The Republican Party has long given up on governance or the appearance of even trying. It's so plain that even when they publicly confess that truth, it's met with a shrug rather than any pushback.
Translation: We have no agenda other than obstructing like it's 2008!
It's nevertheless infuriating when the GOP tries to cover its bullshit with a thin veneer of legitimacy.
Roy Blunt on ABC's 'This Week'
A great example of this is GOP Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, who got his own dedicated Wonkette post about this earlier today. Blunt was asked about where he stood on the upcoming vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Blunt decided to pretend he just really wanted to be a part of this historic moment, but just couldn't vote for this particular person:
BLUNT: Really, there are two criteria, I said immediately. One is, is the person qualified for the job? And two is, what's her judicial philosophy?
She's certainly qualified. [...] But the judicial philosophy seems to be not the philosophy of looking at what the law says and the Constitution says and applying that, but going through some method that allows you to try to look at the Constitution as a more flexible document, and even the law. And there are cases that show that that’s her view. [...] And I won't be supporting her but I'll be joining others in understanding the importance of this moment.
If only the very qualified Judge Jackson had answered that question about her judicial philosophy. Oh wait. We guess Blunt just missed it during the confirmation hearings or when it was reported by The Wall Street Journal or Slate or The New York Times or Des Moines Register. I'm sure once Sen. Blunt's staff does a quick Google search, he'll get right on confirming Judge Jackson.
Right? Right?
John Cornyn on 'Fox News Sunday'
Speaking of lack of consistency, Texas GOP Senator John Cornyn was asked about Donald Trump doing that thing where he asks Russia to interfere in our elections (again) and asks for dirt on a political opponent (again) in plain sight and on tape. Because crimes done in plain view aren't crimes, we guess.
His answer will not surprise you if you've paid attention or have a longer political memory than a goldfish.
The acrobatics it takes to be against Russia while your presumptive presidential nominee for 2024 and the leader of your party is kissing Putin's ass is "Flying Graysons" level of difficult.
Ron Johnson and Bill Hagerty on Fox News's 'Sunday Morning Futures'
Some in the GOP, rather than twist themselves into pretzels, just barrel on with their propaganda. So here's noted 4th of July Moscow vacationer and Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson!
Johnson went to Maria Bartiromo's conspiracy safe space show to spread the same old debunked conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden and the same old lies about Trump/Russia collusion being a hoax.
Later on the same show, Tennessee GOP Senator Bill Hagerty didn't have much time for questions about mass graves found in Kyiv, because he was on location to do some fearmongering at the OTHER border Fox News is freaked out about. "I want to talk about what's happening here at the [southern] border," he said.
Cornell Belcher on NBC's "Meet The Press"
We conclude with Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher telling a very plain truth that explains why Hagerty and the GOP want to switch topics to immigration, and more broadly why they don't have solutions to any problems.
BELCHER: Let's get real about immigration reform here, right? There's a reason why that's in almost every Republican ad, right? And look, we've seen this play before, right? This is part of that, more fuel for driving the tribalism that Republicans see as part of their political calculus as how they drive this. [...] Dissatisfaction with immigration has been driven by Republicans and they're feeding this. Not so long ago I remember when a guy named Barack Obama thought he had an immigration deal with the Gang of Eight. But it was in the Republicans’ benefit to not have a deal, comprehensive immigration reform, that included border security, that included a pathway. And by the way, most Americans think that you should pay a penalty, and there should be a pathway. And that's not going to happen. You know why it's not going to happen? Because Republicans in Congress don't want it to happen.
They have no plans or solutions because there's no political consequences for it (yet). They are counting on it for the midterms and beyond.
I hope we can prove them wrong.
Have a week.
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