Is Joe Manchin playing 11th dimensional chess with Mitch McConnell on voting rights?
US Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) just proposed a compromise voting rights proposal that is not only rather good, but it also sets him up to finally accept a change to the filibuster. But will he?
A quick update on a few issues today. Then tomorrow I’ll do our Week in Review.
Manchin proposes a voting rights compromise, and it’s good
Yeah, yeah. No proposal matters if we can’t get rid of, or amend, the filibuster. I know. Nonetheless, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) just proposed a compromise voting rights proposal that is not only pretty good, but also sets him up to finally accept a change to the filibuster IMHO.
Here’s what Manchin’s proposal would do, per his own fact sheet:
All things considered, it’s good. Making election day a holiday helps blue collar voters vote. Early voting, always a good thing. Banning gerrymandering, huge! Voter ID, yeah, Dems won’t like that. Automatic registration, again huge. On par, this is a pretty good bill.
Now, Mitch McConnell has already said he opposes the compromise, of course. And Republicans are now up in arms because Stacey Abrams supports Manchin’s proposal, and she’s Black. (They haven’t admitted the Black party, but you know it’s true — they’re trying to use her as the Black boogeywoman to scare GOP voters, as they always do.) McConnell has already admitted that he wants to stop Democrats from doing anything this Congress and this presidency, but McConnell also knows that Manchin’s proposal will make it harder for Republicans to steal elections.
But, you say, if Republicans say NO, and Manchin won’t change the filibuster, it doesn’t matter if the proposal is any good. True. But, I think — I hope — that Manchin is playing a long game here. Manchin has said all along that all legislation needs to show compromise, and that we need to get Republicans on board our bills. BUT, I think that Manchin is setting things up so that he can show that he TRIED to be bipartisan, he TRIED to compromise, and Mitch McConnell and the Republicans simply wouldn’t negotiate in good faith. That would permit Manchin to finally change the filibuster, and get this voting rights compromise passed.
It’s not a guarantee. But, I’ve thought all along that Manchin wasn’t just being Mr. No, but rather was setting things up so that Republican obstruction could provide him cover to become Mr. Yes.
Time will tell.
New study: Covid causes loss of brain matter
A new study shows a “consistent loss of brain tissue” in patients with Covid. This could be a possible explanation for why some patients who contract the Coronavirus temporarily lose their sense of smell. Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who’s very good, was on CNBC this morning explaining the new study. This is yet another data point proving that Covid is far worse than the flu. Get your shots.
McConnell refuses to consider Biden Supreme Court nominees
This isn’t surprising, but it’s shocking nonetheless. GOP Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said this week that if Republicans take back control of the Senate in 2022, he will not consider a Biden Supreme Court nominee in 2024 (the presidential election year), and he won’t even commit to considering a nominee in 2023, two years before the election
You’ll recall that McConnell pulled this stunt with President Obama in 2016, when Justice Scalia died in February of that year, a good eight months before the presidential election, and McConnell refused to even hold hearings on Merrick Garland’s nomination. McConnell then turned around and confirmed a Trump Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, just one week before the 2020 elections.
Republicans are focused like a laser on stealing our elections, and our democracy. And they’ll do it by brute violence, by changing the voting laws, and by refusing to fulfill their constitutional duties. This is yet another reason why Democratic-appointed Justice Stephen Breyer, who is turning 83 in August, needs to step down now. We made this mistake once with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose seat Coney Barrett now holds. It’s not popular to say, but Ginsburg should have stepped down during the Obama presidency, when she was Breyer’s age. Let’s not make the same mistake again.
House GOP establishes White Supremacist caucus
Republicans in the US House of Representatives just established an “America First Caucus” to promote “common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.”
The caucus is headed by two of the House’s craziest Republicans — QAnon fan Marjorie Taylor Greene (she of the “Jewish space laser” fame who thinks Covid masks are akin to the Holocaust) and Paul Gosar (the guy who thinks the Insurrectionists were there heroes and the Capitol police the villains).
The notion that America’s political traditions are “Anglo-Saxon” is a bit odd. The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group that inhabited England in the early Middle Ages, from around 400CE to 1000CE. What exact political traditions did America inherit from 5th century England — kingdoms?
In fact, America’s democracy hails back to the ancient Greeks, not the Anglo-Saxons. When Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar say “Anglo-Saxon,” they mean “white.” But you knew that.
And just in case there was any doubt, the America First Caucus wants to promote architecture, engineering and aesthetics that “befits the progeny of European architecture.” You know who else was hung up on using art and architecture to promote their whites-only authoritarian views? Hint: They didn’t have Space Lasers.
GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is one of the handful of House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, has called on House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy to strip anyone who joins the caucus of their committee assignments, and expel them from the Republican conference. Of course, McCarthy won’t lift a finger. Racism in the GOP caucus isn’t a glitch, it’s a feature.
Other Interesting Stuff
Hilarious
In honor of President Biden attending the G-7 and NATO summits this past week, Paul Lee Teeks updated that video of Trump shoving aside the Prime Minister of Montenegro at the 2017 NATO summit. The point isn’t to suggest that Biden would do the same thing. The point is that Biden this week was the American statesman and ally the world desperately needed, and his reclamation of America’s leadership of the world metaphorically shoved Trump aside. I love it.
Give this woman a medal
ABC News reporter Rachel Scott really laid into Vladimir Putin as this week’s summit with Biden in Geneva. It’s nice to see a reporter go for the jugular like this, and it’s nice to see a dictator, who has killed reporters in his own country, be challenged like this, knowing there’s nothing he can do about it.
How Danish intelligence messed with the Soviets in the 1970s
I absolutely love this.
VP Kamala Harris and kids
Adorable.
Not politics, but man that’s scary
This video of a tornado this week in Saskatchewan, Canada gives me the heebie jeebies. It’s straight out of the Wizard of Oz. How can it weave so thin and so long?
That’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with my week in review edition. Have a great weekend. JOHN
I'm a little with Jinny on this but cautiously optimistic that Manchin has always been concerned with appearing to give Republicans the chance he knows they'll refuse before acting. He has to choose between protecting his job and protecting the right to vote. Here's hoping he chooses right so history can judge him well
I'm afraid to hope that Manchin is playing the long game but it would be great if he is!