The Biden-Harris Administration

[el henry]

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.

Forget the filibuster.

Just primary her sorry behind, period.

Says this strong woman. Who thinks Sinema is weak sauce.

 

[Vagabond]

Forget the filibuster.

Just primary her sorry behind, period.

That primary is a long way away. She's not up for re-election until 2024.

 

[el henry]

That primary is a long way away. She's not up for re-election until 2024.

Sad but true. However, Sinema is where I think we could use leverage, since she can be primaried. She is a vacillating wack a doodle, so show her the direction the vacillation should go.

Jumping off, crying and moaning over Joe Manchin, OTOH, will do zip. No Dem can do anything that will weaken his standing in his home state or scare him. Of course he's in the pocket of Big Coal, but that's meaningless as well. In my experience, the average West Virginian clings to the hope that coal will survive, come back, whatever, and no amount of climate education or railing against big corporate donors will change their mind. The voters are in the pocket of Big Coal.

What needs to be done as was said earlier: elect more Democrats and other Democrats to the Senate. And take Manchin's votes in favor of some of the agenda as more than you would get with Ted Cruz Jr who will be elected, when he retires

 

[Louis]

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

I don't have any such history. I supported Hillary Clinton and then Amy Klobuchar. I've defended Kamala Harris against the often ridiculous attacks from the liberal left. I've also supported Sarah Palin, Nikki Haley, Sarah Sanders, and other female politicians from sexism and ridicule from the left. Maybe people should look at their own posting histories re: female politicians.

It's true I am no fan of Sandy from Westchester (stage name / alias AOC) and Elizabeth Warren, but that has everything to do with their politics. I was not any kinder to John Edwards (and my instincts were right on that one), (initially) Obama, or Bernie Sanders.

I also admit when I'm wrong. I didn't vote for Obama the first time, but I did the second time. I would both then and now say that I view his presidency as a success. I had hoped Biden would go down a similar path. I gave him a chance, and will still give him a chance, but right now I couldn't be more disappointed or concerned.

 

[MacMadame]

I could definitely be more disappointed and more concerned with Biden. I mean he hasn't made a known white supremacist his head advisor and no one is calling foreign powers to assure them that he isn't batshit and going to nuke them.

He's also not trying to get us into a land war over lies about things such as WMD.

 

[ballettmaus]

Says this strong woman. Who thinks Sinema is weak sauce.

Yeah, I'm not seeing Sinema as a strong woman either. A strong woman who takes a stand tends to know what she wants. Sinema has been opposed to everything Manchin is opposed to since January and not once has she given me the impression that she has specific demands. Rather, she knows that it's rare that a freshman senator gets so much attention from the White House. How many times has been invited already? How many times do freshman senators normally get invited? This woman loves the attention and feeling important.

I could definitely be more disappointed and more concerned with Biden. I mean he hasn't made a known white supremacist his head advisor and no one is calling foreign powers to assure them that he isn't batshit and going to nuke them.

He's also not trying to get us into a land war over lies about things such as WMD.

If we all added to the list, this thread would be 1,000 pages long by tomorrow morning

 

[Vagabond]

That primary is a long way away. She's not up for re-election until 2024.

Sinema will have a lot of work to do to win that primary.

Sinema's unforced errors have cost her big-time with Arizona Democrats

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has committed two political sins this year that have decimated her standing with Arizona's Democratic voters. One—a vote against including a $15 minimum-wage hike in Democrats' pandemic relief package—left the indelible...

www.dailykos.com

The latest opinion poll asking Arizona Democrats "Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Kyrsten Sinema?" found that 65% had an unfavorable opinion and 17% had a favorable one. That means more people said that they were unsure than that they had a favorable opinion of her.

Sinema's standing dropped dramatically after she opposed killing the filibuster and increasing the minimum wage, and it again after she skipped the vote on establishing the 1/6 Commission.

 

[BlueRidge]

The Guardians' morning comments:

The next 24 hours will make clear whether Democrats are on the verge of pushing through a once-in-a-generation expansion of the social safety net or nearing a complete collapse of Joe Biden’s ambitious domestic agenda.

The stakes are as high as ever as Democrats barrel toward a make-or-break vote on a $1tn public works measure, with almost no margin for error and little time left to break an impasse that threatens to imperil its passage – and possibly the entirety of the president’s agenda.

Manchen and Sinema are in the catbird seat. Right now they can tell the leadership what they want in the reconciliation bill and let leadership convince progressives to go along or get nothing. But they are only saying they won't support a certain dollar figure. If they don't use their power and dictate what they will support they will destroy Biden's presidency by tanking his legislative priorities. That makes no sense.

 

[BlueRidge]

This is good:

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has indicated support for the government funding bill, likely ensuring its passage today.

“Today, the Senate will consider and pass a government funding bill and do our part to avoid a shutdown,” the Republican leader said in a floor speech.

schmuck

 

[clairecloutier]

Interestingly, the push to primary Sinema is being funded partly by Way to Win, a fairly new Democratic PAC led almost entirely by women (follow link within article).

Could Sen. Kyrsten Sinema face a primary? These progressives are trying to make it happen.

The Arizona moderate has frustrated Democrats on a wide range of issues, and a new PAC backed by big money is launching an effort to replace her.

www.nbcnews.com

This fight is about Democratic priorities. It's not about gender at all IMO. And I think the concept that women voters have to support women politicians just because they're women (is that the argument?) is really dated.

 

[BlueRidge]

Good quote in the Post from Sen. Durbin which gets to the heart of the situation with Manchin and Sinema:

“Now it’s time I would say for both senators make your mark and close the deal. What is it that you want? What is your final goal? It’s time to stop talking around it and speak directly to it,” Sen Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) told CNN.

Also Rep. Neal:

“I think we just need them to say what’s the top line for them over there, which there’s always been some reticence about saying,” Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), the chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, said about how to proceed.

A deal can be made. Let's go guys.

 

[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?

Nancy Pelosi answered my question today when she said, "This is the fun part."

 

[ballettmaus]

Also Rep. Neal:

A deal can be made. Let's go guys.

Manchin says $1.5 trillion and the bills shouldn't have been linked. Not sure if he means in total or additionally.

Nancy Pelosi answered my question today when she said, "This is the fun part."

I guess, her and my definition of fun differ a lot

 

[MacMadame]

I think this summary from Wake up to Politics of all the bills in play is a good one:

Wake Up To Politics: It’s deadline day in Congress

Can Democrats seal the deal?

mailchi.mp

 

[clairecloutier]

Reading some NYT articles this morning that are bringing up thoughts.

Firstly, we have an article from poll cruncher Nate Cohn about how Biden's approval is dropping with key groups, including women, young people, and African-Americans. In discussing the poll numbers among blacks, Cohn says:

It is not obvious why Mr. Biden’s ratings would fall so far among Black voters. A backlash against vaccine mandates might be a possible explanation, supported by a steeper decline in Mr. Biden’s ratings among unvaccinated Black voters.

I was really struck here by Cohn's failure to even mention voting rights. Is he even aware of it as a major issue? For me, it was the first thing I thought of in regard to poll numbers with Black voters. Maybe this is a stretch, but to me, Cohn's view is indicative of many white people's attitudes to the voting rights issue. It mostly doesn't affect them--so they mostly don't care. And I feel like this extends to MoCs, as well as white voters.

Secondly, we have an opinion piece from Michelle Rosenberg as to why we are not seeing larger mass demonstrations around abortion rights. Rosenberg posits that the relatively more politically aware/active subgroup within the Democratic party is suffering from a level of burnout, despair, and fatalism.

Putnam has been tracking people, especially women, who were spurred to get involved in politics by horror and revulsion at Trump’s election. She told me that those who were most active — she estimates about 20 percent of the total — are still at it. “Their lives remain utterly transformed,” she said. “They are still super involved. They are now either themselves elected officials,” or on local Democratic Party committees. “They are vastly more savvy than they were.”

But “in the outer ranks of people who became politically engaged, that’s where I see the biggest shift,” said Putnam. “Many people are just worrying about other things. It’s coronavirus. It’s family, it’s work.” They have, she said, “backburnered politics” for now.

.....

I know of no one who cares about politics who feels relaxed now. The problem, rather, is a sort of numb despair. “People are getting fatalistic,” said Michael Podhorzer, a political strategist at the A.F.L.-C.I.O. “Maybe that’s a better word than fatigue.”

Part of the issue is that it’s increasingly hard to imagine that American life will get better anytime soon. During the last five years, it was at least possible to identify dates at which things might turn around. The midterms offered an opportunity to curb Trump. The 2020 election was a chance to get rid of him. The depredations of the pandemic had to be endured until vaccines were widely available.

....

“The feeling of an endpoint is not there, particularly after the last year we’ve had,” said Carmona. There were times this year, she said, when “the East Coast was under water and the West Coast was on fire. And so there are escalating crises to which there are no known solutions.”

This piece really rang true for me, as it's more or less how I feel. I think it's interesting--if discouraging. (And also possibly related to Biden's approval numbers.)

 

[MsZem]

We have an article from poll cruncher Nate Cohn about how Biden's approval is dropping with key groups, including women, young people, and African-Americans. In discussing the poll numbers among blacks, Cohn says:

...

I was really struck here by Cohn's failure to even mention voting rights. Is he even aware of it as a major issue? For me, it was the first thing I thought of in regard to poll numbers with Black voters. Maybe this is a stretch, but to me, Cohn's view is indicative of many white people's attitudes to the voting rights issue. It mostly doesn't affect them--so they mostly don't care. And I feel like this extends to MoCs, as well as white voters.

It would be helpful to see polling that examines what issues and dissatisfaction are driving people's opinions, more generally and within specific groups.

I suspect that Cohn doesn't cite voting rights as a driver because he doesn't have much data about it. His piece cites a number of polls, including this one from Morning Consult. Their findings indicate that the drop in Black voters' approval ratings has been more pronounced for Biden's handling of CV compared to other issues, that it dropped even further after the vaccine mandate came in, and that it's especially striking among unvaccinated Black respondents.

ETA: you have to really dig into their polling to get to the part about voting rights (p. 87-88). The majority of Black participants strongly or somewhat approved of Biden's handling of this issue, and 13% had no opinion. Approval for Biden in this group was actually higher than among White and Hispanic participants. This seems to be fairly similar to their past polling on this question (see here and here). The lowest approval I could find among Black respondents was for gun policy.

 

[clairecloutier]

* Their polling doesn't seem to have included voting rights as a concern, so maybe it's the pollsters who don't consider this a major issue. There may be an underlying assumption that most people - unless they are interested in politics - don't think about this issue on a regular basis, unless there's an election (and possibly not even then).

Such an assumption, if it exists, certainly would be interesting, and potentially speak volumes as to pollsters' bias.

But, it would be good to see reliable polling numbers as to how important the voting rights issue actually is to black Americans as a whole. I am making an assumption that it is, in fact, important to black Americans as a group. But it would be nice to see this confirmed by data.

I still stand by my feeling that there is a striking LACK of concern over this issue (and also election security) among many groups. And the question is, why.

 

[MsZem]

Such an assumption, if it exists, certainly would be interesting, and potentially speak volumes as to pollsters' bias.

But, it would be good to see reliable polling numbers as to how important the voting rights issue actually is to black Americans as a whole. I am making an assumption that it is, in fact, important to black Americans as a group. But it would be nice to see this confirmed by data.

I still stand by my feeling that there is a striking LACK of concern over this issue (and also election security) among many groups. And the question is, why.

See the update to my post - I had to dig into the crosstabs of the Morning Consult polls, but I found some results on voting rights.

 

[caseyedwards]

Reading some NYT articles this morning that are bringing up thoughts.

Firstly, we have an article from poll cruncher Nate Cohn about how Biden's approval is dropping with key groups, including women, young people, and African-Americans. In discussing the poll numbers among blacks, Cohn says:



I was really struck here by Cohn's failure to even mention voting rights. Is he even aware of it as a major issue? For me, it was the first thing I thought of in regard to poll numbers with Black voters. Maybe this is a stretch, but to me, Cohn's view is indicative of many white people's attitudes to the voting rights issue. It mostly doesn't affect them--so they mostly don't care. And I feel like this extends to MoCs, as well as white voters.

Secondly, we have an opinion piece from Michelle Rosenberg as to why we are not seeing larger mass demonstrations around abortion rights. Rosenberg posits that the relatively more politically aware/active subgroup within the Democratic party is suffering from a level of burnout, despair, and fatalism.




This piece really rang true for me, as it's more or less how I feel. I think it's interesting--if discouraging. (And also possibly related to Biden's approval numbers.)

So what were you saying? That because Biden hasnt done enough or anything to abolish the filibuster to pass voting rights that black voters don’t like him for that?

 

[once_upon]

Living in a purple county in a red state, where a Republican legislative party is drawing new voting districts to kill any attempt for Democrat representation, im very fatalistic. There will be no one representing me. The only thing I see the Democrat organization doing is sending me emails and snail mails frantic cries for money.

I read all the sh#t being enacted by Republicans, the prevalence of people getting their news from Newsmax, One Voice, Fox, as unable to try give information to real news and feel that any "march" for woman's rights is useless.

 

[MsZem]

Living in a purple county in a red state, where a Republican legislative party is drawing new voting districts to kill any attempt for Democrat representation, im very fatalistic. There will be no one representing me. The only thing I see the Democrat organization doing is sending me emails and snail mails frantic cries for money.

Well, Democrats will probably gerrymander where they can (NY) to try and offset this, and given population shifts some of the red districts may end up purple before long (check out this tweet). Other than that, I've got nothing. I find it absolutely bizarre that so many issues are handled on a partisan basis in the US.

 

[clairecloutier]

ETA: you have to really dig into their polling to get to the part about voting rights (p. 87-88). The majority of Black participants strongly or somewhat approved of Biden's handling of this issue, and 13% had no opinion. Approval for Biden in this group was actually higher than among White and Hispanic participants. This seems to be fairly similar to their past polling on this question (see here and here). The lowest approval I could find among Black respondents was for gun policy.

That is interesting. It looks like most of the "strongly disapproves" for Biden on voting rights are coming from older white people/Republicans who think he's doing too much in this area (LOL), as opposed to Dems/black Americans who think he's doing too little.

When I think about it, my own answer to that question would have been "Somewhat disapprove." Because I have to acknowledge the fact that the Administration does publicly support voting rights. But I also fault them for not doing more to move votes in Congress, for not publicly supporting filibuster reform, for Biden's somewhat dismissive comments about the issue in a town hall a couple months ago, and most of all, for moving it to a non-priority position in their legislative agenda.

Overall my answer to that question would not capture my real level of discontent about the subject. And that's because I blame conservative Dems in Congress much more than I blame Biden, but I do blame Biden as well. Although I will without question vote for him again, I do have some areas where I'm not fully happy.

 

[once_upon]

I find it absolutely bizarre that so many issues are handled on a partisan basis in the US.

Maybe I wasn't as involved in events and political issues in the early days of my being able to vote, but the partisan divide seems to have started with Reagan. But it could have been with Kennedy.

 

[DORISPULASKI]

When Republicans get asked for money because the world is falling apart, they send money.

Democrats get depressed.

As a person who has been subject to depression off and on my whole life, l can tell you that never in my 74 years has depression achieved a single good thing for me. So please, do something other than get depressed.

I am manning office hours at my local Democratic hq, mailing out absentee ballot request forms to those that ask for them, and registering voters. Maybe none of that is of much use at all, but it is more useful than being depressed.

 

[MsZem]

When I think about it, my own answer to that question would have been "Somewhat disapprove." Because I have to acknowledge the fact that the Administration does publicly support voting rights. But I also fault them for not doing more to move votes in Congress, for not publicly supporting filibuster reform, for Biden's somewhat dismissive comments about the issue in a town hall a couple months ago, and most of all, for moving it to a non-priority position in their legislative agenda.

Overall my answer to that question would not capture my real level of discontent about the subject. And that's because I blame conservative Dems in Congress much more than I blame Biden, but I do blame Biden as well. Although I will without question vote for him again, I do have some areas where I'm not fully happy.

And this is why one can't rely just on polling with closed/multiple choice questions. The poll provides us with a snapshot, but doesn't give us people's reasons for answering as they did. These are often complex - like yours - and additional methods are needed to truly understand what's going on and what it means.

Anyway, lots of interesting stuff to go through in those polls!

 

[once_upon]

I think part of it is the crisis doom urgent emails/pleas/demand for money. Lots of money, and for races that I can't vote in, even when I've unsubcribed telling them I can't handle the 10-20-30 emails a day depending on the time of the month, I am still bombarded.

If the DNC can't be positive or send me positive non crisis information they aren't confident anything can be done either.

 

[clairecloutier]

When Republicans get asked for money because the world is falling apart, they send money.

Democrats get depressed.

As a person who has been subject to depression off and on my whole life, l can tell you that never in my 74 years has depression achieved a single good thing for me. So please, do something other than get depressed.

I am manning office hours at my local Democratic hq, mailing out absentee ballot request forms to those that ask for them and registering voters. Maybe none of that is of much use at all, but it is more useful than being depressed.

I think it's very true that just getting depressed doesn't accomplish anything. Action is usually better than inaction. In general, I'm a believer in action as a way to at least make yourself feel better, if nothing else.

However, I must also say that this type of response is offering a solution without really acknowledging the problem. Which is that many on our side have good reason to be discouraged right now. And that some of the reasons are coming from our own party, not the other party, which creates its own issues in terms of motivation.

I'm glad, though, that you are finding purpose with your local Democratic HQ. I went to one meeting of my town's Democratic party, a couple years ago. The group spent most of the meeting discussing where they were going to have their annual potluck picnic. One person wanted to have it at his house--another person announced that she would not go if it was at his house. She suggested her house instead. The he said he would not attend! After some debate it was finally agreed to hold it at the town park. LOL! I have not gone back since then ....

 

[BlueRidge]

We have some amazing progressives out there fighting for us in the House and Senate, and its very clear that leadership--Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi--are largely on the same page with the progressives. Listen to Pramila Jayapal this morning. As far as the current legislation goes, they are fighting the good fight and may just pull off something.

They also might not, but all of us, including leadership can only do what we can do. I consider it amazing that Biden is as much on board with a lot of progressive ideas as he is and I think that's huge progress for the Democratic Party.

Are we going to win the 2022 elections? heck knows. I'm inclined to blame the rightwing chaos-sowers if we don't, rather than believe that Dems just didn't do what they needed to do.

 

[SkateSand]

I find myself discouraged and depressed at all the oppressive Republican actions and the (seeming) inability of Democrats to counteract them. I feel better if I just stay off Twitter for a while. I think people are demoralized because getting rid of Trump wasn't enough - the battle seems never ending.

 

[MacMadame]

Maybe I wasn't as involved in events and political issues in the early days of my being able to vote, but the partisan divide seems to have started with Reagan. But it could have been with Kennedy.

No, it was definitely Reagan. And it just started with him so it was easy to miss. I don't think it really got bad until Obama. But you could see it getting worse and worse especially with the Bushes and people like Dick Cheney.

If the DNC can't be positive or send me positive non crisis information they aren't confident anything can be done either.

They send these emails because they work (or they think they work). I got on some conservative email lists somehow and they send the exact same emails. So does that mean they aren't confident either? (Of course not.)

I find them infuriating and I will get off any list that does that if it's not going to my spam folder already. The GQP ones are a bit amusing tbh. They say how I'm one of their best supporters but I haven't given this time yet. Sure I am. You sent this just to me too.

For me, I haven't gotten mad about some things because they aren't over yet. Voting Rights aren't dead. The infrastructure bill(s) aren't dead. Abortion hasn't been killed by the Supreme Court yet.