The Arizona Republic fka The Arizona Republican – and don’t kid yourself, it is still a media mouthpiece for the Republican Party – only loves so-called “moderate” Democrats who roll over for Republicans and echo their talking points. If you are a Democrat not seen as any kind of serious threat to the decades long Republican rule in Arizona, The Republic will even run puff pieces about you, to encourage your kind of squishy soft Democrat.
The latest example of this is our Prima Donna Senator Kyrsten Sinema. When The Republic is not writing puff pieces about her fashion statements, they are writing “nonthreatening Democrat” pieces like this. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema: ‘I won’t bend to pressure from either party’ (subscriber article). Excerpt:
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is building working relationships with her Republican colleagues even as Democratic frustrations mount over her unwillingness to change Senate rules to ease passage of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.
In a chamber marked by extreme partisanship, Sinema, D-Ariz., is winning praise from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other GOP senators for her unflinching stance against jettisoning the filibuster, the controversial procedural maneuver that will require Biden’s priorities to clear 60-vote hurdles in the evenly divided 100-member Senate.
Sinema, who campaigned as an independent-minded centrist, has been quietly reaching across the aisle since she joined the Senate in 2019. With the Senate split 50-50, she is hoping those connections will bear fruit in the form of bipartisan deals to raise and permanently change the minimum wage and process asylum-seekers more quickly at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Of course the “Enemy of The People,” the “Arsonist of Democracy,” Mitch McConnell praises Sinema for keeping his weapon of mass destruction to destroy American democracy intact. She and her buddy Sen. Joe Manchin are enablers of this truly evil man. This is not something of which she should be proud, she should be ashamed. History will judge you harshly for your complicit appeasement.
Did Sen. Sinema not follow the news yesterday? All her sucking up to her Republican colleagues will never bear any fruit, because the “Arsonist of Democracy,” Mitch McConnell says he’s ‘100 percent’ focused on ‘stopping’ Biden’s administration:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he is “100 percent” focused “on stopping” President Joe Biden’s administration.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) deflects when asked twice about concerns regarding Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) leadership position and election doubts in Republican Party:
“100% of my focus is on standing up to this administration …” pic.twitter.com/iEBdOMuVe3
— The Recount (@therecount) May 5, 2021
“One-hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration,” McConnell said, adding, “We’re confronted with severe challenges from a new administration, and a narrow majority of Democrats in the House and a 50-50 Senate to turn America into a socialist country, and that’s 100 percent of my focus.”
Hmm, where have we heard this threat before? Oh yeah, in 2009, when the “Arsonist of Democracy,” Mitch McConnell, said his top priority was to make President Barack Obama a one term president. (Epic fail!)
Does this sound like there is any room for “good faith” negotiations to you, Senator? Who are you kidding? (Other than yourself). There is no point to negotiating with Republicans after McConnell’s clarifying point. Stop wasting your time.
The “Arsonist of Democracy,” Mitch McConnell, has walked away from any good faith negotiations. There will be no compromise from Republicans. The “Arsonist of Democracy” and his seditious insurrectionist gang would rather burn it all down than ever compromise with you (they are not that into you), or any Democrat. For the radicalized authoritarian GQP crazy base, compromise is a sign of weakness and capitulation they will not abide, and your Senate colleagues live in terrified fear of their GQP crazy base in a GQP primary. This is their only motivation.
This is who Mitch McConnell is. This is who he has always been. Mitch McConnell has always been about the acquisition of absolute power. He is a power hungry authoritarian.
I have oft repeated in several postings over the years, including this one, The ‘Enemy of The People,’ Mitch McConnell, is the real radical (snippet):
As Dana Milbank wrote, Mitch McConnell, the man who broke America:
By rights, McConnell’s tombstone should say that he presided over the end of the Senate. And I’d add a second line: “He broke America.” No man has done more in recent years to undermine the functioning of U.S. government. His has been the epitome of unprincipled leadership, the triumph of tactics in service of short-term power.
* * *
As Charles Pierce says, There Is No More Loathsome Creature Walking Our Political Landscape Than Mitch McConnell:
He doesn’t have the essential patriotism god gave a snail. He pledges allegiance to his donors, and they get what they want. He’s selling out his country, and he’s doing it in real-time and out in the open. This is worse than McCarthy or McCarran ever were. Mitch McConnell is the the thief of the nation’s soul.
As historian Christopher Browning has written, “If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell.” The Suffocation of Democracy.
Steve Benen explains, Why Mitch McConnell’s candor about his ‘100% focus’ matters (excerpt):
This is the senator’s vision. It is not a secret. With Biden in the Oval Office, McConnell has a guiding principle: Failure is the goal. His priority is to position his party to retake the Senate majority after the 2022 midterms, and then elect a Republican president in 2024. Working constructively with a Democratic White House would do little to advance these objectives, which is precisely why he will choose a maximalist partisan course: because a “100 percent focus” on undermining the Biden administration will give McConnell more of what he wants.
But the other relevant angle is the lesson Democrats can and should learn from the Senate minority leader’s candor: Republicans aren’t interested in governing; they’re interested in thwarting those who are interested in governing.
Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) [and Kysten Sinema’s (D-AZ)] guiding principle is that GOP senators are sincerely interested in crafting bipartisan compromises, which they can help negotiate if given the opportunity. President Joe Biden has also invested time and effort into the idea that Republicans are ready to deal.
It’s precisely why McConnell’s comments deserve so much attention: the nation’s most powerful GOP lawmaker is effectively telling Democrats to stop trying. It’s a clarifying moment for every relevant player: McConnell’s priority isn’t using the levers of power to make a material difference in Americans’ lives, it’s “stopping this new administration.”
And with that clarity should come a shift in legislative strategy. Democrats have the procedural wherewithal to advance popular and important legislation without Senate Republicans’ input, and yesterday, the GOP’s Senate leader practically invited the Democratic majority to do exactly that.
Democrats are only negotiating amongst themselves now. Republicans have abandoned any pretense of “good faith” negotiations or any interest in governing for the betterment of the American people. All they care about is the partisan acquisition of absolute power to complete their seditious coup d’etat to overthrow American democracy on January 6.
America does not negotiate with terrorists, foreign or domestic. Honor your oath of office, Senator.
Senator Sinema needs to stop being so concerned about what her Republican Senate colleagues think, or even what the Republican editors of The Arizona Republic think, and start being more concerned about what her constituents who elected her to office think. Your constituents demand results, Senator, they want deliverables on the Democratic agenda. That is what they elected you to do, Senator.
Sen. Sinema is standing in the way of progress, inexplicably defending a Jim Crow relic that the “Enemy of The People,” the “Arsonist of Democracy,” Mitch McConnell, has turned into a weapon of mass destruction to destroy American democracy. The very survival of American democracy hangs in the balance. I expect Sen. Sinema to treat this critical moment in history with far more sober seriousness than she has demonstrated thus far.
All 50 Senate Democrats need to compromise and agree on legislation amongst themselves. Republicans are not part of this equation. And then Democrats need to eliminate the Jim Crow relic of the Senate filibuster rule to pass their bill.
There will be an End The Filibuster Rally in Phoenix on May 20 at 5:30 p.m. to tell our Prima Donna Senator Kyrsten Sinema to stop posturing for the cameras and to do her damn job, by eliminating the Senate filibuster rule. Time is of the essence. Democrats need to get shit done now. We do not have the luxury of time for any more silly posturing by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin.
Join us at Civic Space Park in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona for a large End the Filibuster Rally!
We need Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Sen. Mark Kelly to listen to Arizonans—eliminate the filibuster so that we can pass all of the popular legislation constituents want! We will gather in Downtown Phoenix to send our senators a big message that Arizonans demand an end to the filibuster—no excuses!
Masks required, vaccinations encouraged. Feel free to bring signs with messaging relating to the filibuster and legislation important to you.
The filibuster is an arcane, procedural rule in the U.S. Senate that will prevent most of the popular legislation on Democrat’s agenda from ever being voted on. From protecting our right to vote, to immigration reform, to labor rights, to the climate crisis, the filibuster must go!
And call your senators today!
Jennifer Rubin writes “Fix the filibuster, save democracy”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/05/fix-filibuster-save-democracy/
Republicans have become heavily invested in curtailing voting rights. On the precipice of booting Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her leadership post for debunking the Big Lie — which serves as their justification for voter-suppression legislation — the notion that 10 Republican senators might buck their MAGA overlords to pass voting rights protections should be dismissed out of hand.
And make no mistake: A vote in favor of voting rights would be far more offensive to the MAGA authoritarians than simply refusing to accept the Big Lie.
In other words, we are heading for a confrontation between GOP efforts to suppress voting by means of the anti-majoritarian filibuster on one hand, and the integrity of democratic elections on the other. Democrats should be as intolerant of its members refusing to support the latter as Republicans are of Cheney.
Even putting aside the strongest argument for filibuster reform — defense of fundamental voting rights — the case for reforming the filibuster for all ordinary legislation is overwhelming. Some 350 scholars, political scientists and historians, including Ron Chernow, Joseph Ellis, Norman Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann, have signed on to an open letter to senators arguing that “procedural reform can strengthen the core functions of the Senate as envisioned both by the Framers of our Constitution and by generations of Americans — as well as sustain Americans’ faith in democracy.” Signatories tracking the decline of democracy include Francis Fukuyama, Daniel Ziblatt, Steven Levitsky and Robert Putnam.
The scholars, 12 of whom are Pulitzer Prize winners, point out that the Framers rejected a supermajority rule for ordinary legislation and that, by and large, the Senate functioned by majority rule for more than a century.
[But Sens. Manchin and Sinema think they are smarter than all the scholars and they know better.]
The argument that the filibuster promotes robust debate is plainly wrong [this comment is directed to you, Kyrsten]; instead, it prevents votes from ever being taken and blocks negotiations that could achieve bipartisan deals with fewer than 60 votes. The filibuster has become another choke point — what the scholars call a “veto point” — to block legislation that garners overwhelming popular support. “Over the last 30 years,” they write, “nearly 80 percent of bills blocked by the filibuster were bipartisan, with the average supported by five senators from the other party; and almost a quarter of all filibustered bills in the last 16 Congresses were supported by senators who represented over 60 percent of the U.S population.” And they note, on an issue dear to the heart of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), that despite 92 percent public support for universal background checks on gun sales, a filibuster dashed a bipartisan bill after the Sandy Hook school massacre in Newtown, Conn.
While the letter does not recommend a specific reform, the signers note that the Senate’s ultimate institutional defender, the late Robert Byrd of West Virginia, “led successful efforts to limit the excesses of the Senate’s tradition of extended debate.”
We know from the Republicans’ support of the Big Lie and their intolerance of honest argument that objections they raise to modification of the filibuster are not offered in good faith. This is a party dedicated to minority rule and to using all possible instruments, including deceit, to beat back democracy. We have seen what minority, authoritarian rule leads to: violence, rejection of truth, the normalization of white supremacy, and antipathy toward equal protection under the law. Manchin and other Democrats should want no part of this.
For Senate Democrats, the question is simple: Do they abet the nativist assault on democracy, or do they defend a multiracial democracy? For goodness’ sake, if Liz Cheney can stand up to the anti-democratic bullies, Democrats can, too.
So now Joe Manchin opposes the Medicare expansion and DC statehood. Manchin has squarely placed himself between the Biden Administration’s progressive agenda and the American people. And for God knows what reason because he represents one of the poorest states in the country, full of people who would benefit from progressive legislation.
Manchin can only be doing this for the power trip, it is surely about him and not the constituents.
So, someone may as well inform Kyrsten Sinema that there is no room for her in Manchin’s ego driven plan to force the Democrats to line up and kiss his a$$, to beg and plead for his vote on EVERYTHING.
Like Manchin, Sinema’s motivations are all about her. But he’s been doing this longer and seems to have no interest in sharing the power. With no hope for bipartisanship in the Senate and a 50-50 split, Manchin is finally the guy he always wanted to be.
Sinema can either inject her stupid a$$ into this and try to be Manchin’s pathetic sidekick or she can remember that the Democrats elected her and vote accordingly.
I’ve had it with these folks. Absolutely had it.
E.J. Montini gets it exactly right, “Why can’t Sen. Kyrsten Sinema be more like Rep. Ruben Gallego?”, https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2021/05/06/kyrsten-sinema-should-be-like-ruben-gallego-filibuster/4971590001/
Senator Sinema told The Arizona Republic’s political podcast, The Gaggle, “There’s a lot of talk about, ‘Oooh, the pressure is mounting and the pressure is out there.’ But as everybody knows, I don’t bend to pressure from either party, and I just stay focused on what I think is right, and delivering for Arizonans.”
I’m not sure about that “delivering for Arizonans” stuff. [In fact, what has she delivered? Other than the COVID-19 Rescue bill.]
The biggest threat to Arizonans these days is the ongoing assault on the democratic process being orchestrated by the Republicans who run the Arizona Legislature. It’s happening in Republican-controlled legislatures across the country.
Voter suppression. Voter list purges. A return to restrictions that come very close to the Jim Crow laws that kept minorities from the polls for generations.
Sinema points out that she is an original co-sponsor of the Democrat-led For the People Act, which would expand voters’ rights, provide election security and assure independent redistricting, among other things.
But being a sponsor means nothing if the bill has no chance of being passed, and Sinema’s steadfast belief in the Senate’s filibuster rule – which requires a 60-vote majority to approve legislation – will keep that from happening.
Sinema has explained her support by saying, “I have long said that I oppose eliminating the filibuster for votes on legislation. Debate on bills should be a bipartisan process that takes into account the views of all Americans, not just those of one political party.”
A vast majority of Americans support the protections in the For the People Act.
It’s just the Republicans in the Senate who don’t want it.
There is nothing in the Constitution about the filibuster. The rule already has been altered in order to approve the appointment of judges by a simple majority vote.
Sinema may very well believe in compromise, but that’s only effective if the belief is shared by the opposition, and the Republicans in the Senate aren’t in the mood to protect voting rights. In fact, they have a distinctly uncivil, undemocratic view on the subject.
Refusing to take on a bully is not an act of civility. It’s not compromise.
It’s surrender. [Appeasement.]
All that GQP bellyaching about “bipartisanship” is just a feint for Mitch McConnell’s actual policy of total obstruction. And the lazy media villagers fall for this head-fake every time.