Every day for the last couple of weeks I have started to write a post and stop because I just don’t want to bring everyone down, but I’m not gonna lie, the constant deluge of negativity in the media is fucking killing me. I know not all of you feel this way and I get a lot of shit every time I write one of these posts, but I really think the state of this country is far more dire than people either believe or want to believe. I firmly believe we are on the fucking brink.
Yes, things are better right now in one regard because Biden is President and Trump is not. And yes, it is better with good people running things in all of the government agencies. But shit is tenuous, and basically, it boils down to this.
We need a fucking win. We need this BBB bill to pass, and not only that, we can not fuck around and let the Republicans frame it as shitty and terrible like they did with the ACA. We got killed in the 2010 election, and now, if you tried to take the ACA away from people they would go ballistic and probably the entire health care system would collapse.
So we need a fucking win, and we need it to be viewed as a win, and we need to be rewarded on election day for that win. Otherwise, the Republicans will have no incentive to do anything other than keep trying to burn it all down, and the “Fuck Around and Find Out” blue dogs will never go along with anything again.
And it is right fucking there in our hands, and could be followed by the Infrastructure Bill.
I need this. The Democrats need this. The country needs this.
We need fucking results that lead to meaningful changes in people’s lives that can be seen immediately. We need to give people a reason to vote for us. We need to bring back the time when doing the right fucking thing also came with a political reward. For the last 20 years the Republicans keep getting rewarded for burning shit down. That has got to stop.
And sorry to bring you all down again, but that is where I am.
BretH
Front row seats here in central VA.
UncleEbeneezer
I think it’s gonna get done but you are right that we need to trumpet this shit from the mountaintops and drive the narrative.
PS I think we are all a bit terrified for our country. This is a very dark and fucked up time.
RaflW
“I really think the state of this country is far more dire than people either believe or want to believe. I firmly believe we are on the fucking brink.”
Me pretty much every damn day now. I know in recent threads a fair number of regulars are grumpy about the doomsaying. But it’s bad.
When my partner writes one of his Sunday talks for his congregation (asst minister, so it’s once a month) and he keeps circling back to tough topics and worries to me that he’s overdoing it, I say “Your audience is feeling the same impending threats and unravelling. You’re affirming that they’re accurately perceiving the situation. You’re not hopeless, and you give them actions they can take. But happy talk isn’t useful in a crisis.”
eta: His audience is a progressive, educated congregation of UUs. So they are both working for justice and feeling the intense strain.
Leto
@UncleEbeneezer: One of the things that needs to happen is that people need to start talking about what’s in the damn bill. We know everything that’s being taken out, but nobody is talking about what will be in it. Rep Jayapal has been on many, many talking head shows and she says the same thing, “As progressives, we’ve kept our five items…. *talking about other stuff*… but we’ve kept our five items…” aaaaand she never says what they are. Never. If they’re so damned important, 1) wtf are they and 2) you should be selling this shit every chance you have. I mean, if she can’t list them because then Manchinima would come after them like Trumpov to KFC, ok, I get that. But if it’s not that, then it’s a continual messaging blunder. Normies ain’t gonna go out of their way to look up what those 5 might be. It’s why they’re Normies. The media isn’t reporting it, so Dems need to be screaming it every chance they’re in front of a microphone.
Raven
The future’s uncertain and the end is always near . . .
Craig
Right on Sunshine, you’re absolutely right. Need a win that Counts as a Win.
RaflW
OK, so in the arena of doing something, are there grassroots groups doing the ground game organizing slog right now to press Joe in by god West Virginia?
I’m so far past angry at a him, but he relishes in seeing the out of staters in a fury. So. Links where I can see how to help (mostly $$ at this point probably) would be grand.
TY
Raven
Go Braves!
dnfree
I’m with you. I met someone new recently. He’s Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust. He told me he feels a constant sense of concern that more Americans don’t recognize how bad things are. I told him I do. Republicans who defend Trump are a huge part of the problem, but so are Manchin and Sinema for failing to recognize what you and I can see. And so are the news media who play it for the drama. Sometimes I feel like a voice crying in the wilderness. It’s like watching an accident unfolding and seeing no way to stop it.
This doesn’t mean I’ve given up but it does mean that in some way I feel helpless.
brendancalling
I won’t lie, one reason I’m staying in Vermont is an escape route (in just a few months my kid can sponsor me into Quebec). I also believe we’re on the brink of really bad shit happening.
UncleEbeneezer
@Leto: I assume they are holding off for precisely that reason. Manchinema is a hell of a weight around the necks of every Dem. As long as something passes we’ll have a year to sell it to voters. But we need to do that with the same relentless zeal that the GOP will in demonizing it.
Starfish
Agreed, John. I have had to step away from my volunteer stuff because having problems that I could not fix in my face all the time was exhausting.
The anti-mask and anti-vax loons are trying to recall our school board members, and there is so much racist garbage in the next school district over that no one can help us by showing up to oppose the anti-mask and anti-vax bozos.
These are smaller local problems– unlike the gerrymandering that is going to have us living under minority rule.
I have seen so many people write about how bad it is to tax billionaires. I hope the people writing those articles are getting paid a lot of money by billionaires. There are other ways to solve that problem. If you are a billionaire, you have one at capitalism, therefore any company that you are the CEO of or on the board of gets no money from federal programs. That would kill a lot of the billionaire space race to do things that we have already done before.
AliceBlue
I’m right there with you John. And I’ll be so glad when this Virginia election is over. CNN, MSNBC and all the rest are salivating over a possible Dem loss and it makes me want to throw things.
Raven
@AliceBlue: there will be another crisis coming down the track
H.E.Wolf
@dnfree: Helplessness is a terrible feeling. A small, concrete thing done is a path toward lifting that sense of doom, if only a little bit.
You’ll know yourself better than anyone else can – one option is to take a few minutes this week, and figure out a 5-minute commitment of time between now and the November election. Make one small $ donation? Call/fax one Congressperson? Sign up for one volunteer activity?
The smaller, the better. :) Leave something for the rest of us!
Sending you good wishes, too. Collectively we’re a mighty force for good, when we get going.
different-church-lady
Cold turkey, baby.
debbie
When I see what’s going on nationally and then also in my state, and knowing other states must be dealing with similar problems, it’s clear things have been ratcheting up for a very long time. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do to free our country from this pestilence.
CaseyL
I think we’re sinking back into what used to be the status quo, before FDR electrified the South: an enormous gap between prosperous, educated urban enclaves and rural areas that were, to put not too fine a point on it, right out of the 17th Century.
That’s what this country was for most of its history. There was a brief time when prosperity reached enough people that there could be dreams of a liberal democracy stretching from sea to shining sea, but that ended when Reagan and his wreckers had 12 years to dismantle the structure of shared prosperity. Clinton almost got it going again, but, well…. SCOTUS gave the WH to the GOP in 2000, and once again the clock got turned back.
I can think of a few ways to salvage some part of what we could have been. None of them are pretty.
eclare
@AliceBlue: I have seriously curtailed news watching and checking. A friend of mine texted me with the latest assholery of Manchin, and I told him I can’t even read about it, veins in my neck will explode.
I have to trust that Joe, Chuck, and Nancy will do their best. I’ll pay attention again when the sausage is on the grill.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
Right. That’s what I did. The few times I watch the news, I learn there’s not much news.
guachi
I’m basically where you are. I’m at 19y 10m in the military and it certainly feels like the biggest threat to American democracy is right there in the Republican party.
I’d feel better if, say, Ds gerrymandered as ruthlessly as Rs do (I’m looking at you, CA and VA). At least IL and NY seem to have gotten the memo.
Ksmiami
Me… sharpening knives, mixing chemicals
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
Last night spoiled me. Now I want the Braves to start every one of their first at-bats with a lead-off homer.
PrairieLogic
Hear, Hear!
Reality sucks, sometimes…
laura
I stopped watching the news in April of 2020. I feel dread about those gun fuckers who want so very bad to start shooting us and pretending that we’ve forced their hands.
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: the Fix graphic sucks, you can’t tell how many are on base.
Baud
@Raven:
Agreed. The yellow doesn’t have enough contrast.
Omnes Omnibus
This may come as a surprise to many, but I agree with Cole’s general point.* We need a win. And when we get it, we need to talk about it like it is the best thing since sliced bread or oral sex (take your pick). Any BBB that we get is better than anything the GOP would put up and, when combined with the Infrastructure bill, will do a lot of good. Anything that gets left out can be moved to next time, because passing these make a next time more likely.
*I wouldn’t have said it the same way, but then I am focused on the opportunity that passing these bills will give us rather then the shit show that failing would bring.
Nonrev
Want something to boost polls and enjoy national support from all? Stop spam phone calls and msgs.
Motivated Seller
Wish I could disagree with you, but I don’t. So long as Republicans collect political advantage for stymying Democratic governance, there will be no governing. What remains will be a shell of democracy.
The two party system has failed.
Raven
@Baud: oh, there is one there??
Tazj
The relentless media negativity is killing me too, even from people supposedly on our side. The media couldn’t wait a second today to say that paid family leave was dead. It’s not, it may be an hour from now but could they wait and get it right?
John Harwood is complaining that he’s never seen such a bad negotiation for a bill in his life. That’s such BS!
I know everyone is frustrated now, I can’t understand why we can’t have decent infrastructure and help people when billionaires are going to space but can everyone in the media just calm down a second before they declare that there’s no difference between the parties again?
Sure Lurkalot
It appears they would like a government inspired by the platform of the Libertarian party of 1980.
Starfish
Oh, hey, I do have a positive thing to add to this thread.
If you are a working person, you know that this is the time of year when we pick insurance for next year. I work with a bunch of young people, so there were all these people turning 26 asking if they needed to sign up yet or if they could wait until their birthday.
Obama and the ACA made it so these young adults could stay on their parents’ plan and not run around uninsured if they did not have a job. When they do switch over to our plan, as younger adults, they will still be generally healthy and keep our employer health insurance cost down.
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: that’ll work
Raven
@Baud: I see it now
eclare
@Raven: I still don’t, but I’m watching on my phone so smaller screen.
Raven
@eclare: it’s below the out indicator
eclare
@Raven: Thanks!
Honus
@Raven: fuck travis tritt
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
Well fuck. This isn’t good.
Omnes Omnibus
@H.E.Wolf: Co-sign.
Raven
@Honus: what’s that got to do with anything
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
That’s why I keep track with my hands — a technique my dad and I perfected in 1991.
Leslie
Everything you said is true, John. We need to get a win and milk it for all it’s worth in hopes of surviving the midterms. I think we will, but that’s because 1) if anybody can get it done, it’s the trio in charge of making it happen, and 2) I prefer optimism, however cautious, to paralyzing despair.
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: chisanbop
Honus
@Raven: the Braves hired his anti-vax ass to sing the anthem for game 6 of the NLCS. He made a big point of it because he refuses to appear in any venue that mandates vaccines, and the Braves don’t. I’ve always liked the Braves but they didn’t have to do that. It’s not like they couldn’t get another country singer, and to also, tritt’s music sucks
Another Scott
@Tazj: Yup. The bill isn’t written yet. They’re still negotiating.
FWIW.
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
Raven
@Honus: oh, well Kemp got all mouthy about the All Star game too.
Leto
@guachi: can’t wait for us to be DD214 buddies. Next month it’ll be 2 years since I retired. It simultaneously feels like it was yesterday, and 20 years ago.
Fake Irishman
@Tazj:
Mr. Harwood has clearly forgotten the GOP negotiations over Obamacare repeal. Dear God, that was a s***show
Honus
@Raven:i also read some comments that the tritt thing was a fuck you from the braves for the all star game.
Baud
@Honus:
Maybe they’ll lose before game 6.
ETA: Oh, you said NLCS. Never mind.
Raven
@Leto: There we’re two AF vets on the boat today. One 37 years and one 33. I guess being close to Elgin brings em.
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Scott: Now I have go find this documentary. The Future Is Unwritten.
Raven
@Honus: he’s from Marietta
jonas
Well, Cole, if you know some way of getting through to your senator, please let Chuck Schumer know. That’s what it’s going to take.
Ms. Deranged in AZ
John, don’t feel bad. I’m even more far gone than you. I think we were on the brink the night he was elected, and Jan 6th and the continuation of the big lie took us over the cliff. Like Pandora’s box we can never put that sh*t back in the box. I think our great experiment is essentially over and we are the only ones who haven’t accepted it yet. The GQP sure as f*ck don’t believe in Democracy (with a big D or little d) any more. This is why I have been so quiet on here lately. There’s nothing left to say but RIP America. And with that little downer I will now go back to lurking. Love you all, fellow Jackals.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
[womp, womp]
Follow the money!!
(via ssurovell)
Cheers,
Scott.
Leto
@Raven: yeah Eglin, and some of the other coastal FL bases, are def some of the nicer bases to stationed at. Eglin is home to a fighter training base (F-22s being among them), as well as a DoD wide testing facility, def means a ton of people there. Hope they were nice and you didn’t have to throw them overboard.
Raven
@Leto: Very nice guys, the 33 year dude was really struggling physically but he was friendly. The other dude was with his son and we shot the shit a bunch. In the last two trips I’ve been on here not one word about politics was spoken. In fact the only time I heard any of it was before Shithead got elected and it was a mate, not a fisher person. ETA we may drive over to Apalachicola tomorrow and see how Tyndall is doing. It was flattened by the hurricane a few years back.
Ivan X
This feels true and correct, and honest. It’s also why I might need to take a blog break for a while. Sometimes I just have to stick my head in the sand.
Skepticat
I most certainly DO feel that way (and worse, considering the really obnoxious things/people in my life right now), and I have trouble understanding why more people (apart from brilliant jackals, of course) don’t see what you and I do, much less that no one seems to be able to do anything to ameliorate them.
JoyceH
Worth repeating. The Dems need to PASS THE BILL. Take what they can get, whatever Manchin and Sinema will allow, get the BBB and the BIF passed and enacted, and praise to the skies – get that money pumped out there and creating jobs and boosting the economy. And brag it up, brag it up, brag it up.
Meanwhile, come back in January and every thing that got stripped out of the original 3.5T bill, introduce every single item as a separate piece of legislation, and make Congress vote on it. And turn every Republican No vote into an attack ad come November. Make them each stand alone bills, so nobody can try to weasel out of their lack of support by claiming, oh, they were for THIS, but it was bundled with THAT which was unacceptable. Congressman X voted against paid family leave, and Senator Y voted against free community college, and so on and do forth.
But DAMN, am I tired of hearing about the reconciliation bill! Fercryinoutloud, get it done, get something!
Betty
They want to get this done this week. A lot will be taken out, but if the election protection legislation can get passed and Dems work hard on turnout, there is every chance more will get done in the next session with a few more cooperative Senators. The public support is there so there is hope.
Skepticat
@brendancalling:
When Chump come into office, eight of my Canadian friends whom I knew from the Bahamas sincerely offered to sponsor me for citizenship. One of my grandmothers was from Nova Scotia, so I keep thinking it might be time to play the grandmother card any time now.
RaflW
Not really O.T. at all, the NYTimes has a piece up about the new ABBA album and planned avatar (‘Abbatar’) stage show. This pops out:
Bjorn Ulvaeus asks the reporter “So, do you think the American constitution is strong enough to withstand another Republican president?”
dnfree
@H.E.Wolf: in 2020 I hopefully gave a lot of money to candidates. Like others here, I concluded that a lot of that money was wasted on repetitive advertising that cost a lot but didn’t accomplish much. Currently I’m donating to GOTV efforts, including the Four Directions and Voces groups.
Omnes Omnibus
@JoyceH: Amen!
Kay
Some of the hypotheticals about how this bill could have been handled or sold are not realistic. The downside of telling everyone exactly what’s in the bill is everything can then be mischaracterized or demonized. Just think what we went through before Obamacare passed- the death panels, the insane town halls, claims that we had destroyed Medicare. They poisoned the field ahead of time.
No one knowing what’s in the bill is the best possible starting point to sell it. Pass it, and tell them what’s in the bill. Better Democrats describe their own bill than Republicans and media do it for them. They didn’t know what would be in it so we were spared the apocalyptic predictions of what would happen when it passed.
It’s a blank slate. Better a blank slate than an ugly picture.
Kay
And how hard it was to undo once the lies took hold! I don’t know about other places, but the GOP campaign in Ohio in 2010 was 100% “Democrats ruined Medicare with Obamacare”. I made calls in 2010. That’s what people said when you called them “but it takes money from Medicare”.
The only thing they’ve been able to say about this bill is the imaginary top line number. We tried it with endless discussions about what was “in the bill” in 2009. It was an absolute shitshow- a pack of lies. Maybe it’ll go better the other way.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I don’t even have kids and I can’t figure out how universal pre-K isn’t an issue that Republicans have to pretend to support
namekarB
I’m with ya. Joe Man-chin really takes the prize. A whole lot of West Virginians in poverty. Not one damn billionaire lives there and who is Man-Chin worried about? It ain’t his constituents.
I thought California was bad because of Dianne Feinstein but at least the Dem caucus can help her feeble fingers find the right damn voting button.
Joe Man-chin is solely responsible for fxxking everything up. Hey West Virginia voters, do something about Man-chin
Ohio Mom
@namekarB:Here’s an interesting number about Manchin’s constituents:
“According to statistics compiled by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, about 32 percent of West Virginians’ personal income last year came in the form of transfer payments — that is, government checks that include retirement and disability benefits, medical benefits, welfare payments, veterans benefits, unemployment compensation and education and training assistance.”
From https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/26/manchin-warns-that-bidens-agenda-would-create-an-entitlement-society-his-state-leads-way/
Yup, they’re poor.
randy khan
I’d send that straight to Joe Manchin, Mr. Cole. You are, after all, a constituent.
Ksmiami
@Ohio Mom: he’s criminally corrupt. I hope he chokes on his own bile
UncleEbeneezer
@Another Scott: So he’s Doing His Own Research™? Sorry I couldn’t resist.
Seriously, why the F is he just starting to look into that now? He has staffers. This negotiation has been going on forever and PFL was an issue in the Dem Primary way back in 2019.
daveNYC
The other thing about saying what’s in the bill is that the bill is continually shrinking. There’s been a lot of X is in the bill stuff that later turns into C is no longer in the bill or has been shredded down to nubbins by the tender mercies of Manchin.
Then there’s the risk that there won’t even be a bill because I’m not sure what revenue sources would be acceptable to both Manchin and Sinema.
Morzer
@Another Scott:
I feel there ought to be a hilarious SNL sketch there for the taking as Joe Manchin discovers that other countries like Virginia exist – and some of them even speak American.
I want to believe that everything is going to work out, but some days it’s really hard to convince myself that it will. I shall just have to cling to my spirit animal Max Weber and remind myself that politics is the slow boring of hard Bauds.
Frank Wilhoit
John, your bullsh1t detector needs a tuneup, is all. You’ve done it before, you can do it again.