Thursday, January 20, 2022

GAME RECOGNIZES GAME

So what's Kyrsten Sinema's plan? She's up for reelection in 2024, but there's already talk of a primary challenge, and it seems unlikely that Democratic voters in Arizona will forgive her for what she's done in the past year, especially after last night. A couple of months ago I speculated that Sinema might run for reelection as an independent, and that Republicans might take a dive and let her win, the way they did in 2006 when Joe Lieberman ran as an independent. But that seems unlikely -- Republicans know they can win in Arizona much more easily than they could in Connecticut in 2006. This morning I've checked Breitbart, Gateway Pundit, Free Republic, National Review, Gettr -- Sinema and Joe Manchin aren't really being hailed as heroes for joining with Republicans to block voting rights legislation. Breitbart, for instance, wants to make it clear that Republicans killed the legislation.


Sinema and Manchin aren't getting star treatment on the right the way Lieberman did in the Bush years, and they aren't being hailed as heroes anywhere else, which suggests that if there's any truth in a Twitter thread that appeared last week, then Sinema is even more delusional than we thought.


Sinema's most likely career move after 2024 would seem to be lobbying, although some are skeptical:


I think we got our answer last night:


Why are Sinema and Manchin blocking Build Back Better? Because their corporate donors don't want an expansion of domestic spending programs paid for by taxes on wealthy people and corporations. Why are they blocking the voting bills? Because Republican election laws ensure that the pro-plutocrat GOP wins more elections. For the GOP, blocking election reform isn't primarily about racism -- it's about money, specifically rich people's money. Republican House and Senate members know what they want, which is whatever their donors want. They see Sinema as a partner in this. And if Joe Biden goes down to defeat in 2024, they'll see her as one of the main instruments of his defeat.

The senators who eagerly shook her hand know what she's doing, and for whom. They'll be delighted to take her calls when she's a lobbyist.

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