Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) got a round of applause after delivering a dig against President Trump during the public testimony of EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland Wednesday.
Nice shade, Rep. Speier, nice shade.
Itâs funny, but itâs also gallows humor. Everyone has accepted that the president of the united states is a pathological liar. That used to be the stuff of bad dystopian novels.
Not sure we should celebrate that response. It boils down to: âThe Post says Schiff was lying but Trump tells worse lies,â right? I donât know the article nor the basis for the three pinocchios, which can be judged on narrow criteria, or even if the three-pinocchio claim is correct, but on its face I donât like the retort.
I wish they would also make a point of pointedly referring to Trump as the current President, and Rudy as Mr. Giuliani.
Does the GOP have no one in the hearings? They are not getting laughs or being applauded!
IMO three pinnochios is too harsh. It is based on Schiff saying that the whistleblower has a statuatory right to anonymity. Well, the law says that the IG may not disclose the whistleblowers identity. But is does not say that the whistleblower has a blanket right to anonymity. If his identity is disclosed in retaliation, that is illegal. (I mean, why else would you do it?) And if the complaint goes to the IG and the IG does not disclose, who else would know? So in a reasonable world, the law guarantees his anonymity. And it is not unreasonable to see a guarantee of anonymity as the intent of the law, even if a hyperliteral reading of it does not show a guarantee.
This is yet another instance of the Post applying tortured & imbalanced âboth sidesâ logic to critique Schiff. Their Pinocchio scale would have to be expanded from 5 to 11 to cover to the evasions & distortions on the GOP side.
That delectable Speier shade was a coffee spit for meâŚ
I think acting President would be more appropriate, and perhaps even more pointed.
Crazy days. The GOP is still trying to defend tRump even after nearly every witness has testified that what was done was not normal. tRump had Guiliani running diplomacy with the Ukrainians. tRumpâs private fixer, er attorney was allowed to dictate to several ambassadors and the State Department (oh, and Pompeo) how to run our relationship with Ukraine.
Speier confronting another cult is ironic, and probably very disturbing to her.
I guess when youâve survived being shot by one cult, a sorry-ass verbal volley from a member of another cult just isnât that intimidating.
Sondland released emails and text messages showing that he informed Pompeo of the status of the pressure campaign on Ukraine.
So the large, silent potted plant was in the loop. We knew that already, but itâs good to hear it under oath on TV.
ETA: I left this commet on the wrong post. Sorry.
Thatâs the problem with these fact checkers. They pounce on technicalities, even though the theme of the comment(s) are valid. As WaPo and @thomasmatthew point out, the technicality is Schiffâs use of the term âstatuatoryâ or âlegalâ right to anonymity, which only pertains to the IG in this case. Anonymity is implied upon others in order to prevent workplace retaliation, but there is no specific law.
âThe lack of whistleblowersâ right to enforce their confidentiality may be a loophole that Congress should correct.â
And "disclosing a whistleblowerâs identity could run afoul of other statutes, such as the federal criminal laws barring efforts to intimidate witnesses.â
But heâs not acting like a president.
Given the time restraints, what could she have answered?
It was effective.
I appreciate that those not familiar with the WaPo pinocchios would cringe. The retort was also directed at WaPo for its blatant efforts to gin up the noses assigned to more liberal quotes vs. the opposite for conservative ones, and also its need to artificially balance the statements it assesses. The GOP canât defend Trump on the merits of the hearings, and this is all they can muster. Few in DC pay serious attention to the pinocchios anymore.
And it is considered a virtue by his base
The acting out President?