Proud to Be A Democrat

TGIFriday Open Thread: When Friday the 13th Fell on A Thursday…

by Anne Laurie| January 14, 20228:03 am| 234 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Right to Vote

NEW @SenSchumer says due to COVID and expected winter storm, the Senate will recess tonight and come back to vote Tuesday to consider voting rights and not take the planned MLK week recess.

— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) January 14, 2022

Breaking: House passes Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act & sends to Senate for immediate debate

Not a single GOP House member supported voting rights bill

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) January 13, 2022

“You do hard things in White Houses,” says @PressSec, when asked about several setbacks and congressional opposition.

"We could certainly propose legislation to see if people support bunny rabbits and ice cream but that wouldn’t be very rewarding to the American people."

— Matt Viser (@mviser) January 13, 2022

Let me get this straight: 60-vote threshold was carved up 160 times so senators could pass Trump tax cuts, gas bill & Supreme Ct Justices but when it comes to voting rights, “traditions” & “comity” mean you hug it tight, throw the voters under the senate desks & go home? No way.

— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) January 13, 2022

Four times last year, the majority in the Senate tried to advance legislation on voting rights. And four times last year, Republicans in the Senate used outdated rules to block it. Enough is enough.

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) January 13, 2022

Was looking for something else and found this one Dec 13, 2020. "Sedition-themed violence" pretty much got it three weeks before January 6. https://t.co/2JkTdZQF1k

— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) January 13, 2022

Gods come and go, but Murphy Rules…

Sinema’s personality, Comey’s sanctimony, McConnell’s nihilism, the butterfly ballot, Weiner’s dick, the timing of Justices Scalia & Ginsburg’s deaths, Office Goodman’s successful decoy move to prevent the massacre of a bunch of Senators…so much hinges on flukes & weirdness

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) January 13, 2022

TGIFriday Open Thread: When Friday the 13th Fell on A Thursday…Post + Comments (234)

Mid-Morning Open Thread: KILL THE FILIBUSTER

by Anne Laurie| January 13, 202210:32 am| 223 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality, Right to Vote

I'll be clear: to protect our democracy, I support changing the Senate rules to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rights.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 12, 2022

This confirms that Biden gave a very, very good speech https://t.co/ZQ41h2XneP

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) January 12, 2022

BREAKING: Chuck Schumer has found a mechanism to enable Democratic leaders in the Senate to bypass an initial Republican filibuster and debate the party's sweeping election reform bills. https://t.co/vWkHybQhF3

— Jon Cooper ???? (@joncoopertweets) January 13, 2022

Sounds like a version of LBJ’s Make ’em deny it tactic…

Democratic leaders have found a mechanism to enable them to bypass an initial Republican filibuster and debate the party’s sweeping election reform bills, according to a new leadership memo obtained by Axios…

Driving the news: The House is expected to take up an amendment in the coming days related to NASA leasing “underutilized” property to private groups. Democratic leaders are referring to this as the “shell bill.”

– It will then strip that legislation of its existing language and replace it with the text for the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

– The House would then pass the updated bill and send it to the Senate as a “message.” Then, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will file a motion to concur with the House amendment.

Between the lines: This would allow the Senate — for the first time — to quickly take up the bill and debate it on the floor…

… the problem being that #MoscowMitch *delights* in being known as a ~~pig fornicator~~ racist traitor. But maybe it can peel off a few Repubs from purplish states?

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Mid-Morning Open Thread: KILL THE FILIBUSTERPost + Comments (223)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Kill the Filibuster

by Anne Laurie| January 12, 20228:01 am| 152 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat, Right to Vote

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)
.

… not our democracy. Be nice if we were only fighting the Republicans, but it is what it is.

President Joe Biden made an impassioned plea for U.S. voting rights legislation stalled in Congress, calling it a ‘battle for the soul of America.’ He also made his most direct plea yet for the Senate to change its filibuster rule to pass legislation https://t.co/VH5HE7XzMC pic.twitter.com/7Psv3SFLqB

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 12, 2022

The fight for voting rights takes persistence. As MLK exhorted, “The clock of destiny is ticking out. We must act now before it is too late.” Thank you, @POTUS, for refusing to relent until the work is finished. Welcome back to Georgia where we get good done. #FTVA #JLVRAA

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) January 10, 2022

Holy crap. Clyburn on MSNBC using the straight-party vote on the 15th Amendment, & Strom Thurmond telling him he was embarrassed by his filibuster of the 1957 civil rights bill, as a couple of two-by-fours right between Manchin’s eyes.

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) January 12, 2022

Americans support eliminating the filibuster by 24 points. In case any Senators care what Americans think. pic.twitter.com/TOM2FPWb6G

— Nick Knudsen ???? (@NickKnudsenUS) January 11, 2022

normal democracy stuff https://t.co/fxTgOfXd5p

— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) January 12, 2022

Reactions to Biden speech on U.S. voting rights https://t.co/iTFeE0gDtO pic.twitter.com/MS4TWoZFof

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 12, 2022

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Kill the FilibusterPost + Comments (152)

Rest in Power, Harry Reid

by Anne Laurie| January 11, 202211:09 am| 82 Comments

This post is in: Absent Friends, Proud to Be A Democrat

Harry Reid, the late former Senate majority leader from Nevada, will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda next week. Ceremonies at the Capitol will take place Jan. 12. Reid died Tuesday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. https://t.co/y2vJTiKcBZ

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 3, 2022

U.S. political luminaries including President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama honored the life of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada https://t.co/w5evSnrI3c pic.twitter.com/4JOZ3Rm0cc

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 9, 2022

Speakers at Harry Reid's memorial service include President Biden, former President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Schumer, House Speaker Pelosi and members of the Reid family. "In the Name of Love" will be performed by singer Carole King. pic.twitter.com/ScfS23l04k

— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) January 8, 2022

And here's our obit, via Team @TheNVIndy:https://t.co/21vS6ezLzg

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) December 29, 2021

… Over more than three decades of service in Congress, Reid earned a reputation for fighting relentlessly to protect his home state and everyday Americans. As Senate Democratic leader for a dozen years, he played an instrumental role in passing the Affordable Care Act and shepherding through Congress pivotal economic recovery legislation in the wake of the Great Recession.

“I wouldn’t have been president had it not been for your encouragement and support, and I wouldn’t have got most of what I got done without your skill and determination,” former President Barack Obama said in a statement.

President Joe Biden called Reid “a dear friend and a giant of our history.”

“If Harry said he would do something, he did it. If he gave you his word, you could bank on it. That’s how he got things done for the good of the country for decades,” Biden said in a statement. “Harry looked at the challenges of the world and believed it was within our capacity to do good, to do right, and to do our part of perfecting the Union we all love.”

Reid also spent considerable time focusing on water, energy and public lands, issues at the forefront of a state that was undergoing rapid growth. In 2020, Reid said more than half of his congressional papers dealt, in some form, with the environment.

A savvy dealmaker and sometimes polarizing figure who made as many enemies as he did friends, Reid still earned the respect of colleagues in both parties — sometimes turning former enemies to friends. Soft-spoken with a sharp tongue, Reid compelled those around him to listen…

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all you need to know about the supposedly “mild mannered” Harry Reid is he took on the mafia, won, and STILL lived to 82.

rest well, sir. you’ve earned it. pic.twitter.com/8KDkatAi4T

— shauna (@goldengateblond) December 29, 2021

Here's the clip of Harry Reid and mobster Frank Rosenthal , courtesy of the KLAS "Mob on the Run" special report, that I just talked about with @AymanM:https://t.co/aWIWJEnhZp

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) December 29, 2021

Harry Reid saw though you & knew that you were an lying, evil, monster trying to destroy America.

He also knew that as a legislator you kinda sucked. https://t.co/DwiHKgFwIz

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) December 29, 2021

The one time I got Harry Reid to stop and face reporters vainly peppering him with questions was when I said « wow, this is the best Mitch McConnell impersonation I’ve *ever* seen. » (He stopped, turned, grinned broadly, turned back, kept walking.) https://t.co/lCXd8nryQ4

— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) January 3, 2022

say what you will of his legislative tactics but harry reid was a man friends genuinely liked and a man enemies genuinely feared, which is a world better than anything you can say of this sorry lot. no president ever had the balls to shitpost about him when he was in office.

— kilgore trout, tucker carlson’s mailman (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 29, 2021

America and Nevada lost a great fighter for causes from health care to Dreamers, but he’d expect us all to keep up the fights he waged.

Condolences to his family and his legions of friends. pic.twitter.com/RQiEXmHIFI

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 29, 2021

Former colleagues are lauding longtime Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who died Tuesday. His political legacy includes an expansion of health insurance coverage for millions of Americans. https://t.co/sXNHz7Gltn

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 29, 2021

dog that didn’t bark stuff: with harry reid’s passing I just realized “repeal obamacare” has completely disappeared from the gop mantra for years now, which seems like de facto evidence it’s turned out to be a lot more popular than they threatened harry reid with

— kilgore trout, tucker carlson’s mailman (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 29, 2021

The Senator told us that his most prized possession in his Senate office (full of amazing things!) was this picture, framed and signed by President Obama. The caption:

“To Harry, this is the change you helped create. Barack.” https://t.co/wxEUBqLV7P pic.twitter.com/K4D2Q9fcg4

— Nikki Levy (@Nikki_Levy) December 29, 2021

Harry Reid remembered for reshaping Obama presidency, Senate and Supreme Court by friends and foes https://t.co/8aKYuUYGew

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 29, 2021

Harry Reid. What a legacy. And the simplest way to honor him is to listen to him. https://t.co/I7hcf61MSI

— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) December 29, 2021

Working in politics is hard. A lot of politicians don’t treat you very well. It’s kind of like waiting tables. I’ve done both, & patrons reveal a lot about themselves in how they treat servers, & pols reveal a lot about themselves in how they treat staff.

Please read this. https://t.co/qT8GeMoBvI

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) December 29, 2021

Hallo, here is your unroll: Reid had a theory of politics that was different from other Dem… https://t.co/GTgzOFXTpy Enjoy :) ??

— Thread Reader App (@threadreaderapp) June 28, 2021

Rest in Power, Harry ReidPost + Comments (82)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: The Right to Vote

by Anne Laurie| January 11, 20227:45 am| 289 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality, Right to Vote

Poet Maya Angelou becomes the first Black woman to appear on a US quarter pic.twitter.com/6MI768E6kV

— Victor Blackwell CNN (@VictorBlackwell) January 10, 2022

Michelle Obama has launched a campaign to get 1 million people registered to vote ahead of the 2022 midterms.

Obama says her foundation, When We All Vote, along with 30 other organizations, will recruit and train at least 100,000 volunteers to register voters.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 10, 2022

For the sake of one of the most important pillars of our democracy, we must put politics aside, step up, and act.

The Senate must pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 10, 2022

Fascinating..Schumer is asking for unanimous consent to hold votes at a majority threshold of 51 votes for all the GOP bills McConnell has put on the legislative calendar using Rule 14, plus the Democrats' two voting bills.

McConnell objects. https://t.co/H6mKn7Y3g9

— Lindsay Wise (@lindsaywise) January 11, 2022

You know how you can register to vote at the DMV? Mitch McConnell fought against that bill in 1992, calling it a “solution in search of a problem.”

He’s saying the exact same thing now about Dem bills making it easier to votehttps://t.co/DIEYPFOTq1

— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) January 10, 2022

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: The Right to VotePost + Comments (289)

Monday Evening Open Thread: Readership Capture

by Anne Laurie| January 10, 20229:02 pm| 97 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Our Failed Media Experiment

Today, the 117th Congress begins its second year.

We've got quite the to-do list before us:

Voting rights.
Affordable childcare.
Expanded health care.
Aggressive climate action.
An extended Child Tax Credit.
And more.

Let's get to work.

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 10, 2022

Five years ago during my Farewell Address, I asked you to believe in your ability to bring about change. Since then, many of you have answered the call – starting nonprofits, organizing around important issues, and running for office yourselves. pic.twitter.com/Mz2JqQ2gPc

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 10, 2022

I wanted to share some of those stories, and also hear about the work you’ve been doing to create change: https://t.co/KhjWS3bFGo

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 10, 2022

If you prefer ‘rantspirational’, Chris ‘Mad Bitcher’ Cillizza is your guy:

Half as many opportunities to tell people to drink bleach. A real shame. https://t.co/9CxFsqFkQK

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 10, 2022

Monday Evening Open Thread: Readership CapturePost + Comments (97)

Monday Morning Open Thread: Moving Forward, Regardless of the Haters

by Anne Laurie| January 10, 20227:59 am| 94 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Voting Rights

I mean, insofar as both are mission-critical, yes. https://t.co/nGcgndyLPz

— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) January 8, 2022

NEW: President Biden and VP Kamala Harris will travel to Atlanta on TUESDAY to deliver remarks about the "urgent need" to pass voting rights legislation and stop "corrupt" attempts to restrict ballot access, WH says. https://t.co/pq6Ls5JwGq

— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) January 5, 2022

Analysis: Biden escalates the stakes for next week’s voting rights speech https://t.co/BInf79hLip

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 7, 2022

… “Right now, in state after state, new laws are being written — not to protect the vote, but to deny it; not only to suppress the vote, but to subvert it; not to strengthen or protect our democracy, but because the former president lost,” the president said from the Capitol’s Statuary Hall Thursday.

“It’s wrong. It’s undemocratic. And frankly, it’s un-American,” Biden said in his speech, which neither called Trump out by name nor suggested any remedies to a Republican endeavor he has regularly described in apocalyptic terms…

Biden has revisited the theme of voting rights since taking office, but began a fresh push on the issue last month as his Build Back Better legislation stalled, one of several progressive priorities he wasn’t able to deliver in the past year. His speech on Thursday harked back to his rhetoric about Trump during the 2020 campaign, urging voters to see the election as a stark choice, not a referendum, something some Democrats says could help them in the midterms.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki later made clear Tuesday’s remarks would center on calling for passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, both stalled in the Senate because of GOP opposition and the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to overcome. To date, Biden has not had enough Democratic support to change Senate rules, which requires all 50 members of his party to band together…

WATCH: As Senate Democrats continue to press holdouts in their party to embrace the voting rights bills, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate would vote to change chamber's rule known as the filibuster by January 17 https://t.co/RWa5Way27h pic.twitter.com/4gRQgSyYeK

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 10, 2022

Sen. @amyklobuchar on the Senate filibuster: "I would argue that maybe the people in this country — the hundreds of millions of people in this country — that their voting rules might be just a little, tiny more important than our voting rules in this chamber." pic.twitter.com/UvnXQn0B8l

— The Hill (@thehill) January 8, 2022

Monday Morning Open Thread: Moving Forward, Regardless of the HatersPost + Comments (94)

scav on Finally Got Some Damned Snow (Jan 17, 2022 @ 1:02pm)

Suzanne on Finally Got Some Damned Snow (Jan 17, 2022 @ 1:02pm)

zhena gogolia on Martin Luther King: What Would He Say If He Were Alive Today (Jan 17, 2022 @ 1:02pm)

Brachiator on Martin Luther King: What Would He Say If He Were Alive Today (Jan 17, 2022 @ 1:00pm)

Comrade Colette on Finally Got Some Damned Snow (Jan 17, 2022 @ 1:00pm)

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Not all heroes wear capes.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Good luck with your asparagus.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The math demands it!

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

An almost top 10,000 blog!

We still have time to mess this up!

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Just a few bad apples.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

And we’re all out of bubblegum.