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RIP Justice Ginsburg

I refuse to believe that any human being is beyond redemption, even Donald J. Trump. I'm not saying it is going to happen but there is no hope without possibility. I wasn't speaking about the legalities concerning Clinton. I do not care about them. Any President who lies to a grand jury and obstructs justice should be both impeached and removed from office. Period. Had I been a Democrat in office, I would have voted to remove him. That is just me. Whomever kept Reagen having Alzheimer's a secret should have been charged for lying to the American people. The list continues. This is just how I see things. I'm not arguing. Truth should be sacred to one nation under God. It no longer is.

I completely agree. Bono became a hero to me when he convinced George W. Bush to give funding for PEPFAR. The greater credit goes to him. Perhaps I should have mentioned this.. For me, it's a given. That being said, two people came together and helped millions. I'm trying to make some sense of what has happened over the past four years. I cannot type the obsenities I feel toward Mitch McConnell. You know how I feel about our current president. I was not arguing with you. I was being realistic that both sides are amped up for battle and need to chill. It's as it would be with naughty school children and its both sides. Democrats would be trying to get this nomination too, with or without what the Republicans did to Obama. It's the nature of our political divide. President Trump would not be without it. My argument is with that more than any party, even though I am a registered Democrat. We're gonna have to meet in the middle. I'm trying to find common ground from the left. I know it's idealistic but it's possible or we are screwed, Each side needs to forgive the other and put the good of our country ahead of their own political and personal agendas. My ideal vote goes to whomever can accomplish that. As sad as it is to say this, I think they may well get another appointee. I'm hoping otherwise. I don't think we are off topic in discussing this. It is a monumentous moment in our country's history for a number of reasons. Now her death is at the center of it. Let's hope people take notice and vote.

It not a matter of "wanting"; it's the matter that so much occurred during that administration that was completely reprehensible. It's hard to erase images like those from Abu Ghraib from the memory - that administration was directly responsible for those atrocious acts. PEPFAR was/is great - however, you are giving credit to GWB that more properly belongs to Bono. PEPFAR never would have occurred to GWB on his own without Bono's lobbying. Al Gore and John Kerry wouldn't have needed more than one meeting and most likely would have come up with more money. I give GWB credit for not rejecting an idea that was self-evidently good, but that's about it. It's good that you said that you don't think that I "blindly follow Democrats" because I don't. (Of course, your mentioning at all certainly implied it.) On the whole, I think the Democrats are actually too centrist too often. However, when the other party greedily embraces its lunatic fringe, you can't merely end up being appeasers in the guise of being "fair-minded". When extremists hijack a party, the only rational thing is to oppose. The Democrats weren't hypocritical during Clinton's impeachment. They listened to the evidence and realized that they couldn't justly remove a president from office for a personal failing. You are justly removed from office if you abuse the power of your office for political gain. This is why less than 100% of the Republicans in the House and Senate voted against him as well. They realized that it would have been an abuse of the impeachment process had they succeeded, and they would have had to own the decision eternally. A president who attempts to extort a country to come up with bogus opposition research against one's opponent in an upcoming election is a proper predicate for removal from office; one lying to cover up the fact one has had an affair is not. The Senate should have censured President Clinton for sure. However, once they went the impeachment route, they could only fairly vote they way they did. Thus, he stayed in office. (Bono called out the Republicans quite pointedly during that whole controversy as well, you know.) Yes, I miss the old days when there was more cooperation. However, from 1994 onward, one party has attempted to become more dictatorial as time has gone on; the other had to play defense against it. There isn't common ground for compromise in such an environment. Once we have fewer McConnells and Trumps in power, middle ground begins to exist again. Let's hope that happens sooner rather than later. Back on topic: R.I.P., RBG.

I'm sorry - I have to push back here because this is simply a false equivalence, vis a vis, Supreme Court nominations - this point is proven by simply the mention of one name: Merrick Garland. There is no one more nakedly partisan and extreme than Mitch McConnell - the only person remotely in the same neighborhood is the (thankfully, former) Congressman Newt Gingrich. He/they were/are/always will be absolutely shameless. Had there been a Republican president in 2016 and Chuck Schumer had been Senate Majority Leader, he never would have done what McConnell did back then - Mitch held that Supreme Court vacancy unfilled for almost 9 full months in advance of the 2016 election just for the chance to get in a Justice like Neil Gorsuch in 2017. Gorsuch has the spot that rightfully belongs to Garland. George W. Bush deserves to be trashed. Just because he allowed himself a moment of clarity due to Bono's persistent lobbying doesn't mean that he should bask in any glory. He did what was right with Africa, but he had to be strongly convinced to do so. His doing what was right in Africa doesn't make up for what his administration did in Iraq, Afghanistan, the prisoners who are still imprisoned without charge in Guantanamo, etc., etc. His administration, I thought, would be the worst administration of my lifetime after Nixon's - unfortunately, and unbelievably, he has been dethroned by the current administration. They have no right to fill this seat before next year. I do think that Trump and McConnell will be hypocritical and shameless enough to try. What we have to hope for is that enough Republican senators finally grow a conscience and a spine sufficient enough to prevent McConnell from doing so. Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, to her credit, has already taken such a position; let's hope at least 3 more Republican senators see the light too. RGB does not deserve to be replaced by another Brett Kavanaugh-type Justice. Back on topic: R.I.P., RGB.