The Presidency of the Joes, part II: lol documents

We can cut the military budget now that we aren’t occupying Afghanistan anymore, right?

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Good point on the majority report. Republicans in the house could possibly get enough votes to ass the bipartisan bill and undercut the reconciliation.

Surprised they haven’t. Probably because house seats are way more partisan, they can’t risk voting for a democratic bill.

No, we need to double the military budget to make sure The Greatest Country In The World doesn’t suffer another embarrassing defeat overseas.

…right, Anakin? smiles nervously

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Well, they would have to get it to the floor first and since they don’t control the schedule that ain’t happening. Unless you mean that they should pass it when the 9/27 deadline comes and Pelosi puts it on the floor, but I kind of doubt that vote will even happen given that she doesn’t go to the floor unless she knows she’s going to win.

RE: The debt ceiling thing, it used to be linked to the spending bills they passed, so every time they appropriated something it would automatically raise the debt ceiling by that much so it was never a problem. Gingrich broke that linkage at some point after the “Republican Revoluation” in the 90s precisely so he could force these kinds of games. They should either restore the linkage, or even better just nuke the damn thing entirely or raise it to like 999 quadrillion or something.

The Gephardt rule

https://twitter.com/elwasson/status/1438956148590264323?s=21

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Let’s see how this plays in the media and compare and contrast with how the “moderates” blocking things because ‘how will we pay for it’ played. My guess is it’ll be slightly less fawning coverage.

https://www.axios.com/scoop-biden-bombs-manchin-b2b4acbd-24d0-40a3-ba6f-c0509e0e0224.html

Manchin told Biden directly nah on 3.5 trillion and if the other bill dies so be it per axios

negotiating is much easier when you’re a sociopath and don’t give a fuck about anything or the country.

Only way they get him on board is if they offer him a better deal than billionaire republican donors.

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The rally in support of the Jan 6th protestors is supposed to go down today, although many of the MAGA chuds seem to be unclear about whether it’s a legit rally or a fiendish FBI trap.

Nuke him from the party and remove anything going to West Virginia from any and all budgets. Remove him from all committees he is on. There is no point to him being the 50th Dem if he plays defense on anything substantial. Let him change parties since he’s sabotaging anyway.

In no way can you let him be the most powerful man in the country and unilaterally dictate the country’s agenda. This is not the United States of Joe Manchin.

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That doesn’t help dems. Then we no longer get ANYTHING, no judges, nothing. Better to put insane pressure on him, and also bribe him.

I’m mad too but giving Mitch the senate back is not the answer. Better to threaten him and his daughter.

But honestly they’re weak and probably just like do it for the good of the country when Manchin doesn’t give a shit about anything but himself and his family.

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Imagine kicking Manchin out and Republicans offer him his committee chairmanship so long as he agrees to always vote with the majority of Republicans on all nominations.

If Rs have the majority he won’t have to vote on dick because Addison will control the floor schedule so nothing will happen.

Normal politics only works when only Joe Manchin realizes Joe Manchins power. Every D senator is effectively the 50th vote, if even 1 of them realize they can can hold anything they want hostage at any time with no repercussions, everything is game over because someone will always get bribed.

You need the scorched earth precedence with this, right now.

The difference is most of them are in at least D leaning states. If they got out of line democrats could end their career. Manchin is in an R +40 state, so democrats have no leverage over him.

Look at Cinema, she’s out of pocket and is getting crushed in the polls. She likely just wants a lobbying gig or some shit though.

Outside of that, asking for shit for your vote has always been apart of politics. That’s why bills make little sense and usually suck. In the first covid relief bill there was all types off buyoffs for peoples votes.

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You need a leader people are credibly scared of. Chuck Schumer isn’t that guy. Mitch McConnell is.

Don’t think his colleagues are scared of this peckerhead, think they either just agree w/ his strategy or are all in on the grievance/victimhood train.

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I certainly understand the frustration, but I don’t really see what going “scorched earth” does.

What are you gonna do, kick Manchin out of the party? That means Mitch gets the keys back to the senate, no more federal judges and even the crappy milquetoast progress goes nowhere.

I’ve been pretty vocal in my frustration with both Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden over the years, but I don’t think they have a whole lot of leverage here.