Fogbow

Anybody can get themselves a free tour of the House by writing their Congressperson and asking for tickets.

That's why the tweet above mentions "George Santos, who never misses an opportunity to violate Congressional Ethics"

Or like I said elsewhere, him swearing the oath will be his first perjury

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1 ... 2599734277

David Weigel@daveweigel
You’re going to get less embarrassing video of George Santos sitting alone today. He’s been in the cloakroom for this vote — walked into chamber to vote for McCarthy then walked back out.

Comments are fun.

Remember that picture of Ivanka trying to join the adults at a conference

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 2:00 pm Remember that picture of Ivanka trying to join the adults at a conference

That's exactly what I thought of.

District office? Waste of time and energy. Dude’s gonna be Speaker by the time this week’s over, he ain’t got time for that nonsense.

I am repeating myself, but this demonstrates what is wrong with the American election system, that anyone can come along and purport to represent a paarty and get elected, without ever having any experience at any government level, not even the much maligned dog catcher.

What happens with the slogan "Call Your Representative" if you have trouble getting the federal administration to work on an issue you have with them?

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 3:04 pm I am repeating myself, but this demonstrates what is wrong with the American election system, that anyone can come along and purport to represent a paarty and get elected, without ever having any experience at any government level, not even the much maligned dog catcher.

What happens with the slogan "Call Your Representative" if you have trouble getting the federal administration to work on an issue you have with them?

For now, there's no representative to call.

Nice to see the FEC initiating its inquiry.

I am reminded that it was the change in the law regarding contributions to elections (changing from "no need to report who you got the $$$ from" to "keep track starting NOW and show us your work") in the spring of 1972 that in large part propelled Nixon's downfall.

All that hidden money, and all those efforts to keep it hidden--and then to use it to bribe the burglars with.

Good times.

History echoes.

p0rtia wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 3:39 pm Nice to see the FEC initiating its inquiry.

I am reminded that it was the change in the law regarding contributions to elections (changing from "no need to report who you got the $$$ from" to "keep track starting NOW and show us your work") in the spring of 1972 that in large part propelled Nixon's downfall.

All that hidden money, and all those efforts to keep it hidden--and then to use it to bribe the burglars with.

Good times.

History echoes.

Yeah, but does the FEC have any teeth? The money used by Nixon was evidence of his larger crimes. He was about to be impeached (and, IMHO, would have been convicted), not so much for the use of the money to pay the burglars, but for the burglary itself.

What kind of penalties does Santos face? A fine? An order to pay the money back? Has anyone, let alone a sitting member of Congress ever been convicted of a crime for violating FEC regulations?

I don't disagree, noblepa. I just note that this is another sign of how far the country has fallen, and how corrupt the Republicans (and much of the rest of our ruling class) has become.

It was said above that one of the problem;s is that local candidates are not vetted. I'll take this opportunity to cordially disagree. They are meant to be vetted, by the local party, and community, and press. But with the amount of money being pushed into the system, specifically by non-local oligarchs, the process has been corrupted. As so many systems have in the country, as we see every day, everywhere.

*sigh*

I still call upon my supporter to demand to see his Birth Certificate!! Why isn't Sharon Rondeau doing a nine-part series on this????

orlylicious wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:04 pm I still call upon my supporter to demand to see his Long Form Birth Certificate!! Why isn't Sharon Rondeau doing a nine-part series on this????

FIFY

I may be a heretic, but I am not at all a fan of the primary system.

At the local or state level, anyone can file with the local or state election authorities and claim to be a Republican or a Democrat, even if no one in the party has ever heard of them. I don't think that there is very much the party can do about it.

The primaries force the R's to go to the far right and the D's to go to the far left in order to get the nomination. This gives an advantage to the radicals over the moderates in both parties and makes it harder for them to return to the center in the general election or when they are elected and it is time to govern.

Also, many states allow voters to switch parties up to election day, resulting in cross-over voting where R's try to influence the D's candidate and vice versa. IMHO, the party should choose who is to run under their banner in an election. If someone outside the party apparatus wants to run, they can do so as an independent.

I think that we got much better candidates from smoke-filled rooms than we do from primaries.

noblepa wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:23 pm At the local or state level, anyone can file with the local or state election authorities and claim to be a Republican or a Democrat, even if no one in the party has ever heard of them. I don't think that there is very much the party can do about it.

I've always wondered about whether this is so and if so, why. One would think that the parties *could* prevent people from running on their ticket. What am I missing about why they can't or don't?

What we need are shorter election seasons and federal funding of elections. And if we have federal funding, we should have federal vetting.

Ben-Prime wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:51 pm

noblepa wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:23 pm At the local or state level, anyone can file with the local or state election authorities and claim to be a Republican or a Democrat, even if no one in the party has ever heard of them. I don't think that there is very much the party can do about it.

I've always wondered about whether this is so and if so, why. One would think that the parties *could* prevent people from running on their ticket. What am I missing about why they can't or don't?

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/ ... ans-686875

Illinois Republicans botched four opportunities to stop an avowed Nazi from representing their party in a Chicago-area congressional district. Now they’re paying the price.

So perhaps George Santos is not his real name. This brief video of George Santos not voting for Speaker of the House just struck me as very bad.

bob wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 5:57 pm

Nearly spit out my Stevita.

DrConspiracy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 6:13 pm So perhaps George Santos is not his real name. This brief video of George Santos not voting for Speaker of the House just struck me as very bad.

He missed it completely today, at least once that I happened to witness. What a clown; I have no doubt that he's trying to imply that he's sooo busy talking with his peer group.

p0rtia wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 8:22 pm He missed it completely today, at least once that I happened to witness. What a clown; I have no doubt that he's trying to imply that he's sooo busy talking with his peer group.

I don't know how, exactly, but he did ultimately vote; he's voted for McCarthy every time.

bob wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 8:26 pm

p0rtia wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 8:22 pm He missed it completely today, at least once that I happened to witness. What a clown; I have no doubt that he's trying to imply that he's sooo busy talking with his peer group.

I don't know how, exactly, but he did ultimately vote; he's voted for McCarthy every time.

Yep. They get a second chance to vote after the end of the roll call. If they don't answer that time, they get a final opportunity to come to the well and give their vote directly to the Clerk.

Everybody voted, every vote -- except the one dude who had to go home to something today, so wasn't there. Always either 434 or 433 votes.