Democrats are rushing to impeachment because public support for it is crumbling, Cocaine Mitch wants payment NOW

Cocaine Mitch says "OK Schumer"

Mitch McConnell held no hearings for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, and if Laurence Tribe gets his way McConnell won't have a Trump trial, either

What a stroke of genius.

Now that's what I call bi-partisanship: China attacks the Senate Majority Leader and the Speaker of the House

Notably missing from the attack is President Trump. None dare call him Quisling.

China accuses Pelosi and McConnell of inciting ‘chaos’ in Hong Kong

LOL: Mitch McConnell trolls the Kaepernickers

Time for Turtle Soup: America is clueless to the defacto amnesty slipped into the border bill by Mitch McConnell

Rush Limbaugh 12/20/2018: "Trump had better not sign that", 10 minutes later gets instant message

Lol, Rush is pretending again today that it's just a coincidence he got the instant message right after warning Trump on 12/20:

The President Tells Me It’s Money or Nothing

... If it’s that, then Trump had better not sign that. There has to be some serious appropriation. So, I mean, it’s time for applause. (clapping) Yes. This is a great, great first step. But it’s not a full-fledged veto. Not that we want a veto; don’t misunderstand. This is simply the president telling the Republicans, “I’m not signing this. There’s no border security in it.” So now the Republicans are gonna go back and put some border security in their version of the continuing resolution. We’ll know what that is soon enough.

Then when they finish doing that and they vote on it — and it will pass — they’ll send it over to The Turtle, Mitch McConnell in the Senate, and then they will deal with it. The Senate was very happy to have not a penny in this CR for border security. So it looks like the onus now is… It looks like it’s on the House, but it’s actually gonna be on the Senate, because we have to assume the House is gonna put something in this. Meadows was dead serious about this. Ryan? I don’t know. But it’s still his House. He’s still speaker for a while. So that’s where we are. But it’s great news that the president refused to sign this.

Now we have to keep our eyes on what they come up with as border security.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay, folks, this is good. This is interesting. I just got a phone call. Well, I got an instant message. It’s the equivalent of you getting a phone call. That’s how people communicate with me, particularly during the program. It’s impossible to use the phone during the program. Anyway, I just said less than 10 minutes ago in my translation of what’s happened here, “The president told Republicans he’s not going to sign this. It’s not a veto yet, but he’s not gonna sign it until there’s border security in it.” ...

So I get this direct message: “You tell Rush that if there’s no money in this, it’s getting vetoed. If there’s no money — if there’s no money for a wall — I’m vetoing this, plain and simple.” This was the message that I just got, and I trust it and I believe it to be the case. By the way, it’s a legitimate question. I mean, the way the media reports this — and it was not just the media. It was Paul Ryan saying, “The president cares deeply about border security. So we’re gonna go back and we’re gonna get some border security in this thing.

And since Nancy's House is never going to agree with McConnell's Senate, Trump should adjourn them both . . .

. . . indefinitely.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina sinks confirmation of Thomas Farr to US District Court in this congress, but cocaine Mitch may have another plan

Sen. Tim Scott announces opposition to judicial nominee Thomas Farr, effectively dooming confirmation:

South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott announced Thursday he will oppose embattled judicial nominee Thomas Farr, in a reversal of his position a day earlier that seemingly ends the nominee's chances for now amid fierce criticism by civil rights groups. ...

Farr was first nominated to the federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina by former President George W. Bush in 2006, but never received a confirmation vote. ...

Prominent Democrats immediately applauded Scott's decision Thursday to oppose Farr, and attacked President Trump for doubling down on Bush's nomination. ...

Top Republicans had also stood behind Farr this week. It remains unclear whether the Senate's GOP leadership will try to reconsider Farr when the new 53-47 Republican majority -- sans Flake -- is seated in January.

“The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary -- a body that's frequently been held up by my Democratic colleagues as the ‘gold standard’ -- has awarded Mr. Farr its highest possible rating: unanimously well qualified,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

And don't forget Mitt Romney now has to be counted on to cooperate

I can just see it now.

Mitt Romney, Lisa Mercowskie and Susan Collins will form the trio of stooges broken by the death of John McCain to stand in the way of Mitch McConnell.

Well, at least Jeff Flake and Bob Corker are out of the equation.

Did any national Republican leader warn their voters Eric Holder was targeting governorships to control redistricting?

Not Trump, not Mitch McConnell, not Paul Ryan. We heard zip, zero, nada.

The stupid party strikes again.

The Detroit News reports here:

Voters Not Politicians, the group that spearheaded the [ballot] proposal in Michigan, may have started out as a grassroots campaign, but millions in outside money poured into the state — much of it coming from far-left advocacy groups and Democratic donors. Between July and October, Voters Not Politicians raised more than $13.8 million.

Eric Holder, former attorney general under President Barack Obama, led a national effort this year in Republican-controlled states to back similar measures that would strip redistricting from lawmakers — or at least ensure Democrats took control of legislatures and governorships ahead of the 2020 census. Michigan was one of 12 target states.

You know, Obama didn't follow the so-called Biden Rule in 2016, but Mitch McConnell sure did

You can listen to Biden in 1992, here, when he said Bush should refrain from nominating anyone if a vacancy occurred on the Supreme Court in that election year.

Biden also said the Senate should refrain from holding hearings on any nominee if Bush happened to nominate anyone anyway against this advice.

Well, fellow Democrat Obama ignored the Biden Rule in 2016, an election year, by nominating Garland, which goes little remarked.

But even more little remarked is that the Republican McConnell acted in agreement with the rule in 2016, and refused to conduct hearings on Obama's nominee.

The Executive and the Legislative act as they please in these matters, as is their right. They make their own rules, no matter how much the partisans of this world may try to constrain them.

Elections have consequences.

Susan Collins wins one for The Sniffer

The superstitious George Packer of The New Yorker imagines that the 2009 stimulus which PASSED failed because Republicans put a hex on it

Proving that it isn't just George Will who suffers from the disease. As Paul Krugman pointed out at the time, the stimulus simply wasn't big enough.

It never is.

Here is Packer:

In February, 2009, with the economy losing seven hundred thousand jobs a month, Congress passed a stimulus bill—a nearly trillion-dollar package of tax cuts, aid to states, and infrastructure spending, considered essential by economists of every persuasion—with the support of just three Republican senators and not a single Republican member of the House. Rather than help save the economy that their party had done so much to wreck, Republicans, led by Senator Mitch McConnell, chose to oppose every Democratic measure, including Wall Street reform. In doing so, they would impede the recovery and let the other party take the fall. It was a brilliantly immoral strategy, and it pretty much worked.

Mitch McConnell doesn't just look like a turtle, he moves like one, can't accomplish two important things at once

Time to get someone younger in there.

Senate passes massive spending bill in the middle of the night, sends it to Trump

CNBC reports here:

The Senate passed a massive $1.3 trillion spending bill in the early morning hours of Friday, sending it to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature.

Congress approved the more than 2,200-page legislation swiftly with a midnight Friday government shutdown deadline looming. The plan was released only Wednesday night. The House approved the bill Thursday afternoon by a 256-167 vote with bipartisan backing. ...

[Trump] reportedly threatened to veto it days ago, but tweeted his support for it Wednesday night after a discussion with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. ...

It would put $1.57 billion in new funding toward fencing along the border with Mexico and border security technology such as aircraft and sensors. Trump had sought billions more in funding for a physical barrier on the border after he promised to build a wall as a candidate.

Once again Trump demonstrates that he has no principles: Confiscate guns without due process

It didn't take long for the office to go to his head, but go it has. The man is now a clear and present danger.

Who will stop him? Mike Pence? Paul Ryan? Mitch McConnell?

Here:

“I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida ... to go to court would have taken a long time,” Trump said at a meeting with lawmakers on school safety and gun violence.

“Take the guns first, go through due process second,” Trump said.

Newt Gingrich is full of crap: Mitch McConnell promised immediate repeal in January 2017 in December 2016

This morning on The Laura Ingraham Show, hosted by Raymond Arroyo, Gingrich criticized Trump for making this too personal.

Flashback to 12/6/2016 to Mitch McConnell: "The ObamaCare repeal resolution will be the first item up in the New Year"

Here at The Hill.

No hurry, mate.

h/t Rush

McConnell still to go ahead with repeal only bill next week, to put Republican women on the record voting against it

Good for him.

Story here.