On Sinema at the Sinema: October 2021 US Politics thread

T/S: the esteem of your constituents vs. the esteem of those sliding you envelopes filled with money in smokey backrooms

fun story about how she doesn't have any friends any more and seems to be deliberately commiting social suicide

"We'll put up the funds for your election campaign.
Oh, uh, waiter? Can you bring the champagne?"

forgot the url

https://www.thedailybeast.com/kyrsten-sinema-is-unfriending-her-network-into-oblivion?ref=home

She’s like the Kyrie Irving of the Senate, there’s no rhyme or reason to anything she’s doing unless she’s intentionally trying to make everyone dislike her

“It’s not effective to pressure me on anything,” she said. “Because I am a thoughtful person who takes a lot of time, deliberatively, to make decisions, once I’ve made a decision, I feel very comfortable with it. And it doesn’t matter what other people think.”

Good thing she doesn't represent people whose interests might diverge from her own.

Christ, she's such a cartoon villain at this point.

she also hasn't made a decision, or if she has, hasn't told anyone what decision she's made. unless that decision is "willfully obstruct this whole deal because i want to"

She's deliberating!

my impression is that she articulated some specific demands to the president but refuses to make those public because they would be extremely unpopular

imagine if she were extremely unpopular

if both bills somehow end up getting passed, I suspect a lot of her antics will be quickly forgotten. I imagine her dream scenario is getting a massively scaled back reconciliation bill that includes whatever shitty provisions she's angling for.

I'm guessing she does not want anything to pass or rather the person with the big check book does not want anything to pass.

She will run next time lose the Democratic primary and then run as an independent, possibly win and then be a heel and a pay to play for both sides.

"And it doesn’t matter what other people think" possibly the worst line I've ever heard from an elected official

it's hard to see her winning as an independent - Democrats hate her, do Republicans like her? I don't think so

her popularity with independents is also in freefall

no chance she wins as an indie, republicans will never vote for her over whatever creature the arizona republican party belches up, democrats won't forgive her if she tanks the biden presidency, and true moderates take up what, like 5% of the electorate?

she might be more likely to harm the republican party than the democratic party if she runs, at this rate

'You work three jobs? ... Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that.'

— President George W. Bush, to a divorced mother of three in Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005

'I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it.'

— Sen. John Kerry, on voting against a military funding bill for U.S. troops in Iraq, March 19, 2004

'Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.'

— President Bush, to FEMA director Michael Brown, while touring hurricane-ravaged Mississippi, Sept. 2, 2005

You work three jobs? ... Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that.'

omigod I love it

i had never heard that one before. found on this listicle: https://www.liveabout.com/dumbest-political-quotes-of-all-time-4083793

TBF, he probably just assumed she meant that she sat on the board of three large corporations.

She's deliberating!

― Donald Fhtagen (Old Lunch), Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:08 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I honestly misread this as she's debilitating!

She's defibrillating.

She’s like the Kyrie Irving of the Senate, there’s no rhyme or reason to anything she’s doing unless she’s intentionally trying to make everyone dislike her

ppl keep making these references on different threads - is she a Real Housewife or s/t?

Kyrie Irving? An NBA star that is famously anti-vaccine right now and, apparently a flat-earther.

at least we know where he stands

U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a key moderate, told fellow Democrats in the House of Representatives this week that she will not vote for a multitrillion-dollar package that is a top priority for President Joe Biden before Congress approves a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, according to a source briefed on the meeting.

I think this is really about not wanting anything stepping on her special day of getting a bill with her name on it passed

Kyrie Irving? An NBA star that is famously anti-vaccine right now and, apparently a flat-earther.

― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, October 14, 2021 1:58 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

more than that he just has no real coherent positions on anything nor does his internal logic make any sense but he's willing to throw away his career on it

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-falling-poll-numbers-georgia/2021/10/10/3606c99e-2002-11ec-8200-5e3fd4c49f5e_story.html

This seems bad.

a bill saying a senator can't be hung by their own party in the senate house peut etre? etre de poot.

Earlier this year, the feds signed an agreement that let Boeing executives off the hook for the 737 MAX catastrophes, which killed 346 people.

The lead prosecutor, Erin Nealy Cox, then took a job with the firm that leads Boeing's criminal defense.
https://t.co/UPYw5K8sDd pic.twitter.com/oQ1h8wiPV1

— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) October 15, 2021

seems legit

sometimes opportunities come whee you least expect them!

where

dunno if I'd make too much of Biden's poll numbers yet, shit changes quick and people are pretty frustrated rn with Delta & the two folks literally holding up everything

re that WaPo story about Georgia, Warnock is not at much risk of losing his Senate seat in 2022 because Stacey Abrams will be on the same ticket running for governor

people are pretty frustrated rn with Delta & the two folks literally holding up everything

Well yes, this is basically the Biden flack's quote about how everything will be fine if he can get done all the things that aren't being done. Does the future hold any promise on this? Voting rights is dead, they caved on police reform, Sinema's holding the line on no tax increases and scuttling the reconciliation bill, they had to kick the can down the road on the debt ceiling despite controlling Congress, anything that does pass isn't going to be felt by Nov. 2022.

right

Democrats? Shit the bed? Again? You don't say.

Do we have a thread dedicated to strikes in the US?

Last September someone started a Rolling Labor Actions thread.

updated yesterday:

Rolling Labor Action Thread

Thank you!

NEW: Sen. Manchin has told the White House the child tax credit must include a firm work requirement and family income cap in the $60k range, Axios has learned.

These demands would dramatically weaken one of Biden's signature programs. https://t.co/ZL5PHUfpBY

— Axios (@axios) October 17, 2021

Did Axios learn Biden's reply?

President Biden to police officers: "I believe with all my heart there's nothing you're unable to do if we equip you, that we can unite this nation and fight our common foes: anger, resentment, hatred." pic.twitter.com/h1ojWcAfy4

— The Hill (@thehill) October 16, 2021

Beginning when I was about 12 years old, whenever my mother stopped our station wagon at an intersection and saw a law enforcement officer on the street corner, I was taught to get out of the car, approach the officer, shake their hand, and say “Thank you.” pic.twitter.com/NZFI4phacc

— Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) October 17, 2021

the populist proposals that biden wanted to make the legacy of his presidency are not happening.

i doubt it's just manchin and sinema blocking it. not to be conspiratorial, but they are likely the designated "fall guys."

for me, the single issue is making life more affordable for the working class of the country. giving opportunity to those who are made to feel marginalized, hopeless, including people who have been incarcerated. this population has a very hard time getting on their feet and feeling like they can be part of society. this is an example of the fundamental cruelty at the heart of our system.

i could go on and on about the kafkaesque nightmare that is the "american dream." these days, if you want to follow the rules and get ahead and don't have family help, you end up burdened with crippling college debt for life. we are all under the boot heels of the ownership class.

however, i don't make decisions here. americans do not feel the way i do. they do not feel the way the house progressive caucus does. even though these proposals "poll well," i suspect this is an illusion. talking to people, they are mostly just worried that the "wrong people" will benefit from compassionate policies. the myth of the undeserving poor is so fundamental to american culture it's impossible to overstate. sinema knows this, the senate democrats know this, and biden might even know it. we will continue to grind people up and spit them out and maintain a society of mutual distrust and paranoia and insanity because that is the american way.

i'm going to try to find individual causes that i can contribute to and i'll stay active in my union and whatever, but overall i think we just need to get used to this. an issue like housing security for instance. no one gives a shit that housing is unaffordable.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/16/opinion/pramila-jayapal-infrastructure.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytopinion

Just envisioning the Mayorkas family station wagon stopped in the intersection, the light's turned green, everybody's honking and yelling, little Alex still standing on the corner pumping the fist of an increasingly aggrieved parking cop