If there are 50 ways to leave your lover, there have to be at least 50 reasons why 51 seats, especially with Warnock filling one of them, is 100x better than 50.
I’ll start with the obvious.
- Warnock is an outstanding senator and Walker in the senate would be a travesty.
- 51 lessens the power of Manchin and Sinema.
- 51 positions us better for 2024.
- 51 means that Madame VP doesn’t have to hang around DC and cast the tie vote
- 51 puts us in a better position when someone gets sick or has a family emergency that cause them to miss a vote.
- 51 makes us less vulnerable when senate vacancies are filled in ways that can change the makeup of the senate.
Check this out: Senate Vacancy Summary (PDF)
Can we get to 50 reasons why 51 is better than 50?
WaterGirl
I think my #1 items is actually 2 items.
JoyceH
If I’m not mistaken a 50/50 Senate means the numbers have to be even on the committees, while with 51, it can be a Dem majority committee- much more manageable
Marleedog
51 seats means no negotiations or agreements for power sharing on committee assignments.
51 seats also means that the next Senator from Georgia will not be a brain damaged idiot.
WaterGirl
@JoyceH: Right. Dems have a majority on committees instead of an even split!
@Marleedog: Right! With 51, no “power sharing agreements” have to be negotiated, which also means no delays/stalling from McConnell while the Dems and Rs would out the agreement
edit: the next Senator from GA not being a brain damaged idiot is a big plus!
Baud
@WaterGirl: No delays means moar judges!
WaterGirl
@Baud: Yes! Moar judges! (less bullshit)
Alison Rose
51 makes Mitch McConnell a little bit sadder than 50.
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose:
Oh my god, why did I not make that #1???
waspuppet
I can’t believe this is a discussion that even has to have. Do Republicans do this? They do not. There’s an election to be won, they go whole-hog to win it.
Reason N+1 they have an effective veto over national policy and control of one house of Congress when public support for their “policy” “agenda” is 10-30%, depending on the issue.
rikyrah
JUDGES
JUDGES
JUDGES
full speed ahead on JUDGES
pat
Jack Smith has been appointed special counsel for the trump probes, according to TPM.
Wyatt Salamanca
Another Reason:
It will absolutely infuriate Donald Trump and cause him to unravel even more in public.
bbleh
A win in GA further empowers GA Dems, who let us remember gave us a Dem majority the last time around.
A Walker loss is one more Trump-backed candidate down, which further diminishes his clout, especially among DC Republicans.
Another Dem win, and a 51-49 Senate, will dominate the news and switch the media narrative yet again (which is already portraying the Reps winning a squeaker in the House as a Great Victory).
A Walker loss is another “celebrity” candidate down, and that’s a trend we really need to stomp on (it had a lot to do with us getting saddled with Trump, for example).
That should get us near 20 …
zhena gogolia
I finally brought myself to watch that video Aaron Rupar posted where Walker is retelling a vampire movie he watched. My God.
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: In visual form.
Alison Rose
@zhena gogolia: I saw some of it on late night clips, and I was like…………….wtf. Like, w the actual f
TxTiger
51 = Subpoena power!
zhena gogolia
@Alison Rose: He seemed to be saying that Warnock is a vampire. Did he mix up Warnock and warlock, by some chance?
Wyatt Salamanca
@zhena gogolia:
Herschel Walker has descended to a new level of peak stupidity.
WaterGirl
@waspuppet:
What discussion doesn’t need to be had? Is there something wrong with talking about all the ways this would be to our advantage, besides the fact that it’s always good to have one more seat?
WaterGirl
@Wyatt Salamanca: That’s a good one. Donald Trump might spontaneously combust.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Not sure what you are referring to. Do you have a link?
Jesse
Appointees that require senate approval, not just judges. The government itself is understaffed, not just the judiciary branch.
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: Love that!
MazeDancer
51 means you wrote great PostCards and you can stage a celebration for that.
Click on my nym, people. Get addresses. Download free, original PostCard designs like the one in this post.
Alison Rose
@waspuppet:
Are we not doing the same thing? I don’t get this comment.
dr. bloor
@JoyceH:
This is by far the single most important reason that 51 is better than 50.
WaterGirl
@TxTiger: Someone else mentions subpoena power in the other thread. Can you say more about that? We have to have a simple majority of the senate or senate committees in order to subpoena?
Jesse
More diversity in voices at the table (would be true for any D, not just Warnock, certainly holds true for and D from the Deep South).
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
WaterGirl
@Jesse:
ooh, good one! I hadn’t thought of that.
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: Seth Meyers talked about it last night, this video should cue up at 8:06 where it begins.
WaterGirl
@Jesse: More diversity. I hadn’t thought of that, either.
Wyatt Salamanca
@WaterGirl:
Roy Wood Jr. Proves Herschel Walker’s ‘Vampire’ Speech Is Comedy Gold
h/t https://twitter.com/roywoodjr/status/1593108328649195520
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: His affect reminds me of a 5-year-old who is telling you about his day in kindergarten.
Was all of that just to slag Raphael Warnock for looking good in a suit? The video cuts off right when it seems like we might understand the point he was trying to make.
Assuming he even had a point and wasn’t just excited about the movie?
ALurkSupreme
Aaah-oooooooh, werewolves for Warnock
[stolen from Twitter]
WaterGirl
@Wyatt Salamanca: Crazy.
JCJ
@ALurkSupreme:
You can even buy T shirts and hoodies
Werewolves and Vampires for Warnock
Wyatt Salamanca
@WaterGirl:
If you accept the multiverse theory, somewhere there’s an alternate universe in which Donald Trump, Herschel Walker, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert are patients in the lockdown unit of a psych ward. Sadly, we’re trapped in this universe.
Immanentize
Also, my personal favorite reason 51 is better:
Vice President Kamala Harris has lots of better things to do than to keep trotting down to the Capital to help the Senate sort their shit.
ALurkSupreme
@JCJ: I’d like to meet the tailor.
way2blue
Just to pile on I’m reposting a comment from earlier today:
Also. I don’t want a werewolf in Congress…
PeteS
Warnock is funny only when he wants to be
https://twitter.com/ReverendWarnock/status/1593359043552284673
Leslie
@way2blue: I don’t see how a werewolf in Congress would be a serious issue. We don’t hold many votes during the full moon.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: Yes! It’s in my top 5 reasons for sure.
WaterGirl
@way2blue:
No werewolves! I think we can all agree on that, even though it is new to the list. :-)
BlueGuitarist
@WaterGirl:
subpoena power:
51-49, Democrats have a majority in all the committees.
if 50-50, then the committees are all evenly divided.
It takes a majority vote for the chair of a Senate Committee to issue a subpoena, if the vote is tied a motion for a subpoena is defeated.
50-50 is why the Senate didn’t have a Jan 6 investigation
House Republicans are going to go Benghazi to the max. If Senate Democrats have subpoena power, that will ease some of the pressure of House subpoenas.
of course for the media & a lot of the public there are different rules for Democrats and Republicans.
(i mentioned in the Worker Power fundraising thread earlier)
Baud
@BlueGuitarist:
Subpoena power means maybe the J6 work gets transferred to the Senate.
Baud
@PeteS:
That’s cute.
BlueGuitarist
@Baud:
yes! They might hire Liz Cheney as Committee Counsel
Leslie
@WaterGirl: I don’t understand this anti-lycanthrope prejudice. Just because Walker wants to be a werewolf, it doesn’t mean he is one. No self-respecting shifter community would have him.
Anonymous At Work
#X One more Senator with whom Democrats have to split committee assignments, TWENTY FOUR extra committee seats to split.
#X+1 Manchin and Sinema can no longer be a problem on Armed Services (Manchin), Appropriations (Manchin), Banking (Sinema), Commerce (Sinema) and Homeland Security (Sinema)
(BONUS ROUND) #X+2 Manchin and Sinema are on Veterans Affairs Committee together (shudder) and would have to agree to skunk any hearings or votes.
WaterGirl
@PeteS: That is too funny!
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: Thanks for the detailed information.
WaterGirl
@Baud: That goes on the list for sure!
thruppence
OT: Dammit. Frisch concedes to Boebert. More embarrassment for Colorado.
WaterGirl
@Anonymous At Work: I like the sound of that!
WaterGirl
@thruppence: That is unfortunate.
JPL
@WaterGirl: I hope they wave that sign near every polling site.
bbleh
@thruppence: The cake was kinda baked, unfortunately. In recounts, the person ahead beforehand almost always wins, and the recount very rarely shifts the outcome by more than 0.1%.
I’m actually kinda tickled it was so close. MAGA ain’t playin’ so well this time around …
Arizona AG is one I’ll be watching.
ian
O/T but Isaac Chotiner interviews John Mearsheimer about Ukraine and Hungary.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl: Heh!!
Great sign spotted at an HS XC meet last weekend: “Run like your phone is at 1%”
schrodingers_cat
Because
n+1 > n
WaterGirl
@bbleh:
I’ve been watching it for days. I so want Kris Mayes to win this one. It’s the last election-denier in a key state, I think.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: That is funny.
WaterGirl
@schrodingers_cat: I think that gets the honor of being #51. Or #51, depending on how many we get.
It’s the bottom line for why it’s better. As someone said earlier, if this was for senate seat #62, we would still want to win it.
Gin & Tonic
@ian: I’m going to go way out on a limb and suggest this isn’t good for Mearsheimer.
Elizabelle
Has anyone brought up redundancy, in the event a Senator is out for health or other reasons?
Love the werewolves for Warnock sign.
They should issue those werewolves a badge.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle:
Yes! It was #5 in the post up top.
Dangerman
What was the name of the “I am not a witch” woman? She and Herschel have GOT to get together.
Elizabelle
@Dangerman: Christine O’Donnell. I regret her name is still in my memory banks. Although, thankfully, it’s in there with Kristin Wiig personifying her.
NPR link. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/10/05/130353168/-i-m-not-a-witch-republican-senate-candidate-christine-o-donnell-says-in-new-ad
Amir Khalid
Off topic: Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the Theranos blood-testing con operation, has been sentenced to 135 months jail for swindling investors and endangering people.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: 11 years. I hope that means she spends at least five of them in prison.
mrmoshpotato
51 totally slaps (the Rethuglicans across their fascist faces) more than 50.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Thank you. I was distracted by looking at that handsome, humane man, in the plaid shirt.
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid: Good!
Amir Khalid
@ian:
Mearsheimer sounds like the interviewer has really trapped him in a corner.
HumboldtBlue
@WaterGirl:
That could be a revolving tag
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato:
I am a big fan of that one!
mrmoshpotato
@way2blue:
This is the US. Werewolves in government are much more of a UK thing.
Warren can explain.
Alison Rose
@thruppence: Fuck. No recount??
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Gin & Tonic:
Nope. From the article:
Citizen Alan
@Wyatt Salamanca:
There’s also probably an AU in which president Hillary Clinton was impeached because 20,000 people died of covid under her watch, which was the worst thing that ever happened in the history of America.
ian
@Gin & Tonic: I’m honestly surprised people agree to have Chotiner interview them at this point. He does a wonderful job of making assholes expose themselves in public.
Sure Lurkalot
Judge ruled totes ok to vote on Saturday after thanksgiving for the Georgia runoff.
WaterGirl
@Sure Lurkalot: Do you have a link? I wasn’t aware that that was even being disputed.
EarthWindFire
🎵The answer is all inside your head, she said to me
The answer is easy if you take it logically
The US should be so free of the GOP
And we know 51 is more than 50
51 is more than 50
Help counselor Jack
Give Jan 6 a new plan Stan
Let’s not be coy Roy
It helps us stay free
Trump’s under the bus Gus
Don’t need to discuss much
Give Warnock the key Lee
And set the dems free🎵
zhena gogolia
@ian: The University of Chicago should hang its head in shame.
What a disgusting performance!
MazeDancer
@WaterGirl:
AJC Article announcing ruling
Danielx
@Wyatt Salamanca:
The depths have not yet been plumbed.
WaterGirl
@EarthWindFire: Love it!
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: They need to get in line behind Harvard.
TxTiger
@watergirl – I think we should make donations in $51 increments to celebrate the opportunity to get to 51. And thanks to all who provided details on subpoena power and why it matters. The Senate taking over the Jan 6 investigation with Liz Cheney hired as one of the investigators would be a.maz.ing.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
Oooh ~!!~ Math speaks up for the WIN !!!
Thanks for this !!!
bbleh
@Alison Rose: I think it’s required by law, unless maybe there’s some provision for it to be canceled if one candidate concedes.
WaterGirl
@bbleh: I don’t know about Colorado, but the rules vary from state to state. Some do an automatic recount if the difference is in a certain range. Some do it but the person requesting the recount has to pay for it. Etc.
Someone here will know the rules for CO, but I am not that person.
Embir
Am I wrong or does the math work this way.
50/50 requires VP to break ties
51/49 means we lose either Machin or Sinema and at 50/50 the VP still gets to break the tie. It isn’t nothing…
WaterGirl
@Embir: wow. I had not thought of that, and I do not know if that’s how it works.
I hope someone here does!
Embir
@WaterGirl: fixed it – it means we can lose one of them and still win.
WaterGirl
@Embir: Well, yeah, that part – that we can lose one of them and still win.– is straightforward.
Did you decide that if we lose both (51 -> 49) and all the Rs vote the other way… then the VP doesn’t break ties?
I guess the only way that works is if the 2 abstain from voting rather than voting with the Rs.
Betsy
@waspuppet: This comment is very erasing of what Stacey Abrams, a black woman, accomplished in the last Georgia runoff. How can you not think of that? She delivered massively. GEORGIA. AND THE SENATE. Whole hog, in other words (yours).
Also, “Democrats” and what they do are largely powered by black women, who are practically the heart, soul, hands and feet of the Democratic Party.
I mean, Damn!
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Yes, what matters is the equality of the final count on each side – not how many senators vote.
Senate.gov has a list of ties broken by the VP.
E.g.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: That seems like great news.
If we could just convince Manchin and Sinema to NOT VOTE on things they “just can’t support”, like voting protections and the fucking debt ceiling, then it seems like we could pass those in the lame duck session, no/