4149

Ideally from a West Virginian mountain.

4150

The filibuster will be gone day #2 of McConnell being majority leader again, no doubt.

4151

They’ll wait until they want to pass something with 50 votes, and think they have no worries about the Dems anymore.

4152

In fairness, their voters tend to love it when they govern by not governing at all/bringing things to a standstill. I could see McConnell preserving it with a fake nod toward tradition when, in fact, his party just doesn’t have any actual legislation they’d like to fully bring to term.

4153

Seriously. Does anyone expect Mitch “the instutionalist” McConnell to keep the filibuster in the face of his party’s demands for laws that will screw with voting enough to further entrench their power? Like he’s going to be less evil a couple of years from now when his slow transformation to lich form is complete?

4154

“Go tell it on the Mountain
Over the hills and everywhere…”

4155

Heh, I had the same earworm. For me it’s always this version. Two Jews singing about Jesus. Seemed so out of place on the album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LitQp6-JARY

4156

It’s really up to about 2 people, isn’t it?

4157

2 people known. There might be others supporting quietly (Feinstein comes to mind)

That said, it is seeming like abolishing the filibuster is becoming a litmus test in Dem primaries.

4158

Sure. I’m saying ‘the Democrats’ is an incomplete description of the obstacle.

4159

Nah, it’s the Democrats.

This is their party. If they can’t get their shit together, and come to an agreement, then it’s on them. Picking out some individual and saying, “oh, well it’s really that guy’s fault,” is pointless, because ultimately its the Democrats’ job, as a party, to govern. They need to find a way to get all their members on the same page.

That’s the task at hand, and if they can’t do it, then they have failed. All of them will have failed, not just Manchin and Sinema.

4160

Yes, it’s true that if you don’t care to understand the underlying cause of a problem, you can make sweeping and inaccurate generalizations about that problem. But I don’t really see how that approach helps in solving the problem.

4161

Well, I think it removes the option that some may take, in thinking that they can fail, and then blame some other member of their own party for that failure.

If the Democrats fail to do this, they all fail, and all of them should be held accountable.

That attitude, holding them all to account for the failure, will provide incentive for all of them to work together to get stuff done.

Because, seriously, if they can’t even come to agreement among themselves on how to govern, then things are pretty much screwed.

4162

Perhaps you should write to Chuck Schumer, or call his office, and explain to him how he changes the minds of Manchin and Sinema. Or are you to blame, too?

4163

Agreed, and we’re seeing this play out right now with the Infrastructure/Reconciliation Bill nonsense happening.

4164

Exactly.

The Democrats have two bills, huge ones, that they want to pass… and the only thing preventing BOTH of them, are the wings of their own party.

And as a result, they’ve failed to pass both so far.

And in doing so, they’ve delayed the assistance that those bills are supposed to provide to the American people… which is their entire platform for seeking election.

4165

You say this like the party is mostly a monolith like the GOP is. You have Bernie Sanders (not technically a Democrat, I know) on one side and a Republican who can’t switch parties because of primary concerns in Joe Manchin on the other. They’re really far apart from each other, even if they’re in the same caucus. They don’t see eye-to-eye on policy or much else.

4166

It’s funny. One the one hand, you’re angry that the Dems aren’t doing more to force Manchin and Sinema’s hand. On the other hand, you’re angry about the brinksmanship on the two infrastructure bills, when that brinksmanship is an attempt to…force Manchin and Sinema’s hand.

If you aren’t willing to acknowledge the actual problem, you aren’t going to be able to see any solution to the problem. Where you’re heading is “punish the Democrats”, which will certainly make things worse, not better.

4167

No man, this argument doesn’t hold water.

This idea of, “Oh, well the democrats are a big tent!” doesn’t fucking matter. You get your shit together, because that’s the fucking job.

Again, if they can’t do it, then they can’t govern. That’s just the reality of the situation.

This isn’t where I’m heading.

This is where the country is heading. If the Democrats can’t effectively govern, then they will lose control of government.

This is simply what will happen.

4168

It kind of does matter since that’s the entire cause for the impasse. I’m not saying it’ll matter to voters and I’m not saying I’m happy about it, but you can’t just wave your hands and say “Y’all have a D in front of your name, why aren’t you in lockstep?” and expect it to be the answer.

But yeah, 49 Dems + Manchin is pretty damn hard to govern. It’s better than with McConnell being the majority leader but it ain’t great.