The Biden-Harris Administration

[clairecloutier]

It's pretty rich to accuse Democrats of wanting to drag out the pandemic, when it's Republican governors who have massively mismanaged CV19 in their states by encouraging non-vaccination, discouraging mask use, and many other measures, leading to thousands and thousands of unnecessary deaths and hospitalizations.

Red Covid

Covid’s partisan pattern is growing more extreme.

nyti.ms

But sure, go on and continue to blame Joe Biden.

 

[MsZem]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/briefing/*********-red-states-vaccinations.html

I think this is the link you had in mind?

Red Covid

Covid’s partisan pattern is growing more extreme.

nyti.ms

 

[clairecloutier]

I think this is the link you had in mind?

Red Covid

Covid’s partisan pattern is growing more extreme.

nyti.ms

Yes, thanks--I have fixed it.

 

[Vagabond]

Democrats have lost all empathy for others, so I have no empathy for them.

You make it sound like this is an empirical fact, but it's just your opinion, with which others may agree or disagree. You do understand this, don't you?

 

[Louis]

You make it sound like this is an empirical fact, but it's just your opinion, with which others may agree or disagree. You do understand this, don't you?

If it makes you feel better, read IMO in front of everything I write unless stated otherwise. That’s the way I generally read others’ posts.

 

[jenny12]

I just wanted to give some support to Sinema, Manchin, and the few Democrats who are keeping an otherwise unrecognizable, out-of-control party relevant for me.

The corporate democrats blocking Biden’s reconciliation bill are funded by big pharma and the fossil fuel industry. This isn’t about any sort of concern about spending. Framing Democrats as out of control when Trump and the Republicans added 7.8 trillion to the national debt is old and tired. No one is actually concerned about spending. It is about where the money is spent. Republicans and corporate democrats don’t dislike spending. They just hate spending on things that help the middle class.

 

[clairecloutier]

No one is actually concerned about spending. It is about where the money is spent. Republicans and corporate democrats don’t dislike spending. They just hate spending on things that help the middle class.

Truer words were never spoken.

I wish I could make everyone read these sentences, and then re-read them over and over, until they FINALLY sink in.

REPUBLICANS DON'T CARE ABOUT SPENDING. THEY SPEND AS MUCH OR MORE AS DEMOCRATS. JUST ON DIFFERENT THINGS.

And yes, God forbid that any of their spending should help ANYONE below the 1%.

 

[ballettmaus]

I wish I could make everyone read these sentences, and then re-read them over and over, until they FINALLY sink in.

Send it to the MSM while you're at it until it sinks in there, too, and they adjust their reporting accordingly. Maybe add something about how Republicans aren't good for the economy or the middle class while you're at it, please I'm so tired of politics reporting based on reputation rather than actuality, at least where those areas are concerned.

 

[MacMadame]

Also, inflation is not "runaway". We're coming out of a pandemic and a bit of inflation is expected especially with supply chain issues that always drive up prices.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

People (or one person) can sing the praises of Joe Manchin being 65% liberal all they want. However, the 65% doesn't include support of climate and the environment. After all, he is the number one coal moneymaking senator and has the son who runs a coal company. His political cronies turned their nose up at green businesses who wanted to bring decent paying jobs to suffering communities because all that matters is COAL, COAL, COAL!!! Manchin will pretend to care about environmental issues while coming up with every excuse to vote against them as long as he's in office.

 

[caseyedwards]

People (or one person) can sing the praises of Joe Manchin being 65% liberal all they want. However, the 65% doesn't include support of climate and the environment. After all, he is the number one coal moneymaking senator and has the son who runs a coal company. His political cronies turned their nose up at green businesses who wanted to bring decent paying jobs to suffering communities because all that matters is COAL, COAL, COAL!!! Manchin will pretend to care about environmental issues while coming up with every excuse to vote against them as long as he's in office.

He also gets 86% from the league of conservation voters

 

[Dobre]

My personal opinion about Biden's approval rating drop (which is based on absolutely nothing but my own instincts) is that it is pretty much entirely due to the Delta surge. Approval ratings tend to be directly related to whether people are a. happy or b. not happy. In early summer, the country was on the road back & people who were vaccinated didn't seem to be catching or spreading the virus. Cases were down pretty much everywhere except Missouri. Then cases & hospitalizations started to skyrocket in many states, breaking hospitalization records in diverse areas (the South, the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, now Alaska). So clearly, the problem is not over. The virus is still a major problem. And it needs to be resolved.

Vaccinating kids will help. But it has to be thorough. We can't just keep letting this virus overwhelm hospitals & shut down schools and/or classrooms.

Mind you, I think Republican leaders are getting plenty of deserved blame. Their own approval ratings have dropped over the same time period.


Of course, the press had a field day with Afghanistan because the press was bored out of its mind of the pandemic. But I haven't seen any data saying that the president's approval rating is actually tied to foreign policy.

 

[MacMadame]

In my case, my disapproval is tied to his handling of immigration. But I don't consider myself a typical voter so I am not going to say that's what is driving it. I agree with @Dobre that's because CV isn't miraculously gone. And that the press keeps repeating GQP's claims of "runaway" inflation without pushing back.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

He also gets 86% from the league of conservation voters

???????????????

Check out Senator Joe Manchin III's Environmental Voting Record

The League of Conservation Voters' National Environmental Scorecard tracks how members of Congress vote on the most important environmental issues.

scorecard.lcv.org

Further, this is a clear conflict of interest:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/climate/manchin-climate-biden.html

Joe Manchin, the powerful West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate energy panel and earned half a million dollars last year from coal production, is preparing to remake President Biden’s climate legislation in a way that tosses a lifeline to the fossil fuel industry — despite urgent calls from scientists that countries need to quickly pivot away from coal, gas and oil to avoid a climate catastrophe.

 

[caseyedwards]

???????????????

Check out Senator Joe Manchin III's Environmental Voting Record

The League of Conservation Voters' National Environmental Scorecard tracks how members of Congress vote on the most important environmental issues.

scorecard.lcv.org

Further, this is a clear conflict of interest:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/climate/manchin-climate-biden.html

In 2019 his score was 86. So obviously Manchin can be with LCV as much as 86% of the time unlike in 2020 when it was “only” in the 50’s.

 

[BlueRidge]

I sure hope Schumer gets the government spending bill through today as he says he is trying to do. Government shutdowns are a nasty business for us here in the Nation's Capital even more than elsewhere.

 

[clairecloutier]

Activists have launched a fundraising campaign against Sinema that will benefit a potential primary challenger if Sinema doesn't vote to end or reform the filibuster.

Activists launch CrowdPAC to fund potential Sinema primary challenger

Organizers say Sinema must vote to end the filibuster and back Biden or we will “replace her with someone who will.”

www.salon.com

Easiest decision to spend money ever.

 

[Judy]

I am not at all an expert on U.S. and def haven’t followed a lot. I do think though that even considering Trump as someone to potentially vote for makes me . Yah that is directed at Louis.

 

[BlueRidge]

Activists have launched a fundraising campaign against Sinema that will benefit a potential primary challenger if Sinema doesn't vote to end or reform the filibuster.

Activists launch CrowdPAC to fund potential Sinema primary challenger

Organizers say Sinema must vote to end the filibuster and back Biden or we will “replace her with someone who will.”

www.salon.com

Easiest decision to spend money ever.

Pledge made!

 

[Louis]

Democrats are all for strong women taking stances until a strong woman takes a stance they don't agree with. Then they shame, belittle, demonize, bully, resort to personal attacks, etc. That PAC statement looks like it was written by the Russian mafia - which probably isn't far off the truth. I suspect Democrats are especially angry with Sinema because she dispels the myths that LGBT and areligious people have no choice but to accept the Socialist Agenda and drink the poison of the leftist cult. She certainly seems like she's being attacked far more and in far different ways than Manchin, for example. Stay strong, Kyrsten Sinema!

As for the U.S.... Being back in the country and seeing what Joe Biden's America looks like, I'll vote for anybody else. While none of the dire predictions about the Trump presidency came true, the Republicans' warnings about Joe Biden's America took just months to materialize. I genuinely hope his administration turns things around because I find the U.S. barely recognizable.

 

[skatemomaz]

Pledge made!

done!

 

[jenny12]

Democrats are all for strong women taking stances until a strong woman takes a stance they don't agree with. Then they shame, belittle, demonize, bully, resort to personal attacks, etc. That PAC statement looks like it was written by the Russian mafia - which probably isn't far off the truth. I suspect Democrats are especially angry with Sinema because she dispels the myths that LGBT and areligious people have no choice but to accept the Socialist Agenda and drink the poison of the leftist cult. She certainly seems like she's being attacked far more and in far different ways than Manchin, for example. Stay strong, Kyrsten Sinema!

I’m all for attacking Manchin more. Also, when I attack Sinema, I’m not attacking a woman, I’m attacking a corporation so therefore I cannot be sexist.

Anyway, one thing I will say is that this problem is of course bigger than Sinema and Manchin and is a very obvious demonstration of why corporate donations in politics need to be banned.

 

[once_upon]

I can't take someone who has three countries to choose from and isn't happy with any of their leaders very seriously.

 

[BlueRidge]

Quoting this sentence from the Guardian, "So House progressives are threatening to sink the infrastructure bill, and if they do, it seems like moderates are willing to walk away from the reconciliation package."

"Moderates" will walk away from the reconciliation package as soon as they get the infrastructure bill. Period. Progressives understand this. They want both bills, "moderates" want to be able to go back to their constituents and donors and say, "Look we took the Progs down." The deal was made to pass both bills essentially simultaneously and the centrists have done all they can to tank that already agreed upon deal.

Biden's agenda is both bills. Pass them both. Progressives are trying to negotiate and the centrists will not negotiate, as widely reported they will not say what they do or don't want in the reconciliation package. Because they are trying to work a con to get the infrastructure bill passed and if it is they will walk away.

 

[BlueRidge]

'scuse the double post, but not on the political issue, is this kind of crazy running around with a dangerous deadline over your head, that is really high stakes dealing and media frenzy, is that what these politicians live for?

I ask as I have not the temperament to understand how anyone would want to be in the middle of this, but I suppose some people do?

 

[caseyedwards]

Well it’s not a parliamentary system! No Democrat got elected because of or to support Biden. They want to watch their own elections and Biden isn’t important at all especially if he wants them to be more liberal than their district is

 

[Louis]

I can't take someone who has three countries to choose from and isn't happy with any of their leaders very seriously.

I have 32 countries to choose from, and I'm somewhat happy with the UK's leadership, at least on C19.

'scuse the double post, but not on the political issue, is this kind of crazy running around with a dangerous deadline over your head, that is really high stakes dealing and media frenzy, is that what these politicians live for?

I ask as I have not the temperament to understand how anyone would want to be in the middle of this, but I suppose some people do?

Compromise often (usually?) happens in or past the 11th hour. People in the UK are used to this after five years of Brexit deadlines coming and going. Anything with the EU seems to involve brinkmanship, regardless of whether it involves the UK, and it seems like the U.S. has been moving more in this direction over the past decade.

I'm against these government shutdowns because they don't save any money, usually cost money, and create backlogs. If shutting down the government meant people wouldn't get paid, etc., I might change my tune. But with the way they are now, we can either pay people to work or pay people to not work. We've had far too much of the latter in the last 18 months and don't need any more. I do hope a compromise is found, but it can't be what the so-called progressive are pushing. We'll see who blinks first.

 

[BlueRidge]

Manchin makes a statement:

Respectfully, as I have said for months, I can’t support $3.5 trillion more in spending when we have already spent $5.4 trillion since last March. At some point, all of us, regardless of party must ask the simple question – how much is enough?

What I have made clear to the President and Democratic leaders is that spending trillions more on new and expanded government programs, when we can’t even pay for the essential social programs, like Social Security and Medicare, is the definition of fiscal insanity. Suggesting that spending trillions more will not have an impact on inflation ignores the everyday reality that America’s families continue pay an unavoidable inflation tax. Proposing a historic expansion of social programs while ignoring the fact we are not in a recession and that millions of jobs remain open will only feed a dysfunction that could weaken our economic recovery.

Total gobblydegook, as if he has no understanding of economics and government fiscal policy at all, except its just excuses when what he really means is "I have to oppose this so I'll continue to have the support I need to stay in office."

 

[skatingguy]

Democrats are all for strong women taking stances until a strong woman takes a stance they don't agree with. Then they shame, belittle, demonize, bully, resort to personal attacks, etc.

That's very ironic considering your history of posts about strong women in politics whom you disagree with.

 

[Reuven]

Democrats are all for strong women taking stances until a strong woman takes a stance they don't agree with

Not ragging on Sinema because she’s a woman, but because when she was running, she was all for letting Medicare negotiate drug prices, and now since Big Pharma is pumping money into her campaign, she’s suddenly against it. I guess they found her price. But it’s nothing to do with gender. Manchin’s the same thing, he won’t go with environment-friendly laws because Coal has him in their pocket. Not a gender issue with him, either.