I realize this is the rather predictable dance that we go through when it comes to any proposed legislation that, y’know, actually benefits real people (about 99 percent of this country) as opposed to the fraction of 1 percent that our government seems to enact at a moment’s notice. And usually I reserve comment on it, but I have to admit that I’m getting a little tired of it and I feel like I have to say something.
By the way, what I say here isn’t meant to absolve the Democratic “leadership.” This is part of the price that they pay for the absolutely atrocious job they do of not fighting enough for the people who need their help and the horrible job they do with messaging on the issues where they’re supposed to be providing solutions. And as for McConnell, hell, he doesn’t even bother to negotiate with Democrats on legislation! On whatever this most recent “skinny” bill of COVID relief allegedly is (I’ve lost count at this point), he consulted with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and left it up to the Democrats to reach out to the Trump gang on their own.
That tells you how seriously McConnell treats the Democrats. And he can afford to do this because he knows he will NEVER pay an electoral price for this (part of the reason why I honestly can’t understand how McConnell’s voters can sleep at night or even look at themselves in the mirror, but I know they do somehow. And yes, I know Amy McGrath ran a stunningly inept, “Republican lite” campaign, and she might have lost anyway running as a progressive also, but at least she would have gone down fighting).
Oh, and on this and so many other issues, our corporate media is beyond useless. I read a New York Times alleged “analysis” of this issue yesterday (COVID-19 economic relief, with a byline that included FIVE WRITERS!) and the article was as clear as mud. I read that dreck and learned absolutely nothing. And I’m not going to bother to link to it because I don’t want to reward them with click bait (though, given the miniscule profile of this blog I know, it would be a low number of hits).
I’ll tell you what – here is the latest information I have on what the Dems have proposed and what the Republicans are countering with (you might have better luck clicking on this image in your browser to make it easier to read):
If you can provide a similar breakdown somewhere from our corporate media cousins, please let me know, because I haven’t found it.
The argument from Cenk and Ana is that the Dems are caving again even though the Biden/Harris administration is due to be sworn in on 1/20/21 and the Senate is currently still up for grabs (which is true – David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are certainly beatable, but defeating one or both of them is by no means a certainty, though I give Stacey Abrams credit for putting up a good fight - click here to help Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock...if this were all up to Schumer, given his abysmal track record, I’d be writing both off as losses right now).
I know I’m taking awhile to get to the point, and I apologize, but the crux of what I’m trying to say is this...PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING RIGHT NOW! And I honestly believe McConnell gets his jollies over that, again, especially given that he apparently will NEVER pay an electoral price for it. This is a desperate situation for the following already-stated reasons:
Given all of this, though, I think the Dems are right to accept something in the way of COVID relief, even though I will grant you that it is woefully insufficient. And if Cenk and Ana want to bitch at the Dems, fine. All I’m asking is that they and everybody else consider how truly stacked against them the metaphorical “deck” is. And I know this shouldn’t really be the barometer on legislation, but Wolf Blitzer and other talking heads will NEVER have a problem bitching out Nancy Pelosi vs. McConnell.The Democrats are rotten negotiators (I’ll cede Cenk and Ana’s point on that). They also don’t have enough courage of their convictions to fight for what they believe in (and when someone who DOES comes along, like AOC, instead of being promoted, she’s vilified...this point has also been made by the Rev. William Barber, among others). Republicans (led by McConnell) are utterly heartless monsters who don’t have a molecule of compassion for people who need help (and you would think that would make a difference particularly during this time of year and given the pandemic...you would think). We have a departing *president who only wants to further trash the institutions of government and punish as many people as he can on his way out the door. We also have way too many damn voters in this country who think bullets 3 and 4 are just okey dokey. We have a beyond-useless corporate media that, in the name of preserving “balance,” is absolutely unwilling or unable to perform the task of objective reporting and analysis and thus inform readers so they make decisions that are in their best interests.
And don’t automatically think “Well, the Dems lost on the negotiations because, as usual, they weren’t progressive enough.” Going back a few weeks, A LOT of Dems lost in the election – some were conservative and some, like Scott Huffman in North Carolina, were progressive, and Huffman got clobbered. So being progressive by itself definitely isn’t a panacea.
Besides, Cenk Uygur ran as a progressive to replace Katie Hill, outed from the House related to some “revenge” sex scandal, and it didn’t go so well, did it (even though I think the chavinism charge against Uygur was BS).
Update 1 12/03/20: Damn straight (and again, WAY beyond pathetic that Democrats are apparently incapable of ads like this - if anything makes me want to say the hell with it and walk away from this blog once and for all, it is that simple fact).
Update 2 12/03/20: Another update is here (and I think Joan McCarter means the execrable "Josh" Hawley, not John).
Update 12/04/20: This is probably the best post I've read yet on all of this.
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