There are two easy ways to fail as a Democratic politician. The first is to listen to the bobbleheads in the media, and the second is to listen to the online left on twitter and elsewhere. The Biden campaign famously ignored both of them, including yours truly, who consistently lobbied for him to not run. So when you see the Politico writing that Biden and Harris fucked up by having Harris speak to West Virginians, or you see the dumbest man in American politics call it a mistake, ignore it.
There is a reason VP Harris spoke directly to West Virginians, as I noted the other day, and here you have the fruits of that labor:
“Well, first and foremost, I wish we’d all come together,” Justice responded. “But, on the flip side of that, we’ve got a lot of people in West Virginia that are still struggling with paying their power bill because they got laid off because this pandemic just swept their job away from them.”
Justice continued: “What we need to do is we need to understand that trying to be, per se, fiscally responsible at this point in time, with what we’ve got going on in this country, if we actually throw away some money right now, so what?”
The governor added that “we have really got to move and get people taken care of and get people back on balance. I want to work with the Biden administration, just like I worked with the Trump administration, and I want us to move forward.
That was Republican governor Jim Justice, when asked by the state’s biggest political radio guy, Hoppy Kerchival, whether or not the COVID stimulus needs to be bipartisan. The only people who give a fuck about Joe Manchin and whether or not this was a mistake by the Biden team are Joe Manchin and the beltway morons. Governor Justice and the people don’t give a fuck about process or procedure or whose feelings were hurt, they want results. They don’t give a shit about bipartisanship or Rand Paul’s feels about the budget, they want to feed the kids and keep the power on and make sure grams doesn’t die from the ‘rona.
And for those of you who are unaware how much of a big deal this is, Jim Justice was a Republicans who switched to Democrat and was Manchin’s hand picked successor to run, blunting a challenge from the left with Democrats Booth Goodwin and Jeff Kessler, eventually defeating Republican Bill Cole (no relation) in the general election. So this is Manchin’s boy ignoring him.
And you know what? Pelosi and Schumer just did this:
As President Joe Biden attempts to pass his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal with Republican support, Senate Democrats are working to move ahead without the GOP using an obscure, but powerful, procedural tool known as reconciliation.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Monday that they have filed a joint budget resolution — the first step to potentially enacting a budget reconciliation bill.
“It makes no sense to pinch pennies when so many Americans are suffering,” Schumer said in floor remarks Monday. “The risk of doing too little is far greater than the risk of doing too much.”
Pelosi and Schumer would not do this if they did not have the votes, so what you can bank on right now is that Manchin is one of those 51 votes in the Senate. So no, Biden and Harris didn’t fuck up by going directly to the people of WV and Arizona. They got Manchin and Sinema in line.
West of the Cascades
I detest how “passing a bill by majority vote” has become “an obscure, but powerful, procedural tool.” Filibuster delenda est
ETA exactly how obscure is it, when the only two significant legislative acts by the Republicans in four years of the last administration were attempted through reconciliation? (the 2017 tax cuts, and the failed repeal of the ACA)
billcinsd
The third way is to listen to the Third Way centrists
Baud
Spot on, Cole.
I hate that the media is making it seem like they’re doing something unprecedented.
Baud
@billcinsd:
True, but they are really largely extinct.
Garbo
The thing about a shot across your bow, Joey, is that you don’t get a heads up. Maybe next time you want to shoot your mouth off about how Biden’s agenda is a non-starter, you’ll remember that Kamala is just a short flight away.
debbie
We are in uncharted territory. May the next four years be filled with many instances of Democrats outmaneuvering the GOP!
Chetan Murthy
John, you left out that Justice switched right back to being a GrOPer, once he’d been elected. And yet here he is, here he is, here he is, screaming for as much relief as possible, as fast as possible, damn the torpedoes.
ETA: sorry, you did mention he was “Republican Governor Jim Justice”. I just didn’t notice it by the time I got to the part about him switching parties to run.
Ken
@Baud: They might at least add “as used by the Republicans to pass their much-disliked tax cuts.”
BruceFromOhio
This, this, this. Gaia save us all, fix these things first. Then go wake up the idiots from their fainting couches. And fuck Rand Paul, that guy is just another soulless anachronistic asshole.
The Moar You Know
Biden was in the Senate for almost forty fucking years. You gonna tell me he doesn’t know how to get something done? Pelosi and Schumer? Same deal.
(which is what every media outlet in America, left right, center or Martian, is doing right now)
Guess if all you have is bullshit, you gotta sell it somewhere, but I’m tired of hearing how supposedly my people don’t know what they are doing.
Barbara
Although I have my eye rolling moments with West Virginia, like a lot of the time, I remind myself that Red state or not, WV expanded Medicaid lickety split. Normal rules of governance dictate that you don’t make your constituents suffer just to prove a political point. Good for Justice.
Nicole
It’s almost like… we want a career politician because career politicians know how things work and how to get things done… huh. Experience is GOOD. Hoocoodanode?
I think a lot about what Kay said in the spring about governors- what they really want is 4% unemployment and no crises. Gov. Justice’s comment is exactly what a governor should be saying.
BruceFromOhio
@Garbo:
I apologize for hijacking your words, this is what the people in my head heard when I read your comment.
MomSense
An underrated quality MVP Harris and Pres Biden share is the ability to play hardball while presenting as warm and reasonable. Also, too Jen Psaki. The way she handles the press corpse is beautiful to behold.
Patricia Kayden
bbleh
I’m also kinda thinking that a big chunk of this is kabuki. It doesn’t cost anybody a thing for Manchin to complain that Harris didn’t clear her speech with him first, but it does let him pose as the Big Boy With The Swing Vote who isn’t gonna let anyone push him around. And now there’s at least one story about how the WH are “consulting closely” with Manchin, i.e., yessir, Senator Swingvote sir, we heard you loud and clear, and we’ll never make a mistake like that again, no sir!
Also, I figure Manchin knows which side of the bread the butter is on, and it ain’t the Beltway Media side …
Geminid
I like how cohesive the Senate Democratic Caucus has been thus far. There has been very little if any intra-party sniping. They can get a lot of good work done if they hang together, and Democratic House leaders can keep their caucus intact. So far, so good.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Barbara:
More proof that Missouri is ‘special’. <sigh>
Geoboy
@Ken: Instead of “much disliked” tax cuts, let’s go with “budget busting”, “deficit enlarging” tax cuts.
Sebastian
While they are at it they should pass the Trickle Down Act which taxes every income and inheritance above $1bn at 90% and distributes it as cash payment.
Accounts in Caymans, Panama, etc are seized completely.
Immanentize
@Garbo: Kamala don’t need to fly. She can Zoom in.
bbleh
@MomSense: This. Biden does the lovable-yet-sensible Golden Retriever thing while his very close-mouthed and very competent staff go about their efficient knife work.
I guess they did learn a thing or two during the Obama years.
randy khan
@The Moar You Know:
One of the arguments I heard repeatedly from MAGAs during the campaign was that Biden was in the Senate for 40 years and got nothing done. (It was a meme, naturally, that nobody ever bothered to check.) It was kind of a pleasure to point out all the things that he did get done. He understands the Senate quite well.
jeffreyw
Anything good on Apple TV?
Cheryl Rofer
It’s not just governors.
Immanentize
@Cheryl Rofer: That is good Biden work. I bet the mayors will soon be followed by a tweet about governors. Because they want to be on the side of delivering for their own.
West of the Cascades
@Cheryl Rofer: Any chance that first line of signatures has the names of the next Senators from Ohio and Florida??
Chetan Murthy
@Immanentize:
Somebody knows how to wield a shiv. Damn.
featheredsprite
It is a pleasure to have an administration on our side that understands the rules of street fighting.
Cheryl Rofer
@Immanentize: Gonna get harder and harder for Republican senators to drag their feet.
@West of the Cascades: We report, you decide!
Barbara
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: I didn’t want to say it, but here it is: increasingly, states that are refusing to expand Medicaid simply don’t see the people who need Medicaid as constituents to be served. The Idahos and Nebraskas of the world have seen referenda overturn the political virtue signaling of their political classes. Here in Virginia, it took a u-turn from red to blue to get a few Republican hold outs to stop bleating about personal responsibility. They came up with some work requirement, which our governor agreed to and then promptly dropped as soon as the majorities changed. I am sorry Missouri can’t seem to work either one of those solutions.
BruceFromOhio
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
Flip it over, and you just might be in Michigan.
Benw
Move fast, fix stuff
Cheryl Rofer
@Benw: Did you see that Dan Froomkin himself replied to your earlier comment on that thread?
Immanentize
@Chetan Murthy: or a carrot. Right now, this is about carrots.
burnspbesq
Abbott should accept that he’s going to be primaried by the crackpots next year no matter what happens, and just do the right thing for suffering Texans. But he won’t.
BruceFromOhio
@West of the Cascades:
I’m down for it if Nan Whaley wants to run, her CV checks the right boxes for me.
To be Frank
so Gov. Justice has put his name on the list of pragmatic R’s bringing the list to, <checks notes> (is this right?) one.
West of the Cascades
@BruceFromOhio: Thanks! And Google tells me Francis X. Suarez (Mayor of Miami) is a registered Republican (oops).
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
How does Chris Cilizza still have a job?
Roger Moore
@bbleh:
I’m sure a lot of it is. I think Manchin in particular has a lot of good liberal instincts but is afraid of getting too far ahead of his constituents.
Baud
When Biden spoke of unity, he was talking about the country, not holdout Republicans in Congress.
debbie
@West of the Cascades:
Nan would be awesome!
MisterForkbeard
@Cheryl Rofer: Well, now I want to go find this but can’t
NM, found it. even read it at the time and just didn’t see who had written it :)
Uncle Cosmo
Anyone have a snailmail address for Randy Paul’s neighbor? I’d like to send him a set of deluxe brass knuckles for their next go-’round.
Uncle Cosmo
I like the cut of your jib. “People-starving, job-cremating tax giveaways to the super-rich.” Lather, rinse, repeat.
Kathleen
@BruceFromOhio: I’m definitely a fan.
feebog
Biden knows that addressing the pandemic, both medically and financially is job one. But there is going to come a time down the road when issues like the John Lewis Act and a comprehensive immigration package need to pass. That’s when Manchin is going to be put between a rock and a hard place.
Garbo
@BruceFromOhio: agreed! Hijack away.
Geminid
@feebog: Manchin can not be but so fearful of crossing his constituents if he voted to convict trump over the Ukraine matter. He’s not up for reelection until 2024, anyway. And besides reasons of justice and equity, comprehensive immigration reform will bring 10 million or so workers into the Social Security system, and change its funding substantially for the better. That will be a good selling point for all politicians who support it.
Ruckus
@jeffreyw:
The ease with which they can take your money to watch something is good. For them.
The quality of the video is outstanding, the way you can manipulate the video isn’t bad (like skipping the intro or the credits, that works decently, not as good as Netflix though). The quantity and quality of what they have is decent.
Now the fact that most everything has an additional cost over the monthly sort of sucks donkey balls.
Odie Hugh Manatee
I wish someone with some clout out there would dispense with the illusion of bipartisanship being necessary for passage of anything. In the past both parties had their conservative and liberal members who voted according to their beliefs. With two major parties running the show, this gave the illusion of bipartisanship when the liberal or conservative members of both parties would join together to block or pass something. It was liberal versus conservative politics and you could belong to either party. With Republicans purging their party of liberals and their focus on party line purity, the votes break down along what looks like party lines but is actually the usual liberal/conservative divide.
There is no such thing as bipartisanship with a partisan, so there’s no need to waste the time with them.
Geminid
@Geminid: One reason I hope Democratic Congressional leaders bring up Comprehensive Immigration Reform early in this session is that this a big wedge issue for Republicans, perhaps the biggest. Chamber of Commerce Republicans, the Wall Street Journal, and the Koch brothers (or brother) want this legislation, while it is anathema to “populist” trump style Republican voters. Republican intra-party conflict on this issue will be intense, while Democratic legislators are with minor differences on the same page.
Starboard Tack
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.):
Isn’t he working for himself?
Amir Khalid
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.):
He’s doing a five-minute thing called The Point at CNN, which consists of annoying viewers for five minutes before he finally comes to the point.
Miss Bianca
Hoppy Kerchival?
WV has a media dude named *Hoppy Kerchival*?
Damn, was just cruising the real estate websites looking at properties in VA and WV, now I’m thinking, “shit, I may have to move to WV!”
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@Cheryl Rofer: Mayors and governors are dealing with declining revenue, increased demands on their budgets, and, for many, balanced budget laws. They always want money; currently they need it desperately. They don’t want restaurants open because they want to eat out, just like they did in the Before Times; they are suffering for lack of sales and liquor tax collections.
I wonder how high the numbers are for uncollected property taxes.
different-church-lady
The thing that pisses me off about all this is Trump used the tablecloth as a napkin, shoved all the canapes into his jacket pocket, and took a shit in the punch bowl, and the press calls it “breaking norms”, and then suddenly they’re all horrified when Biden touches his soup spoon instead of his bouillon spoon.
Madeleine
John’s post and some comments have made me think that the notion that bipartisanship refers to relations between parties in the Senate and the House along writ the President is too narrow. The bipartisanship I’m seeing is also between federal and state or municipal governments as they express agreement with the President’s plan. Maybe that’s obvious, but I hadn’t noticed it.
J R in WV
@Miss Bianca:
I’ll sell you a lot, and loan you ground to keep horses on. We don’t have a hunt club, but we have room for target practice, morel mushrooms growing in the woods. I’ll even help build fences.
Eta. I even know people in show bidness! Ut be warned, it is about 8 or 900 feet, with no 14ers nearby…