CLIP: Denim vest presiding in the U.S. Senate. pic.twitter.com/4Yx02nOlCg
— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) October 26, 2021
Credit where due, she did (barely) avoid taking a selfie.
This is the best attempt at explaining Sen. Sparkles I’ve seen (and, yes, there are too many people like that in my ‘friend’ circle):
my unifying theory of kyrsten sinema is that she's a particular type of very intelligent person who feels like their unconventional path to success was exclusively the rest of their own work, and who reacts very badly to even the mere suggestion that this might not be accurate.
— ?? ?? GHOSTLIKEHELLMACHINE ?? ???? (@golikehellmachi) October 21, 2021
in other words, she's basically a small business tyrant who went into government instead of business. on earth-2, she's running a successful realty business with uniformly nightmarish employee reviews.
— ?? ?? GHOSTLIKEHELLMACHINE ?? ???? (@golikehellmachi) October 21, 2021
notably (and depressingly) these types of people are absolutely immune to pressure and criticism, and the more of it you attempt to apply to them, the more hostile, stubborn and reactionary they become.
— ?? ?? GHOSTLIKEHELLMACHINE ?? ???? (@golikehellmachi) October 21, 2021
the democratic party (by it's nature as a coalition party) doesn't normally elevate people like this to this level, unless they get through in a fluke, and, welp
— ?? ?? GHOSTLIKEHELLMACHINE ?? ???? (@golikehellmachi) October 21, 2021
this also kind of explains why she's been so enthusiastic about meeting with lobbyists, who are singularly gifted at flattering people who are enraging and exhausting.
— ?? ?? GHOSTLIKEHELLMACHINE ?? ???? (@golikehellmachi) October 21, 2021
if you didn't come from money and you're suddenly presented with lots of opportunities to grab it, it's very, very easy to convince yourself that you deserve it, and that it's being offered to you *because* you deserve it
— ?? ?? GHOSTLIKEHELLMACHINE ?? ???? (@golikehellmachi) October 21, 2021
Mary G
Great analysis. I’ve always rebelled against dress codes, but that denim vest is too much.
geg6
I think this would nail it except she’s not all that intelligent, IMHO. The assholes like this who I’ve known are often only the most intelligent among the people they surround themselves with. She strikes me as someone like that. I DESPISE assholes like her. So insecure and small a person.
HumboldtBlue
On a more interesting and entertaining note, there’s this fucking guy who decided to build his homestead and he sure as hell did, the genius.
frosty
Not intended to be a knock on anyone, but after wading through news stories, B-J posts, and comments, I’ve decided to take a break – minor as it is. I’m going to try to avoid reading anything more about Manchin and Sinema. They’ll do what they’re going to do, I don’t know why. I hope everything works out in the end but the sausage grinding has ground me down.
Fake Irishman
Well, they did confirm three judges today and set up two more for tomorrow, so I’ll take the win for the moment and worry about tomorrow when it comes.
(In fact, it looks like Schumer has really hit the accelerator on judicial confirmations. By this time next week, it looks like we’ll have another pair of appeals courts judges and three more district court judges on top of the appellate judge — an amazing voter rights activist— and three district judges we’ve netted in the last two days. Most are women and/or folks of color and will include the first out lesbian on the appellate bench. Also,
Three assistant AGs, a deputy in the department of labor and a solicitor general are a nice bonus as well)
I’m willing to put up with a vest and a difficult member of my party presiding in the chair in return for that. Few of these folks would be confirmed in a McConnell Senate, and none so rapidly.
danielx
From her perspective, she wins and will continue to win – whether people think she shits gold nuggets or think she’s shit on roller skates, they are talking about her. The only question left for her is how she can monetize that dialogue.
However did I come to be such a thoughtless cynic?
Ohio Mom
The first photo I saw of Sinema, she was being sworn in wearing a skirt that had a huge photo-like print of a flower. I was impressed, such a fresh look! It was going to be fun watching her.
I like to think I am good about admitting when I was wrong. Put this in that column.
That denim jacket is wrong for work and not even flattering in the least. So tired of her.
HumboldtBlue
@danielx:
They haven’t left us any fucking choice.
NotMax
Open Thread?
Total global reported COVID deaths now just a smidgen shy of 5,000,000.
Ruckus
@frosty:
That’s what sausage grinding by people like this is supposed to to. They don’t want what you want, they want you to give them stuff that normal people don’t want to give to people like them. They want to be liked by people other than those will only like them if there is something personal in it for them. They want to be liked by people who hate/strongly dislike them because they are, well, assholes. They want you to like them in spite of them being assholes. Because they are not going to change for any reason and they need someone to actually like them. I think they were looking in the wrong bin at the character store when they picked up their’s and really nothing is going to change that at this stage in their lives.
Fake Irishman
@frosty:
This is actually where I am. I know there’s a lot of give and take, and some programs that are very important to both me and the country are going to be cut out or scaled back dramatically. But I’m just like “Do as well as you reasonably can and cut a deal.l
But I want something to get through. $1.7 trillion or &1.9 trillion can do a LOT of good(in addition to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that’s isn’t perfect but is far better than anything that’s come out of Congress on transportation since the Obama stimulus.)
Any agreement looks like it would have a Medicaid Expansion backstop, a decent paid leave element, major advances in pre-K, locking in ARP ACA improvements, and lots of investment in other priorities, including considerable amounts in the environment (tho not nearly as much as we’d like on the last.)
Any one of these things would be amazing in a stand-alone bill. And the details in this particular case will contain a ton of amazing under-the-radar reforms that are very important but no one is talking about.
Regine Touchon
https://twitter.com/dollymad1812/status/1453191727498498050?s=21
Follow the money?
Sister Golden Bear
@Mary G: My ex-Mormon friends tell me she’s definitely an example of a certain type of ex-Mormon who’s stuck in a permanent adolescence (that they never had while they were in the church). A lot of sex and drinking is common — although Sinema seems to have channelled that into “look at me!” teen fashion and oppositional disorder.
Leslie
@NotMax: Actual total deaths are almost certainly more than double that. But still well shy of the Spanish Flu toll.
Not a fan of the vest. I spend most of my life in comfy slouchy clothes, but the freaking Senate deserves more respect. (Though if she were otherwise rocking it I’d be more forgiving, probably.)
Not sure if Sinema is brainy or not, but those who know her do seem to agree that she’s very rigid in her thinking.
Captain C
@geg6:
As several here have stated before, she’s killing any chance she has to be a lobbyist by pissing everyone off in her putative party. I’m not sure if that’s her speed anyway, as she’d have to be the one kissing butt
ETA: And handing out dollars.
Ms. Deranged in AZ
So Sinema is basically a narcissist, just not a malignant one like TFG. Seriously, read that string of tweets and see if it doesn’t apply equally well to TFG.
prostratedragon
Sandworm hunting and riding?
“Captain Señor Mouse,” Chick Correa and Return to Forever
Fake Irishman
@Ohio Mom:
I am too, but she voted for the American Rescue Plan, to confirm all of Biden’s cabinet picks and 25 judges so far. Since Bill Nelson lost by 6500 votes to Rick Scott in 2018, we can’t ignore her. (Or look at it this way: since Maggie Hassan won by 2500 votes in 2016 and we won two run-offs in Georgia, we actually get to have some very nice things indeed by putting up with her)
eddie blake
grr!
contraction= it’s.
possessive= its! ITS! ITS!
great googly-moogly.
-that is all.
brettvk
@Mary G: Her costumes advertise her basic unseriousness, which is why they raise my hackles. She’s there to do the people’s business, not to curate her Instagram feed.
mvr
@Fake Irishman: Since we can’t (for now) change what rankles all of us, this is the best way to look at it. Props to you for finding it and stating it well.
Jackie
φ@Fake Irishman: I’m with you. Pass the Bill as it stands and go for the things cut another day. We need to pass the BBB and focus on getting a voting bill passed.
delk
Dwayne Schneider cos-play.
Ohio Mom
@Fake Irishman: Yeah, I know Sinema and Manchin are better than Republicans. And I know whatever passes will do lots of good things, even if the part I wanted most, expanded Home and Community Based Care, won’t probably make it into the final version.
Another Scott
Meh. She wears clothes to get noticed. Remember her Dangerous Creature sweater (from February)?
In other news, TheHill:
She’s doing what she campaigned on. (Repost) – Look at her 2017 campaign kickoff video. (3:20)
How many on Moscow Mitch’s side are going to vote for it? Zero? Yeah, zero.
Beating up on people on our side, especially when we don’t live in their state, especially when we must have their vote, doesn’t help. If we don’t like what they’re doing, ignoring them is a better tactic. Free publicity is worth a lot…
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@geg6:
Yup. And they definitely avoid anyone who might tell them they’re full of shit.
TriassicSands
I don’t know about “intelligent” (let alone, “very intelligent”), but I’ve never seen a senator (or representative, for that matter) who acts so much like some sort of an adolescent all the time. In that brief clip, she gives someone the thumbs up, plays with her hair, and offers some kind of a half-smile, half-grimace to someone out of the picture. It reminds me of watching an eighth grade or freshman girl checking out everyone in the class.*
One impression I’ve never gotten was that I was watching an adult.
*Something I saw many times as a teacher.
JAFD
I received a postcard today, a lady wrote “Hi JAFD, Thank you for being a voter! The election on Tues. Nov 2 is important for our community. Have you made a plan to vote? Visit VotingMatters.org for polling locations and hours – Cindy”
Well, thank you, Cindy, for your efforts, and this dirty old man sends you a kiss in return. Only half the postmark was on the card, said “Carol St … GMF 601” (which may or may not refer to the 601 Sectional Center Facility (ie, big sorting center for all zip codes beginning with those three digits)). So if any of you jackals in suburban Chicago know a Cindy, please pass on my message. (You don’t have to tell her that I sent in my mail ballot two weeks ago.)
Went to the poll worker training, how to use the PollPad system (from KnowInk.com). Replacing the big binders with the voters of that precinct are IPads connected to database of all registered voters in the county. There’s a stand to hold it for voters to read and sign, and piece of plastic to hold driver’s licenses or sample ballots for IPad camera to read barcode.
Practiced with various historical figures (scanned Thomas Jefferson’s sample ballot) and current celebrities with fictituous New Jersey addresses (I have walked the length of Newark’s Pacific Avenue, and can assure you that Ms. Carli Lloyd does not dwell there (OTOH, Tony’s is probably the best pizza place in the city – tonyspizza-newark.com ))
Is linked with map software (Google?). If someone comes in, finds he’s at wrong precinct, can tell him where his precinct polling place is, text to his smartphone the driving directions to it.
The class was a bit less organized than usual. The folk at the Board of Elections had just heard that Pres. Obama was going to be here to speak on the first day of early voting (last Saturday) and were rushing around making sure everything was ‘ready for inspection’
So if everything works as advertised, should make election go smoother and with less paper. Let us know if you have something similar in your town, what you think of yt
Well, in seven days and six hours, we’ll be getting ready to open the polls here. The future lies ahead !
James E Powell
Pretty sick of talking about Sinema & Manchin. They are both assholes. They put themselves ahead of their party & their president. I don’t give a shit if they’re intelligent. The question is, are they good people? Do they do good things for food people? No they are not and no they don’t.
NotMax
@James E Powell
This, this, this. Senatorial acid reflux.
phdesmond
@JAFD:
you’re the only election worker i’ve met. though i’ve known a poll worker.
TriassicSands
@Jackie:
Oh, Jackie, are you really that eager to find out what Joey and Kyrstie object to in a Voting Rights bill?
I’m kidding. You’re right, they need to get this passed and move on to what is even more important — protecting voting. However, I’m dreading what Manchin and Sinema will oppose in that.
I’ve been actively involved in politics for too many decades and I have to admit, I find these two unbelievably tiresome. With Sinema, I feel like I’m watching an eighth grader who won a contest — “Be a Senator for a Day.” But the day keeps going on and on and on and on…and never ends.
Manchin’s different. He’s more like some old-time corrupt senator with lots of seniority and since he’s never been indicted, feels safe to continue being the same old crook he’s always been. He loves to give “man-of-the-people” speeches from the deck of his luxury yacht, which he lives in, not to save money, but so that he can get into international waters as quickly as possible should his luck change.
Neither one wears well. And my response is different to each one.
Joe, I want to have just disappear mysteriously with future rumors of his being sighted in South America or blurry photos of his head sticking up over the rim of a giant cooking pot, set on a roaring fire, surrounded by cannibals.
Sinema? I want to take away her allowance, ground her, and cut off her social media access for, oh, say, a million years.
TriassicSands
@James E Powell:
You left out the most important part — they’re putting themselves ahead of what is good for the whole country.
Ascap_scab
I think Krysten Sinema wants to be CEO of Forever 21 where she also personally picks out the fashions, then blames everyone but herself when sales plummet.
TriassicSands
@Ascap_scab:
More like: “Forever 14.”
Fake Irishman
@Another Scott:
This. She’s obnoxious and I agree with Dana Houle’s take that’ she’s done a lousy job presenting her position, but even she left plenty of wiggle room. We all (rightfully) slapped our foreheads when she objected to raising income or business tax rates, but she didn’t say anything about removing write-offs or exemptions which leaves a ton of potential revenue to play with and perhaps a more effective result in preventing folks from gaming the system.
satby
@JAFD: Sounds good, JAFD Elections couldn’t be run without dedicated volunteers like you, so thank you.
Uncle Cosmo
@NotMax: Not criticizing you** but just for perspective, after roughly 2 years of pandemic:
Total COVID-19 deaths worldwide are roughly the same as Spanish flu deaths in formerly-British India – whose 1920 population was roughly that of the 2020 USA.
Could have been one whole fuckofalot worse.*** Homo sap. has (so far) dodged a bullet.
** Other than for egregiously punsterizing. That I reserve the rights to. ;^D
*** Probably will be 1WFOAL worse next go-’round.
Constance Reader
You don’t need nine tweets to write “Sinema is an attention whore”.