39 Comments
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DSB's avatar

I am amazed at the restraint Senator Sinema has shown during the restroom and airplane attacks on her. And make no mistake, they are attacks. Attacks fomented by Biden himself. For far less on the campaign trail, candidate Biden was sticking fingers in peoples chest, calling people fat, dog faced pony soldiers, threatening to beat people up and invoking the memory of corn pop or some other breakfast cereal.

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Scott Siegling's avatar

Great piece. We need to make these huge bills with tight deadlines and little press coverage are currently “the way things are done” in D.C. and how bloc voting is such an impediment to change/reform.

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Matt330's avatar

"The whole thing looks almost designed to ensure that normal people have little idea of what actually is being done by their representatives, or why so-called “social infrastructure” is now necessarily being paired with traditional physical infrastructure, or why gigantic all-encompassing bills are now the standard mechanism for passing anything into law."

You call that a bug. I call it a feature!

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Kresge's avatar

Worth noting that Sinema and Manchin have no particular demands. Just no. The USG is a moronic circus.

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DSB's avatar

I think Senator Manchin has been pretty detailed in his concerns regarding the $3.5 trillion bill. Look it up. It is far more than "Just no".

The big question that goes unanswered (and asked?) is how do you spend the money - not even efficiently, but just spend it - when supply chains are disrupted likely until 2023 or 2024? Will inflation be transitory? Heck, much of the trillion plus bill earlier this year remains undisbursed.

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Dave Bowman's avatar

It's a wonky/pissant point maybe but the issue isn't so much the $ amount, it's the "Framework" in Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework. Even the old less-than-precise bills like Americans with Disabilities Act followed some # of pages of text with connection to budget/reality. This is like a procedural revision from the civics-class Schoolhouse Rocks idea of legislative branch purpose though.

Whether or not that is good, it did not start with BIF but well before the Obama-Pelosi "pass the bill so you can find out what's in it" era. btw, whatever happened to the singer Bif Naked

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TK plus's avatar

amazed that 'huh, you want me to vote on the largest bill in the history of the us, without having read it, written by who the f knows what lobbyist ' gets turned into 'these two senators are obstructionists'

Maybe we could break this down into, I dunno, a few dozen chunks and cost out what's in them ?

all that said, this thing passes, gonna figure out how to go slop at this trough ... gotta small biz qualified stock rollover from an exit, and there's gotta be a few $10M chunks waiting to be shlurped up that no one will miss

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Dave Bowman's avatar

Yeah. Reminds me of that old movie "The Decision" starring that Space Jam fellow: "I'm going to take my talents to... $1.5 / $3.5 / $9.9 Trillion Infrastructures"

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TK plus's avatar

could be that perhaps the DNC doesn't really want this, and are using those two as foils ?

I'm also trying to process why them being obstacles to funding bullshit like "education and training programs for identifying and addressing health risks associated with climate change for pregnant, lactating, and postpartum individuals" shouldn't be heralded by people who aren't bat shit crazy as being a patriotic and good thing ...which ought to be the lede of your story

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Diamond Boy's avatar

Matt is that you?

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TK plus's avatar

Nope. Sorry to disappoint. Taibbi was my first substack login, and he had this 'inside reporter TK name' and I was boringly uninventive so just added 'plus'

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Diamond Boy's avatar

Nah that’s cool

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Always Adblock's avatar

It's mildly interesting that the loquacious McCain was probably himself bisexual.

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Red's avatar

Whether true or not, it's a funny comment. Today's best laugh.

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Diamond Boy's avatar

Killed it!

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Diamond Boy's avatar

Come on! Come on, spill the beans, please.

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Always Adblock's avatar

Absolute flamer who was flamboyant around aides and around Lindsey Graham - and, just like Graham, a fervent war hawk, which I find (anecdotally) correlates strongly with homosexuality.

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TK plus's avatar

Compensating ?

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Always Adblock's avatar

I believe so, yes.

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Diamond Boy's avatar

Wow!! Is it fair to say that it’s an open secret?

Lindsey Graham, how say you?

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Always Adblock's avatar

I think it's probably a fringe opinion but his hand-waving, his mugging, his weird, pulled-apart smile... put it this way: not all gay/bi men act this way, but all men who act this way are gay/bi.

Compare the tenor of his voice and his facial expressions, not to mention the weird, sashaying, sideways-wave he does, with Trump, Clinton (Bill), GWB, GHWB, Reagan, Carter... Carter had a mild manner about him, and an odd smile, but he in no way looks and acts like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvgqRKYapU8

Maybe I'm wrong but I've assumed for decades he's a closet case.

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Matt330's avatar

Do you think if Dr. Strangelove were remade today, the war room would consist of metrosexual hawks, diversity quota warmongers, drooling senile washups, the same idiot career generals, and a Marco Rubio clone?

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Always Adblock's avatar

Oh sure, but enough about the actors - what about the characters?

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TK plus's avatar

who is todays Curtis LeMay? I cannot think of someone who's that? Schwarzkopf seems most like of recent memory. No one else comes to mind ...

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James Anton Hake's avatar

Wow what a disgusting speech, thanks for linking. I’m only 2 mins in.

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Always Adblock's avatar

Remember when a certain dyspeptic type of conservative - not the cool kind like me, down with the "memes" - was calling Obama a showbiz president, all style and no substance? Perhaps they should have looked a bit closer to home. A slightly singed pilot's license and a record of Senatorial inaction was enough to enchant this country's right wing into blind devotion. Few suits - flight or Hugo Boss - have been as empty as John Boy's. Literally all he had to do to win the hearts and minds of the establishment GOP was be a feckless, preening wastrel.

That his predictavle defeat at the hands of a freshman Senator himself lacking in anything beyond adjectives prompted no reflection on the part of the Republicans led directly to Mitt Romney, and from there to Donald Trump.

It is for this reason that I try to steer clear of predictions.

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Diamond Boy's avatar

You are spectacular, that is absolutely fantastic stuff

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Always Adblock's avatar

I'm the Lindsey to your John.

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Jim M's avatar

Well...I read your analysis' every time you post, but I think you missed something...it's not a fact or anything, it's just my own spidey sense...

I believe (and I already got $ on this) that Sinema's going to be the next president.

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Whatstrue's avatar

Wow Michael, I usually love your stuff. This one I’m not so sure. Maybe I love this one too, but frankly I’m not smart enough to know, as you seem to be all over the map. I guess I could read it a couple more times to pick up your points, but nah, I just be happy and dumb.

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Dave Bowman's avatar

Yes, I'm sure they're both really bad, but I have a hard time remembering who they are

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Wazoomann's avatar

It would be fun to ask a random group of voters (D, R, Independet, etc.) what they think is in this bill. And if they agree that these are good ideas given what's going on in their local district.

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Justin's avatar

The Machine coming for Manchin and Sinema was obviously coming from a mile away. That The View, CNN, SNL and all the other default dem outlets started to rain down attacks was no surpsise. I was shocked that Breaking Points that usually at least tries to pierce the veil ran a segment on each of them in one day. They tend to like to dunk on the pols, but to miss the bigger picture on it was sad (I don't think they do a good job of going deep on most segments, their skills lies more in balanced curation).

You are of course right on the trend of massive bills with little scrutiny on the particulars, needed "RIGHT NOW", and presented as something that is so obviously good that you're evil for asking questions. This is not how to govern, and is about as bad as the trend of legislating via various executive branches, and emergency powers.

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Diamond Boy's avatar

You write very well, it’s a great pleasure to read.

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Kresge's avatar

Worth noting that Sinema and Manchin have no particular demands. Just no. The USG is a moronic circus.

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Kresge's avatar

Worth noting that Sinema and Manchin have no particular demands. Just no. The USG is a moronic circus.

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