Robert, I appreciate you put "moderates" in quotation marks. Can we please stop (a la Paul Krugman) calling them Moderates, they are Centrists. There is nothing moderate about them. Our political rulers (not the people but those in power) have moved so far to the right that Progressives are now closer to fitting the bill of Moderates than the so called Moderates. And, we all need to get on Sinema. I'm beginning to think she's worse than Manchin.
Too bad we can’t throw Manichin and Sinema out of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, our local LWV has an inexperienced Chair this year, so I’m looking for other routes of action. What would we do without your sanity, Robert? I started the week by despairing of typical Dem behavior (squabbling), and now can see that our many voices are what contribute to our strength. Onward.
I'm trying to understand how Joe Manchin can claim such outsized influence in the Senate. He must have some amazing boat parties! Then, I read this article about his conflict of interest and his son running the coal company in which Manchin invests: https://theintercept.com/2021/09/03/joe-manchin-coal-fossil-fuels-pollution/. Is this just how Washington works, i.e., everyone takes money from PACs & businesses such that this is no big deal?
I'd like to share a thought I've had about Sinema. I think she has taken a lesson from Trump's thumbing his nose at rules of behavior; rules governing our country. She seems emboldened to defy her party and act only on behalf of herself and the drug industry that subsidized her election. She's gone rogue, just like Trump did and is absolutely glorying in all the attention. I cannot imagine what Biden or Schumer can do to rein her in!
ONLY 44% of Texans support Abbott? I can't believe that many support him, but then...Texas. As for "Senator" Sinema, I can't decide if she's stupid or just loves the limelight. I can see her giggling with her Republican pals that she pulled the wool over the eyes of Democratic voters in Arizona when she ran as a Democrat. She's no Democrat. I think it's time to admit that and try to get some moderate Republicans (do such animals exist, or are they extinct?) to stop voting in lockstep with Moscow Mitch. I think that might be easier than getting Sinema's vote.
If the Biden agenda doesn’t pass, Dems are doomed in 2022 and 2024 and maybe after that. Why would anyone vote for Democrats? This is why people hate politicians, think they’re all the same, and don’t vote. I’m feeling hopeless and pessimistic at the moment.
Plain and simple Mancin and Sinema voted with Trump more than 50 % of the time. Joe Mancin and Krysten Sinema are morally bankrupt. mancin has made a great deal of money as a Senator. His daughter heads up Mylan and he has no incentive to attack the high price of drugs. Sinema is raising money from people opposed to any legislation that lowers prescription prices. Mancin has never been for anyone but Joe Mancin and likewise Sinema. I financially supported her candidacy and ina word I feel as though I have been knifed in the back.
The reconciliation package will come in between $1.5 and $2.5 trillion. Manchin and Sinema will grouse. "Progressives" in the House will complain. But they'll all hold their noses and vote for it.
As Heather Cox Richardson notes in her Letter last night, the most important pending legislation is not the debt limit, but the Freedom to Vote Act, the pared-down voting rights bill that Joe Manchin supports. It is not as strong as it should be, but necessary to protect us against the anti-democratic efforts of the Republicans. (Virtually all Republicans except Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.) My Senators are Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, so I don't have to worry about their support. But I'm going to call their offices to urge that they make every effor to get a vote--and to pare back the filibuster rule to pass it. I suggest that anyone reading this do the same.
OT: My favorite cartoon shows two lawyers in the library, surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands of casebooks. One of them is saying, "The answer is right here!" Well, maybe you need to be a lawyer to get it.
Thanks for another clear recap. And I especially admire your consistent efforts to give us an action plan. I live in a bubble of reason. So local efforts to register voters would be healthy but have little effect nationally. Aside from supporting The League of Women Voters, where should we send donations to help register voters?
Robert, I appreciate you put "moderates" in quotation marks. Can we please stop (a la Paul Krugman) calling them Moderates, they are Centrists. There is nothing moderate about them. Our political rulers (not the people but those in power) have moved so far to the right that Progressives are now closer to fitting the bill of Moderates than the so called Moderates. And, we all need to get on Sinema. I'm beginning to think she's worse than Manchin.
Abbott’s declining numbers aside, the most positive words in Today’s Edition are “Talk to you tomorrow!” We will keep going on.
Too bad we can’t throw Manichin and Sinema out of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, our local LWV has an inexperienced Chair this year, so I’m looking for other routes of action. What would we do without your sanity, Robert? I started the week by despairing of typical Dem behavior (squabbling), and now can see that our many voices are what contribute to our strength. Onward.
I'm trying to understand how Joe Manchin can claim such outsized influence in the Senate. He must have some amazing boat parties! Then, I read this article about his conflict of interest and his son running the coal company in which Manchin invests: https://theintercept.com/2021/09/03/joe-manchin-coal-fossil-fuels-pollution/. Is this just how Washington works, i.e., everyone takes money from PACs & businesses such that this is no big deal?
I'd like to share a thought I've had about Sinema. I think she has taken a lesson from Trump's thumbing his nose at rules of behavior; rules governing our country. She seems emboldened to defy her party and act only on behalf of herself and the drug industry that subsidized her election. She's gone rogue, just like Trump did and is absolutely glorying in all the attention. I cannot imagine what Biden or Schumer can do to rein her in!
ONLY 44% of Texans support Abbott? I can't believe that many support him, but then...Texas. As for "Senator" Sinema, I can't decide if she's stupid or just loves the limelight. I can see her giggling with her Republican pals that she pulled the wool over the eyes of Democratic voters in Arizona when she ran as a Democrat. She's no Democrat. I think it's time to admit that and try to get some moderate Republicans (do such animals exist, or are they extinct?) to stop voting in lockstep with Moscow Mitch. I think that might be easier than getting Sinema's vote.
If the Biden agenda doesn’t pass, Dems are doomed in 2022 and 2024 and maybe after that. Why would anyone vote for Democrats? This is why people hate politicians, think they’re all the same, and don’t vote. I’m feeling hopeless and pessimistic at the moment.
Plain and simple Mancin and Sinema voted with Trump more than 50 % of the time. Joe Mancin and Krysten Sinema are morally bankrupt. mancin has made a great deal of money as a Senator. His daughter heads up Mylan and he has no incentive to attack the high price of drugs. Sinema is raising money from people opposed to any legislation that lowers prescription prices. Mancin has never been for anyone but Joe Mancin and likewise Sinema. I financially supported her candidacy and ina word I feel as though I have been knifed in the back.
The reconciliation package will come in between $1.5 and $2.5 trillion. Manchin and Sinema will grouse. "Progressives" in the House will complain. But they'll all hold their noses and vote for it.
As Heather Cox Richardson notes in her Letter last night, the most important pending legislation is not the debt limit, but the Freedom to Vote Act, the pared-down voting rights bill that Joe Manchin supports. It is not as strong as it should be, but necessary to protect us against the anti-democratic efforts of the Republicans. (Virtually all Republicans except Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.) My Senators are Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, so I don't have to worry about their support. But I'm going to call their offices to urge that they make every effor to get a vote--and to pare back the filibuster rule to pass it. I suggest that anyone reading this do the same.
OT: My favorite cartoon shows two lawyers in the library, surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands of casebooks. One of them is saying, "The answer is right here!" Well, maybe you need to be a lawyer to get it.
Thanks for another clear recap. And I especially admire your consistent efforts to give us an action plan. I live in a bubble of reason. So local efforts to register voters would be healthy but have little effect nationally. Aside from supporting The League of Women Voters, where should we send donations to help register voters?
Bravo!