McCain/Feingold was a CYA maneuver that kept him in office after a rank corruption scandal that should have ended his career. And it’s been ludicrously ineffective to boot.

Um...about that “brave in one circumstance”...

Yes, I blame him exactly for those things. He was the top of the ticket; he could have rejected the know-nothing VP candidate designed to appeal to feelings over reason. But he didn’t. So it’s his fault.

My understanding was that Palin was pushed on him by the Republican leadership. If so, you can blame him for not doing his due diligence in vetting her, or for being weak enough that he allowed the party to pick his VP without openly complaining (which would have forced the party’s hand).

God, remember back when we all thought she was just the battiest goddamned thing to ever come out of politics, and how it was amazing someone that unprepared for office was anywhere even near the presidency?

Considering Sarah Palin normalized rank stupidity, I’d say there’s (at least) one other prominent dipshit he’s got to apologize for.

… isn’t he the only R in congress promising committee hearings into the Russian connections…

The only time John McCain was a good idea was when the alternative was George W. Bush.

I think McCain is an excellent illustration of how positive character traits are not necessarily transitive from one context to another. Just because he was brave in one circumstance hasn’t precluded his being a coward others.

Actually, there is a page in the report about this. TLDR it’s complicated: money probably buys influence but not in ways that are easy to measure.

I think that’s implied in the “in person” part. How would anyone get access to a politician without a dozen greased palms?

I’m not seeing “donate large amounts of money” in the chart.

I love the look on his face in the first panel.

We need this. This strain of shit going through through a vein of the party now needs to be destroyed. You want to talk about real “economic anxiety?” Then start speaking to those it affects the absolute most. Anyone who uses the term “identity politics” as a slur ain’t a Democrat and they sure as hell ain’t a…

I’d wager that the damning revelation was that Comey was blackmailed by the Russians into issuing that statement on Hillary’s emails a week before the election.

I feel like I’m wearing a tin-foil hat here, but here goes: something in the meeting is leading the dems to think Comey himself is compromised at this point.

Seriously at this point how the fuck is this real life. It’s too much to absorb. Like my new reality has shifted too quickly and I can’t fucking handle it. If I had the money I seriously would just go and herd cows at this point. The world has gone fucking mad.

This is just a lazy excuse to justify to their constituents why they voted against it. BUT THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO VOTE AGAINST IT UNLESS THEY ARE CORRUPT!!!

Or, we could do the Canada thing until we have something set up over here. I’ve never understood the “all-or-nothing” approach which seems completely antithetical to idea of compromise (which is the basis of democracy). I’d rather take a half-step forward than stay in the exact same place.

You know, I stopped before posting that because I thought maybe I wasn't thinking of something, but when you break it down over a five day work week, that's 12 hours a day. That's getting to work at 8am and not leaving until 8pm. Tack on a half an hour commute each way and your day is starting at 7am and not finishing…