Cont: The Biden Presidency Part II

[TurkeysGhost]

Manchin and Sinema were both elected in 2018, so we can't do much to them right now.

Manchin is in his 70s, and had to be begged to run in 2018 (don't get me started on that), so there is a non-zero chance that he will retire to spend more time with his money before then.

Sinema is trying to be John McCain, but is more closely resembling last term Joe Lieberman. She will reach 2024 with a huge war chest of corporate cash, an approval rating in the teens, and nothing else.

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The party has viciously attacked progressive members and challengers for far less.

Sinema seems like a no-brainer, the party should do everything within their power to primary her and bring that seat back into the fold. All the establishment dems are on the take from corporate lobbyists, but Sinema's brazenness is a bit too much to stomach I would hope.

I tend to agree with Horatius, I don't see how the party benefits from allowing Manchin to pretend to be a Democrat if he doesn't deliver on big agenda items. Odds are good he'll outright flip to being a Republican if pressured, but that would probably be for the best so that the Democrats don't have to keep explaining why they are seemingly incapable of governing while having a majority.

 

[Delvo]

If he started admitting to being Republican, there'd be 51 of them in the Senate (which would make him not the center of attention, which might be what's sparing us from that). Then none of Biden's appointments would get through. Oops, wait, he's not sending any anyway... and there aren't as many openings as there could be because the old non-fascist judges & executives would rather Ginsberg us than allow the appearance of tactically helping one party over the other. The conspiracy to lose as much as possible has infested almost everybody associated with that party from every angle in every type of office.

But we need to keep going on the current course because "ELECTABLE!!!!!".

 

[Random]

The party has viciously attacked progressive members and challengers for far less.

Sinema seems like a no-brainer, the party should do everything within their power to primary her and bring that seat back into the fold. All the establishment dems are on the take from corporate lobbyists, but Sinema's brazenness is a bit too much to stomach I would hope.

I tend to agree with Horatius, I don't see how the party benefits from allowing Manchin to pretend to be a Democrat if he doesn't deliver on big agenda items. Odds are good he'll outright flip to being a Republican if pressured, but that would probably be for the best so that the Democrats don't have to keep explaining why they are seemingly incapable of governing while having a majority.

They are not up for re-election until 2024. They might be sowing the seeds of their own destruction, but the harvest won’t come in for a few years.

Sinema’s toast unless she really starts changing her actions. Her approval ratings will not be good enough to get her within sight of winning reelection and the DNC will probably primary her even without liberals begging them to. When she loses the primary, if she tries to do the independent thing, she will lose the general. Liberal Democrats won’t vote for someone who helped tank BBB in order to keep drug prices high, and Republicans won’t vote for a bisexual female who voted to impeach Trump twice.

But all that happens in 2024. Right now, there is not much we can do other than looking for a likely primary challenger, who probably would not even announce until 2023.

Manchin will retire if he has any sense. He will be 77 in 2024, and looking at a brutal election season with a possible Democratic primary challenge and a GOP that will be looking to replace him with a Trumpite Republican. He is having fun right now with the 50-50 Senate as Democrats need his vote in order to do anything, but if the Senate shifts either way, he loses a bunch of leverage and becomes just another Senator. Where’s the fun in that?

Short term, there is not much we can do. Strip them of committee assignments I guess, but that seems like weak tea.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

I guess Psaki's humiliating "let them eat cake" moment wasn't a total waste.

Half a billion at-home coronavirus tests will be sent free to the American public in an effort to fight the surging Omicron variant, Joe Biden will announce on Tuesday.

The move is part of a renewed White House effort that includes the Pentagon calling up 1,000 troops to deploy to hard-hit hospitals and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) working to expand medical capacity.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/21/biden-to-announce-half-a-million-free-home-covid-tests-to-fight-omicron

Too late for the likely holiday surge of infection coming though. It's not like such things are predictable or anything.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Short term, there is not much we can do. Strip them of committee assignments I guess, but that seems like weak tea.

An FDR or LBJ would probably threaten to investigate Manchin and all his grifty fail-children, but that was back when Democrats knew how to do things. The whole Mylan epipen price gouging scheme is ripe for extortion, as an example.

HEATHER BRESCH, JOE MANCHIN’S DAUGHTER, PLAYED DIRECT PART IN EPIPEN PRICE INFLATION SCANDAL
A new email shows the former Mylan CEO worked with her counterpart at Pfizer to corner the market and keep costs up.

https://theintercept.com/2021/09/07/joe-manchin-epipen-price-heather-bresch/

Getting nailed to the wall for getting rich off your congressional seat is probably not a precedent that most Democrats would back though.

 

[The Atheist]

It's like a riddle, what can be worse than the Obama years where Republican controlled Senate obstructed everything?

The years he threw away when the Democrats controlled all three branches.

 

[Venom]

It's far too early for Biden to be performing this badly.

 

[Tero]

HEATHER BRESCH, JOE MANCHIN’S DAUGHTER, PLAYED DIRECT PART IN EPIPEN PRICE INFLATION SCANDAL
A new email shows the former Mylan CEO worked with her counterpart at Pfizer to corner the market and keep costs up.

An FDR or LBJ would probably threaten to investigate Manchin and all his grifty fail-children, but that was back when Democrats knew how to do things. The whole Mylan epipen price gouging scheme is ripe for extortion, as an example.

https://theintercept.com/2021/09/07/joe-manchin-epipen-price-heather-bresch/

Getting nailed to the wall for getting rich off your congressional seat is probably not a precedent that most Democrats would back though.

There are many drug products that end up that day. Big Pharma is not interested in products off patent. They make most of the money in new products in 10-15 years. So then generic makers pick up the products. The epipens and inhalers and devices have tight controls to deliver the right amount. It's not trivial to keep the plant running and file FDA paperwork. Typically two players enter a market. They still have something of a monopoly. One will have a lower price, but neither will go below a certain price. They can just pick up another product if the market is no longer attractive. And they do, they have products (generics) not yet launched.

I have not ever figured out the number of insulin makers. But even that is high tech now, it is no longer animal insulin but human insulin produced by a biochemical process.

 

[Ziggurat]

It's far too early for Biden to be performing this badly.

What did you expect? What did anyone expect? Of course he was going to perform badly. That was always inevitable.

As Obama said, don't underestimate Joe's ability to **** things up.

 

[Horatius]

Manchin and Sinema were both elected in 2018, so we can't do much to them right now.

**** it, let's burn this ************ down.

If I'm reading this correctly, it's within the rules to impeach a Senator. So, impeach the ************* already.

The Dem house will vote to impeach, because they're the ones really getting screwed by these two ********. The GOP senate will vote to convict on the impeachment, because it lets them "get" the Democrats.

The results of all that couldn't be any worse than what we have, so **** it, do it.

 

[theprestige]

**** it, let's burn this ************ down.

If I'm reading this correctly, it's within the rules to impeach a Senator. So, impeach the ************* already.

The Dem house will vote to impeach, because they're the ones really getting screwed by these two ********. The GOP senate will vote to convict on the impeachment, because it lets them "get" the Democrats.

The results of all that couldn't be any worse than what we have, so **** it, do it.

The Dem house won't vote to impeach, because all of their nuts are in the same electoral vise, and the moment they start a witch hunt over non-compliant votes is the moment they have to worry about getting burned at the stake themselves.

Plus you're traducing the basic principle of democratic representation: The absolute privilege of the representative to answer their voters and no-one else. House members are too jealous of this privilege - and rightly so! - to trivially dispense with it to win one ephemeral contest.

 

[acbytesla]

The Dem house won't vote to impeach, because all of their nuts are in the same electoral vise, and the moment they start a witch hunt over non-compliant votes is the moment they have to worry about getting burned at the stake themselves.

Plus you're traducing the basic principle of democratic representation: The absolute privilege of the representative to answer their voters and no-one else. House members are too jealous of this privilege - and rightly so! - to trivially dispense with it to win one ephemeral contest.

I somewhat agree with you on this. The Dems can do nothing about Manchin. Theur chances of winning in West Virginia are slim. So even a phoney Dem like Manchin is better than if he realky turns the apple cart over and becomes a Republican. Sinema is in a different position. Her political future is toast. She is sure to be primaried.

 

[Horatius]

So even a phoney Dem like Manchin is better than if he realky turns the apple cart over and becomes a Republican.

How exactly is he "better" than a straight up Republican? What has he actually given to the Democratic Party? He's just killed a signature piece of legislation that would have defined the Biden Presidency, and he flat out lied to his "fellow Democrats" about his intentions in order to do that.

At least with a Republican in his seat, we'd all know that the Democratic agenda was dead in the water.

 

[Random]

How exactly is he "better" than a straight up Republican? What has he actually given to the Democratic Party? He's just killed a signature piece of legislation that would have defined the Biden Presidency, and he flat out lied to his "fellow Democrats" about his intentions in order to do that.

At least with a Republican in his seat, we'd all know that the Democratic agenda was dead in the water.

He has been a reliable vote for Biden's nominees, something we would not get from a Trumper.

 

[gnome]

How exactly is he "better" than a straight up Republican? What has he actually given to the Democratic Party? He's just killed a signature piece of legislation that would have defined the Biden Presidency, and he flat out lied to his "fellow Democrats" about his intentions in order to do that.

At least with a Republican in his seat, we'd all know that the Democratic agenda was dead in the water.

Also his caucusing with Democrats keeps McConnell from having full control of the Senate agenda.

 

[acbytesla]

How exactly is he "better" than a straight up Republican? What has he actually given to the Democratic Party? He's just killed a signature piece of legislation that would have defined the Biden Presidency, and he flat out lied to his "fellow Democrats" about his intentions in order to do that.

At least with a Republican in his seat, we'd all know that the Democratic agenda was dead in the water.

As has been pointed out, he has voted for Buden's appointments. Can you imagine the shenanigans the GOP Senate would be pulling if the Republicans were running the show? As angry as I am about Manchin, I knew he would put on a show to the very end.

There will be a bill. It will be half a loaf. But there will be a bill.

 

[Waffle Slayer]

Let's face facts: Democracy in the USA is dead, and it will only be brought back after a great deal of violence.

Sounds exactly right. I couldn’t agree more.


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[Roger Ramjets]

The years he threw away when the Democrats controlled all three branches.

What was it Goebbels said about lies? "...when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it."

When Obama Had "Total Control of Congress"

One particular lie, often stated by right-of-center advocates, is the statement...."if Barack Obama wanted to increase taxes on the rich, stop the wars, pass a budget...blah, blah.....he could have chosen to do so because he had "total control" of the House and Senate for two full years."...

Okay, that's the House during the first two years of Barack Obama's presidency. For a lie to prosper, as it were, there needs to be a shred of truth woven inside the lie. It is absolutely true that from 2009-2011, Democrats and President Obama had "total control" of the House of Representatives.

But legislation does not become law without the Senate...

In May, 2009, Robert Byrd got sick and did not return to the Senate until July 21, 2009. Even though Franken was finally seated July 7, 2009 and Byrd returned on July 21.....Democrats still only had 59 votes in the Senate because Kennedy never returned, dying on August 25, 2009.

Kennedy's empty seat was temporarily filled by Paul Kirk but not until September 24, 2009. The swearing in of Kirk finally gave Democrats 60 votes (at least potentially) in the Senate. "Total control" of Congress by Democrats lasted all of 4 months.

Did President Obama have "total control" of Congress? Yes, for 4 entire months. And it was during that very small time window that Obamacare was passed in the Senate with 60 all-Democratic votes.

 

[Delvo]

Weird... calling the previous post a lie, but then adding a quote which affirms that it was accurate....

 

[The Atheist]

Weird... calling the previous post a lie, but then adding a quote which affirms that it was accurate....

Cheers, I was just about to point that very thing out.

It's not for nothing "post-truth" was OED's word of the year in 2016.