Thursday Open Thread

16
  by: Colorado Pols January 20, 2022 at 6:58 AM MST

“If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.”

–Louis Brandeis

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16 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

    • Duke Cox says:
      January 20, 2022 at 9:11 AM MST

      Good morning.

      I think America is being just a bit hard on uncle Joe. We need to find a way to change cynicism into compassion, doubt into confidence.

      Our president is a dedicated public servant, doing his best to right the ship in the face of withering and relentless opposition.

      That opposition is in thrall to and serves a man who operates a criminal organization, and tried to use our government to install himself as an American equivalent to Vladimir Putin.

      Imagine how much progress we could have made if the GQP, and what remains of the GOP, had offered even the slightest bit of the "bi-partisanship" the two Republican senators who caucus with the Democrats demanded.

      There is no leader poised to challenge the Orange King except Ron DeSantis. Even worse, I think. 

      • The realist says:
        January 20, 2022 at 10:00 AM MST

        A sobering political time, to be sure.

      • Voyageur says:
        January 20, 2022 at 10:02 AM MST

        No Republicans caucus with the Ds.  I think you meant Independents Angus King and Bernie Sanders do.  Or was that a humorous jibe at Vidkun Quisling Sinema and Benedict Arnold Manchin?

        Anyway, what Duke said.

        A great American, Joe Louis, was once asked why he joined the Army in World War II to support a racist government that oppressed Black people.

        He replied: “Man, whatever’s wrong with this country, it ain’t nothin’ Hitler can fix!”

        Likewise , whatever’s wrong with the Biden-Harris administration, it ain’t nothin’ Trump or De Santis can fix.

        • Duke Cox says:
          January 20, 2022 at 10:26 AM MST

          Just being Snarky, V.

          I know the various affiliations. Manchin and Sinema are corporate assassins who have done what they have been paid to do. Not sure what they are…Democrats, they ain’t 

      • JohnInDenver says:
        January 20, 2022 at 10:05 AM MST

        I think you underestimate the draw of the Presidency.  Next year in January, we’ll know more about what is happening with Trump, his family, his Organization, and various Trumpinistas who are being wound up in legal processes.  And those serious about running will have outed themselves by campaigning for those running in 2022.

        DeSantis is only the most obvious of possible alternatives.  But Ballotpedia maintains a list of names of politicians and public figures discussed as potential presidential contenders in 2024 by national media outlets: Potential Republican presidential candidates

        From that broad and relatively diverse (in a partisan sense — not by gender, race, or ethnicity) list, a few provoke my laughter.  Many seem implausible [but I would have said the same thing about DJT]. A handful seem dangerous, in that I can see some political skills and have an idea of what they would prioritize.

        YMMV

        • Duke Cox says:
          January 20, 2022 at 11:31 AM MST

          Indeed. The Republican panoply of GOP wannabes and GQP opportunists almost seems a joke. Without their own Rupert Murdoch and a John Hagee or two, none of them stand a chance against the Orange King.

          Who actually thinks Trump, making the assumption he is not incarcerated, won't run in 2024? It is his only hope to escape the hounds baying at his very heels.

  2. Diogenesdemar says:
    January 20, 2022 at 10:32 AM MST

    We have seen [those who fail to learn the lessons] . . .

    . . . and they are us our senators.
     

    For Black Voters, a Flashback to the 1890s

    As Waldman wrote:

    Then, in 1890, Boston Brahmin congressman Henry Cabot Lodge proposed legislation to federally supervise Southern elections, aimed at securing equal voting rights. Opponents dubbed the mild measure the “Lodge Force Bill” and panicked. The bill passed the House, but a thirty-three-day filibuster blocked it in the Senate. This was the first successful Southern filibuster of a federal civil rights bill: a cherished tradition begins.

    And yet, as if blind to history, or in eager desire to repeat it, here we are again. The mustaches and dresses have less volume, but the racism carries the same venom.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/opinion/black-voters.html

  3. RepealAndReplace says:
    January 20, 2022 at 12:35 PM MST

    When does Joe Biden call Dick Morris in and start his triangulation?

    Mitt Romney was complaining that he wants to revise the Electoral Vote Act but was never invited to the White House. So, Biden should invite him. Here's an opportunity for either a nice photo op for Biden (at a minimum), or enactment of revisions to a law in desperate need of revision (best case scenario).

    But why should Biden reach out to one of the anti-Trump Republicans when he can hold out for passage of the John Lewis bill. (And Build Back Better.) In fact, if the left wants to really do something, emulate what the GOP did ten years ago – keep voting over and over again for legislation that will not clear the Senate (I think at last count, there were 62 votes in the House to repeal the Affordable Care Act). If nothing else, it will excite the base and raise money.

    Everyone says don't bother trying for bipartisanship because it won't work. Well, with the exception of Neera Tanden, most of Biden's cabinet picks were approved with Republican support. And there was the infrastructure bill which was approved with 19 Republicans voting for it.

    Maybe Biden just need to cherry pick stuff that enough people can agree on and claim victory in getting that stuff passed.

    Or let the House keep passing Build Back Better and sending the legislation to the Senate…..

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