The Politics Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

Speaking of that which fails to surprise, is anyone surprised that this has been revealed? Couldn't be me.

 

[DRW50]

Horrible man. He and that opportunistic headcase have ruined so much of this bill that we are reaching the point where even it does pass, most will just remember all the posturing and selling out that got to this point.

 

[amybrickwallace]

Shameful but so not surprising.

Shameful but so not surprising, Part 2.

[DramatistDreamer]

This reminds me of that age old adage that says the lawyer who chooses to represent himself in court has a fool for a client.

 

[amybrickwallace]

You get the representation you deserve!!

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[DRW50]

Manchin just keeps ruining lives, sending poor people past the point of no return, for his corporate donors. 

 

[amybrickwallace]

He may have done the impossible - surpass McConnell as the most hated man in the Senate.

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[DRW50]

The court expansion commission Biden called released their findings several days ago. They essentially just  mouth Stephen Breyer's position - we can't do what Republicans are already doing because that's  wrong. 

I'm not surprised, there  was no way we were getting any kind of expansion, but the framing is  done in a way to further demoralize many who are already giving up.

  

[marceline]

Nope. That will always be Ted Cruz.

[amybrickwallace]

OK, second most hated.

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[Max]

I really don't get the hatred for Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, in spite of the big political differences the Democratic base has with them. The bottom line is without them, there is no Democratic Senate. Manchin is the only Democrat on the planet who could get elected to the Senate from West Virginia. And Sinema was a candidate recruited by Chuck Schumer for her proven skills in appealing to swing voters; in 2018, she became the first Democrat in 30 years to win a Senate seat from Arizona, and even then she managed to defeat a very weak Martha McSally by just 2.35%.

Given that Republicans have so many Senate seats to defend in 2022, Manchin and Sinema will likely be irrelevant after that election. And had Democrats performed better in the 2020 races, the two of them would already be irrelevant. Democrats were hoping to win seats in North Carolina, Iowa, Maine, and Montana, plus longer-shot races in South Carolina and Texas. In particular, Susan Collins had a huge bullseye on her back, yet Democrats failed miserably in their quest to defeat her.

By the way, I'm just as critical of Republicans every time they complain about their minority status in Congress, given that the two Republican candidates in Georgia decided to follow Donald Trump off a cliff and piss off those Senate races. And regardless of how many Republicans viewed Trump's presidency in a positive light, one would think there eventually would come a time when enough of these people would drop Trump (due to his toxicity) and replace him with a "better" version (i.e., somebody who engages in the same form of white identity politics but who is actually disciplined and cares about the electoral fortunes of other Republicans).

On a different matter, may Colin Powell R.I.P. The National Review has an interesting article speculating about what could have happened if he ran for president in 1996:

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/what-if-colin-powell-ran-for-president-in-1996/

For those of you may recall, there was a big push by GOP elites to get Colin Powell to run in 1996; a similar push was made to get Chris Christie to run in 2012. Now while I very much admire Bob Dole and Mitt Romney, there was a strong belief among Republicans during the primaries that these two men would end up losing (so many viewed Powell and Christie as the best options to defeat Presidents Clinton and Obama, respectively).

Had Powell actually run, I don't believe that he would have won the 1996 GOP Nomination. A big part of this, of course, was because of his skin color and the racism that he would have encountered. To illustrate my point, just look at the racism that the Hillary Clinton campaign directed at Barack Obama when he ran for the Democratic nomination twelve years later. (Today's Democrats seem to have completely forgiven the Clintons for their behavior during that campaign, presumably because they patched things up afterward. But while that reconciliation might have been geniune, it might have also been something done largely for their mutual political benefit.)

Racism, however, wasn't the only obstacle that Powell would have had to overcome in GOP primary. Powell's pro-choice stance on abortion would have probably been just as big (or nearly as big) of an obstacle as his skin color.

I'm a bit less certain as to what might have occurred had Powell somehow managed to win the nomination. As the National Review article suggests a nationalist hate-monger such as Pat Buchanan might have ran as a minor candidate, thereby ensuring a Clinton second term. But if Powell was able to unify the GOP, I suspect he would have had a slightly greater than 50/50 chance of winning the general election, though it would not have been a cakewalk given the good economy. However, I fully remember how much of the 1996 Clinton campaign strategy centered on tying Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich at the hip. This was an unfair scare tactic (given the ideological and temperamental differences between the two men), and it wouldn't have worked on Colin Powell since he wasn't a creature of Congress (let alone a leader of Congress as was Dole).

One final note about Powell's potential 1996 candidacy was that I heard rumors that he was gearing up to run (for instance, he published a book in 1995 called "My American Journey"), but the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin understandably terrified Powell's wife, Alma (and so Colin Powell then promised Alma that he wouldn't run). Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995, and it was on November 8 when Powell announced he wouldn't run. Anyway, I have no idea just how true this rumor was (other than the fact that Powell's decision came so soon after the Rabin assassination), but I was curious if anyone else has ever heard this rumor.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Max

[JaneAusten]

Things are changing and Sinema campaigned on supporting things she now opposes. Swing voters? Lets see if she can win in 2024 without the people who actually helped her win in 2018, Native Americans, Latinos, and Women. If Chuck Schumer who is now Majority Leader did recruit her he certainly is doing a pretty (hitty job now considering he likely had a ton of money thrown at her campaign from the DSCC

As for Manchin, he's bought and paid for also and is now indicating a couple making 60 is rich but someone making over 400k can't possibly pay more in taxes. Some of you out there better damn well pay attention to what's going on in the Labor movement in this country because I guarantee regardless of what the Democrats do, things are changing and Reaganomics has been a monumental failure. Just like it was during the Guilded Age which led to Teddy Roosevelt.  Manchin is still spewing the same garbage that voters are now rebelling against. No one gets rich off of welfare, no one was sitting home kicking back getting rich on the extra unemployment. People generally want to work. That always has been the case. We'll see what tactics the GOP tries to use to force workers who are striking, not going back to dirt waged jobs back into a poverty level wage job.

I love all the stories from the media on how Powell almost ran for president against Clinton, blah blah blah. He also endorsed Barack Obama twice and Hillary Clinton. Oh I forgot he only endorsed Obama because he was black. But it's really odd how I heard NO ONE mention this. And in 1996 there were still a lot of pro choice republicans, one as Governor of the state I live in as was the next Republican Governor who followed him.

Edited October 19, 2021 by JaneAusten

[DRW50]

I've seen some speculation Sinema is gearing up to join a third party. I wouldn't be surprised - she would fit right in with Andrew Yang, a man whose idea of a political position is an insipid grin. 

[amybrickwallace]

Does anyone think this will actually happen?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/10/19/politics/january-6-committee-steve-bannon-donald-trump-congress/index.html

[DramatistDreamer]

POS is trending and you can probably guess who is being referred to as such.