Yesterday there was a “breakthrough” on finding yet another horcrux to unlock the infrastructure bill. I thought I’d look at the details, so I went to the front page of the hometown newspaper (the Post) to find nothing above the fold, or even down the page. It’s not one of their top 5 viewed stories. It’s spit in the ocean, a teardrop in a rainstorm, a whisper at a fireworks show. Good, because the less attention these spoiler assholes get, the better.
Of course, Politico covered it (but it is the 4th out of 5 most-read stories at this moment). If you’ve ingested something poisonous and need an emetic, just click here to read the quotes from preening Republicans. As usual, Politico buried the lede under fluffery, but if you read down a few paragraphs, you’ll find that Pelosi is still committed to not even considering this bill until reconciliation is passed by the Senate.
As sure as the sun comes up in a few months, when a multi-trillion dollar bill is passed via reconciliation, today’s smugly satisfied Republican assholes will be foaming at the mouth at the horror of it all. After venting their fauxrage, they will head home to local media and brag about the bridges and roads being built because of their vote on this bill. They will have it both ways, politically: they’ll show that they’re not heartless monsters who don’t want to rebuild the country (just look at our bill!). And they’ll argue that they’re fiscally responsible. As an added bonus, they ran down the clock and made it more likely that one of the Democratic octogenarians in the Senate will become incapacitated.
I understand that, in the larger picture, this was necessary to get things done in our anti-democratic Senate. But, as with colonoscopies and dental cleanings, just because something is necessary doesn’t mean that it’s enjoyable.
Updated to add: LOL at this:
Brendan in NC
And now Krysten Sinema has emerged from the shadow of Joe Manchin to say she won’t support the 3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. She got tired of being out of the spotlight.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@Brendan in NC: I saw a poll the other day that showed her favorables among AZ Democrats absolutely plummeting. She’s gonna get primaried.
Shalimar
@Brendan in NC: Let’s see how it works out. The normal way is they take out $200 billion in spending, add in $100 billion just for Arizona, and Sinema gets totally onboard with the new $3.4 trillion bill.
Another Scott
Yeah, the GQP will try to do those things, but the press is seemingly finally realizing that their preening about “fiscal responsibility” is just mouth noises. Especially since they’ve been saying (at least as of a few weeks ago) that they won’t support any increased taxes on the wealthy to pay for anything.
And the courtier press will both-sides the hell out of it, as usual.
We know what to expect. We just need to keep pushing forward and get the legislation on Biden’s desk.
Cheers,
Scott.
Soprano2
@Shalimar: That’s my prediction too, she’s posturing to get something in the bill.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Shalimar: or do some creative accounting so she can say she pared the bill down without actually cutting anything? I suspect she’d be pretty easy to trick
also, as to what’s in the bill:
germy
What exactly is going on in that photo, other than Sinema dressed like Wilma Flintstone and clutching at the guy’s arm?
I’m at a point where I simply can’t keep up with all the bullshit.
Steeplejack
Re update:
I’m glad you posted that photograph. I have been trying to find the video I saw last night of Kyrsten Sinema with Rob Portman.
First, as usual, Sinema was dressed for Sunday brunch or drinks at her favorite beach bar, not work. Second, in the video, she ostentatiously consulted her Apple watch while Portman was talking and broke in to say that she was getting a call “from the White House” that she had to go and take.
I am sick of her and her preening.
MattF
Saying it’s ‘performative’ doesn’t convey the stupidity. Better word?
ETA: I saw the Apple Watch. There’s a moral in there, I suppose.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: Isn’t she recovering from some sort of running injury (was running a marathon during a break and something happened)? When the bipartisan group was at the White House she was sitting in a wheelchair or something at the photo outside.
tl;dr – she’s probably just hanging on him for physical support.
Cheers,
Scott.
Brendan in NC
@Shalimar: I hope so.
BeautifulPlumage
I honestly thought that photo was from SNL with Bill Hadar in the center.
meander
A pet peeve about most of the coverage of the infrastructure bills in the media: no context or timeline. $1 trillion! $3 trillion! Sounds like a lot! Enough to put the country in debt forever!
But over 10 years is a different story.
And how does that spending compare to, say, the defense department’s annual spending? Or how much the Federal government spends on infrastructure right now.
germy
@meander:
Good point. The “political” reporters love screaming big numbers.
It adds to the drama.
mrmoshpotato
@BeautifulPlumage:
Same!
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
WTF? I didn’t say squat about her “hanging” on Portman. However, I will point out that there are other sections of the video where she appears to be standing unaided. Oh, look, like right here!
Cheers,
Steep.
germy
Turns Out Mo Brooks Was Wearing Body Armor to Trump’s Very Peaceful Jan. 6 Rally
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/07/mo-brooks-body-armor-jan-6-rally.html
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
For TPM members, Josh Marshall just posted a good take on Sinema. He says, and I agree, that a primary in AZ would be destabilizing and risk the seat. Better for Democrats to elect more Senators and take away the spoiler role from Sinema. I agree from a strategic level as a non-AZ resident, but she’s definitely fucking around and unfortunately we might all find out.
Baud
Sinema sucks, but talking about primaries three years out is less than useless.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: She always dressed so inappropriately, I have always found it hard to take her seriously.
The Thin Black Duke
I didn’t like Stupid People Tricks when it was a bit on David Letterman. It’s worse seeing it play out in Congress.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: My guess is that her style is what got her elected.
The Thin Black Duke
@Baud: There’s performance artists on “our” side as well, unfortunately.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Well it does make her stand out in a sea of boring. What can I say I am rather old fashioned when it comes to clothes by American standards
ETA: Check the last thread I have a link that I think you will like.
Baud
@The Thin Black Duke:
Oh yeah. At a certain very high level of generality, “both sides” isn’t necessarily false. The problem with it is that often used to obscure important details.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@germy: Yes, WTF, is that picture from real life or some SNL skit?
The Thin Black Duke
@Baud: Oh sure. But it’s important to recognize when a hustler is selling you the “sizzle” and not the steak. Jill Stein, Ralph Nader, Nina Turner, Our Lord and Progressive Savior Bernie Sanders–y’know, the usual suspects.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Biden seems happy with it. Hopefully, the Dems will be able to negotiate the reconciliation package sooner rather than later.
gene108
President Biden advanced his agenda, with support from Republicans that he wanted, who are – for just this moment in time – apparently not acting in bad faith.
FP’er at almost top 10k blog finds something objectionable in this.
With “support” like this from liberal blogs and their limited media microphone, people still wonder why Democrats can’t get their message out as effectively as Republicans.
If a Republican President advanced their policy agenda, every Republican leaning outlet would be singing praises and hymns about how great an accomplishment it is.
@BeautifulPlumage:
I also thought it was a photo from an SNL skit at first glance.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
What confuses me is considering how the hard right has turned into a LAARP why bother with even this much? For a Republican all they need to do is vote for the bill and then tell their voters that was fake news and is extra special Conservative world they voted no. The reality doesn’t matter to them or their voters anymore.
Baud
@gene108:
I agree completely.
The Thin Black Duke
Taking a look at Medium, there’s already an essay screeching about “Corporate Democrats” impeding Nina Turner’s Ascent To Glory. Sigh.
Omnes Omnibus
@Shalimar:
Bingo.
Baud
@The Thin Black Duke:
Do you have a link? I don’t usually see many articles portraying Corporate Democrats in a good light. I’m kind of curious.
WhatsMyNym
@gene108: I agree. The OP should be corrected as well to reflect reality…
Woodrow/asim
Medium started as a great idea. Now? Ugh. A few interesting people, surrounded by so much dross.
At least with Twitter it’s pretty easy to run blocklists on people…
Baud
@Woodrow/asim:
Nominated for rotating tag!
The Thin Black Duke
@Baud: It’s the usual hit job on hard-working Democrats not doing enough. I’m sorry I didn’t communicate that clearly. It’s frustrating. Con artists like Sinema and Turner get traction because they attack the right targets and get praise from Republicans. Same as it ever was.
The Thin Black Duke
@Woodrow/asim: Sturgeon’s Law still applies, unfortunately.
WhatsMyNym
Arizona just passed a “Conservative” state budget (they moved things around and called it a day), with tax cuts! They need ongoing funding for the big things and their wayward Senator might take note.
Baud
@The Thin Black Duke: I was being facetious. I knew what you were getting at. That sort of stuff is just part of the background noise to me now. It’ll always be there and we either overcome it or we don’t.
Spanky
@WhatsMyNym:
That’s just crazy talk!
Bill
Notice that almost all the Republicans who voted yes are either really old, retiring soon, non-entities with no further political ambition, or in the fake moderate category. None of the aspiring deplorables could afford the slightest deviation on their record.
Baud
@Bill:
The aspiring deplorables either want to be president or want to fundraise off the hate (or both).
Major Major Major Major
Minor correction: Pelosi is still saying she’s committed.
Ruckus
@germy:
You have arrived at rethuglican nirvana. They bullshit and obfuscate till no one knows what the hell the are talking about, likely including themselves. Their entire working premise is bullshit to the ninth degree so that they can enrich someone(s) on their side all the while looking like they blocked taxation. It is usually a rich asshole who wants to be richer, seemingly the most common fault of people with money, they are wealth junkies – more than enough never is.
Gvg
I just don’t believe republicans will actually vote for it. Promises not kept so many times, deals not kept, etc. they don’t even vote for spending Trump supported (which was sometimes good, sometimes bad) so I am not really excited about this. I look at is as something to finally convince a few more democrats to end the filibuster and if I had my druthers they repeal the debt ceiling. The way I look at it with the full faith and credit of the US, everytime you pass a law, you are also authorizing funding, the budget is the budget, don’t revoke the same thing in a debt ceiling. When we had sane government it was routinely raised, it’s only since the crazies started to loose demographically that they started throwing this pointless tantrum over and over. The filibuster needs to go because voting rights are more important and election results need to matter.
Baud
@Gvg:
Yep, this isn’t the final vote. Important to assume that they will renege even while moving forward.
Ruckus
@germy:
It is the drama. It’s misdirection. They know it’s not too much it just doesn’t go to the “right” places. They use their gullible followers as pawns, better to negotiate with bullshit than with anything approaching the truth. They are trying to prove that government doesn’t work, that it is out of control, that their wealthy benefactors are not being enriched enough – without ever saying this out loud.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: Yes, you didn’t. Sorry.
But the point still stands.
Beware the edits in the WaPo clip.
C-Span video – notice how she needs help to walk down one step early in the extended clip (around 0:10). She’s in some sort of boot cast.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
@Baud: Suzanne said a while back that she is typical of a grown-up lapsed Mormon, and I completely agree. They missed the whole junior high school idiocy phase of life in their teens, so they do it in thirties and forties.
Kent
Is it just me? Because I’d 100x rather cut all the Arizona perks from the bill and add a bunch of goodies for Alaska or Utah to get Murkowski or Romney on board and make Sinema irrelevant.
On the other hand, the one infrastructure deal that *should* make Sinema or any other AZ politician with a pulse sign on is tearing up the AZ water compact. The one that makes AZ subordinate to CA in terms of Colorado River water rights. If she didn’t go for that she would be criminally stupid. Which isn’t outside the realm of possibility I grant you.
Another Scott
@Baud: +1
Plus, being pre-disappointed in people on our side is tiring.
Cheers,
Scott.
smith
This is what I’ve come to call the Money Disease. The infuriating thing about it is, that once you pile up way more money than you or your children or your grandchildren can usefully spend, every extra dollar added to your hoard essentially becomes worthless. It gives you no direct value, invested it mostly just bounces around in the stock market, and of course when it’s spent on billionaire extracurriculars it generally just goes to buying politicians to rig the system to make it easier and safer for you to add to your pile. One reason I couldn’t get upset by the recent space-boy billionaire hijinks is because, unlike with others of their class, their hobbies at least have some entertainment value.
Elizabelle
@germy:
That is so perfect. LOL. Will not be able to see her otherwise, now.
Baud
@Kent:
The problem isn’t the spending. The problem is that the recon bill will raise corporate taxes.
Geminid
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: It would be good to elect more Democratic Senators and diminish Sinema’s importance. The 2024 Arizona Senate race is interesting, though. Of course, job #1 for Arizona Democrats is reelecting Mark Kelly next year. After that they will consider the problem of Senator Sinema.
This may not even be a problem. People are agonizing over her obstructionism, but so far it is prospective. She came through on electing Chuck Schumer Majority Leader and on the American Rescue Act. In the end, she may come through on the infrastructure reconciliation package and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, no matter how much antacids Democrats consume in the meantime.
But if Sinema lets Joe Biden and the party down at a critical time, Arizona Democrats may decide they can elect a better Senator. They just had a record turnout for Mark Kelly and Joe Biden, winning candidates who are both more liberal than Sinema. Arizona may a purple state now. Kelly’s reelection will be a good indicator of whether it is trending blue. Actually, next November is going to tell us a lot, in Arizona and elsewhere.
Frankensteinbeck
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Because Republican voters deliberately elect assholes. How much they know they’re lying to the rubes is irrelevant. They’re assholes and don’t want to vote for anything good, and both enjoy and believe sticking it to the libs is a moral virtue.
Baud
@sab:
So junior high school Sinema would be dressed more appropriately?
Kay
It’s obscene. Elephant’s feet used as stools. I can’t imagine having them in your house. Just sad and barbaric …furniture. They know it’s repulsive too because they go to great lengths to hide it so these two had a kind of compulsion to display butchered animal parts in their home. They MUST do this. It’s serial killer territory creepy.
Barbara
@Baud: More appropriately in context, likely. However, I loathe judging women by their sartorial choices. Is she covered up? Okay then.
Baud
@Kay:
Cuella DeVille is jealous.
@Barbara: She’s mostly judged by her behavior. If she were an excellent Senator, it’s not like people would hate her for her clothing choices.
Kay
Kind of fun though because they’re all horrible. The taxidermist then tries to get a boat out of it by threatening to reveal that they have butchered elephant parts in their house:
It’s just sleazy, gross people at every level. They all, of course, deserve one another.
Geminid
@Frankensteinbeck: Gerrymandering also tends to empower more radical conservatives. I think that is why some of the sponsors of One Virginia, the organization that helped push through Virginia’s independent redistricting commission, were moderate conservative Chamber of Commerce-type Republicans. They were fed up with the tea party cranks and bible thumpers who flourished in gerrymandered districts. At least, that’s what one of them told me.
Omnes Omnibus
Very much this. Everyone needs to make calls to their people to keep pressure on – and AZ peeps in particular – but she hasn’t fucked anyone over yet. I don’t care about her posturing; I care about her ultimate vote.
Kent
@Barbara: She is wealthy and has the means to wear anything she wants. She goes to enormous ends to seek out cameras and the public eye. She is astute enough to know that what she choses to wear is going to make a statement and does so deliberately. So I don’t think it is unreasonable to comment on the choices that she makes.
That is entirely different from say… commenting on the clothing choices of one of your co-workers who isn’t greedily seeking the public eye in that manner
But I also agree with Baud. This is mostly about her policy posturing. If she behaved like say Patty Murray then no one would ever comment on her clothing choices.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT:
If, like me, you said, “Who the fuck is Danny Meyer?”
My hunting, fishing, football-playing nephews who grew up in the Chicago area loved them some Shake Shack– I tried it once, meh burger, but I didn’t get a shake–, so maybe this is a big “heartland” deal? or at least a not unimportant part of a growing trend.
Kay
Berenson is the leading anti_covid vaccine grifter. I love that he’s always linking himself to the Greenwald/Taibbi/Weiss orbit because I think they don’t want the association :)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kent: I don’t care how she dresses, Rosa DeLauro also wears whacky (to me) clothes (I also think LL Bean has gotten a bit loud in the last twenty years, and what teh hell happened to rugby shirts?) and dyes her hair purple and pink etc. It’s the cutesy photo ops with the IDGAF ring and John Cornyn that piss me off, and all they represent.
Kent
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Vaccination requirements for their employees? Sure. I’m all for that. But I don’t know how they can possibly do it for their customers. I recently ate at a Shake Shack in Seattle with my daughter. It was mostly self-serve via kiosk machines. I don’t know how they possibly implement a vaccine requirement for customers other than just posting up some signs and making it an honor system for compliance.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Well the thing I’ve been noticing is in any given situation were some Republican humiliates himself the Right Wing Media outside Fox will just edit it so looks like it was the Republican powning the Libertards. It’s not even spin anymore, it’s just outright fantasy. Heck the latest thing over in crazy land is Biden is in 3/4 scale replica of the White House on some rich liberals land in Georgia because the military wouldn’t let him in the real thing. I would think if was a GOP rep at this point I would be phoning it in.
Kay
@Kent:
I feel like she’ll take care of herself. She’s one of those people who suffers when she’s more in the public eye so it’s kind of tragic that she’s an attention hound :)
We don’t have to take her down. Just let her rip.
Kent
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t give a shit about how she dresses either. Manchin is just as infuriating and no one comments on his dress. Although if he wore a zebra-striped or tangerine colored suit they probably would.
I’m just saying that for someone who seeks out news microphones like a guided missile, and who deliberately dresses….um…”unconventionally” I don’t think commenting on her dress is necessarily off limits like it would be for a civilian who isn’t relentlessly seeking that sort of public attention.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kent: My experiment was just a few weeks ago, the dining room was closed, drive-thru only, so… but like I said, along with Netflix, MGM Resorts, federal and (a lot of) state employees, health care systems, universities, a coalition of 500 bars in San Francisco…. enough drops of water, and you make the Grand Canyon
@Kent: oh yeah, it’s all part of a “look at me! I’m unique!” psychology that manifests in her politics. I would only quibble with the idea that she seeks out microphones– Manchin, by contrast, is said to revel in the attention he’s getting. She’s seems to be one of the least media-available Senators out the whole hundred. She’s very careful about the viral images she creates: The curtsey-twirl thumbs-down and the aforementioned ring.
trollhattan
Where there’s a won’t, there’s a way.
trollhattan
@Kent:
I’m going with she’s weird as fuck, loves attention, and is harming HER party’s attempts to govern and improve the nation.
Thanks, Arizona.
Kay
Alex Berneson believes this story would be compelling and interesting to people. That there’s a huge group of underserved people who are seeking media analysis and don’t get enough of it.
This is why they’re bad. They genuinely believe the job is about them.
No other profession believes this, outside of “entertainment”- musicians, performers, I guess sports stars etc. Just media people and entertainment have this belief and it’s justified on the part of performers- people actually do like to read about their industry.
Geminid
@Kent: I have not noticed Sinema going to “enormous ends” to seek public attention. She certainly has gotten a lot attention because of her legislative positions, and physically she is an eyecatcher. But Sinema could be giving interviews on network news any time she wants, and she doesn’t. My understanding is that she only gives print interviews to Arizona newspapers.
Sinema does have an enormous presence in the heads of a lot of Democrats’ heads, though.
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: It will never cease to amaze me that the professional success of famous, sometimes award-winning writers with existing cult followings should be indicative of… anything. “People went to see the latest Zac Snyder movie–what does that say about the state of the (((elite tastemakers)))?”
piratedan
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: sorry but Mr. Marshall is likely wrong about this… not to say that her being primaried is a given or what the landscape may look like four years down the road…
As a resident here, if you’re elected as a Dem, then the folks that elected you expect you to do Dem things, not to cosplay as an avant garde John McCain American Iconoclast. If she continues down this path, then yes, she’ll draw a challenger (maybe two or three) and as the demographics continue to change here and as Dems continue to work quietly in the background to add to their voting roles (courtesy of the recount clusterfuck) as we watch the state GOP drive independents away, we can elect someone better.
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: So he owes a federal debt. Seize his tax refund.
Another Scott
@Barbara: +1
She broke her foot. Maybe she didn’t have any other clothes appropriate that work with her giant cast and didn’t feel like shopping.
Aren’t there more important things to be upset about right now than her clothing??
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
Kent
@trollhattan: Build a “quarantine tent” out in the House parking lot and move his offices out there, along with any other GOPers who go along. Pelosi has immense power if she wants to play that game.
Although the better solution is probably just to bar them from committees and other public spaces if they don’t mask up. And have them removed if they refuse. Although that is probably what they want in the first place.
Major Major Major Major
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Shake Shack is a big NYC thing, innit?
The one in Tokyo is good.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay: sounds like more of that cosplay big gamer hunter Cheny was doing when he shot that guy. Except LaPierres is to lame to even get driven around a dude ranch to shot the animals
I will bet that’s because LaPierres is banned for life from those South Dakota dude ranches for unsafe gun use.
Geminid
@trollhattan: For sending Sinema to the Senate instead of McSally? Sinema wouldn’t even be impeding the reconciliation infrastructure bill if Mitch McConnel were Majority Leader. It would never make it to the Senate floor.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: Sinema would be a much lauded yaaaas queen queer fashion icon if she voted differently.
Kay
@Major Major Major Major:
It should be a huge story! We all want to know more about these people! The ins and outs of substack publishing? I can’t get enough of that. Don’t they have like… trade journals or something? Why am I involved in this at all?
Kay
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I don’t even “love animals”, not like you guys do, I like some of them- as individuals- and I think I would be damned forever if I let that in my house. It’s like a curse from an enemy.
J R in WV
@Kay:
My RWNJ bro had a ton of this crap in their big Mega house in Houston, downsized into the Hill country, now downsized again into SunCity, so I dunno how much is still displayed. Skulls, heads, pelts, rare antelope, big hog, etc.
He did shoot the big hog with a [BIG] pistol himself…
Gross.
Kent
@Geminid: Wasn’t she recently given a lot of real estate in the NYT or Washington Post (I forget which) to spout outright lies about the history of the filibuster and her bullshit reasons for opposing its abandonment?
Geminid
@Major Major Major Major: Man, just think how people would defend Diane Feinstein’s mental acuity if she had kicked Lindsey Graham in the nuts instead of hugging him.
mrmoshpotato
A school of stupid, selfish shitheads needs to be slapped with their own skeletons.
Suzanne
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix:
Oh, you mean everything I’ve been saying for years here?
Reminder: she gets primaried every time and wins. You are not likely to get better than her. Saying, “Awww shit, if she keeps this up, she’s gonna get primaried!!!” is not meaningful. AZ Dems know her, and have hated her for a long time, but they keep reluctantly sticking with her because she wins, and that ain’t nothing. So concentrate efforts elsewhere and drive her irrelevance.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay: Well that didn’t take long for “NYT times reporter interviews the lunch time crowd of NYT times reports in this road side dinner in Ohio” to go from a joke to reality.
Geminid
@Kent: She may have written an op-ed for one of those papers. Nothing very enormous about that.
piratedan
@Kent: well Kent, from Arizona here’s a hearty FUCK YOU!!!!! We’re turning the state purple, we have a majority Dem congressional representation and there’s hope that we can pull a Virginia and topple the state lege gerrymander. On the cusp of showing how good government works and you want to fuck over the entire state at this point and piss that away to penalize Sinema?
find a different lever
Poe Larity
You know those road signs “this project funded by the #### Act”?
Can we not have it called the Biden Infrastructure Act or have it say “funding for this project was opposed by Rep./Senator [insert local jerkass name]”?
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: There are people who marinate all day in this shit. It’s the stupidest, pettiest grievance mongering bullshit. They’re assholes who approach politics as an aesthetic pursuit and assume everybody else is just as shallow as they are. It’s their entire worldview. It’s why they like Republicans, because they’re honest about being petty and shallow, and talk about aesthetics all day. Democrats are evil because they care about things like interest rates and passing laws and upholding the constitution. Democrats are earnest, which is the worst crime imaginable.
These people think the meta-narrative about the 1/6 commission, and the aesthetics of the trials, are more important than any conceivable fact. They care more about whether the Washington Post capitalizes Black than they do about racism.
Kent
@piratedan: No, I don’t want to penalize Arizona. I want to pass Biden’s infrastructure package which Sinema publicly says she opposes…..for “reasons”
So fuck it. If she isn’t going to support her party and her president then at some point it is time to move on and find the vote someplace else like Utah or Alaska or even fucking Maine.
But I don’t think she should be “rewarded” with a lot of Arizona-related pork in a bill that she opposes and votes against.
Elizabelle
@Suzanne: Good advice. Also a good take on the support by Mormon moms and KS’s lapsed Mormon delayed adolescence.
She is a vote for a Democratic Majority Leader. I guess anything else we get is cake.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay: How so, a lot of my artist friends collect animal skulls for their still lives.
The really lame bit about this the whole fake macho man from these guys. Rather than learned how to use a large caliber rife and risk their lives hunting something as dangerous as a Cape Buffalo they just pay someone else and then lie about it to their equally sleazy friends. It’s just petty fraud.
J R in WV
@Poe Larity:
I think that would mostly only work in states where the state Highways project office is controlled by a Dem appointee… But a great idea nevertheless !!
lowtechcyclist
@Another Scott:
Only took ’em forty years.
I swear, we need a press corpse composed entirely of people who came of age since the 1994 midterm. Anyone who remembers how TipnRonnie did things should be automatically disqualified from the business.
Suzanne
@Elizabelle: She is totally typical of that ex-Mormon type. It’s a real thing. One critical difference between the evangelicals and the Mormons is that the Mormons are far more socialized to be non-confrontational and polite. Evangelicals will scream and holler in public, Mormons won’t. They have to be nice and bland, sometimes to the point where it is bizarre. So when they leave the LDS church, there is often a lot of being attention-grab-y and “outward”.
Major Major Major Major
@Kent: a reconciliation bill with Romney, Murk, or Collins as the 50th vote will be significantly worse than a bill with Sinema as the 50th vote, and that matters more than anybody’s feelings
Omnes Omnibus
I swear some people just discovered legislative politics in 2021. There is a fucking reason for the fucking sausage making analogy. Sinema isn’t a “no” vote until she votes no.
Geminid
@Suzanne: Sinema has not had a strong challenger yet. And other Arizona Democratic politicians have not sided against her.
I read about how a former Arizona Attorney General, a Democrat, made warned that if Sinema continued on a course of obstruction, he would withdraw his support. What if in November 2023, Representative Greg Stanton announces for the Democratic Senate primary, with both that Attorney General and Governor Napolitano standing at his side? If you had to bet, who would you bet on then?
Actually, I don’t think this will happen, because I think Sinema will vote for the reconciliation package. And I think she and Manchin will vote for a filibuster carveout and pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. If that happens, people will still gripe about how Sinema dragged it out. But her primary challenger will probably be an earnest unkown like the ones she has beaten in the past.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@smith: Also some engineers and mechanics got paid, and now will spend that money rather than just accumulate it
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: don’t be silly, we must punish perceived transgressions, not outcomes. Because we’re just like republicans!
J R in WV
My last trip into town, mostly to hit Kroger’s for provisions and the pharmacy for refills, I want to tell you some of what I saw. First, not a lot of masking, some, but not nearly like the 99.5% it was until recently.
But there was a young mother with toddler in buggy with their seatbelt. Young mother was a little ample in tight jeans and a sports bra top — and was open carrying a bright pink handled revolver on her hip. You know how when you see a person at the beginning of your shopping trip, you wind up seeing them over and over?
That pistol on her hip stood out to me so much, and I did see her every other aisle for the next hour. Bright hot pink pistol?!?! Amazing.
I’ve always thought carrying a firearm, it only makes sense to carry concealed, so that an attacker won’t know to grab your pistol first, and then hit you in the head with it next.
So stupid, and such a great attractor to the eye of everyone passing by. So obvious, so bold, so stupid…. V Stupid.
end of story
Puddinhead
@trollhattan: wow! Someone found a way to make a republican pay more in taxes (albeit temporarily). It’s a start.
Another Scott
@Kent: AZCentral is the source of the Sinema story. I haven’t seen the full written statement they have:
She’s asserting her voice. She’s not saying anything all that different from Kelly.
They’re not voting on the Reconciliation bill tomorrow. It looks like the earliest vote on the 2022 budget would be before the August 6 recess. But Schumer has already said that he will delay adjournment if they don’t get it done by then.
The August budget vote sets the top-line numbers. The actual spending bills have the details. Note that she talks about “coming months”. She’s angling for her state to get stuff in the appropriations bills, and she’s saying she knows her vote is critical – she knows how politics works.
Politics is slow. We’ll see.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kent
@Major Major Major Major: It’s not about my feelings. I’m in favor of whatever it takes to get the best reconciliation bill possible.
raven
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I skelotonized my redfish skull. I could have just thrown it in the trash but I cleaned it and saved it.
Suzanne
@Geminid:
I’d probably bet on Sinema, honestly. That’s not to say that I don’t prefer Stanton. But there is not this groundswell of Arizonans clamoring for Stanton. He wasn’t beloved as mayor of Phoenix, in fact he was pretty roundly criticized for the Phoenix PD being shitty. Phoenix mayors haven’t historically gone far. Sinema has proven she can expand the coalition in a way that is difficult to deny. I think it’s asking a lot to ask the Dem party there — which loses a lot more than it wins — to set aside a known winner.
Major Major Major Major
@Kent: how does replacing a dem vote with a gop vote get us the best bill possible
Baud
@Kent:
I admit, it would be kind of cool if he started dressing like Liberace. I think he could pull it off.
Suzanne
@Baud: Joe Manchin looks not unlike my OBGYN in a way that makes me uncomfortable.
Baud
@Suzanne:
That would be creepy. But I guess it could be worse. Your OBGYN could look like Tee Cruz.
J R in WV
@Suzanne:
Surely you could find an Ob/Gyn who looks more like Kirsten than like Joe??! ;~)
And no wonder that is uncomfortable — I hated just shaking hands with Gov. Manchin~!~
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
I wonder how he lives on $1/month. I imagine that the rep has either a healthy bank account or income from other sources to survive very long on that. But then he is a rethuglican……
Suzanne
@Brendan in NC: Update…. Looks like she got on board.
Suzanne
@J R in WV: My doctor doesn’t make me uncomfortable. It’s just when I see Joe Manchin on TV I wonder why he’s being just a flagrant dickhead instead of asking me to slide on down to the end of the table.
WhatsMyNym
Today in EV startup news…
Kay
Geminid
@Suzanne: I am certainly not asking Arizona Democrats to set aside a winner. And I really think the scenario I put up will remain hypothetical, because I believe that Sinema will be more or less a team player, albeit a balky one.
I would like to say that I really appreciate your informed commentary on Arizona politics. You lived there a long time, and it’s clear you had your eyes open. I just follow Arizona politics from 1800 miles away, and visit the state a couple times a decade.
Baud
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: Of course it’s about your feelings. You are frustrated. Her behavior is frustrating. But the solution is to find a way to get her on board now and then to elect enough Dems to make her largely irrelevant in 2022.
Kent
If she comes around then it isn’t necessary and we move on. If she doesn’t then we gotta do what we gotta do. When someone decides to make themselves into an obstacle, they can’t hardly complain when others seek ways around that obstacle.
Kent
And what do you think is the best way to do that? It’s an honest question. Do you think she is more likely to come around and gets on board as a result of flattery and fluff? Or because she gets merciless criticism and sees her poll numbers plummet?
Or put another way. Should social media like this site be used to criticize her grandstanding? Or should it be used to run interference for her bullshit?
J R in WV
@Ruckus:
Wiki tells me about the private business of Andrew Scott Clyde, R(GA):
So plenty of cash flow from his private business, can wait to recover that money from the IRS at the end of the tax season. Still a creep, tho! Nothing he can do to fix that!
Kay
@Baud:
I’m excited about the infrastructure bill because I think it’s going to keep booming.
I want us all to be prosperous, Baud. Is that a crime? Keep the wheels of commerce spinning.
Baud
@Kay:
The proof about how many people read substack writers is that they are whining about how media won’t write about how many people read substack writers.
Baud
@Kay:
I think the GOP would make the “us all” part of your statement a thought crime, yes.
Suzanne
@Kent:
I think that if you elect Democrats in other places, she will become less important because she won’t be the 50th vote, and her tantrums will garner less attention. And that will reduce pressure on the AZ Dem party to support her because they could swing for the fences with someone better. She knows she has leverage right now, so she’s acting like it.
Baud
Kent
@Suzanne: Oh, I agree 100%. Maine was my biggest disappointment of 2020. As well as that dipshit Senate candidate in NC who couldn’t keep his pants zipped. Luckily GA came through for us.
But for the next 18 months until November 2022 or January 2023, what do YOU think is the best strategy for bringing Sinema along? Flattery and fluff and coddling? Or relentless criticism? Or maybe just ignoring her and taking away her oxygen. It’s an honest question
Gravenstone
@mrmoshpotato: Times like this, it’s almost a shame that expulsion from the House can’t be a simple majority vote. I can think of a few hundred Congressional districts that need the following message:
“Dear voters of Congressional District XX , State YY – you appear to have elected a certified moron to what is intended to be a serious legislative job. We’re sending them home to you. Please try to do better.”
Sadly, it would ultimately become a distillation that leads to only the most profane, abusive MAGAts making it through the resulting special elections.
Ken
@WhatsMyNym: The headline is not good (though eye-catching). The news about the fraudulent tests broke last year. Today’s news is that the company founder has been charged with fraud.
Geminid
@Kent: Kyrsten Sinema cares nothing about the opinions expressed by people here, except for those who live in her state. I argue about her, but I know these arguments are inconsequential when it comes to Sinema’s decision making.
CaseyL
I’d care less about Sinema’s posturing if she appeared to have any driving force besides social climbing.
As to her value as a Democratic Senator: without her, Mitch McConnell would still be Majority Leader.
I don’t know how “purple” Arizona is. The mishegoss over the vote audit makes me think the state is redder than we think. If Sinema is the best we can do – like Manchin is the best we can do in WV – then we have to keep her. However frustrating and infuriating that is.
(Yes, yes, I know: Mark Kelly. But I don’t know how anomalous his election was, either. He was running against a troll – and he won by just 3%.)
frosty
@mrmoshpotato:
Scott Fucking Perry. I’ve spent two elections knocking on doors trying to get rid of him, both with good, center-left Democrats with great bios, who didn’t even break 40%. Another one coming up.
trollhattan
Those jerks have fought virtually every mandate–safety, emissions, mileage, required metallic paint hues–with the same defense: “You’re moving too fast. We’ll never get there on time!”
This is a list of auto manufacturers put out of business because they had to add airbags to their cars:
Immanentize
I don’t have time to read all the comments — but the interactive graphics regarding the infrastructure bill (what was proposed, what’s in the bipartisan compromise)
Are just top notch (NYTimes).
Another Scott
@Suzanne: Is there news? I haven’t seen anything today.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Geminid
@schrodingers_cat: There was a funny picture of some of the key brokers of the bipartisan deal. Sinema was in the front row, wearing a tank top. Standing behind her, Mark Warner was staring into the distance, like he really did not want to be caught sneaking a glance at Sinema’s well-muscled body.
trollhattan
@CaseyL:
Ironic that once he decided to retire, Jeff Flake sounded more like a Democrat than Sinema does today.
We remain responsible for DiFi but as off as she is. I trust her more. Breathlessly awaiting the first Politico piece titled “Feinstein ponders another run for senate.”
Barbara Boxer was mugged in Oakland yesterday, in the middle of the day in Jack London Square. Fortunately she’s okay after being knocked to the pavement.
Baud
@Immanentize: It’s graphically cool, but it’s misleading to compare it to the “original plan” when much of the original plan will be in the reconciliation bill. Someone not steeped in following the process would be left with a misleading impression that this was the end.
WhatsMyNym
@Ken:
I thought it sounded familiar.
Baud
@CaseyL:
Most of the nutty stuff happens in purpley areas. Deep red states aren’t as concerned about keeping their base outraged and engaged.
sab
@J R in WV: Pink-handled open carried pistol with a toddler. What could possibly gp wrong? Sigh.
trollhattan
This was inevitable. We’ll see how well it’s followed, next Home Depot excursion.
mrmoshpotato
Hahahaha!
Via Halsparks
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The Department of Justice is Doing Something about voting rights. I’m sure Will Stancil will be content and give credit where due.
I’m glad to see this, and I appreciate that there are limits to what the DoJ, and even the broader federal government, can do, but this is the part I’m wondering about
What kind of criminal penalties can be enforced on a state senate as a body? I’d love to see them find out; what does that look like?
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: Carrot and stick.
ETA: Wrangling recalcitrant Senators has been a sport for years. Biden and Schumer just need to find the right mix for her. It’s the way legislating works. We just haven’t seen it for a while.
WhatsMyNym
@Baud:
If you include plug-in hybrids, I think will meet that goal anyway. Big delays are still battery technology and complete lack of fast charging stations.
JoyceH
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I saw her on a news show the other day, and she had the EXACT shade of purple I’ve been trying to attain for months now! So far every shade I’ve tried is too much to the red end of the spectrum, while I’m going for True Purple, with no inclination toward the red or the blue. Maybe this new shade I’ve found will be it…
Kent
He was running against an incumbent who was a “war hero” and the first American woman fighter pilot to fly in combat and also the first to command a fighter squadron.
That’s not nothing in a state like AZ with high numbers of military retirees.
Kent
@JoyceH: I think Sinema achieves her look with wigs, not hair dye.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
More slow boring of hard boards
nothing in the article about a filibuster carve-out for voting rights, but it seems to me the whole idea is to flatter and cajole Prime Minister Joe into agreeing to that.
Kent
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I expect that Cyber Ninjas and all these other private actors are themselves vulnerable to prosecution under the act if they mishandle voting records in any way. They could probably roll up a large number of GOP partisans who participated in this fraud.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
As someone who doesn’t do small talk well, I wonder what they talk about when they meet with Manchin on voting rights, which seems to happen a good bit.
Barbara
@Kent: Which is too much like saying it’s okay to use derogatory misogynistic insults if you don’t like her. Let’s give this kind of logic a rest, is my earnest plea.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kent: so individual R state senators who physically handed over hardware would actually be criminally liable? I’m guessing for fines since “cuff’em, Danno” is too much to hope for?
I’m drawing a blank on the name of the private company (Dominion?) that scared even the Murdochs and Peter Thiel
Suzanne
@Kent:
This is the answer. She sucks and I think she wants to attract attention for a while and then cash in on TV. Deprive her of that.
Honestly, there’s probably not much to do for a while, though. It is what it is.
Baud
@Suzanne:
One of my many pet peeves is the belief that there is always some formula to make things go more quickly or smoothly that everyone knows about and refuses to use. Sometimes, you just gotta wait for the ketchup to come out of the bottle.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
One the weird things is the whole anti-Vaccine thing started out as this new age thing. Basically fringe left when you get down to it. And now it’s dogma for the Right. On the other hand there is great amusement to be had pointing this out to conservatives.
Suzanne
@CaseyL:
YES. Thank you.
The Dem support there is pretty shallow. It does not show up during many off-year elections. It is not going to be a truly BLUE STATE for a long time.
kindness
Our AZ peeps are going to have to up their game. Kyrsten needs to be primaried in 2024 and she needs to lose badly. At this point I think that is an easy ask. Republicans will not vote for her in the primaries so poor poor Kyrsten is shit out of luck, but so are we till President Uncle Joe’s second term.
Damn.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Suzanne: @Baud: the only solution to Sinema and Manchin is to make them smaller parts of a larger majority in 2022.
Oh, and hold the House
@kindness: if Mitch McConnell (or… who?) becomes Senate Majority Leader in January ’23, we’re going to be longing for the days when the Do-Nothing Duo were our biggest obstacle.
(and who do you think will lead that caucus if the Turtle starts to turn purple again? Thune, as a Hastert-esque cat’s paw for the Cotton-Lee-Graham triumvirate ? Lindsey himself? Even more “relevant”?)
Immanentize
@Baud: certainly it is the goal of the Republicans to make this bill the end of the infrastructure discussion. It will be a hard fight to get a lot more.
sab
@Barbara: I sort of agree with you except that she isn’t very covered up and rarely is. When she showed up with the thigh high boots and the miniskirt she became open season for me.
I feel free to comment on Trump’s ridiculous long tie and baggy suits. Also on Gym Jordan’s lost jacket.
I don’t often like Hillary’s clothing choices but they are always professional. AOC’s clothes are almost always adorable and I wish I was young enough to wear them, but they are always professional.
Sinema shows up all the time in outfits that in almost every job I have ever had a partner would have quietly walked up and told me to go home and change into something more appropriate for a professional
ETA She is a US senator and ought to dress like the professional she is.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Those are solutions to a lot of our problems.
Geminid
@Kent: Also, McSally had won two Congressional terms in a purple district, and came within a percentage point of winning the 2018 Senate race. McSally was a strong opponent for Kelly.
A Phoenix polling firm, OHInsight(sp?), published a poll of Arizona registered voters last March. It matched Kelly against 6 or 7 prospective Republican candidates. He led them all by 6-8 points. The race will surely be tighter next year, but I thought this boded well for Kelly. He will certainly have a united Democratic party behind him. That may not be true for the Republican candidate. Arizona Republicans seem to have the same establishment/radical conflict that has plagued Virginia Republicans the last ten years.
Suzanne
@Geminid:
The AZ GOP is in the grips of crazy Kelli Ward, and she alienates a lot of the Mormon women in the Phoenix East Valley…. who are an important part of the Sinema coalition.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Special for you: “The Half-Finished Duolingo course.”
Another Scott
A helpful graphic of what the new “bipartisan” Virginia redistricting process looks like.
I’ve been worried about the COURT boxes for a long time. We’ll have to see if it ends up there.
(via ssurovell)
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Baud:
His hair is almost there.
Another Scott
The woman in the back makes it [chef’s kiss].
Cheers,
Scott.
Geminid
@Suzanne: I remember when Kelly Ward primaried John McCain. She did well enough that I understood that the tea party cranks were not just a force in Virginia. They have really dragged Republicans down here. Demographic change has helped turn Virginia blue, but the radicals and their evangelical dominionist allies have also repelled a lot of moderate conservative Republicans and independents. Now Republicans are in a bind: they can’t win with the nuts, but they can’t win without them either.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Another Scott: oafs and umbrellas! what’s the deal with that?
L85NJGT
Medical debt was cut nearly in half in states that expanded Medicaid
You don’t say……..
Baud
@Another Scott:
Benny Hill really did a number on the British people.
Ken
@WhatsMyNym: I wasn’t sure until I saw the picture of the truck, though “rolled it down hill to fake a successful test” sounded familiar.
Betsy
@germy: @Elizabelle: Her name shall be Wilma, henceforth!
Steeplejack (phone)
@Another Scott:
That’s Home Secretary Priti Patel, who is a piece of work in her own right. I’m sure Tony Jay has a few thoughts.
Baud
@Betsy: Haha. A similar conversation is how we ended up with Wilmer many years ago.
Kent
That reminds me of when I was teaching in Texas. The teacher across the hall from me had a student teacher who was a tall blonde sorority girl from Baylor and exceedingly attractive. She showed up to teach one day in a tank top, very short skirt, and tiny sandals showing lots and lots of skin.
When one of the older veteran female administrators was walking the halls she stopped outside my door, froze, took a step back, stared into the room across the hall. Then marched in and drug the poor girl out into the hall.
“Honey?…this is just not going to work in this school” she said motioning up and down at the girl’s clothes. “You go home and try again tomorrow”
I saw dozens and dozens of students get dress coded over the years. But that was the first and only time I ever saw it happen to a teacher. The next day she was wearing slacks and a blazer. Heh.
Kent
Yes! And while we are at it, can we start calling MTG “Marge?”
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
“Are these guidance documents enough on their own to stop Republicans’ three-step plan to thwart democracy? No: That will require Congress passing new laws to bolster the Justice Department’s currently flagging arsenal. But it’s heartening to see that Garland intends to do what he can in the meantime.”
I’m glad they’re issuing guidance but it’s just not true that Garland can’t do a lot. The Attorney General of the United States can absolutely enforce the 1960 Civil Rights Act and he can do so aggressively. In fact, he has a duty to enforce it. Not just issue guidance, or request compliance. He has ample power to enforce any law he chooses to enforce. Federal prosecutors are powerful.
I don’t understand why there’s this insistence to portray this as “doing what he can….” as if he doesn’t have ample tools and resources. He does. They have an entire voting rights section.
This is the job. If they gut the VRA he goes to the civil rights law. That’s the ordinary work of lawyers.
lowtechcyclist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Seconded. I’ve long been of the POV that primaries are usually a Good Thing in districts (or states, in the Senate’s case) where your side is bound to win, whoever wins the primary.
But in purple states/districts, pretty much the opposite. Would Pat Toomey have beaten Arlen Specter if Specter hadn’t lost his primary to Sestak? Hard to say, but here we are, still stuck with Toomey in the Senate eleven years later.
For better or worse, Sinema doesn’t come up for re-election until 2024, so people in 2021 can talk all they want about primarying her, but we don’t even know where we’ll be, coming out of next year’s midterms.
Let’s get good stuff through Congress this year and next, and hopefully we can manage the rare feat of winning a midterm while occupying the White House.
I can’t say I’m a big fan of Sinema or Manchin, but no point in crapping all over them: for the next 17 months, we need their votes, end of story. I have no idea how they can be convinced to, say, make enough of a filibuster modification to get voting rights through the Senate, but I’m gonna shut up and let people who actually know them try to work on that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay:
Okay. Tell me what that looks like. I’m not a lawyer. What does “aggressively” mean? What, in very precise terms, should be his next let’s say three steps?
Immanentize
@Kay: O read the letters as a version of increasing the intent element from negligence or reckless to knowing. In many cases, DOJ will send a letter (or an undercover guy will tell a person: “You know, you really need a specific license to send that specific technology to China….” Then, when the thing is done, they can easily prove “knowingly or willfully.” That’s how I read the prosecution letter (at least about ballot security).
Another Scott
What about the “entitled” “47%” who don’t pay taxes??
Checkmate, Libtard Looter!!1
Seriously, WTF? That’s how you want to burn down the country??
(sigh)
(via LOLGOP)
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
@Kent: I never got sent home. Only time a boss commented was rayon harem pants and a matching thigh length vest in a bright batik pattern. He said it looked like pajamas. Wiped out three outfits I loved. All very decent.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Sure. I still think he should issue guidance as notice but if they’re interrogating people door to door in Pennsylvania, and they seem to be, he could pursue that. “He” would interview the people who were contacted and determine if there’s an intimidation case to be made and if there is he would bring that. He would get an injunction to halt it immediately.
I once got a call from a federal prosecutor about a person I may or may not know who altered a car title to receive a repair under warranty that he wasn’t entitled to. By close of business that day the person reimbursed the dealer, because if he didn’t they were going to charge him. They know how to enforce laws. They’re not at all shy about it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay:
so…. it’s a process that takes some time? like determining who “they” are? then going to court to get an injunction against them?
@Immanentize: that was my sense as a non-lawyer. “He”, also known as the Department of Justice, is taking the first (visible to us, I imagine some work has gone on prior to the issuance of those letters) steps building up to something more “aggressive”?
NotMax
Worst miracle ever: turning daughter into whine.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
A solution! Stay home and keep yourself to yourself, Megs! Problem solved.
As I used to say of George W Bush, if I could lay a curse on her, it would be complete self-awareness.
Immanentize
What if states were allowed to keep 50% of all federal tax moneys recovered from tax avoiders/non-payers if the State discovers the tax cheat?
Another Scott
GovExec/Route-Fifty:
Just something to keep in mind when the usual suspects try to blame the Administration for the moratorium expiring.
Cheers,
Scott.
Suzanne
@Geminid: Exactly the same scenario in AZ. The GOP there has a strong faction of dumb crazies (their elected officials are Gosar, Biggs, Lesko) and they alienate the more “moderate” business-y types (Ducey, formerly McCain and Flake and Kyl) who find them embarrassing. AZ has a big percentage of LDS who often but not always vote GOP. The LDS tend to be more pro-immigration than the evangelicals, and they are not really hip on looking like an uneducated yokel crazy person. So some of that cohort will cross the aisle if they find the Dem palatable enough. This is how Sinema and Kelly won.
Suzanne
I personally don’t give a shit what Sinema wears. Her attire is her business.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Another Scott:
A quick glance at twitter tells me it’s too late.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, in Bitcoin land… AlJazeera:
“Hey Biff! Shorts are getting big and I have seen a sweet cabin cruiser that I want to get. Get a rumor to those guys in the press so that we can make some bank before the weekend, please. You’re on it? Great. Thanks as always…”
Cheers,
Scott.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@NotMax: interesting, you can see her brain struggling with her own bullshit in real time
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax:
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I really want to know when this ghoul’s timeline starts. Beginning of this week, this month?
Also, just cut to the whining, Megs. It would actually make you look better. Still a selfish asshole, but not a Fuck-the-600k+-dead asshole.
James E Powell
@Suzanne:
Ducey isn’t embarrassed enough to oppose them.
James E Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Completely agree. We can win in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Geminid
@James E Powell: Ducey is not going to fight it out with the radicals. That might be the best strategy in the long term, but politicians think in the short and medium term. A full blown civil war would cripple Republicans in Arizona for the next few cycles. That would be fine with me, but Ducey is going to see it differently
And it’s not like Ducey could ever get someone like me or you to vote for them anyway. You will disapprove of him regardless because even if he rejects the radicals’ program, he will not adopt yours. You are not an independent; Ducey cares about their opinions, not yours.
Geminid
@James E Powell: And North Carolina, and Florida. Maybe even Iowa.
Suzanne
@James E Powell: That is true. But he’s smart enough to count to 50+ 1, and he know he needs them to win things. That’s the price of being a Republican right now: pandering to the crazy people is instrumental to cutting your friends’ taxes.
debbie
Haven’t read the comments, but frankly, it’s creepy how Sinema is hanging onto Rob Portman literally.
Geminid
@debbie: And the look on Sinema’s face is funny. Some commenters point out that Sinema broke her foot a few weeks ago and has it in a cast. She may have lost her balance. I wonder if this gave Portman’s shriveled heart a flutter.
The vote to open debate and amendmendments last nigh passed 67 to 22. While some are chafed at the idea of doing any bipartisan legislation with Republicans, I don’t mind. New Hampshire Senator Jean Shaheen, on the right in this picture, seems happy about it. She may be thinking about fellow New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan’s reelection prospects next year. New Hampshire has a lot of independent voters. Some of them are on the extremes, and wish the parties were more like them. But more are in the middle, and they like stuff like this.
debbie
@Geminid:
Or perhaps she’s clutching Portman because she senses Manchin (behind her) is about to upstage her.