Retire, Breyer: another September 2021 US Politics thread

I mean, with the time factor, especially (?), how far could the stumbling etc. go? If Biden really were deferring to Congressional leaders, in a timely fashion, or at all---I'd feel a little more reassured.

So now the Dems get their-our own Get The Fuck Outta The Way Prez, like second-term Reagan---?

Not that he doesn't have horrible shitty obstruction, horribly shitty everything as the Trump legacy, but he needs to trust other people's judgement more, also trust recognition of judgement's limitations, recognition's too, in this our shitstorm.

And fucking say something about limitations and shitty options (and make it stick) as well as that West Wing soldiering on stuff.

up is down black is white dogs laying with cats

It's the difference between finishing 0-16 and finishing 1-15. What would strengthen absolutists is electing Biden and showing the Democratic party can't advance any progressive goals: not health care, not child care, not education, safety net.

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) September 29, 2021

The D establishment would be discredited. The left would just want to burn the whole party to the ground. And it would be very hard to argue against them.

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) September 29, 2021

I'm a huge fan of incremental progress. I wrote a whole book defending Obama's presidency! But if the only permanent change Biden signs into law is a plussed up highway bill, there's no defending that. It's a failure and there will be a recknoning.

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) September 29, 2021

Ro Khanna is out there turning the heat up on Sinema. To hear him say it, she is the one and only true roadblock and the president will support a vote against infrastructure if there isn't further agreement.

"The President keeps begging her, tell us what you want. Put a proposal forward," says Rep. Ro Khanna of Senator Kyrsten Sinema.

"One Senator, Kyrsten Sinema, is holding up the will of the entire Democratic Party." pic.twitter.com/kxVP9fGZCG

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) September 29, 2021

Cannot fucking wait to vote against her in a primary

Do wonder what her better good is? What is driving her to go ahead with this. I mean surely she must be acting out of something other than contrarian evil like.

She's bought and paid for...I'm sure to win that senate seat there was boodles of outside money flowed into Arizona and those interests trump anything else.

Witch probably will go full Lieberman and switch to being an 'independent' or join the freaking GQP next election as a 'Maverick' when the Democrats lose the Senate stating some malarky of 'party changed since I was elected' or whatever horse crap her handlers write. Then she will lose the seat to some Maricopa county lunatic to the right of Joe Arpaio.

I hate them all...

Easy with the "It was Sinema all along."

she’s irredeemably awful but kinda feel like it wasn’t her someone else would have to step up and be ‘the Sinema’

Anemic Sinema.

Her behavior is Classic Sinema.

She's an attention-seeking clown.

she def seems like the type who's holding out for a red swingline stapler more than any sort of pork

The Trump impressions, apparently those are all largely improvised, too, which I think is the key.

oops lol rong thred

very sinematic

FIN DU SINEMA

sinema dis pants, i breaka u face

Should have been DE instead of DU sorry

What was that bs about her doing a paid internship at a winery in 2020

josh marshall weighs in:

In any case, if you’re going to lose it is important to lose well rather than poorly. Doing so is a key way to actually win. But to win you have to be ready to lose well. Losing well is far better than losing poorly.

loooooooooooooooooooooooooool

the art of losing is hard to master

losing at losing after winning: a democratic party story

it's a classic josh marshallism, just excruciating positioning to make sure he'll have been sort of correct about something.

the rest of it isn't bad (though not sure i agree - i have checked out of this negotiation process a long time ago): https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/kill-the-bill-2

I think all he is saying is there's no point in supporting infrastructure without the other bill

yeah, i get his point, and like i said, i haven't followed closely enough to really know. i was just laughing at how he phrased that one quoted part above, because it's that classic kind of thing that may be technically accurate but is just not a good way to convince anyone else of anything (which i believe is his role, as a blogger/pundit etc)

no, it's a grammatical mess, but I don't think he's trying to be purposefully ambiguous about his position

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZzyRcySgK8

Thanks for a great race @ACLINews - I’ll be back next year to break records and crush dreams. 💥 https://t.co/nIkfgYemAB

— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) September 29, 2021

sinematic!

These guys will primary Sinema if she doesn't end the filibuster: https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/404047/either-sinema-votes-to-end-the-filibuster-or-we-fund-a-primary-challenger

She dabs her skin with pretty smells
Concealing to appeal
"I will make my bed,"
She said, but turned to go
Can she be late for her sinema show?

there will be a gigantic primary against sinema no matter what, and she'll lose

A replacement Dem senatorial candidate is not going to be as likely to win that Senate seat as Sinema would be in a re-election race. If you think having Sinema in that seat is functionally equivalent to having an Arizona Republican in that seat, that doesn't matter. Of course, a replacement Democrat COULD win that race, especially if the GOP candidate is weak. But incumbency advantage is powerful (look at all the people in Wisconsin who voted for both Tammy Baldwin and Scott Walker to be re-elected in 2018.)

oh shit, missed this possible glimpse into sinema's "thinking" over the weekend!

But the progressives are hardly imagining this possibility. Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that Sinema “has privately told colleagues she will not accept any corporate or income tax rate increases.” No other publication has matched this explosive finding, which might turn out to exaggerate her stance. On the other hand, she has not publicly denied it. Sinema also reportedly opposes both Biden’s plan to allow Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies, and even opposes a scaled-back version designed to be less unacceptable to Big Pharma.

The entire Biden program is financed through a combination of taxing the wealthy through higher income or corporate taxes and cutting spending by negotiating lower drug prices. So if Sinema actually holds the positions indicated by these reports, she would kill Biden’s program outright. Biden’s domestic legacy is only going to be as large as its financing sources, and if Sinema opposes all those sources, the size of the bill she ultimately supports isn’t going to be $3.5 trillion or $2 trillion or $1.5 trillion, but zero.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/09/sinema-progressive-democrats-biden-build-back-better-infrastructure.html

could be dumb, if true! could also be dumb and untrue!

maybe her plan is to force biden and the democrats to personally give Sinema 0.5 trillion dollars? just to pay her off for the deal?

Sinema can retire from politics after the next election as a hero to corporations.

I’m sure the people of AZ are dead set against corporate tax increases tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp_QkUVZGPc

This would be a full shutdown since Congress hasn't yet passed
any funding bills. The last shutdown, from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019, was a partial closure since Congress had already enacted five of the 12 appropriations bills.

That means more federal agencies would likely be affected in a new shutdown. The partial shutdown in 2018-2019 was a record-setting 35 days, which reduced economic growth in the final three months of 2018 by $3 billion, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.

details:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/government-shutdown-2021-impact/

she is extremely powerful and hella useful as a roadblock. I really don’t think anyone with any real juice actually wants her gone

Killing Biden’s Presidency might be the only way the party apparatus doesn’t line up for her in a primary fight.

Sinema seems like a politician in a Neil Breen movie, no stated or coherent ideology, just using her power to do bad things.

so many people seem to think that "making a lot of money for kyrsten sinema" is a bad thing, but that's where sinema disagrees!

also if it's true that she is not in favor of any corporate tax hikes at all, she might as well switch parties already

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX6L65xgOzY

Making money for Kyrsten Sinema
Making money for Kyrsten Sinema
and all the friends of Kyrsten Sinema!
ARIZONA....UBER ALLES!!

Sometimes I really think we need a Dead Kennedys-style band right now. There aren't any good contenders from what I can tell.