KY-SEN: Amy McGrath in

[SevenEleven]

How did McGrath get nominated? Ugh.

[SevenEleven]

That was a Palpatine laugh I've ever heard it

That's what I was saying! It makes sense, given that McConnell basically is Palpatine, if he were a Republican and the Senate Majority Leader. He's one of the most evil men ever to have walked within the halls of the U.S. Capitol.

I don't think he's any more evil than your average Republican Senator or Representative.  He's just more shameless (maybe more honest) than the rest.

That's precisely what makes McConnell so detestable. That, and the fact that he is the Senate Majority Leader-and hence has been in the position to push the Republican agenda through and obstruct over the past dozen years.

I don't think he's done anything during that time that any other Senate Republican wouldn't also have done.

In fact, I'm going to play devil's advocate here and argue he's actually done some real good by making the Senate and the federal judiciary more (little-d) democratic.  He's destroyed a bunch of norms that were deeply unfair to begin with.  Why should a Republican majority confirm a liberal Supreme Court nominee?  Just because a sitting justice died on one day and not a few months later?  That's arbitrary.  Why should Republicans not use the agreed upon rules to pursue the agenda their voters sent them to Congress for?  The parties have different values and objectives, and nobody complains about partisanship in other countries' legislatures.  If Democrats want a liberal Supreme Court, they should win control of government and make one.  If they want to pass laws, they should win control of the Senate and change the rules to make that possible with their majority.  It's obscene to expect Republicans to betray their constituencies and help pass the opposition's agenda.  Nobody expects Democrats to do that.

The Senate is not a democratic institution by its very nature. Nice try, though.

[SevenEleven]

That was a Palpatine laugh I've ever heard it

That's what I was saying! It makes sense, given that McConnell basically is Palpatine, if he were a Republican and the Senate Majority Leader. He's one of the most evil men ever to have walked within the halls of the U.S. Capitol.

I don't think he's any more evil than your average Republican Senator or Representative.  He's just more shameless (maybe more honest) than the rest.

That's precisely what makes McConnell so detestable. That, and the fact that he is the Senate Majority Leader-and hence has been in the position to push the Republican agenda through and obstruct over the past dozen years.

I don't think he's done anything during that time that any other Senate Republican wouldn't also have done.

In fact, I'm going to play devil's advocate here and argue he's actually done some real good by making the Senate and the federal judiciary more (little-d) democratic.  He's destroyed a bunch of norms that were deeply unfair to begin with.  Why should a Republican majority confirm a liberal Supreme Court nominee?  Just because a sitting justice died on one day and not a few months later?  That's arbitrary.  Why should Republicans not use the agreed upon rules to pursue the agenda their voters sent them to Congress for?  The parties have different values and objectives, and nobody complains about partisanship in other countries' legislatures.  If Democrats want a liberal Supreme Court, they should win control of government and make one.  If they want to pass laws, they should win control of the Senate and change the rules to make that possible with their majority.  It's obscene to expect Republicans to betray their constituencies and help pass the opposition's agenda.  Nobody expects Democrats to do that.

The Senate is not a democratic institution by its very nature. Nice try, though.

It should be!  And what I'm arguing is that McConnell is nudging it in that direction.

The only way to make the Senate more democratic is to have it function like the HoR or abolish it entirely.

[SevenEleven]

How did McGrath get nominated? Ugh.

National Democrats pushing her on the state party.

😬
Almost worse than the Katie McGinty debacle.

[SevenEleven]

That was a Palpatine laugh I've ever heard it

That's what I was saying! It makes sense, given that McConnell basically is Palpatine, if he were a Republican and the Senate Majority Leader. He's one of the most evil men ever to have walked within the halls of the U.S. Capitol.

I don't think he's any more evil than your average Republican Senator or Representative.  He's just more shameless (maybe more honest) than the rest.

That's precisely what makes McConnell so detestable. That, and the fact that he is the Senate Majority Leader-and hence has been in the position to push the Republican agenda through and obstruct over the past dozen years.

I don't think he's done anything during that time that any other Senate Republican wouldn't also have done.

In fact, I'm going to play devil's advocate here and argue he's actually done some real good by making the Senate and the federal judiciary more (little-d) democratic.  He's destroyed a bunch of norms that were deeply unfair to begin with.  Why should a Republican majority confirm a liberal Supreme Court nominee?  Just because a sitting justice died on one day and not a few months later?  That's arbitrary.  Why should Republicans not use the agreed upon rules to pursue the agenda their voters sent them to Congress for?  The parties have different values and objectives, and nobody complains about partisanship in other countries' legislatures.  If Democrats want a liberal Supreme Court, they should win control of government and make one.  If they want to pass laws, they should win control of the Senate and change the rules to make that possible with their majority.  It's obscene to expect Republicans to betray their constituencies and help pass the opposition's agenda.  Nobody expects Democrats to do that.

The Senate is not a democratic institution by its very nature. Nice try, though.

It should be!  And what I'm arguing is that McConnell is nudging it in that direction.

The only way to make the Senate more democratic is to have it function like the HoR or abolish it entirely.

You can't abolish it, or ever make it exactly like the House.  But you can make it more democratic and more functional--abolish the filibuster and add new states.  McConnell, more than anyone else, is pushing Democrats toward both.

That's like saying WW2 was a good thing for helping end the Depression and leading to NATO.