Cory Booker, the epitome

... of the most recent display of the absolute worst of Democratic hypocrisy.  It's been an overwhelming week; maybe he thought nobody would notice.

There is so much going on right now, such an absolute shitpile deluge of absurdities rolling in from Washington, that it’s almost possible to overlook the fact that 13 Democratic senators either misread or completely disregarded overwhelming national sentiment and voted against an amendment that would have lowered drug prices. It’s worth paying attention to, however, as it doesn’t really bode well for anyone ...

Incredible: Cory Booker & several other Dems join GOP maj in voting down Bernie amendment on importing cheaper drugs https://t.co/yb8N1PRYjp

— Lee Fang (@lhfang) January 12, 2017

(Wednesday) night, Senate Republicans took their first leap towards repealing Obamacare by approving a budget procedure that would allow them to avoid a Democratic filibuster. The 13 Democrats who subsequently voted against making drugs cheaper for people deeply undercut the ability of that party to speak with credibility on behalf of the working class.

The amendment, which was proposed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen. Bernie Sanders, would have allowed the importation of drugs from Canada. Trump has taken a more Democrat-friendly tone on drug prices -- at one point during (Wednesday’s) maniacal press conference he accused pharma companies of “getting away with murder,” which sent stocks tumbling -- and 12 Republican senators, including John McCain, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, ended up voting in favor of the bill.

Most notable among the Democratic “nays” is New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who made waves yesterday by testifying against Jeff Sessions, a colleague who very much deserved the breach in Senate custom. Booker is assumed to be eyeing a 2020 bid, and Republican Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) accused him of using the Sessions hearing “as a platform for his presidential aspirations.”

I previously mentioned keeping an eye on the Democrats who are up for re-election in 2018 who sit in red states -- Bob Casey, Joe Donnelly, Heidi Heitkamp, Jon Tester.  Tom Carper is a Blue Dog of long repute.  That gang is all here in the noes.  But look who joined them besides Booker: Patty Murray, one of the Senate's D leadership.  Maria Cantwell.  Chris Coons, falling in behind his senior, Carper, from Delaware.

(Sidebar: Coons replaced Vice President Joe Biden in the Senate when Uncle Joe moved up with Obama.  The bromance between the outgoing prez and vice was consummated yesterday as Biden was shocked with a Presidential Medal, and bawled his eyes out over it.  From the wayback machine: Biden was known as Senator MBNA, helping re-write tough bankruptcy laws in 2005.  Socratic Gadfly re-covered it all just last night.  Cuddling up with the big corporations is a Delaware thing.)

Michael Bennett, who was just re-elected, so he can't use that excuse.  Martin Heinrich, representing among the poorest Americans in the nation.  Bob Menendez, Senator Corruption himself.  This is an amendment that Joe Manchin (Senator of Epi-pen) could vote for.  That Ted Cruz and his butt buddy Mike Lee said yes to.  John McCain.  John Thune.  Rand Paul.

More here, here, here, here, and here.  Not mainstream sources, mind you.  The heavy contributions from Big Pharma were again more important than the voice -- and fate -- of the American people.  As one of them so eloquently put it: "Guess these senators are only progressive when it doesn’t hurt their bottom line."

"Progressives" who voted for these Democrats are just being trolled now.

Update: Here's a list of all the House Democrats who voted against the bill that would stop the ACA repeal.  The Texan among them is Henry Cuellar.

Urine big trouble now, Donald, and more scatter-shots

-- Yes, Bill Palmer used it first, AFAIK.  We may have just learned why his hair is that color.  Russian prostitutes, via Russian hackers, allege that more than just Trump's throne is golden.

#GoldenShowergate and #GoldenShowers are both trending this morning, so I'll just respond as the former Donkey that I am now:

Aren't the Democrats supposed to be the party that doesn't care what consenting adults do in their bedrooms and bathrooms?  Didn't we already try to impeach a president over sexual allegations?  How'd that work out?  I forget.

No sooner did they wipe the tears from their eyes after watching Obama's farewell than they jumped back on the Russian obsession with both feet.  I suppose that I would hope that all this caterwauling will eventually -- sooner or later -- chase the Barking Yam out of the White House, but it isn't going to win his detractors any votes back.  Opposing a cabinet nominee by dressing up as a Klansman is one thing; screaming "fetishist" is another.  As a reminder, "grab 'em by the pussy" did not stop Trump from being elected.  Update: Juan Cole, helpfully pointing out that it's not the sex, it's the money.

The people who elected (Trump) knew that he had appeared in pornographic videos, liked to tour the dressing rooms of the Miss Teen contests when the contestants were naked, and groped random women in public places. That he paid for a golden shower or two isn’t even the most disgusting thing in his closet (at least if it was paid for, it was consensual). So I think if Russia threatened him with being outed, he could just brush them off. The evangelical ministers who encourage their flocks to vote Republican have decided that they are all about forgiveness when it comes to Trump. I wouldn’t have said this last year this time, but the guy is Teflon on the right.

If Trump has a vulnerability with regard to Russia, it is far more likely to be financial. He kept going bankrupt (six times!) as a strategy to avoid paying creditors, and understandably real banks stopped wanting to lend to him. The Financial Times alleges that Trump then got in bed with very wealthy figures from, e.g., Kazakhstan, who loaned him money or licensed his name for, e.g., the Trump Soho, in which he was a partner with a shadowy Kazakh figure. But FT suggests that the quid pro quo was that he got them into the New York real estate market, which they then used for money laundering. Money earned from embezzling (say, from the Kazakh ministry of petroleum) or criminal activity needs to be laundered before it can be openly invested. The criminal claims that the ill-gotten funds are profits from an investment, e.g. the FT thinks Trump may have, knowingly or naively, facilitated this kind of activity. If it was knowingly, of course, that was a heavy duty crime. 

Focus on the big picture, Democrats.

If you take a long view of presidential history, you can see that Eisenhower was a backlash of sorts to Truman, that Kennedy/LBJ certainly was as well, and Nixon to them, Carter to Nixon, Reagan to Carter, Clinton 1.0 a JFK-like backlash to twelve years of Reagan/Bush, and W the same also to Bubba, and Obama to Bush the Younger.  And, more obviously, Trump to Obama.  So there's a backlash coming in 2020 no matter what else happens.  As long as we're still around to see it, that is.

It's a new world and the Democrats are still living in the old one.  Maybe the Berners will join forces with a progressive party and they'll run a candidate everybody likes in four years, we can have an unspoiled election.  Too much hope?

-- Today is supposed to be Hair Furor's first presser in six months.  What do you suppose they'll ask him about?  Your young child -- the one without a smartphone, or a laptop, or any friends that do  -- is going to be asking, "Mom, what is a golden shower?" sometime today.  Thanks Obama!

-- Dawnna Dukes, who hears her Austin constituents telling her that she is the most qualified person to remain in her seat in the Texas House, had to sneak around the media to get sworn in, and before the day was out, promptly indicted by the Travis County DA.  I blogged everything that needed it about this topic yesterday.  Dukes is a hazard (hardy har har) and can't go away fast enough.

-- RFK Jr., a noted anti-vaxxer (unlike Jill Stein, despite the Hillbots' strongest effort), said Trump wanted him to head up a commission  (I believe that would make him a czar) to Find the Truth.  Trump's transitioners say they didn't.  We now have more facts -- science arrived at by logic, you know -- to argue over, partisan-style.  Like evolution versus intelligent design, climate change, etc.

Update: Focus, Democrats.

It's a different world and you better figure out your place in it.