through this process. That an entire party of elected people are willing to more or less sit silently on the wrong side of history and be complicit in enabling Trump, remains one of the most astounding things about this entire period of history to me.
Yeah, he’s a smug prick, smirking and making jokes about all this when he isn’t deliberately misunderstanding questions. You have to have a lot of confidence in your privilege to act that way given the huge discrepancies with his earlier testimony.
Thrag
4079
The look on his face when Maloney finished with him and he had a momentarily realization that this isn’t all a joke was priceless.
How did I not know this about Speier?
Weirder: I knew that someone named Jackie Speier had been shot multiple times on the tarmac with Leo Ryan and the journalists there with him and survived by playing dead…but didn’t associate 'til now that she and Rep. Speier are the same person. Kid you not.
Autocorrect turned purge to surge
Yeah, Sondland’s claims about when he understood this was about the campaign don’t hold water:
The “I want nothing…” quotes are the cover-up after the deal was busted, not evidence of no wrongdoing.
In case there was widespread concern: Sondland did indeed make his flight at Dulles back to Belgium.
He didn’t get arrested? Heard that’s always a danger at Dulles for Trump associates.
Guap
4089
He’s fucking 77. Looks great for his age, good luck to him, enjoy retirement dude.
