November 30, 2017

Damned liberal media

I guess.

https://www.vox.com/2017/11/30/16720730/joe-barton-retire-2018-congress-nude-photo-scandal

November 30, 2017

It's consumed Texas media for a week

Some thought he might skate past it since it first broke right before Thanksgiving.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/joe-barton-avoided-becoming-texas-turkey/

November 30, 2017

Exactly.

He's apologized for several of these incidents, yet some would rather believe they just didn't happen.



(BTW, I don't think Franken should resign. But if he should, he had better be holding the door for Trump and Moore to walk out ahead of him.)

November 30, 2017

Joe Barton.

Resigned today.

November 30, 2017

Joe Barton.

Resigned today.

November 29, 2017

To pbmus' point

Could Democrats be in danger of having too much of a good thing?

This, at least, is the line that Republicans in the traditional conservative stronghold of Orange County are peddling.

“All the Republicans are unified behind one candidate in each of these races and the Democrats have divided loyalties to candidates who have no name ID,” county GOP Chairman Fred Whitaker has said, according to the Orange County Register. “I’m pretty happy with it.”

And so, more than anywhere else, the O.C. will be the place to watch to find who’s right.

In November 2015, with roughly a year to go until Election Day 2016, only one Democrat had launched his candidacy across all of Orange County.

Now there are seven Democratic candidates running in Rohrabacher’s district alone — and 23 in the O.C. as a whole, where diversifying demographics, a dwindling Republican registration advantage and Hillary Clinton’s groundbreaking countywide victory in 2016 have Democrats eyeing four GOP incumbents previously considered safe: Reps. Rohrabacher; Ed Royce, CA-39; Mimi Walters, CA-45; and Darrell Issa, CA-49.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/democrats-2018-many-candidates-many-candidates-162905320.html

Rohrabacher has one Republican challenger. The danger exists that the seven Dems will dilute the vote, leaving the two Rs to advance to a runoff and defeating the entire purpose of all of this enthusiasm.

Lots more good reading at the link.

November 18, 2017

Our attitudes as a nation have

changed a lot in just the past few months regarding the topic of male sexual harassment. Just a year ago, trump got elected despite the dozen or more women who have outed him for worse.

Bill Cosby didn't get a pass. O'Reilly didn't, either. GHWB is, though.

And Bill Clinton is getting a rehash here, so there's that.

Nobody seems down to litigate JFK (which I count as a good thing).

Times change. Sometimes faster than at other times.

November 18, 2017

On topic

It processed through the news cycle more rapidly even than is typical, due IMO to his appropriate handling of it.

November 15, 2017

Had to give up on

Wonkette last year. Too much hate, too much flame-throwing.

November 14, 2017

No excuse for inaction.

But the Russians did not steal the election.

Last year, Homeland Security disclosed that 21 states' election systems had been targeted by Russian hackers. There was no evidence they actually penetrated the systems. Experts likened the activity to a burglar jiggling a doorknob to see if it is locked.

http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Local-voting-districts-seen-as-crucial-to-12331682.php

The primary and most serious Russian problem is one of collusion. It's a felony under the Logan Act, but it's up to Congress to prosecute the crime. And that appears unlikely.