Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin face the same unpopularity with voters in both Arizona and West Virginia. I don’t like either one’s “my way or the highway” attitude or Sinema’s tiresome antics. Sinema, who takes money from corporate interests that opposed the Biden agenda, appears to have sold her vote.
This would explain her position on issues such as getting rid of the filibuster, raising the debt ceiling, or building back better. Sinema and Machin arrogantly believe that they, and they alone, are the true adults in the room, and by working for some compromise, they will be rewarded by their voters back home. They will surely be disappointed.
Because of all the press Sinema has gotten lately, she feels that she has gotten her point across and that somehow this will only help her in the long run. Unfortunately, Sinema has opened herself to criticism from even the progressive opinion writer Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times who wrote, “There’s a difference, it turns out, between being a maverick and being a narcissist.”
A poll from OH Predictive Insights released October 2, 2021, found that only 56 percent of Democrats have a favorable view of Sinema. That’s a far cry from the 80 percent Democratic approval Sen. Mark Kelly enjoys.
The poll results aren’t surprising. Sinema, unlike Manchin of West Virginia, has often been a source of frustration among liberals, progressives, and fellow Democrats. Goldberg notes that when Sinema ran for the U.S. Senate in 2018, she “reportedly told her advisers that she hoped to be the next John McCain.” But Sinema, Goldberg argues, often seems like she is going out of her way to antagonize fellow Democrats. For example, CNN’s Harry Enten pointed out on votes where the parties were split, he (McCain) sided with his party about 90% of the time. Sinema, in contrast, breaks with her fellow Democrats much more often. “What makes her different from McCain is that nobody seems to know what she stands for,” Goldberg wrote.
In Sinema’s 2009 book “Unite and Conquer,” she writes, “Old-school divide-and-conquer tactics demonizing opponents, frightening voters, refusing to compromise may make us feel good about the purity of our ideals, but it’s no way to get anything done. Worse, this approach betrays some of the most cherished ideals of the progressive movement: inclusion, reason, justice, and hope.
A defiantly contrary outsider
Goldberg writes that Unite and Conquer “was about operating in the minority, not exercising power.” Now that she’s part of a governing majority, Sinema is ironically recapitulating some of the pathologies she boasted about transcending. Rather than being part of a productive coalition, she’s once again operating as a defiantly contrary outsider. The bipartisanship that was once a source of liberation for her seems to have become a rigid identity.”
Goldberg also threw cold water on the idea that Sinema’s is a maverick in the style of McCain.
And just when we think we heard it all about Sinema’s antics, a news story reported that Sinema did a two-week internship at a California winery during the pandemic and was paid by a hedge fund. Dave Levinthal, a reporter at Insider, discovered in a financial disclosure statement that Sinema earned $1,117.40 at Three Sticks Winery in Sonoma County. Paul Bomberger at the Press Democrat narrowed down the time frame of her internship to August 2020. Private equity titan William Price III owns Three Sticks. The investment firm Price founded, TPG Capital, has spent more than $10 million on lobbyists over the past decade.
Did Sinema learn about winemaking or corporate interests that oppose Biden’s agenda?
Sinema needs to answer these three questions.
- There were crucial races for president and Senate in Arizona. So why did she take off two weeks when Democrats were killing themselves to get out the vote in Arizona?
- Why didn’t Sinema spend any time during the August congressional recess to meet with constituents? That’s what members of Congress claim they do, anyway, during their totally-not-a-vacation breaks.
- Did Sinema skip the Democratic National Convention to play winemaker? We don’t know the exact dates of her internship, but the Democratic convention was from Aug. 17-20 last year, and her high-dollar fundraiser in Sonoma was a three-day extravaganza running from August 21st through August 23rd. Did she wrap up work at the convention and then mingle with wealthy donors?
Emily Kirkland, executive director of Progress Arizona, said, “I think she’s just really invested in that self-image, personally, as someone who stands up to her party, and I think she has lost track of what is politically prudent, even to put aside the impact on the lives of millions of people.” Progress Arizona is a progressive group that worked to elect Sinema to the Senate. There’s a difference, it turns out, between being a maverick and being a narcissist.
I think President Lyndon B. Johnson said it best when he said, “Better to have your enemies inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in.” Better to try and change Sinema than have her change the Democratic Party. Or we could all wait until next November elections if the Republicans gain control of the Senate again. Then these two will lose their platform and return to being two of among many in the minority.
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In my article about Sen. Sinema “Three Questions for Corporate Shill.” Rep. Kavanagh took exception to my statement about Sen. Sinema taking a $1,117.00 two-week internship at a California winery. While overlooking the $1,269,000.00 she received from pharmaceutical companies. I wonder what Kavanagh would say about today’s article in the Guardian saying “Big Pharma has a powerful new shill in Sen. Sinema.” That Big Pharma appears to have zeroed in on Senator Sinema, as one of their lead obstructionists to help kill or gut the Democrats drug-pricing plan. In the 2020 election cycle, pharmaceutical political action committees funneled more money to her than they did the whole six years she served in the US House. Even though Sinema campaigned on lowering drug prices in her 2018 Senate race, and calling on Congress to address rising drug costs as recently as last year. Even boasting on her Senate website that she was fighting to “ensure life-saving drugs” would be more affordable. Wonder if Kavanagh now would say “Gee big Pharma certainly got its monies worth?”
Good to see that an Arizona Republican State Representative is a reader of Blog for Arizona. Wonder if he reads it to stay informed? As for believing most Arizona voters are ok with her actions wonder why so my voters are expressing their disappointment with her in the Arizona Daily Star. As for the $1,000 it was $1,117.40 But what’s a little $117.40 off compared to her accepting $750,000 from big PhRMA and another $519,000 from individuals in the pharmaceutical industry after she repeatedly vowed to lower prescription drug prices for seniors in her run for Senate in 2018?
Senator Sinema represents all Arizona voters and not just the Democrat voters which you referenced. I believe most Arizona voters are ok with her actions. In addition, I find it amusing that you’re all getting upset at her getting a little over $1,000 for a wine internship while you stand muted as President Biden’s son rakes in hundreds of thousands of dollars in phoney art revenue. Such hypocrisy!
Well, John, it’s entirely possible that Sinema will become a Republican and you will have an opportunity to vote for her in 2024. At the moment, she’s getting (deservedly) dragged in social media and occasionally in MSM. As you might know, narcissists are not able to handle criticism very well, just look at your idol Donald Trump. Sinema might have a meltdown and really stick it to us, as if blocking the president’s agenda and the voters’ mandate while lining her pockets with corporate cash isn’t enough.
Something for AZ wingnuts to look forward to, the complete metamorphosis of whacko Sinema into a registered McConnell Republican but with colored wigs and offbeat attire.
What we’re seeing with Sinema is corruption in real time, and here on this site we see what we always suspected, Phony John Kavanagh cheering for that corruption.
And he proves yet again that the GQP doesn’t understand how facts work, as he says “I believe…” instead of showing his actual work.
Embarrassing, both of them.
FYI, Phony John, the wine internship was a fundraising activity, and she took in far more than 1k, you ignorant troll.
When I wrote this article I intended to list Sen. Sinema academic credentials, which are impressive but decided not to because it didn’t explain her recent statements or reasons for them. Her taking $1,269,955 from pharmaceutical companies after she promised to lower the drug prices and cost for seniors with no explanation why. And her two-weeks internship at a winery while during the Democratic convention. But the bottom line on both Sinema and Manchin is if the Democrats win two more seats in the Senate or if Republicans take over the Senate in 2022 they both become superfluous. Let’s all hope the Democrats pick up two sets.
Liza, “I wonder if Chuck Schumer kicks his own a$$ every night. If not, he should.” No he doesn’t and he won’t. He’s still trying to push more (probably unelectable) Conservadems to run for Senate. As Howie Klein at DWT has repeatedly said, Schumer, along with the DCCC & DSCC, are incapable of learning from their mistakes. Or they’re pushing an agenda to keep the Democratic Party “Republican Lite”. And they wonder why so many Democrats stay home on Election Day.
I like how these candidates are considered “mystery meat” as you go to their websites where the issues are largely avoided. As if those candidates are scared of standing up for what Democrats (allegedly) believe.
WB, the Democratic leadership is a problem, to be sure. It’s interesting that Biden, who has never been a progressive, seems to have moved farther left. He seems to really want to have a transformative presidency and perhaps accomplish what Obama envisioned but couldn’t bring to fruition. Or maybe it’s about Biden just being older and wiser now.
I agree that so many of these Democratic politicians are “scared of standing up for what Democrats (allegedly) believe.” They’re afraid of being branded “socialist” like Bernie Sanders and @AOC.
It’s going to be really sad if we lose this moment.
which is why it drives me over the edge we are stuck with a two-party corporate duopoly; we need a third party, and we need it now. A democratic socialist party; a labor party, working family party, a justice party. ONE big party that will fight for the average citizen, and appeal to both republicans who are not yet wholly insane, and most democrats, who are disgusted and fed up with these Washington elites who refuse to hear, or see because they too, are bought and paid for by the plutocratic class.
The Democrats were elated when Georgia elected two Democratic senators and we got the 50-50 split with the Democratic Vice President as the tie breaker. As it turns out, all of that elation was premature because we didn’t know that the two senators from AZ and WV were for sale.
This is the current composition of the Senate:
50 GOP obstructionist Senators
48 Democratic Senators
2 Whores who sold themselves to the GOP
Michelle Goldberg got it right when she
tagged Sinema a narcissist.
Like Trump, she craves attention while lacking a conscience.
As a result, she’s incapable of voting with her party’s crucial agenda.
As a New Yorker who didn’t start reading Blog for AZ until the 2018 midterms, I have to ask why did AZ vote for her in the first place?
Was her Green Party affiliation a ruse?
Lynn, Sinema is an example of why it is such a bad idea for national Democrats to interfere with state primary elections. Sinema was handpicked by Chuck Schumer who wanted a conservative Democrat to run in AZ for the open seat. Her only challenger was a progressive Democratic attorney, Deedra Abboud.
In the general election, Sinema ran against Republican Martha McSally who was the House Representative for AZ CD2 (where I live.) I won’t talk about McSally here, but the short version is that most Democrats would have voted for the Devil himself rather than her. Sinema had her own issues with her constituents in Maricopa County, but progressive voters came to agree that she was the lesser of the two evils.
So, it was another election where the Democratic Party interfered in a state primary and, in this case, produced a monster. I wonder if Chuck Schumer kicks his own a$$ every night. If not, he should.
“Was her Green Party affiliation a ruse?”
Lynn, your guess would be as good as anyone’s.
The one thing about Sinema that seems verifiable is that she grew up in poverty. Her family lived in an abandoned gas station for something like three years.
So, she undoubtedly suffered some childhood trauma. It’s interesting that she now would refuse to alleviate that for other children.
But as for any of her previous positions or lives or why she’s become such a monster, I must quote Melania Trump’s jacket, “I really don’t care, do u?”
She’s a major problem, that’s all. And I don’t know what they can do about her before she sets fire to the Democratic agenda.