Agree, but if they don’t get committee appointments they’re fucked right?
So do we just need Manchin/Feinstein whoever else to cave and vote to change committee rules? Or does the VP not get a vote and they need Mitch to cave? Because Mitch will not cave.
And Manchin will cave first. If nothing else that dem who switched sides is an obvious example. Switching parties is now a death sentence for your career. Zero chance Manchin survives a primary as a Republican. And as of right now he’s the second most powerful democrat and demand basically anything. He can get his state absolutely anything, favors for his family. If he becomes a Republican he gets nothing, maybe a decent committee.
No way he switches.
If he becomes a Republican, he’s a lock to get re-elected in 2024.
Zero chance he survives a Republican primary. " this guy supports abortion, he voted to impeach Trump twice " Like most regular Republicans aren’t going to survive Republican primaries with the Trump deplorables, zero fucking chance a former democrat does.
I think he’s doomed either way in this political climate, his best option is to get it while the getting is good.
Jeff Van Drew disagrees
Chuck Schumer having his Vitas Gerulaitas moment here.
“Let me make one thing very clear. Nobody beats Chuck Schumer 87 times in a row!”
They are fucked either way, that’s the whole point. If they cave, every bill of consequence will die on the Senate floor. If they do nothing, GOP will retain power through committees (just fucking lol @ this being a thing) and block everything there. There isn’t any real choice between these two–it’s like being offered a drink of poison from a glass or a mug. There is only one correct response and it’s absolutely clear: nuke the filibuster right now. There is no other viable play and anyone arguing otherwise is a fool or complicit (or both). There is a worst option though and it’s caving to this shit because it lets the shitlibs off the hook.
One should also note at this point that, contrary to the fake history of the filibuster as some time-honored Senate tradition, its creation was entirely accidental and, prior to McConnell establishing it as a routine occurrence, was mainly used by white supremacists to block civil rights legislation.
I’ll note that you can rewrite this fragment as
prior to a white supremacist establishing it as a routine occurrence, was mainly used by white supremacists to block civil rights legislation.
Honestly I thought he lost his primary. Kind of amazing he didn’t.
But also he didn’t vote to impeach Trump, probably twice. Jeff Van Drew was far more deplorable than Manchin way before the switch.
I just don’t see it working out for Manchin. Senate vs house seat is also super different.
So dems have to do a full nuke of filibuster to change the rules? Yeah Mitch still playing this super well. Hopefully Manchin etc come around, the fact that Schumer is holding strong makes me have hope.
Yes because the organizing resolution requires 60 votes. Filibustering the organizing resolution is unprecedented and another grotesque violation of norms and good faith.
Mitch is giving them a very good reason to do what they should be doing anyway.
I know the shitlibs probably don’t want to nuke the filibuster but man, what choice do they have if the GOP won’t even let them form committees.
The nuclear option was partially applied to executive and judicial appointments previously. I think Machin can be talked into supporting applying the nuclear option to the organizing resolution only. I’m just not sure if the rules easily allow for this.
There should be more news stories about how this is denying Machin the Energy Committee gavel.
How about, to hell with the committees?
They have no choice at all. It would be like a bad 2p2 strategy thread where OP has the nuts and people are debating whether it’s a fold or a call. There are three options with a clear best and clear worst. I’m more worried about Feinstein than Manchin because her mind is gone. Wouldn’t be surprised if she has no idea what day or year it is.
Yeah it feels like the media either doesn’t get how big of a deal this is or thinks the public doesn’t care, or something, because its not getting nearly enough coverage.
The Senate is the only story that matters now. Biden will sign all the executive orders that matter by like today, after which its curtains on this Presidency if the filibuster continues to exist.
Like 45+ Democratic Senators seem to get this. Every available resource and/or incentive needs to be directed towards the holdouts right now.
You need committees because, above a certain size, you need some form of division of labor in order to function.
They can divide up however they want and issue whatever recommendations they want and co-sponsor whatever bills they want without having to have some committee approved by party leaders.
eta: In fact, if the whole notion is that with 51 senators the party can just ram everything through whatever committees in spite of the fact there are opposition party members in the committee, then the committees are just a wasteful sham.
The media doesn’t get it yet because they’re still presenting it as “both sides attempting to reach an agreement” when it’s anything but that. It’s entirely in bad faith and the only agreement is Cocaine gets what he wants or Cocaine gets what he wants. It’s a fake negotiation because he’s not conceding without being able to derail everything. The public definitely does not understand what’s happening.
The media won’t care until Democrats make it a coordinated talking point. The best way to do this might be for Biden to give it time then pretend to lose his temper and criticize Republicans for being unreasonable.