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Randy's avatar

Why would anyone ever use the word “colleague” to describe Josh Hawley?

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Michael Bowen's avatar

Bless you for that picture caption.

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Fog of Jen's avatar

So....he just...accepted what Heehaw said, of all people, instead of googling the guy himself?

This is a very serious independent you got here, Maine. Also, I would check his bank account were I you.

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Zyxomma's avatar

Ta, Robyn. What. The. Actual. Fucking. Fuck?!

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KEITH TAYLOR's avatar

I'm sure those literacy tests were passed with ease by functionally illiterate white people. But that Barack Obama (and Frederick Douglass) would have failed them. Wait, Douglass is long dead?

Oh, no. President Trump misled me?

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Daydream Believer's avatar

Maybe King thought Josh was related to the legendary Missouri coach Dan Divine.

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Hamilton & The Crew's avatar

Brane Klezmer Time!!! I forgot to post this Li'l Feller meme this morning because I got depressed which resulted in my narcolepsy kicking in and my subsequent sleeping for another six hours.

https://substack.com/@hamiltonthecrew/note/c-138871655?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=a1wc2

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Daniel O'Riordan's avatar

Too bad a salary of $174,000/year, paid by us, isn't enough to afford a computer with Google installed on it.

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Hamilton & The Crew's avatar

Next year it will require $250,000/year.

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Daniel O'Riordan's avatar

If I had a nickel for every time a Republican Senator based his vote on the recommendations of a Democratic colleague, I'd have zero nickels.

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Wookiee Monster's avatar

King probably did this for the same reason Collins occasionally votes against the party line when she knows it won’t change the outcome. Gotta shore up that “moderate” and “independent” reputation from time to time.

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Goonemeritus's avatar

I wouldn't trust Josh to pour piss out of boot.

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Major Kong's avatar

With the instructions printed on the sole.

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Joe Schmoe, Troublemaker's avatar

Hawley: weasel. Divine: weaselly weasel. The actual Devine: beyond reproach.

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Jan Miller's avatar

Google exists. Use it if nothing else.

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Sadly Practical's avatar

I actually think this is the major reason for most of the stupid votes they take. They like trusting one another, they think they know each other well. They like pretending they can get along with one another. Nevermind that Republicans at this point have capitulated to authoritarianism and actively root for white Christian nationalism, some politicians like to think what’s going on are just some philosophical disagreements.

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Aileen's avatar

Don't take this the wrong way (because you should take it in the spirit in which it is intended, which is to be insulting), but I have a feeling literacy tests to vote would not help Republicans these days. They're still a terrible idea of course.

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Eric Paul Jacobsen's avatar

In the United States today, the word "independent" generally means "unwilling to think in advance of making any decision, so that you never bother to inform yourself, you wait until the last minute, and then you act on your gut impulse." The typical "independent" believes that adhering to this insanely anti-intellectual habit is the ONLY way to be truly free and authentic, thus "independent." In particular, the "independent" is "independent" of all expert opinion, as well as history, science, and math. Thus, most self-proclaimed "independents" are effectively Republicans, but they deny the fact because they never vote intentionally or with any forethought. They always vote spontaneously. So in their own opinion, they are at worst, only accidental Republicans. We should never call them Republicans because, they believe, it's wrong to blame them for things that they do by accident.

"Independents" in the United States are independent in only one respect. They act independently of their own intellect, which they hardly ever exercise. I think so-called "independents" are utterly dependent on their feelings, which may, at least in theory, change from one moment to the next. However, in our propaganda-saturated culture of the United States, so-called "independents" are utterly at the mercy of swindlers, advertisers, and lobbyists who are good at manipulating the feelings that "independents" so uncritically rely upon. Consequently, they usually "feel like" Republicans -- unless something so terrible happens in their immediate lived reality that they momentarily doubt Republican propaganda.

In summary, "independents" are usually Republicans by accident but on rare occasions become Democrats by accident.

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