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How would the executive branch opening abortion clinics on federal land and funding clinis on tribal lands in handmaid states not help people harmed by the decision?
And how does asking for votes or money without specifying a path back to reproductive rights (among other rights) help?
Again, most of us on this BBS understand and reluctantly accept the realities of the current Congress. Most of us can’t say the same of the Dem leadership, as displayed in this instance by Harris.
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It’s kind of funny to me that there’s “nothing the Democrats can do” because their support is short two venal senators, when the extremist Republicans are getting everything they dreamed of despite being a distinct minority with unpopular views. There’s nothing easy the Democrats can do, but maybe we’d be surprised how far trying goes.
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Here’s the thing with those show votes. I think it kept their base engaged. And it seemed to scare the Democratics into inaction. The tiny bit of opposition and the Democrats were tharn.
And one of the things that frustrated me about a lot of Democratic Senate and House candidates in 2010-2014 was the abject failure to defend the ACA.
It is imperfect but it was an improvement over the prior pre-existing condition, lifetime benefit limiting hellscape.
But a lot of democratic candidates, most of whom went on to lose, stayed silent. Maybe they were scared to offend the mythical middle.
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How would the executive branch opening abortion clinics on federal land and funding clinis on tribal lands in handmaid states not help people harmed by the decision?
Both are good ideas that may not survive legal challenges (the first due to the Hyde amendment, the second due to continued Supreme Court fuckery around tribal sovereignty). Worth trying to see how many people we can help before the injunctions fly, at the least. And I wonder if trying to topple the Hyde Amendment might be something that could be swung legislatively, given the way it’s implemented.
I agree that Dems need to specify a path back when making their asks. I think AOC has laid out some pretty good and constructive ideas along those lines in her recent tweets. Harris didn’t made a strong response here, and as much as I’m down on CNN for their shitty framing I agree that we need to be better prepared to deal with it because it’s going to keep coming up.
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Is there anyone who thinks that if the Republicans end up with a razor-thin majority they won’t repeal the filibuster on their first day in power? Well, except Manchin and Sinema, but they’re almost Republicans anyway.
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I think the odds are low, because the Republicans like the gridlock and inaction that the filibuster produces. It benefits them if government is seen not to be functional. They might still do it if there was some critical legislative goal that couldn’t be accomplished through non-legislative ratfuckery, but I don’t think they currently have anything like that. Maybe if a really strong movement gets going for a federal abortion ban - I could see them going in on the momentum of that.
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Wow… holy fuck lady. We’re about 6 months out from Manchin promising Biden that he would support meaningful action on climate, which got the progressives to back the stupid infrastructure bill, and then Manchin turned his back on that deal with apparently no consequences. If doing something about that is not on your mind, you should not be a presidential candidate. And where that ties in to this question at hand about abortion rights is, that same dude whose coal company you’d need to crush to put pressure on him is the point of obstruction on the filibuster, on supreme court reform, on everything. If you don’t have a thought on how to make that happen then it really doesn’t matter what you’d like to do. Same thing with Sinema. I have a suspicion that if Harry Reid was still in there we would have had a combo of really big carrots (the Cornhusker kickback in Obamacare) and heinous sticks. But Schumer, Pelosi, Biden, they’re all too old to really give a shit, and they need to go, and apparently she’s not going to improve things.
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It’s like when you get that job at the fast-food establishment that you thought would be fun but, once you get behind the counter, you realize you don’t have a “weinerdude attitiude.”
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That’s exactly how Youngkin defeated McAuliffe. The generic Democrat is a really bad way to conduct an election, especially when Business as Usual seems completely fucked. I guess if Fetterman kicks ass and Mastriano also wins they might finally get the hint. Of course then Mastriano will undermine the PA electoral count - maybe - though who knows, maybe Mastriano did something he’ll get indicted for?
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If only the Democrats could show as much energy in pursuing their stated agenda as they do in beating down their own progressive wing.
I just don’t want to hear anything from them unless they announce getting rid of the filibuster is a top tier issue and direct even a fraction of the hostility toward Manchin and Sinema that they have toward Sanders and the other progressives.
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Johnson decided not to run again. He might not resign, but he might indicate he’s not running again.
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Manchin overrode the filibuster to lift the debt ceiling. There are things that Manchin and Sinema care about, and someone who wanted to get this done would take hostages. That’s how it’s always been done in the senate for people who care about getting things done.
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Democrats are getting their revenge on Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin
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Thanks, I hate it; just make the show, the wallscroll, the chatbot.
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Maybe it is about crushing one coal company.
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And if that turns out not to work, hell, you’ve still crushed a coal company (and one that had a special dispensation on clean air regs - I could even call this revenge an anti-corruption measure.)
Seems like there are a lot of ways you could hurt that organization that would make Manchin’s associates feel like he’s a liability and a target on them. This would be unfair… it would also be normal politics as practiced by competent politicos, and really, for anyone who straight up lies to the president on a handshake deal, I don’t think any senate veterans would be at all shocked if something like that happened. That’s what LBJ would have done.
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I don’t think we can use the Legislative Branch to get out of this mess.
We need two Amendments to the Constitution:
- Bodily autonomy. You own your body, nobody else does, and you can do with it as you like.
- Repeal the Second Amendment. Ban guns.
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