Tom Tomorrow: Nancy Pelosi is Playing the Extremely Long Game

[BeyondGeography]

[Paladin]

1. Pretty obvious that Tom Tomorrow is a regular DU viewer.

Nice job of trashing Pelosi's "twelfth-dimensional chess" that finds so much support around this place.


Impeachment NOW.

[BigOleDummy]

8. Well said!

Well said indeed.

[Perseus]

24. Harder yet that when someone pointed out the same as Tom Tomorrow

although not as funny as Tom Tomorrow, that person got penalized for saying derogatory things about Pelosi.

Could not agree more with Tom Tomorrow...

[LiberalLovinLug]

29. Funny that eh?

Yup political cartoonists get away with uncomfortable truth telling better. Tom might have been kicked out long ago if he'd been a simple poster.

One of the reasons the NYT shut down their toons. Don't want a damn cartoonist making the editors piece look like fluff.

[Crunchy Frog]

42. He would never survive as a poster on this site.

[intheflow]

50. This.

The Democratic Leadership has a lot of vitriol to spew about the progressive arm of the party demanding purity tests, but somehow party leadership can demand centrist purity and we progressives have to just suck up it. And then DU removes our posts.

[PatrickforO]

26. I didn't know there was 12-dimensional chess!

That is kind of funny.

We will see how things play out now that these four young members of Congress had their presser and Trump has engaged in even more stupid racist, xenophobic and hateful tweets.

That really forced Pelosi's hand, I think, hence this resolution condemning Trump for racism. Good move, that - the Republicans won't vote for it so we can pound them all over the head with racism, and not just Trump, come the election.

And then Al Green is going to introduce Articles of Impeachment this week, I guess. Time flies, and he just might get more votes than he would have before Trump's brilliant 'go back to your country' tweet to four duly elected members of the House.

[gordianot]

2. Brutally honest

Beyond the election of 2020 there is no plan. American Democracy ends with another Trump administration. A hearty tsk tsk will not work.

[UpInArms]

3. Ted Rall is spot on in this column

http://rall.com/2019/07/15/nancy-pelosi-should-apologize-aoc-ocasio-cortes

Nancy Pelosi is a big girl. And she should act like one.

She should be mending the rift within her party. She should not be picking fights with someone young enough to be her granddaughter. It makes her look small. And it alienates progressive voters. When 72% of your party’s voters are progressives and you’re not progressive yourself, you have to step gingerly if you want to avoid a revolt that topples you from power. If she wants to preserve her and her center-right faction’s control of the party, Pelosi should make amends with AOC’s Squad in word and in deed.


... snip ...

Considering the fact that snubbing the progressive base rarely works out for Democrats—it failed in 1980, 1984, 1988, 2000, 2004 and 2016—you’d think DNC insiders would rethink their strategy. It’s pretty clear that they would rather lose as a center-right party than win as a center-left one.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Amazing that more people haven't picked up on that "be the Leader" line

Or maybe it's not so amazing. Thanks for the link.

There's also an NYC Dem food fight angle here that should get more coverage:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nancy-pelosi-has-lost-control_n_5d2cb605e4b032ea741220ad

[UpInArms]

6. Am sick of the food fight

And the unconscionable center right crap ...

More from Rall

What’s baffling is how the DNC alienates progressives in the general election campaign after it crushes them during the primaries. Uniting the party wouldn’t be hard: have the nominee support some progressive platform planks, pick a progressive as vice president, pledge to include progressives in the cabinet.

[PatrickforO]

27. Well there you have it! Sounds like a pretty darned sensible strategy to me.

America is a bit further to the left than the six corporations that own virtually all the media outlets would want you to believe.

[Ponietz]

5. At this stage, it is disingenuous to argue that 2018 was about bread and butter issues n/t

Last edited Tue Jul 16, 2019, 10:59 AM - Edit history (1)

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. Sad but true

[dalton99a]

9. Pretty soon the House will be viewed as a useless appendage to the Senate

at the rate things are going

[bdamomma]

57. I think tRump

got his orders from Putin to deem the Congress neutered and powerless, he wants sole power doesn't he, he's a wanna be dictator.

[Auggie]

10. What exactly constitutes a "long game" in terms of impeachment?

One year? Two years? Ten years? Love Tom Tomorrow, but I think this strip is off.

Timing aside, we do all realize impeachment is a two-part process -- House and Senate must vote. Why on Earth would Pelosi start proceeding when a Senate "no" vote would certainly be a vindication for Trump? I believe Trump wants this. Which is precisely why Pelosi is better to wait it out -- Trump is going to hang himself or be voted out.

[cutroot]

12. You are correct.

The republicans looked foolish when they impeached Bill Clinton and then did not get a conviction in the senate. I believe they are attempting to redress this issue.

[durablend]

21. Real foolish

Won the presidency, the Senate and the house. Total egg on their faces.

[cutroot]

32. They won because Democrats stayed home

Republicans don't work that way. They will vote for him even more if they think that he is being attacked. You can not shame them. Impeachment will simply strengthen their resolve. I am not saying that he should not be impeached, but they need to have a very strong case. Impeachment just to make people feel good, is playing right into their hands.

[LiberalLovinLug]

37. The reason they looked foolish

is because it was centered around a foolish "misdemeanor"

In Trumps case there are multiple "crimes". So the only fools would be those that had the opportunity to do something about it and shrugged their shoulders.

[cutroot]

41. What if all of the Democrats in the house did not vote for impeachment?

How foolish would that look? We already know how the senate vote would go. Do you have information that Nancy Pelosi does not have?

[LiberalLovinLug]

46. Uh ...well I'd imagine that would never happen

No way they'd Go ahead without the assurance and commitment of a majority before the official vote in the House. Which would probably have to include and have the blessing of Nancy.

And there's also no way they'd initiate impeachment only to vote it down themselves. That would be a political disaster. Unless that was all part of Nancy's "extremely long game".

[Auggie]

44. Apples and oranges ...

Clinton wasn't running for re-election.

Besides, that was million years ago.

[brutus smith]

17. Everyday

That trump remains in office, the more he emboldens his base.

[CrispyQ]

25. Does it have to go to the Senate?

Have the hearings. Get the criminality of this administration on the six o'clock & ten o'clock network & local news, not just MSNBC & CNN.

If the dems don't impeach, Trump will campaign on "Even the dems don't think I did anything wrong." And if the economy goes to shit, by 2022 even republican senators will campaign on "I would have voted to impeach but the dems never started the inquiry."

Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. Why is it always the dems in this position & never the GOP?

[Perseus]

30. Please read Laurence Tribe's recommendation, no need to send it to the Senate

The importance to start impeachment proceedings is to allow Congress fact finding, to gather documents that have been subpoenaed but ignored, like the unredacted Muller report, the creature's tax returns, the creature organizations documents, etc.

Congress will be able to enforce the subpoenas via Impeachment.

Laurence Tribe suggests NOT SENDING IT TO THE SENATE, no need to do it because all the information will be out, the criminality of the creature and this administration will be open for everyone to see. It should only help Democrats come 2020, but not impeaching will hurt, I feel that is a miscalculation Pelosi is taking.

Impeachment proceedings must begin now.

[Auggie]

45. New evidense is emerging all the time. Now this Epstein case ...

opens up a new can of worms. Suppose there's smoking gun evidence linking Trump to sex with a minor?

I'm okay waiting a bit.

[Bluepinky]

59. Yep, voting him out is secondary. Expose all his crimes publicly.

Obtain the necessary documents, which filing for impeachment enables, hold public hearings and press conferences on the findings, and sway public opinion against him. Expose the crimes of Mitch, Pence and anyone else involved.

Start impeachment proceedings now, with or without plans to vote.

After he steals the next election, it’ll be too late to do anything about it.

[ProfessorPlum]

47. Impeachment is one step, a vote in the House

removal is a different thing entirely, and should be treated as such

[Auggie]

49. Yes! Which is why my biggest concern is that Trump uses such impeachment effort as vindication ...

failed OR successful.

I have confidence in Nancy Pelosi.

[Locrian]

11. spot on

This article in Slate shows why the "long" game is flawed as well. We don't want representatives who continue to kick the can down the road until the next election. You're setting up the long game to be "see, politicians, they're all the same - they never do anything"


https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/aoc-nancy-pelosi-squad-mainstream.html

Like many Democratic initiatives, this reasoning relies on a ’90s-style model of what the average voter wants—a collaborative relationship between the president and Congress, say, and conservative-leaning immigration policies. But that model doesn’t accord with polling in the Trump era.

In 2018, large majorities of voters across the U.S. consistently told pollsters that they wanted to see a Democratic Congress elected to act as “a check” on the administration.

This was true, as my colleague William Saletan pointed out at the time, not just in traditionally liberal areas but in swing states Trump won. In Arizona and Ohio, for example, voters—all voters, not just Democrats—said by 16-percentage-point margins (!) that their congressional votes were meant to “send a message that we need more Democrats to be a check and balance to Donald Trump” rather than to elect “Republicans who will help Donald Trump pass his agenda.”

[brutus smith]

18. +1000

[PatrickforO]

28. Well said. n/t

[LiberalLovinLug]

40. Great article!

I also agree with the title:

"AOC and “the Squad” Are Actually the Sensible, Mainstream Centrists in Their Fight With Nancy Pelosi"

[Dorn]

13. Pelosi is dead to me

1998 Clinton Impeached
2000 White House and House of Representatives controlled by Republicans
2002 Senate controlled by Republicans

Where is the darn long game?

[brutus smith]

19. Exactly!

[cwydro]

14. Boom!

Nail on head!

Recommended.

[Ace Rothstein]

15. No Action Nancy is going to wait around and watch Trump get re-elected.

[dalton99a]

22. The case will be stronger in the second term - there will be shit dropping out of his diapers

and then the Speaker will remind members that the House must defer to the Cabinet because of Article 25

[58Sunliner]

54. +1,000

[usaf-vet]

16. To me it is a sad commentary that the cartoonist have it figured out, Trump's agenda that is.

Yet as the days and weeks pass we are asked to trust that our congressional leader knows what our long term strategy should be to counter Trump and his grifters' destruction of our democracy and Constitutional rights.

It makes you wonder... at least it makes me wonder.

[Perseus]

36. Cartoonists are some of the first to figure these things out, they are usually brilliant people

And Tom Tomorrow has proven to be brilliant every time.

The sadness of it all is the fact that there are still so many people seeing what is happening or better yet, not happening and they still think Pelosi is doing the right thing, and to top it off she has now picked fights with the younger generation of Congress members, all that quarreling should have been conducted behind close doors. I am glad that Pelosi came to their defense after the creature's tweet though.

If the creature does not get impeached I am afraid Tom Tomorrow will be remembered as having drawn the future. We are becoming a Venezuela, which used to be a very beautiful place where people lived very happy, very free without the violence that exists today, and now people are eating from the garbage, no medicines can be found, thugs are armed up to their teeth robbing and killing innocent people, the regime is torturing innocent people, which is where Stephen Miller wants to go.

Anyone who believes that without impeachment the votes will not be hacked and the the creature doesn't have a chance come 2020 is dreaming. The GOP will cheat, Russia and who knows who else will help the creature get re-elected, we are getting into very dark times, if the creature doesn't get impeached we will enter the dark times.

[berni_mccoy]

20. Spot. Fucking. On.

[PatrickforO]

31. One last interesting observation.

At least I think it is interesting.

Some people on here that I really like, but who are a little further center, are conspicuously absent on this thread. I'm sorry for that.

But, as one person here has already said, this cartoon is spot on. We've passed the point when the long game stopped being the long game and began to be something else.

Time to officially begin impeachment hearings.

There's fucking concentration camps, for God's sake! Those need to be closed down now. Trump siced ICE on us to do Nacht und Nebel raids all over the US without proper warrants. This is bullshit and it is TIME TO CALL TRUMP ON THE CARPET AND END THE BULLSHIT.

[CaptainTruth]

33. And sadly, as long as the Senate won't convict, impeachment won't stop Trump.

We have to be realistic about that.

YES, I believe we SHOULD impeach, but this idea that Pelosi or anyone else has a magic wand they can wave & control Mitch McConnell & the Senate & somehow stop all of this crap, that idea is not based in reality.

[Perseus]

38. Please read Laurence Tribe's post

[link:https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwig08iU4LnjAhVum-AKHbZ9D0gQFjAAegQIABAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fopinions%2Fimpeach-trump-but-dont-necessarily-try-him-in-the-senate%2F2019%2F06%2F05%2F22d83672-87bc-11e9-a870-b9c411dc4312_story.html&usg=AOvVaw1n16RiBKyVpWUq4c3JBava|

[Raster]

39. Please stop with the magic wand crap...

...and yes, I said crap. It is the duty of Congress to uphold their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. I am tired of Pelosi's politicking and posturing. The case against tRump* MUST be presented to the American people. Once that is done, if the GOP* Senate refuses to do their duty, then we have them on record as formally abandoning their sworn responsibilities.

All this "we can't do anything because of the Senate" bullshit is just that, BULLSHIT. This is what gives cover to tRump*s Senate accomplices.

IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY NOW!

[58Sunliner]

56. Who said anything about a magic, straw-man, wand?

Your response is the equivalent of concern trolling.

[comradebillyboy]

34. I stand with Nancy.

[RelativelyJones]

43. Same here

[Skittles]

58. you are Panel # 4

[Raster]

35. Could. Not. Agree. More.

#ImpeachmentInquiryNow

[Nevermypresident]

48. K & R +1000

[KPN]

51. Impeach the bastard now! That's why we (Democrats) were handed control of the House in 2018

Voters put us there with expectations that a Democratic House would counter the plundering, corruption, bigotry and war mongering of the tRump admin and its GOP enablers!

Jesus Christ! We are frittering voter support away, not to mention our and the world's environment, civil rights achievements of the past 5 decades, and everything else that is good aboutg government and democracy. Start the damned impeachment proceedings now!

BY THE WAY, I called my Congressional delegatio , Pelosi's office, Nadler and Schiff again to express my support for and urge action on impeachment today!

[Jake Stern]

52. Stood with Nancy for as long as I could with this

but I now feel it's time. start the process, gather the evidence and put it out to the REAL jury, the American people.

[58Sunliner]

53. This really hits the spot. And it's effing scary as hell.

[bdamomma]

55. I agree with the four

ladies being harassed. Impeachment hearings please.

[ecstatic]

60. My sister voted for the first time in her life last year, to stop trump

It was NOT for bread and butter issues. Nancy has misread the situation entirely and I couldn't be more disappointed. I hope my sister will vote at least one more time next year, considering that her vote last year did nothing to stop trump.

[BeckyDem]

61. I don't understand why we can't go after Trump for human rights abuses that HE is responsible for

RIGHT NOW. They are ONGOING.