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On the Senate floor Wednesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he had accurately predicted earlier that Democrats would say that the “supplemental background investigation for which my friends had clamored would suddenly become insufficient.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-03/fbi-said-to-lack-white-house-approval-to-talk-to-kavanaugh-ford
This is such a consistent move by Republicans, and it is so fucking slimey.
The Democrats were fighting so that the FBI could do a proper investigation to uncover some facts surrounding the case. Republicans fought it tooth and nail, until Flake forced their hand.
Now that they’re stuck with an FBI investigation they never wanted, the White House and Senate Republicans restrained the investigation. But in order to get ahead of the game, they preemptively discredited the Democrats justifiable concerns by saying “Oh, you Democrats will just say that the investigation is insufficient” while they took actions to ensure the investigation would be insufficient.
They do this shit over, and over, and over again. They do this preemptive partisan bullshit where they poison the political landscape, and attack their political opponents using the very problems they just created.
- “Democrats hate the troops”, says the party who sent thousands of soldiers to die for a pointless, destructive, and illegal war. And who are supporting a draft-dodger that mocked POWs and attacked Gold Star families.
- “Democrats don’t support law enforcement”, while they attack the FBI and compare the CIA to Nazi Germany.
- “Democrats are unPatriotic”, while McConnell prevents Obama from warning Americans about a foreign attack on the core of American democracy.
- “Republicans are the true Constitutionalists“. Except the Emoluments Clause. And privacy rights. And civil asset forfeiture. And when Trump wants to use stop and frisk (after it has been deemed a violation of Constitutional rights) to seize guns without due process.
- “Republicans love freedom.” Just not as much as they love taking away your freedom cause you smoked a little weed.
- “Republicans are tough on crime.” Unless a sheriff is convicted of criminal contempt of court for targeting people based on race and bragging about putting them in concentration camps. Or a campaign manager pleads guilty to conspiracy against the United States. Or a partisan hack who violated campaign finance laws. Or, for some reason, Al fucking Capone. Those people are just poor victims!
But when people call them on it, it just ends up looking like petty partisan bickering that is mirrored on both sides. People who don’t really pay attention will see both sides as the same, and that always provides cover to the worst actors. When Democrats say that Republicans don’t have respect for American servicemembers, it looks like Democrats are just stealing Republican talking points.
Its gross. Republicans always prop themselves up as the Party of Patriotism. Not only does it do harm by being grossly untrue, it poisons the ground for anyone who is actually Patriotic but isn’t a raging hypocrite. If someone calls themselves a Patriot on facebook, is it more likely that they have studied and care deeply about the Constitution, or that they have a Confederate flag hanging from the back of their pickup? What reasonable person wants to call themselves a Patriot, when hyper-partisans have effectively created a monopoly on the concept of Patriotism?
I wish progressives would work to take back the concept of Patriotism. They’re the ones that are working to make the country they love a better place.
