It's the first weekend of June, and we have reached the halfway point of 2021, the year we all hoped would be better than 2020. The jury is still out on whether this is true, but the signs are not promising, given that this year offers more potential Ass Clown awardees than Brood X cicadas.
As always, this is a difficult choice to make. What can I say of a two week period that includes standout performances by Texas governor Greg Abbott, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, "attorney" Sidney Powell, disgraced former general Michael Flynn, and alleged Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Louie Gohmert, each of whom is eminently deserving of the award? And we haven't even mentioned the increasingly-crazy Republican party, the "My Pillow" guy, the ludicrous "audit" of the Maricopa County votes from the November election, and Senatorial embarrassments Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz. And on top of that, we haven't even looked beyond the borders of the United States to consider such ultra-dim luminaries as Benjamin Netanyahu and Alexander Lukashenko. How on earth can I choose from such a galaxy of dim stars?
As always, though, I have to decide, and so I have. Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the battered tinfoil crown of
The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2021
is bestowed upon
and
Senators Manchin and Sinema represent states with strongly conservative populations, and perhaps for this reason, they form a formidable clog in the pipes of the Biden Administration's attempts to help the country recover from the effects - physical and economic - of the Covid-19 pandemic. Both senators absolutely refuse to consider abolition of the Senate filibuster, which is a favored tool of minority Republicans to block any actions by the Democratic majority. In the words of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell*, "One hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration."
Senator Manchin, for his part, is focused - probably for politically self-defensive purposes - on the elusive chimera of "bipartisanship," which has utterly disappeared from the Republican tool box, as opposed to the Republican rhetoric**. Senator Sinema, for her part, piously intones that the filibuster "... is a tool that protects the democracy of our nation. Rather than allowing our country to ricochet wildly every two to four years back and forth between policies, the idea of the filibuster was created by those who came before to create comity and to encourage bipartisanship and work together.”
Both senators ignore the fact that the filibuster is a Senate rule, subject to change or deletion, and was never envisioned by the authors of the Constitution ... you can read the Senate Historian's discussion of its history here. They further ignore its checkered history as a tool to block civil rights legislation. And it's clear that neither one understands that a Republican majority would vote to eliminate the filibuster in the proverbial New York Minute if it served their purposes.
Beyond her full-throated endorsement of the filibuster, Senator Sinema, cited a "personal family matter" (not further explained) as the reason why she missed a critical Senate vote on establishing a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6th Capitol riots ... a commission successfully blocked by Republican members afraid of what such an investigation might reveal about their actions.
Senators Manchin and Sinema, with their hardheaded opposition to elimination of the filibuster, are denying the nation a critical opportunity to move forward. They ignore the fact that traditional bipartisanship is dead, and that the ability to get worthwhile things done may - however unfortunately - require the application of the blunt force the other party would certainly use in the same situation.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the Right-Cheek Ass Clown of the Month Award for June, 2021, is jointly awarded to Senators Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema - two senators who clearly do not understand the importance of their actions to the future of the nation.
Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday. More thoughts then.
Bilbo
** In the GOP lexicon, "bipartisanship" actually means, "do it my way or it doesn't get done."
3 comments:
Not to be too picky, but her name is Kyrsten. Most of the time, it doesn't bother me when she doesn't toe the Democratic Party line; independent thinkers are, by and large, a good thing. But on the filibuster and the 1/6 commission, she has it wrong - big time.
"And it's clear that neither one understands that a Republican majority would vote to eliminate the filibuster in the proverbial New York Minute if it served their purposes."
Very, very, very, very true. As a matter of fact, true to infinity.
And there's one more Kristen that needs to be fixed.
You make an eloquent and persuasive case. Both of these Senators need to rethink their priorities.
Sadly, the filibuster must go. It does not foster bipartisanship, only obstruction. It could help, in theory, but only if the minority is willing to be bipartisan. That, to the country's detriment, is never going to happen thanks to McConnell et al.
Thanks, as always, for sorting through the bumper crop of potential dishonorees for us. It's not an easy job!
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