President Biden

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Process

by Anne Laurie| February 25, 20217:34 am| 238 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Excellent Links, Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat

Possibly because the BBC is not American, this is the best analysis of the Recovery Act I’ve seen:

Biden's Covid stimulus plan: It costs $2tn but what's in it? https://t.co/9e2p3EUTZW

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 24, 2021

Suspect it’s a general consensus that the $15 minimum wage will have to be sacrificed, for the moment, but I hope & believe that Biden will dig in hard on providing aid to local governments. Conclusion:

Congressional Republicans are lining up to oppose the entire Covid-19 relief bill, even though there has been little organised national effort to turn public opinion against it.

Conservatives will object to the $1.9tn price tag as too high given the skyrocketing US national debt and then specifically focus on more controversial items like the minimum wage increase and payments to Democratic-controlled states and cities.

In the end, there may be a few Republicans who break ranks and reluctantly support the bill rather than be seen opposing the legislation’s popular measures.

On Tuesday, Biden told reporters that he was optimistic the legislation would pass, but it wouldn’t be “by a lot”. He is probably right on both counts.

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: ProcessPost + Comments (238)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Keep the Faith

by Anne Laurie| February 24, 20218:03 am| 144 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat, Sports

Breaking: President @JoeBiden to travel to Houston on Friday https://t.co/V6tYFeH2lt via @houstonchron

— Ben Wermund (@BenjaminEW) February 23, 2021

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Keep the FaithPost + Comments (144)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Our President

by Anne Laurie| February 23, 20217:59 am| 153 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Open Threads, President Biden, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You

"We have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow. We have to resist viewing each life as a statistic," Biden continued, speaking from his own experience about the "black hole" experienced by those who've experienced profound grief.

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) February 22, 2021

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Our PresidentPost + Comments (153)

Monday Morning Open Thread: Sweet, Refreshing “Boredom”

by Anne Laurie| February 22, 20217:35 am| 111 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, domestic terrorists, Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)
.

Not really the right word — more like ‘decency’:

Tomorrow President Biden will give a speech on the lives lost to coronavirus and hold a moment of silence and candle lighting ceremony at sundown, per the White House.

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 22, 2021

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Joe Biden is a month into his presidency and one pattern is clear. He doesn't want to talk about Donald Trump, the man he's called “the former guy." From day one, Biden has aimed to break from Trump's legacy on matters of policy, symbolism and style. https://t.co/dgEyRhavT1

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) February 20, 2021

By this point in the Obama and Trump presidencies, the opposition to both presidents' agendas was a lot more organized and unified than the opposition to Biden's. Obviously a long way to go til 2022 midterms, but if I were an R, I'd be concerned about that.

— We did it, Joe?? (@snowmanomics) February 21, 2021

Important issue. Dem outside groups and DNC should run high saturation of ads highlighting members refusal to support highly popular relief bill in every remotely contestable district. And in every like case. Governance goes hand in glove w building constituencies to support it. https://t.co/XK42qmIvrY

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 19, 2021

Then again, this should get the right-wing activists angried up:

JUST IN: AG Nominee Merrick Garland opening statement for confirmation hearing Monday. Calls 1-6 "a heinous attack" and says he'll prosecute "white supremacists & others" involved. Heavy on DOJ's civil rights duties. Also: a vow to apply #FOIA 'generously' https://t.co/r6TUC9x9tY

— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) February 21, 2021

Merrick Garland says that as attorney general he will fight discrimination, domestic terrorism https://t.co/kb85GTEq7u

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 22, 2021

… In his prepared remarks, Garland also highlighted how his experience handling domestic terrorism is particularly relevant now.

“From 1995 to 1997, I supervised the prosecution of the perpetrators of the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, who sought to spark a revolution that would topple the federal government. If confirmed, I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 — a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.”

That work, he said, is “but a part” of the broad range of Justice Department responsibilities to protect the country from “environmental degradation and the abuse of market power, from fraud and corruption, from violent crime and cybercrime, and from drug trafficking and child exploitation.”

Monday Morning Open Thread: Sweet, Refreshing “Boredom”Post + Comments (111)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Doing What We Can

by Anne Laurie| February 20, 20218:01 am| 359 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat

Biden tours vaccine plant in Michigan, pushes $1.9 trillion covid relief package https://t.co/b1ffTVBKUz

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 20, 2021

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https://t.co/caGgKtqtts

— Chasten Glezman Buttigieg (@Chasten) February 18, 2021

"The answer is yes," Biden says when asked if going to storm-damaged Texas. "If in fact it's concluded that I can go without creating a burden for the folks on the ground while they're dealing with this crisis, I plan on going."

Will make decision "probably next week," he says. pic.twitter.com/aaoEjQta9Z

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) February 19, 2021

John Kerry says the U.S. is rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement “with humility and with ambition”:

“All nations must raise our sights, must raise ambition, together, or we will all fail together.” https://t.co/Q0BjBwz6sG pic.twitter.com/CzFJUuWaO6

— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 19, 2021

Opinion: Republicans think they’ve found Biden’s big weakness. But there’s a problem. https://t.co/7nawSqVtfr

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 19, 2021

The GOP Death Cultists genuinely find it difficult to imagine a politician who works to keep his promises:

In recent days, Republicans have tried to project confidence that they’ve found a killer attack line on President Biden: They can use the increasing anger of parents over the failure of schools to reopen to win back the suburban voters they’ve lost.

As Republicans describe this, it’s a twofer: They can channel the genuine hardships this has imposed on countless Americans to their advantage while also tarring Democrats as in the pocket of teachers unions, casting them as tools of their special interests.

The Republican calculation appears to be that, by pushing now for the schools to reopen quickly, they will have placed themselves on the right side of the issue early on…

But the complication here is that if and when that happens, the party in power is likely to get a large bulk of the credit for it.

The truth of the matter is that Democrats’ political fortunes in 2022 will turn, at least in part, on whether they actually deliver on getting us back to normal, or not. If they don’t, then they’ll probably be in serious political trouble next year.

If so, perhaps the Republican strategy will appear prescient. But if Biden and Democrats do tame the pandemic and schools reopen — and normalcy resumes relatively smoothly — the GOP strategy will not only have been shortsighted.

It will also backfire. It will have left Republicans in the position of having contributed little to nothing of actual value to a large national success story that most Americans will be celebrating.

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Doing What We CanPost + Comments (359)

Friday Morning Open Thread: Yes, Progress

by Anne Laurie| February 19, 20217:05 am| 135 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat

??NEW: ?@POTUS? spoke with Governor Abbott conveying his support to the ppl of TX during this trying time (and always), Fed gov will continue to work ?? with TX, and he’ll instruct additional federal agencies to look into immediate next steps for support. #TXlege #TXforever pic.twitter.com/SwRCQwzgEb

— Emmy Ruiz (@emmyruiz46) February 19, 2021

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President Joe Biden, who will meet with G7 world leaders for the first time since taking office, will pledge $4 billion to a coronavirus vaccination program for poorer countries https://t.co/aFAcY2EdCx pic.twitter.com/UNNTD0Geso

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2021

Equality Act introduced in House to provide sweeping LGBTQ protections https://t.co/4tsyaKaAzJ

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 18, 2021

"Biden and Dems are operating with confidence because they have finally embraced what has long been true: Progressive economic policies are broadly popular. Many of them are supported by the GOP’s large working-class wing."@EJDionne captures the moment:https://t.co/SIwNFiqanv

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) February 17, 2021

… Voters always say they like bipartisanship, because most Americans prefer people to be nice to each other and work together. But what they care more about is solving problems and getting things done. If the party in charge fails in that essential duty, endless bend-over-backward negotiations and a big, inclusive “process” won’t save them…

Sure, Republican politicians will probably swing some of their supporters away from Biden’s economic plan, larger than the one tested by Bright Line Watch, by attacking it as a deficit-growing, inflation-threatening monstrosity — although the GOP’s record of bloating the deficit with tax cuts for the rich leaves the party’s credibility lower than this week’s temperatures.

But Biden and the Democrats are operating with confidence because they have finally embraced what has long been true: Progressive economic policies are broadly popular. Many of them (notably those checks) are supported by the GOP’s large working-class wing.

Let’s also recognize that when Republican congressional leaders claim to want bipartisanship, they are not operating in good faith. That’s a strong statement, but it’s rooted in reality, not partisanship. Republicans want nothing like what Biden wants. “Now is the time we should be spending,” the president said in Milwaukee. “Now is the time to go big.” The biggest counter so far, from a minority of Republicans, is only a third the size of Biden’s…

Most Americans are neither anti-government ideologues nor culture-war extremists. They turn to the federal government to act boldly in a time of crisis not because they love government in the abstract but because they understand it as the only entity capable of taking on certain large tasks. That’s why Biden is confident about the course he’s on — and it’s why he shouldn’t back down.

Friday Morning Open Thread: Yes, ProgressPost + Comments (135)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: President Biden, What A Difference

by Anne Laurie| February 17, 20217:30 am| 102 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat

Readership capture:

https://t.co/a4ExlPm4xx pic.twitter.com/G3chjCwopv

— counterfactual (@counterfax) February 17, 2021

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: President Biden, What A DifferencePost + Comments (102)

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Not all heroes wear capes.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Come on, man.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

In my day, never was longer.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Process

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Keep the Faith

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Our President

Monday Morning Open Thread: Sweet, Refreshing “Boredom”

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Doing What We Can

Friday Morning Open Thread: Yes, Progress

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: President Biden, What A Difference