I wonder if I am alone in thinking that it scarcely matters whether or not Roy Moore wins the December special election in Alabama and becomes a U.S. Senator. Naturally, it would mean something if he lost to Democrat Doug Jones. What I mean is that I don’t really believe that having Moore in the Senate would add to its dysfunction or meaningfully change how the chamber functions. As far as I am concerned, he might as well already be there.
Sure, we can point out how insane Moore is and predict that he’ll make a spectacle of himself in Washington. He’ll probably try to follow through on his promise to make his first order of business the impeachment of the five Supreme Court Justices, including Anthony Kennedy, who “legalized sodomy” in Lawrence v. Texas. I expect him to talk nonstop nonsense, like his recent take that it’s against the law not to stand and place your hand over your heart during the National Anthem.
Moore might bring a little of the flavor of the House to the Senate. I’m reminded of Rep. Louie Gohmert’s famous performance in committee when he stammered, “I cannot have a witness challenge my character! The attorney general will not cast aspersions on my asparagus!” I don’t doubt that Judge Moore can top Rep. Steve King’s immortal claim that for every DREAMer who is a valedictorian, “there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.” It’s true that Moore has this kind of rich potential.
But will he vote or commit forms of obstruction that really distinguish himself from his predecessors Jeff Sessions and Luther Strange? Individual senators have a lot of power, especially in a narrowly divided Senate, so I don’t discount the possibility that Moore could cause the same kind of problems we’e seen recently from members as diverse as Rand Paul, John McCain, and Susan Collins. But the overall behavior of the congressional Republicans is already so detached from reality that I don’t believe Moore can do much to make things worse.
I guess that’s bad news if you think he’ll come to DC and drain the swamp. But it’s actually bad news because things are so bad that it’s now really difficult to make them worse.
How could Roy Moore make the Senate worse than Cruz already has?
Moore is a very different flavor of radical GOP crazy but, yes, he will be equally worse. We can only hope Cruz gets turfed out next year so the balance of GOP craziness is maintained (assuming that Doug Jones doesn’t get elected, which is virtually assumed even though he’s a great candidate).
Moore is a whole next level of crazy.
Since the extremes often define a larger movement, he actually could be useful to Democrats.
If the Dem can’t win I think Moore will be a plus.
One more disruption for the Repubs to have to deal with
I think you are correct. What difference does it make when you put a different cuckoo bird in the cage, who happens to have more splendiferous plumage than the one it is replacing? The fact of the matter is, the odoriferousnesss of the place and the accumulations in the bottom of the bird cage will be indistinguishable from the previous inhabitants.
“My Birdcage Needs a New Paper (Because My Parakeet’s Already Read the One that’s in There)” –Tony Trischka
(Second Place: “Now Is the Time to Turn the Record over” –Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band)
But any senator can put a hold on the confirmation process of any administration appointee requiring senate approval, right?
This is done off and on to extort stuff, but doesn’t Moore seem like the kind of guy to use it as a way to wage holy war on Democrats if and when we get a Dem administration in three years?
No. The filibuster has been removed, by Harry Reid several years ago, on administrative positions because Republicans had gummed up the works so badly that even people the Republicans didn’t have any objections too or even liked and would advance their agenda were getting filibustered.
Maybe I phrased that poorly. I’m talking about the Senate Hold:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_hold
“… which allows one or more Senators to prevent a motion from reaching a vote on the Senate floor.”
“Holds, like filibusters, can be defeated through a successful cloture motion. However, the time required to bring around a cloture vote often allows fewer than 40 senators to block unimportant legislation when the majority is not willing to force the vote. The countermeasure to excessive holds may be increased determination on the part of the leadership to bring up measures despite holds, but the delay involved in cloture votes constrains the leader’s ability to do this.”
No. You were clear. You’re just wrong. The rules for a Senate Hold are the same rules for a filibuster. As in they are the same rules in the same space on paper in the Senate rules. A ‘Hold’ is just a filibuster on a nominee instead of legislation. That rule was overturned by Sen. Reid and the Dems several years ago.
There is no way to stop a vote on administrative positions or any judgeship by the minority party in the Senate. The minority party can slow things down marginally still, but only a little bit. The is no law or Senate rule to stop the majority party from using 51 votes to confirm anyone they want to any administrative or judicial position.
There are however still basic scheduling procedures and built in time delays that slow things down. And that is what has been holding up Trumps nominees more than anything the Dems have been doing. Well, that and McConnell fucking up the Senate schedule and running from crisis legislation to crisis legislation so that he can’t by the rules schedule that many votes on nominees.
Moore’s role if he wins is to allow the GOP caucus to know which of the Ten Commandments their legislation will break each day. Let’s go kill; yay, war! Let’s covet; regime change and resources. Let’s not honor our fathers and mothers; dissing of Abraham Lincoln and Jeannette Rankin. Worshipping idols; another flag protection or national anthem compulsion law. Bear false witness; every day and every hour spinning along. And on and on.
And they WILL put the Ten Commandments on the wall of the House so that the Christian Nation can see them during the State of the Union.
Reckon Louis Goehmert has a hankering to take down Cornyn or Cruz?
He measureably makes Alabama worse. Kids who used to have the ambition to grow up like George Wallace, then Richard Shelby, then Beauregard Sessions, now will have the ambition to grow up to be Roy Moore.
BTW, did Moore legally change his first name to “Judge”? A judge who has been dismissed for cause twice no longer merits the title. Can someone remind the media?
Absolutely. He is going to make life hell for McConnell. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz frequently engage in tantrums, and Rand Paul can frequently gum up the works with his “principles”, but he’s easily manipulated into eventually voting for the final product if he knows he’ll be one of the “must vote yes for this to pass” Senators.
Roy Moore is the guy who tells you hell filibuster the debt ceiling bill and won’t back down for anything. Even if it’s him and Democrats alone.
So for key votes, McConnell now has less wiggle room to allow Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee to strut around like peacocks.
>>He is going to make life hell for McConnell.
which is 100% a good thing.
One Senator can make a tremendous amount of trouble. See McCarthy, Joseph R. (R-WI). If Moore decides to repeat McCarthy’s stunt, with updated targets, the only way to stop him will be the way McCarthy was stopped. This is as likely as impeachment, and for all and exactly the same reasons.
Of course things can get worse. Didn’t you already answer this in another context (can’t remember where).
Malvina Reynolds – There’s a low below the low you know.
It was an allusion, but nobody got it. Gohmert later explained that he got it from an old Texas lawyer, Percy Foreman, but ultimately it’s just an old vaudeville joke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WITRKBpY5g
at 2:04 –
CURLY: “Are you casting asparagus on my cooking?”
Three Stooges, “Busy Buddies” (1944).
Gohmert’s dumb enough,there’s no need to strain at gnats.
This is analogous to: `what’s worse for the last play of the game, 4th and 30 from your own 30 or 4th and 31 from your own 29?’
The clock expires on the snap, down doesn’t matter, distance on that scale is immaterial.
Or maybe it’s like a neighbor throwing a log on the fire as your house burns down but the firemen have already given up on saving it and are only trying to contain it so it doesn’t spread. The house is gone no matter what.