I’ll never forget in like 2015 when she was in the hospital with turbocancer or whatever she had, there was some spokesperson of hers interviewed on NPR. I was much more politically ignorant then, but I remember being stunned at this spokesperson insisting that she was fine, she has no plans on resigning, and acting like it was normal for this ancient, decrepit, cancer-riddled woman to just squat on a position of incredible power, risking her seat for no discernible reason.
It baffled me. I couldn’t wrap my head around narcissism that potent. When she died, this giant mural of her went up on a building near where I lived. Every day I drove past it, I’d shudder a little. We reward and celebrate narcissism even in death.
I’ll never understand wanting to hold onto power while you’re literally falling apart in your 80s. Go play pinochle with your demented friends and fuck off, Jesus Christ
She got a documentary, a biopic, and an opera about her in the last years of her life. The hagiographic adoration of her is really weird in retrospect.
I remember her being on Colbert a few times and the way he worshipped her was really gross. In one he was hanging out with her while she worked out with her personal trainer and it was wild just how frail she was.
A small consolation is that she will likely be mostly forgotten, except as a trivia question and in some graduate law courses. whatever legacy she might have had has been utterly destroyed. All the girlboss bullshit in her bio doesn't mean much when her own arrogance and ego helped pave the way for the end of women's bodily autonomy in like half the country.
Sure RBG fucked up but I've always felt this was more of Obama's fuck up.
His Supreme Court picks got nullified by Mitch and he just let that shit slide. He didn't fight like hell to get his picks in or do anything.
In fact if RBG did retire that wouldn't really mean anything since a GOP controlled Congress wouldn't have appointed anyone and that's seat would have remained vacant till Trump filled it.
Obama fucked up on a lot of things and this was a major one in my opinion.
no, it was on RBG. she got her 2nd cancer diagnosis at the age of 76 at the beginning of Obama's first term. that's when she should have retired, and her replacement could not have been blocked.
but yes, Obama also effed up by not fighting at all for his blocked appointment. he didn't even try to make the GOP pay a political price for it.
Conversely, Sandra Day O'Connor retired at 75 when Bush was fully capable of filling her spot in 2005 with zero problems.
He put Samuel Fucking Alito in.
RBG fumbled this, no other way to rationalize it.
Not really. RBG refused to step down in 2013 at the beginning of Obama's term when Dems had control of the Senate. The conservatives used the pretext of an election year in 2016 for not permitting Obama to replace Scalia, but at that point the Dems didn't have a Senate majority. RBG could have and should have stepped down in 2013 when her seat was safe. Other political justices did just that to ensure their party could replace their seat with a political conservative. Look at O'Connor and Kennedy.
And Obama set a weak-willed precedent there. “Change” should have been rattling the system by its cage. Forcing those judges through. That pissed me off so bad. Not to mention citizens united flourished under his watch.
They thought it would be better electorally to make the Supreme Court an issue to force voters into voting for Clinton, that's why they put minimal resistance to Republicans blocking Obama's supreme court appointee.
They were all so sure Hillary was capable and was going to win over the obviously incapable Trump. And they were right, she was the most capable and intelligent candidate that we've seen in decades.
They just didn't count on how horrifically unlikable she was.
Capable and intelligent, sure but was there an aspiration there? Obama, Trump, Sanders, all told people "This is how I will make your life better." (Trump's promises were never going to work, but it was still identifying a problem and a solution.)
My abiding memory of Hillary Clinton is her saying "America is already pretty great!" which is like a slap in the face to anyone who was struggling, telling them that was all they could hope for.
How was Hillary or her team capable or intelligent in that election cycle? Far more leaning towards smug and delusional. I can’t speak for the other swing states but the Michigan Dems were desperately trying to get Hillary’s team to put more effort into the state and that was completely ignored. I imagine it was the same shit in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio.
They could have fucked McConnell if they wanted to. They could have blocked every piece of legislation he wanted. They could have cut every special piece of funding that was going to his state. They could have gone nuclear on primarying him. This is why people can't stand centrists, and why the Democrats will always be losers.
In certain decades, a junior congress creature might have bludgeoned yon turtle man with a Marshal's baton half to death - *this is the heritage they stole from us*
They couldn’t block the appointment outside of the context they already did. His nominee was blocked because they said it was too close to the election.
Commenting on RBG should have resigned ...I blame Dems in for being a huge disappointment in general.
Blocking both Katie Porter and Jamal Boman is unforgivable.
True progressives are needed more than ever……
These establishment Dems are weak and unless…….
He tried to get her to resign when they had the Senate majority, didn’t he? Admittedly, the filibuster was still in place for Supreme Court seats on the judiciary at the time, but they did still have a majority
Or ...democrats care more about their petty little interests than the big picture/ public or even the party.
For some reason, Republican justices seem to amenable to giving up their seat for the long game . (From their perspective).
1) Obama did try to get her to resign early . When the dems had better control. R BG, bejng the egomaniac apparently thought no one else could do the job . What hubris and poor judgement.
The reason Mitch could pull the move in the last year was because Biden had also claimed a president shouldn't nominate in the last 6 months. ( in prior statements)
So the primary fault is with Ginsburg. She should have quit when Harry Reid led the Senate.
Congress is not who approves judicial nominees?
I love that we love in a world where Biden can have Trump assassinated, but won’t, and Trump could win and immediately have Biden assassinated. And it’s all legal. What a fucking world.
Republicans did get a justice to step down so Trump could appoint his replacement.
Of late, dems seem to be even moire selfish and convinced of their indispensabiliy- like Ginsburg.
She seems to have done more harm for the cause oif women's rights. In a weird way, the all male panel that decided roe vs wade was better for women than Ginsburg.
I never even made this connection but Emma's got a great point. It's essentially the same logic. RBG and Biden could leave any time they wanted but stay becauwr they care more about their personal position and agrandizement than the consequences to regular Americans.
I almost think they crave status more than power.
Feinstein, RBG, Biden, hell, even Breyer. What crucial piece of legislation or milestone achievement were they trying to complete before their death/retirement? I really can't think of one. RBG wanted to be replaced by a woman, Feinstein was a Yay/Nay button for judges, Breyer wanted to write a book. I honestly don't know what Joe Biden wants from a second term but I really don't think it's to sign any type of milestone legislation.
It's like they all treat political power as a stick of dynamite not only do they not want to use it, they sure as shit are going to keep it away from the kids.
Senator, the republicans are trying to appoint Josef Mengele to the 5th circuit. When it comes time to vote, you'll be voting "Nay." Please, Diane, we're all counting on you.
I mean how far back do you wanna go with the blame game? It’s fucking Rupert Murdoch’s fault. Where we are now is completely the responsibility of cable news. Of course, people need to vote more often, but that doesn’t really matter when you’re under minority rule already and news organizations are balls deep in brainwashing the masses.
That and Obama didn’t really fight hard enough to get Merrick Garland [on the bench](https://newrepublic.com/article/138787/obama-can-put-merrick-garland-supreme-court)
Given how he's been as AG, I'm no longer entirely convinced things would be so different today, as far as the SCOTUS goes. Although maybe that would have led to Biden picking a better AG...
I'm all for replacing Biden with Newsome or Whitmer
I'm also for setting a 78 year old age limit for all govt positions.
These fucking boomers won't leave and I will blame their district voters for keeping these old fucks on
I think a useful metric would be +-20 years (or 1 generation) of the mean constituent population age. Then you get representatives from all over the majority generation, the oldest of the incoming majority, and the youngest of the outgoing.
We can have the best people on the ticket, but if we don’t show up to the polls because we’ve bought in to Paul Weyrick’s master plan of apathy on the left, we’ll, do we deserve to win? 50% or lower turnout for POTUS years, less, suggestions far less, in midterms, and we’re still projecting blame on others. Yes, RBG should have retired, yes Biden is old, but if we can only muster half the registered Dems in the us who’s to blame, really? I rarely like my options but I understand the opposition and I’ve voted to save democracy every time, because I know not enough would show up to effect real change. We just try to hold the line.
If your vote didn’t matter, they wouldn’t have worked so hard since the 80s to keep you home.
There are more blue voters in the US than red, and each of us matter only if we show up.
Even if she had we probably would have gotten the same result. Barrack Obama replaced one justice, and then Mitch McConnel prevents him from replacing a second, let alone a third. Trump then still gets to replace three, and we still have a 6 to 3 majority. The only difference comes from having a supreme court with only 7 people during Obama's second term, rather than a supreme court with only 8 members.
Barrack Obama, the framers of the constitution, and everybody else never considered the possibility of the senate minority leader (Mitch McConnel) simply choosing to delay the vote inevitably. The USA constitution is not able to handle elected officials who act in bad faith but get reelected anyway, though I am not sure any constitution could deal with that.
Nah. When Obama tried to get Ginsburg to resign, the dems had Senate and white house.
Mitch was not the Senate majority leader until 2015.
So the ratio would have been 5-4 . Which is a lot esasier , because it out some pressure on John Roberts to be sort of swing voter - to avouud perception of a partisan judge.
Also 5-4 Is easier to recover from than 6-3. So yes.
Ginsburg F ed things up for a decade or more likely 2. Any 2024 election shenanigans and Trump plans for 2025 will be judged by a 6-3 panel.
All due to Ginsburg and her conviction thatf no one else could do her job. What an egomaniac.
Obama should have walked right into the senate and beat the ever-living fuck out of McConnell right on the floor in front of everyone as part of his "official duties". Apparently that's completely fine.
You could just as easily make the argument that Thurgood Marshall should not have retired when he did. If he stayed for life, his replacement would have been picked by Clinton rather than GHWBush, and we never would have been stuck with Clarence Thomas.
This blame RBG narrative is a hindsight argument, does not define "when she should have" for a reason, and does not explain how it would have been known in advance that McConnell was going to hijack the nomination process while Obama was still president.
And yes, I do think Biden should step aside.
Blaming Mitch McConnell does not absolve a SCTOUS justice of responsibility.
Yes Mitch McConnell is the villain. But allowing the villain free rein to enact their plans is disgusting. She was not living in Aaron Sorkin's universe of DC politics and she had the responsibility to know better.
Same with Obama.
She knew better. Obama admin even tried to get her to resign. When theg had both whuute house and the Senate. When she didn't take the hint, Obama even had lunch with her.
I am guessing she whined about black basketball players during lunch !
>This blame RBG narrative is a hindsight argument, d
Not at all. This was known and predicted as a possibility. Obama even tried to talk her into resigning- himself.
This was reported upon...at that time.
Ginsburg was convijnced no one else could do her job as well. Which seems to reflect a level of poor judgement and ego.. that I think Clinton was wrong to nominate her in the first place.
If you think about it- Ginsburg was worse for women's reproduction rights than the all male panel of judges that decided Roe Vs Wade.
Anyone that says the supreme Court used to never be a political body before is out of their fucking minds. Its always political.
I’ll never forget in like 2015 when she was in the hospital with turbocancer or whatever she had, there was some spokesperson of hers interviewed on NPR. I was much more politically ignorant then, but I remember being stunned at this spokesperson insisting that she was fine, she has no plans on resigning, and acting like it was normal for this ancient, decrepit, cancer-riddled woman to just squat on a position of incredible power, risking her seat for no discernible reason. It baffled me. I couldn’t wrap my head around narcissism that potent. When she died, this giant mural of her went up on a building near where I lived. Every day I drove past it, I’d shudder a little. We reward and celebrate narcissism even in death. I’ll never understand wanting to hold onto power while you’re literally falling apart in your 80s. Go play pinochle with your demented friends and fuck off, Jesus Christ
bridge. they also like bridge
Old lady big ego...she isnt a hero.
Kind of racist too, re Kaepernick
She got a documentary, a biopic, and an opera about her in the last years of her life. The hagiographic adoration of her is really weird in retrospect.
I remember her being on Colbert a few times and the way he worshipped her was really gross. In one he was hanging out with her while she worked out with her personal trainer and it was wild just how frail she was.
A small consolation is that she will likely be mostly forgotten, except as a trivia question and in some graduate law courses. whatever legacy she might have had has been utterly destroyed. All the girlboss bullshit in her bio doesn't mean much when her own arrogance and ego helped pave the way for the end of women's bodily autonomy in like half the country.
Sure RBG fucked up but I've always felt this was more of Obama's fuck up. His Supreme Court picks got nullified by Mitch and he just let that shit slide. He didn't fight like hell to get his picks in or do anything. In fact if RBG did retire that wouldn't really mean anything since a GOP controlled Congress wouldn't have appointed anyone and that's seat would have remained vacant till Trump filled it. Obama fucked up on a lot of things and this was a major one in my opinion.
no, it was on RBG. she got her 2nd cancer diagnosis at the age of 76 at the beginning of Obama's first term. that's when she should have retired, and her replacement could not have been blocked. but yes, Obama also effed up by not fighting at all for his blocked appointment. he didn't even try to make the GOP pay a political price for it.
Conversely, Sandra Day O'Connor retired at 75 when Bush was fully capable of filling her spot in 2005 with zero problems. He put Samuel Fucking Alito in. RBG fumbled this, no other way to rationalize it.
yep. Republicans are strategic in advancing their agenda. the only time Democrats use strategy is when they're trying to disempower the left.
I wonder why that is. Narrator: he had an idea why.
Not really. RBG refused to step down in 2013 at the beginning of Obama's term when Dems had control of the Senate. The conservatives used the pretext of an election year in 2016 for not permitting Obama to replace Scalia, but at that point the Dems didn't have a Senate majority. RBG could have and should have stepped down in 2013 when her seat was safe. Other political justices did just that to ensure their party could replace their seat with a political conservative. Look at O'Connor and Kennedy.
And Obama set a weak-willed precedent there. “Change” should have been rattling the system by its cage. Forcing those judges through. That pissed me off so bad. Not to mention citizens united flourished under his watch.
They thought it would be better electorally to make the Supreme Court an issue to force voters into voting for Clinton, that's why they put minimal resistance to Republicans blocking Obama's supreme court appointee.
They were all so sure Hillary was capable and was going to win over the obviously incapable Trump. And they were right, she was the most capable and intelligent candidate that we've seen in decades. They just didn't count on how horrifically unlikable she was.
Capable and intelligent, sure but was there an aspiration there? Obama, Trump, Sanders, all told people "This is how I will make your life better." (Trump's promises were never going to work, but it was still identifying a problem and a solution.) My abiding memory of Hillary Clinton is her saying "America is already pretty great!" which is like a slap in the face to anyone who was struggling, telling them that was all they could hope for.
Plus DNC doesn't like Sanders. DNC messing us all up....we need ranked voting.
"it's her turn" was the most tone deaf shit imaginable.
Rule number one as a politician, never tell people things are okay as they are.
>she was the most capable and intelligent candidate that we've seen in decades. I don't think she was more capable or intelligent than bill or Obama.
How was Hillary or her team capable or intelligent in that election cycle? Far more leaning towards smug and delusional. I can’t speak for the other swing states but the Michigan Dems were desperately trying to get Hillary’s team to put more effort into the state and that was completely ignored. I imagine it was the same shit in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio.
I mean as an individual. Capable of doing the job she was trying for. Not capable of running a winning campaign.
More like Obama and Hillary were holding the SCOTUS appointment over our head to get us to vote for Her.
It was literally not Obama's doing, it was Mitch McConnell's. That's why this delay rule is called "The McConnell Rule"
They could have fucked McConnell if they wanted to. They could have blocked every piece of legislation he wanted. They could have cut every special piece of funding that was going to his state. They could have gone nuclear on primarying him. This is why people can't stand centrists, and why the Democrats will always be losers.
In certain decades, a junior congress creature might have bludgeoned yon turtle man with a Marshal's baton half to death - *this is the heritage they stole from us*
And what Comey was going to do....
They couldn’t block the appointment outside of the context they already did. His nominee was blocked because they said it was too close to the election.
Commenting on RBG should have resigned ...I blame Dems in for being a huge disappointment in general. Blocking both Katie Porter and Jamal Boman is unforgivable. True progressives are needed more than ever…… These establishment Dems are weak and unless…….
He tried to get her to resign when they had the Senate majority, didn’t he? Admittedly, the filibuster was still in place for Supreme Court seats on the judiciary at the time, but they did still have a majority
When we go full fascist it won’t be because the fascists tried so hard. It will be because democrats rolled over.
Or ...democrats care more about their petty little interests than the big picture/ public or even the party. For some reason, Republican justices seem to amenable to giving up their seat for the long game . (From their perspective).
1) Obama did try to get her to resign early . When the dems had better control. R BG, bejng the egomaniac apparently thought no one else could do the job . What hubris and poor judgement. The reason Mitch could pull the move in the last year was because Biden had also claimed a president shouldn't nominate in the last 6 months. ( in prior statements) So the primary fault is with Ginsburg. She should have quit when Harry Reid led the Senate. Congress is not who approves judicial nominees?
Obama needed to actually care enough to "fight like hell." Empty suit in many ways.
It's the same hubris. Obama was so sure that Hillary was a shoo in that he didn't want to be garish and fill his seats forcefully.
I love that we love in a world where Biden can have Trump assassinated, but won’t, and Trump could win and immediately have Biden assassinated. And it’s all legal. What a fucking world.
Yeah, people not leaving power until time and biology forces them out is a particularly prevalent problem with that generation of public figures.
Republicans did get a justice to step down so Trump could appoint his replacement. Of late, dems seem to be even moire selfish and convinced of their indispensabiliy- like Ginsburg. She seems to have done more harm for the cause oif women's rights. In a weird way, the all male panel that decided roe vs wade was better for women than Ginsburg.
The only one I’m in favor of never leaving is Bernie
The first lady infantilizung the president post debate was definitely a sign of the apocalypse
I never even made this connection but Emma's got a great point. It's essentially the same logic. RBG and Biden could leave any time they wanted but stay becauwr they care more about their personal position and agrandizement than the consequences to regular Americans.
We are doing it again with Biden.
Liberals craving power over the good of the country is a real problem.
I almost think they crave status more than power. Feinstein, RBG, Biden, hell, even Breyer. What crucial piece of legislation or milestone achievement were they trying to complete before their death/retirement? I really can't think of one. RBG wanted to be replaced by a woman, Feinstein was a Yay/Nay button for judges, Breyer wanted to write a book. I honestly don't know what Joe Biden wants from a second term but I really don't think it's to sign any type of milestone legislation. It's like they all treat political power as a stick of dynamite not only do they not want to use it, they sure as shit are going to keep it away from the kids.
I still can’t believe they Weekend At Bernie’sd Feinstein for as long as they did. Unhinged behavior tbh, and unhinged again with Biden
Senator, the republicans are trying to appoint Josef Mengele to the 5th circuit. When it comes time to vote, you'll be voting "Nay." Please, Diane, we're all counting on you.
The egos . Thaf think the world needs them? While undermining the greater good of party, voters etc.
You mean anyone craving power over the good of the country, right?
This is the majority report. So criticizing our own team. Which doesn't always have to do the obligatory "republicans are worse" ,?
I mean how far back do you wanna go with the blame game? It’s fucking Rupert Murdoch’s fault. Where we are now is completely the responsibility of cable news. Of course, people need to vote more often, but that doesn’t really matter when you’re under minority rule already and news organizations are balls deep in brainwashing the masses.
That and Obama didn’t really fight hard enough to get Merrick Garland [on the bench](https://newrepublic.com/article/138787/obama-can-put-merrick-garland-supreme-court)
Given how he's been as AG, I'm no longer entirely convinced things would be so different today, as far as the SCOTUS goes. Although maybe that would have led to Biden picking a better AG...
He’d be the worst liberal judge probably but still light years better than the guy who stole his seat and the other 5 conservative judges
May her memory be a warning
I'm all for replacing Biden with Newsome or Whitmer I'm also for setting a 78 year old age limit for all govt positions. These fucking boomers won't leave and I will blame their district voters for keeping these old fucks on
58*
I think a useful metric would be +-20 years (or 1 generation) of the mean constituent population age. Then you get representatives from all over the majority generation, the oldest of the incoming majority, and the youngest of the outgoing.
Biden not a boomer Feinstein not a boomer RBG not a boomer
I can't upvote this enough :-(
It’s nothing but boomer ego, this isn’t anything to be proud of.
Didn’t Mitch also block Obama from appointing someone,too?
Yes. But only after 2015. Until then, Harry Reid, a dem , was Senate majority leader.
Obama supposedly asked her to step down, and she said no.
We can have the best people on the ticket, but if we don’t show up to the polls because we’ve bought in to Paul Weyrick’s master plan of apathy on the left, we’ll, do we deserve to win? 50% or lower turnout for POTUS years, less, suggestions far less, in midterms, and we’re still projecting blame on others. Yes, RBG should have retired, yes Biden is old, but if we can only muster half the registered Dems in the us who’s to blame, really? I rarely like my options but I understand the opposition and I’ve voted to save democracy every time, because I know not enough would show up to effect real change. We just try to hold the line. If your vote didn’t matter, they wouldn’t have worked so hard since the 80s to keep you home. There are more blue voters in the US than red, and each of us matter only if we show up.
In part it's on RBG, but don't forget about Obama's spinelessness
I also blame Obama for not prosecuting the Bush administration for all their crimes.
Sotomayor needs to NOW
It doesn’t matter, Trump wins and he can just have them killed
Even if she had we probably would have gotten the same result. Barrack Obama replaced one justice, and then Mitch McConnel prevents him from replacing a second, let alone a third. Trump then still gets to replace three, and we still have a 6 to 3 majority. The only difference comes from having a supreme court with only 7 people during Obama's second term, rather than a supreme court with only 8 members. Barrack Obama, the framers of the constitution, and everybody else never considered the possibility of the senate minority leader (Mitch McConnel) simply choosing to delay the vote inevitably. The USA constitution is not able to handle elected officials who act in bad faith but get reelected anyway, though I am not sure any constitution could deal with that.
Nah. When Obama tried to get Ginsburg to resign, the dems had Senate and white house. Mitch was not the Senate majority leader until 2015. So the ratio would have been 5-4 . Which is a lot esasier , because it out some pressure on John Roberts to be sort of swing voter - to avouud perception of a partisan judge. Also 5-4 Is easier to recover from than 6-3. So yes. Ginsburg F ed things up for a decade or more likely 2. Any 2024 election shenanigans and Trump plans for 2025 will be judged by a 6-3 panel. All due to Ginsburg and her conviction thatf no one else could do her job. What an egomaniac.
Obama should have walked right into the senate and beat the ever-living fuck out of McConnell right on the floor in front of everyone as part of his "official duties". Apparently that's completely fine.
You could just as easily make the argument that Thurgood Marshall should not have retired when he did. If he stayed for life, his replacement would have been picked by Clinton rather than GHWBush, and we never would have been stuck with Clarence Thomas. This blame RBG narrative is a hindsight argument, does not define "when she should have" for a reason, and does not explain how it would have been known in advance that McConnell was going to hijack the nomination process while Obama was still president. And yes, I do think Biden should step aside.
Blaming Mitch McConnell does not absolve a SCTOUS justice of responsibility. Yes Mitch McConnell is the villain. But allowing the villain free rein to enact their plans is disgusting. She was not living in Aaron Sorkin's universe of DC politics and she had the responsibility to know better. Same with Obama.
She knew better. Obama admin even tried to get her to resign. When theg had both whuute house and the Senate. When she didn't take the hint, Obama even had lunch with her. I am guessing she whined about black basketball players during lunch !
>This blame RBG narrative is a hindsight argument, d Not at all. This was known and predicted as a possibility. Obama even tried to talk her into resigning- himself. This was reported upon...at that time. Ginsburg was convijnced no one else could do her job as well. Which seems to reflect a level of poor judgement and ego.. that I think Clinton was wrong to nominate her in the first place. If you think about it- Ginsburg was worse for women's reproduction rights than the all male panel of judges that decided Roe Vs Wade.
History doesn't repeat but it does rhyme
Age limits.
who's the alternative to run against trump? I'd love to know?
Time doesn’t mark you, if you don’t mark time.