The Politics Thread

[JaneAusten]

Nah post them.  I think there is value in seeing frankly how out of touch so many of these so called reporters are. I don't consider never have considered Jake Sherman a reporter. I think Politico might have been his first job and if that's where he learned journalism explains a lot. A lot of the reporters IMO who some of us thought were actually reporters have been exposed the past 4 years - well actually when Obama became president.  It says a lot about that group that they think Maggie Haberman is the top political reporter of our time and exactly what has she done since her sugar daddy leaker left office. Nothing. Some reporter.

 

As far as the infrastructure bill, Biden is doing what he said he would do which is negotiate and he has not exceeded the timeline he set for himself which I believe was mid June. I can't say someone is allowing things to drag on versus playing out as I believe they know it will. The GOP will never propose anything that raises the corporate tax rate and that will be a non starter. Biden is not stupid but he also has really smart people around him like Ron Klain who I know is no fool.

 

And frankly I just can't with the Beltway press still treating the GOP as geniuses and not taking them to task. Eroding democracy will impact then and being pro-democracy is not a SIDE it's what the FREE PRESS should be. Who exactly thinks that the GOP can keep the focus on Biden for the midterms by opposing a Jan 6th commission. Not anyone I know. But they lap up that drivel from McConnell because it comes from McConnell. If Schumer said something like that they'd run him out of town. And put this on the record I could care less myself about a commission. None of the commissions have resulted in anything really of value other than gaslighting. Let the democrats have their hearings. 

Edited May 26, 2021 by JaneAusten

[DRW50]

 

[DRW50]

 

This man riled up people who were planning to kill members of Congress, and yet he still gets bipartisan support. No wonder so many have no faith in the system.

 

 

[DRW50]

 

[Ponds]

I'm personally scared sh*tless!

[DRW50]

 

I try to tell myself we'll make it through somehow, but the people in power who just don't care (I guess because they will mostly be fine even if we won't) make it difficult to not be more concerned about all the different assaults going through. 

Edited May 27, 2021 by DRW50

[marceline]

The better Biden does, the more the Doomers will ramp up.

[DRW50]

With Feinstein's alleged memory issues I'm not even sure if she is just doing the usual political BS or if she literally does not remember being asked about this before.

 

 

[DRW50]

 

Joe Manchin, always good for a laugh:

 

He and his cohorts are willing to watch this country burn in order to delude themselves under the guise of moral superiority. 

[DRW50]

 

In other news, Rahm finally got some job after humiliating himself long enough. Garcetti is a mess, from what I've heard, up to having people around him with a history of assault allegations - given India's problems I am not sure why anyone would vote for him but then I guess this is typical hiring for these positions. Tom Nides used to work for Lieberman and has his support, which tells you all you need to know.

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

For as much as Dianne Morales clearly had the ability to build an enthusiastic base, I knew her campaign would stall at some point because like many far-left candidates, as enthusiastic as that base may be, it is still smaller than Democratic candidates who are closer to the center, even in a city like NYC. 

Having said all that, how the New York Times reports on women candidates, particularly women candidates of color always gives me more than pause-- I tend to develop a serious case of side-eye because the coverage is usually littered with similar hallmarks, if not the exact same descriptors. A campaign in crisis, via poor management and dereliction of duty, inattention.

Still, when one your top campaign managers calls for the resignation of your campaign, clearly there are problems.

I think that might be 'all she wrote' for the Morales for Mayor 2021 campaign.

 

 

Edited May 28, 2021 by DramatistDreamer

[DRW50]

As everyone predicted once McCarthy and Trump got involved, the Senate blocked the commission. (insert remarks here about the "brave" Republicans who voted for it).

 

Manchin is giving his best Susan Collins before looking for another camera to shove his face in front of. Things are sure going to change this time...like every other time...

 

 

And, what a surprise, here is Manchin's Senate sister in not giving a damn about anyone but herself:

 

 

[DRW50]

This is the last thing I'm going to post about Congress or the filibuster for a while, because it will just be seen as doomcasting and we know how this story is going to end anyway, but I did want to post this, because I think it does speak to many voters at this point and unless something changes, then along with voter suppression, a media that will do anything to help Republicans win, and gerrymandering, it's going to lead to a devastating midterm. 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2021 by DRW50

[Vee]

I think Willis is very often right, but I don't think when he gets on some of his doomier tears (which I can set my watch to, having read him for many years) that he always sees the whole picture. Willis is the farthest thing from a leftier-than-thou guy who hates Biden, but he also simply doesn't always wait for the political ploy to play itself out, he just rants and rants out of frustration and then when the situation actually pops into place he's onto celebrating. I do think he is absolutely right here that there are so many problems with Dem messaging nationwide, but it's not as simple as 'all Dems are bad at it' because they're not. The WH has done pretty well. That said, he's also absolutely right that  'just getting out the vote' is not a solution to the voter suppression - not in 2024, but also not in 2022. Too many Democratic strategists always shrug and fall back on 'just vote!' We're not in that world anymore, increasingly less so by the month. It worked last year, I'm not sure it will again. And if anyone in the White House believes this isn't going to be a major issue in the midterms they're a fool. I personally don't think Biden believes that, but I do think more urgent public address on it is required. The Jim Crow framing worked, so they need to keep using it. And I think you're going to see a major push going forward. 

 

I knew the commission would fail. I don't care about that. The House can boil them like a frog in select committees and go Benghazi on 1/6 for the next 2 years or longer and that will do the job. What I care about is how this will affect the filibuster reform and voting rights battle - and I think Manchin is kind of melting down and having a Caine Mutiny moment over the commission push failing. It's been evident all week. That's what we need right now from him. We need him slapped in the face.

 

 

To me, their broken hearts over the loss of nostalgic Senate comity are good news.

Edited May 29, 2021 by Vee

[Juliajms]

@DRW50I am horrified at the number of people who believe in Q. I studiously avoided even knowing what Q was about until about six months ago. Then recently I watched the HBO documentary. Have you seen it? By the second episode it was nearly unwatchable, because the people he is talking to seem so f*cking stupid (talk about word salads!), but I kept going. Slowly but surely you realize he is on the right track and that only some of them are stupid. There are some master manipulators involved, who are very good at pretending to be stupid. Then there are the ones just smart enough to latch on to the main grifters.

 

Q really is like a certain type of religion. The kind of modern religion that is documented to be absolute nonsense (Scientology, for example), but reality just doesn't matter to these kooks AT ALL.  Maybe it will all shake out OK, four years from now, but I am concerned.