Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

The words do not have to be perfect.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Everybody saw this coming.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

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

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

No one could have predicted…

He really is that stupid.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

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

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

This really is a full service blog.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Good Morning: Presiden Biden Live On Infrastructure

Reader Interactions

62Comments

  7. 7.

    L85NJGT

    Celebrate and the village refs will flag Democrats for taunting. But enough about that woo kook Aaron Rodgers….

  8. 8.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Over a trillion bucks for things the country desperately needs.  This is good in and of itself.

    Let’s enjoy this win, and then, on Monday, start holding Manchin’s and Sinema’s feet to the fire.  Get the CBO score and see where they really stand.

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I HAVE NO REASON TO THINK this is anything other than true but looking it up left handed… fuhgeddaboudit

    Stephanie Ruhle
    @SRuhle
    ·
    14h
    LEFT OUT OF THE BILL-

    The billionaire tax provision

    It would have raised over $500bn from 700ish of the richest people in the country (who I assure you, are legal tax avoiding olympians)

    Dems win & lose
    Rs win & lose
    Mega Rich always WIN

  14. 14.

    sab

    @Ken: Who the fuck even wants rainbow unicorns (sparkly little horned horses in the backyard where my grandkids and dogs play?) I want some good social policy and I think this bills has lots of it.

  16. 16.

    Starfish

    @Baud: “Upper end” means “upper income” here. The very wealthy are not getting their money from income. They are getting it from investment and all sorts of philanthropic tax dodging schemes.

    Make “paying your damn taxes” the new philanthropy.

    How does it affect my wealthy governor?

  17. 17.

    citizen dave

    It was exactly ONE YEAR AGO on this glorious Saturday morning that our media finally decided to declare Joe Biden the winner.  I blew my air horn and had a wonderful lunch out after that.  Thank you to the 81,282,916 sane citizens who decided to vote.  Whatever happened to pushing for the popular vote, etc.?  Like how we elect Governors and every other friggin’ office?

  19. 19.

    Baud

    @Starfish:

    Well, it’s still a progressive bill in terms of funding, last I heard.  If it passes, it’s the type of thing that should be rewarded if we want politicians to believe that it’s a winning issue.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @citizen dave:

    @zhena gogolia:

    It also means that it was exactly one year ago today on this glorious Saturday that we all first came to learn there’s more than one establishment in Philadelphia bearing the name “Four Seasons.”

  22. 22.

    japa21

    I haven’t seen anybody mention it, but his response to the question about reparations for those who were separated from their children by TFG was powerful.  It doesn’t happen often, but you can tell when he is angry.

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    I was doing my monthly grocery shopping and I missed the whole thing.  Sure, I’m out for two hours for the first time in a really long time, and President Biden chooses that time to make his speech.

    Thanks, Joe!  harrumph

  25. 25.

    narya

    Completely OT, but the first of this year’s batch of Rush Creek Reserve has dropped, and I just ordered my first wheel of it. I don’t get it directly from the makers; there’s a cheese company that works the farmers’ markets, and they always get some. They also deliver cheese–they started last year, and they’re continuing it, and I love it. In previous years, you could order in the off season and then go pick it up at a designated location, but this delivery option is so much nicer. Plus they had some camembert for next week’s delivery: venison cheese steaks w/ camembert are in my future.

  26. 26.

    Immanentize

    @narya: Somewhere I have this amazing recipe for blueberry BarBQ sauce for venison. I will poke around for it and tag you if I see you again…

  27. 27.

    gwangung

    @Baud:

    Shout it louder.

    You train a politician like you do a puppy. If they do a nice thing, praise it. If they do a REALLY nice thing, REALLY praise it.

    None of this all-criticism, all grumbling shit. All you’re telling them is that you don’t care what they do. You’re training them not to bother  listening to you.

    If it passes, it’s the type of thing that should be rewarded if we want politicians to believe that it’s a winning issue.

  29. 29.

    Mike in NC

    Turned on the TV after we were without power much of last night. Eight people dead at a concert in Houston! WTF is that all about?

  30. 30.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Starfish: I think pay your damn taxes is a good message.

    As for Mr. Polis, just recently he was floating around the idea of eliminating the state income tax in Colorado. Because of course he was. When in actuality, it needs to be progressive and not flat.  Pay your damn taxes, Governor!

  31. 31.

    Gin & Tonic

    @narya: I was once having dinner at a Michelin 3-star restaurant in the Bay Area, and one of the available choices for the cheese course was from a minuscule operation about 30 miles from me here in Southern New England. So I visited there and chatted about how their cheese got to the other coast, since their distribution is mainly farmer’s markets in CT. So they explained to me that there are cheese brokers, who specialize in this sort of thing, moving obscure high-quality cheeses around the country to high-end restaurants.

    I filed that under “career choices I wish I’d known about when I was younger.”

  35. 35.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: don’t fret yet!

    I am really not worried. He is a 20 year college student who likes to sleep late, weekend or anytime really. Still, I will be happy to hear from him.

  37. 37.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @gwangung: Wait you mean you aren’t supposed to nit pick, criticize call every win a “failure”, shame for everything they do and constantly threaten to abandon them? This would be news to much of the Left.

  40. 40.

    zhena gogolia

    DougJ is so brilliant.

    The infrastructure bill approved on Friday will address transportation, water, broadband, energy and public safety needs that have been building for years, sometimes decades. Here’s why that’s bad news for Joe Biden.— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) November 6, 2021

  41. 41.

    narya

    @Immanentize: Oh, that sounds lovely. I had this old jar of cranberry port wine jam/chutney, and I ended up adding that to the pan when deglazing w/ wine, and it was spectacular. Mostly I rummage around and see what I have, but that blueberry sauce sounds fabulous. And my venison “supplier” likes blueberries, so, bonus.

  44. 44.

    Lyrebird

    @L85NJGT: Celebrate and the village refs will flag Democrats for taunting.

    True, but we gotta follow what Madam Vice President does and dance anyway!

  45. 45.

    narya

    @Gin & Tonic: Seriously; I love me some cheese. Nearly all cheese, to be honest. I’ll even dip into really funky ones (morbier anyone?), though I won’t necessarily want a whole lot of it. And now I have this memory of my grandmother making a little dish of polenta (extracted from the larger batch she was making) into which she would put some camembert or gorgonzola.

  46. 46.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @gwangung: Let alone, children.  On this note: we are thinking of finally adopting another dog.  We rescued one that was abandoned by asshole neighbors and was living in next door yard.  She’s at Humane Society now being cared for, but if she’s healthy and put up for adoption in a week or so, I think we’ll do it.  We lost our dog Juniper a year ago so it feels like we finally might be ready.  Dog is jack russel mix and very sweet.

  47. 47.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @schrodingers_cat: Pelosi wasn’t worried about them.  They voted as they voted because she didn’t need them to vote yes.  When and if she does, they will.  In part, because she knows when not insist.  If they didn’t bother her, why should they bother you?

  52. 52.

    schrodingers_cat

    BTW what exactly is the progressive symbolism behind not voting for an infrastructure bill?

    Also all except the DSA 6 progressives in the Progressive Caucus voted for it.

  54. 54.

    Eolirin

    @schrodingers_cat: Their constituents also need the BBB provisions. They weren’t opposed to voting yes, as long as the process that was agreed upon at the beginning of all of this by Pelosi and by Biden for it to be tandem bills was kept to.

    It’s okay for them to protest that because their votes weren’t needed. Their constituents will at least get this through. But there’s no reason to force them to demonstrate that they weren’t serious in the position they were taking on the necessity of the BBB bill passing and the lengths they were willing to go to try to ensure it.

    It won’t matter so much if we finally get Manchin to a yes, but if it fails entirely there will be lots of complaints about giving up this leverage, even if it ultimately would have tanked both bills. Being on the other side of that helps them maintain their positions in primary challenges, which is the only real threat to them.

  56. 56.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Eolirin: This, of course, is their reasoning.  I understand that some people may not agree with that reasoning, but it is a perfectly valid play.  The Dem leadership got it, and, honestly, letting them go here makes it easier to call on them if they are really need to pass something down the road. “You know I will give you as pass when I can.  Well, this time the Party needs you.”

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    @Eolirin: I think the only challenges these six Representatives have to worry about will be from the moderate side. The four original “Squad” members are probably pretty secure. The two new ones are Bowman and Bush. They defeated established veterans Engel and Clay, and serious candidates may well make primary challenges to them next year. Both veterans were near retirement, and ambitious politicians who were waiting to succeed them may decide to go after the upstarts. This vote probably won’t make a difference, though, since it was not really consequential.

  58. 58.

    Eolirin

    @Geminid: In the case that the BBB bill fails, I think that no vote will only help in a primary, even one in which the challenger is a moderate. It’s unlikely to hurt if the BBB bill passes, because as you say this had no consequences.

    Tactically this is probably the right choice in terms of self interest.

  59. 59.

    schrodingers_cat

    The Squad and its quest for purity and attacks on others Ds as corporate tools breeds cynicism.

    Symbolism that they demonstrate through votes like these is that their quest for purity trumps their constituents needs.

  60. 60.

    BC in Illinois

    @Geminid:

    I don’t know St Louis city politics all that well, but I don’t think that Cori  Bush will suffer much for this vote. There’s a difference between voting against a bill because you don’t want to do anything (cf GOP) and casting a vote against a bill that will in fact (and to Speaker Pelosi’s satisfaction) pass, because you wanted something better.

  61. 61.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: I argue with you a lot on the internet but I want to hear your perspective. My guess is on policy we are very similar, but our approach to getting there is different. It is interesting.

  62. 62.

    Geminid

    @BC in Illinois: Yeah, I don’t think this vote alone will hurt Bush. I don’t know if she was holding out for something better, though. I’m not sure what she was holding out for. Eighty-nine of her fellow Progressive Caucus members voted for the infrastructure bill.

    I don’t know much about St. Louis politics myself. I am positing a primary challenge because there usually are ambitious politicians who would like to move up when an entrenched incumbent retires, and now have a chance to if they  can knock out a first term insurgent.

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