Jack Smith's target, only concern and only focus is on DT. He'll measure DT against the Law and never play the what about stupid game that the GOP enjoys so much.
Excellent, Robert! Totally agree with you on the analysis of Biden’s untimely predicament and on the ridiculous nothingness from Qevin. I do, however, have a question for you: So now that there have been so-called classified documents found in two of Biden’s offices, who’s to say that our presidents and VP’s did not do the same? What I would also like to know is just how they were found, who told them to check on things, and how they got there? I would not be at all surprised that they were placed in those closets in locked boxes or file cabinets by a staff member who forgot to give them to the National Archives. This, of course, is not what happened with Trump, so no comparison can be made. I believe a second special counsel will be assigned and my desire is that the investigation shows no malfeasance occurred.
What I have read about special council Jack Smith in a Dutch paper makes me hopeful that the least that will influence him are public opinions about how innocent or not innocent someone is. He stays out of the limelight himself, which is a good sign. He is a very hard worker who does not give up until he has results, according to coworkers. So I am confident that the law will prevail.
The lawyers for President Biden are honorable and open. What a contrast. I would check the fingerprints on all the documents and perhaps any other storage areas President Biden has.
Call me crazy but I look to the organization of the comings and goings of top secret documents. Who is in charge? Is this an honor system for getting items returned? Whatever department issues the documents should know where they are and make sure they are back on the final day of a presidency. Is it all digitized? How is it organized between departments? It gives me no confidence to think that documents are just everywhere in old offices of important people around the country. Are Barrack and Michelle now running around checking their closets? It screams of disorganization in government. A small town library knows more about where there media is than the US government it seems.
Jan 12, 2023·edited Jan 12, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
I wish we could ignore the sideshow. I like Robert's discussion of leaving the Biden document slip-up for Biden to solve and to reject any false equivalence to Trump's theft of documents and so much more.
To me, the rubber hits the road in elections. This means Democrats must get some media oxygen and drive the agenda, including modeling how to govern with integrity and under the rule of law -- despite administrative errors that can be targeted by the opposition. Let's hold the media to account, for sure, but there's only so much we can do there. News outlets are in the business to get and hold readers' attention, whether or not their approach has appropriate journalistic discipline.
I like the approach of Democratic candidates who prevailed against MAGA opponents. What did they do to turn attention away from culture wars and toward meeting people's needs? We narrowly elected a working class Democrat over a MAGA poster boy who had primaried Jaime Herrera Beutler. Herrera Beutler was defeated after holding Trump and McCarthy accountable after Jan 6. She would have been supported by more Democrats in the primary to buttress the many Republicans who were loyal to her, except that she then put her head down to avoid further controversy.
We're fortunate that the representative we elected, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, is setting an agenda outside the culture wars. Here's part of her statement that was released when she was sworn in.
"I promised that I would put country over party and people over politics to get the job done for our community, and that’s exactly what I’ll do.
Over the next two years, I’ll fight to protect our rights, defend our democracy, and level the playing field for working families. I’m here to pass a right-to-repair bill, rebuild jobs in the woods, invest in career and technical education, and cut red tape for small businesses. My bipartisan team and I will also deliver top-notch constituent services to make sure every Southwest Washingtonian can thrive."
She ends her statement by saying, "Let's get to work."* We, her supporters, will soon get to work knocking on doors to hear people's concerns in her district and to get out the vote well before 2024, when she will again face a Republican opponent in a red/purple district. It could be her MAGA opponent, Joe Kent, or Jaime Herrera Beutler, if she decides to run again. Defeating Herrera Beutler would be harder, because she has many loyal supporters here. But she pushes standard, Republican policies that continue to fail working people. Marie's challenge will be to speak to those issues with common sense.
Yes! Finding classified documents in Biden's old offices is only a problem for Jack Smith if one views indictment of Trump as a partisan act. If we're concerned with law, such considerations are irrelevant.
But I do want to say that there IS something Kevin McCarthy can do if those Freedom Caucus members on the Rules Committee object to something. He can ask for Democratic votes. For example, he could make a deal on the debt ceiling and pass it through the committee, and the House, with a bipartisan coalition. We saw several examples of this in the Senate over the past two years, sometimes with McConnell included and sometimes over his opposition. We need to keep demanding action.
I think many Americans frankly “ don’t give a damn “ about Kevin McCarthy, the MAGA domestic terrorists and George Santos and kinda expect it as part of the DNA of the Republican Party today. What is worth noting is there is an undercurrent of change happening slowly in this country in many states as voters begin to exercise their objections to government by Republicans. If a state like Illinois can pass gun legislation other states will be encouraged and maybe they too will pass similar legislation. What is going on in Washington today is a rerun of the Trump disaster of government and voters have been turned off and have lost confidence in our government and the Supreme Court and will be looking much harder at the character of the next person we elect as President
Jan 12, 2023·edited Jan 12, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Thank you for highlighting the Edsall article. I had overlooked it in my daily Times reading.
I have long believed (well hoped really) that cooperation between Democrats and moderate Republicans was an inevitability. Many Republican politicians do not follow the Maga line and are now recognizing it for what it is – a liability.
This quote (from the political scientist Vladimir Kogan) in the article sums it up:
“I suspect some of what you’re seeing is party leaders updating their beliefs about electoral strategy and also trying to do damage control and protect the party brand going forward.”
The likely success of these bipartisan endeavors in state legislatures may also cause US House members to think in the same terms. When Americans begin to see their state legislatures functioning as they should, support will likely fall away from the staunch partisanship in the US Congress. (I hope…)
Thanks Robert. Today's intro is one reason I so much appreciate people like you and Heather Richardson who effectively take one for the team by sorting through the dross that is most of the media.
The analysis of the current GOP House is very reminiscent of comments made about Ryan's Speakership to the point that one wonders when Feb. 3 will finally arrive.
Re the Biden documents: Biden and the DNC need a simple and clear message they repeat over and over. The more they try lengthy and varying messages the more they look defensive. The messages should:
1. Say, if he can, that he didn’t know. This will invite questions about the process for moving documents, instructions given and to whom.
2. Emphasize his cooperation
3. Compare his approach to Trump’s. Trump lied about what he had and then made up the fiction that he had declassified the documents just by thinking about it, his lawyers lied, he sued for appointment of a special master, etc. Remind people (Fox etc) that DOJ/FBI only used a search warrant after he failed to cooperate voluntarily. This is important.
4. Suggest Trump now do as Biden has done. Has Trump even to this day given
DOJ access to all the documents he took? That isn’t a rhetorical question. I don’t know the answer but if it is “no” I think that is an obvious point to make. And even if he has, he resisted so long and so ferociously that the contrast should be emphasized.
Re Santos: The Ds need to pin him to McCarthy and the other crazies. Over and over. The whole world, except House Rs, know he is a charlatan who belongs in jail.
Thank you one again, Robert, for your rational and optimistic newsletter. I’m desperately trying to remember to breathe through all the news and non-news about the discovery of documents in Biden’s former office.
I have a small semantic quibble with you though - you wrote that the documents were in Biden’s possession. But we’re they not discovered in an office he has not occupied in 6 years? It is my understanding that the documents were left behind after he left the Whitehouse.
Instead of Speaker McCarthy, I'll like using Spino - SPeaker In Name Only also meaning "no spine to speak of".
Jack Smith's target, only concern and only focus is on DT. He'll measure DT against the Law and never play the what about stupid game that the GOP enjoys so much.
Excellent, Robert! Totally agree with you on the analysis of Biden’s untimely predicament and on the ridiculous nothingness from Qevin. I do, however, have a question for you: So now that there have been so-called classified documents found in two of Biden’s offices, who’s to say that our presidents and VP’s did not do the same? What I would also like to know is just how they were found, who told them to check on things, and how they got there? I would not be at all surprised that they were placed in those closets in locked boxes or file cabinets by a staff member who forgot to give them to the National Archives. This, of course, is not what happened with Trump, so no comparison can be made. I believe a second special counsel will be assigned and my desire is that the investigation shows no malfeasance occurred.
The ban of assault-style weapons and the strengthening of gun safety measures in Illinois is cause for celebration and hope!
Doesn't the Biden document issue seem a little too convenient
Especially NOW that the investigation of Trump is ramping up
I welcome ALL investigations into this as I don't believe in coincidences
What I have read about special council Jack Smith in a Dutch paper makes me hopeful that the least that will influence him are public opinions about how innocent or not innocent someone is. He stays out of the limelight himself, which is a good sign. He is a very hard worker who does not give up until he has results, according to coworkers. So I am confident that the law will prevail.
The lawyers for President Biden are honorable and open. What a contrast. I would check the fingerprints on all the documents and perhaps any other storage areas President Biden has.
Call me crazy but I look to the organization of the comings and goings of top secret documents. Who is in charge? Is this an honor system for getting items returned? Whatever department issues the documents should know where they are and make sure they are back on the final day of a presidency. Is it all digitized? How is it organized between departments? It gives me no confidence to think that documents are just everywhere in old offices of important people around the country. Are Barrack and Michelle now running around checking their closets? It screams of disorganization in government. A small town library knows more about where there media is than the US government it seems.
I wish we could ignore the sideshow. I like Robert's discussion of leaving the Biden document slip-up for Biden to solve and to reject any false equivalence to Trump's theft of documents and so much more.
To me, the rubber hits the road in elections. This means Democrats must get some media oxygen and drive the agenda, including modeling how to govern with integrity and under the rule of law -- despite administrative errors that can be targeted by the opposition. Let's hold the media to account, for sure, but there's only so much we can do there. News outlets are in the business to get and hold readers' attention, whether or not their approach has appropriate journalistic discipline.
I like the approach of Democratic candidates who prevailed against MAGA opponents. What did they do to turn attention away from culture wars and toward meeting people's needs? We narrowly elected a working class Democrat over a MAGA poster boy who had primaried Jaime Herrera Beutler. Herrera Beutler was defeated after holding Trump and McCarthy accountable after Jan 6. She would have been supported by more Democrats in the primary to buttress the many Republicans who were loyal to her, except that she then put her head down to avoid further controversy.
We're fortunate that the representative we elected, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, is setting an agenda outside the culture wars. Here's part of her statement that was released when she was sworn in.
"I promised that I would put country over party and people over politics to get the job done for our community, and that’s exactly what I’ll do.
Over the next two years, I’ll fight to protect our rights, defend our democracy, and level the playing field for working families. I’m here to pass a right-to-repair bill, rebuild jobs in the woods, invest in career and technical education, and cut red tape for small businesses. My bipartisan team and I will also deliver top-notch constituent services to make sure every Southwest Washingtonian can thrive."
She ends her statement by saying, "Let's get to work."* We, her supporters, will soon get to work knocking on doors to hear people's concerns in her district and to get out the vote well before 2024, when she will again face a Republican opponent in a red/purple district. It could be her MAGA opponent, Joe Kent, or Jaime Herrera Beutler, if she decides to run again. Defeating Herrera Beutler would be harder, because she has many loyal supporters here. But she pushes standard, Republican policies that continue to fail working people. Marie's challenge will be to speak to those issues with common sense.
* https://gluesenkampperez.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-marie-gluesenkamp-perez-sworn-118th-congress
Yes! Finding classified documents in Biden's old offices is only a problem for Jack Smith if one views indictment of Trump as a partisan act. If we're concerned with law, such considerations are irrelevant.
But I do want to say that there IS something Kevin McCarthy can do if those Freedom Caucus members on the Rules Committee object to something. He can ask for Democratic votes. For example, he could make a deal on the debt ceiling and pass it through the committee, and the House, with a bipartisan coalition. We saw several examples of this in the Senate over the past two years, sometimes with McConnell included and sometimes over his opposition. We need to keep demanding action.
I think many Americans frankly “ don’t give a damn “ about Kevin McCarthy, the MAGA domestic terrorists and George Santos and kinda expect it as part of the DNA of the Republican Party today. What is worth noting is there is an undercurrent of change happening slowly in this country in many states as voters begin to exercise their objections to government by Republicans. If a state like Illinois can pass gun legislation other states will be encouraged and maybe they too will pass similar legislation. What is going on in Washington today is a rerun of the Trump disaster of government and voters have been turned off and have lost confidence in our government and the Supreme Court and will be looking much harder at the character of the next person we elect as President
Another I depth report, Robert. Thank you. While I too have some
reservations about these classified
documents popping up in an office(s) President Biden hasn't used in quite a long while, I'm more
concerned about the laxity of our
security over classified documents.
Seems like there are a lot, floating
around unaccounted for. National
Security, or whomever is in charge
of these records has to do a much
better job of keeping track of them.
And yes, TPM burned rep Santos.
Brazil wants Bolosorno? Let's give
them 2 for 1 and include Santos,
so he can "clear" up that little
problem of forgery and fraud.
Thank you for highlighting the Edsall article. I had overlooked it in my daily Times reading.
I have long believed (well hoped really) that cooperation between Democrats and moderate Republicans was an inevitability. Many Republican politicians do not follow the Maga line and are now recognizing it for what it is – a liability.
This quote (from the political scientist Vladimir Kogan) in the article sums it up:
“I suspect some of what you’re seeing is party leaders updating their beliefs about electoral strategy and also trying to do damage control and protect the party brand going forward.”
The likely success of these bipartisan endeavors in state legislatures may also cause US House members to think in the same terms. When Americans begin to see their state legislatures functioning as they should, support will likely fall away from the staunch partisanship in the US Congress. (I hope…)
Thanks Robert. Today's intro is one reason I so much appreciate people like you and Heather Richardson who effectively take one for the team by sorting through the dross that is most of the media.
The analysis of the current GOP House is very reminiscent of comments made about Ryan's Speakership to the point that one wonders when Feb. 3 will finally arrive.
Re the Biden documents: Biden and the DNC need a simple and clear message they repeat over and over. The more they try lengthy and varying messages the more they look defensive. The messages should:
1. Say, if he can, that he didn’t know. This will invite questions about the process for moving documents, instructions given and to whom.
2. Emphasize his cooperation
3. Compare his approach to Trump’s. Trump lied about what he had and then made up the fiction that he had declassified the documents just by thinking about it, his lawyers lied, he sued for appointment of a special master, etc. Remind people (Fox etc) that DOJ/FBI only used a search warrant after he failed to cooperate voluntarily. This is important.
4. Suggest Trump now do as Biden has done. Has Trump even to this day given
DOJ access to all the documents he took? That isn’t a rhetorical question. I don’t know the answer but if it is “no” I think that is an obvious point to make. And even if he has, he resisted so long and so ferociously that the contrast should be emphasized.
Re Santos: The Ds need to pin him to McCarthy and the other crazies. Over and over. The whole world, except House Rs, know he is a charlatan who belongs in jail.
Thank you one again, Robert, for your rational and optimistic newsletter. I’m desperately trying to remember to breathe through all the news and non-news about the discovery of documents in Biden’s former office.
I have a small semantic quibble with you though - you wrote that the documents were in Biden’s possession. But we’re they not discovered in an office he has not occupied in 6 years? It is my understanding that the documents were left behind after he left the Whitehouse.