Sometimes corruption and lack of transparency ironically works out for the better of society. Much as I hate backroom deals, this could have easily escalated into a clown show spectacle on social media if the votes were made public.
A good case to be made that CSPAN was one of the worst things to ever happen to Congress - everyone talks to the camera instead of each other, and it allowed the Gingrich types to thrive.
Republicans went with the least horrible option? That's out of character for them.
Strategically this isn't ideal for us because Thune strikes me as someone who will be competent at the job. It's better for our country though, so I prefer it.
As long as the sociopathic wing* of the party keeps grumbling and picking fights with him, it may work out better for us after all. It'll still be bad, don't get me wrong (Thune will never be a friend to us), but that was decided when the Senate flipped.
*Yeah, I know... the obvious question is "which one?"
That would be nice. My expectation is that he'll do a better job keeping their senate caucus focused on what they need to get done, but will curb the worst ~5-10% things to be merely "really bad" instead of "incredibly, truly horrific." Cornyn would have done that half as much, and Scott would have insisted on making things even worse.
Thune won 29-24
Figured he would. Had it not been a secret ballot, who knows.
me too
Sometimes corruption and lack of transparency ironically works out for the better of society. Much as I hate backroom deals, this could have easily escalated into a clown show spectacle on social media if the votes were made public.
A good case to be made that CSPAN was one of the worst things to ever happen to Congress - everyone talks to the camera instead of each other, and it allowed the Gingrich types to thrive.
Considerably better than both alternatives
Republicans went with the least horrible option? That's out of character for them.
Strategically this isn't ideal for us because Thune strikes me as someone who will be competent at the job. It's better for our country though, so I prefer it.
As long as the sociopathic wing* of the party keeps grumbling and picking fights with him, it may work out better for us after all. It'll still be bad, don't get me wrong (Thune will never be a friend to us), but that was decided when the Senate flipped.
*Yeah, I know... the obvious question is "which one?"
That would be nice. My expectation is that he'll do a better job keeping their senate caucus focused on what they need to get done, but will curb the worst ~5-10% things to be merely "really bad" instead of "incredibly, truly horrific." Cornyn would have done that half as much, and Scott would have insisted on making things even worse.