Biden: We could bring the moderates and progressives together very easily if we had two more votes. Two. Two people pic.twitter.com/mR7gwnkgoJ
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 2, 2021
One party wants to end democracy and the other wants to give you free glasses https://t.co/HTArEYkZIn
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) October 1, 2021
I would love to once again live in a universe where this could be real https://t.co/9sPqVVNiU7
— Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) October 1, 2021
WaterGirl
President Biden Is Tired of This Malarkey
Could Joe Biden have said ‘bullshit’ if he were still the VP and not the President?
Chetan Murthy
With respect to Cheryl, is that’s all we get, no, I don’t want to live in that timeline. In that timeline, GrOPers remain traitors, remain ghouls, remain money-grubbing bastards, but learn how to act collectively. That’s a more-dangerous world for us and our loved ones, not a less-dangerous one. That said, I recognize that what she’s really suggesting, is that it’d be nice to live in a world where the mass of GrOPers would understand that Dems are legitimate, are legitimate negotiating partners, and meet them as equals. And sure, I’d love to live in that world.
bbleh
Not real clear to me what Kasich’s motivation is to carry on, other than perhaps that CNN paycheck. I haven’t seen much evidence that he represents the point of view of many people outside some studio greenrooms, and he’s certainly not going to convince anyone to come around to his point of view.
bbleh
@WaterGirl: That would be a big fkin’ deal.
sab
As an Ohioan I know from experience that with John Kasich you can disregard what he says but not what he does. Often the two are diametrically opposed.
Chetan Murthy
@sab: Damn right. Damn right.
Baud
Talking to Maine and North Carolina Dems.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I thought that was a very interesting comment, and a very deliberate one. Biden really was sending a message, and not just to Maine and NC dems, I thought.
Maybe a warning shot over the bow?
debbie
@Chetan Murthy:
It is inconceivable that John Kasich is seen as reasonable. Mere years ago, he’d have run over anyone not prepared to jump on his BUS TO PROSPERITY.
Ned F.
I think Fox should continue to tell their mostly over 60 audience that the Democrats want to expand Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing. In fact, I think every news outlet should remind the largest voting bloc what they could have. I believe every senior would be calling their senator person regardless of party to get the f**king thing done. As a senior person myself facing 10 grand in dental bills, I am very anxious, and I have two Dem Senators.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
He knows who the problem children are, just like the rest of the world.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ned F.: I can’t believe Medicare expansion of some variety– lowered eligibility, buy-in, medical and dental– isn’t an 80-20, election-deciding issue.
@WaterGirl: I know Biden’s not the golfer recent presidents have been, but he oughta invite Ruben Gallego up to Camp David for a bike ride and an ice cream sundae.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It appears that I should know the name Ruben Gallego, but I do not.
PsiFighter37
@Baud: To be fair, Cal Cunningham should’ve kept his dick in his pants. That’s the problem with NC. Maine voters have no excuse.
Chetan Murthy
@PsiFighter37:
The names of male Dem pols who couldn’t keep their pants zipped are legion: Cunningham, Spitzer, Schneiderman, Cuomo, and on and on. And the last three ….. well, let’s say, it wasn’t just “unable to keep pants zipped”.
I can’t recall a single prominent female Dem who’s done the same. Can anyone else?
dmsilev
@WaterGirl: He’s an Arizona Congressman. I assume ‘recruit a primary challenger for Senator DramaQueen’ is the intent.
Baud
@PsiFighter37:
Sure. But think of what moral opprobrium against his fling is costing us.
Baud
@Chetan Murthy:
There was that California person who was the victim of revenge porn.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: AZ Congressman, veteran, fairly progressive AFAIK. Suzanne is dubious about his chances statewide, but I’ve always found him impressive.
His ex-wife, Kate, is mayor of Phoenix
Ned F.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I believe everyone is so focused and talking about the Trillions(!) and do not have any idea what is actually in the bill.
Chetan Murthy
@Baud: Right, Katie Hill. But nothing in that series of stores comes close to anything like what these men did. And even if we agree to put her name down on the list, we’re still 3 short, and that’s only after a cursory listing. There’s a ton more Dem pols who’ve not just strayed, but *transgressed*.
Maybe what I’m saying is, if we want shit like this to happen less often, maybe we should elect more female pols.
Baud
@Chetan Murthy:
I’m good with that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Looking for something else, I found this headline, and for some reason it makes me laugh
Geminid
@Baud: The Maine and North Carolina horses are out of the barn, and I don’t think Biden is looking back. He may be talking to Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida Democrats with an eye towards next year’s Senate races.
And Biden probably is also talking about Manchin and Sinema. I doubt if he’s trying to shame those two reprobates into compliance. But it’s important for Democratic morale to push back on the notion that the party as a whole is failing, when it’s two out of fifty Senators that are letting us down.
Baud
@Geminid:
Good points.
The Dangerman
I see Kasich is back to sniffing glue.
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well Doh! That’s an understatement.
Aaron Rodgers Mustache
@PsiFighter37: you say “keep his d*** in his pants”, yet Juancho bans me.
Heh.
Geminid
@Chetan Murthy: Katie Hill’s resignation was conditioned by California’s revenge porn law. As long as she was a Representative, the Daily Mail was allowed to publish photos that involved an arguably public issue. An affair with a campaign aide seemed to qualify, not that the Daily Mail actually cared.
So Hill bailed. A strong support group of friends might have helped Hill tough it out. But from what I read about Hill’s despicable, easy rider husband, he was the kind of man who blocked from her life other people who could threaten his dominance. When she started divorce proceedings, he took his revenge.
Chetan Murthy
@Geminid: 100% agree with you. I was focusing only on the allegations that she had an improper relationship with a female staffer. All the other allegations went nowhere. But *also*, yeah, yeah, YEAH, the fact that she was forced to resign due to revenge pr0n ….. yeah, I’m still angry about that.
ETA: that somehow, *somehow* she lost that lawsuit against the Mail also pisses me off.
Geminid
@Chetan Murthy: I am angry too. I just bring this up because I’ve read takes that say Speaker Pelosi forced Hill’s resignation.
When I was researching the matter, I saw a very telling picture. It was taken in January 2019, on the first day of the new Congress. Speaker Pelosi and Katie Hill were posing for a ceremonial picture next to the Speaker’s podium. They both looked somewhat uncomfortable, probably because standing between them was Hill’s odious husband, a big man with a big smirk on his face.
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ah, thank you!
MomSense
@PsiFighter37:
2nd District Maine is a red state. They went both times for Trump. Now those rural fucking trumpers have filled up our ICUs so my cousin can’t get his cancer surgery. They can go fuck themselves.
rikyrah
Phuck Maine and Phuck that muthaphucka from North Carolina, who couldn’t keep his shyt in his pants??
Anne Laurie
@MomSense: If only the saner portions of your state could petition to rejoin Massachusetts…
rikyrah
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I don’t need nor want a leftist in Arizona. Just someone who can win , and actually respects the principles of the Democratic Party.
Geminid
@MomSense: I understand that Maine’s 2nd District is larger in area than any other Congressional District east of the Mississippi.
piratedan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: in the current environment i am less dubious about Gallego’s chances… although Greg Stanton would also be a solid choice. The other Dem congressmen are based in areas outside of Phoenix, so they would have a longer climb into statewide recognition. Phoenix mayor and the Tucson mayor are other possible choices.
Also understand that kelly ran sans baggage in 20. Now he has a record that will be attacked and his race will be a bellwether
phdesmond
@Anne Laurie:
perhaps some critical lawyers could reexamine the Missouri Compromise of 1820, when Maine gained statehood?
Geminid
@piratedan: And Greg Stanton was Mayor of Phoenix before he won Sinema’s Congressional seat in 2018.
Chetan Murthy
@piratedan:
Ehhh … the husband of Gabby Giffords does not run sans baggage.
piratedan
@Geminid: yup… not perceived as being as liberal as Gallego but still a solid pol from what i have seen. Other dem congressional reps are the awesome raul grijalva.. but hes got health issues… tom o’halloran who serves a mixed district and ann kirkpatrick who is coming off of alcohol rehab.. Kelly has all of his wife’s street cred and i suspect he’ll get re-elected but we have to turn out despite what the state lege does…
The fraudit has pissed a lot of people off and i do not believe it will soon be forgotten.
M31
@Chetan Murthy: well I heard that Elizabeth Warren totally outfucked this Marine
piratedan
@Chetan Murthy: all political ads that ran against Kelly never mention her because to do so would have been idiotic
I live here and she was my rep… if she wasn’t universally respected the gop knew better than to imply that she was anything less than heroic
MomSense
@Geminid:
All of New England fits inside the state of Maine. Northern Maine is rural – most of the people are in the much smaller southern part of the state. In 2011 the Republican legislature and LePage (thanks so much voters who couldn’t be arsed to show up in 2010) changed the district map which made it much harder for Democrats.
Geminid
@piratedan: The Arizona Republican party seems to have a lot of intra-party conflict. That does not help their chances of winning back Kelly’s Senate seat, or holding on to the Governor’s office. And now the orange churl and his henchmen are messing with that race.
Arizona Democrats sound pretty unified, at least about next year’s contests.
jl
How many times now has a mediocre older white guy made an ass of himself in Congress while thinking he is a Master of the Universe?
As a mediocre older white guy, I demand better champions for my cause.
Unlike the goofus mediocre white guy plot to replace Pelosi, Josh Marshall pointed out that Gottheimer could have done something useful for middle class blue and purple state Democratic support, and would have made him extremely popular in his district. Which as to adjust the SALT deduction so it didn’t ding the middle class so much.
But nooooo….. Gottheimer didn’t need to be a hilarious sitcom goofus neighbor type mediocre white guy. He chose to be. Probably under the spell of the real deal: Mark Penn.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Zooks! That video clip!
And the polling numbers are unbelievable, except that Labour is seemingly hopeless under Starmer…
Cheers,
Scott.
piratedan
@Geminid: i think that there is a split between the pragmatist part of the party which is the possibiy eroding stranglehold on the east valley burbs and retirement communities and the batshit crazy from the state lege and seen in the current Gop reps… Gosar and Biggs… i would not be shocked to see Gov Ducey run… but when in 22 vs Kelly.. or rather in 24?
Ksmiami
@MomSense: hope the plague rats have a short, miserable and one way stay at the icus…
jl
@Another Scott: Labour steal a training film from the DNC?
Thanks for heads up, though. I’ll check the news on what is up in the UK. My uneducated ignorant hunch would be that Labour would have to display world historical political incompetence if they couldn’t take advantage of the Tory Brexit bollocks. The news stories about the shortages in the UK are amazing, and they seem entirely due to Tory Brexit incompetence in all dimensions, levels, and intersections of dimensions and levels.
Morzer
Biden really is the smiling assassin. I love how he just slid the blade into Manchenema, grinned boyishly and walked off.
Chetan Murthy
@piratedan: Yep, I meant no disrespect to Rep. Giffords. Just that Kelly wasn’t an unknown quantity when he ran.
Ksmiami
@Morzer: they deserve much much worse. So sick of this and I’m really pessimistic that nothing gets finalized. Sinema and Manchin simply don’t care what kind of damage they do to Biden and his voters. I really am starting to hate them
JWR
@Baud: “Talking to Maine and North Carolina Dems.”
:@WaterGirl: “Maybe a warning shot over the bow?”
Okay, I give up. If not Manchin and Sinema, who was he talking to in Maine and North Carolina?
Thanks,
Clueless in CA
;)
piratedan
@Chetan Murthy: granted… they did their best to smear him regardless… implying he traded on his astronaut status to deal with the red chinese in the private sector. Tbf. Giffords is a lightning rod in southern az as most here still feel it was a political hit job and the behavior in phx afterwards cemented that feeling. In many ways mcsally was a similar candidate to kelly… war vet, political unknown… then her voting record could be made public and well… we know what happened next
Mike E
Go ahead… I’m listening
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I never knew that. Fascinating.
Were you surprised Collins endorsed LePage? Do you think she thinks she has to, or is she just out of fucks to give to her moderate persona and this is part of her showing her true ass?
Betty
@bbleh: Kasich is one of those guys the media loves. Me, not so much. His big theme in earlier times was the balanced budget amendment. Phooey!
Omnes Omnibus
@Ksmiami: If the bills pass, the country’s goldfish like political memory will mean that all this angst will be forgotten in 2022.
Chetan Murthy
@piratedan:
Not sure what you mean, but if you’re saying that the assassination attempt was stochastic terrorism, then I’m 100% with you.
Geminid
@piratedan: There is similar stress in the Virginia Republican party. The Chamber of Commerce/Country Club elite used to call the shots. But in the past decade, an alliance of tea party cranks and bible thumpers has been pushing the establishment around. Eric Cantor’s primary in 2014 was the “populists'” first big flex. The Republican party here has been shedding moderately conservative voters ever since.
Arizona has different demographic trends than Virginia, but the Republican parties’ internal tensions seem similar.
Kay
@Ksmiami:
It’s just insulting. Of course all the Right wingers support the infrastructure bill. They didn’t raise any taxes to pay for it. All this absolute bullshit about how they are budget hawks- they don’t pay for anything. They shifted all the revenue-raising part over to the bill they don’t want to pass- reconciliation.
It isn’t hard to spend money without raising any. Of course US corporations and wealthy people support infrastructure improvements- they aren’t paying for it.
The reconciliation bill at least raises revenues – the infrastructure bill is funded with pretend money. Of thr two the more “fiscally responsible” proposal is reconciliation, if “fiscally responsible” means “things have to be paid for”.
piratedan
@Chetan Murthy: by that i mean that the hunting and targeting imagery and rw radio echo chamber found a willing target… the behavior of the state GOP post does nothing to dispel that feeling
piratedan
@Geminid: agreed… now the outcome for those folks is to support the loonies or stay at home or vote Dem… i suspect it’ll be option b to stay home.
Ken
@Another Scott: Did the Reform UK party really pick REFUK as their abbreviation, or is that the famous neutrality of the British press in action?
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Interesting, except better to say, ‘all the rest of New England fits into Maine’. I checked a map to see if that made sense, and it does. Never occurred to me before how big Maine was, relatively.
I also found out that Rhode Island has 3 ‘regions’. New England is an amazing place!
schrodingers_cat
I remember a time when Sinema had a lot of fans on Balloon Juice.
Chetan Murthy
@piratedan: A-yup. A-yup. I was saying the same thing you wrote, but with different wording.
Kay
The infrastructure bill tells wealthy people and US copororations “you can have modernized infrastructure and your private sector companies can rely on a functioning public sector apparatus- roads, bridges, electric, water, but you don’t have to pay for any of it- if turns out we need some funding we’ll just transfer more from the health, education and social services part of the public purse”.
It’s a sweet deal.
When it came time for the second part of the deal, where we make some investments in the actual public- the people- and that involves raising some revenueby raising taxes- they reneged.
So there’s a shocker. They want you to invest in the public sector than benefits them, but they won’t invest in the actual public.
Betty
@bbleh: Kasich is one of those guys the media loves. Me, not so much. His big theme in earlier times was the balanced budget amendment. Phooey!
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
jl
@Kay: “Of course all the Right wingers support the infrastructure bill.”
You mean the bipartisan thing? If so, yes. Unfortunately from what I read, there are a lot of corporate give-a-ways, and larcenous corporate privatizations of public assets in it. Not that one would ever know from the braindead corporate media coverage. We need the reconciliation bill to undo that damage that some of what the badly written bipartisan bill does. Anyway, of course right wingers support the bipartisan mess.
Kay: thanks for amplification on the con the GOP and the corrupt corporate Dems are running. Corporate media reporting on it is such vile propaganda and some actual falsehoods, seems to me they are more corrupt and more in on the swindle than I thought.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: I remember a time when she wasn’t being an asshole. I wonder if those two times coincide.
Ken
@jl: Though if we’re discussing congressional districts, it’s just as correct to say all of Maine fits inside I-495 in Massachusetts. Twice.
Betty
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Apparently he endorsed her and she owes him. She needed all the help she could get. Curses!
Chetan Murthy
@Betty: He inveterately makes a big deal about being there when the Federal budget swung into surplus. Neglecting to mention that he was fighting tooth-and-nail against the increased taxes that were the major reason for that surplus.
piratedan
@schrodingers_cat: this will sound strange but without her we would still be dealing with the likes of someone like Flake, Kyl, or McSally… based on those options, she is STILL an improvement.
raven
@schrodingers_cat: And I remember a time when we talked about football on BJ long into the night, GO DAWGS!!!!
Chetan Murthy
@schrodingers_cat: As someone else noted few days ago, Cinema has literally reneged on her campaign promises and long-stated beliefs. Literally reneged.
Betty
@Kay: So well said. Too bad this explanation has eluded D. C. reporters.
jl
@Ken: OK, thanks for the New England trivia. I’m not familiar enough with New England to know what that means, though. I just went there to gawk at ye olde tymey stuff, mountains and forests, and maple sugar sweetening products.
My mind is still boggled that a place as small as Rhode Island can have more than one region.
New England, land of paradox and miracles.
MomSense
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He endorsed her before the election and she needed the boost from him. One hand washes the other.
The Thin Black Duke
@schrodingers_cat: To be fair, did Sinema give any signs that pointed out what a shameless opportunist she was? Then again, it’s telling that the only noteworthy thing she did was strutting like a model in front of the paparazzi.
Kay
@jl:
It in’t the corporate giveaways. It’s that they stripped all the revenue-raising out of the bill. They’re getting 550 billion in investment in infrastructure with no tax increases. They’ll benefit hugely from improved infrastructure and they aren’t paying for it.
The reconciliation bill is different- it raises revenue and it invests in people- the public. They don’t even want to pay for infrastructure (and they aren’t paying for it) they sure as hell don’t want to pay home health aides.
Rob Portman wrote an op ed in the WSJ that boasts about how “business” is getting a 550 billion dollar investment without tax increases. Of course they love that. What’s not to love? It’s a fucking gift.
Ken
@jl: I-495 is the outer beltway (“ring road” in British English) for Boston and suburbs. All or most of four of Massachusetts’ congressional districts, and parts of others, lie inside it, because slightly over twice as many people live there than do in the entire state of Maine.
schrodingers_cat
@piratedan: Oh I don’t disagree at all.
gwangung
@Chetan Murthy: At that, if she swings back under the Dem wing and both bills pass, she has an even chance of voters forgetting the shenanigans for re-election.
Chetan Murthy
@gwangung: You’re not wrong. Lots of us will forgive her; I won’t be among them.
Matt McIrvin
@The Thin Black Duke: At the time, I remember being a bit suspicious of all that hype because I’d already heard a bunch of people in AZ complaining about her being a DINO.
raven
@gwangung: A bisexual is going to swing back huh?
Kay
@Betty:
I’m for infrastructure repair and renewal but let’s not kid ourselves. They’re all backing the investment that benefits them and that they aren’t paying for it. What they aren’t backing is the investment that benefits everyone else that they have to pay for.
Nothing about this is complex or a tangled mystery. Infratsructure without reconciliation they make out like bandits.
jl
@Kay: OK, thanks for info. I thought there was a lot privatization of public infrastructure in it at one time. Was that dropped or was I misinformed?
@Ken: Thanks for explanation. I now have a small, but impressive, and well curated, collection of New England geographic trivia.
Matt McIrvin
@jl: Not just three regions, but five counties, all of which predate the United States. One, Bristol County, is anomalously tiny because it consists of land carved off from the adjoining Bristol County, Massachusetts after a border dispute in 1747.
jl
@Matt McIrvin: Thanks. Imma gonna really impress the ladies at the next party with all this!
Edit: “a border dispute in 1747″ Was that commemorated with a little obscure war name? Like The War of Broadkin’s Junction, or something? That would be really cool.
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: Groan.
schrodingers_cat
@raven: Yeah I remember Tunch and his Steelers blankets.
Kay
@jl:
There may or may not be privatization, but that isn’t what they demanded. What they demanded was no increase in taxes to pay for it. They’re up 550 billion and it cost them nothing additional. It’s a no brainer.
The part that’s remarkable to me is we (the public) have just given them this absolute gift and they STILL won’t invest an additional penny back the other way.
jl
” One party wants to end democracy and the other wants to give you free glasses ”
Dems just need to pick the right drink to go in the glasses and there’ll be a million person reconciliation march in DC before you can blink.
Ken
@Matt McIrvin: So that’s where the name Bristol County Jr. came from…
jl
@Kay: Thanks.
“The part that’s remarkable to me” That is a surprising statement from you. You dang kids these days, so, naive and idealistic!
Kay
@jl:
In return for our largess on infratsructure, Wal Mart and the Chamber of Commerce is graciously allowing contractors to pay us wages to build the roads and bridges and electric lines. Because they need roads and bridges and electric lines. What they don’t need is free community college and home health care aides who make 15 bucks an hour.
I accept this deal- I knew US business would be the major beneficiaries of infrastructure – they always have been and always will be- I just them to hold up their end. Now it’s time to invest in the rest of us.
Geminid
@piratedan: Republicans in purple states can’t afford to have many of their voters stay home. The Georgia Senate runoffs demonstrated this. Jon Ossoff’s vote total dropped by 100,000 from the November election to the January 5 runoff. David Perdue’s fell 200,000, and that made the difference. The Loefler/Warnock race numbers were complicated by their jungle primary, but Warnock ran 20,000 votes ahead of Ossoff in the runoff.
Both Arizona parties had record turnouts in the November election. The Democrats managed to come in ahead. So which party will sustain its momentum? The more unified one would seem to have an edge.
And something else I wonder about: if there was a trump bump for Republicans in 2020 (and I think there was), will there be a post-trump slump in 2022? That prospect certainly cannot be counted on, but it still interests me.
piratedan
@Geminid: same here… the factor that has been discussed here are the additional restrictions put in place by the local lege as welll. So while we are energized and engaged, they are just as dedicated to stop us.
Ksmiami
@Omnes Omnibus: my problem is that my pessimism wins out more often on the betting side than the optimistic side…
Ksmiami
@Chetan Murthy: I’ll help fund a primary opponent…
Bill Arnold
@WaterGirl:
A single Republican Senator switching to caucusing with the Ds would do it too, or even just being a temporary maverick and defecting for a key vote or three.
I would salute such a Republican. They can’t all be happy with their current voles as interchangeable parts of the Mitch McConnell Obstruction Collective. Senators are not by nature content to be members of a hierarchical hive mind.
Geminid
@jl: Privatization of public infrastructure assets can definitely be a ripoff. Virginia paid tens of millions to a company for a highway from Petersburg to Tidewater that was never built. Another of Republican Governor Bob McDonnell’s giveaways was a bridge contract that will require the state to pay the contractor even if it builds the bridge itself.
I keep hearing about privatization features in the physical infrastructure bill, but I haven’t heard any specific details. Have you?
jl
@Geminid: I don’t know. We’ve both put the call out of info, and as I just typed in a thread above, BJ is a full service blog with universal expertise in everything.
I’ll check back later with full confidence that all will be revealed.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: Sinema joined the notorious Blue Dog Caucus when she got to Congress in 2013, so she was obviously on the conservative side of the national party when she ran for the Senate. But a Democrat hadn’t been elected Senator from Arizona since Dennis DeConcini, so Democrats were not being too picky about running a centrist. And Sinema voted for Chuck Schumer to be Majority Leader, so she did fulfill that part of her responsibility to the party.
Last year, though, Joe Biden and Mark Kelly proved that regular Democrats can carry Arizona, so Arizona Democrats may well decide that Sinema is expendable come 2024. They have to reelect Mark Kelly before they can put much energy into the Sinema problem. But in the meantime, people here will pick up that slack.
jl
@Geminid: Sinema is an example of a person who is very smart, and enterprising and accomplished, but has horrible judgment, develops poor values in working with others, forgets the social good, and becomes a danger to themself and society.
gwangung
@Geminid: She’s dead in the water if both bills fail. No ifs, ands or buts about that.
Her only chance is to play maverick and vote for the bills if they come up to vote.
Geminid
@jl: As regards to privatization, there may not be much to reveal. I have seen a lot of hostilty in general towards this physical infrastructure bill, so there could be some exaggerating going on. I’ve also heard it called a “climate arson bill,” but again with no specifics. There surely are arguments to be made, but I wish people would make them so others can decide for themselves if they have merit.
Geminid
@gwangung: I believe both bills will pass, and the only question is the size of the second one. That doesn’t neccesarily mean that Sinema is not in trouble with her state’s Democrats. But like I say, they can’t really act on this question until 2023 anyway, and they will know a lot more then, both about her and about their state’s political dynamics.
But one thing’s for sure: Sinema could never, ever win a Balloon Juice primary.
gwangung
@Geminid: Oh, yeah….she’s definitely in trouble with AZ Dems. She’s not nearly as slick an operator as she thinks she is. She has all the finesse of a defensive lineman trying to put together a Swiss watch. I’m just saying that her only shot is to vote for the bill (and probably with the drug price controls intact). It’s her own fault that this shot is a lot poorer than it had to be.
sab
@Betty: DC Reporters are mostly not reporters: they are courtiers. They want to hang out with the big shots and make money. They have absolutely no interest in reporting to actual normal average people. They despise us.
Tony Jay
@Another Scott:
@jl:
@Ken:
These people are the most politically incompetent shower of donkey glands I’ve ever been unfortunate enough to witness. They could fuck-up a Danish Double-Tap at a nymphomaniac’s birthday party. Hopeless.
And the Reform UK Party is the rebranded carcass of the Brexit Party, so RefUK is pretty apt.
Morzer
@Tony Jay:
“These people are the most politically incompetent shower of donkey glands I’ve ever been unfortunate enough to witness.”
Corbyn was far worse.
Tony Jay
@Morzer:
Yay! Fake-Centrist Bingo!
That’s such a stupid comment I’m just going to leave it there to moulder like an abandoned donut.
Unless you were being sarcastic, which would make it applaudable.
dave319
@Geminid: Say their names, fer chrise sake. I get so tired of the Dem’scircumlocution timidity. It allows other bad faith actors to set the dialogue, viz, Politico’s shit article about Biden sitting in on the budget negotiations that ran the other day, full of outright freakin’ lies. Party leaders need to prove to us voters that they understand the severe urgency of our current crisis in democratic self-government. The time for “collegiality” and ” civility” was murdered by Newt Gingrich and Frank Luntz two and a half decades ago, and Reagan’s been dead for longer. Get over the defensive crouch and start swinging some real punches.
dave319
@Bill Arnold: “Adam Kinzinger and Lisa Murkowski, please come to the Jim Jeffords Memorial Pavilion.” Yeah. Sure. Pigs flying.
Matt
Shorter Kaisich: “Republicans are ready and waiting to join forces with corporate Dems to fuck over the hippies”
You can tell they were totally planning to do the “LOL I had my FINGERS CROSSED when I said I’d vote for reconciliation” once the bill they like was passed.
cain
@schrodingers_cat:
I think the post for what it was .. pushing back on stupid media focus on what a woman wears and try to insinuate that there is something wrong, is perfectly fine. We should always push back against misogynistic bullshit even if we find the target terrible. I remember that many of the Arizona folks here thought she was a mixed bag but were hopeful.
cain
@sab:
The market is ripe for a company that can disrupt the status quo. Not sure how that will happen but it needs to happen.
We need reporters like Lois Lane! ?
Morzer
@Tony Jay: You are dumb or dishonest enough to believe that the most disastrous Labour leader of our lifetime is something other than a creepy, self-pitying, incompetent, anti-Semitic crank who led his party to disaster twice, played footsy with every terrorist he could find and gave aid and comfort to dictators like Putin and Castro every year of his worthless career. What that says about you is something you would do well to contemplate.