Post by mhbruin on Mar 6, 2024 9:07:43 GMT -8
How many of you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand.
Say "See Ya" to Kyrsten Sin-Mama
Kyrsten Sinema Drove Herself Out Of Politics
Just one Senate term into the political career of a once-promising young politician, a series of self-inflicted, often baffling, missteps left her with no choice but to announce her impending departure.
In a video replete with her own accomplishments — “I believe in my approach. But, it’s not what America wants right now” — she on Tuesday delivered her constituents a final “it’s not me, it’s you” farewell.
But she habitually took loud, splashy stands on issues that not only set her apart from her party, but did so on issues central to its very ideology (she’s now an independent, though never stopped caucusing with the Democrats). This was not taking some swings to look tough on the border, or to distance herself from super lefty proposals. It was curtseying while voting down an increased federal minimum wage, threatening the Inflation Reduction Act over preserving a tax loophole for hedge fund managers and law firm partners, limiting the lift of the corporate tax rate.
And of course, it was the filibuster. She and Manchin together prevented any filibuster reform, including carveouts for passing bills to preserve abortion and voting rights — the beating heart of the early 2020s left.
She did all of this with a rare disrespect for norms around the Hill, one of the very few senators who refused to do hallway interviews, even when she was a deciding player on major legislation, leaving the public to learn her views through other sources or rare sit-downs she’d grant to friendly press. It helped keep her a cypher to political observers: a lawmaker who’d come up through very liberal politics, who’d been open and admirably proud about her bisexuality, suddenly tacking to the corporate right and infuriating those who’d supported her rise and who she’d need to run again in the process. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), essentially running in her stead, was drafted by Democrats wholly alienated by her decisions.
Kyrsten Sinema Drove Herself Out Of Politics
Take One Last Curtsy
1. She blocked all attempts at filibuster reform. Joining forces with the equally odious Sen. Joe Manchin, she was able to thwart or blunt the edges of every serious piece of progressive legislation Democrats introduced, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Act—for which she was censured by the Arizona Democratic Party.
2. Then there was her infamous curtsy. Sinema helped sink an amendment to raise the minimum wage, stabbing working families in the back and making a big show of it too, with a gleeful thumbs down and a curtsy—and a refusal to explain herself.
It is estimated that a minimum wage increase would have affected nearly 32 million workers—19 million of whom are women.
3. She made a big to-do about telling everybody that a Jan. 6 commission was “critical,” then skipped an important Senate vote for creating that commission. Her spokesperson had the audacity to comment that Sinema would “be entering into the Congressional record that she would've voted yes."
4. Sinema fundraised off big business groups that opposed the Democratic Party’s progressive social policy and climate bill.
At the same time she was begging for big business money, she was reportedly telling fellow senators behind the scenes that she was “averse to the corporate and individual tax rate increases” that would be needed to pay for budget expenditures.
5. She forced a Senate committee to delay a vote on an aviation bill concerning the amount of training required for commercial pilots.
Her alternative aviation training proposal earned the ire of Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Army veteran helicopter pilot on the committee. Duckworth said Sinema’s alternate proposal to loosen pilot training requirements would “mean blood on your hands when the inevitable accident occurs as a result of an inadequately trained flight crew.”
6. Sinema posted a picture to her social media account, prominently displaying a “fuck off” ring. The move seemed to be a callous response to the heavy public criticism she received over her failure to support wage earners.
7. Sinema got a paid internship at a California winery. In the middle of the pandemic! And while a spokesperson said “the Senate Ethics Committee preapproved Sinema's work,” there was no further explanation offered for why she took the internship, why she took the money for the internship, and why she had nothing better to do that summer.
8. Sinema also voted against a Biden judicial nomination—for no discernible reason! Sinema’s vote against U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews after voting in 97 appointees during the Trump administration remains baffling.
When news broke Tuesday that Sinema will not be seeking another term, Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible, put it best.
“Kyrsten Sinema will go down in history as a feckless, corrupt egomaniac who sabotaged abortion and voting rights and destroyed her own political career in the process,” she tweeted. “Enjoy your lobbying gig and leave the rest of us alone forever.”
Say "See Ya" to Kyrsten Sin-Mama
Kyrsten Sinema Drove Herself Out Of Politics
Just one Senate term into the political career of a once-promising young politician, a series of self-inflicted, often baffling, missteps left her with no choice but to announce her impending departure.
In a video replete with her own accomplishments — “I believe in my approach. But, it’s not what America wants right now” — she on Tuesday delivered her constituents a final “it’s not me, it’s you” farewell.
But she habitually took loud, splashy stands on issues that not only set her apart from her party, but did so on issues central to its very ideology (she’s now an independent, though never stopped caucusing with the Democrats). This was not taking some swings to look tough on the border, or to distance herself from super lefty proposals. It was curtseying while voting down an increased federal minimum wage, threatening the Inflation Reduction Act over preserving a tax loophole for hedge fund managers and law firm partners, limiting the lift of the corporate tax rate.
And of course, it was the filibuster. She and Manchin together prevented any filibuster reform, including carveouts for passing bills to preserve abortion and voting rights — the beating heart of the early 2020s left.
She did all of this with a rare disrespect for norms around the Hill, one of the very few senators who refused to do hallway interviews, even when she was a deciding player on major legislation, leaving the public to learn her views through other sources or rare sit-downs she’d grant to friendly press. It helped keep her a cypher to political observers: a lawmaker who’d come up through very liberal politics, who’d been open and admirably proud about her bisexuality, suddenly tacking to the corporate right and infuriating those who’d supported her rise and who she’d need to run again in the process. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), essentially running in her stead, was drafted by Democrats wholly alienated by her decisions.
Kyrsten Sinema Drove Herself Out Of Politics
Take One Last Curtsy
1. She blocked all attempts at filibuster reform. Joining forces with the equally odious Sen. Joe Manchin, she was able to thwart or blunt the edges of every serious piece of progressive legislation Democrats introduced, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Act—for which she was censured by the Arizona Democratic Party.
2. Then there was her infamous curtsy. Sinema helped sink an amendment to raise the minimum wage, stabbing working families in the back and making a big show of it too, with a gleeful thumbs down and a curtsy—and a refusal to explain herself.
It is estimated that a minimum wage increase would have affected nearly 32 million workers—19 million of whom are women.
3. She made a big to-do about telling everybody that a Jan. 6 commission was “critical,” then skipped an important Senate vote for creating that commission. Her spokesperson had the audacity to comment that Sinema would “be entering into the Congressional record that she would've voted yes."
4. Sinema fundraised off big business groups that opposed the Democratic Party’s progressive social policy and climate bill.
At the same time she was begging for big business money, she was reportedly telling fellow senators behind the scenes that she was “averse to the corporate and individual tax rate increases” that would be needed to pay for budget expenditures.
5. She forced a Senate committee to delay a vote on an aviation bill concerning the amount of training required for commercial pilots.
Her alternative aviation training proposal earned the ire of Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Army veteran helicopter pilot on the committee. Duckworth said Sinema’s alternate proposal to loosen pilot training requirements would “mean blood on your hands when the inevitable accident occurs as a result of an inadequately trained flight crew.”
6. Sinema posted a picture to her social media account, prominently displaying a “fuck off” ring. The move seemed to be a callous response to the heavy public criticism she received over her failure to support wage earners.
7. Sinema got a paid internship at a California winery. In the middle of the pandemic! And while a spokesperson said “the Senate Ethics Committee preapproved Sinema's work,” there was no further explanation offered for why she took the internship, why she took the money for the internship, and why she had nothing better to do that summer.
8. Sinema also voted against a Biden judicial nomination—for no discernible reason! Sinema’s vote against U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews after voting in 97 appointees during the Trump administration remains baffling.
When news broke Tuesday that Sinema will not be seeking another term, Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible, put it best.
“Kyrsten Sinema will go down in history as a feckless, corrupt egomaniac who sabotaged abortion and voting rights and destroyed her own political career in the process,” she tweeted. “Enjoy your lobbying gig and leave the rest of us alone forever.”