Time To Put Up Or Shut Up For These Prima Donna Senators: Time To End The Senate Filibuster Rule

These pathetic prima donnas simply will not concede that they are wrong about their mystical powers of persuasion with Republican senators. Pride goeth before a fall. They are now reduced to begging Republicans to preserve their self-delusion. Joe Manchin And Kyrsten Sinema Beg GOP To Support Bipartisan Jan. 6 Commission:

The two Democrats who oppose changing the Senate’s filibuster rules on Tuesday begged Republicans to support a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol.

In a joint statement, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) called the creation of a commission “critical” to prevent such an attack from occurring again.

Begging seditious insurrectionists who provided aid and comfort to Trump’s violent mob of domestic terrorists to investigate themselves for their ownrole on January 6. How’s that working out for you?

“Please, please, please don’t humiliate us by demonstrating that we were completely wrong!”

“We implore our Senate Republican colleagues to work with us to find a path forward on a commission to examine the events of January 6th,” the two senators said in the statement.

If not enough Republicans support the bill, Manchin and Sinema will face even greater pressure to join with their Democratic colleagues in junking the Senate’s legislative filibuster, which requires a supermajority of 60 senators to bypass.

Democrats need at least 10 Republicans to join them in advancing the bill to the floor, which could receive a vote as early as this week. It’s difficult to see that happening at the moment.

Only a handful of Republican senators who voted to convict Trump over the Jan. 6 attack have expressed openness to the measure. Some, like Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah, say they support the concept in general but are asking for further changes to the structure of the commission. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), meanwhile, told HuffPost she would support the bill.

Speaking of delusional:

Addressing the matter at his weekly press conference, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he views the Jan. 6 commission as a “purely political exercise” and that he would rather voters focus on the Biden administration and not events of the past.

McConnell accused Democrats of wanting “to litigate” Trump through next year’s midterms. Dude, you are thinking way too small. We intend to litigate all 147 Republican lawmakers who still objected to the election results even after the Capitol attack, and craven cowards like you, who voted to acquit Donald Trump in his impeachment trial and then immediately gave a speech condemning Trump for inciting the attack on the capitol. And your idiot sidekick from California, Kevin McCarthy, who also condemned Trump for inciting the attack on the capitol, before he voted not to certify the election results. You guys get the first subpoenas issued by the January 6 Commission.

Republicans have been publicly effusive in their praise for Manchin and Sinema over their stance on preserving the filibuster, which they argue is critical to the institution of the Senate as a whole. [It was never intended to be part of the Senate.] Some GOP-aligned groups have even run ads thanking the two Democrats in their home states.

Manchin, however, said he wouldn’t support blowing up the filibuster even if Republicans block the Jan. 6 commission bill.

“That is extremely frustrating and disturbing. … I would like to think he loves this institution,” Manchin told reporters when asked about McConnell’s comments.

This damn fool is as stubborn as a mule. Pull your head out of your ass, Manchin. We are talking about the greatest crime ever committed by a political party against the United States. Sedition and insurrection are treason. It is a dereliction of the duty you swore an oath to uphold, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. What part do you not understand?

It is time to put up or shut up for these two prima donna Democratic Senators. Show me your list of ten Republican “patriotic senators” that you have convinced to vote for the January 6 Commission? Just as I thought, you got nuthin’. (You can’t count Lisa Murkowski, you had nothing to do with securing her vote).

Time has run out on your self-delusions. Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill:

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) moved on Tuesday to tee up a vote on the House-passed bill to create a commission probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The move will allow Schumer to hold a vote on the bill before the Senate leaves for a week-long Memorial Day recess at the end of the week, though he hedged slightly on Tuesday night as a “potential vote this week.”

To overcome the initial hurdle the bill will need 60 votes, including 10 GOP senators, support it doesn’t have a clear path to achieving as Republicans have largely hardened in opposition to the House-passed bill.

“We all know the commission is an urgent, necessary idea to safeguard our democracy,” Schumer said on Tuesday night. “We have to get it passed. Each member of the Senate is going to have to stand up and decide: Are you on the side of truth and accountability or are you on the side of Donald Trump and the big lie?”

The earliest the bill will be available for an initial vote is Thursday, absent an agreement from senators to speed things up. The Senate is currently in the middle of an intense debate over legislation aimed at combating China’s competitiveness, but Schumer also began to wind down that bill on Tuesday night paving the way for the Senate to move on to the January 6 legislation.

[A]absent significant [new developments], Senate Republicans appear poised to make the bill their first filibuster of the 117th Congress. They are intent on a coverup of their crimes on January 6.

Returning to Huffington Post:

“If Sen. McConnell and his caucus are willing to use the filibuster to block a bipartisan bill to form a bipartisan commission to investigate an attack on the United States Congress, then it should be clear that there is absolutely nothing they will work with Democrats on in good faith,” said Eli Zupnick, a spokesman for advocacy group Fix Our Senate. “Democrats must eliminate the filibuster as a weapon that Sen. McConnell can wield to block every attempt to defend and restore our democracy.”

It is time for these pathetic prima donnas Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to finally admit that they are wrong, there are not ten Republican “patriotic senators” in the Senate, they are hellbent on ending American democracy to complete their coup d’etat that failed on January 6. Do your damn constitutional duty to save the Republic from these domestic terrorists by eliminating the Senate filibuster rule to approve a January 6 Commission to investigate the complicity of your Republican colleagues, like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz.

Jennifer Rubin writes, How to knock down the filibuster:

In a sense, those looking to pass Democrat’s comprehensive voting reform bills as well as supporters of President Biden’s heavyweight bills, the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan, caught a break when the House passed the bill to create a bipartisan commission that would investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection. Given that Senate Republicans have threatened to block the measure, Democrats now have an ideal test for the filibuster.

[Q]uite simply, it is the worst possible bill for Republicans to filibuster, which is precisely why Democrats should use it to make the case for filibuster reform. The spectacle of Republicans standing for hours or days on the floor objecting to an investigation into an assault on Congress would be a teachable moment for Americans. It would underscore how utterly craven, partisan and irresponsible the MAGA GOP has become.

The only thing imaginably worse would be two prima donna Democratic senators enabling Republicans to block this bill by continuing to support the Senate filibuster rule, aiding and abetting the Republican coverup of their crime. You will go down in history alongside Neville Chamberlain as a symbol of appeasement of a mortal enemy of democracy.

Rubin suggests going for broke:

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) should not let Republicans off the hook with a single cloture vote. He must make them conduct a real, talking filibuster so that their unhinged partisanship is evident for all to see. Democrats should force Republicans to break the record for the longest filibuster — slightly more than 24 hours by South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond (R), a notorious segregationist, on the Civil Right’s Act of 1957. If Republicans are still going at it after surpassing Thurmond’s record, Democrats can proceed with a number of filibuster reforms, including a carve out for national security bills with minimal funding or for bills in defense of democracy (just as reconciliation is a filibuster exception with conditions). After watching Republicans filibuster a Jan. 6 commission for hours, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) might begin to feel differently about preserving the procedural tactic.

Don’t hold your breath.

But Schumer should not stop there. He should give Republicans another shot at demonstrating the filibuster is incompatible with preservation of fundamental rights and democratic governance. Put on the floor H.R. 4, the bill to reauthorize the preclearance process under the Voting Rights Act. Manchin has said he is in favor of such a bill. It has none of the controversial provisions contained in H.R. 1 (e.g., campaign finance reform). If 10 Republicans do not emerge to pass such a bill — which has previously garnered bipartisan, nearly unanimous support — then he can compel Republicans to mimic the Thurmond anti-civil rights filibuster for another day or more.

In essence, rather than try fruitlessly to strike deals with Republicans on big, expensive proposals, Democrats should consider breaking the back of the filibuster and highlighting GOP obstruction. By moving ahead with the Jan. 6 commission and the VRA preclearance bill, he can show just how unreasonable Republicans are and perhaps create new exceptions for the filibuster. After that, Republicans might be more amenable to reaching an agreement on Biden’s popular infrastructure bill.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Brent Budowski warns at The Hill Banana Republicans push Jan. 6 crime cover-up (excerpt):

I have used the term Banana Republicans in the past. Now the danger of this brand of politics has become extreme and threatening to American democracy itself. What defines Banana Republicanism?

The Banana Republicans are ruled and defined by a former president who has offered praise to dictators and enemies of democracy abroad, attacked American democracy at home, aggressively divided his party and our country, told repeated big lies claiming he won the 2020 presidential election, launched personal attacks against true Republicans and Democrats, and turned the GOP into a cult of personality dominated by him.

Banana Republicans include the majority of House Republicans who voted to overturn the Electoral College results in 2020, in one of the most shameful votes in the history of Congress.

Banana Republicans include those who came to Washington for insurrection on Jan. 6, called to Washington by Trump, inspired to action by a fire-breathing speech by Trump who sent them to the Capitol to intimidate congressional Republicans to overturn the lawful results of the presidential election. They fought their dastardly fight with criminal actions and even threats to the physical safety of prominent Republicans including former Vice President Mike Pence.

Banana Republicans lie about the results of the 2020 campaign, claiming Trump won. They use that lie to justify another lie, claiming election law changes are needed to protect democracy, while they pass laws in countless states to suppress voters and undermine democracy. They try to steal elections by preventing voters from voting in districts they will try to gerrymander to fix elections a second way.

Banana Republicans packed the Supreme Court with conservative justices through abusive procedures involving several Supreme Court nominations. They tried to steal the 2020 elections by declaring the loser the winner. They try to steal the 2022 midterm elections by systematically attacking the right to vote. They now try to cover up crimes that occurred on Jan. 6 and will stoop to trying to filibuster to kill the idea of an honorable nonpartisan commission.

Even Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who showed great courage opposing Banana Republicans on the 2020 elections, appears poised to join them by refusing to oppose their anti-democratic voter suppression plans to steal the 2022 midterm elections.

My hope is that the Jan. 6 commission bill passes with support from Senate Republicans who will cast votes of high patriotism and conscience, as 35 House Republicans did.

Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of our country and democracy, and reject Banana Republicanism.