Jeff Flake essentially ices out judicial confirmations!

[Roland99]

Link to tweet

[spanone]

1. K&R...

[Iggo]

2. ...'til he gets paid.

[Bleacher Creature]

3. Whatever. He'll be sure to make it back to vote for Kavanaugh.

I'm growing tired of Flake trying to have it both ways.

[cstanleytech]

5. My money is on Flake hedging his bets that the voters will turn on the Repugants in power as to

nutty and he wants to position himself as the supposed "sane" and ethical Repugnant that can be trusted.
If that is what he is trying I just hope the voters do not fall for it.

[Raster]

12. Senator Flakey* has got his eye on challenging tRump* in the Rethuglican primary...

... and is trying to best position himself. He's gonna need a whole hella lot of soap to wash the tRump* stink off his hands.

[2naSalit]

23. +1

[mcar]

4. Flake actually did something instead of just talk?

[Perseus]

10. He must have needed that vacation, nothing else...

I would not put too much weight on Flake having done it for a patriotic reason, he must have needed the vacation, maybe he bought plane tickets and paid for the resort he and his family went to (I am making that up, I don't know if they went to a resort), and he could not lose the money, etc...

Flake, and Corker are just talk, nothing else, they both will vote for the guy, who knows if Flake is doing it to get some leverage on his fellow republicans, but I don't have faith he did it for the country.

[mcar]

11. I agree

But if it holds up more RW judges getting approved, I'm all for it.

[True Blue American]

26. Same here

No matter why Fake went on vacation it is working. Give Jeff credit.

[Stuart G]

6. Does this include the Supreme Court Nominee??? got to ask...thanks for an answer.

[Roland99]

7. That would appear to be the case as he hasn't passed committee yet

[AdamGG]

24. If only there was a way to slow walk it until after November, but don't imagine there is

Then the red state Democrats would be more free to vote no and maybe there would be a shot.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. No Judicial confirmations in this last year of tRump's Presidency. . . . nt

[Rorey]

17. Yes!

We should really all start saying this.

[Persondem]

29. +1. Excactly!! nt

[EffieBlack]

9. They don't need him to conduct hearings or vote the nomination out of Committee

A confirmation vote by the full Senate won't likely happen until September, so I don't see any there there.

Now, if Flake refuses to vote Yes on confirmation, we're in business ... But until then, this is a big nothingburger.

[watoos]

13. I'm not so sure

they don't need him to vote the nomination out of committee.

I agree there is still time once Flake returns.

[EffieBlack]

19. You're right -

They can't recommend his confirmation without a majority vote and his absence would put it at 10-10. But the nomination can still be voted on on the floor without a favorable committee recommendation.

But it they want a committee vote, Flake will be back in a few weeks and they can just vote then.

[Liberty Belle]

25. They might not have enough floor votes

With Flalke away, McCain ailing and away, and perhaps Collins defecting over abortion issues.

[EffieBlack]

27. Flake would be back in time for a floor vote.

[saidsimplesimon]

18. I agree.

[Saviolo]

14. I'll believe it when I see it.

Flake has made it abundantly clear that he's happy to tone police Trump, but not actually do anything concrete to resist a single thing he does. So, he'll put up a token resistance that will make people think he's the only sane GOP senator who's willing to stand up against Trump to build his brand for his own presidential run in a few years' time.

[scheming daemons]

15. About time that he DID something instead of just SAYING something.

[SunSeeker]

16. Excellent!

[AZ8theist]

20. He was my rep in the House for 12 years.

Accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING during that time.

Same accomplishments during his senate career. Totally useless bag of shit.

DO NOT expect anything from this non-entity.

[world wide wally]

21. Prove it

[Honeycombe8]

22. I wonder if McConnell can replace him? Look fr McConnell to do something about this.

McConnell doesn't "go high."

[CreekDog]

28. committees assignments are voted on (mostly pro forma)

so taking him off the committee would take a vote on committee membership.

how many votes do you count for kicking him off the committee?

I don't count any Democrats, so that leaves 51.

I don't think Flake would vote for that --leaves 50.

McCain's not there --leaves 49.

think it through.

[Honeycombe8]

31. The committee rules may provide for a substitute in an absence.

I doubt the whole Senate would have to start from ground zero for a temporary absence.

They're not going to let one Senator's temporary absence stand in the way of Judge confirmations. Or maybe it's not a big deal to put the votes off for a couple of weeks.

[CreekDog]

37. it's fucking MATH! you need 51 votes to remove the guy and he's the 51st vote!

you keep saying it's easy no matter what we tell you.

then why haven't they done it???

It's fucking math. Do it.

[Honeycombe8]

38. Get control of yourself, little man.

I never said it was easy. I was asking a question. You know what a question is, right? You know that committees have rules that take care of absences, right? Maybe not this one, but maybe. So I was asking.

If the President gets sick and can't perform his job, we don't start over with a new election, do we? There are procedures in place to temporarily assign people to that position.

I accept your apology for losing control of yourself and cussing at a reasonable post by someone who has not in the least been rude at all to you.

You might wanna do some inner searching on why you lose control when someone in a forum, who is on the same side as yu are, asks a question instead of bowing to your final authority.

[riversedge]

30. nowhere does flake say he will be gone all month. He is observing elections in Z.

[Honeycombe8]

32. The OP made it sound like he'd be gone all August, so no voting possible. Z?

Elections in Z? Zebra? New Zealand? Zinbabwe?

[riversedge]

33. Zimbabwe. yes, it does sound like that but

I read several of his tweets. and it does not say how long he will be gone. but maybe horse whisperer know something else.

Link to tweet

[Honeycombe8]

34. Ha! I was making a joke & had no idea he was really IN a "Z." Too funny. nt

[riversedge]

35. I just found this--says he will be gone 3 weeks.

so now we know.
maybe. stand by.

Link to tweet

[Honeycombe8]

36. +1. nt

[ecstatic]

39. Flake previously said he's not going to hold up nominations. Did he change his

mind? If so, that's a wonderful change!

Flake has been pressed on this issue a number of times (the hypocrisy of rubber stamping trump's agenda no matter what trump does). His response has been that it's a separate issue. The only topic where he's willing to actually obstruct is related to the tariffs.

I'm hoping that his absence is not just a coincidence and that it actually means what the author of the tweet is suggesting.