All over but the shouting… which [*sigh*] will not be over for weeks, or months…
The Senate has passed a six-month spending bill hours before a government shutdown, overcoming sharp Democratic opposition to the measure. The bill now goes to President Donald Trump to be signed into law. pic.twitter.com/Tz82of6W8C
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 15, 2025
Please don’t spend time right now on primaries. Durbin is 80 & has <$2m COH; he/Peters/Shaheen are retiring. Gillibrand/King aren’t up until 2030. 2028 Schumer will be 78; he’ll prob retire. So that’s only Hassan/Schatz/Fetterman/Cortez Masto, in 2028
There will be a lot of work for us before then…— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that few of the Y votes could lose a primary over this, & none next year. Looks to me like a lot of Sen Dems were afraid the CR would fail, but were also afraid of the Dem base if they voted no. So Dems who mostly can’t be punished by Dem voters did the dirty work /2
— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Millions of people celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival of colors https://t.co/66s1IQO9vV
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2025
Millions of people in South Asia celebrated Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, on Friday by smearing each other with brightly colored powder, dancing to festive music and feasting on traditional sweets prepared for the occasion.
The raucous spring festival sees Hindus take part in a kaleidoscopic celebration of the end of winter and the triumph of good over evil. The festival is a national holiday in India, while in Nepal it’s a two-day event that began Thursday. It’s also observed in other South Asian countries as well as among the Indian diaspora.
Holi has its origins in Hindu mythology and lore and celebrates the divine love between the Hindu god Krishna and his consort Radha, and signifies a time of rebirth and rejuvenation.
Across the country, people, mostly dressed in all white clothes, celebrated the festival by hurling colored powder at each other. Children, perched on rooftops and balconies, flung water balloons filled with colored pigments at passers by.
Groups of young men also used water guns to chase people down in public parks and on the roads, while others danced on the streets to music blaring from speakers…
Photos to put Mardi Gras to shame.
With a kaleidoscope of colors and music, the Hindu festival of Holi signals the arrival of spring https://t.co/Y9XZfS3Vff
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2025
Everybody gets a colorful badge!
A dog on a scooter with Holi powder on its forehead shows how much Indians love their pets https://t.co/UTYdVvs6lS
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2025
Speaking of cheerful Spring festivals: Happy Albert Einstein’s birthday!
What's Pi Day all about? Math, science, pies and more https://t.co/YDn8nAVWYJ
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2025
And in ‘No sooner than time’ news…
BREAKING: Helicopter route permanently closed on route near Washington airport where 67 died in midair crash https://t.co/ysZmKeEvK5
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2025
Baud
Happy Holi.
Baud
Dems really only get excited when they’re fighting other Dems so the events of this week will be a long term benefit to the resistance.
TBone
My longtime crush, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, kept me on an even keel yesterday. He was on fire and spoke words of earned wisdom:
https://www.msnbc.com/chris-jansing-reports/watch/democrats-need-to-focus-on-fighting-real-danger-which-is-trump-musk-axis-sen-whitehouse-234461765841
satby
Happy Holi to all who celebrate! I would love to be in India for this holiday. Looks like such fun.
I’m already tired and it’s going to be a long day at the market after less than 4 hours of sleep. Ironically “retired” has me busier than before.
Betty Cracker
Schumer’s book tour is scheduled to start Monday.
TBone
Got no time for recriminations, gotta keep going, coming up swinging 🎶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zhb8TfJWa0s
Baud
Pro-life!
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Meanwhile, Literal Brain-Worm Guy, HHS director, is still lying about the measles vaccine on TV. The stupidity and pointless destruction is so overwhelming sometimes.
Baud
Via reddit, almost as brave as expressing opinions on social media.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
We’d probably have a better time copying with a war of ideas than a war over rationality and reality.
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker: He’s got the very finest brain worms, they’re yuge, the brain worms came up to me with tears in their eyes, and said, “Sir”.
wil
It’s possible for two things to be true at once….that we want total resistance to the fascist Trump and the Republicans, and also that we really don’t want to find out what bloody little scraps would be left of our government after the lights were turned out and Musk and Trump were truly free to do whatever they wanted with nobody even there to watch or witness.
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker: That should be fun for him.
Baud
@Baud:
Copying= coping
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
Fucker better not come here. I have some out-of-date eggs in my fridge and my throwing arm is in good shape.
The good news for me is all the money I’ll be saving by not donating to these losers. God knows, they don’t give a shit about my bank account based on the number of emails and texts they sent me yesterday, begging for my money. Got 3 from Fetterman alone. I told him to go fuck himself.
Betty Cracker
@wil: I think everyone here understands there were no good options. It was handled poorly, imo, but what’s done is done. I don’t plan on losing any more sleep over it. In fact, I don’t have any more sleep to lose these days!
Betty Cracker
@geg6: LMAO. He got brutally ratio’d on bsky.
Princess
@Baud: Everyone in the US has been well-programmed to blame the Dems for everything that happens. The GOP has a trifecta but everything is the Dems fault. The NYT has done its work well.
Suzanne
@geg6: I got a text from Fetterman last night asking for money. LMMFAO NO GET BENT.
eclare
@Baud:
OMG that’s awful! Babies generally don’t get the vaccine until they’re one year old.
MariedeGournay
Considering a good portion of the Democratic base are intemperate windsocks, Schumer et. al have every reason not to give a shit about what they say.
Princess
@wil: I think this is true. I was on the “vote No” side. But I see the case for what Schumer did. I don’t think the country is suffering enough yet from what Trump and Musk are doing to put the blame for the real harm of a shutdown on the gop rather than on the Dems. We’re acutely aware of what’s happening but I believe most aren’t. When the real pain comes, and it will, we want it to be signed Trump-Musk not Democratic party. That’s the logic at least. That and, a shutdown makes it easier to dismantle government.
eclare
@geg6:
Talk about not reading a room. Wow.
wil
@Betty Cracker: I doubt there was any way to handle it well. I think everyone here understands that too.
TBone
Palate cleanser per The Inky (go birds!):
wil
@Princess: Yes, that’s what I was saying, thanks.
BellyCat
Citizen’s United created unity and politicians on both sides agree: fundraising above all else!
Baud
@BellyCat:
That’s the attitude that helped get us into this mess.
Betty Cracker
Tough bird watching episode yesterday evening. The lovely Red-Shouldered Hawk we’ve so enjoyed watching lately went all murder-bird and killed a Belted Kingfisher that has been delighting us from the cypress tree for the past few weeks.
Kingfisher never saw it coming, so that’s a mercy at least. Nature is a source of enormous solace, but it’s also harsh as fuck.
TBone
@BellyCat:
Hot for Teacher:
I don’t feel
tardypwned!(you nailed it)
TBone
@Betty Cracker: survival of the fittest seems to be a recurring theme everywhere these days.
Almost Retired
@Betty Cracker: Alas I am out of town, so I will miss the March 23rd “An Afternoon with Chuck Schumer” in Santa Monica. It appears his expectations for attendance are appropriately modest – a little known venue described as “intimate” that seats only 350 people. I guess the Rose Bowl was already booked.
Whatever. He was dealt a 14 when the dealer was showing a face card, so I’m moving on.
WereBear
@Princess: In six months a lot of the red states will be in economic meltdown, low on medical personnel and riddled with outbreaks of disease.
Until they admit it’s a problem…
WereBear
@Almost Retired: What can I say? NY has poor Senate comms backbone, but I love our AG, Leticia James.
She’s part of the blue state network who is actually fighting fascism.
One of our nicknames is Rebellion State.
eclare
@Betty Cracker:
Oh I’m so sorry. I know hawks have to eat, too, but it’s hard to watch.
I don’t watch National Geographic specials for that reason.
NotMax
Weekend watch.
A musical example of everything old is new again.
Almost Retired
@WereBear: It’s hard for me to cast stones at New York Democrats when my own Governor is trying to book Lucifer himself to boost his podcast ratings.
Baud
@Almost Retired:
Pretty sure Lucifer is on our side now because evil is embarrassed to be associated with Trump.
Rusty
@WereBear: The dismantling of universities will hurt a lot of these places too, they are big employers of well educated folks that go on to support a lot of other businesses. We are going to lose an entire cohort of grad students in medicine and science. What an incredible waste.
JerseyBeard
I hope, and think, the shouting doesn’t persist too long. Dems had no good options. A shut down kills real people real soon – chemo patients stop getting meds, kids starve. This was the trolly problem, but instead of 1 person versus 5, it’s overlapping sets of 10. Either way the lever goes, really bad things are going to happen. For those who still tolerate nuance, at least the Dems have a clear argument that they are the pro-government party, always. Never anarchy. It’s small solace, but it is something.
Fact also is that a good portion of the Democratic Senate caucus is billionaire-beholden. They are not our friends, really. That will need to shake out before a coherent opposition can form. Hard to argue against oligarchy when your party leader is A number 1 wall street dude.
brantl
There really needs to be the ability to recall a senator that out to be an amendment to the constitution.
BellyCat
For those who enjoy podcasts, “Past Present, Future” has recently been focusing on The History of Revolutionary Ideas. Two about our experiment with (representative) democracy are:
Declaration of Independence
The Constitution
One interesting takeaway is that, initially, the King of England was desired above a self-motivated assembly to better protect the rights of the Colonies. What’s old is new — we get to enjoy rule by both now!
The host invites experts to discuss various topics. Pretty great podcast.
Baud
@JerseyBeard:
Hard to argue against oligarchy when half of regular folks love the oligarchy.
Betty Cracker
@eclare: Considering what a Darwinian hellhole the swamp necessarily is, we’ve witnessed surprisingly little carnage. It happens, but it’s fairly rare.
Last spring, I kept having to remind myself to breathe when a Limpkin pair, who were raising 4 chicks, took their fluffy offspring foraging among the gators. They all fledged!
HeleninEire
@Suzanne: I got one from Gillibrand. Hard unsuscribe.
H.E.Wolf
“If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference [to] the Devil in the House of Commons.”
BellyCat
@Baud: Yup. Hard to see a way out unless or until Citizens gets overturned given that Benevolent Billionaires ™ seem to be in short supply.
Suzanne
@BellyCat: Past Present Future is one of my favorite listens. I’ve been enjoying this series a lot.
Princess
@WereBear: That’s the logic.
Also, I think Quisling Fetterman coming out publicly and hard for Yes so early, and attacking Dems while doing it, had a bad effect on us — it made us feel like No was the only effective and moral side. When I do think there was a case for No, just not Fettermsn’s case.
He’s a problem for us, I believe.
chemiclord
@Betty Cracker: Listen, it’s all shameful that people are going to die because of people like RFK Jr.
But the big important shit is that Dems didn’t show any fight in a shitty situation where there was no winning move! We have to focus on the important shit okay, and that’s eating our own, not pushing back on the GOP!
JerseyBeard
@Baud: I’m a sucker for a high-difficulty persuasion environment. Will never get through to most, but only need to reach enough. It’s billionaires versus all. And it’s not going to be subtle – these bros are racing their greed against their myopia to see which gets to rule.
The country banned alcohol because of a determined campaign by a relatively small group. Banned alcohol! People LIKE alcohol. I highly recommend this Smithsonian Magazine article on Wayne Wheeler – Wayne B. Wheeler: The Man Who Turned Off the Taps | Smithsonian
We can convince enough people that billionaires want them dead for the sake of yet one more ivory back-scratcher. Then we win.
Gin & Tonic
The Muskovites have defunded the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale, which was devoted to tracking down Ukrainian children kidnapped into russia. Details in Adam’s thread last night, if you have the stomach.
WereBear
@Rusty: Driving the educated out of the state. Leaving the unskilled labor about to be less educated, too.
In a sense, they have seceded.
Shalimar
@Betty Cracker: I don’t have any Democratic senators from homes in Florida or Alabama so this vote is unlikely to ever be relevant for me again. It isn’t hard to let it go forever. If I were in New York, I might feel differently.
BellyCat
@Suzanne: David Runciman is living his best life beyond academia, at least intellectually. Hoping that it’s working financially. His episodes are each like fascinating graduate level planning discussions between two critical thinkers, in the vein of “What are the top level takeaways that we should explore?”
Addictive brain food.
Baud
@JerseyBeard:
We haven’t done it yet. But Musk and Trump might help with that.
But if what I’ve seen is any indication, it won’t work because enough people will be focused on waiting until our coalition is sufficiently billionaire free before fighting Republicans.
But who knows? The future is not the past.
Almost Retired
@Gin & Tonic: Sharp intake of breath. This demonstrates that DOGE doesn’t only use a sledgehammer. It’s capable of using its surgical targeting skills to inflict maximum evil in service of the Kremlin. This wasn’t collateral damage. This was deliberate. Beyond disgusting:
WereBear
@Princess: He had a stroke and might have an undiagnosed cognitive problem.
I noticed an interest in Fox News…memory problems… Diagnosis of impairment. Saw it over and over.
But I knew we’d lose some, and be surprised. Hard to guess, too.
BellyCat
Quoted for truth.
WereBear
Privatized prisons. Only a state.
Baud
@WereBear:
Project 1825.
A Ghost to Most
Open flames, and combustible powder fills the air. What could possibly go wrong?
different-church-lady
@WereBear: A lot of red states are already low on medical personnel.
WereBear
@Baud: Because it worked so well last time.
BellyCat
Aimed at more than the uneducated.
Gin & Tonic
@Almost Retired: Yes, it was very, very specific.
different-church-lady
@eclare: The food chain is not pretty.
YY_Sima Qian
Official DOD account on X had this to say to media coverage of Hegseth disbanding the long standing Office of Net Assessments:
The ONA dates back to the height of Cold War 1.0, has quite a checkered history as one of the core components of the “Blob”, but the current DOD appears to have been fully subverted by the reactionaries.
YY_Sima Qian
@Princess: I think Schumer doing such a 180 in 2 days basically made the Senate Dems look feckless, regardless of the substantive case for voting Yes on cloture.
Professor Bigfoot
@MariedeGournay: Can you tell me who you consider to be the Democratic “base?”
WereBear
@different-church-lady: Exactly, because pediatricians don’t want to deal with anti-vax parents, OB-GYNs don’t want 99 years for properly treating a possibly fertile woman, and now measles.
They will be trading eggs for medical, left to their own devices.
Dying of Whiteness is a book, but also a fantasy.
BellyCat
@BellyCat: To add: the *civil* justice system was/is of equally powerful intent, for the group which can afford representation at the trial court level — and up to three possible levels of appeal — is the group most likely to prevail.
WereBear
@Baud: The happy golden years
WereBear
@BellyCat: Yes, and invited corruption. Just recently the Murdaughs of SC lost such a dual grip on three counties. Due to recklessly killing one person too many.
After one hundred years of domination.
Shalimar
Trump is allying with Russia now, nothing secret or even unlawful about it since he is president. I wish they would please stop pretending that the open admiration isn’t real and obvious.
The Audacity of Krope
I’ve been thinking since July that this most recent election might be my last supporting Democrats as a bloc. Then my feelings softened a little.
But they’re doing everything in their power to convince me to commit to parting ways.
sentient ai from the future
in other news, estonia pretty pissy that orban is again blocking EU’s russian sanctions gee why might they do that
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
wil
@The Audacity of Krope: What do you think the Democrats should have done?
What do you think Trump/Musk would do during a government shutdown with federal workers all sitting at home and literally nobody in the offices at all?
That could easily be a worse situation than we are in now.
Ohio Mom
@Almost Retired: This is just the latest of many surgical strikes, there are so many, who could keep track?
I’ve learned about so many obscure corners of government these last two months. One of the first I heard about was when they closed the Pentagon office devoted to figuring out ways of limiting civilian deaths.
I was going to say I hope someone is keeping a list, there’s going to be so much material for future historians but there is a list, the Project 2025 document.
brendancalling
@Betty Cracker: I hope he gets more of an audience than he expects (or wants).
I would not be surprised if it’s quietly canceled. If I was Cuck Schumer, I wouldn’t show my face in public, and I certainly wouldn’t be looking for an audience.
Motherfucker must still think it’s 2003, because he’s playing the old “give the GOP what they want and maybe they won’t say mean things about us” game that led to us bloggers speaking out to begin with.
“Book tour.” More like “schnook tour.” Or “schmuck tour.”
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
brantl
@brendancalling: Shnook tour.
Kristine
@Betty Cracker:
I felt that a couple of years ago when a house finch pair chose an old nest nestled between one of the garage lights and the garage to set up housekeeping. I like crows as a rule but the day I caught them raiding the nest…
The finch pair hung around for a few days afterwards, then went away. I got rid of the nest.
Then there’s the neighborhood Cooper’s hawk that regularly checks the backyard feeder stations.
cmorenc
@Princess: Why are we Dems *always* afflicted with a Lieberman, a Fetterman, or even sometimes a duo, Manchin & Simena? A Senator always farting or even shitting on important objectives the rest of the caucus is united on?
Geminid
I was looking at the Turkish news Daily Sabah for news of the PKK/Turkish peace opening, but I got sidetracked by a story about the next U.S. Ambassador to Turkiye. It’s Tom Barrack, Trump’s 2017 Inauguration Chairman. He will take the place of Jeff Flake, who returned to Arizona last September.
Barrack is the grandson of Lebanese immigrants, and made his fortune through his investment company Colony Capital founded in 1991. Daily Sabah described him as a long-time Trump friend.
Barrack was indicted a few years back for acting unlawfully as an agent for the UAE and making false statements to the FBI; but as the Daily Sabah noted, “he was acquitted on all nine counts in 2022.” Turkish President Erdogan likely regards this part of Barrack’s resume as a feature and not a bug.
Another Daily Sabah story caught my eye:
Twenty-six year old Büräk Östürk set out from Stuttgart on his 6000 kilometer journey a few days ago. He’s made it to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina where he told a reporter:
Öztürk’s route will take him through Kosovo, Northern Macedonia and Greece; and then through Turkiye, Syria and Jordan before he reaches Saudia Arabia.
CaseyL
My university (U of Washington in Seattle) is in their target sites. Besides the “criminal investigations” they’re starting into our advocacy of DEI, so much academic and research funding has been revoked that entire projects and hirings have been shut down. There’s a hiring freeze all over the university, more targeted freezes in medicine and research.
I work for UW Medicine, and there is a freeze on spending anything not directly related to patient care, which is already wreaking havoc since this is the time of year we get ready for new incoming Fellows and Residents. Everyone’s on edge. Nobody knows what’s going to happen. All the higher ups are in constant meetings – and I do hope, besides discussing how to handle the current shitstorm, they’re also discussing ways to make the University less dependent on federal largesse. Entire departments have been devoted to “development and advancement” (i.e., fundraising) for years; let’s hope all that schmoozing was good for something.
tobie
I’m late to this discussion of the latest. The news is so bad on so many fronts that I’ve needed to play ostrich, which is rare for me. Even without knowing the risks of passing or not passing the CR, I can say Schumer blew it. He betrayed House Dems. He betrayed his Senate caucus by publishing an op ed in the NYTimes before the vote. Most of all, he betrayed the base of the party. When your choices suck & you have no good options, you go with your base. You don’t give Trump a win.
chemiclord
@cmorenc: Simple answer; because we vote for those types.
The more complex answer is that American society isn’t nearly as progressive as we think it is or want it to be. It’s why someone like Chuck Schumer is in the senate 30 years. Because, frankly, that’s who we are… and if we were to nuke Washington and hold brand new elections, the new Congress or Parliament or whatever would look distressingly like the one we already have.
The harshest truth the progressive thinker has to face and accept isn’t that our government doesn’t represent the people. It’s that our government does.
Quiltingfool
I taught 8th grade science in a poor white rural school in Missouri. We had parents who would not (or could not) pay their child’s lunch bill, or provide a few dollars to buy a project kit or science fair boards.
I heard discussions among teachers and administrators about how to solve this problem. Most thought that *punishing* the children (no lunch or a cheese sandwich, an F for not doing a project, etc.) for their parents’ irresponsibility would change parent behavior. They believed that parents would not want their child to be sad, or embarrassed or shamed, so they would immediately change their ways and forgo the beer and cigarettes and provide for the child!
I remember thinking that my co-workers were delusional. Now, I did get their desired outcome – bring pain to the kid, the parent would be shamed and would do the right thing! But I knew that was not going to happen. If there were feelings of shame, it would morph into blaming the school. No change in behavior, and the child still suffers. My thought was to protect the kid. Always.
tl;dr This is a bit where Democrats are at right now. On the one hand, we want to smack Republicans upside the head and make them do the right thing by the American people and to do that, we have to *punish* Americans. We want Republicans to be shamed or scared into doing WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING IN THE FIRST PLACE. PROTECTING AMERICANS.
On the other hand, Democrats don’t want Americans to suffer needlessly, especially when it is things they have no direct control over. And we know that you can’t shame Republicans. If they do feel shame, they morph that into blaming Democrats.
Two shitty choices, each with numerous downsides. We have the luxury here, as commenters, to make a choice because we won’t take the heat for either choice. I waiver between these two choices.
Another Scott
[ sigh ]
Or, maybe they voted the way they did because they actually actually believed the alternative was worse? Maybe it was – as they said – a terrible bill that would cause lots of damage – but they also saw terrible outcomes on the other side?
Maybe they actually vote based on their stated thoughts and motivations?
Maybe they took their position and responsibility seriously and voted based on that, and have little care about some potential primary opponent a year or more away?
Sheesh.
Reducing everything to “what does this mean for the next primary” damages self-government. It’s how kooks and monsters take over parties (just look at the evolution of the post-Ford GOP).
I see that Houle was a chief of staff for some Congressman. It’s a good and important job. It doesn’t mean that the only thing that determines a vote is whether they think they’ll get primaried over it or not. In the real world, people have to decide among bad choices.
The mania too many political consultants and commentators have to – several times a day – reduce everything to something that fits their background (“I’m a political consultant, let me tell you what Starship blowing up means for Newsom’s candidacy…”) is going to be the death of thoughtful political discourse, if it isn’t already.
Grr… [/crabby-comment]
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Cheryl from Maryland
@YY_Sima Qian: THIS
Quiltingfool
I’m wondering just how Speaker Johnson got all his people (except Massie) to vote yes on the CR. Wasn’t many of them against more funding, you know, the “we gotta reduce the deficit” crowd? What happened to the Freedom Caucus? Remember how we thought Johnson would need Dem votes?
Methinks there was major arm twisting. I don’t think there was any threat of physical harm; I think there are some nasty skeletons in some closets. The exposure would result in far more harm than simply losing an election.
Or a simpler explanation. House Republicans are cruel assholes. That works, too, I guess.
Another Scott
@YY_Sima Qian: Twitter / Bsky / etc are terrible for actual meaningful conversations with nuance.
I read Schumer’s bloot as being an attempt to get the Senate MAGAts to allow a vote on a 30 day clean CR where they would actually finish the appropriation bills. Not a flip-flop. Of course the MAGAts didn’t go for that – why would they?? But it was an attempt given the cards the voters handed him.
My personal bottom line isn’t “The leadership of the Democratic Party is never wrong and we live in the best of all possible worlds” it’s rather “Our party and leadership isn’t stupid. They’ve been doing politics for a living for a long time. They understand how difficult the job is and generally try to create the best outcome they can. And they can do better with larger majorities, even though we’ll never get everything we want as quickly as we want. Maybe we should slow down and listen more carefully before screaming and stomping off (as some would have us do).” Of course we can and should make our opinions known about how they can and should do better as well.
Y(and others’)MMV.
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
chemiclord
@Quiltingfool: It’s called the entire GOP caucus follows Trump’s lead now. They have no morals or positions outside of what their God Emperor wants them to have.
If he said, “Jump,” they’d say, “When do you want us to come back down, oh anointed one?”
hrprogressive
The problem with the “let’s not talk about primarying out shitty democrats” is that it sounds exactly like the GOP line about “let’s not talk about gun control after a school shooting”.
There’s “never a good time to talk about replacing people who don’t have your best interests at heart”.
Even if all of them were to retire tomorrow, there would still, by definition, be “a primary”.
Citizens need new, YOUNGER, less wealthy, less insulated representatives in Congress who actually know what it’s like to not have generational wealth, massive stock portfolios, and so forth.
The best time to start was 15 years ago. The next best time is now.
I’m tired of people making excuses. It’s always “b-b-b-but the GOP is way worse, vote blue!!!!”
The GOP won what appears to be a fair election because democrats don’t give a shit about their voters except when it’s time for the cash and votes to flow.
If not now, when? After King Musk and Regent Trump frog-march Schumer and Durbin to a gulag?
Gvg
@Another Scott: I do agree, but I think in this case WE are the ones thinking they should be thinking in terms of being primaried, because that is the next point of control we the voters have over our elected officials and they just did something we did not want.
Talking to people not on this blog I don’t think the general public is as ready for a fight or shut down as we are. We are way ahead of the public in anger. It’s building, but not high enough yet, and democrats would lose a shutdown fight, just like the republicans always did when they did it. Maybe the reason the votes to avert the shut down was all really old senators is because they have seen more shutdown results than the younger ones have.
I hate Trump and want to stop him, but I don’t think we can yet.
oldgold
Despite having complained about Vichy Democrats, I think Schumer made the correct decision.
First, shutting down the government while Doge is up and running amok seems much less than optimal.
Second, although whatever carnage would result from the shutdown should be rightfully pinned on Trump and the GOP, I doubt it will be. With Fox, Sinclair and AM radio viciously blasting away 24-7 at the Democrats while the mainstream media equivocates, the blame will at best end up a muddled draw.
Third, what is the end game? I think the first 2 points set out above and the Republicans having control of the House and Senate would ultimately result in the Democrats being forced to enter into a much less than satisfying settlement that will result in accusations of surrender.
Fourth, while all this drama is going on, Trump’s current malfeasance, corruption and sinister designs will recede from the public’s consciousness.
In sum, we may have avoided what would be the political equivalent to the Charge of the Light Brigade.
LAC
@Another Scott: GM. I enjoy your takes, grumpy or not. They are where i am at right now. The word betrayal has been tossed around here lately, but i go back to November for that word. We handed this shit over to this shitty man and his shitty party and the same purity posing being talked about here played a part in it.
Geminid
@tobie: I’m not so sure Schumer betrayed House Democrats. In a way, he made them the only political winners in this affair.
With the exception of one black sheep, House Democrats unanimously rejected a lousy budget bill. They demonstrated unity while defying Trump and Mike Johnson. They also managed to steer clear of the intra-party recriminations and blamecasting we’re seeing now.
Some House Democrats– maybe a lot of them– might see this outcome as optimal. They took a strong stand without having to contend with weeks of wrangling over a government shutdown. I thought that would have been a sword that cut both ways politically.
zhena gogolia
@cmorenc: Have you noticed how many assholes the Republicans have?
Geminid
@hrprogressive: I think you’ll see plenty of Democratic primaries next year. Some will be for the 20 or so seats typically left open each cycle by retirement. Others will be challenges to incumbents, and I expect there will be more of these than usual.
Personally, I have no problems with this. The Democratic Party has issues relating to policies and overall party governance that need to be aired out, and primaries are the best way to do that.
japa21
First of all, it is obvious there was no “perfect” way of handling this. I was a solid “no” on the CR, but after listening to the arguments set forth by Schumer, and more importantly, some commenters here who I have a lot of respect for, I realize that for there to be any chance of success down the road, this had to be dome the way it was.
For those who state this gave Trump a win, it didn’t. He really wanted a shutdown. Think of it this way; DOGE has pretty much destroyed the National Park system. I won’t be surprised if many of them have to shut down this Summer. Right now, that is on Trump and Musk. A shutdown, however, would have allowed them to blame the Dems.
I also want to point out that a lot of folks here, and elsewhere, sound like the MAGA crowd when the GOP voted for CR’s in the past.
japa21
@zhena gogolia:
I think they have one per Republican, but they tend to be bigger to allow for all the sh-t to come out.
evodevo
@Betty Cracker:
A sign of competent parenting! I judge my wild turkey denizens the same way – if a hen can manage to raise 10 or 12 babies to yearling size, I figure she’s pretty good at it. There are a LOT of predators around here, from cats and dogs to coyotes and hawks.
Old Man Shadow
Like how we’ve gone from “I’m raging and Schumer sucks ass” to “Well, I guess he made the best decision he could and is brilliant and anyone who disagrees sucks ass” in less than 24 hours.
Notwithstanding, of course, that Trump can now also do what he likes and we just agreed to hand him the keys to the budget and said, “Have fun.
Oh, and unless things changed at the last minute, we also helped fuck over D.C. and its residents.
The Thin Black Duke
@Old Man Shadow: The people who either voted for Trump or chose not to vote at all in November dumped this shitshow into our laps. Like it or not, it’s going to be up to the people to decide when they’ve had enough and finally understand it’s our job to try to move the country in a different direction. As an example, it wasn’t AOC that caused Tesla’s downward spiral: it was people deciding not to buy Musk’s shitty cars. It’s incumbent on Americans to use the few tools we have left to protect what’s left of our democracy.
YY_Sima Qian
@japa21: Why wouldn’t voters (outside of committed Dem partisans) blame Dems for being accomplices to whatever disaster DOGE & the rest of the the MAGA reactionaries will inevitably cause under the CR? The CR could not have passed w/o more than a few Dems voting for cloture.
Yes, there is risk that Dems will end up sharing the blame for a government shutdown, sentiments egged on by the MSM & Russian bots. OTOH, the MSM will also tar Dems for all the terrible things that will happen under the CR that was passed, because it was a “bipartisan vote” & because “both sides”. Their narrative will be amplified by Russian bots & the “online dirtbag left”.
So the choice came down to trying to do the least harm & hope to benefit (by default, w/ little exertion or risk taking from the Congressional Dems) from the backlash to win back the House in the mid-terms (presumably to continue to prevent the worst of harms proposed by the Trump gang), or draw a clear contrast to rally the opposition against reactionary counterrevolutionaries around the Dems. I prefer the latter, because harm prevention, “prevent defense” & “winning” by default are highly incongruent w/ the existential threat to the nation (that is rapidly gaining steam), although I do see the logic of the former position, even if I disagree. However, it seems that the Senate Dems did not have plans ready to win the information battle regardless of the course they chose to take, nor did they coordinate w/ the House Dems, so that their messaging complement each other, rather than contradicting each other. The lack of foresight I find far more disappointing.
Also, there will come to a point where civil disobedience at a massive scale will be necessary to push back against the reactionaries, including things such a general strike that will be as detrimental to the economy as a government shutdown, probably more so. Schumer & 7 other Senate Dems have just shown that they have no appetite for waging war against the Fascists, so they will be irrelevant. Of course, Wall Street & Corporate America have no interest in mass civil disobedience & general strikes, no matter how bad MAGA is to their bottom lines, which at least explains Schumer’s vote.
Geminid
@Old Man Shadow: There were people here (like me) saying Schumer was making the better decision 24 and even 48 hours ago, just like there are people here (like you) trashing Schumer today. So I’m not sure “We’re” doing anything besides the usual arguing back and forth.
Another Scott
@Old Man Shadow: On the last:
(repost)
Someone asks in the comment whether the DC provision was an attempted poison pill to try to force Democrats to kill the CR. It kinda looks that way. Since it didn’t work, there isn’t much need for it now. Dunno.
HTH!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Old Man Shadow
Voting along with Trump isn’t giving people a different direction though. It’s signing our names to what he’s going to do with the power they’ve yielded to him.
Old Man Shadow
@Another Scott: Good-ish news. Thanks.
I guess we’ll see if the House follows through and Pastor Mike lets it come up for a vote.
tobie
@Geminid: The House Dems certainly came out as more heroic than Senate Dems but not by design. There’s a reason that Raphael Warnock is calling for a change of leadership in the Senate. And some House Dems are posting how Senate leadership betrayed them.
My thinking on this is simple: since Republicans kept Dems out of budgeting deliberations, it is the GOP’s responsibility to pass it on their own. Dems should not be debating what’s worse: Scylla or Charybdis. We’re doing this because of a failure of Senate leadership to come up with a clear strategy. I’m a middle-of-the-road Democrat but a loyal foot soldier for the party every election (on or off cycle) and I think this colossal failure needs to be laid at both Schumer’s and Durbin’s feet and both should resign from leadership pronto. Neither has the backbone to lead in a time of crisis.
NotMax
@Old Man Shadow
Depends on what his “roommate” espouses?
gene108
@Princess:
People are not happy with the Musk-Trump administration and want to rally behind opposition to it. Congressional Democrats are not providing people with much belief they’re willing to be an effective opposition party.
Democrats have a lot more power to move public opinion towards supporting them, but they are all over the place regarding members level of opposition. This discourages people from embracing Democrats.
There are comments on this thread by regulars saying they’re done with always voting for Democrats.
No comment on what to make of this. Republican in NC-11 mentions he voted for the House budget. Gets booed.
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/AHTA7cLfGcg
Geminid
@tobie: At least disgruntled Democrats are no longer beating on Hakeem Jeffries like he’s their rented mule. I wonder how long that will last.
VFX Lurker
Voters. Manchin was the best West Virginia voters could do. Arizona voters chose Sinema as the least-worst option on the Arizona ballot. Voters chose Lieberman as an independent candidate over Democratic primary winner Ned Lamont. Democratic primary voters chose Fetterman over Lamb and Kenyatta.
Democratic voters will choose the best (or least-worst) option. Republican voters will choose the worst option every time. I guess I should be happy we don’t have a Senate full of Sinemas.
Lobo
My $2. I don’t know the right path. What I think is true is that Shumer and leadership handled this in about the worst way possible PO’ing everybody. They aren’t as smart as they or we think they are. I would want better leadership in providing a plan and a voice. They look feckless and out of touch. I also think they could do more. We may lose but make them work for it.
John S.
@chemiclord:
Spot on. Since politics has devolved into little more than team sports, then the same rules should apply.
While fans will gleefully jeer the opposing team and cheer their team during the game, the vitriol comes out for their team when they lose. They don’t usually spend much time criticizing the other team for how they won.
And when it comes to making your team better, that comes down what the team does within its own organization. It’s not a function of hobbling the other team, it’s about improving your own team.
StringOnAStick
I’ve been told by someone who’s son is a Senator’s aide in DC that there will be no federal wildland fire response this year, so she needs to sell her house ASAP. But, I’m on an email list for Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, and the email from 3 days ago says there are significant permanent pay increases for wildland firefighters in the DR that just passed. I’m kinda blown away that the tRump administration didn’t zero that out. I’m still deeply concerned about no federal wildland firefighting this summer, living here in the burnable west, mainly because the USFS firefighters are all probationary employees as a rule since they are not working over the winter, so the prior understanding is they all got axed when that fell for all federal probationary employees.
tobie
@Lobo: whatever happened to two cents? Its $2 now???? Such inflation in opinion.
FWIW I agree with you. There may have been no good options but coming up with an argument, a coherent strategy, and a communication plan was essential and Schumer didn’t do any of this because, best I can guess, he was vacillating himself. I myself am given to fretting and worrying. That’s one reason among many I didn’t go into politics.
John S.
@Lobo:
This seems to be the internal rift that is now exposed in the Democratic party.
On the one side your sentiment:
And on the other side @Another Scott:
I don’t see how to square this circle.
Geminid
@VFX Lurker: Regarding Pennsylvania’s 2022 Senate primarys, I thought at the time that Conor Lamb was the best candidate. So did Philadelphis Mayor Jim Kenney; Kenney said he liked all three Democrats running for Senate but he thought Lamb gave his party the best shot at winning.
I am not a Pennsylvanian though, and the primary showed that half the Democratic primary voters thought otherwise and chose John Fetterman. Now, some of them may wish they’d voted for Lamb instead. Lamb would have beaten Mehmet Oz and likely would have been more of a team player than is Fetterman.
Another Scott
@gene108: Dunno.
There’s a RollCall story I linked to that said that the GQP is more popular than the Democratic party. It was a bit of a slap in the face for me, so I just did some looking around.
Understanding that Gallup sometimes has issues, let’s see…
Looks like one has to go back to November 2012 to find Team D in the positive column.
:-/
(Yes, GQP numbers are similarly bad.)
What does it mean and what can we do about it? Dunno*. But it’s hard to have and hold political power long enough to make significant positive change with numbers like that.
I suspect that there are no easy solutions. (If it were easy, it would have been done already.)
* – The GQP has had garbage economic policies for decades but they win races in spite of that. They appeal to lizard brained stuff, but they also appeal to how special America is. Walz was probably on to something with the way he campaigned (excluding the debate with JD?). There needs to be some careful thinking about stuff like that (live and let live, politicians have no place in our bedrooms or underpants, etc.). Campaigning on economic issues isn’t going to make a dent if normies won’t listen because they don’t believe us…
FWIW.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
chemiclord
@VFX Lurker: Fetterman and Sinema are now the two figureheads of my, “STOP VOTING FOR PEOPLE BASED ON THEIR VIBES!” movement.
Like, it’s okay for our politicians to be boring people who just work to get shit done. This thing America has going on where we need our politics to be “The Real World: DC” is going to kill us faster than any other threat.
Geminid
@chemiclord: Sinema won one primary in in 2018 by a wide margin. She was a 3 term Representative who had caucused with the Blue Dogs,* so Democratic primary voters should have known which end of the Party she was in. There had not been a Democratic Senator from Arizona since Dennis DeConcini, and Sinema barely squeaked by in the November election to become the newest one. So I would not say this was a “Vibes” based choice.
* Interestingly, Sinema’s former Blue Dog colleagues proved much more supportive of Joe Biden and Democratic leadership 2018-2024 than Sinema turned out to be.
TBone
@NotMax: she neglected to mention J.D. Pantzed in her hierarchy. It’s truly horrifying and I know people IRL that believe in this horse hockey. Dominionism.
I need to go take a shower now (*shudders)
WaterGirl
@Baud: Why say that half of regular folks voted for Trump or for oligarchy or for authoritarianism?
Why not say that half of the people WHO VOTED?
The people who didn’t vote bear responsibility for their arrogance in thinking it’s not worth it, but half of our country DID NOT VOTE FOR TRUMP.
Sorry for shouting, but when we say that, we are throwing support for the whole “Trump has a mandate” bullshit. Not really yelling at you personally.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: That’s disgusting. That’s inhuman.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I said love the oligarchy, not vote for.
Opinion polls on Trump aren’t too far off the vote outcome.
WaterGirl
@The Audacity of Krope: You are pissed so you say that now, but you are smarter than that. You have to be.
Lobo
@John S.: from what I have experienced , we tend to give way more deference and respect due to position and status. They present well, but that’s it. A good chief of staff can help. When they drink their own kool aid then it’s a problem. Saw this up close. This moment has been very clarifying. You know who to take seriously and who not.