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I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

The revolution will be supervised.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Progress on voting rights?

Progress on voting rights?

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Senator Klobuchar:

Here’s how The Post describes the bill:

The new Freedom to Vote Act retains significant portions of the For the People Act, Democrats’ marquee voting legislation that passed the House this year but was blocked by a Republican filibuster in June. Those include mandating national minimum standards for early voting and vote-by-mail, establishing Election Day as a national holiday, and creating new disclosure requirements for “dark money” groups that are not now required to disclose their donors.

But it also discards significant pieces and tweaks others, largely in an effort to placate Manchin and indulge his hopes of building enough Republican support to pass the bill. Overcoming a filibuster absent a rules change would require the support of 10 Republicans in addition to the 50 members of the Democratic caucus.

Of course, the likelihood of 10 Republican senators voting to hobble their party’s most effective election strategy — suppressing the votes of likely Democratic voters — is about as likely as 10 unicorns flying over my house while pissing bucketfuls of Pappy Van Winkle 23 bourbon and shitting rashers of bacon. But should we be encouraged that Manchin’s colleagues find this exercise worth their time?

I guess so. For the moment, I choose to see it that way. What do you think?

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

154Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    I just posted this downstairs. It’s good that, unlike prior bills, Manchin has gone out on a limb and has a stake in this. I just don’t know if he has it in him to do anything when the GOP votes en masse against it.

  3. 3.

    bbleh

    Eh, this is down on the floor of the sausage factory, and whatever I think is surely irrelevant.

    I hope SOMETHING passes, and as a WV Dem Ima lean on Manchin.

  4. 4.

    Chief Oshkosh

    Just have DOJ open an investigation on Manchin’s daughter. He’ll be screaming about reforming/scrapping the filibuster within 5 minutes.

  7. 7.

    Leto

    @Baud: I’ll offer up his “bipartisan” Newtown gun legislation as an example of him holding meaningful legislation hostage to the alter of bipartisanship. As Betty points out, since 10 Republicans won’t sign on we’ll see if this moves his needle to eliminating the filibuster wrt voting rights legislation. I expect pappy van winkle pissing unicorns to happen first.

  8. 8.

    trollhattan

    I suppose it at least serves as planting the voting rights flag, hopefully shoving it a bit into the public conscience. That can give context to the forthcoming rollout of voter suppression with the resulting day-long lines in the two voting places allotted to urban voters across the south (and southern wannabe northern states).

    But it ain’t passing, sadly.

    In other news, imagine a world where Peter Navarro is your source of the truth.

    September 14, 2021 at 11:15 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

    Emails show that senior advisers to President Trump in February 2020 privately discussed the government’s “critical mistakes” in preparing for the pandemic, countering the former president’s optimistic claims in public, the Washington Post reports.

    Said adviser Steven Hatfill wrote to Peter Navarro on Feb. 29, 2020: “In truth we do not have a clue how many are infected in the USA. We are expecting the first wave to spread in the U.S. within the next 7 days. This will be accompanied by a massive loss of credibility and the Democratic accusations are just now beginning. This must be countered with frank honesty about the situation and decisive direct actions that are being taken and can be seen in the broadcast news.”

    However, even though Navarro warned Trump in a private memo, the president continued to downplay the virus’s risks in public.

  9. 9.

    p.a.

    I won’t hold my breath waiting for Joe M to back the FTP act when this one gets crapped on.  I expect Collins-esque disappointed shrugs and “oh-well-we-tried” platitudes.

    Time will tell…

  10. 10.

    Brendan in NC

    My hope is that they’ve told Joe, that if this doesn’t get 60 votes to continue; they’re reverting back to the original bill, and tweaking/removing the filibuster. But only tell him after they don’t get the 60 they need. No need to have him lobby his R friends for a bill that doesn’t go far enough.

  11. 11.

    Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)

    “10 unicorns flying over my house while pissing bucketfuls of Pappy Van Winkle 23 bourbon and shitting rashers of bacon.”

    Betty, we realize you live in Florida, but now we’re worried. Please get in out of the sun.

  13. 13.

    Anonymous At Work

    No Sinema on this.  That’s the key.  Manchin seems inclined to put his reputation on the line that he can garner GOP support.  Sinema (DQ-Az) doesn’t have a stake in it yet.

    If Manchin comes up short because the GOP won’t act, then he’s got less reason to preserve the filibuster on voting rights.  For her part, Sinema will be watching the VA governor’s election very closely for cues.  McAuliffe has been governing quite progressively in a formerly red state.  If Democrats retain or even extend power, Sinema can read that writing well enough.

  14. 14.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Such bullshit. You will never get 10 GOPigs to go along. I don’t think you could have gotten 10 GOPigs during Clinton’s presidency forget now.

  15. 15.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Baud: You know, it was FDR that was a big proponent of trying new ideas when old didn’t work.

    As to out-Trumping Trump, well, at least with Manchin’s daughter, there is some “there” there. Besides, it’s a time-honored tradition. JFK/RFK did the same thing back in the day. Or was I lied to?  ;)

  16. 16.

    cope

    Frankly, that’s not enough to make me hopeful. Seems like the Post is just setting up the ball for the next “Biden Fails” spike.

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    Progress is incremental and slow.  Yes, this is good (and expected by me) news.

    Quasi-relatedly, …

    AOC made the single clearest takeaway of the biggest media event of the month “Tax the rich” right as Democrats in Congress are fighting to raise taxes on the rich. If you don’t see why that’s great, read some Alinsky or something.

    — LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) September 14, 2021

    I wonder if there’s some 11-D chess going on here with her dress. Get Twitter and the GQP yelling about her dress for a few days, while the Democrats do the work in the background to actually get their agenda passed without the howler monkeys getting in the way. The Illuminati would certainly fnord have plans like that on the fnord shelf.

    ;-)

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  19. 19.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Anonymous At Work: Sinema is supposedly a big John Lewis supporter. I don’t think she will put up a road block here.  I have a gut feeling that Sinema is done with the Senate possibly politics. She was really pissed off when Rand Paul walked around in the Senate when he was waiting for his COVID test results. And I am sure the January insurrection didn’t help either. I frankly think she might be looking for either a lobbying gig or a TV gig.  Either that or she’ll run for AZ governor down the road.

  21. 21.

    daveNYC

    This won’t get 10 Republican votes and it’s highly unlikely that we have the 50 votes needed to remove or modify the filibuster, so at best this might work to convince Manchin that the filibuster needs to change.  Maybe.  If we’re lucky.

    It’s not going to hurt, but I will be surprised if it helps.

  22. 22.

    Steeplejack

    I’m not optimistic. It reminds me of Obamacare. The usual suspects drag their heels and extort concessions while running down the clock, and then they still don’t vote for it. As for Manchin, it smacks of a disingenuous strategy where he gets points for “doing something” while resting secure in the knowledge that it probably won’t get passed in anything but an extremely anemic form.

    And it avoids and puts off dealing with the critical legislative issue of our time: the goddamn Senate filibuster.

    Feeling legislatively crabby today. I feel like the Democrats are pointing to the watering-down process as some sort of victory, or progress. Negotiating in good faith with counterparts who probably are not. Arggh! But I am a dunce when it comes to understanding the sausage-making.

    Will now read the comments and see how wrong I am.

  23. 23.

    Another Scott

    AFAIK, Manchin has always been more concerned about limiting donations and fundraising aspects than about increasing voting days and so forth.  I suspect lots of other senators had similar concerns, but didn’t want to talk about them.  We know we’re not going to get everything in the John Lewis and the For The People Acts.  We’ve known that all along.  We should get as much as we can now, and increase the House and Senate margins to get more in 2023 via pushing registration and turnout as hard as we can for the November 2022 elections.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  25. 25.

    kindness

    We can all  blame Joe Manchin & Kyrstin for stopping Democratic progress in it’s tracks.  They deserve it but I also think the ‘good’ people from states that voted in awful Republican Senators who lied to their faces deserve every bit as much credit.  I’ll start with the ‘good’ people of Maine who re-elected Susan Collins and run down the list from there.  Those people, those states won’t see me or my money until this gets better.

  26. 26.

    Jeffro

     

    the likelihood of 10 Republican senators voting to hobble their party’s most effective election strategy — suppressing the votes of likely Democratic voters — is about as likely as 10 unicorns flying over my house while pissing bucketfuls of Pappy Van Winkle 23 bourbon and shitting rashers of bacon.

    Betty, PLEASE: I was in mid-mouthful of sandwich here!

    bwah-hah-hah!!!

  28. 28.

    Urza

    @wvng: The sad part is these knuckleheads actually do know the right things to do but refuse if it makes them look weak or Democrats look good.  So, which is worse.  That they are as stupid as they present to their voters?   Or they aren’t that stupid but act out the policies anyway for power and money?

  30. 30.

    Steeplejack

    I do wonder whether we might get helped on this—by scheduling design or by chance—when the right-wing rally at the Capitol this Saturday turns out to be a complete shitshow. I’m not expecting violence—not ruling it out, either!—but the right-wing nuttiness will be in full bloom. That might provide some leverage if sitting Republican senators have to publicly choose between the rabid base and the majority of Americans who are sick of this crap.

  31. 31.

    Cmorenc

    If we can get voting rights filibuster reform/legislation passed, on the same constitutional basis a future moment when gop has control of congress + presidency, they can on same basis not only undo the reform but pass even more harshly restrictive legislation nationalizing what some traditionally ref states have already done eg very restrictive voter id allowing gun permits but not student ids.  Not only that, but even if Ds maintain a durable hold for next few election cycles on ability to block passage of any regressive reversals of federal voting rights legislation, the current composition of SCOTUS could torture the plain wording and intent of the relevant constitutional underpinnings to eviscerate the reforms, just as was done with the existing voting rights act in shelby.

    Not saying here that the Ds shouldnt vigorously push forward with voting rights reform – its our only option.  But unfortunately, the current composition of SCOTUS is positioned to effectively eviscerate any 14th/15th/ article 1 basis for voting rights protections

  32. 32.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Another Scott: There are headlines today of Biden re-restating that the rich are going to be taxed. I believe in this discussion that he’s saying rich = $400,000+/year income. I wonder how that’s calculated for the rich that have no “regular” income.

  35. 35.

    Low Key Swagger

    Don’t like derailing a thread…but i have a question if David or some other scientist reads this…I don’t remember which vaccine I was given as a kid that was delivered via a sugar cube.  At some point, we are going to have to vaccinate children, and I think having a delivery system other than a shot would go a long way.  Is this even possible with this type of vaccine structure?  Maybe even needle hesitant adults would pop one in on the off chance it works, no?

  41. 41.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Parfigliano: Yeah, I know. The fact that she’s likely a criminal doesn’t seem to influence anyone. It’s almost as if there’s a double-standard for rich-and-connected, with the icing on top that we couldn’t POSSIBLY pursue a likely criminal in her position because then we’d be blamed for doing it for partisan motives…

    ETA: which I would be, except I’m not the DOJ.

  42. 42.

    rikyrah

    @Leto:

     

     I’ll offer up his “bipartisan” Newtown gun legislation as an example of him holding meaningful legislation hostage to the alter of bipartisanship. As Betty points out, since 10 Republicans won’t sign on we’ll see if this moves his needle to eliminating the filibuster wrt voting rights legislation. I expect pappy van winkle pissing unicorns to happen first.

     

    NOBODY got time for his bipartisanship cosplay bullshyt.

    Not when it comes to Voting Rights.

     

    Uh uh

  44. 44.

    Ken

    @Low Key Swagger: It was polio, and worked because they were giving you a small amount of attenuated polio virus, which would multiply in your gut.  That wouldn’t work for COVID, so it will have to be the needle — like chickenpox, measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis, and most of the other childhood vaccines.

  45. 45.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott:

    The seem to have stuck on “who paid for it? Also, too, her ticket?” like that’s some kind of cosmic gotcha. Is there a more New York thing than the Met Gala? Hey, look, a New York congressional rep attended. Zounds! Now tell me what Met Gala is and what it has to do with baseball.

  48. 48.

    CaseyL

    @Low Key Swagger: I think one of the polio vaccines was given in a sugar cube.

    A couple possible reasons for not doing vaccines that way anymore: One, a vaccine given orally has to go through the digestive system, which may severely limit its efficacy.  Two, the sugar itself might also interact with the vaccine in a not-good way.

    ETA:  What Ken said.

  49. 49.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    Similar dynamic, except they’re pre-diluting before the Republicans even get involved. And I also wonder whether Manchin is really negotiating in good faith.

  50. 50.

    Betty Cracker

    @Low Key Swagger: I read somewhere recently that pharma companies are looking into nasal spray delivery options. Not sure if that would be better for little kids or not. I’d choose it over a shot.

  54. 54.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: I am optimistic. First Machin is all in — and he has tasked himself, it seems, with getting 10 republicans.

    The list that Klonuchar put up is very diverse — Machine to Warnock — and we know Stacy Abrams is willing to take this as a big win.

    Considering the anti-filibuster noises recently being made by Biden on this issue, the fix might already be in on the 50 vote concept for voting protections?

    Personally sorry to see that it doesn’t include the Manchin idea of full nation pre-clearance under a re-invigorated Sec. 5. But that would require so many folks in Justice…

  56. 56.

    Bobby Thomson

    We can’t pass it without him so the only choice is to water it down for votes we’ll never get.

     

    Has anyone heard from Sinema, though?

  59. 59.

    guachi

    If Manchin et. al. break the filibuster for voting rights I won’t put up too much of a fuss if the infrastructure bill is reduced in size.

  60. 60.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Mai Naem mobile: I had forgotten that she says she is a big John Lewis fan, but mostly, I think @Baud is right that she’s a coward.  I think her plan is to be a Both Sides Centrist Mavericky Moderate Centrist Maverick (like McCain) but mostly to troll Democratic leadership (explain Green to Drama Queen centrist another way).

  61. 61.

    Ken

    @Drunkenhausfrau: I want an animated gif of those 10 unicorns pissing bourbon and shitting bacon.

    If you’re willing to add a porn component, Rule 34 guarantees that it already exists somewhere on the Internet.

  63. 63.

    Scamp Dog

    @Steeplejack: It’s from the Illuminatus trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson. Quoting the Wikipedia write up, “the interjection “fnord” is given hypnotic powerover the unenlightened. Under the Illuminati program, children in grade school are taught to be unable to consciously see the word “fnord”. For the rest of their lives, every appearance of the word subconsciously generates a feeling of unease and confusion, preventing rational consideration of the text it appears in. The uneasiness and confusion create a perpetual low-level state of fear in the populace.” The Powers That Be put fnords into the text of newspaper articles, magazines, etc., but never in the ads, so the consumeristic consumption machine can keep rolling along.

  64. 64.

    Baud

    @Immanentize:

    First Machin is all in — and he has tasked himself, it seems, with getting 10 republicans.

    I am reminded of the Old Testament story of Abraham and Sodom and Gomorrah.

  67. 67.

    rikyrah

    @Steeplejack:

    I’m not expecting violence—not ruling it out, either!—but the right-wing nuttiness will be in full bloom.

    I am expecting violence. And, they should be dealt with just like they would deal with any BLM protest that turns violent.

  68. 68.

    Kent

    @Brendan in NC:  My hope is that they’ve told Joe, that if this doesn’t get 60 votes to continue; they’re reverting back to the original bill, and tweaking/removing the filibuster. But only tell him after they don’t get the 60 they need. No need to have him lobby his R friends for a bill that doesn’t go far enough

    That is an utterly empty threat. The Senate can’t tweak the filibuster without Manchin’s vote to do so.

  70. 70.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @trollhattan: ​Just FTR, Steven Hatfill was the biological warfare specialist that the W Administration tried long and hard to pin the rap onto for the 2001 anthrax letters. IIRC he sued the US government for defamation & ultimately collected a multimillion-dollar settlement.

    (Disclaimer: Hatfill – whose activities, particularly w/r/t apartheid South African, were fairly skeevy – was a consultant for a time to a supervisor on the floor above me at SAIC. Never met the guy, but the supervisor [with whom I had consistently cordial relations] insisted to me that Hatfill could not have been the perpetrator of those attacks when the accusations were flying most thickly. And it seems he was correct – or at least the Feds found a more promising suspect.)

  71. 71.

    jeffreyw

    Baud:

    @Immanentize:

    First Machin is all in — and he has tasked himself, it seems, with getting 10 republicans.

    I am reminded of the Old Testament story of Abraham and Sodom and Gomorrah.

    Sisyphus

  73. 73.

    Ken

    @Baud: That’s probably because you can see the fnords. That was a big thing in the book, when someone made the breakthrough and could see “fnord” all over the place. If Illuminatus! were better known, it would be the major meme. As things are, we get Roddy Piper putting on the sunglasses in They Live, and the rather weak “Wake up, sheeple!”

  82. 82.

    billcinsd

    @rikyrah: 
    And, they should be dealt with just like they would deal with any BLM protest that turns violent.

    Cops and white guys get to beat as many people as they want, black people get arrested?

  85. 85.

    germy

    My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied

    — Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 13, 2021

    Your cousin got gonorrhea. Your excuse for avoiding getting a vaccine is because your cousin got gonorrhea and lied about it.

    — Post-Culture Review (@PostCultRev) September 13, 2021

  86. 86.

    Kay

    Good article on Pompeo, DeVos, the CRT panic and how to beat them:

    Democrat Catherine Rombeau, a former school board member who made public education and how to pay for it the central issue of her campaign, eked out a surprising victory, narrowing an already razor-thin GOP state House majority. Rombeau, like many Bedford residents, moved to this booming suburban community for its strong education system. The idea of defunding the local schools in the name of “education freedom” holds little appeal to voters here, something Rombeau appears to have understood.

    Not complicated. Like health care, Democrats basically own public education as an issue. All they have to do is run on it.
    That’s how we win state races. People like public education.
    It’s where the vast, vast majority of them were educated. You can appeal to the 10% private school population or the 90% public school population. I know which group I would pick! The (much) bigger one! :)

  90. 90.

    Gravenstone

    @Betty Cracker: Different mechanism of action and likely very different potential side effects. But I am trying to envision the incredible shoulder pain I felt ex. Moderna, only applied directly to my sinuses.

    /shudder

  91. 91.

    Lynn Dee

    Seems likely some number of Manchin’s colleagues hope this will wake him up and/or back him into a corner.

  92. 92.

    piratedan

    all we need to do now is introduce into legislation that says if you’re not vaccinated, then you can’t vote.

    <also known as crossing the streams in Ghostbuster parlance>

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @Lynn Dee:

    I get a kick out of how it’s always presented as Manchin has to get the GOP votes. Fetch em.

    OK, big shot. Go get those votes you promised. Pelosi never would have said it until she had them, because she’s not a vain, strutting fool.

    He better get them blind drunk on his stupid boat.

  96. 96.

    Shalimar

    @Chief Oshkosh: What did Manchin’s daughter do that makes her a likely criminal?  All I remember is jacking up prices on epi-pens, which is evil and immoral and may she rot in hell but probably not a violation of any law.

  97. 97.

    germy

    Nicki Minaj's Husband Kenneth Petty Pleads Guilty to Failure to Register as Sex Offender, Faces Up to 10 Years in Prison https://t.co/we9uaueFBJ pic.twitter.com/Iz3smgvEwC

    — The Root (@TheRoot) September 10, 2021

    I notice that everytime her husband starts getting ready to do a news cycle for his Sex Offender status, she throws herself on an open flame to become the latest, loudest headline for something else that quiets out focus on him https://t.co/hsLRMFwGhZ

    — steven (@blaqueword) September 14, 2021

  99. 99.

    Kay

    We should bring Pompeo and DeVos in for state races. Make sure they come. Horrible, unlikeable people and we’ll have some normal, approachable local who’s like “I support Lincoln Elementary! Go Tigers!”
    As a contrast.

  100. 100.

    karen marie

    @Mai Naem mobile: She has never – in the entire time she’s been in the senate – had staff answer the phone. It is always “leave your zip, email and a brief message.” She can shove her outfits up her ass.

  101. 101.

    Ken

    @germy: Nothing is funnier than imagining a crying man with giant testicles eating a whole wedding cake by himself

    Sounds like something you’d see in an anime about Tanuki.  Well, not in the US edit…

  102. 102.

    sdhays

    @germy: I can appreciate the sentiment of “if I get vaccinated, it won’t be for the Met”. And at least she’s clearly pro-mask and pro-precautions. She’s not avoiding vaccination because she doesn’t take COVID seriously. If she’s going to continue other precautions, including masking, and is not pushing other “miracle” grifts that’s quite a bit better than the right-wing shit show. If you’re going to be anti-vax, you need to walk the walk and take responsibility for the greater risk you pose to yourself and others.

    Hopefully she’ll get over her vaccine fears soon (and learn to be a little more skeptical of her cousin’s friend’s claims)

    ETA: Holy shit, I just saw your next post. So, actually, she’s probably vaccinated and is using this shit to distract from the news that her husband is a SEX OFFENDER?? That’s Trumpian!

  103. 103.

    Kay

    @karen marie:

    That is bad. I got a personal (one line) letter from Sherrod Brown for attending a Sherrod Brown event.

    It’s the second time he’s written me :)

    He wrote that “we all have to do what we can for the country” which I found vaguely unsettling. Like he’s worried. Perhaps reading too much into it.

    They have a budget. Why doesn’t she hire a competent staff? She doesn’t even have to do the work.

  104. 104.

    Geminid

    @Shalimar: I’ve wondered this myself. Some people seem certain that all we have to do to make Joe Manchin knuckle under is to sic federal prosecutors on his daughter. This seems more like a revenge fantasy than a real prospect.

  106. 106.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Shalimar:

    What did Manchin’s daughter do that makes her a likely criminal?  All I remember is jacking up prices on epi-pens, which is evil and immoral and may she rot in hell but probably not a violation of any law.

    thank you, we really need to ease up on the idea that everybody we don’t like is a prosecutable criminal. That way lies “OBAMA DIDN’T EVEN PUT ANY BANKSTERS IN JAIL!”

  107. 107.

    Lynn Dee

    @Kay: Well, he’s the one who says they’re there and uses that as an excuse not to get rid of the filibuster. It does seem a fool’s game, though, to think he’ll come back from his “quest” and say: “Gosh, folks, you were right! I couldn’t get ’em. So I guess we have to get rid of the filibuster after all!”

  109. 109.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Mai Naem mobile: I’m beginning to think that it’s not just Sinema and Manchin who are holding up the elimination of the filibuster on the Dem side.  Our goal in the next election has got to be to neutralize those two and elect more progressive Senators. This is nightmarish.

  111. 111.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    He better get them blind drunk on his stupid boat.

    If I ever decide to pack it in and open up a bar, I’m naming it Manchin’s Houseboat.

  115. 115.

    Geminid

    @Patricia Kayden: I think there are  Democratic Senators besides Manching and Sinema who are reluctant to eliminate tbe filibuster in general. My own Senator Mark Warner may be one of them, and Angus King (I-ME) is probably another. But I think those two and others would get behind a carve-out specific to voting rights legislation.

  116. 116.

    rikyrah

    @Anonymous At Work:

    I had forgotten that she says she is a big John Lewis fan, but mostly, I think @Baud is right that she’s a coward.  I think her plan is to be a Both Sides Centrist Mavericky Moderate Centrist Maverick (like McCain) but mostly to troll Democratic leadership (explain Green to Drama Queen centrist another way).

     

    We need to get rid of  her. Democrats, even in Arizona, can do better. She needs a credible primary challenger.

  117. 117.

    Kay

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I agree but “more” isn’t really a solution to that because with “more” comes more centrists. Or whatever these people are. It’s like 20 good:1 bad so if you get 40 you get 2, and so forth. That’s just science.

  120. 120.

    Geminid

    @rikyrah: If Sinema does in fact derail voting rights and other critical legislation, I think we can count on a Democrat like Phoenix Congressman Greg Stanton  challenging her in 2024. But Job Number One for Arizona Democrats is reelecting Mark Kelly next year. Then they will consider the Sinema problem.

  121. 121.

    sdhays

    This story is just super disturbing on so many levels: Fearing Trump might spark war, top U.S. general secretly called Chinese counterpart. Just a few excerpts:

    One call took place on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the election that unseated President Trump, and the other on Jan. 8, 2021, two days after the Capitol siege carried out by his supporters in a quest to cancel the vote.

    The first call was prompted by Milley’s review of intelligence suggesting the Chinese believed the United States was preparing to attack. That belief, the authors write, was based on tensions over military exercises in the South China Sea, and deepened by Trump’s belligerent rhetoric toward China.

    …

    So intent was Pence on being Trump’s loyal second-in-command — and potential successor — that he asked confidants if there were ways he could accede to Trump’s demands and avoid certifying the results of the election on Jan. 6. In late December, the authors reveal, Pence called Dan Quayle, a former vice president and fellow Indiana Republican, for advice.

    …

    Within days, Trump was out of office, his governing power reduced to nothing. But if stability had returned to Washington, Milley feared it would be short-lived, the authors write.

    The general saw parallels between Jan. 6 and the 1905 Russian Revolution, which set off unrest throughout the Russian Empire and, though it failed, helped create the conditions for the October Revolution of 1917, in which the Bolsheviks executed a successful coup that set up the world’s first communist state. Vladimir Lenin, who led the revolution, called 1905 a “dress rehearsal.”

    A similar logic could apply with Jan. 6, Milley thought as he wrestled with the meaning of that day, telling senior staff: “What you might have seen was a precursor to something far worse down the road.”

  123. 123.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: I agree that it is almost vanishingly unlikely that 10 GOP votes are there.  That being said, how are we hurt by Manchin’s snipe hunt?  He either comes back from it willing at least to blow up the filibuster selectively or he loses any and all credibility.  With one, we move forward.  With the other other, we know where we stand.  In either case, we work to get more Ds elected to the Senate in 2022.

  124. 124.

    eclare

    @Kay:  I once got a personal phone call from my rep, Steve Cohen, about an issue after I called his office.

    Disclosure: I have never donated directly to him.

  126. 126.

    StringOnAStick

    @jeffreyw: Huh, I thought they only ate tomatoes.  Ah well, I won’t be growing any peppers in this cold nighttime place unless I build a greenhouse.  I’m thinking about using black blocks of basalt to create radiant heat inside a grow tunnel for the start and end of the season.

  127. 127.

    Kay

    Arthur Delaney Flag of United States
    @ArthurDelaneyHP
    · 4h
    Looks like inflation’s slowing down.
    “The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.1 percent in August, its smallest increase since February 2021.”

    Someone alert Mr. Manchin. Not that any of them will ever correct, retract or apologize.
    I never thought it was “inflation” they were worried about- it’s wage inflation.
    They’re mad that they had to raise wages to get workers. Just gross, greedy people who don’t want people to get paid.

  128. 128.

    Kay

    @eclare:

    It’s nice. I don’t donate that much because I’m too cranky about how they spend it, but I do go to events and I think I get other people to go to events, so “in kind” :)

  130. 130.

    Kent

    @Geminid: Honestly, I would think that Democrats wielding the DOJ in a partisan fashion to go after Manchin’s daughter would be the potential trigger that could cause him to finally switch parties and caucus with the Republicans handing power back over to Mitch McConnell who would then put a laser focus on DOJ “misconduct”.  It would have the potential to be the biggest self-own or own-goal in political history.

    The simple fact is that Dems really don’t have much leverage over Manchin.  The best that they can probably do is start stripping goodies for WV out of the infrastructure bills when he complains about the cost.  But that doesn’t address voting rights or the filibuster.

  131. 131.

    eclare

    @Kay:  My rep Cohen has a lock on TN-9.  I donate to people who really need it to get the message out.

    Every bit helps!

  132. 132.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Low Key Swagger:

    I don’t remember which vaccine I was given as a kid that was delivered via a sugar cube.

    As others have said, it was polio. I remember getting the cube in the minuscule health office at my elementary school.

    At some point, we are going to have to vaccinate children, and I think having a delivery system other than a shot would go a long way.

    I remember my son having to get vaccinations as early as age 2, so I really don’t think having one more early childhood vax is going to be an impediment.

  133. 133.

    Ken

    @Kay: The inflation numbers were somewhat bogus anyway, since they were year-over-year and (though some people somehow missed it) a year ago we were in a pandemic-triggered recession.

  134. 134.

    Subsole

    @Steeplejack:

    Illuminati subliminal code word that makes the reader react with revulsion and disgust.

    It basically makes your brain ‘skip over’ the hidden messages the Illuminati have planted in every piece of media.

     

    Or so I am told

    Hail Eris. Hail Dscordia.

  136. 136.

    Geminid

    @Ken: I don’t think we will have a real grasp of where inflation is going for another four months or more, when the consequences of the pandemic are better known. But there are more knowledable people with a real stake in this question who buy Treasury bonds. The 10-year rate is now around 1.33%, and the return on a thirty year note is 1.92%. There are factors besides anticipated inflation that affect bond yields, but I take it that the pros are not too impressed by current inflation numbers.

  137. 137.

    sdhays

    @lowtechcyclist: They start even earlier now. My son’s first set of vaccinations was before he was 1 – I don’t remember if was 6 months or 9. He seems to get some more shots at almost every checkup every 6 months. He just got his flu shot a couple weeks ago (he’s over 2 now), and the doctor offered to give it to his mother as well. She went first and he while he was clearly nervous, she reported that he didn’t even cry this time.

  138. 138.

    schrodingers_cat

    Many BJ FPers love to dunk on Manchin, as they should, his actions definitely deserve opprobrium. But curiously enough there was dead silence from the FPers when Manchin and his buddy the Senator from Vt tanked Neera Tanden’s nomination to head the OMB.

    If Neera Tanden was a white woman would we have heard crickets from them?

  139. 139.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kent: Manchin has “hand” right now.  We don’t have much choice but to go along with him.  After 2022, he may find his situation is different based on how he plays things this fall.  If we can get to 50 without him, he could find himself out in the cold.  Or he could play to the peanut gallery for a little while and come around and be in everyone’s good graces.

  140. 140.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I’m glad for anything that gets us closer to Voting Rights legislation.  I would prefer Manchin/Sinema just go along with the FTP/John Lewis Acts but if this little change/action is part of the process of getting to something that will help address/counter Voter Suppression, cool.  Hopefully that is the case.

  144. 144.

    Kent

    @Omnes Omnibus: Manchin will never be out in the cold.  If the Dems get to 51 or 52 there will inevitably be another one or two “centrist” Dems who express concern and instead of leading a party of 2 he will suddenly be a party of 4 that holds just as much power as he and Sinema do today.  You can absolutely count on that happening, because Senators are like moths to the flame if it gets them attention.

  145. 145.

    Winston

    Conversation with my son today:

    Did you get the vax?

    No.

    Did you get polio?’

    No.

    Why?

    I got the vax. OK dad I’ll get the vax this week. Stop bugging me.

    Great idea. I’d hate to lose you, son.

  147. 147.

    Betty Cracker

    @schrodingers_cat: That is a steaming load of horse shit. I don’t recall if I posted on the front page about those shitheads tanking Tanden’s nomination (I don’t post every day), but I distinctly remember being pissed off about it and participating in conversations on the topic here. Pretty much everyone agreed the way she was treated by alleged members of her own party sucked rancid donkey balls. I also know Anne Laurie is/was a major Tanden supporter, so she almost certainly posted about it too. The implicit accusation in your “question” (an implicit accusation which you will now deny leveling, if you follow your usual MO) is baseless and offensive.

  149. 149.

    PST

    @Betty Cracker:

    I read somewhere recently that pharma companies are looking into nasal spray delivery options. Not sure if that would be better for little kids or not. I’d choose it over a shot.

    I believe that researchers are looking into a nasal spray not because it would be more pleasant but because it could boost immunity at the most common point of entry for COVID-19. Part of the problem with breakthrough infection is that as circulating antibodies decline in number over time, the Delta variant can get a pretty good foothold in the nasal mucosa while we wait for the more long-term components of the immune system, like T memory cells, to react.

  150. 150.

    J R in WV

    @Low Key Swagger:

    I don’t remember which vaccine I was given as a kid that was delivered via a sugar cube.

    That was the second Sabin polio vaccine, and the first oral polio vaccine, developed in 1957, distributed for testing in 1959 to Soviet children, after everyone got the injection only Salk vaccine.

    Everyone got both vaccines, as polio was well recognized as a scourge. Sabin vaccine was commercially available in 1961. That’s almost certainly what you got. The Wikipedia article on polio vaccines is pretty good.

    Also, like most threads this thread is formally an open thread! So you’re good to go anywhere!

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