For your consideration via Robert Reich:
I'm as sensitive as anyone to the sufferings of Afghani's now, but I've had it with the sanctimony of journalists and pundits who haven't thought about Afghanistan for 20 years -- many of whom urged we get out -- but who are now filling the August news hole with overwrought stories about Biden's…
I'm as sensitive as anyone to the sufferings of Afghani's now, but I've had it with the sanctimony of journalists and pundits who haven't thought about Afghanistan for 20 years -- many of whom urged we get out -- but who are now filling the August news hole with overwrought stories about Biden's botched exit and Taliban atrocities.
Yes, the exit could have been better planned and executed. Yes, it's all horribly sad. But can we get a grip? The sudden all-consuming focus on Afghanistan is distracting us from hugely important stuff that's coming to a head at home:
(1) Republican politicians and right-wing media worsening the surging Delta variant of COVID by fighting masks and vaccinations, as cities and school systems struggle to decide what to do;
(2) wildfires and floods consuming much of America as House Democrats absurdly threaten to oppose Biden's $3.5 trillion budget blueprint containing important measures to slow climate change;
(3) Texas on the verge of passing the nation's most anti-democracy voting restrictions, adding to voter suppression measures in 24 other states, at the same time the "For the People Act" and the "John Lewis Voting Rights Act" -- which would remedy these horrendous laws -- languish in the Senate because Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema refuse to do anything about the filibuster.
Enough sanctimony over Afghanistan. Enough about Biden's falling approval ratings. We've had enough wall-to-wall coverage of the Olympics and then Andrew Cuomo and now the airport in Kabul. Can we please focus on the biggest things that need and deserve our attention right now? The window of opportunity to do anything about them will close sooner than we expect.
If we don't take action now on COVID and the critical importance of vaccinations and masks, on climate change and Biden's $3.5 trillion package, and on voter suppression and the necessity of the For the People and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts, we may never.
I just read an article in the nyt about hospital staff in Staten Island are refusing to get vaccinated. I am not surprised. I grew up in S.I. and it was always the most conservative borough. And what conservative meant then and now is hooray for me and the hell with everybody else.
Dennis, I grew up on Staten Island as well and it is disheartening to see how it has devolved into such a right wingnut place. I still Zoom every other week with some of my HS friends and so I am kept up to date with the insanity there.
Three percent of the population are on medications that block their bodies from making antibodies to the vaccine. They are people with organ transplants and others on immunosuppressants. These are also generally sick people who go to the hospital for their infusions regularly. For these people, the pandemic will likely never end. If anyone working at a hospital does not want to get vaccinated to protect these vulnerable patients, they need to quit and go pack boxes at Amazon. No excuses. Their behavior is more proof that the conservative world view is incompatible with a compassionate, inclusive, functioning society.
I agree with you. Two weeks from now the MSM will find another shiny object and go there. It's not journalism any longer, it's 'angertainment' or the 'grievance grovel'. I've gto better things to do. Enough already.
I agree with Robert Reich. And sometimes, I also think the whole mask/vaccination thing could an effort by the GOP to change the subject, distract us from crucial issues such as climate change, civil rights, voting rights, education, etc.
I think it’s more than that. I think it is the way they deny the Biden administration a large victory over the pandemic, and keep democrats from demonstrating that good governance works, and delivers for the good of the people. Their supporters and their health be damned. It’s reprehensible, it’s immoral, and unfortunately I think it’s working.
And, always at the expense of their own believers. Seek those donations and press coverages, but care not one iota for the lives of those people. The same will be true of their voters suppressions and oppressions. They are harming their own constituents' abilities to vote but care not.
Add to that Trump's inexcusable handling of the pandemic - and don't give me the crap about his initiating "Operation Warp Speed." He did nothing but obstruct.
Thank you, Catherine for Robert Reich's words of wisdom. What has been happening here is the usual story of Democrats eating their own, and the "liberal" press acting like Fox. If I see another image of Jake Tapper's furrowed brow, I'll reduce the television to rubble. As Reich points out, and I'm expanding on, if we don't act on what we can change, our democracy will be lost and we'll witness the results of climate change's rage, with no turning back.
Biden has found his footing after the initial shock. Unless there is terrorism, U.S. evacuation will become steadily more organized and efficient.
His first public responses were godawful in their “Problem? What problem?” tone.I felt then that it could be bad enough that Biden’s agenda would be swept aside as was LBJ’s after 1965.
I’m more sanguine now. But America is in an odd position domestically. The Republicans are madly and vainly trying to rewrite history, while the Democrats are trying their level best to turn a possible victory of gigantic proportions into an absurd defeat. Should they succeed, it will be the apotheosis of their all too frequent internal meltdowns. I’m sure the Republicans, themselves at the lowest point in history, can scarcely believe their good fortune.
Meantime the countrywide but primarily southern resistance to sanity in any way, shape, or form. When Trump is booed at a rally, it is conclusive evidence that spite and stupidity hold sway in a large segment of the population.
By comparison Afghanistan looks sane, but desperate.
Let's also remind ourselves that DeSantis (would anyone buy a used car from a salesman who looked like him?) is resisting people getting free vaccinations and telling them if they get it they can be treated with Regeneron - and (surprise, surprise, to no one's shock at all) it turns out the owner of Regeneron is one of his major financial backers.
Eric: The following is a detailed report, copied in full, referring to your claim that, quote, ' Democrats are trying their level best to turn a possible victory of gigantic proportions into an absurd defeat.' :
Joe Manchin is opposing big parts of Biden’s agenda as the Koch network pressures him
PUBLISHED TUE, JUN 8 202110:11 AM EDTUPDATED TUE, JUN 8 20212:40 PM EDT
Brian Schwartz@SCHWARTZBCNBC
KEY POINTS
• The Koch network has been actively pressuring Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin to oppose key legislative items linked to Biden’s agenda, including filibuster reform and voting rights legislation.
• The lobbying effort appears to be paying off. Manchin, in a recent op-ed, wrote that he opposed eliminating the filibuster and that he would not vote for the For the People Act.
• The Koch network specifically calls on its grassroots supporters to push Manchin, a conservative Democrat, to be against some of his party’s legislative priorities.
'The political advocacy group backed by billionaire Charles Koch has been pressuring Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to oppose key parts of the Democratic agenda, including filibuster reform and voting rights legislation.'
'That lobbying effort appears to be paying off. Manchin, in a recent op-ed, wrote that he opposed eliminating the filibuster and that he would not vote for the For the People Act, which, advocates say, would limit the influence of big donors on elections.
President Joe Biden has called some of the voting restrictions proposed by Republican leaders in several states “sick” and “un-American.” The president has praised the For the People Act and has said the filibuster must be changed.'
'Sixty votes are needed to break the filibuster in the Senate in order to allow legislation to get a final vote. Democrats, who have 50 seats, have narrow control of the chamber because of Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.'
'CNBC reviewed an episode of a Koch policy group Americans for Prosperity’s video series, along with ads crafted by the organization. The network specifically calls on its grassroots supporters to push Manchin, a conservative Democrat, to be against some of his party’s legislative priorities.'
'Americans for Prosperity launched a website titled West Virginia Values, which calls on people to email Manchin “to be The Voice West Virginia Needs In D.C. — Reject Washington’s Partisan Agenda.”
'It then lists all of the items Manchin has promised to oppose, including the idea of eliminating the filibuster, the For the People Act and packing the Supreme Court. It then shows everything the group believes Manchin should oppose, including Biden’s infrastructure plan and the union-friendly PRO Act.'
'Americans for Prosperity leaders took part in one of their video series with their West Virginia state director in May where they praised Manchin for voicing his opposition to abolishing the filibuster. Both Americans for Prosperity and Manchin have said they believe eliminating the filibuster would exacerbate partisanship.'
The video was reviewed by CNBC after it was posted to the group’s Facebook page.
“A wise man once said that it takes a lot of courage to stand up to your enemies but that it takes even more courage up to stand up to your friends,” Ted Ellis, director of coalitions for Americans for Prosperity’s government affairs team, told the audience. “And that’s what Joe Manchin is doing right now. He’s displaying, I think, a lot of courage and we should applaud that.”
“Our grassroots are critically important and it would be difficult to say that they are more important anywhere than West Virginia right now because of the dramatic impact that our grassroots have in West Virginia in encouraging Senator Manchin to stand strong on this point,” Casey Mattox, vice president of legal and judicial Strategy at Americans for Prosperity, said during the presentation.'
'Ellis is listed on a recent lobbying report as one of the Americans for Prosperity officials who in the first quarter of 2021 lobbied against the For the People Act and Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. The lobbyists targeted House and Senate lawmakers.'
'In a statement to CNBC, a spokesman for Americans for Prosperity did not deny whether its officials have spoken directly to Manchin or his staff about the For the People Act. The representative praised Manchin’s stance on the bill and likened the group’s stance to that of the American Civil Liberties Union.'
“Sen. Manchin has long blazed his own path, and on this issue, we agree: Extreme partisanship gets in the way of finding positive solutions,” Lo Isidro, a spokesman for AFP, told CNBC in an emailed statement on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, this bill and the tactics some are using to pass it would make it harder to work together – chilling debate, worsening partisanship, and setting up a false choice between voting rights and free speech. We’re for both. Like the ACLU, our concerns focus on the portion that targets the First Amendment. And we’ll continue to defend those rights.”
'
A spokesman for Manchin did not return a request for comment.
Americans for Prosperity also launched a radio ad in West Virginia that quotes Manchin himself saying Democrats aren’t for the Green New Deal or Medicare for All. “Encourage Senator Manchin to keep his promise. To reject a partisan agenda that will host West Virginia’s back from meeting their full potential,” the voiceover says in the ad.'
'The Koch political network is just one of many groups that have orchestrated outside efforts to oppose the Democratic-backed election bill.'
'The New Yorker reported on a meeting between Koch leaders and representatives from other conservative-leaning groups about how they have tried to stop the bill from passing but that some of their own polling shows the campaign finance elements of the legislation is widely supported.'
'Heritage Action and other groups organized a rally in March in West Virginia that was meant to pressure Manchin to oppose similar legislation to the For the People Act, , according to the watchdog group Documented.net.'
'Manchin has defended the Kochs from attacks by his own party.
“People want jobs. You don’t beat up people. I mean, I don’t agree with their politics or philosophically, but, you know, they’re Americans, they’re doing — paying their taxes,” he said in response to questions about party leaders blasting the Kochs.
“They’re not breaking the law. They’re providing jobs,” he said.'
Led by the oil and gas industry, this sector regularly pumps the vast majority of its campaign contributions into Republican coffers. Even as other traditionally GOP-inclined industries have shifted somewhat to the left, this sector has remained rock-solid red.
Since the 1990 election cycle, more than two-thirds of this sector's contributions to candidates and party committees has gone to Republicans. Besides oil and gas, the electric utilities industry is another big donor in this sector. Less generous, but even more partisan, is the mining industry'
Top Lobbying Clients, 2021
Client/Parent Total
Koch Industries $5,590,000
Royal Dutch Shell $3,750,000
Chevron Corp $3,700,000
Occidental Petroleum $3,670,000
Exxon Mobil $2,770,000
Please note the Manchin received the most from the oil and gas sectors. Four more Democrats, all from Texas, were also handsomely endowed by the sector. See below:
How interesting it is when the daw details are brought to light. The making of the sausage is in full view. As always, this is so helpful a post.
I was thinking however of the 9 Democrats threatening not to vote for the Budget Bill as a means of scuppering the big picture of Biden’s agenda.
When the incoming is from your own group, and you have to get past that before you can hope to make cause with Manchin, it seems hardly likely that the quicksand will dry up.
My conclusion is that it becomes ever more difficult to be optimistic about America in a time of great peril.
Your sobering research highlights that the will of the people scarcely matters except that they be coddled at election time, and the good of the people as expressed in legislation is not even on the far horizon for many.
Was it ever thus? Did creatures like Gaetz, Boebert, Brooks, and Taylor Greene emerge from one swamp to find notoriety in another in times past? It seems to me highly unlikely.
Mitch McConnell is one of a classical political type. There have been many of his ilk.
But the times have become so ineffably bizarre in such a short time that the wildest, least conscious and most self-promoting have been hurled up to surf the wave of ignorance that has engulfed America. And many more barbarians are at the gate, waiting to claw their way in in 2022.
It is sad that at a time of such deep peril the quality of leadership as expressed by state and federal politicians is at such a low ebb.
What really can be hoped for? The best of the bunch have the Hobson’s choice of engaging with the bigots, hatemongers, and presenters on their territory and being thoroughly sullied in the process, or taking the high road and conceding the playing field, such as it is, to them.
What happened to service? Expertise? Communality of spirit? Rising to the occasion?
I am passing through despair into a sort of indifference. It’s all broken broken broken. The same response is to just turn away.
There are no figures like John Lewis now. It is folly to think that “good trouble” can be made and there be any result other than passing (quickly passing) notice from the 24 hour news cycle, which has, incidentally, been co-opted by an institution from which Josef Goebbels could take lessons.
The Texas State Democrats were amazingly courageous and dignified and right thinking - and their effect has been wholly inconsequential.
It’s on the very precipice of being too late now. If the voting rights legislation fails, Americac will have ceded liberal democracy. It will flutter on, a bird with a broken wing and we shall pretend that not all is lost, for some sad months or maybe years. But the millions of Americans who know better and will face stark truth head on, will know better. Done like dinner, to coin a phrase.
The Money, Eric, and the Corruption. I don't think of these factors without visualizing the Koch Bros. as perpetrators at the front of the line of our decline. One of them, David, died in 2019. There are others, of course, and there are good books on the subject. If you haven't read Jane Mayer's, Dark Money, I recommend it. A quarter to a third of our population represent another section of the dark shroud, which is ours. While always discouraging negativity about America's future, your words may be too close to the truth. I hope that you aren't on target, but we move closer and closer.
Good recommendation on "Dark Money", Fern. I've heard of it but never picked it up or read it. After your mention here, I checked our online library; found they had it, and it was available; downloaded it to my phone; which I'll now carry to the kitchen and listen to while I'm cleaning vegetables from the garden and cooking for the winter. That's one mode of mixing the old style with the new one.
Heydon, my mouth and eyes jumped for your vegetables. I am very glad that you will read 'Dark Money'. It is great reporting and may insist that you sit down to read and stop walking around so much. Please let me know what you think of book when your done. Salud!
I've read Dark Money. Great reporting. Appalling subject matter. Her subsequent New Yorker (?), Atlantic (?) pieces are also spot on.
We are just at a bad, bad place in the historical cycle and we've navigated there blindly. Most don't care about long term possibilities (like that the trickle down effect doesn't). Another sizable group feels that the point of life is to make more money than anybody else and direct their lives to that point. Huge numbers of people have been smashed to their knees by pointlessly stupid incarceration, the opioid epidemic, Facebook with the weird and dark culture it spawned, the Covid tragedy, and in the end Donald Trump who has understood both more and less than we ever imagined.
It feels like the bread and circuses time for this great empire. Were it not for the existence of fast foods and the giant maw of television, we might have had a revolution.
Now we are at the stage where people of good instinct say, "Just when you think he/she can't say/do anything stupider/viler, this happens".
And having satisfied their sense of sagacity, they get on with their day.
I'm feeling defeated. If this was a horse race, insanity would have the pole position coming around the home stretch. The bad guys would be a not too distant second. And the good guys have pulled up lame.
I long to be proven decisively wrong. I long for a sense of moral outrage and propriety to take hold of the mass of Americans, expressed in something profound like a general strike. I'm desperately keen to see the Biden team's brilliant legislation make it to his desk. I'd love justice to come down on the Trump circle like a scythe, with not a scintilla of mercy. I'd love to see America humble - not humbled, united rather than isolated, healthy in mind and body.
'...the will of the people scarcely matters...', Eric, this was the phase of yours that I found the most piercing because suppressing and subverting our elections is the point of the Republican legislatures in the states. You also wrote, 'There are no figures like John Lewis ...', there are, however, many outstanding activists and elected representatives. How much difference could Lewis make now; how much of a difference can they make -- and don't forget the American people -- that is the question.
I phrased that wrongly. There are many Americans of the courage, grace and intelligence of John Lewis. However, we live in an age of celebrity and round the clock cable news coverage. Ironically, nothing survives that. Too many value the trivial and sensational to amplify and appreciate extraordinary and quiet heroism.
And of course it takes time to make one's mark.
I was momentarily excited by the talk of the "People's Summer". The people who spoke for the activism to come were bracing. They have backbone, deep life experience, and scars (and are mainly Black).
Nothing that I would call consequential resulted. The march to Austin was duly noted. Their meetings with members of Congress were recorded for posterity.
And the Democrats returned to the legislature and an odious bill is now a part of the fabric of Texas.
LouAnn, It would be great if you could get the culprits and their fossil fuels payoffs on Facebook. Here we are engulfed by the Climate Crisis, burning and flooding, thanks to our use of fossil fuels and the corrupt climate crisis deniers in our government. Here is a list of major companies maximizing their damage with payoffs to likes of Manchin, Tim Scott, James Lankford, Mike Crapo and on and on:
Top Contributors, 2021-2022
Contributor Amount
Samson Energy $419,230
Koch Industries $339,746
Midland Energy $274,370
Devon Energy $255,800
Excelerate Energy $255,500
Occidental Petroleum $245,445
Chevron Corp $238,282
Cox Oil $214,887
Berexco Inc $161,950
Otis Eastern $153,896
Williams Companies $144,475
Exxon Mobil $144,356
Performance Contractors Inc $132,805
Enterprise Products Partners $131,929
Kent Distributors $131,616
Hilcorp Energy $122,754
Marathon Petroleum $120,402
Magnolia Oil & Gas $115,800
Edison Chouest Offshore $115,225
Geosouthern Energy $101,000 (OpenSecrets Oil & Gas)
I agree. I left my TV off for most of the week for reasons above. I'm glad for this summary, since I chose not to tune in to the daily hand wringing over Biden. I would tune back in if they also focused on the January 6th insurrection and the Sedition Caucus that enabled it.
Ellen, I did the same thing last week, except to check in to see whether Nicolle Wallace had retreated from negativism, after her beginning commentary had been favorable to Biden, then slid downhill. Apparently, she was sufficiently chastised, and returned to objectivity. I'll tune out this week, too, if there's too much finger-pointing at Biden, ignoring the fact that there's plenty of blame for the last 20 years. The real culprits in our country's ills are escaping.
Yeah, Robert Reich's right, there are some big things we need to concentrate on and get right and do it ASAP. Biden and his advisors screwed up the "end" of the war in Afghanistan but they are earnestly trying hard to fix it. Hard to imagine Trump might have done any better, easy to imagine he would have washed his hands of it.
I dumped on Biden a couple of times last week, but he's still doing pretty well with the big picture and his heart's in the right place. Can't ask for more than that.
One of the jerks holding up Biden's agenda is my very own jerk, Kurt Schrader. He only gets my vote because his R opponents are totally off the deep end. I think it's time for a phone call. I realize that part of his district is Clackastan (Clackamus County), but that's no excuse.
For your consideration via Robert Reich:
I'm as sensitive as anyone to the sufferings of Afghani's now, but I've had it with the sanctimony of journalists and pundits who haven't thought about Afghanistan for 20 years -- many of whom urged we get out -- but who are now filling the August news hole with overwrought stories about Biden's botched exit and Taliban atrocities.
Yes, the exit could have been better planned and executed. Yes, it's all horribly sad. But can we get a grip? The sudden all-consuming focus on Afghanistan is distracting us from hugely important stuff that's coming to a head at home:
(1) Republican politicians and right-wing media worsening the surging Delta variant of COVID by fighting masks and vaccinations, as cities and school systems struggle to decide what to do;
(2) wildfires and floods consuming much of America as House Democrats absurdly threaten to oppose Biden's $3.5 trillion budget blueprint containing important measures to slow climate change;
(3) Texas on the verge of passing the nation's most anti-democracy voting restrictions, adding to voter suppression measures in 24 other states, at the same time the "For the People Act" and the "John Lewis Voting Rights Act" -- which would remedy these horrendous laws -- languish in the Senate because Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema refuse to do anything about the filibuster.
Enough sanctimony over Afghanistan. Enough about Biden's falling approval ratings. We've had enough wall-to-wall coverage of the Olympics and then Andrew Cuomo and now the airport in Kabul. Can we please focus on the biggest things that need and deserve our attention right now? The window of opportunity to do anything about them will close sooner than we expect.
If we don't take action now on COVID and the critical importance of vaccinations and masks, on climate change and Biden's $3.5 trillion package, and on voter suppression and the necessity of the For the People and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts, we may never.
That's my view. What do you think?
RR
I just read an article in the nyt about hospital staff in Staten Island are refusing to get vaccinated. I am not surprised. I grew up in S.I. and it was always the most conservative borough. And what conservative meant then and now is hooray for me and the hell with everybody else.
Dennis, I grew up on Staten Island as well and it is disheartening to see how it has devolved into such a right wingnut place. I still Zoom every other week with some of my HS friends and so I am kept up to date with the insanity there.
They're white wingers.
Sizzlin, TC. Sizzlin.
Three percent of the population are on medications that block their bodies from making antibodies to the vaccine. They are people with organ transplants and others on immunosuppressants. These are also generally sick people who go to the hospital for their infusions regularly. For these people, the pandemic will likely never end. If anyone working at a hospital does not want to get vaccinated to protect these vulnerable patients, they need to quit and go pack boxes at Amazon. No excuses. Their behavior is more proof that the conservative world view is incompatible with a compassionate, inclusive, functioning society.
I agree with you. Two weeks from now the MSM will find another shiny object and go there. It's not journalism any longer, it's 'angertainment' or the 'grievance grovel'. I've gto better things to do. Enough already.
I agree with Robert Reich. And sometimes, I also think the whole mask/vaccination thing could an effort by the GOP to change the subject, distract us from crucial issues such as climate change, civil rights, voting rights, education, etc.
I think it’s more than that. I think it is the way they deny the Biden administration a large victory over the pandemic, and keep democrats from demonstrating that good governance works, and delivers for the good of the people. Their supporters and their health be damned. It’s reprehensible, it’s immoral, and unfortunately I think it’s working.
The typical Repuglican playbook. They will gladly let the ship sink if a Democrat is at the helm, just for spite and political points. Reprehensible.
And, always at the expense of their own believers. Seek those donations and press coverages, but care not one iota for the lives of those people. The same will be true of their voters suppressions and oppressions. They are harming their own constituents' abilities to vote but care not.
Add to that Trump's inexcusable handling of the pandemic - and don't give me the crap about his initiating "Operation Warp Speed." He did nothing but obstruct.
Thank you, Catherine for Robert Reich's words of wisdom. What has been happening here is the usual story of Democrats eating their own, and the "liberal" press acting like Fox. If I see another image of Jake Tapper's furrowed brow, I'll reduce the television to rubble. As Reich points out, and I'm expanding on, if we don't act on what we can change, our democracy will be lost and we'll witness the results of climate change's rage, with no turning back.
I think you are right on, time to show our support for Biden’s plan.
Let Congress know, I am.
Yes! Communicating with our elected representatives remains, for now, a viable means of engaging in our government of, by and for the people.
I think your thoughts are reflective of ALL of us who have been paying attention. Well expressed and exemplary.
TY
Biden has found his footing after the initial shock. Unless there is terrorism, U.S. evacuation will become steadily more organized and efficient.
His first public responses were godawful in their “Problem? What problem?” tone.I felt then that it could be bad enough that Biden’s agenda would be swept aside as was LBJ’s after 1965.
I’m more sanguine now. But America is in an odd position domestically. The Republicans are madly and vainly trying to rewrite history, while the Democrats are trying their level best to turn a possible victory of gigantic proportions into an absurd defeat. Should they succeed, it will be the apotheosis of their all too frequent internal meltdowns. I’m sure the Republicans, themselves at the lowest point in history, can scarcely believe their good fortune.
Meantime the countrywide but primarily southern resistance to sanity in any way, shape, or form. When Trump is booed at a rally, it is conclusive evidence that spite and stupidity hold sway in a large segment of the population.
By comparison Afghanistan looks sane, but desperate.
Onward Ivermectin. :(
Exactly right, Eric.
Let's also remind ourselves that DeSantis (would anyone buy a used car from a salesman who looked like him?) is resisting people getting free vaccinations and telling them if they get it they can be treated with Regeneron - and (surprise, surprise, to no one's shock at all) it turns out the owner of Regeneron is one of his major financial backers.
Disgusting. He’s doughy and clammy looking. Great strategy. Get sick, sucker. I’ve got the cure for you.
Eric: The following is a detailed report, copied in full, referring to your claim that, quote, ' Democrats are trying their level best to turn a possible victory of gigantic proportions into an absurd defeat.' :
Joe Manchin is opposing big parts of Biden’s agenda as the Koch network pressures him
PUBLISHED TUE, JUN 8 202110:11 AM EDTUPDATED TUE, JUN 8 20212:40 PM EDT
Brian Schwartz@SCHWARTZBCNBC
KEY POINTS
• The Koch network has been actively pressuring Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin to oppose key legislative items linked to Biden’s agenda, including filibuster reform and voting rights legislation.
• The lobbying effort appears to be paying off. Manchin, in a recent op-ed, wrote that he opposed eliminating the filibuster and that he would not vote for the For the People Act.
• The Koch network specifically calls on its grassroots supporters to push Manchin, a conservative Democrat, to be against some of his party’s legislative priorities.
'The political advocacy group backed by billionaire Charles Koch has been pressuring Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to oppose key parts of the Democratic agenda, including filibuster reform and voting rights legislation.'
'That lobbying effort appears to be paying off. Manchin, in a recent op-ed, wrote that he opposed eliminating the filibuster and that he would not vote for the For the People Act, which, advocates say, would limit the influence of big donors on elections.
President Joe Biden has called some of the voting restrictions proposed by Republican leaders in several states “sick” and “un-American.” The president has praised the For the People Act and has said the filibuster must be changed.'
'Sixty votes are needed to break the filibuster in the Senate in order to allow legislation to get a final vote. Democrats, who have 50 seats, have narrow control of the chamber because of Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.'
'CNBC reviewed an episode of a Koch policy group Americans for Prosperity’s video series, along with ads crafted by the organization. The network specifically calls on its grassroots supporters to push Manchin, a conservative Democrat, to be against some of his party’s legislative priorities.'
'Americans for Prosperity launched a website titled West Virginia Values, which calls on people to email Manchin “to be The Voice West Virginia Needs In D.C. — Reject Washington’s Partisan Agenda.”
'It then lists all of the items Manchin has promised to oppose, including the idea of eliminating the filibuster, the For the People Act and packing the Supreme Court. It then shows everything the group believes Manchin should oppose, including Biden’s infrastructure plan and the union-friendly PRO Act.'
'Americans for Prosperity leaders took part in one of their video series with their West Virginia state director in May where they praised Manchin for voicing his opposition to abolishing the filibuster. Both Americans for Prosperity and Manchin have said they believe eliminating the filibuster would exacerbate partisanship.'
The video was reviewed by CNBC after it was posted to the group’s Facebook page.
“A wise man once said that it takes a lot of courage to stand up to your enemies but that it takes even more courage up to stand up to your friends,” Ted Ellis, director of coalitions for Americans for Prosperity’s government affairs team, told the audience. “And that’s what Joe Manchin is doing right now. He’s displaying, I think, a lot of courage and we should applaud that.”
“Our grassroots are critically important and it would be difficult to say that they are more important anywhere than West Virginia right now because of the dramatic impact that our grassroots have in West Virginia in encouraging Senator Manchin to stand strong on this point,” Casey Mattox, vice president of legal and judicial Strategy at Americans for Prosperity, said during the presentation.'
'Ellis is listed on a recent lobbying report as one of the Americans for Prosperity officials who in the first quarter of 2021 lobbied against the For the People Act and Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. The lobbyists targeted House and Senate lawmakers.'
'In a statement to CNBC, a spokesman for Americans for Prosperity did not deny whether its officials have spoken directly to Manchin or his staff about the For the People Act. The representative praised Manchin’s stance on the bill and likened the group’s stance to that of the American Civil Liberties Union.'
“Sen. Manchin has long blazed his own path, and on this issue, we agree: Extreme partisanship gets in the way of finding positive solutions,” Lo Isidro, a spokesman for AFP, told CNBC in an emailed statement on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, this bill and the tactics some are using to pass it would make it harder to work together – chilling debate, worsening partisanship, and setting up a false choice between voting rights and free speech. We’re for both. Like the ACLU, our concerns focus on the portion that targets the First Amendment. And we’ll continue to defend those rights.”
'
A spokesman for Manchin did not return a request for comment.
Americans for Prosperity also launched a radio ad in West Virginia that quotes Manchin himself saying Democrats aren’t for the Green New Deal or Medicare for All. “Encourage Senator Manchin to keep his promise. To reject a partisan agenda that will host West Virginia’s back from meeting their full potential,” the voiceover says in the ad.'
'The Koch political network is just one of many groups that have orchestrated outside efforts to oppose the Democratic-backed election bill.'
'The New Yorker reported on a meeting between Koch leaders and representatives from other conservative-leaning groups about how they have tried to stop the bill from passing but that some of their own polling shows the campaign finance elements of the legislation is widely supported.'
'Heritage Action and other groups organized a rally in March in West Virginia that was meant to pressure Manchin to oppose similar legislation to the For the People Act, , according to the watchdog group Documented.net.'
'Manchin has defended the Kochs from attacks by his own party.
“People want jobs. You don’t beat up people. I mean, I don’t agree with their politics or philosophically, but, you know, they’re Americans, they’re doing — paying their taxes,” he said in response to questions about party leaders blasting the Kochs.
“They’re not breaking the law. They’re providing jobs,” he said.'
More about Manchin --
All of the following has been provided by Open Secrets. See link below:
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=E01
Led by the oil and gas industry, this sector regularly pumps the vast majority of its campaign contributions into Republican coffers. Even as other traditionally GOP-inclined industries have shifted somewhat to the left, this sector has remained rock-solid red.
Since the 1990 election cycle, more than two-thirds of this sector's contributions to candidates and party committees has gone to Republicans. Besides oil and gas, the electric utilities industry is another big donor in this sector. Less generous, but even more partisan, is the mining industry'
Top Lobbying Clients, 2021
Client/Parent Total
Koch Industries $5,590,000
Royal Dutch Shell $3,750,000
Chevron Corp $3,700,000
Occidental Petroleum $3,670,000
Exxon Mobil $2,770,000
Please note the Manchin received the most from the oil and gas sectors. Four more Democrats, all from Texas, were also handsomely endowed by the sector. See below:
Top 20 Recipients
Rank Candidate Office Amount
1 Manchin, Joe (D-WV) Senate $179,450
2 McCarthy, Kevin (R-CA) House $113,117
3 Scott, Tim (R-SC) Senate $78,599
4 Herrell, Yvette (R-NM) House $77,026
5 Rodgers, Cathy McMorris (R-WA) House $69,001
6 Scalise, Steve (R-LA) House $66,757
7 Fletcher, Lizzie (D-TX) House $65,050
8 Kennedy, John (R-LA) Senate $64,672
9 Pfluger, August (R-TX) House $61,180
10 Zinke, Ryan (R-MT) $54,925
11 Lankford, James (R-OK) Senate $53,942
12 Cuellar, Henry (D-TX) House $53,700
13 Crenshaw, Dan (R-TX) House $53,163
14 Gonzales, Tony (R-TX) House $49,675
15 Cheney, Liz (R-WY) House $49,196
16 Roy, Chip (R-TX) House $48,929
17 Taylor, Van (R-TX) House $44,010
18 Crapo, Mike (R-ID) Senate $43,825
19 Gonzalez, Vicente (D-TX) House $42,750
20 Veasey, Marc (D-TX) House $39,300
How interesting it is when the daw details are brought to light. The making of the sausage is in full view. As always, this is so helpful a post.
I was thinking however of the 9 Democrats threatening not to vote for the Budget Bill as a means of scuppering the big picture of Biden’s agenda.
When the incoming is from your own group, and you have to get past that before you can hope to make cause with Manchin, it seems hardly likely that the quicksand will dry up.
My conclusion is that it becomes ever more difficult to be optimistic about America in a time of great peril.
Your sobering research highlights that the will of the people scarcely matters except that they be coddled at election time, and the good of the people as expressed in legislation is not even on the far horizon for many.
Was it ever thus? Did creatures like Gaetz, Boebert, Brooks, and Taylor Greene emerge from one swamp to find notoriety in another in times past? It seems to me highly unlikely.
Mitch McConnell is one of a classical political type. There have been many of his ilk.
But the times have become so ineffably bizarre in such a short time that the wildest, least conscious and most self-promoting have been hurled up to surf the wave of ignorance that has engulfed America. And many more barbarians are at the gate, waiting to claw their way in in 2022.
It is sad that at a time of such deep peril the quality of leadership as expressed by state and federal politicians is at such a low ebb.
What really can be hoped for? The best of the bunch have the Hobson’s choice of engaging with the bigots, hatemongers, and presenters on their territory and being thoroughly sullied in the process, or taking the high road and conceding the playing field, such as it is, to them.
What happened to service? Expertise? Communality of spirit? Rising to the occasion?
I am passing through despair into a sort of indifference. It’s all broken broken broken. The same response is to just turn away.
There are no figures like John Lewis now. It is folly to think that “good trouble” can be made and there be any result other than passing (quickly passing) notice from the 24 hour news cycle, which has, incidentally, been co-opted by an institution from which Josef Goebbels could take lessons.
The Texas State Democrats were amazingly courageous and dignified and right thinking - and their effect has been wholly inconsequential.
It’s on the very precipice of being too late now. If the voting rights legislation fails, Americac will have ceded liberal democracy. It will flutter on, a bird with a broken wing and we shall pretend that not all is lost, for some sad months or maybe years. But the millions of Americans who know better and will face stark truth head on, will know better. Done like dinner, to coin a phrase.
The Money, Eric, and the Corruption. I don't think of these factors without visualizing the Koch Bros. as perpetrators at the front of the line of our decline. One of them, David, died in 2019. There are others, of course, and there are good books on the subject. If you haven't read Jane Mayer's, Dark Money, I recommend it. A quarter to a third of our population represent another section of the dark shroud, which is ours. While always discouraging negativity about America's future, your words may be too close to the truth. I hope that you aren't on target, but we move closer and closer.
Good recommendation on "Dark Money", Fern. I've heard of it but never picked it up or read it. After your mention here, I checked our online library; found they had it, and it was available; downloaded it to my phone; which I'll now carry to the kitchen and listen to while I'm cleaning vegetables from the garden and cooking for the winter. That's one mode of mixing the old style with the new one.
Heydon, my mouth and eyes jumped for your vegetables. I am very glad that you will read 'Dark Money'. It is great reporting and may insist that you sit down to read and stop walking around so much. Please let me know what you think of book when your done. Salud!
Correction: Ah, you will be listening to it. Okay, you still may want to sit down, once in a while, to listen well.
I've read Dark Money. Great reporting. Appalling subject matter. Her subsequent New Yorker (?), Atlantic (?) pieces are also spot on.
We are just at a bad, bad place in the historical cycle and we've navigated there blindly. Most don't care about long term possibilities (like that the trickle down effect doesn't). Another sizable group feels that the point of life is to make more money than anybody else and direct their lives to that point. Huge numbers of people have been smashed to their knees by pointlessly stupid incarceration, the opioid epidemic, Facebook with the weird and dark culture it spawned, the Covid tragedy, and in the end Donald Trump who has understood both more and less than we ever imagined.
It feels like the bread and circuses time for this great empire. Were it not for the existence of fast foods and the giant maw of television, we might have had a revolution.
Now we are at the stage where people of good instinct say, "Just when you think he/she can't say/do anything stupider/viler, this happens".
And having satisfied their sense of sagacity, they get on with their day.
I'm feeling defeated. If this was a horse race, insanity would have the pole position coming around the home stretch. The bad guys would be a not too distant second. And the good guys have pulled up lame.
I long to be proven decisively wrong. I long for a sense of moral outrage and propriety to take hold of the mass of Americans, expressed in something profound like a general strike. I'm desperately keen to see the Biden team's brilliant legislation make it to his desk. I'd love justice to come down on the Trump circle like a scythe, with not a scintilla of mercy. I'd love to see America humble - not humbled, united rather than isolated, healthy in mind and body.
Hell, I'd take any two of those at this stage.
Rambling. I just heard the gong go off. :)
Getting to the point, WE HAVE TO GET TO BIDEN, by foot, by car, by bus, by train, by mail, by phone. B I D E N!
Interesting. How do you mean that?
(In the bigger sense)
Plainly, ORGANIZATION.
A FOR THE PEOPLE ACT campaign directed at BIDEN.
MASSIVE.
He knows how to get it passed. BIDEN needs pressure from the people. He is the target.
BIDEN the only one to get in done.
'...the will of the people scarcely matters...', Eric, this was the phase of yours that I found the most piercing because suppressing and subverting our elections is the point of the Republican legislatures in the states. You also wrote, 'There are no figures like John Lewis ...', there are, however, many outstanding activists and elected representatives. How much difference could Lewis make now; how much of a difference can they make -- and don't forget the American people -- that is the question.
Caught me. :)
I phrased that wrongly. There are many Americans of the courage, grace and intelligence of John Lewis. However, we live in an age of celebrity and round the clock cable news coverage. Ironically, nothing survives that. Too many value the trivial and sensational to amplify and appreciate extraordinary and quiet heroism.
And of course it takes time to make one's mark.
I was momentarily excited by the talk of the "People's Summer". The people who spoke for the activism to come were bracing. They have backbone, deep life experience, and scars (and are mainly Black).
Nothing that I would call consequential resulted. The march to Austin was duly noted. Their meetings with members of Congress were recorded for posterity.
And the Democrats returned to the legislature and an odious bill is now a part of the fabric of Texas.
And the band played on.
Thank you for this List Fern!!!😡 Hopefully I can Share it on Facebook!!!😊
LouAnn, It would be great if you could get the culprits and their fossil fuels payoffs on Facebook. Here we are engulfed by the Climate Crisis, burning and flooding, thanks to our use of fossil fuels and the corrupt climate crisis deniers in our government. Here is a list of major companies maximizing their damage with payoffs to likes of Manchin, Tim Scott, James Lankford, Mike Crapo and on and on:
Top Contributors, 2021-2022
Contributor Amount
Samson Energy $419,230
Koch Industries $339,746
Midland Energy $274,370
Devon Energy $255,800
Excelerate Energy $255,500
Occidental Petroleum $245,445
Chevron Corp $238,282
Cox Oil $214,887
Berexco Inc $161,950
Otis Eastern $153,896
Williams Companies $144,475
Exxon Mobil $144,356
Performance Contractors Inc $132,805
Enterprise Products Partners $131,929
Kent Distributors $131,616
Hilcorp Energy $122,754
Marathon Petroleum $120,402
Magnolia Oil & Gas $115,800
Edison Chouest Offshore $115,225
Geosouthern Energy $101,000 (OpenSecrets Oil & Gas)
Thank you, LouAnn. Salud!
Ditto. RR continues to impress me all these years after the Clinton years. Maybe even more so.
I agree. I left my TV off for most of the week for reasons above. I'm glad for this summary, since I chose not to tune in to the daily hand wringing over Biden. I would tune back in if they also focused on the January 6th insurrection and the Sedition Caucus that enabled it.
Ellen, I did the same thing last week, except to check in to see whether Nicolle Wallace had retreated from negativism, after her beginning commentary had been favorable to Biden, then slid downhill. Apparently, she was sufficiently chastised, and returned to objectivity. I'll tune out this week, too, if there's too much finger-pointing at Biden, ignoring the fact that there's plenty of blame for the last 20 years. The real culprits in our country's ills are escaping.
I like your view in its entirety. Well said.
Yeah, Robert Reich's right, there are some big things we need to concentrate on and get right and do it ASAP. Biden and his advisors screwed up the "end" of the war in Afghanistan but they are earnestly trying hard to fix it. Hard to imagine Trump might have done any better, easy to imagine he would have washed his hands of it.
I dumped on Biden a couple of times last week, but he's still doing pretty well with the big picture and his heart's in the right place. Can't ask for more than that.
I'm with you, Robert Reich! I have thought the press has been over the top from the very beginning, and have lost sight of what needs to get done NOW!
Absolutely, 100% agree with you!
Totally agree. Well said.
There's a reason why I call them the Imperial Press Corpse.
One of the jerks holding up Biden's agenda is my very own jerk, Kurt Schrader. He only gets my vote because his R opponents are totally off the deep end. I think it's time for a phone call. I realize that part of his district is Clackastan (Clackamus County), but that's no excuse.