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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I'm not really surprised Manchin would say this. His whole shtick is being a DINO who votes with republicans like half the time, but who nonetheless has value as a democrat in a very red state.
And you know in a sense I get why "moderates" might be afraid of court packing or abolishing the filibuster. Because it's scary, uncharted territory. Conservatives will fight back and take more extreme measures when they take back power (and it's only a matter of when). They might be seen as naked power grabs and motivate republicans to turn out en masse for midterms or 2024.
The problem though, is that whatever democrats are afraid of, has a good chance of happening anyway. Mc Connell and the rest are not going to stop obstructing, the republican base won't stop being motivated or hate democrats any less, and as time goes by the republicans will just continue to erode democratic freedoms anyway.
If Manchins performance in the senate race suggests his position is weakening, then it's pointless to complain about him since he'll be replaced by a republican one way or the other.
that's the problem, yeah. I don't know if this is just Manchin either, but anyone who thinks the republicans are operating in good faith anymore is seriously delusional since they've shown no desire to do that in over a decade. If the republicans are going to escalate things anyway, democrats should at least use the tools they have to make peoples lives better, if only to say they did everything they could at the end of the day.
Edited by Draghinazzo on Nov 9th 2020 at 2:19:26 PM
He's gone in 2024. He barely skated by in 2018 without a Republican at the top of the ticket. The Democratic candidate for the Senate this year, Paula Jean Swearengin, got 27% of the vote. It's likely not coming back for a long time.
The difference between Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito will be on things like Cabinet appointments, judicial nominations, etc., and on whether they vote with Democrats on bills (i.e. getting something passed through budget reconciliation or not). I agree that it's not anywhere near enough but there is a difference.
Edit: NPR - Georgia's Republican U.S. Senators Call On GOP State Election Chief To Resign
Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler issued a joint statement that blasted Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for allowing the management of Georgia elections to "become an embarrassment for our state."
In a lengthy statement, Raffensperger hit back at the senators' release, saying he would not be resigning and calling the accusations of a lack of transparency "laughable."
Both Loeffler and Perdue doubling down on the base to win their runoffs.
Edited by nova92 on Nov 9th 2020 at 9:46:54 AM
The problem with Manchin is that a DINO who votes with Republicans 50% of the time is better than a Republican who votes with Republicans 100% of the time, in the same way that getting kicked in the ribs is better than getting kicked in the groin. It would still be nice to replace him, and I hope we can.
It's been fun.
Both Perdue and Loeffler have been pretty openly racist this cycle... so yeah.
NPR: 'A Vexing Decision': Calif. Governor Mulls Who Will Replace Harris In Senate
According to the article, "Newsom's considerations include diversity, geography, electability and political compatibility." There are 10+ contenders for the seat, everyone from state officials to House Reps. to Mayors - basically, California's problem is that it has way too many qualified Democrats.
Okay, something that warms my cold dead soul is watching Republican House candidates who lost by 50% or more insist voter fraud stole the seat from them.
Edited by nova92 on Nov 9th 2020 at 9:50:09 AM
Manchin might well be the difference between if it’s Mitch or Chuck who gets the powers of majority leader, that’s a huge thing in of itself.
Also “ending the filibuster” isn’t the only potential reform, he doesn’t seem to have ruled out forcing Republicans to actually filibuster, which would be a huge change in of itself.
Plus he might change his opinion if Mitch starts blocking all of Joe’s nominees (I’m curious as to if Manchin ever made statements about the judicial filibuster before Obama partially removed it), that’s before we get to the possibility of democrats picking up 3 of the remaining 4 seats and Manchin not being the deciding vote.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranYeah and Republicans seem to know that, there’s a reason he wasn’t the deciding vote on Justice Bret, even though based on statements he should have been. Republicans seem to have feared that if it came down to the wire he’d vote against them.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranYeah, those tariffs seem like bad timing for game consoles.
From what I understand, Biden is expected to continue the trade war with China? That would be bad news for the Netherlands, since we export a lot to the US.
I'm also a little surprised Biden is the first president from the Silent Generation. I guess World War II veterans will be happy to finally have their voice be heard. Let's hope we won't skip generations for that long again.
Edited by Redmess on Nov 10th 2020 at 2:30:06 PM
Hope shines brightest in the darkest timesHas anyone been on Babylon Bee recently: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Website/BabylonBee
? Those guys be salty about Trump's loss! Dissapointing to know that Axe Cop's artist is a fundie Trumper though.
Edit: Wiki words aren't working. Don't know why.
Edited by Wildcard on Nov 10th 2020 at 9:22:55 AM
Oh, this is good...
And they don't just mean toxic in the metaphorical sense:
Trump is in full denial mode:
'Now he's hell-bent on creating a narrative that the election was fraudulent and so Biden is not legitimate. He believes there was a conspiracy against him from day one of his presidency – with the Russian influence hoax, the fake impeachment and now the fake election.'
Some commentators have likened the situation to the Berlin bunker scene in the movie Downfall, in which an increasingly manic Adolf Hitler rages against his most trusted generals who dare not tell him the Nazis have lost the Second World War.
'Trump is surrounded by his family and an army of lawyers and has been constantly on the phone,' one source said. 'He is in fighting mode and is saying Biden would be a phoney President and that he won't turn up on January 20 [inauguration day] as that would be an insult to democracy.'
So it seems Trump may not even show up at Biden's inauguration. Has that ever happened before?
Maybe Biden can pose with a cardboard cutout of Trump instead.
His staff is literally quitting to spite him? Man, this is going to give "lame duck session" a whole new meaning.
Mr Murdoch, a long-standing Trump supporter, refused.
Fox has found a line in the sand! Hallelujah.
Pence has gone in hiding, it seems. He's probably planning to stay out of Trump's way for as much as possible now that the castle is collapsing. Melania is making herself scarce as well.
I think Trump is past intervention by the sound of it. He would see any attempt as a personal betrayal. Keeping your distance and let the meltdown cool on its own seems like the best option, which is clearly what his staffers have generally decided.
'The President is crazy like a fox. People mock him but he's someone who prepares well in advance and he has spent months setting up the scenario that mail-in votes are somehow fraudulent,' said the source.
'He's blaming lawyers and campaign staff for not figuring it out beforehand and insisting Republican states such as Pennsylvania stop counting ballots received after election day.'
Trump is one of those people who think lawyers can do anything you tell them to if you pay them enough money.
'That gives him the chance to run again in 2024 or at the very least protect his brand.'
Why lose when you can be a victim of others, right?
Former White House aides Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway were part of the small group of loyalists who spent election night with Mr Trump and are expected to play key roles formulating his strategy over the next three months.
Ms Sanders was the President's Press Secretary between 2017 and 2019 and is now a pundit on Fox News. Ms Conway was Counsellor to the President until the end of August and was still fiercely defending her former boss in interviews on Thursday night.
I doubt it. Trump will just turn on them if they try. Trump is truly alone for now.
Hope shines brightest in the darkest timesYes; John Adams fled Washington D.C. the night before Thomas Jefferson was sworn in as President. I'm sure there are more but John Adams was the first President not to attend his successors inauguration, and the biggest one I can think of.

Tell me what the difference is right now? Can you? Because I don't see one.
"In a move surprising absolutely no one"