The Politics Thread

[marceline]

Remember when the news came out last week (the week before?) where Ginni admitted to being at the Capitol on Jan. 6? I said then that the only reason she would admit that is if she was trying to get out in front of something. Now we know what it was and I'm very confident that far worse information is yet to come.

[DramatistDreamer]

Same.

It's also very convenient that Clarence Thomas' whereabouts have been declared unknown and he is currently not reachable for comment or questioning.

Did this creeping sense that this news getting out and would lead to more precipitate a hospital stay for Thomas? Or at the very least, an extended stay?

[marceline]

I think he's genuinely sick. If he wasn't, he still would just refuse to answer any questions and let's be honest, the press wouldn't ask him any because the Beltway press is broken.

I think he's dying because him being sick doesn't help his wife at all.

[Vee]

If he is dying, the Dems are going to have to be prepared to pull the Amy Coney Barrett shuffle to install a new one before November. No courteous feigning towards the norms and puttering around for a few months, which too many Senators still want to do. Because if we don't confirm another justice before the midterms I'm seriously afraid of what we're looking at in terms of both violent insurrection measures and completely breaking down government to try to stop any hearings after. The GOP has waited generations for this balance of the court and for them this is holy war.

Speaking of:

 

Edited March 25, 2022 by Vee

[marceline]

I think everyone knows that. I've no doubt that Biden's got a list ready to go but people need to remember that he will need to interview potential nominees to see if they want to put themselves through what comes next. Coney Barrett went so fast because she did as she was told. Our nominees aren't like that.

[Vee]

Either way, he's discharged now so either he's going to survive and continue to spite us, or he's dying at home and Ginni, Mitch and the gang will go to extraordinary measures to prevent that from leaking for as long as possible. (Yes, I am waiting to pull out the Weekend at Bernie's material)

[marceline]

Having him die at home also means they can control access to him better. I'm pretty sure at least TMZ would have someone stalking the hospital looking for pics or gossip.

[Vee]

If this was ten years ago I think they would be able to keep it a secret much longer. Not anymore. DC always talks and it still hasn't fully acclimated to the social media age. TMZ alone would find out, because it doesn't have that Sally Quinn-style deference.

[Vee]

Meanwhile:

 

[Khan]

As one Jessica Beatrice Fletcher of Cabot Cove, ME would say, Ginni slipped.  Badly.

Same!

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[FrenchBug82]

In 2010, Ginni Thomas CALLED Anita Hill at home to demand she apologize and explain who put her up to "what she did".

She isn't slipping. She has already been at the very bottom of the sanity and decency pond for a long while.

[DRW50]

I'm still wary about Sinema, but she doesn't seem to lean into culture war so Manchin's statement makes me a little more hopeful. 

That Thomas statement is so empty I have  no idea how to react. You'd think if he were doing well they would be more triumphant against their  great enemies. I have a feeling they are just going to try to hold on until November...

[FrenchBug82]

Sorry but I dissent on this (see what I did there?).

Since when do Supreme Court Justices ever feel the need to respond to any news report at all? They don't do press conferences and don't interact with journalists.
They didn't need to fake a health care to avoid this. They can just do what they all have done... stay silent and wait until it fades away from the news cycle.
SCOTUS Justices do not ever have to answer to anything; hence the impunity with which Thomas behaves. Noone can force them to recuse etc and while they technically can be impeached, the nuclear reaction of Republicans would make this toxic but the most obvious clear-cut proven accusation (he raped a child or something)

I have no question this is a real health scare. The rest of my commentary on it will stay in my head out of human decency, even for someone who doesn't deserve it.

[Khan]

One thing's for sure: whether or not Clarence himself was an active participant in "Textgate '22," Ginni has become a serious liability to her already ethically challenged husband.  This might not end with Clarence retiring or stepping down from SCOTUS, but it definitely brings controversy to the judicial branch of our government at a moment in its' history when more controversy was the absolute, very last thing it needed.

(Seriously, Clarence, it's time to dump that hillbilly b***h.)

Edited March 25, 2022 by Khan

[Vee]

I absolutely believe his health scare is real. I also know he would rather die than step down with a Democrat in office. He will never do so. So it's either death or we're stuck with him for now.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Vee