Shocker: Republicans Admit in Private That They Killed a Good Deal

And here I thought Democrats even participating in a BS, "bipartisan" bill that only served to validate the xenophobia being put forth by the opposing party was appalling and a clear example of the utter failure they represent.

Then again, illegals is common vernacular now, so what the fuck do I even know, really.

I've voted for Dems my entire life, but you'll never catch me saying they "do their jobs". The party embarrasses me at nearly every opportunity; any support I have for/give to the party is despite its leadership, not because of it.

Rolling over for republicans is in their job description?!

... that explains a few things...

It was a one person majority in the Senate that only lasted for a brief amount of time and was gone once healthcare reform ate up all of the time before Ted Kennedy died. They basically took what Mitt Romney had done at the state level and applied it federally, which is what Republicans claimed to want before they decided to call it Obamacare and pretend they didn't help craft it.

The health care bill contained a series of things that are broadly popular when they were laid out individually. Package them together and call it "Obamacare" in the media and it was suddenly unpopular.

Tea Party astroturfing can't be understated, either. The GOP grabbed back power at just the right time to be able to gerrymander districts and then keep them gerrymandered up until now. We're only beginning to erode that back.

Only until the instant the Senate takes a simple majority vote to lower it to 50.

While the Senate has historically been a useful bulwark for pushing back against the creeping fascism of the GOP, it's also a matter of fact that it is an antidemocratic institution that in the longer term we're better off minimizing or eliminating. It's the House of Lords and we do not need a House of Lords in the modern era.

Though I would like to see proper reapportionment in the House of Reps first, including adding significantly more members.

I commented this a while back, and I believe it wholeheartedly -
The current U.S. system is set up so that only two political parties can exist. In a perfect world, they would be rational, and represent differing facets of the voters values/goals. But in addition to not having a perfect world, through manipulation, degradation of the laws, and just human error/unintended consequences, we’ve wound up with a system where the two parties in power are largely funded by corporations, or those who have the resources to create PACs and launder their money into politics, and those groups represent roughly the same values and political goals.

So the political ‘game’ now is to acquire money to campaign (so you can get the votes) by appeasing the donors while appearing to do things that attract voters, because voting has not quite been manipulated to the point where money equals votes, yet. (Save for gerrymandering, which renders the voting ‘problem’ moot.)

I now believe politics is largely theatrical, and the media, also controlled by the interests that fund the political campaigns of politicians that do their bidding, works very hard to keep folks divided and arguing, rather than facing the real problem of their systemic disempowerment.

I am increasingly disillusioned that a solution to this problem is possible.

But anyway - I guess I’m saying I agree with you.

Imagine the soundbites if they said they wanted to destroy the opposition party.

They say this because their lobbyists want nothing to change and if the Republicans are too weak, Democrats may actually have to make peoples lives better or the whole charade falls apart.

For better or worse we have a two dominant party system, which totally breaks down when one party decides to go it alone and only advance causes they can win with their votes.

That is a weak party, so divided internally they don't dare compromise externally.

If we don't have at LEAST two functional parties, it all falls apart.

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We're about to see a lot of "unlikely voters" turning out....

I'll fucking believe that when I see it.

We’re about to see a lot of “unlikely voters” turning out…

If the primary and the off-cycle elections are any indication, we're going to see a big downturn in participation - particularly among Biden's left wing base - as enthusiasm for another four years of Republican Lite administration tanks out.

Anyway remember that foreign policy is about power, not morality.

Hitler Particles Detected

Not voting for Biden or Not Voting is a vote for the Christian Caliphate

Its not the votes that count, but who counts the votes. And in my home state of Texas, the Governor has already made moves to consolidate election authority in the governor's mansion.

It’s VERY obvious now that they can’t do ANYTHING in the house.

But it is equally obvious that guys like Abbot and DeSantis have an open hand to act as they please on the border. That's where this gets dangerous.

By bogging down the legislative process and allowing Biden to twiddle his thumbs in the White House, we have transferred enormous amounts of power to the border states with the most horrific people in charge. The GOP decision to kill the bill was calculated, as it accrued authority to their allies in the Southwest.

Also, they got clowned hard.

They got laughed at by the same group of jokers who were going to point and laugh at them regardless. Meanwhile, right-wing talk radio is spinning this as a victory for the Immigration Absolutists and a rallying cry for the Trump Presidential campaign.

Democrats have shown their hand on what they will concede. Republicans are in a strong position to advance their majorities in House and Senate into the next cycle. That puts the ball in their court, even if Mike Johnson personally looks like a weak Speaker. Republicans don't care if he's weak, because they've put all their chips on Trump anyway.

You left out 2016, 2014, 2010, 2002, and 1994.

Surely 2024 will be a red wave!

The gains Dems have made in the Midwest are heavily predicated on minority voters (particularly Arab Americans) sticking with the party. And it looks like Biden's getting ready to piss all that away.

I hate both parties and I say I'm independent, as I realize they are both beholden to their corporate interests and lobbyists.

The system isn't designed for people with good ideas to emerge and change things for the better, but I like to think at some point in the future individuals like that could win outside of party lines. They have us all mixed up in these culture wars while the rich people keep on getting richer at an accelerated pace.

But you are right, I'm going to vote for my version of less crazy, along with everyone else, and we'll collectively go nowhere until the current crop of politicians age out or die.

I've used similar pressure about Trump's steel tariffs to shut chuds up about politics. It works.

I feel like you didn’t think that all the way through before you wrote it

Yeah, perpetuate the cycle of dehumanizing violence! That'll show them what's what!

Calm down there Saudi Arabia

CBP, USBP, and ICE would have all benefited SO much from this bill.

Yeah, you're right. I think Jon Stewart said that he hates apathy and all that when he first departed the Daily Show.

I just think my wall-to-wall coverage of all of this has angered me too much.

Thanks for being a reasonable voice.

I’m a voter. I will ‘do shit’. It’s a fucked up world and many people fit your generalization, but it’s the job of reasonable people everywhere to educate others and promote sanity and optimism wherever possible.

Thank you citizen for your efforts.

promote sanity and optimism

Exactly. Optimism is how you win elections. It gives us the hope that a better tomorrow is possible, and our efforts will get us closer to it.

Complacency and apathy are the enemies. After 2022, I don't really care much for polls. It's nice to know the vibe, but they are descriptive, not prescriptive.

Exactly this, and I'm sick of getting blamed for their incompetence.

Give me one reason why Democrats couldn’t pass DC Statehood.

They need either 60 votes in the Senate, which they don't have, or 50 votes in the Senate to get rid of the filibuster, which they don't have.

Fact of the matter is they don't have the votes. I suspect you'll call it controlled opposition and "there'll always be someone because Democrats don't actually want it", but that's baseless theory. Especially since the last time Dems did have those votes, for a scant 2 months, they put together Obamacare. It even had single payer, but the 60th vote they needed refused to support it unless they took it out.

You could get 49 ideal leftist socialists elected, but as long as there's 1 detractor, the party can't do anything. And it's silly idealism to think that some mean words will make that single detractor come to your side.

Don't worry friend. I got your office reference

That doesn't even make sense as a joke...

I agree with you in some ways, but I don't think the "voting against their self-interests" argument is very strong.

My interests are higher taxes, finding public transportation and public healthcare. In their short-term simple view, I want higher taxes, so I'm the one voting against my self-interests. They live mostly in rural areas which public transportation doesn't serve at all.

Their interests are lower taxes and hating & doing bad things to people in the out-crowd. Again they only view short-term with a limited empathetic view. So they have no empathy for the out-crowd, until they find themselves or a loved one in the out-crowd. This the leopards eat faces, and we such on them for their lack of empathy giving them their due.

I wish we could open their mind to greater empathy and to be more future-thinking, but their brains are broken, I think.

Why should we send 74 billion in aid to Israel and Ukraine when 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, we are the only OECD nation without some form of universal healthcare, and over 650,000 Americans are homeless (a 12 percent increase during 2023). Do you honestly believe that there is a higher priority to send obscenely large sums of money in the form of aid to other countries rather than focusing on the material issues we face as a nation?

How is the status quo benefiting anyone? The lines aren't moving, soldiers and civilians are dying daily.

And yes, you are still a war hawk if you support the status quo of war to continue.

IMO Ukraine should be admitted to NATO after negotiating a peace treaty.

I'd argue they already did and yeah fuck Putin but we should be questioning whether it is morally right to support a stalemate that is killing a whole generation of Ukrainian men. We should absolutely be questioning how it is the American's responsibility to support that indefinitely with taxes when we are so insanely in debt. How are any of these carve-outs appropriate in an "Immigration" bill?