Forget that you're a Republican or a Democrat for a moment. Instead of what is best for your team, think about the question that's actually before us: Should Brett Kavanaugh become the 114th Justice of the United States Supreme Court? Imagine that, instead of conjuring up whatever retort you feel like your side should make, what if we talked about the right thing to do now? What would that be?
To talk about that, we'd have to lay aside the grievances that have so many of us making so little sense so loudly. Yes, politicians must say what they must say. But we're not politicians. We're just people who have nothing better to do than yell at each other on an obscure internet message board. So we don't have to do any of the things that political operatives do. We could just talk sensibly to one another.
To my Republican friends, let me say that I understand you're pissed about all this. If I were you I'd be pissed about all this. Like you, I'd be angry that Democrats want to string this process out, in the hope that they'll retake the Senate then refuse to confirm any Trump nominee, depriving you of the solidly wingnut Court you've always wanted.
But if I were a Republican, I hope I'd remember that Republicans recently stole a Supreme Court seat from the Democrats. I hope it would occur to me that when Republicans stole a Supreme Court seat, that necessarily meant they couldn't go to the cops when The Other Guys stole it back. Indeed, the certainty that The Other Guys would steal it back at their first opportunity should have been baked in the cake.
So, while I understand that you are really pissed right now, you need to understand that you don't get to be really pissed right now. And like the rest of us, you need to calm down, stop fulminating, and think rationally. Otherwise people like me will point and laugh at you for being foolish.
I don't say this to defend anything any Democrat actually has done. Undoubtedly politicians are playing politics. But you're failing to recognize that this is massively true of your guys.
Again, the Republican outrage here derives entirely from their incandescent anger that the emergence of sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh might prevent them from confirming a wingnut before the midterms. That is 100 percent political.
This is already a long-winded post, there's football on, and I'm sleepy. So I'll just say that despite the offense my football-watching post has surely caused, I'd like to talk about what would be the right thing to do now. Not to bitch about how we got here. What is the right thing to do now?
To talk about that, we'd have to lay aside the grievances that have so many of us making so little sense so loudly. Yes, politicians must say what they must say. But we're not politicians. We're just people who have nothing better to do than yell at each other on an obscure internet message board. So we don't have to do any of the things that political operatives do. We could just talk sensibly to one another.
To my Republican friends, let me say that I understand you're pissed about all this. If I were you I'd be pissed about all this. Like you, I'd be angry that Democrats want to string this process out, in the hope that they'll retake the Senate then refuse to confirm any Trump nominee, depriving you of the solidly wingnut Court you've always wanted.
But if I were a Republican, I hope I'd remember that Republicans recently stole a Supreme Court seat from the Democrats. I hope it would occur to me that when Republicans stole a Supreme Court seat, that necessarily meant they couldn't go to the cops when The Other Guys stole it back. Indeed, the certainty that The Other Guys would steal it back at their first opportunity should have been baked in the cake.
So, while I understand that you are really pissed right now, you need to understand that you don't get to be really pissed right now. And like the rest of us, you need to calm down, stop fulminating, and think rationally. Otherwise people like me will point and laugh at you for being foolish.
I don't say this to defend anything any Democrat actually has done. Undoubtedly politicians are playing politics. But you're failing to recognize that this is massively true of your guys.
Again, the Republican outrage here derives entirely from their incandescent anger that the emergence of sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh might prevent them from confirming a wingnut before the midterms. That is 100 percent political.
This is already a long-winded post, there's football on, and I'm sleepy. So I'll just say that despite the offense my football-watching post has surely caused, I'd like to talk about what would be the right thing to do now. Not to bitch about how we got here. What is the right thing to do now?
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