Senate Republicans State Intentions To Stall Obama Nominations
By CSPANJunkie Saturday Dec 13, 2008 10:30amDecember 11, 2008 C-SPAN
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, brings up the Marc Rich affair and says he wants Eric Holder to answer more questions about it before he'll allow his nomination as attorney general to advance:
The position of attorney general, although it's appointed by the president, is very different from all the rest of the appointments. Because he is all of us, every citizen in this country, the chief law-enforcement officer of this land. His loyalty is not to the president, his loyalty has to be to the Constitution. It has to be to the responsible bodies that guide this country.
And although if we in fact have hearings early, we will have to have additional hearings. We will not allow a vote to occur until we have thoroughly, to each member of the Judiciary Committee's satisfaction, have that examined the record, and had the questions answered that are going to need to be answered with regard to some of the events that have taken place late in the Clinton administration.
Gotta wonder if Democrats will remember crap like this when Republicans begin mewling about "bipartisanship" again -- that is, when it suits them.
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ya...thats what he said when he was rubber stamping all of the bush appointees
I say Nuke Em....
They really wanted to pass the nuclear option in 2005.
I say lets give it to them
Exxxactly!!!!!
"His loyalty is not to the president, his loyalty has to be to the Constitution. It has to be to the responsible bodies that guide this country."
sorry, I got something in my throat when I read this.
Gonzales Gonzales Gonzales Gonzales Gonzales Gonzales Gonzales Gonzales Gonzales Gonzales Gonzales Gonzales
Why all of the sudden do they look for integrity in an AG. We went through the slimiest weasel in AG history with Alberto.
And that's exactly why we have to "put our long, national nightmare" behind us (again) and move on.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Stop rattling skeletons.
Stop dwelling on the past, and move forward.
Give Joe Lieberman his knife back.
Give Karl Rove a purchase order chit so that he can replace the hard drive from his computer that he had to take out and crush to destroy evidence.
You know..cooperative, BIPARTISAN stuff like that.
... and that is why Obama is leaning us with another asshole (albeit not as big of a dick) as his AG.
Obviously he considers that if we were cold turkey with a competent, decent, and somewhat progressive AG, we all would go into collective shock.
Or is he better staying in Chicago?
Because 'bipartisan' means both getting together to do whatever the fuck Republicans say.
Republicans state their intentions to be dickheads that hate America...again.
The repubs didn't have a super majority (just look at a previous post) and yet they got everything they wanted because the dems were so weak and powerless being in the minority. Then when the dems get a comparative majority, they're too weak and powerless because they don't have a super majority so all they can do is let the repubs get everything they want.
Either the worthless dems like being bullied or they're actually repubs running as dems.
shit, ford pardoned nixon
this is such a bs issue
Given the Urban Dictionary definition of "Nixon", I guess you could also say "Nixon, Ford pardoned Shit."
because they make the president's office to be above the law. Which is exactly how Nixon, and every GOP presidency afterward has felt.
Attention President-elect Obama and Senate Dims . . . The Goopers will not work with you for ANY reason. They will kick you (and us) in the bawls every chance they get. They've pretty much declared war on us.
In fact they think you're a weakling for the namby-pamby bipartisan dreck you've been mewling.
Stop bringing a knife to a gunfight and start using the skills that won you the presidency before the corporate media declares your term Carteresque.
I am beginning to think the democrats an republicans are playing good-cop, bad-cop against the working people. The repukes just flat out are trying to destroy us (no compunction what-so-ever), while the dems act like they care and are reasonable.
Then they high five each other after screwing the shit out of the American people again! How else could you explain the democratic leadership? These people (Reid and Pelosi) are beyond incompetent.
Either that, or they are in on the take.
They're doddering -- as in 'doddering old fools'
Actually he brought a spork.
Need the nuclear option shoved right up their asses then.
And someone needs to tell Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma to ask 'Scooter' Libby all about Marc Rich, since he was the guy's attorney for years -- up until 2000. Rich created the spot market for crude oil in the 1970s. I'm surprised the Thugs aren't lining up to suck his dick.
Marc Rich = Friend of the Thugs.
Obama needs to tell Reid that "if these obstructionist dickhead's try to derail fixing America, that for the good of the country, give them a nuclear option enema!"
Believe me, the repukes are not going to be in the Senate majority again for decades, so who cares about niceties! These sociopath's have already proven this week that they hate this country, and the American people.
Put them in their place, NOW!!!
Letting 40 Senators from the most ignorant, backward, bigot-idiot states hold the rest of the country hostage - is rediculous!
John Poindexter -- ok, Marc Rich -- not. So some pardons (like the Bush41 of Iran Contra criminals, criminals who dicked with the security of the world, no doubt wet work was involved) are AOK, the guy doesn't need vetting -- hell we already know HE's a criminal, but tax evader pardon = scorched earth policy.
And Poindexter was Still a fucking criminal running DARPA. I wonder if anyone's gotten 2 Presidential Pardons in a lifetime.
But what if holder is not the right nominee for an administration of change?
Its not just he pardon, which makes him look corruptable. It is also his position on even tougher drug laws, including mandatory minimums for marijuana.
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/11/18/2147...
Don't put your horse blinders on. There is one hell of a lot of corruption going on. (and yes support for tougher drug laws may be linked to corruption in that it supports longer sentences at private prisons and prevents competition to the pharmecuetical industry)
I hate this Obama choice for AG!
How in the hell can we claim any high ground when going after Bush criminals, when we place a corrupto into the same AG position.
Obama dropped the ball on this one. His first bad decision. Everything I have read about Holder gives me reservations. I don't like corrupt politicians of any stripe! Holder fails the smell test! Bad choice!
This is one big democrat and republican circle jerk. Very few of them are to be trusted and that is not enough to govern.
Third party or revolution is our only hope.
Iglesias or Fitzgerald would have been better choices. Fitzgerald would probably scare the hell out of both sides of the aisle if he were A.G.
Fitzgerald would be a brilliant pick. The fact that Fitzgerald doesn't play 'good ol' boy' politics, while at the same time I don't think he fears the 'good 'ol boys' and doesn't affiliate himself with any one party is why I like him. It's all about the law with him, and that's the way it should be.
Agreed.
...administration of change?"
Then they would love Holder. It is problematic, but the Thugs and Dems have made this shit lined nest, and now they have to live in it. Even if they have a legitimate gripe, prior bad acts make it impossible for most if not all people to question the motives of these superannuated POSs that are clogging up the road to progress.
Loads of Dems voted for that asshole Roberts. My asshole Dem Sen told me it was in the spirit of 'Cooperation.' How'd that work for ya, Patty Murray? Like all your other DINO moves, not to good, eh?
Why is it that Southern politicians are the biggest hypocrites? I figure if we let them start their own country, they can whine at each other and quit wasting everyone else's time.
And quit getting $1.60 BACK FROM THE FEDS FOR EVERY $1.00 THEY SEND IN. These GOP welfare queens couldn't last 3 years without the rest of us.
They are like the idiot family member that does nothing but cause trouble, take from everyone else, and then tell the adults how horrible they are because they aren't treating them like grown-ups! They are useless!
When he says there is no question we need to look at the pardon of a criminal yada, yada,yada ...
He showing off his stupidity. The President has absolute right to pardon and guess what jackass ,they have been convicted. Duh.
What's this next round of unending investigations going to be called.
White water, been taken.
Black water, that might be tainted.
How about frothy water so we know what's coming.
Wonder if they will have a problem with Bush when he premptively pardons his entire cabal of criminals upon leaving office?
Nope, didn't think so.
I am continuously amazed, confused and pissed off over how the "minority" republicans can and do run roughshod over the mousy and pacifist democrats. Where was this bullshit diatribe while Bush, Cheney and Ashcroft, Gonzalez and Mukasey have been creating their own constitution?
There was one, SWEET exception! That time when Nancy Pelosi shut down the debate over offshore oil drilling, adjourned the House, turned off the lights, microphones and C-SPAN cameras, and left the Republicans to make their bombastic speeches IN THE DARK.
While the offshore drilling ban was allowed to expire anyway, the way Pelosi handled the Republican blowhards that time was pretty gratifying.
Yes, republicans know all about stalls
Especially in airport bathrooms.
when Republicans begin mewling about "bipartisanship" again..."
Nope.
Republicans up for re-election in 2010.
* Richard Shelby of Alabama
* Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
* John McCain of Arizona
* Mel Martinez of Florida - will not run in 2010 (announced 12-02-08)
* Johnny Isakson of Georgia
* Mike Crapo of Idaho
* Chuck Grassley of Iowa
* Jim Bunning of Kentucky
* David Vitter of Louisiana
* Kit Bond of Missouri
* Judd Gregg of New Hampshire
* Richard Burr of North Carolina
* George Voinovich of Ohio
* Tom Coburn of Oklahoma
* Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania
* Jim DeMint of South Carolina
* John Thune of South Dakota
* Bob Bennett of Utah
That's 18 of them. Almost half of the 41 or 42 Republicans in the Senate.
LA Times says 19 R seats & 15 D seats up for election, so evidently this list omits one Republican.
is wrong. Been known to happen.
Shelby, Bennett, Isakson, Crapo, Murkowski, Coburn, Bunning, Specter and DeMint are probably shoe ins for re-election. Throw everything we got at the rest of em.
First, I think the correct expression is "shoo-in".
Second, Lisa Murkowski caused a lot of bad blood in Alaska over the way she got her appointment to the Senate in 2002, and that carried over when she ran for a full term in 2004. Her father, Frank Murkowski, who was in the Senate, resigned when he was elected Governor. He then named his daughter to the seat. That Senate appointment was one issue Sarah Palin used to defeat Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary when he ran for reelection in 2006. In addition, Lisa Murkowski has been involved in some questionable business deals, a la Ted Stephens and Don Young.
Third, Jim Bunning was barely reelected in 2004, and it was obvious then that his faculties are failing. He edged out State Senator Dan Mongiardo, who now serves as Lieutenant Governor. If Bunning runs again, he's clearly vulnerable.
Specter and Voinovich are toast! That makes 61 after Franken!
I'll be very surprised if Vitter runs again, but if he does, he can probably be convinced to throw the race in exchange for a rim job. Other than that, we can leave the Dixiecrats in place, and not bother wasting resources in those states. Concentrate on Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Utah.
You mean like those hubcaps that continue moving, even though you're stopped at a red-light?
Something like that. Especially the part about stopping at a red light.
The republicans will do this continually and chalk it up to them being the loyal opposition. The problem is that our leaders play schoolyard games with our lives. If the 2 party system died a natural death, perhaps our best and brightest would actually want to become politicians. As it is, most sane people avoid these jobs like the plague because of what they would have to do to succeed.
Deputy Dog is on the case, with his "bi-partisan" approach!
Lieberman's more like Droopy.
is that the new President doesn't need to concern himself with the rule of law or ask for permission from congress to staff his cabinet. The previous Salamander and Thief has established precedence that obliterate the inefficiencies inherent in an archaic system based on checks and balances. Repukes and Dinos alike are relegated to do nothing more than watch the "genie" fly from the bottle.
I've been calling boosh the Pretender and Thief.
Afterall salamanders are the embodiment of the Watchtower of the South (Fire.)
We should have let the south succeed when we had the chance.
...and never have admitted Utah and Oklahoma. We would have been well on our way to an enlightened, advanced and forward thinking country.
Hell, throw Alaska in the pot, too!
you betcha!
The only way the South could have succeeded with these bozos running it would have been the continuation of institutional slavery.
From slavery to sharecropping to "Right To Work," the right-wing doesn't know how to run a functional economy without a foundation of indentured servitude. Rather than let them secede, I think we should have expelled their lazy asses & given their land over to the former slaves and First Nations people that it was stolen from.
Here we have something worse than the Charlie Brown football scene. We have Lucy telling Charlie Brown (Tepid Tea Reid) she will pull the football away, while Charlie Brown tells everyone how much he looks forward to working as a team with Lucy.
can now take time off, and golly-gee! Obama can appoint whomever he wishes. Sauce for the Goose.
head of the Waffen SS, I mean, department of homeland security is going to be?
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano will now be in charge of changing the colored light bulbs on the "threat level" board.
Favorite line from Red Dwarf:
Rimmer: "I think we need to go to blue alert status."
Kryten: "Blue alert status on."
Rimmer: "I think we need to go to yellow alert status."
Kryter: "Are you sure that's really necessary, sir?"
Rimmer: "Quite sure."
Kryten: "You DO realize that involves changing the bulb."
The f%$!n hypocrites. After all the shit the Repukes have pulled and will pull before the end of the term; this is it. With the amount of pardons Bush will make before the end of his term the Marc Rich affair will look like a Girl Scout outing. Agree that Reid and Palosi have to be the most useless pols in existence. Obama should let it be known that maybe he will have to go after Gonzales or Rove or Cheney or all of them as war criminals even if pardoned. Bushco proved they could be above the law and get away with it so maybe Obama should tell them some hardball may come down on them if they continue this shit. No matter what he does or doesn't do the Repukes will not stop with the smears (look how they are trying to involve Obama with Blagojevich)any time soon.
the (R) is so fearful of Obama getting a second term the smears will be often and dramatic as linguistically possible. the elites/wannabees are afraid there good work to destroy the middle class with the following strategies:break unions,cheap labor, expensive college education,debt,........will NOT be long lasting.
'The Marc Rich Affair' is or was at sometime important, worthy of a title, even. You want to see the real crime in issuing pardons, look at Poppy Bush's Iran-Contra activities.
Marc Rich was 1 in 150 or so real lucky assholes that year, that got a walk on their federal crimes.
When They say 'Marc Rich,' they're really saying "Clinton got a BJ in the Oval Office and WE had the fucking balls to impeach the fucker for something most of us have done right here on Capitol Hill. Either with a purty lady, a young page or any of the hundreds of lobbyists who come to DC just to give BJs to COngresspeople." It's code.
It's also them saying "The black guy ain't getting the post, and all y'all can blame Bubba Clinton for that."
It's a big "FUCK YOU" to the entire country, as a bonus to these asswipes.
No, no no no NO!
Bill Maher already made a new rule about that. Check it out at the 2:40 mark. The part about "now that you've lost, Republicans have to agree not to spend the next four years wasting everyone's time screaming for investigations of Barak Obama over made up bullshit."
Does this half-wit idiot realize that if we get an AG loyal to the Constitution that bush, cheney, rumsfeld, ascroft, gonzales, rice, perle, feith, etc, and a whole bunch of US Senators will all be spending the rest of their lifes behind bars in maximum security prison cells? Does he realize that?
And that's why they want to derail Eric Holder.
John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, last year:
"I would ask the Chairman, again, to push forward with hearings and give the nominees an opportunity for an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor."
Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, 2005:
"My goal is restoring the principle of fair up or down votes on judicial nominees. However, if the minority again acts in bad faith – if they resume their campaign of routine judicial obstruction – I will ask all 100 senators to decide whether judicial nominees deserve fair up-or-down votes.
I could go on, but the point is obvious. Republican = Hypocrite.
And they were saying this AFTER Jesse Helms almost alone held up 300 of Bubba's appointees to the courts. And then they complained about the long term vacancies.
Oh great the devil took care of him.
Republicans push confirmation within three weeks for Ashcrof and Magic Bullet man Lawyer Specter pointed out Gonzales by Constituional Law had to be confirmed in 3 weeks even if Gonzales didn't answer questions that were acceptable to the committee.
Now the good old boys are looking to hold up confirmation by questioning Scooter Libby's client Marc Rich. These guys have known Eric Holder and even confirmed him form 1992-2000 now they have questions. President Clinton is pardon Marc Rich not Deputy Eric Holder and these guys know it. I wonder with the thousands of names Bush has to pardon will the good old boys question that action. Obama is a sharp Constitutional Law and knows if the boys continue he will but an interm AG in office. Yes let's see if the boys know Patrick J. Fitzgerald or any of the fired Attorneys. That would be a nightmare for GOP criminals. Iglesias and others who are Republican lawyers have said they would be willing to help the New President in anyway.
The person who talks most about bi-partisanship is Barack Obama. If their actions on the auto loans didn't show him that the Greedy Old Perverts have no intention of working with him then this should surely wake him up.
Where were these Republican senators hiding when Gonzalez, and Mukasey were up for confirmation?
No Republican in the House or Senate should have the chutzpah to make a sound for the next 8 years. If anything, they should be indicted as co-conspirators with Bush and Cheney for treason, subversion of the Constitution, and crimes against humanity.
So typical of those jerk Repukes. When in power they serve us warmed-over NeoCon crap year after year, then suddenly become the guardians of integrity and process when in the minority? They wouldn't know integrity if it bit them in the ass. What a bunch of cowards. And you can take the whole bunch of those Dixie Repubs and send them on a boat to Cuba. They wouldn't be missed.
Maybe we are not being nice enough to the repugs, maybe we should bent over even more and spread wider and ask pretty please?
I can't wait to see in which creative way the Dems will manage to capitulate to this hot air...
They keep saying this country is center right, center right. They think the more they say it the more you will believe it.
Surely, Coburn knows what a fu**** clown he is.
Where were these Repukes when Gonzales and John Yoo were shredding the U.S. constitution?
One of the Dems should have responded to that idiot and put him in his place.
In the last eight years U.S. citizens have been busy picking their noses and watching American Idol. I wonder what the Greek would have done had they had this government.
George Soros?
Soros gave to democratics campaign just like Murdock. What is the difference? It is so funny all you republicans can say is Soros as if he runs the party. Please give us a break will ya. Murdock owns Fox news, talk radio and newspapers that carry a right leaning tilt. So come off your high horse.
Republican white collar values on parade:" As investors from Palm Beach to New York to London counted their losses on Friday in what Mr. Madoff himself described as a $50 billion fraud, federal authorities took control of what remained of his firm and began to pore over its books.
But some investors said they had questioned Mr. Madoff’s supposed investment prowess years ago, pointing to his unnaturally steady returns, his vague investment strategy and the obscure accounting firm that audited his books.
Despite these and other red flags, hedge fund companies kept promoting Mr. Madoff’s funds to other funds and individuals. More recently, banks like Nomura, the Japanese firm, began soliciting investors for Mr. Madoff internationally. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which investigated Mr. Madoff in 1992 but cleared him of wrongdoing, appears to have been completely surprised by the charges of fraud."
Impose the nuclear option on any filibuster of Holder's nomination and tell the Republican senators that the era of requiring 60 cloture votes on every piece of legislation is bleeping over. Either you're with the American people or you're against us. Sound familiar? This takes balls and I'm not sure that Harry Reid has a pair.
A 'little" perspective on how that $15 Billion for blue collar workers fits in compared to Wall Street:
Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve refused a request by Bloomberg News to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral." That's two TRILLION, friends.
what these people have done to them they will turn to their true nature and go postal we can only hope that they do it where their representitives are.
These are the people that deserve some very bad luck for a change.
Just a couple things.
1. Eric Holder didn't pardon anybody. Clinton did.
2. Just wait until Bush starts his pardon party. Colburn will be looking for a hole to climb in.
Why do these Republicans hate the U.S.A.?
What gall he has. Really what gall the republicans have. This administration has lied and cheated the american public since they came into power. Gonzo has done so much to the DOJ that Holder comes off looking like a choir boy. These republicans are mean spirited and are looking to put anything in the way of Obama. The funny thing is they come off looking terrible just like trying to stop the big 3 getting financial help. Everyone knows they are trying to bust the union.
Will GOP hissy-fits become a thing of the past, droll to say the least, now they are the laughing-stock of the planet? The big question in 2009.
WHAT WILL SENATOR COLBURN SAY WHEN HE HEARS ABOUT BUSH'S LIST OF PARDONS?
WHAT A HIPPO-CRITE !!
why Republicans are SO MUCH more effective at being the minority party? I don't get it? When Democrats were the minority, the Republicans had their way with them on each and every issue. Basically, Democrats were stuffed in a corner and shit on. Now that they're the minority, they still seem to have control......much more than I think they should......it's very frustrating!?
The Demos are wimps. What other excuse is there.
What is Coburn's view of Mukasey? Coburn did say that he was among the first republicans to call for AG Gonzales to resign. Good for him. But he supported him even while he was busily involved in some of the very worst dirty work of the bush administration. Did Coburn ever object to Ashcroft for any reason while that man was AG? Hasn't Mukasey at times put president bush ahead of the American people since he has been AG? Mukasey has been one of bush's biggest cheerleaders since he was appointed AG and he has not necessarily put the nation or the American people first, ahead of even the president, when it was a matter that he felt he needed to support the president. I suppose that for Coburn, that's ok. Some people think that the Rich pardon by the Clinton administration was an example of the perfect reason for the president to exercise his power of the pardon. The reason for that being the crime for which Mr. Rich was being prosecuted was more a crime that should have been tried in a civil lawsuit rather than as a federal RICO case. But, sometimes, I don't think you can talk sense to some people and they will want to make a stand against being rational just on the grounds of being the opposition. That's been a lot of the sickness of Washington DC. That's one of the things that has to change. It cannot be allowed to go unchecked. If it's true that the Rich case should more appropriately have been tried as a civil matter and not as a federal case, the objection that some Senators like Coburn may have about Holder is moot. And, besides, Holder was an assistant AG at the time. The case that those who object to his nomination are trying to make is that he was the principle actor in the Rich pardon. I have my doubts about that.
The Republicans will not work with Obama- they will try and destroy America, so they can turn around and blame Obama.
The U.S. Senate has become a national embarrassment.
Mostly this is due to the 60 vote filibuster rule that Republicans have taken to abuse levels beyond anything that the founding fathers could have imagined. And that Harry Reid and the Democrats are unwilling to call Republicans on their filibuster threats just shows how stupid the whole legislative body called the U.S. Senate is.
If I was Harry Reid, the next time Republicans threatened a filibuster, I would call them on it. I would keep the Senate in session and force the Republicans to talk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week until they fall down from sleep deprivation.
Harry Reid needs to be replaced. Democrats would be wise to find a majority leader with a backbone. Look what Reid did for Lieberman! In fact, if you look back over the last two years, Reid has rolled over so many times for the White House that even the White House dog Barney is starting to get a little jealous.
you beat me to what i was going to comment. i absolutely agree. let them fall in their chairs with a real filibuster. the Founding Fathers used debate to come to compromise positions for the welfare of the neation. it's how the country was founded from the Declaration of Independence forward. it worked for two centuries with amazing results.
not only does Reid have to go, so does Pelosi. This good cop, bad cop ploy they've been using is a farce. she talks big but there ain't much of a follow-through. Reid is not just spineless, he's clueless too. the Repub's are using him as their fool, just like Lieberman did.
Coburn may be a Rethug, but I have no objection to asking Eric Holder questions about his involvement in Bill Clinton's sleazy Marc Rich pardon. If we want Barack Obama's administration to be as clean as possible, then we should fear no such inquiries. In fact, we should insist on them. Would you rather have yet another Attorney General that is willing to be used as a political tool?
One can only hope that this is only a public stall..the REAL issue is that privately Holder has expressed his intentions to PROSECUTE Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzo, et. al. for WAR CRIMES and it's scaring the crap out of Repubs...
One can hope, right??
The strategy of the Republican Party should be clear by now. They intend to govern as a minority through obstruction, using arcane Senate rules on filibuster and personal privilege. They have been doing it since 2006. From all indications the Democrats, who have a fifth column of DLC Blue Dogs to contend with, no party discipline and an accommodating leadership intend to let them do it.
Gotta wonder if Democrats will remember crap like this when Republicans begin mewling about "bipartisanship" again -- that is, when it suits them.
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Partisanship always rears its ugly head, regardless which side is doing it. speaker Pelosi talked about a bi-partisan effort to get a 700 billion bailout bill passed, then took a partisan swipe at the people whose votes she needed, just before the vote.
Republicans wanted up or down votes on Bush nominees while they had the majority, but stalled Clinton nominees. As a democrat is President again, up or down amnesia developes again. Democrats who filibustered republicans when the democrats were the minority, now want a fillibuster proof majority. Both parties do the flip flop, when it suits their need.
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