Anyway, Senator "Liddle" Bob Corker (R-TN) may reconsider his decision to retire. Why? Short version: Rep. Marsha Blackburn is the likely Republican nominee to replace him, and... she's batshit crazy. I'm particular about that term. It's kind of my thing! She is "on my batshit list!"
Yes, here's that paper again! Going into the 2010 election, I put together a data set of the epithets that Google would suggest, using auto-complete, for every Member of Congress: idiot, stupid, moron, insane, crazy, nuts, and... batshit crazy! Google did not suggest any epithets, using auto-complete, for most Members of Congress. If Google's auto-complete feature suggested any epithets to go along with a Member of Congress's name, I described that legislator as being "on my batshit list." Sadly, Google has changed their algorithm to prevent the auto-complete feature from doing this anymore, but ahhh, t'was a glorious time.
Bob Corker did not make my batshit list. You know who did?
Oh, and making that list was associated with lower vote shares, both directly and by helping opponents raise money.
And the latest polls show Blackburn losing to Phil Bredesen.
Then, there's part of what's really going on.
Corker started drinking the Trump kool-aid. Remember when Corker talked about Trump debasing the nation? Remember when Corker pointed out the problems of Trump's instability and inability to manage basic executive tasks? Remember when... Remember when...
Remember when Corker said he wouldn't vote for any tax bill that would increase the deficit?
Remember when I called bullshit on that? Over and over and over again? (I apologize for my moment of doubt.)
Remember when he flipped and voted for a tax bill that increased the deficit?
When was the last time Corker did anything even remotely brave?
Since he finally admitted that his spine was jelly on that tax vote, Corker has been a good, "liddle," Trumpist. He won't cause any problems for anyone in the GOP. He won't vote against the party on anything, he won't criticize Trump anymore, and he won't go on tv and say the kind of crazy shit that put Marsha Blackburn on my batshit list.
That makes him the perfect Republican for the Trump era. Perfectly cowed by Donald, just like every other Republican politician in the country, but not likely to go on tv and embarrass the party the way true-believer Trumpists would.
The Republican Party has a plan. Ride out the Trump administration. Let him do whatever he wants, protect him from any criticism or investigation, have him sign whatever legislation they can pass, and it's a win-win. That model is dependent on congressional Republicans doing two things-- circling the wagons around Trump, but not going full Trump themselves.
Corker is now doing that. Once he flipped on the tax bill and stopped criticizing Trump, he became exactly what the party wants.
Will it work? Can he beat Blackburn? I don't know, at this point. Blackburn is full-on crazy, and in a Tennessee Republican primary, that's an advantage over the cowardly faker. Remember Alabama. Generally, bet on the incumbent, but Corker's retirement was a sign that he didn't think he was in a strong position. That's the problem of assessing these things. If the weak ones retire, we have what's called a "selection effect." In a Tennessee Republican primary, the true-believer nutjob may really have the advantage.
This is our world now. I'm sick of typing that.
*Did you know that Lewis Carroll was a mathematician? A good one. Plenty of the mathematical and scientific advances from which we benefit were developed by despicable pieces of fucking shit, and nothing is lower than a child molester. If you think about it too much, well... there's a great Dr. Who episode called "The Beast Below." We all suck! Welcome to The Unmutual Political Blog-- source for your daily dose of misanthropy.