Background: Greta Garbo was a Swedish-born American film star of the silent era. Louis B. Mayer, chief executive of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), brought her to Hollywood in 1925. With Garbo’s first “talkie” film, Anna Christie (1930), MGM marketers enticed the public with the tagline “Garbo talks!” Garbo’s most famous movie quote was delivered in the 1932 … Read more
Lincoln Mitchell, who teaches in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, writes at CNN, Manchin and Sinema are hurting their party more than any Republican ever could: After a failed, all-day scramble to get the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed on Thursday, President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda is in jeopardy … Read more
Permanent musical accompaniment, A Matter of Trust, by Billy Joel (1986). Amanda Marcotte is exactly right: Centrist Dems broke a promise on infrastructure. They should not get their “bipartisan” victory now: When the two-track plan to pass President Joe Biden’s ambitious jobs and infrastructure program first emerged, many progressives understandably thought it was a trap. … Read more
Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman of the Washington Post make the point that I have been making for months, Memo to centrists: Progressives aren’t your problem. Manchin and Sinema are.: In case you doubted that House progressives would stick to their strategy in the intraparty battle over President Biden’s agenda, they just reiterated their intention … Read more
On Saturday, the House Budget Committee advanced the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion American Families Plan as party leaders set their sights on teeing up the package for a vote in the lower chamber this coming week. House panel advances $3.5T spending bill. The Democratic-led committee passed the package in a 20-17 party-line vote on Saturday afternoon, … Read more