The Republicans seem to be circling the wagon around the most corrupt President in US history. It really is appalling how complicit they are not only in the rise of Trumpism but the ignoring of all of the corruption that would have sent any other President packing long ago. This whole idea that calling for an impeachment inquiry will somehow hurt Democrats in the 2020 election is wrongheaded and beside the point. There comes a time in any politicians career when they must put country ahead of party. Todays Republicans in DC refuse to do that and up until yesterday Democratic leadership wouldnt do it either. The founders put the impeachment process into the Constitution for a reason. There is no clause in there that tells them to only use it when it won't hurt your re-election chances. When Richard Nixon was subverting the country 50 years ago it wasnt just Democrats who brought him to heel. It was Republicans in Congress who had a spine and knew what needed to be done for the good of the country. Now we have gutless weasals like Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham and John Cornyn…cowards all. Mike Myers, a former Mitt Romney advisor said yesterday that a Republican Senator told him that if it was a secret vote, 30 Republican Senators would vote to impeach Trump. I wonder if Ron Johnson is one of them? That is the problem in a nutshell right there. All but the most partisan hacks and talk-show squawkers know what Trump and his administration are. They have known it for a long time. But they have played along and propped up this compromised slimeball for a handful of tax cuts and the ability to pack the courts with ideologues. Republican Senator Ben Sasse said yesterday that Republicans should not be so quick to come to judgement on the merits of the case against Trump. Maybe that will be the start. Maybe the complicity will end. Even Nixon had his supporters until the evidence became so damning that only a fool would have still given their support. We passed that rubicon long ago. Today's Republican Party is riddled with fools…or those who know the corruption that is rotting the country and refuse to do anything about it. You decide which is worse.
The Milwaukee Brewers are 19-4 in the month of September. Incredible what they have done. But their business is not finished this week. Keep winning and hope the Cubs can find their pride and play the Cardinals tough in the final three agmes.
This from Brewer beat writer Tom Haudricourt…
“It was no accident that Junior Guerra was on mound when
#Brewers
clinched playoffs. He was David Stearns' first acquisition as waiver claim in 2015 offseason. Counsell paid tribute to both Stearns and Guerra as team player. Former opening day starter moved to pen without a gripe.”
The Packers can go to 4-0 tonight. Man, I hate Thursday night games and I know the players and coaches do to. Once again, the leaders of an organization, doing things not in the interest of their employees, just for the money.
Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter died earlier this week. He was a large part of why the band was such a lasting success
Billy Joel has a new television show in the works that will bring his songs to life. Titled “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant”, it will have a scripted world based around songs like Stranger, the Piano Man, and Sgt. O'Leary. The title of the TV series comes from Joel's 1977 song that had the same name.
Covers of The Day
Happy Birthday to Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music who turns 74 today
Bloomberg with a story on the outrageous cost of “health” insurance,. You can read it
here
Dan Rather sums it up well….
“As the headlines cascade with an intensity and import that rivals any story I have covered, the old reporter’s heart within me begins to beat faster and faster. When you sign on to a life as a journalist you hope that when a big story breaks, you are there to cover it and cover it with integrity. I feel the rush of the moment. I try to parse what we know, and what we suspect. And while my days of running the halls of Capitol Hill and the White House looking for comment and context are behind me, the muscle memory remains. I call sources and I take to the platforms I have to add my perspective.
And yet I am also a citizen of this great nation and while I strive to make sense of the news and the facts, on a gut level my soul is filled with sadness. This is a moment where the United States faces the future with danger and uncertainty. That this moment has long been in the making or that the reckoning is necessary and unavoidable does not diminish a sense of loss.
There is no shortage of farce in the current scandal. We see actions befitting the Keystone Cops. But there is nothing funny in the gravity of what is before us. The comic grace notes do not diminish the far greater tragedy.
I find myself thinking of other moments from our history when the path ahead seemed shrouded in shadow and danger. I seek solace in a recognition we have steadied ourselves before. Is there a keel to our ship of state? Is what is happening now the corrective? I hope so. I would go so far as to say I believe so and brighter days lie ahead.
Ultimately what has saved this nation often comes from the energy and actions of the citizens. Indeed the drama is playing out primarily in Washington but we all have parts to play in making sure that those who represent us understand a vision of this nation, not as it is now, but as it should and must be.”
Quotes Of The Day
“New: The whistleblower complaint alleges a pattern of obfuscation at the White House, in which officials moved the records of some of Trump’s communications with foreign officials onto a separate computer network from where they are normally stored.”-Shane Harris
“It’s so wild that this is the guy Republican politicians are destroying their reputations to defend right now. Like, they don’t think there’s a single person in their party who’s better than this.”-Jon Favreau
“I should’ve remembered that Trump and his goons are too ignorant and morally bankrupt to grasp that their crimes are crimes.”-Jon Favreau
“The devolution of Lindsey Graham into Trump's most slavish, reflexive apologist is one of the more unnerving political stories of our time.”-Ezra Klein
“If the release is this bad, I can't even imagine how bad the actual call was and what the report is going to say. Wow. If Donald Trump had any sense of decency he'd resign from the presidency today and save the country a devastating battle and much strife. We all know he doesn't have that decency, but if there was even a shred he'd abandon the White House this afternoon.”-Jared Yates Sexton
“Even the summary “transcript” makes it obvious: Donald Trump is going to be the third president in US history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. The only question now is whether any Republicans with even a shred of principle are in the US Senate (don't bet on it).”-Brian Klaas
“I can describe that complaint as nothing short of explosive. It is so much more than the summary of the telephone call that has been presented by the White House … I can tell you that I was stunned.”-Rep Jackie Spiers (member of the House Intelligence Committee
“So the Barr DoJ was suppressing a whistle blower complaint that apparently implicates Barr in Trump’s Ukraine scheme. The corruption is everywhere in this Administration.”-Ben Rhodes
“I guess we all know why Greenberg, Traurig fired Rudy Guiliani and he can't get a job with a law firm.”-Peter Gammons
“It doesn't have to be a quid pro quo. “It's a solicitation of help from a foreign gov't for his own political purposes. That is the smoking gun. It's right there in his own words. He's admitted it.”-Elizabeth Warren
“I think Putin has kompromat on a sizable portion of the GOP caucus and impeachment of Trump is terrifying for them too because it risks discovery of how their personal dirty laundry helped blackmail them into enabling treason. The remedy is exposing all of them, one by one.”-Propane Jane
“…Republicans ought not to be rushing to circle the wagons to say there’s no there there when there’s obviously lots that’s very troubling there…”-Republican Senator Ben Sasse
One of the breathtaking things about all this is how deeply Barr has been corrupted by trump. The entire Department of Justice is now compromised.”-Howard Dean
“One Republican senator told me if it was a secret vote, 30 Republican senators would vote to impeach Trump.” -Mike Murphy (former advisor to Mitt Romney)
“Profiles in Courage. Honestly they disgust me.”-Soledad O'Brien
“I asked Attorney General Barr whether the White House had ever asked—or suggested, hinted, or inferred—that he open an investigation into anyone. At the time, he seemed stumped.Barr must come back to Congress and answer that question under oath.”-Kamala Harris
“I would like to know if @SecPompeo stands by the president's trashing of our ex Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovich. Asking for the men and women of the Foreign Service.”-Tom Malinowski
“I was an Assistant Secretary of State when this happened. All of us working on Ukraine wanted this prosecutor gone, because he was NOT prosecuting corruption. So did the Europeans. So did the IMF. This didn't come from Joe Biden – he just delivered our message.”-Tom Malinowski
“Don't forget about Pence! He met with the Ukrainian president in Poland on September 1 and admits that they discussed “corruption” in the context of U.S. aid. We now know what corruption is code for, just like “adoptions” was code for Russian sanctions. “-Josh Dorner
Dear Republicans,
“I know you’re afraid of your base, but history will remember who stands to protect our democracy right now & who enables Trump’s crimes.
For the sake of your legacy & our nation, do the right thing & support impeachment. You’ll be glad you did in the long run.”-Sean Eldridge
