It's traditional for new presidents to lose one of their nominees for cabinet-level posts. The opposition party needs a scalp to maintain their sense of self esteem, and they're usually able to dredge up a micro-scandal of some kind that gives them an excuse to demand one.
But this year is different. Republicans are after two scalps, and neither is associated with any kind of scandal. One is Neera Tanden, head of the Center for American Progress, who has an unfortunate habit of getting into Twitter feuds with people. The other is Xavier Becerra, California's attorney general, who loves to mix it up with Republicans.
And that's it. The GOP is threatening to vote unanimously against both of these nominees because . . . they're not always nice. This might not matter if Democrats were united behind the nominees, but Democrat Joe Manchin has already announced that he'll vote against Tanden because her "overtly partisan statements will have a toxic and detrimental impact" on her relationship with Congress.
This is absurd. Tanden deserves to get dragged a bit, but she's done nothing even remotely worth denying her confirmation. Ditto for Becerra. If Democrats let themselves get suckered into believing that Republicans are delicate little flowers who can't abide partisan nastiness (Jeff Sessions! Mike Pompeo! Bill Barr! Mick Mulvaney!) then I guess they deserve whatever they get. But make no mistake: this is just fakery and no one should take it seriously.
Manchin is a douche, but he's our douche, so we're stuck with him. And if the Rs were sticking to a traditional scalp, that would be one thing.
But if the Dems start getting suckered on bullshit like this, I may just have to accelerate the plans to move elsewhere[1], because we're doomed.
We cannot afford another run of timid, polite Democrats. The things they need to do around election security are going to be very hard to get done, and the comfortably-ineffective schtick they've been playing for a generation is going to be very tempting, especially for the leadership.
[1] Yeah, fine, I don't care if you don't believe me.
How do we deal with the souchyness?
I would repeat my idea: if he costs us the Congress or Biden’s re-election , there’s 82 million Americans who should make a vendetta against him so that there’s so much stink on him that his only possible post senate job will involve asking whether you want fries with that.
As Al Capone once sagely observed, you can get more done with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone.
dude is 73; will be 77 when his term expires. don't think he's too worried about his post-senate days. (while we're at it, you might want to id a west virginia democrat besides manchin who can win that seat. the list will be abysmally short.)
One thing I’ve noticed is that since the Reagan administration very few of these people just go home and enjoy their declining years. They’ve been Washington residents for decades and even the elderly ones become lobbyists. It’s hard to be a lobbyist if one is a pariah.
Besides which, the senate is practically an old folks home. These people are staying on now well into their 80’s and 90’s. He’s almost certainly running for at least one more term.
I think you’re missing my point. A great weakness of the Democrats at the moment is that any warm body willing to be a Democrat is okay with them even if he opposes everything and makes it impossible to get anything done. What the Democrats need is to build local organizations rather than rely on one individual. They need to build a grass roots organization that supports roughly their agenda and identify potential candidates who do support the agenda and then build them up. That’s better than being dependent on a politician who holds a seat as his personal fiefdom rather than as a representative of the party faithful.
Sure. Getting tens of millions of Americans to prioritize hounding a retired Senator sounds totally realistic.
Indeed...
The guy works to his constituency, which has Neanderthalic tendencies.
He's the best Democrat one is going to get out of WV and it's pretty damn obvious that a flip to R would be way way way way way way Worse as end result.
The Great Weakness of Democrats is idiotic Purity Ponyism in the face of hard-coded electoral map realities. And engaging in the fantasy that Activist Lefty Democrats are going to sell well in WV etc.
The point is practical politics, not “purity”. We’re in a vicious cycle in which Republicans go crazy, trash everything, corrupt everything, and run up huge deficits. Democrats take power through a combination of promising better things and widespread revulsion of Republicans.
The Democrats might be better off without “controlling” the Senate is that control is purely notational with Chuck Schumer essentially as Mitch McConnell’s stooge. And that’s exactly what Manchin is delivering and that’s why we need to take the hit and tell him to go join the Republicans.
The catch, as we’ve seen time and again, is that the structure and orientation of the Democratic establishment makes it impossible for them to follow through on their promises or to capitalize on the Republicans disarray and declining popularity. Essentially, the Democrats take power with the responsibility of doing things and are held accountable when they fail. But the lack of grassroots organizations in every state and the assumption that incumbents are entitled to keep the party’s support regardless of whether they support the party’s agenda means that Democrats are never able deliver.
It’s very likely that the main achievements of this congress will be a very watered down COVID relief bill and the preservation of the filibuster. Which hands the Congress back to the Republicans and probably returns Donald Trump to the White House.
We need to build grass roots organizations not for the next electoral cycle but on the basis of decades and decades of building support for policies more than personalities.
The point isn’t that we ourselves will ruin Manchin. The point is that millions of Democrats will remember what Manchin cost us and will keep the pressure on our elected officials to make him pay.
eh well, the lady also in the background was Twitter Mean Girl to people to her left, so.. while they may be playing nice in public, one can suspect it put her on shaky ground.
She should withdraw, go for another post. Honestly her fit to this one is off anyway.
Joe Manchin should remember that Joe Lieberman lost all of he had left to lose on his reputation by behaving the way Manchin is behaving now.
This extracting of a pound of flesh just because he can is very disgusting.
Correction: all he had left to lose of his reputation. Sorry!
Kevin makes us comment in pale orange type on white so you can't see what you've written, then blocks you from fixing your typos...
Yes, & Sinema seems worse. Machin may need to avoid liberal positions due to his constituents' beliefs, but his lack of full support for COVID-19 relief measures might disappoint them more than he realizes.
I really doubt if people in West Virginia care very much about mean tweeting or about the filibuster. The guy’s just an asshole.
In this Wheeling diner, you are in for a surprise.
& I don't mean the bread pudding!
I bet you can find people in that diner who’d be impressed by the policies that Democrats are pushing that would improve their daily lives and create a better future for their children. None of which is going to be possible if we don’t get that asshole under control. Every Democrat needs him to understand that if we lose the Congress and the White House because of him, we will all take blood oaths to defeat him and if he becomes a lobbyist not to ever help him on anything or even take his phone calls.
He is an asshole, and I'm sure you're right about his WV constituents. But Manchin must be aware that his next reelection bid is likely to be a bruiser, and at best he'll win only narrowly. Preserving his "centrist," non-radical bonafides in the eyes of his (easily duped) voters is not unreasonably calculated by Manchin to be an important element in such a victory. West Virginia isn't California.
Again, he's a d-bag, but I don't have a huge problem with this move (as distasteful as it is) IF he's with his fellow Democrats on legislation. If Biden's relief bill fails because of Biden, then, yes, Dems should come after him with everything.
*If Biden's relief bill fails because of Manchin*
(For the love of God can we get an edit feature, or at least a delete function?)
Two points to consider:
The focus on finding spots for Manchin to occupy in the West Virginia political system has prevented the growth of the Democratic Party as a force within the state. Manchin can oppose the Democratic agenda and the Democratic president because he doesn’t need to earn the support of party members. In the short run, yes, a notational Democrat occupies the senate seat and votes to make Chuck Schumer majority leader but then neutered him. When Manchin goes, there’s no way for the Democratic Party to retain his seat because he won’t allow the party to operate in his state.
A related problem is that Manchin creates the cycle of Democrats cleaning up after crazy Republicans by doing unpopular stuff but being blocked by people like Manchin from doing the popular things that would allow them to retain their power and even expand their majority.
Unless the Republicans completely implode, they will regain control of the Congress in 2022. The Democrats need to shift from appeasement to using their time out of power to build their state level organizations and promote and build support for a more uniform center left policy.
We have a Manchin problem that must be solved as the precondition for retaking power and holding it for more than a single election cycle.
They do appear to care about some of the Democratic legislation's provisions for financial assistance to the states; never felt that the filibuster was an issue for them - & certainly not mean tweeting!
Exactly, said better than I could.
And Lefty commentators might do well to remember Connecticut is not West Virginia and West Virginia is not Connecticut.
The guy needs to work with WV, not CT.
We must take it seriously & fight the lies better than in the past.
And somewhat OT:
We see Pompeo feigning to care about human rights of Uigars in China & of Hong Kong residents; he doesn't seem to spend too much time concerning himself about the rights of the Kazakhs (also Muslims), Buddhists, or other non-Christians denied full religious & other freedoms.
Since he thinks that he has a chance of winning the nomination in 2024, Democrats also need to point out that he supported trump's "Muslim ban" & certainly hasn't supported immigration into the US by any of those Muslims or more Asians, either. They can't have things both ways.
I really want to see more effort to counter all of the "Republican" propaganda. We don't have to be unprincipled to do that.
Biden, being a man of principle, doesn't pretend to care about Urghurs. Good for him!
I don’t think that’s true. As a practical matter, we have less than no leverage to get China to do anything. We started an idiotic trade war and lost badly. We fractured the alliances that might (through a united front) have given us leverage. And this country has squandered all of its moral capital so what is it you think Biden’s in a position to do?
This.
Biden can't do much more at this point than A) work to get our own house in order and B) work to repair our alliances.
Ey81 doesn't really want Biden to DO anything; he just wants to pretend that Biden cares as little as trump did.
Biden cares a lot more about repression of human rights in China than trump ever did - or that Pompeo, for all his blather, does. Wonder what would make you claim that - or if you even believe it.
You'd think that Pompeo doesn't realize that the Uigars (& the Kazakhs, who are also being persecuted) are Muslims - excoriated by most in the trump party.
Heh. Once again a battle on two fronts or two levels. If I were Biden, I'd just appoint them 'acting' officials and let Republicans howl all they want about 'bipartisanship' and 'hypocrisy'. But letting them howl about 'bipartisanship' and 'hypocrisy' is far better than creating the appearance that they can dictate to Biden who his cabinet-level appointments will be.
well, those acting appointments came back to bit trump admin in the ass a bit when judges declared a bunch of stuff done under acting appointments invalid, so i don't know if that's the best path forward.
There aren't any good paths forward, just least bad ones at this point.
And just for the record, it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WHATSOEVER AT ALL to do with the COMPLETE COINCIDENCE that they both happen to be non-white and have non-Anglo names. Is that clear? Nothing at all! Okay then.
Come on Kevin...Neera worked for Hillary Clinton - the worst human being ever - for years. What else do Rethugs need to oppose her nomination????
Surprised Bernie hasn't come out against.
Yeah I am a tad surprised that Manchin’s move against Tanden is not seen as a good thing by the Bernie-ites, who hate Manchin and his place in the Democratic party so much...
Spend a little time on Twitter. A lot of Berners are cheering on Manchin, and my distinct impression is her lack of support on the left is part of what is dooming her nomination.
I’ll let you give me the Twitter report, thanks...
Straight arm them, run over them and head for the goal post. Years of bad faith, dirty tricks and obstruction; why believe anything they say?
This. And make sure to dig in the cleats.
Maybe Tanden shouldn't have lied her ass off about Bernie. I am enjoying her twisting in the wind. Couldn't happen to a more deserving Clintonworlder.
Scoop! There it is!
Hmm?
I disagree, and I hope both of them are ultimately not confirmed.
Neera Tanden has no particular experience or expertise that qualifies her to run OMB. Her experience is in foreign policy and national security. Moreover, even that experience, for me, counts as a negative as she is a consummate imperialist warmonger.
As for Becerra, if Biden wanted him in the cabinet, he should have nominated him for Attorney General--a job he would have been really great for. Becerra's only connection to health and human services is having litigated aspects of the ACA on behalf of California when he was our state's attorney general. We need somebody with a background in health policy, not a litigator, in that office.
The fact that both of them have a belligerent streak and are not white men may well (or may not) be the real reason the R's don't want them. But in these two cases, they're getting the answer right, even if the reasons are all wrong.
I sense a bit of bigotry in your statement regarding a lack of experience. No experience with management? What kind of crack are you on?
Biden himself apparently disagrees with you and he's the one who's going to be relying on the work/counsel of the OMB Dir and HHS Sec. I'm not huge fan of Tanden either (don't know much about Becerra), but a POTUS's cabinet picks should be deferred to absent compelling reason.
It's not the biggest tragedy in world if Tanden withdraws (they'll find someone who's both qualified and less controversial) but failing to give president substantial latitude on positions like OMB is an unwise practice that reduces effectiveness of governance.
And in no sane political universe should a DEMOCRATIC senator's fingerprints be anywhere near this obstruction, especially when said Democrat apparently had zero problem confirming myriad Trump lackeys and MAGA hacks to high positions including ambassadorships and the US Supreme Court.
"If Democrats let themselves get suckered into believing that Republicans are delicate little flowers who can't abide partisan nastiness (Jeff Sessions! Mike Pompeo! Bill Barr! Mick Mulvaney!) then I guess they deserve whatever they get."
This has nothing to do with alleged Republican sesitivities. As they made it clear when they denied Merrick Garland a hearing and then fell over themselves in their hurry to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, its all about playing hardball and doing despicable things merely because they can. Democrats have reason to resent Republican conduct, but they should have no illusion about what motivates the R's.
Joe Manchin is the only Reagan Democrat who hasn't become a Republican.
The current problems with these particular nominees aside, the Democratic Party is going to have to come to grips with its Joe Manchin problem sooner or later and sooner would definitely be better. I think the odds are very, very high that going into the 2022 midterms the main achievement of the Democratic Party will be the preservation of the filibuster. Which means that we’re overwhelmingly likely to lose control of Congress.
And there’s a very high probability that Joe Manchin will also make it impossible for Pres. Biden to win reelection because, again, saving the filibuster might be very popular with the sabbath gasbags but the regular people who put Democrats are looking for actual results that improve their lives. Let with a choice between a Republican Party that might conceivably do something and a Democratic Party that absolutely will not, it is anybody’s guess which way people will vote.
My belief is that the Democratic Party needs to launch an extremely well funded field operation in a West Virginia to lay the groundwork for attracting voters to the party itself by promoting all the good stuff we stand for and would happily do if only we could—-stuff which the good people in West Virginia would be enjoying today except for Joe Manchin. The Democrats need to have a strong grassroots presence so that once we’re again forced to wander in the political wilderness, we can build back better by getting rid of Joe Manchin and make sure that he doesn’t ever again get elected dogcatcher.
If we start today and it looks like it’s going to cost Manchin, maybe he will be more of a team player. If not, he should learn the meaning of the word vendetta.
I don't want you to be right, but I think for once you are. Manchin needs to stop sinking the ship.
I'm not quite sure why Democrats don't just quote Republicans, back to Republicans, every time they throw a fit about not getting their way.
Fuck your feelings, snowflake.
Also, funny how Republican Senators who were totally out of the loop on El Jefe's tweets have an encyclopedic knowledge of Tanden's.
+1
+ +
+1
Don't do as I say
OR
Why are you bringing knives to the knife fight? That isn't fair!
Manchin just needs to reject a nominee to show his bona fides to West Virginians. I look at this as a positive. Once he gets this vote under his belt he's much more likely to vote with the other Dems on important issues.
In Wisconsin the baboon colony comes right out and says they're sick of hearing about what's right and wrong, they just want to parade around and blow stuff up,
https://thebulwark.com/wisconsin-republicans-refuse-to-condemn-political-violence/
to the consternation of people who've spent a hundred years cultivating them.
Live by the Tweet, die by the Tweet. Kevin has been rightly critical of Fox News being an evil that must be destroyed. Twitter should be second on his list. Donald Trump showed how weaponizing Twitter can degrade and debase our public discourse. Neera Tanden got too caught up in the Twitter easy slam and does not fit in with Joe Biden's effort to treat people with more respect. Joe Manchin gets that.
Manchin seems to have a pretty inconsistent way of showing the value of treating people with respect. I'm certainly not a Neera Tanden fan but there's was nothing particularly offensive or outrageous about her tweets. But he voted for Brett Kavanaugh and Jeff Sessions, a man who was so bigoted that even Ronald Reagan eventually couldn't stomach him. Overall, I don't remember Manchin doing a lot of criticizing of Donald Trump's vile tweets, either.
Really, just screw him. Don't give him committee assignments and let him go back to being a Republican rather than let him sabotage the Democratic Party.