Patterico's Pontifications

5/19/2021

McConnell a “No” on January 6 Commission

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:29 am



Courage:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Republicans on Wednesday that he is opposed to an independent commission investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection as envisioned by the House.

McConnell had signaled on Tuesday that he was undecided but came down more firmly after another day of deliberations, according to a person with direct knowledge of his remarks. The Kentucky Republican’s stance casts serious doubt on the future of legislation creating a bipartisan commission on the Capitol riot — a bill set to pass the House later Wednesday — if major changes aren’t made.

The article does not say what the “major changes” are but I suspect the necessary changes include whatever Donald Trump says.

You can find the story at the link but I won’t link Politico directly and there is no cached page.

58 Responses to “McConnell a “No” on January 6 Commission”

  1. Is it a fact-finding commission or political grandstanding? It matters.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  2. Kevin,

    You won’t know until it’s well underway. The fear that even in the course of finding facts some politicians will bloviate doesn’t seem a good reason not to pursue it.

    Victor (4959fb)

  3. Anyone know of a principle Mitch McConnell cares about more then staying in power?

    All polls are like this somewhat, but when it comes to power politics he’s an a league of his own.

    Time123 (89dfb2)

  4. yeah we just want to do some fact finding

    that’s all

    lol

    JF (e1156d)

  5. Anyone know of a principle Mitch McConnell cares about more then staying in power?

    You don’t climb to the top of the greasy pole without some desire to stay there.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  6. I would much rather see the facts come out in a forum that is designed for facts to be tested, such as a courtroom, that a forum where facts are mere playthings.

    Indict Trump and try him. Let a jury decide.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  7. Kevin,
    What if there are actions that were immoral without being unlawful? Congress has an obligation is what was thought to be protected by norms now needs to be protected by law.

    Time123 (80b471)

  8. @5, you don’t stay atop a pile of hungry boars unless you’re very very good at it.

    Time123 (80b471)

  9. The proposed commission has equal representation (5 of each party) with both sides having subpoena power.

    McCarthy/McConnell are orchestrating a transparently obvious cover-up.

    Dave (1542be)

  10. What if there are actions that were immoral without being unlawful? Congress has an obligation is what was thought to be protected by norms now needs to be protected by law.

    My problem is that this is a one-sided shooting gallery and the ducks have a right to not want to line up.

    Now, maybe they should have broken with Trump en mass back in January, but the didn’t. Prisoner’s Dilemma to a great extent. But what is happening now, on both sides, has little to do with establishing facts and a lot to do with counting coups, axe-grinding and grandstanding.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  11. The proposed commission has equal representation (5 of each party) with both sides having subpoena power.

    Exactly who would the Republicans subpoena?

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  12. Let’s put this on the other foot. Suppose the GOP took the position that you could not investigate 1/6 without investigating “the steal.” Some in the GOP obviously feel that 1/6 was justified by the “theft of the election.”

    Would the commission, as envisioned by the House, be able to go there? I doubt it, and I doubt that any witness the GOP subpoenaed to that end would feel the necessity to show up (since the neither the House or Senate would vote to enforce it).

    Given this, the purported even-handedness is a chimera. Both parties have equal powers to investigate those things the Democrats want investigated.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  13. Kevin,
    What if there are actions that were immoral without being unlawful? Congress has an obligation is what was thought to be protected by norms now needs to be protected by law.
    Time123 (80b471) — 5/19/2021 @ 9:38 am

    Congress is the last place on earth where you want to judge actions as immoral.

    Hoi Polloi (b28058)

  14. The proposed commission has equal representation (5 of each party) with both sides having subpoena power.

    Exactly who would the Republicans subpoena?

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/19/2021 @ 9:54 am

    Would love to hear from the DC police about their training and policy. Would love to know why the officers in the hall where Babbit was shot left before the riot squad arrived. Would love to see the internal investigation of that shooting. Would love to know why it took so long for officer’s Sitnick’s cause of death to be released.

    Time123 (89dfb2)

  15. yeah we just want to do some fact finding
    that’s all
    lol
    JF (e1156d) — 5/19/2021 @ 9:24 am

    yeah, we just think this commission thing as all very duplicative and a waste of time
    it’s not that we have anything to hide or that we’re worried about angering the rabid MAGA base again

    lol

    Radegunda (aea52f)

  16. @13, pick whatever word you want. There are norms we take for granted that may no longer be in place. If that’s the case the laws need to be updated.

    The emoluments clause is is an example. Trump showed that if the president wants to own a large business that makes money for our allies and competitors he’s legally free to do so, and we can’t even really find out the details. It should be possible for congress to pass laws putting some restrictions on that.

    Time123 (80b471)

  17. Been there, done this:

    ‘Criticism of the 9/11 Commission includes a variety of criticisms of the 9/11 Commission, the United States congressional commission set up to investigate the September 11 attacks in 2001 and chaired by former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean. Because the investigation was politically sensitive, many participants have been criticized during the process. Leading critics include members of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee and the Jersey Girls, who according to the documentary 9/11: ‘Press for Truth,’ were instrumental in overcoming government resistance to establishing the 9/11 Commission.

    The 9/11 Commission members were appointed by President George W. Bush and the United States Congress, which led to the criticism that the Commission was not independent. The Commission stated in its report that their “aim has not been to assign individual blame”, a judgment which some critics believed would obscure the facts of the matter in a nod to consensus politics. In addition, some members of victims’ families have claimed that the Commission had a conflict of interest. – source, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_9/11_Commission

    Meh. Just blame the Flavor of the Month:

    [ X ] China [ X ] Russia [ X ] Iran [ X ] Iraq [ X ] Israel [ X ] Hamas [ X ] Covid-19 [ X ] Texas [ X ] Trump [ X ] North Korea [ X ] Big Tech [ X ] The Phone Company [ X ] Cher [ X ] Plagiarism[ X ] Mormons [ X ] ‘Tucka’ Carlson [ X ] mind controlling UFOs [ X ] Goldwater And, of course:
    [ X ] Reagan.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  18. I know pointing out that Mitch is a hypocrite is wasted energy, but here’s a quote from him after he voted to acquit in the second impeachment trial:

    “President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen. Unless the statute of limitations is run, still liable for everything he did while he was in office.”

    Davethulhu (0ac567)

  19. And the band played on…

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Commission

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  20. The Republican reaction to the formation of this committee once again shows how every accusation is a confession.

    Davethulhu (0ac567)

  21. My problem is that this is a one-sided shooting gallery and the ducks have a right to not want to line up.

    IOW, the Republicans who don’t want the investigation must be guilty? I would think that some Republicans in Congress might want to find out what was really behind the actions that had them all running away for safety. What proportion of GOP legislators do you assume to be so complicit in the violent breach of the Capitol that any investigation into how it happened would necessarily be directed against them personally?

    Radegunda (aea52f)

  22. Is it a fact-finding commission or political grandstanding? It matters.

    It does and, from I’ve read, the structure is similar to the 9/11 Commission, which should be good enough. It comes down to question of whether Republicans want the truth or will they just go along with their Mar A Lago Master. McCarthy and McConnell chose poorly, going with latter.

    Paul Montagu (26e0d1)

  23. Congress is the last place on earth where you want to judge actions as immoral.

    The commission is not Congress.

    Dave (1542be)

  24. if 9/11 happened again it wouldn’t be newsworthy cuz it’s not about trump

    JF (e1156d)

  25. A statement from the family of Officer Howie Liebengood says: “Uncovering the facts will help our nation heal and may lessen the lingering emotional bitterness that has divided our country.”

    The bitterness isn’t going to be reduced when most Republicans take the position that a serious investigation of the Capitol siege is really an attack on them. That just gives Dems and independents more reason to be hostile to the GOP.

    Radegunda (aea52f)

  26. if 9/11 happened again it wouldn’t be newsworthy cuz it’s not about trump

    Trump would find a way to make it about himself — e.g., by boasting immediately afterward that now he had the tallest building in Manhattan.

    Radegunda (aea52f)

  27. if 9/11 happened again it wouldn’t be newsworthy cuz it’s not about trump

    JF (e1156d) — 5/19/2021 @ 10:50 am

    He’s the head of the GOP and by far the most influential person on the right. His actions and words matter.

    Time123 (89dfb2)

  28. @Kevin@10 That is a rather damning indictment of the Republican party.

    I am not sure, at this point, what the motivation would be for the Dems to work in a bi-partisan way. A lot of times under Trump everyone would seem to be negotiating in good faith and then Trump would say no. Now at various times the bipartisan groups have tried to negotiate in good faith but the R leadership has said no. Is there a point to continuing this at is more useful to the dems than just doing what they want would be? What the groups have looks like a fair compromise, but is that enough of a public relations win when so many of the Rs are going to go out to the media screaming it’s a partisan hack-job?

    Nic (896fdf)

  29. Tallest building in lower Manhattan = the Wall Street area. Which wasn’t even true.

    TIME Magazine later had a story in 2004 – repeated in the 2006 TIME Almanac – that claimed he was in Chicago that morning – to announce the building of the tallest building in the world. But the announcement was cancelled, and in the end it was considerably less high. He got sued by Deitsche bank because he was late in paying back a loan.

    But I haven’t been able to find any other source to confirm this:

    From page 443, of the TIME 2006 Almanac: (which I stumbled upon by accident)

    On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Adrian D. Smith, a well-known architect in the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, was in a meeting with Donald Trump. The hyperbolic new York City developer was in Chicago to go over the design of a proposed Trump residential tower in that city that he decided should be – what else! – the tallest building in the world, around 2,000 ft. In the midst of their meeting, the two men got word of the first plane that hit the World Trade Center. “When the second plane hit, we all rushed to the television to see what was happening,” says Smith. “That was the end of the meeting.” And also the end of the 2,000 ft tower. A few weeks later, Trump’s people came back with a revised proposal – at 900 ft. or so.

    The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago was completed in 2009 at 1,389 feet. It is now number 31 on one list of the world’s tallest buildings.

    The tallest buildings in the world are now in the Far East, or in the Arab world. Osama bin Laden won that battle. The new One World Trade Center s now number 6. The old World Trade Center towers were not the tallest buildings in the world in 2001. That was the Sears tower (now the Willis tower) which is now ranked number 22 behind also the new 1 World Trade Center, which is now number 6. (The Central Park tower, topped out in September 2020, and completed in 2020, at 1,550 feet, is the tallest residential building in the world but only number 13 among all types of buildings.)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings

    Only the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, at 2,717 ft., completed in 2010, and the Shanghai Tower in
    Shanghai, at 2,073 ft., completed in 2015, are taller than what Trump’s original intention was.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  30. Mostly off topic:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/nyregion/bradley-tusk-andrew-yang-mayor-nyc.html

    ,,,Mr. Tusk, 47, has an expansive political and financial portfolio. He worked for Senator Chuck Schumer as his communications director, was a special adviser to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and then became deputy governor of Illinois, under Gov. Rod Blagojevich….At the age of 29, as Mr. Tusk recounts in his book, a friend from his Schumer days asked if he wanted to work as a deputy governor under Mr. Blagojevich, who would later end up in prison for soliciting bribes and trying to benefit from filling President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat.

    Mr. Tusk was unsure if he had the requisite skill set for the job, but he was smart and hard-working and learned a lesson he found so profound that he used it as a chapter title in his book: “Not Being Qualified for a Job Shouldn’t Stop You.”

    Mr. Blagojevich was uninterested in governing, and Mr. Tusk has said that he essentially ran the state. Mr. Tusk testified at Mr. Blagojevich’s corruption trial in 2010 and said he steered clear of any wrongdoing.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  31. … from I’ve read, the structure is similar to the 9/11 Commission, which should be good enough.

    It was for the Saudis.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  32. Now, maybe ‘they’ should have broken with Trump en mass back in January, but the didn’t.

    Pfft. Maybe ‘they’ should have broken with Goldwater en mass in 1964, and 57 years of spiraling into Hell could have been avoided.

    But ‘they’ is “you” — and didn’t.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  33. Trumpers think they can wash all this away (and much more of the like) by pointing to one video of a Capitol Police officer talking to the insurgents and opening a door. The amount of bad faith in that crowd is amazing.

    Radegunda (aea52f)

  34. When I see pictures and video of the Trumpite mob at the Capitol, I’m pretty sure they’re the kind of people that the elite Trump-apologists would scorn but for the fact that they’re serving Donald Trump.
    Switch the party labels on the events following the election up to 1/6 and beyond, and there’s no doubt that the whole Trumpified GOP would take the position that it’s a national emergency and that getting to the bottom of it was imperative.

    Radegunda (aea52f)

  35. Exactly who would the Republicans subpoena?

    The usual suspects: Obama, Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  36. The Republicans don’t want a commission because they want to assist people in forgetting as quickly as possible the unpleasant events of 1/6 so that they can focus on whatever pretend scandal they can come up with for next year. Perhaps Biden will stumble or forget a word or Pelosi will eat expensive ice cream. All that will be clearly be more important than an attempt to reverse a democratic election.

    Commissions produce reports and reports can be quoted and establish baseline facts. Republicans prefer a miasma of opposing talking points and accusations.

    Victor (4959fb)

  37. @35 switch the party labels and we’d have had a softball field turkey shoot commission and it might be half done

    JF (e1156d)

  38. @38-
    Re Congressional baseball shooting: The shooter was killed at the scene and the whole incident seemed pretty straightforward. What needs to be investigated? And since it happened in 2017, why didn’t the Republican Congress investigate?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  39. you forgot about the switching party labels part

    the republicans didn’t milk every last drop of it, yeah that’s the point

    JF (e1156d)

  40. I’m pretty sure they are milking as much as they can out of it without looking beyond ridiculous.

    Nic (896fdf)

  41. well in that case, they learned something others here haven’t

    JF (e1156d)

  42. the republicans didn’t milk every last drop of it, yeah that’s the point
    JF (e1156d) — 5/19/2021 @ 1:37 pm

    Trumpite cheerleaders are milking every last drop they can get out of the victim card: Claiming that everyone arrested in connection with 1/6 is a political prisoner, persecuted merely for being a “Trump supporter.” Saying that if anyone speaks of an insurrection, it’s only because “they want to shut us up.” Complaining that the whole system is so grossly rigged against true patriots that they just might be pushed into a civil war or have to rely on a military coup to save them from the communists.

    And telling us that what see and hear with our own eyes and ears in the video of 1/6 and associated social media (and the lead-up to it) is just a “narrative” concocted by a dishonest media.

    That’s what’s coming from people I used to align with pretty consistently. But I’ll trust my eyes and ears over their spin.

    Radegunda (aea52f)

  43. It’s not surprising that Mitch McConnell would oppose a 1-6 commission. He has always places a premium on making politically calculated decisions. He has done that for years now, and this is no different. I do support the commission, but Cult 45 has dug in their heels no matter if there is a commission or not, and what conclusions such a commission would come to.

    HCI (92ea66)

  44. but Cult 45 has dug in their heels

    First it was all about defending Trump at all costs, and now it’s all about circling the wagons around anyone who fought for Trump.

    Radegunda (aea52f)

  45. 14. Time123 (89dfb2) — 5/19/2021 @ 10:07 am

    Would love to know why it took so long for officer’s Sitnick’s cause of death to be released.

    That one is obvious: because it didn’t conform to the false stories.

    What would be interesting is who started the false stories. (maybe also if they told any other lies)

    Why it was started is obvious: Because to portray this as an attack on police (which it was in part) would cause conservatives out in the country to oppose the raid and not defend the people who did this. Which some Democrats were afraid could happen.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  46. Saying the mob killed a police officer was a trump card in the argument that the mob that stormed the Capitol was wrong.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  47. Criminal enterprise doing business as a political party:

    Florida GOP eases path for Trump to pursue casino license

    Florida legislators approved a legislative package Wednesday that will dramatically expand gambling in the state and sets the stage for former president Donald Trump to pursue a casino license at his Doral golf resort.

    The legislation includes a 30-year compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, negotiated by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a Trump ally. The compact includes a provision barring the tribe from interfering should the state issue a gambling license to a facility more than 15 miles “in a straight line” from the tribe’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood.

    Trump’s Doral resort, which he purchased in 2012 and then spent an estimated $250 million renovating, is slightly more than 15 miles away.

    Dave (1542be)

  48. sets the stage for former president Donald Trump to pursue a casino license

    They must have specified 15 miles because it’s a nice round number.
    This will give El Trumpo another chance to try turning bankruptcy to his own advantage.

    Radegunda (aea52f)

  49. @Kevin@10 That is a rather damning indictment of the Republican party.

    No, it’s a rather damning indictment of the motives of the Democrat Party. Please examine your assumption the the Dems are just fact-finding.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  50. Related news:

    Rep. Paul Gosar appeared on a conspiracy theory show yesterday and said that the Democratic leadership “actually aided and abetted” the January 6 insurrection.

    https://twitter.com/ehananoki/status/1395089429505654790

    Seems like this is something that ought to be investigated.

    Davethulhu (0ac567)

  51. Seems like this is something that ought to be investigated.

    Accusation = Confession, part 36625

    Dave (1542be)

  52. The Democrats will keep Trump in everyone’s focus as long as possible. So, it seems will many Republicans. I know it’s bad karma to wish a stroke on someone, but the thought keeps recurring unbidden.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  53. Shorter: Our two broad-based political parties seem focused only on cathching the other one with its pants down, rather than actually caring about governing. This is allowing the fringes of our society to seem reasonable.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  54. @Kevin@50 Ah, no, that is not my assumption. My assumption is that the Rs on the negotiating committee who said that it was a good deal that they had confidence in actually meant that it was a good deal that they had confidence in.

    Nic (896fdf)

  55. said that the Democratic leadership “actually aided and abetted” the January 6 insurrection.

    You’d think the Trumpers would try to get on the same page with their story: Was at a Democrat-Antifa plot to make Trump look bad, or was it patriotic Americans who peacefully exercised their constitutional right to make their voices heard and now are being cruelly persecuted just because they support Trump?

    Radegunda (aea52f)

  56. Paul Gosar inhaled too much of his own nitrous oxide when he was a dentist, I think. “Don’t get high on your supply” is the first rule, dude!

    nk (1d9030)

  57. They should move ahead… expose the armed miscreants and determine why there were only trespassing charges filed as a result of this deadly – for Ashli Babbit – armed insurrection.

    re: post 42… don’t hold your breath, JF!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)


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