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► As The Washington Post reports, a half-filled Senate Judiciary Committee is moving ahead with the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court:
Judge Amy Coney Barrett moved one step closer to a seat on the Supreme Court as the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced her nomination with solely Republican support Thursday. Democrats boycotted the vote in protest of what they viewed as an illegitimate confirmation process.
The vote was 12 to 0, with no Democrats present to officially register their objections. Democratic senators boycotted the proceedings to protest Republicans’ fast-tracking the nomination of the 48-year-old conservative jurist within days of the Nov. 3 election. They argue that the president elected next month should fill the court vacancy.
“That was their choice,” committee chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said. “It will be my choice to vote the nominee out of committee. We’re not going to allow them to take over the committee.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said the full Senate will vote Monday on the Barrett nomination. Republicans, who hold a 53-to-47 majority, have the votes to install her on the court.
While McConnell apparently has the votes to seat Barrett on the Supreme Court, he hasn’t bothered with trying to corral enough Republican support for another coronavirus stimulus package. The lack of movement on a pre-election stimulus package has floored many Republican political observers and left GOP Senators like Cory Gardnerwith no good answers.
► Former President Barack Obama campaigned for Democrat Joe Biden in Philadelphia on Wednesday, offering up a very simple reason why voters should oust President Trump from office. From Chris Cillizza at CNN:
Amid the rhetoric, one specific set of lines jumped out at me as channeling what so many people — including Republicans who voted for Trump in 2016 — feel right now.
Here it is (bolding is mine):
“And with Joe and Kamala at the helm, you’re not going to have to think about the crazy things they said every day. And that’s worth a lot. You’re not going to have to argue about them every day. It just won’t be so exhausting.”
That, for me, is the best and most succinct argument that former Vice President Joe Biden can make in the closing 12 days of this race. Deciding to fire Trump and hire Biden isn’t about any specific policy or even any specific mistake that the incumbent has made. It’s about a country absolutely exhausted by Trump — his norm-busting, his misinformation, his junior high school bullying, and his tweeting, his tweeting, his tweeting…
► President Trump is still lashing out at “60 Minutes” over an interview recorded this week that Trump felt was not sufficiently sycophantic for his tastes. As he threatened earlier, Trump has released footage of an interview with Lesley Stahl that he apparently thinks makes him look good?
Grilled by Stahl about the irresponsibility of holding huge rallies that make a mockery of public health precautions during a pandemic, Trump has no defense other than insulting her and lying pic.twitter.com/UowM4rRrjE
Trump is also asked a question about when his administration is finally going to announce his new health care plan. Trump has been saying for years that the new plan will be announced in “a few weeks.” Guess what he says in this interview?
Oh, and Trump flat-out says that he hopes the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act.
More political (and coronavirus) news is available right after the jump…
Now Only Partially Coronavirus-Related…
► This is what you might call “lukewarm support.” Perhaps Republican elected officials in Colorado are getting tired of hearing about Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert’spenchant for just ignoring the law whenever it conflicts with her interests.
► Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman is being accused of leaking confidential information related to a discussion on homelessness. As The Aurora Sentinel reports:
A city council study session Monday quickly spiraled into a wide-ranging argument on homelessness policy, confidentiality and the role of the mayor when Councilmember Nicole Johnston accused Mayor Mike Coffman of leaking sensitive information discussed in council executive sessions.
Johnston and other councilmembers also said Coffman’s recent statements on social media had confused the public about the city’s stance on homelessness encampments during the pandemic and threatened ongoing negotiations to open a shelter.
Coffman denied violating any rules and announced he’ll introduce a city-wide camping ban to curb homeless encampments. The city’s attorney said Coffman had violated confidentiality rules of city council executive sessions.
The argument Monday, threaded with legalese, struck the center of a gripe some council members have with Coffman’s ambitious approach to the mayor’s seat. Coffman introduces his own policy proposals and regularly tweets his own views in the context of a city government system that doesn’t allow the mayor much power — at least, on paper. [Pols emphasis]
Coffman apparently wants to be a “strong mayor” in a city that is not set up for a “strong mayor” type of government. This is also typical of Coffman’s entire 30+ year political career: Spout off first, explain later.
► CBS4 Denver has more on the Colorado Secretary of State’s “misinformation” initiative.
► Two Colorado Members of Congress have helped to form a new “Space Force Caucus” in the House of Representatives.
► As The Denver Post’sJustin Wingerter writes for “The Spot” newsletter, Sen. Cory Gardner’s closing arguments are a bit silly:
Ask Republican Sen. Cory Gardner about Trump and he’ll tell you the Bureau of Land Management moved its headquarters here. Ask Gardner about Trump again and he’ll tell you he secured funding for a Pueblo-area water line. Ask Gardner about Trump again and he’ll tell you John Hickenlooper cannot be trusted.
The Republicans in Colorado’s two competitive federal races are framing their races in opposite terms. As Boebert nationalizes her race, Gardner localizes his.
Gardner knows his best chance at re-election is to convince Coloradans to think of him and his opponent as individuals, rather than representatives of their political parties. In an era of rank partisanship and very little ticket-splitting, it’s an almost impossible request of voters.
► 9News breaks down Proposition 118, the Paid Family Leave initiative.
► As The New York Times reports, President Trump’s re-election campaign is running on fumes:
President Trump’s campaign has far less money than advisers had once anticipated for the final stretch of the presidential election, as rosy revenue projections failed to materialize, leaving aides scrambling to address a severe financial disadvantage against Joseph R. Biden Jr. at the race’s most crucial juncture.
To close the budgetary shortfall, Mr. Trump has slashed millions of dollars in previously reserved television ads and detoured from the battleground states that will decide the election for a stop in California last weekend to refill his campaign coffers. He has also tried to jump-start his online fund-raising with increasingly aggressive tactics, sending out as many as 14 email solicitations in a day.
But Mr. Biden still entered October with nearly triple the campaign money as Mr. Trump — $177 million to $63.1 million — and is leveraging that edge to expand the battleground map just as Mr. Trump is forced to retrench.
► A district court judge in Denver sided with two Colorado churches in a lawsuit in which they pressed to be partially-exempt from mask requirements.
► Presidential adviser/attorney and former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani is in the news for all the wrong reasons. His response is to claim that this is all fake news — even though THERE ARE PICTURES AND VIDEOS of Giuliani.
►New polling from Quinnipiac University shows Joe Biden maintaining a (national) double-digit lead over President Trump. Perhaps more ominous for Trump and Republicans: Nearly 6 in 10 voters believe that the coronavirus outbreak is out of control in the United States.
► Concerning? Absolutely. Surprising? Not in the least.
“Dutch security researcher succeeded in logging into the Twitter account of the American President Donald Trump [who] had an extremely weak and easy to guess password [“maga2020!”] and had, according to the researcher, not applied two-step verification.” https://t.co/n4sKLJYGop
► Don’t miss the latest episode of The Get More Smarter Podcast, featuring interviews with health care activist Laura Packard and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.
Don’t forget to give Colorado Pols a thumbs up on Facebook and Twitter.
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October 22, 2020 11:39 AM UTC
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