Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

This blog will pay for itself.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

The willow is too close to the house.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

T R E 4 5 O N

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: President Biden Live on Voting Rights

Reader Interactions

152Comments

  4. 4.

    Lauryn11

    I hope Joe is busting’ loose on this. No more I Love Yous to the GOP.

    In chain restaurant curiosities I had no idea the these was a dessert on the menu at Carrabbas called The John Cole.
    “Vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and roasted cinnamon rum pecans.” Are there any pecan trees in that vast garden tract otherwise known as your back yard?

  6. 6.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Well…that was underwhelming. He didn’t mince words about the threat, the big lie and the voter suppression, but didn’t hear any executive action steps.

  8. 8.

    CaseyL

    Wonderful speech, but a lack of concrete steps.  “We have the means, we just need the will” – carve out a civil rights exception to the filibuster, or Nothing. Will. Pass. Congress.

    I like the passion; I like his clear sight of what’s going on.  But he said nothing about the impediments.

  10. 10.

    Eolirin

    @CaseyL: The impediments are people ostensibly on our side who we need to convince to move off their positions. Being directly aggressive toward them is probably not going to work here.

  11. 11.

    CaseyL

    @Eolirin: I know. I hope there are negotiations ongoing, but…

    All the turnout in the world doesn’t matter if the GOP can toss out the results and substitute their own preferred results.

  12. 12.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @TaMara (HFG): There isn’t much that the he can do.  The DOJ is taking action.  It seems to me that this was aimed at encouraging Congress (particularly you know who) to take action.  It needs to come from them.

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CaseyL: What do you want Biden to do?  Call out Manchin and Sinema?  Do you think that would help?

    Let’s let the process play out.

  15. 15.

    glory b

    There isn’t any executive action he can take, so this is a bully pulpit moment.

  16. 16.

    CaseyL

    @Omnes Omnibus: What I’d like to be happening behind the scenes is a veiled hint that Manchin’s daughter’s financial affairs might need looking into, and maybe Manchin’s own finances.

    Maybe something similar with Sinema, who seems to have decided the Senate is a sinecure requiring no actual work other than launching herself as a social media personality.

    Nothing public. Nothing overt.  Just a gentle hint here and there.

  17. 17.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Betty Cracker: And in the meantime, Dems need to re-write the bills to add some provisions to ban States from simply refusing to certify results they don’t like.  AFAIK, there is nothing in FTPAct or JohnLewisVoting Act to address this sort of thing.  But a couple weeks ago, Amy Klobuchar was on PSAmerica and mentioned that the one upside of the slow movement on these bills is that now we have the chance/time to add verbiage to try and counter GOP election fuckery.  The fact that she mentioned it on a pretty popular podcast leads me to believe that some Dem somewhere is working on it and that it’s not an automatic deal-breaker for the more moderate Dem Congresspeople.

  19. 19.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Omnes Omnibus: My issue…with most political discussions lately (and why I’ve avoided most social media, including here) …is it’s all about the house being on fire.

    We all know this. Without actions steps, the house burns down.

    There might not be anything he can do with the stroke of a pen, but I expect our leaders to … you know… lead.

  21. 21.

    Elizabelle

    Interesting about the no concrete action steps.  In which case, they oversold the speech.

    Makes me wonder if parts of his speech got postponed because events are moving in the background.

    Stay tuned.

  23. 23.

    Steeplejack

    I was yesterday years old when I found out that Joe Manchin was a big wheel in ALEC.

    Manchin’s ties to ALEC go back to his rise in West Virginia, where he was elected governor in 2004 before winning a Senate special election in 2010. As a state senator in 1994, Manchin was ALEC’s West Virginia state chairman and an ALEC national director, as recorded in a conference brochure that also flatters him: “In addition to his lawmaking duties, Senator Manchin is a businessman and owner of Enersystems, a private company dealing with the natural resources of West Virginia.”

    [. . .]

    Manchin appears to maintain a relationship to ALEC as a U.S. senator. He is listed on a version of ALEC’s webpage, one that goes back to 2017, according to the Internet Archive, as a participant in its federal relations program that is designed to facilitate work between state ALEC members and alumni who have joined the U.S. Congress.

    Somebody on Twitter said Krysten Sinema also has significant ties to ALEC, but I haven’t found anything solid about that.

  24. 24.

    Steeplejack

    @CaseyL:

    A niblet from the article I linked at #23:

    Enersystems is the privately held coal brokerage Manchin founded in 1988 and helped run, handing control to his son upon being elected Secretary of State in 2000, and in which he continued to hold up to $5 million in non-public stock, according to recent financial disclosures. Jim Sconyers, chairman of West Virginia’s Sierra Club chapter, said of Manchin in 2011, as the senator defended the coal industry’s policies on environmentally harmful practices like mountaintop removal, “He’s been nothing but a mouthpiece for the coal industry his whole public life.”

  25. 25.

    Hildebrand

    This is another ‘Green Lantern’ conversation – folks expect Biden to ‘do’ something, to ‘lead’ – without ever defining exactly what that looks like, or how exactly something can get done.

    In this case, can someone tell me exactly what Executive Order Biden could sign today that would make a measurable difference? This is not a rhetorical question – what can be done without legislation or legal decision?

  28. 28.

    geg6

    @Elizabelle: ​
     
    I guess I’d want to know what concrete actions you think he can take before judging him. As far as I can tell, other than what he is already asking of the DOJ, there is nothing at all he can do.
    I’m pretty sure this was a message to Manchin and Sinema. They are who you should be focused on, not POTUS.

  29. 29.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Steeplejack:

    So I guess I was right when I said I suspected he was corrupt. The Sinema connection to ALEC wouldn’t surprise me tbh. I’m pretty sure she’s talked to the Arizona/U.S. Chamber of Commerce, specifically about opposing raising the minimum wage.

    They may be “on our side” but they’re not good people. If they don’t get out of the way and pass some voting rights bill then 2022 and beyond will be a blood bath. Dems will be a controlled opposition, just like opposition parties in Russia, and our rights/society will continue to be eroded

  30. 30.

    germy

    A thread on election system security:

    Once upon a time in a country called America, a power-hungry political party called the GOP enjoyed about fifteen years of poll-defying victories after ensuring that America’s election system made it impossible to prove fraud. 1/ pic.twitter.com/nU8aAoz3tX
    — Jennifer Cohn ✍? ? (@jennycohn1) May 21, 2021

  31. 31.

    Cacti

    Here’s the thought that I haven’t been able to shake since 1/6/21 because it’s true.

    We’re possibly one bad election cycle for the Dems/good election cycle for the Repukes away from free and fair elections being over in this country.

  32. 32.

    Betty Cracker

    @UncleEbeneezer: I’ll have to find the Klobuchar episode of Pod People and listen to that bit. IMO, she’s been terrific in the post-primary period, a show pony when required and a workhorse the rest of the time.

  33. 33.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @TaMara (HFG):  Okay, the DOJ is doing what it can, Biden is bully pulpiting, and the admin is negotiating with the Senate for a civil rights exception to the filibuster.   Isn’t that leadership?

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    @Cacti:   I don’t think that’s hyperbole.  The statehouse GOP politicos have mad that abundantly clear.

    Maintain the appearance of free and fair elections, while making them anything but.  AND:  even the ability for legislatures to deny certifying the results.

  39. 39.

    rikyrah

    @Cacti: 

    We’re possibly one bad election cycle for the Dems/good election cycle for the Repukes away from free and fair elections being over in this country.

    I see no lie told
    And that’s why I have no patience for muthaphuckas like Manchin and Sinema thinking somebody is playing with them about voting rights.

  40. 40.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @raven: Is that directed at me?

     

    @Omnes Omnibus: I expect if you are giving a speech on voting rights, your plan is to give action steps, not just reiterate that the house is on fire.

    I’m Biden’s biggest cheerleader, but that speech was no more than a rehash of what has been said before. And was disappointing.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    Haven’t been able to watch because of work.

    Agree with those who said very little Biden can do outside of DOJ, and Biden isn’t going to direct the DOJ to file specific lawsuits.

    The GOP is attempting to undermine democracy, but their best shot at success still consists of actually getting enough people to vote for them. No federal law will change that.

  43. 43.

    Elizabelle

    I have to think Manchin’s illusions, if they were ever there, are falling away. The GOP state legislatures are just about daring congressional action.

    Hoping Manchin will inform his voters that, regrettably, he must walk back his comments on the filibuster, because it’s being abused and voting rights are “sacred”, to use Biden’s words today.

    Do you see Sinema as a party of one, standing on the railroad tracks?

    We’ve been told there are other Democrats wobbly on eliminating the filibuster.  Biden’s speech is aimed squarely at them, too.

    Another tack for Biden to consider: give a speech/history lesson (or series of them) on examples when it was necessary to act; the politicians bunted, and whatever terrible results followed.  We can learn from history; we can be smarter and braver than they were.  In fact, Senators X, Y, and Z — we must.  History is watching.

    But now:  for the first trip to the pool.  Catch you later.

  44. 44.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:

    Is Jennifer Cohn legit? I’m not saying that she isn’t, just want a check. There is a big spectrum of thread-posters on Twitter, and some of them start off reasonably and then veer into the underbrush.

  46. 46.

    germy

    @Steeplejack:

    Jennifer Cohn is an election integrity advocate, writer, and journalist. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1989 and Hastings College of the Law in 1993. Since the 2016 election she has focused her professional efforts exclusively on investigating and exposing our country’s insecure computerized elections. She was a law partner at Nielsen Haley & Abbott in Marin County for many years, where she specialized in insurance coverage and civil appeals. Before that, she specialized in criminal appellate law.

    She’s widely published. And I agree with her about electronic voting. We need paper ballots, scanned and then preserved.

    https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/10/31/how-safe-is-the-us-election-from-hacking/

  48. 48.

    Hildebrand

    @CaseyL: Oh, honestly.  That is utter nonsense.  Please stick to reality based thinking.

    I asked a legit question – what can be done outside of legislation or legal action?

  53. 53.

    Jeffro

    Hoping it really shifts the conversation and gets the ball rolling. We need action, not more words, IMHO.

    yes!  This and 1/6 are all of a piece, and it’s all I want to see in the national media until 2025

  57. 57.

    Patricia Kayden

    Sage advice

    You probably shouldn't sit around waiting for a bipartisan agreement from a party that was ready to hang its own vice president rather than take an L.— LOL GOP (@LOLGOP) July 13, 2021

  58. 58.

    CaseyL

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yes.  They’re a far bigger threat to the US than the US Communist Party ever was in even its wildest dreams.

    They enable, foment, and possibly fund terrorists.

    They take money from foreign sources, including adversaries of the US.

  59. 59.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think what people might be getting at is the feeling that none of that is enough or adequate. It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight. And I really think our failure to capture more House/Senate seats in 2020 like we were supposed to, in addition to state legislature seats, has put us in a bad place. Changing demographics and gerrymandering has not helped us.

    It just seems to me that in the last 50 years the GOP have been become increasingly worse and have dragged the rest of the country with them. And that in that time they’ve accumulated vast power, enough to have a lot of control over the national narrative as well as win elections they shouldn’t if they were actually fair

    I hope I’m wrong and I’m not saying “give up”, but everything I’ve seen with Manchin, Sinema is not particularly encouraging

  60. 60.

    West of the Rockies

    @TaMara (HFG):

    Maybe thuis is the set-up.  Once Repubs reveal that, indeed, they have no shame, Biden will produce an EO or propose legislation.

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CaseyL:  You know that’s not going to happen anytime soon, so what do you want the Admin to do that they are not doing and is not Green Lantern shit?

  62. 62.

    Baud

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    There is no enough or adequate.  Either legislation passes or it doesn’t.  DOJ might be able to help with the most egregious aspects of some of these state laws, but only legislation can reform the system.

  64. 64.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Congress can and should do its job.  Bitching about stuff Biden hasn’t done is about as helpful as complaining about what Baud hasn’t done.  The required actions need to come from Congress.  And we can get there, but it won’t be quick or pretty.  Actual governing isn’t.

  66. 66.

    CaseyL

    @Omnes Omnibus: Sorry.  That’s all I’ve got.  Half the country is in thrall to a multi-layered, well-funded, pervasive group that is dedicated to destroying our country.

    It’s been a cold civil war at least since McConnell refused to let Obama fill Scalia’s seat, quite possibly since Bush v. Gore, and maybe even since Reagan’s tax policies started crippling federal, state and local governments.

    And the GOP has been winning, more often than not.  The issues are defined on their terms, Fox News is embedded like a tick, and the Party itself gets away with shit that would have brought the Patriot Act down on any non-GOPer who committed the same acts.

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Who let the doom bunnies out?

    What we see is comparable to the surface of an ocean. There’s an entire ecosystem of negotiation/maneuvering/politicking ebbing, flowing and swirling beneath it we don’t see. Don’t allow impatience to become the enemy of reason, nor serve as a fuse for panic.

  71. 71.

    CaseyL

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’m stating what I believe needs to be done.

    Do I expect the Biden Administration, or the DoJ to do it?

    Depends on how the next round of insurrectionist violence works out.

  72. 72.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    That’s another thing. Even if legislation is passed, this Supreme Court will just declare it unconstitutional anyway. Also, I’ve read that proposed voting rights reform bills wouldn’t even affect 2022.

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I suppose, but I think people are also concerned about congressional Dem leadership

    How do you figure that it can be done given the filibuster? Manchin and Sinema have made it clear they will not budge

  73. 73.

    Baud

    @CaseyL:

    I disagree that they’ve been winning. They win too much for my taste, but they aren’t winning.

    Of course, there’s no official scoreboard so YMMV.

  74. 74.

    taumaturgo

    @Omnes Omnibus: Manchin and Sinema are hiding behind Bidens’ support for the filibuster and Biden hasn’t called them out because they are his cover. If Joe comes off the fence it will be a game-changer that would leave Manchin and Sinema out in the wilderness along with the GQP defending the fillibuster.

  76. 76.

    Baud

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Bitching about stuff Biden hasn’t done is about as helpful as complaining about what Baud hasn’t done.

     

    To be fair, I didn’t even try.

  78. 78.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @NotMax:

    I get what you’re saying and I’m not honestly not really panicked, exactly. I don’t even really feel “doomed”. I’m just recognizing that the deck is severely stacked against us. We’re already halfway through 2021. When does campaigning for 2022 have to start? That will surely impact law passage

  79. 79.

    schrodingers_cat

    Just because we have had the Orange One who did his presidenting on Twitter and some vocal and extremely online Reps, everyone from the media to Do Something Twitter and bloggers are disappointed that Biden is not doing the same.

  82. 82.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    Maybe not, but I’ve read that the Roberts Court is very hostile to voting rights. I absolutely believe they would strike down a federal voting rights law on the basis of reasoning in Bush v. Gore that only state legislatures can decide how their elections are conducted. Kavanaugh pointed to it in a note in a recent opinion

  84. 84.

    Another Scott

    Haven’t seen the speech yet, but heard some of Psaki’s preview yesterday. She said that it’s up to the Senate to fix the filibuster, and Biden remains in favor of a talking filibuster. Nothing new there – and she’s right. Biden can’t fix the Senate – only the Senators can.

    There does seem to be an explosion of chatter today about new exceptions/carve-outs for filibusters of voting/civil rights legislation. There are many ways to get this done.

    Politics is slow. We have good people working on our side who know how the processes work. If there’s a way to get it done, they will do so.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  85. 85.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Betty Cracker: Here ya go:

    https://crooked.com/podcast/infrastructure-1-democracy-0-with-sen-amy-klobuchar/

    She was really good on the importance of passing Voting Rights and how even if it doesn’t get done in this Congressional session, we need to keep at it.

    She also assured the host that Dems are all committed to a Reconciliation Bill in addition to whatever Bi-Partisan Infrastructure bill can be negotiated.  She made it sound like even the more moderate Dems are aware of the fact that we need BOTH and are open to doing that.

  86. 86.

    eachother

    It was a protect the vote rally.  Get things stirred up.  Generate awareness and support.  Silence could not have said as much.

  87. 87.

    debbie

    @TaMara (HFG):

    I hear what you’re saying and also want this voters’ right bullshit to end, but my fear is that executive actions are being overused.

  88. 88.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I probably should just walk away from this thread, but, as long as Congress is talking about the bill, nothing is over.  Everyone’s position is negotiable; no one has fully painted themselves into corner.  Manchin and Sinema can call any GOP action they chose as the final straw at any point.  There’s time and there’s room to maneuver.

  91. 91.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’m genuinely sorry I come across so doom and gloomy. I just feel like I’ve been burned too many times, I guess

    I sincerely hope you’re right

  97. 97.

    MomSense

    @taumaturgo:

    Biden came out against the filibuster months ago and endorsed the “talking filibuster” when that seemed like a possible compromise.

  98. 98.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Hildebrand:

    This is another ‘Green Lantern’ conversation – folks expect Biden to ‘do’ something, to ‘lead’ – without ever defining exactly what that looks like, or how exactly something can get done.

    Shouldn’t Biden be defining exactly what leadership looks like in this instance? Isn’t the whole point of advertising a major Presidential speech addressing a problem to tell us HOW he’s going to address the problem?

    Just a counter view. I think that really the intended audience of this speech is just two people: A Senator from a western state and a Senator from an eastern state (that happens to have “West” in it’s name).

  101. 101.

    JMG

    As far as voting rights goes, there’s legislation passed by the House and in process in the Senate. At that point, all any President can do is make speeches in their support and lobby behind the scenes. As for the Supreme Court, while it would be happy to overturn voting rights law, it might also well be aware that a majority that was mad enough to get rid of the filibuster now has nothing stopping it from going after the Court one way or another.

  102. 102.

    Origuy

    @Chief Oshkosh: Unfortunately, I think those might not be the only Democratic Senators that need persuasion. Another might be a woman from a western state, initials DF.

  103. 103.

    Heywood J.

    @CaseyL: ​Eh, it was just what, a week, two weeks ago, that an Exxon lobbyist was heard on tape referring specifically to Mansion and Cinema as part of his team of go-to stooges when he needed something done. He even referred to Ol’ Joe as “Kingmaker”. And as other commenters have already noted, they are both open to the devious entreaties of the friendly folks at ALEC.

    No investigations are needed. The fix is in. They’re corrupt to the bone. Anyone seriously believing that they’re holding out on principle is as deluded as the worst Q-ball waiting outside the resurrected JFK Jr.’s pad for the 2024 ticket.Mansion and Cinema are happy to serve as well-fed scapegoats for the rest of the “moderates” who are also in the tank, but don’t want the heat. And so we get this ongoing theater of appealing to the better angels of our treasonous, insurrectionist friends on the other side of the aisle.

    Well, no, all it takes is for two narcissistic assholes to recall which party they supposedly belong to. They have chosen not to, for the usual Upton Sinclair reasons.

    The reality is that if Dems just pretended that Mansion and Cinema are the incarnations of, say, Jill Stein and Thanksralph!, they might actually be able to stop negotiating with themselves and get something done.

    It’s Lucy-with-the-football ad nauseam, except consider the possibility that Democratic voters are Charlie Brown, but the Democratic party is the football.​​

  105. 105.

    germy

    Biden on Republican voting restriction bills: "They want make it so hard and inconvenient that they hope people don't vote at all. That's what this is about … the 21st century Jim Crow assault is real. It's unrelenting. And we're gonna challenge it vigorously." pic.twitter.com/gH2WX4GUFt
    — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 13, 2021

  108. 108.

    Yutsano

    @JMG:

    As for the Supreme Court, while it would be happy to overturn voting rights law,

    I’m amazed no one has even thought about Congress simply removing voting rights legislation from judicial review. It’s one small clause that gets stuck in and the Supreme Court is out of it. In fact it’s amazing Congress doesn’t do this more often.

  110. 110.

    Heywood J.

    @Chief Oshkosh: ​
     
    I will never get tired of the sick trope that baseline expectations that politicians make every good-faith effort and use every power at their disposal to do the things they campaigned on is reflexively thrown back as the unrealistic wishes of foolish children.

    Heh. Green Lantern. ‘Cuz he’s a superhero, right? And it’s just completely stoopid to expect your employees to do things that 1) are within their powers; 2) they promised to do; and 3) actually need to do if they and the country are to continue to survive. Hilarious.

    Hell, I’m old enough to recall that one of the main selling points for Biden was that he, infinitely more than those commies Warren and Sanders, knew how to “work with” a nihilistic death cult that predictably tried to initiate a mob-led autogolpe. And here we are, broiling to death in some parts of the country, drowning in others, watching fruitless negotiations with [checks notes] two rented assholes from states that add no value.

    Maybe we should just issue a mass public petition asking Exxon and Jeff Bezos for permission to do stuff. That might actually resolve the situation.

  114. 114.

    Betty Cracker

    Well, I’m just going to have to watch the Biden speech myself and make up my own mind! Very different accounts of it, and NOT from the usual suspects!

  115. 115.

    germy

    quote of the day:

    Penn. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman: "President Biden wouldn't need to come to Philadelphia today and give a speech on voting rights if Democrats in D.C. started to vote like actual Democrats. It is time for the Senate to abolish the filibuster and pass the For the People Act."

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 13, 2021

  117. 117.

    Roger Moore

    I would think people would be happy and excited to see Biden using The Bully Pulpit.  But when he does, he’s suddenly getting slammed for not making everything happen instantly.

  118. 118.

    Heywood J.

    @germy: ​
     
    Yup. It’s even truer now than it was six months ago — or six years ago. To their credit, they don’t even make a small attempt to hide it. They tell the rest of us who and what they are, every minute of every day, over and over again. Might be time to take them at their word.

  119. 119.

    Heywood J.

    @Roger Moore: ​
     
    Not really. He’s always gonna be light-years and orders of magnitude better than The Former Guy. But this tedious pretense of Working Together has just go to stop. No one believes it, least of all him.

    It always helps to break this down to core components — you are marketing a product. You have an unscrupulous but effective competitor. How do you pitch your product effectively? How do you contrast your product’s strengths against your competitior’s manifest weaknesses?

    In the end, politics is all about persuasion, and it’s not just about Biden’s speech today, but the entire package — how persuasive is it on someone who may literally be putting themselves at risk of physical harm next year to wait all day in line to vote for more useless Working Together kabuki?

    Call people and things what they are. Show a willingness to fight. Herd your cats. These are all things they can do right now, things which would motivate and persuade observers far more than hortatory bromides.

    First rule of having power is don’t ask permission. Use the power and tell Addison McConnell to go find his favorite sheep and help it over the fence. Because the clock is ticking, and eighteen months from now, we don’t want to find ourselves asking what if.

  120. 120.

    Elizabelle

    @Roger Moore:   His speech got big headlines at the WaPost and CNN, so that’s good.  His points seemed to be taken seriously.

    One two punch, with the Texas legislative Democrats fleeing the state yesterday.

  121. 121.

    Feathers

    Folks, a “talking filibuster” is, for all intents and purposes, getting rid of the filibuster. It means having to actually, in real time, hold the floor of the Senate in opposition. Yes, conceivably it could go on forever, but in reality, no. I was an intern on Capitol Hill back in the days of real filibusters. They put out cots in the hallways, because a filibuster meant all the Senators (and thus much of the staff) had to be in the Capitol building 24/7 until it was over. A wild and chaotic scene. In this case, not one that favors the Republicans. They can’t face close observation of what they are doing. A filibuster is very close and public observation.

  123. 123.

    Heywood J.

    @Feathers: ​
     
    A real talking filibuster would actually be preferable to some carve-out technicality. Watching these gerontocrats strain themselves for endless hours, trying to homina homina their way through their cheap schemes to continue the ruination of the country and planet, would be worth charging PPV money.

  126. 126.

    Elizabelle

    Decent headline from the NY Times.  Top left of the website.

    • ‘Have You No Shame?’ Biden Frames Voting Rights as a Moral Reckoning

      The president tried to reinvigorate the fight for voting rights. But he made no mention of rolling back the filibuster, which some see as the only way to beat back Republican-led efforts to restrict ballot access.

  127. 127.

    NotMax

    @Elizabelle

    Been wondering, should the rules of the Texas legislature operate similarly to those of other bodies regarding a quorum, who got the short straw(s) to stay behind.

    For example, in the U.S. Senate a quorum is normally assumed to be present and business allowed to be conducted unless a member rises to suggest its absence and requests a quorum call, at which point regular business stops cold until a confirmed quorum can be ascertained. Obviously no Texas R member is going to take on that role.

  130. 130.

    LadySuzy

    The President’s speech is the opening salvo of his campaign on Voting Rights. I was surprised, and impressed, that he dared call out the conservatives in the Supreme Court. Coming from a man who has such respect for the Institutions, it was striking. And the proof that he TOTALLY GETS IT.

    In particular, he was very clear in identifying the danger of republican legislatures toying with the possibility of OVERTURNING results.

    While he didn’t talk about the filibuster ( negociations probably behind the scenes), he was pretty clear on what laws Congress must pass.

    He talked about what his administration is doing : more manpower and more money in the Civil Rights Division at DoJ.

    My only criticism is that he could have given some specific examples of the more outrageous provisions in the numerous laws that republican legislatures are passing right now. It’s easier for people who don’t follow politics close. And it gives reporters some “lines”, something to talk about beyond generalities .

    “In Georgia, they want to make it illegal to offer water to people who are waiting in line”.

    “In state X, they want to reduce the number of days of early voting”.

    “In state Y, you will have to do a, b, c, d if you want to vote absentee”.

    “In state Z, they have a provision that will allow PARTISAN elected officials to refuse the results and turn them over”.

    Make it simple. Make it concrete. Name the states. Talk about the more outrageous stuff. For the general population who doesn’t follow politics. Give journalists and pundits some specifics so they can repeat them;  those journalists… either because of lack of time or laziness, they don’t really know what’s in those laws.

    This speech was excellent, but it seemed to me it was just aimed at political activists.

  131. 131.

    Heywood J.

    @Baud: ​
     
    Right, tax cuts and judges.

    That’s not the point. Again, you’re not trying to sell your product to me, a middle-aged white guy in California with nowhere else to go. I vote by mail, it doesn’t get any easier.

    You’re trying to sell your product to the Black guy in TX or GA who is almost definitely going to stand all day in line for the privilege of purchasing your product, and might even get arrested in the process.

    What is your value proposition for that customer? How do you sell him on this tedious, mindless, useless, utterly cynical Working Together bullshit? How do you convey to him that it’s worth his personal risk, because you take your products and services seriously?

  132. 132.

    Baud

    @Heywood J.:

    I don’t know.  But I have no reason to believe that those voters will be more into performative fighting than any other group of voters.

  134. 134.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Feathers: ​
      Any examples?

    Like I remember when Al D’Amato sang “Old McDonald” on the floor in the middle of the night.

  135. 135.

    Anotherlurker

    That’s it. I have decided that we all are doomed and that we need dump President Biden and wait for the superheros to arrive and smack some sense into Semina and Manchan.

  136. 136.

    Eolirin

    @Heywood J.: What bullshit working together appeal are you even talking about? Biden is trying to get Manchin and Sinema to move off their positions. We don’t currently have the votes to do anything. Until that changes nothing will happen.

    Maybe if the North Carolina and Maine or Iowa or Texas senate races had gone differently we could be having a different discussion. They didn’t though.

    All of messaging right now is going to be centered on getting Manchin and Sinema to vote with us on this. Antagonizing them is probably not going to help.

  137. 137.

    taumaturgo

    @Heywood J.: ​
     You are a heretic breaking dogma in this blog. Thou shalt not hold accountable any corporate Democratic office holder.

  138. 138.

    Heywood J.

    @Baud: ​
     
    Yeah, well, no one said the fighting has to be performative. Not everything is kayfabe. The country is groaning under simultaneous biblical plagues of broiling heat, drought, wildfires, and torrential rains and flooding — and wildfire and hurricane seasons still haven’t really started yet. And the country is in desperate need of real infrastructure improvement.

    So maybe the fight should be real for a change. What might that look like?

    And we’re dicking around with the useless pretense that the GQP — who do nothing but openly say over and over again that they are utterly committed to making this administration fail at every opportunity — can be negotiated with, that compromise with such mutants is not only worthy, but can realistically be sought.

    I mean, yeah, have you no shame? is a fair enough rejoinder, as far as that goes. But we all know the answer to that question. It wasn’t even worth asking on a rhetorical basis. And it’s not going to get those crucial voters in those crucial states to risk their hides. Can’t say as I blame them.

  139. 139.

    Baud

    @Heywood J.:

    The only difference between a real fight and a performative fight is whether it works.  And that lies within Machine and Sinema’s control.

  140. 140.

    taumaturgo

    @Roger Moore:  Nothing happens rapidly? Trump in four years decimated the GOP, that’s quick in political time. Was he timid, and uncertain, caving to outdated political traditions? Nope. You and are repealed by his cult following and more by the leader but there is no denying to the effects of the use of political power by Trump and McConnell.

  141. 141.

    Heywood J.

    @Eolirin: ​ Please. The entire infrastructure-bill p.r. has centered around finding something everyone could live with. So they sent that other WV dingbat in to grind him down, and then come away with the pre-ordained hey, we tried shoulder shrug.

    Biden’s main appeal in the primary and general election was that as a longtime member of the esteemed deliberative body, he knew better than the others how to get his colleagues to come around and do what was right for ‘murka.

    That was all in real time, as that party openly and quickly devolved into a seething nest of vipers. And now they are what they are. They cannot be worked with, and the Senators From Exxon have cast their lot. Time is running out. How do you bring them around?

    And shit, that’s just for basic voting rights. To say nothing of infrastructure, climate change, keeping the public safe from the eventual omega variant because we have agitprop cable networks essentially advocating pathological genocide.

    I don’t have all the answers either. I don’t know what Biden or Schumer or Pelosi or the Dem Party in geeral can “do” about all of it. I do know that simply putting nothin’ we can do, Green Lantern, blergh on an endless loop is not going to motivate turnout.

    And then it won’t matter, so I suppose the conundrum eventually resolves itself. But they begged to be put in office because the situation was urgent, and so they need to act with a sense of urgency, and not worry about what Addison and Exxon will permit.​​

  144. 144.

    Omnes Omnibus

    So what I am seeing here is that upset people are upset.  And there should be fighting.  Boy, am I glad I tuned back in to this thread.

  146. 146.

    James E Powell

    @taumaturgo:

    The problem with including an attack on the filibuster in a speech attacking the Republicans’ voter suppression is that the headline would read:

    BIDEN ATTACKS MANCHIN & SINEMA ON FILIBUSTER

    That headline would do nothing to get the message out.

  147. 147.

    Heywood J.

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     
    Naw, no fighting at all. What we really need is to Work Together With Our Friends, and let them whittle every reasonable proposal down to twenty percent, and then go on Cucker Tarlson’s Agitprop Hour to shit on is as a commie plot.

    What we really need is to get Exxon’s permission to do something about the nation’s biggest state (and the world’s fifth-largest economy) running out of water and broiling like chicken thighs on a bbq grill.

    What we need, my friends, is to appeal once again to the shameless to magically find a sense of shame. What we need is to continue pretending that establishing a bad-faith “dialogue” is not only worth doing, but worth spending precious months.

    What we need is to keep believing against all logic that a nihilistic death cult sees our pleas and appeals and entreaties as anything other than the bleats of the next victim of a serial killer, whose grin widens as those voices merely serve to sharpen the blade on his linoleum knife.

    Call opponents out for what they really are and what they really want to do. Herd cats and exercise party discipline. Make people understand that if they don’t respect you, they will fear you. Otherwise, it is going to get much, much worse. That’s all there is to any of this.

  149. 149.

    James E Powell

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    And moving voters. Our brand and Biden’s brand include a commitment to trying to work together. I am as frustrated as anyone, but I want that to be part of our brand.

  151. 151.

    Eolirin

    @Heywood J.: JFC, getting Manchin to vote with us the only reason we’re even bothering with talking to them; most of the rest of the caucus is fine with advancing this stuff via reconciliation and with limiting the filibuster on at least voting rights.

    I’m sure your strategy of piss off a senator whose vote we need when we have minimal leverage over him and he’s not super on board with the full scope of what the party is trying to do is totally going to get us to 50. //

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