January 6 at the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images)
The refusal of 35 Senate Republicans to support a bipartisan commission to investigate January 6, ensuring its failure, speaks loudly about their determination not to reveal the truth of the insurrection—and their complicity and fear. They employed the filibuster to avoid the investigation passing by a simple majority.
Before and since his arrival on January 20, President Biden has voiced his belief in bipartisanship. Yet elected Republicans have largely ignored this effort. So what should come next? Was this rejection of a real accounting of that deadly day a turning point? Must the filibuster be ended? Beyond this investigation, should Democrats stop trying to work with Republicans? Should Democrats accept that Republicans have given up on democracy and telling the truth?
As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome. I look forward to hearing what’s on your mind—and the chance to learn from each other.
If you like what you are reading and believe in the value of building this community, I hope that you will consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 a month or $50 a year.
Mitch McConnell behaves a if he is still the Majority Leader, determining what is brought up when, and what becomes law. He is not. Until the Dems can get this greedy, power-driven oligarch under control, the (R)s will continue to run the show. And the Dems are in real danger of losing both the Senate and the House unless they eliminate the filibuster and pass voting rights legislation. This is no time for softball. The future of the Republic depends upon it. Too many Americans are ignorant of the real danger we are in.
Senate Republicans have been intransigent since McConnell declared his intent was to make Obama a one term president. Then there was the hypocrisy of delaying Garland's appointment followed by the rush to approve Kavanaugh. There have been so many examples of the abuse of their offices. There are declarations of the culpability and danger of the former guy but those turn out to be just words. They cower in fear of tweets and primaries. In these and so many cases we get see what they do, not just what they say. They have no intention of working fairly on behalf the the American people. Democrats should ignore and roll over them with raw power politics when they can, use them when they must, and abandon any fantasy they will be partners in caring for our country. My worst fear is the Democrats do not have the spines to do what's necessary. Bullies only succeed when victims don't stand up.
If all Biden’s plans get stopped, Dems should put all their time into the 1/6 investigation. They should put no time limit on it; they should call other House members to testify, and hold their committee status as ransom for them show. They should break every compromise they made to McCarthy; they should keep it going till July of 2022, when they release their devastating results.
They can do it. Republicans did it successfully over Benghazi; Democrats can change public consensus for these lying Republicans with a comprehensive plan.
Fear chrissakes, listen to McConnell when he tells us he is gunning to 100% block every Democratic measure in the Senate. There is not a *hint* of bipartisanship in the McConnell playbook. Blow up the filibuster and full steam ahead. (Since when does a majority vote mean you have to have 20% of the other side voting with you to get something passed? It is absurd on its face.)
The GQP has thrown too much sand in the wheels of justice. Six months since the worst violation of the US Capitol since the early 1800's and the first time since the Civil War since our democracy was nearly toppled from within. The point should be clear to the DEM Senate caucus: working with Republicans under their self-inflicted extremism is impossible. 2022 is around the corner. If the DEM Senate doesn't unify now, measures imposed by Republican legislatures to suppress the vote will mean pushing democracy beyond reach of citizens. A hybrid autocracy will supplant the republic, modeled on Republican majority control of legislatures in Florida, Texas, and Republican states where gerrymandered districts build silos to protect party power. We are in a very bad place, and Republican actions this week prove that beyond a doubt.
I believe the Republicans are beyond the point of bipartisanship. If we want to save our democracy it is imperative that we get rid of the filibuster and address voter suppression. It is up to us. Failure is not an option.
YES! The Democrats should absolutely STOP trying to work with the Republicans and unite behind the values they profess to hold dear and get going on getting voting rights, raising minimum wage, protecting the environment from further devastation by greedy corporations, taxing the rich, getting money out of politics, passing gun laws that abolish automatic weapons, etc etc. TO DO all this as fast as is necessary (they could lose the House in 2022 due to Republican gerrymandering of districts) THEY MUST GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER. It is not that complicated. If they situation were reversed, the GOP would already have done that. They are nothing if not determined and they can unite around anything, even the most brazen lies. If Dems continue this pitiful luke warm let's be friends I'm sure we can find common ground shit, the psychopathic power mad leaders in the GOP ( and there is more than a few of them) will eat us all for breakfast. I CANNOT for the life of me understand WHY the Dems (with a few exceptions - the Squad, Bernie, Elizabeth, Pramila, etc) are willing to throw the majority of us citizens along with our democracy under the bus. If the Dems do not understand the lawlessness, the actual criminal impunity that the Republicans are endorsing by their continual refusal to hold anyone in their party accountable (1st impeachment, 2nd impeachment, voting against certifying the election results AFTER the attack on the Capitol and now refusing to investigate the attack) then we are most certainly doomed.
Democrats should only agree to work with the Republicans that PUBLICLY accept the 2020 election as it was certified by Republicans and Democrats in all communities across our nation. Any person/Republican in Congress that continues to deny the 2020 election as so certified needs to be vigorously DENIED any right to participate in Congressional processes. They have proven themselves to be unfit to continue as they have broken their oaths of office.
I have completely given up on the GQP. The GQP is a fascist party now. Here is how they have operated since Reagan. It has only been perfected over the decades:
1) Fearmonger Christian fundamentalists and other bigots.
2) Elect atheist Ayn Fanatic libertarians. (As a Christian atheist I can say this.)
3) Warp, twist, and distort democracy with voter suppression and savage gerrymandering.
4) Whore for the Koch faction super-rich.
5) Go to step 1
With the help of FoxNews and other hate talk for profit media, Trump made the celebration of bigotry and denial of truth acceptable on the right generally.
There is nothing left to say.
Abandon negotiations. Save democracy. Eliminate the filibuster, pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (HR1), make D.C. and Puerto Rico states, expand the Supreme Court and the House, put redistricting in the hands of a nonpartisan commission of professionals, mandate ranked choice voting everywhere.
This, or the GQP will turn America into a fascist authoritarian oligarchy.
Short answer, yes. I also think, that after this vote, that anyone who choses to remain a Republican, gets painted with the same brush. Enough, already. If after 4 years of the former guy, to this group of insurrectionists, remaining a member of this party means you are okay with most of it. McConnell has come right out and said they will support nothing. I believe at least some of them are guilty of either incitement of 1/6 or actual aid to the insurrectionists. The Republicans were given everything they asked for in these negotiations and still voted no. I'm sick and tired of Democrats giving away everything in the name of bipartisanship. It doesn't exist anymore. I saw a thing this morning that said, if Democrats were given a magic lamp with 3 wishes, they would negotiate it down to 1 wish, and that wish would be what the Republicans want. I'm scared to death that the 2020 election is the last free and fair one we'll ever have. If the Democrats don't start behaving like our country's life depends on them growing a pair, we're done.
This is a hard decision. Democrats need to continue to work with Republicants just to show that they are reasonable. They need to lower their expectations that the Republicants will actually negotiate. There is need to act like the kid down your street that was always disagreeable. Democrats need to hold our heads high and be the adults and act like adults while expecting the others to act like petulant children. At the end we need to push them to the limits and do the right thing, the American thing, with courage and honor. But then privately we can say “screw those ass**les”
It seems as if Republicans are just playing at bipartisanship. It is just to slow Democrats down so time will run out and nothing gets done. We have to face it, the GOP does not give a crap about Americans.
The Democrats should have stopped working with Republicans during the Obama administration when McConnell declared that he wanted to make Obama a one-term president. At that point they showed that their only desire is to remain in power, no matter the cost to our democracy. Now, there is no Republican party, only the Trumpist Part. Honest Republicans should leave and form a new party which will have our democracy and its survival at the top of its agenda, not the one the stated at their convention: "whatever Trump wants".
They are doing the same thing as they did to Obama. Obstruct and delay. If dems accept that repubs have given up on democracy & telling the truth, they are complicit and we will definitely lose our democratic republic. There is a time to reach out, but when the stakes are this high and it's obvious that they will not receive cooperation, IT IS TIME TO FORGE AHEAD AND FIGURE OUT HOW TO ACHIEVE WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY WITHOUT LOOKING BACK. TAKE THE CRITICISM AND DAMN THE TORPEDOES! Otherwise, disenfranchised voters will either not turn out or vote for repubs in the midterms.
‘When someone shows you who they are, you should believe it.’ I think this saying fits the situation Dems are dealing with perfectly. Republicans have shown us who they are repeatedly. They are openly advocating government overthrow. I don’t know how much more obvious it needs to be before Dems acknowledge it.
Right now is a good time for Dems to come up with a plan to counter republican anti-democratic rhetoric. Things like: Is there a metaphorical line in the sand beyond which Dems won’t go? If there is, what would be an appropriate action to take in response to republicans crossing that line? Should criminal investigations of certain senators be launched as a strategy for sidelining them? Should Dems get a rough estimate of the number of white supremacists there are in the armed forces, FBI, national guard, capital police, etc.? If the number is large, what should be done about it? At any rate, we need to know that information.
Dems should be looking into what can be done about tv shows, hate radio & internet platforms that host what is really seditious rhetoric 24/7. The forces that are trying to destroy our democracy count on those entities to keep a steady stream of radical, anti-democracy, domestic terrorism speech flowing into homes across America and we turn a blind eye to it at our own peril. It’s nuts to ignore that!
Almost every senate republican voted against creating a commission to find out what happened on 1/6. Someone should be researching the law about whether or not the republicans who voted against it can be found guilty of sedition, advocating gov’t. overthrow or condoning insurrection:
Ҥ2383. Rebellion or insurrection
“Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the ...“1994—Pub. L. 103–322 inserted "under this title but" before "not less than $10,000.” OR
Ҥ2382. Misprision of treason
Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States and having knowledge of the commission of any treason against them, conceals and does not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known the same to the President or to some judge of the United States, or to the governor or to some judge or justice of a particular State, is guilty of misprision of treason and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than seven years, or both.”
I’m not saying any particular action should be taken right now, I’m saying the research on all of the above should be in progress now, so it’s ready if & when it’s needed. I’m also saying that whatever else may be going on, Dems absolutely, positively MUST have a plan with contingencies and must keep the plan updated weekly.
We have to keep in mind that Democrats may already be doing some of these things, we just don’t know about it. But, if Dems are pretending that all is well and ignoring the trajectory of the republican party, that’s not a good strategy when the democratic rights of over 3 million people are at stake.
Republican Rep. Katko was able to get the Dems to bend on every GOP demand on the Jan 6th Commission. The GOP had planned on that not happening. As a Conservative (that wanted to think the best of the party I supported for 40 years) even I can see that McConnell is still flaunting his "Grim Reaper" persona and my elected Reps and Sens are kowtowing to it. Too many of the motions they make are unprincipled. They need a wake up call. Even if a third party pops up, it won't have the influence needed to get things running again for quite some time. Though I'd prefer just restoring the talking filibuster, (and I wish a Conservative hand was somewhere on those Bills,) the Dems may have to push needed legislation through budget reconciliation.
Sure, if Republican(s) seek out cooperation. See what they have to offer. There's no longer any point in being the first to offer compromise. It doesn't work.
Unfortunately, It seems to me the Republican politicians currently in office are not very interested in working with Dems to support democracy and share wealth with the entire population. IMO, the leadership, at least, is primarily interested in power and money. If they start showing some interest in sharing the wealth with the entire American population and not trying to eliminate everyone who is neither white nor rich from voting, I would be perfectly happy to work with them. 50 years ago I took the same oath they did (support the Constitution...etc) and I think that oath is still binding even though I left active government service in 1984. I don't think many of the Republican politicians even remember the words.
There really is no way to work with McConnell. That's the plan. Obstruct and delay until the Democrats fail or succeed. Either way the Republicans have something they can use for the next election.
Mitch McConnell behaves a if he is still the Majority Leader, determining what is brought up when, and what becomes law. He is not. Until the Dems can get this greedy, power-driven oligarch under control, the (R)s will continue to run the show. And the Dems are in real danger of losing both the Senate and the House unless they eliminate the filibuster and pass voting rights legislation. This is no time for softball. The future of the Republic depends upon it. Too many Americans are ignorant of the real danger we are in.
Senate Republicans have been intransigent since McConnell declared his intent was to make Obama a one term president. Then there was the hypocrisy of delaying Garland's appointment followed by the rush to approve Kavanaugh. There have been so many examples of the abuse of their offices. There are declarations of the culpability and danger of the former guy but those turn out to be just words. They cower in fear of tweets and primaries. In these and so many cases we get see what they do, not just what they say. They have no intention of working fairly on behalf the the American people. Democrats should ignore and roll over them with raw power politics when they can, use them when they must, and abandon any fantasy they will be partners in caring for our country. My worst fear is the Democrats do not have the spines to do what's necessary. Bullies only succeed when victims don't stand up.
Copied from another forum..........
If all Biden’s plans get stopped, Dems should put all their time into the 1/6 investigation. They should put no time limit on it; they should call other House members to testify, and hold their committee status as ransom for them show. They should break every compromise they made to McCarthy; they should keep it going till July of 2022, when they release their devastating results.
They can do it. Republicans did it successfully over Benghazi; Democrats can change public consensus for these lying Republicans with a comprehensive plan.
Fear chrissakes, listen to McConnell when he tells us he is gunning to 100% block every Democratic measure in the Senate. There is not a *hint* of bipartisanship in the McConnell playbook. Blow up the filibuster and full steam ahead. (Since when does a majority vote mean you have to have 20% of the other side voting with you to get something passed? It is absurd on its face.)
The GQP has thrown too much sand in the wheels of justice. Six months since the worst violation of the US Capitol since the early 1800's and the first time since the Civil War since our democracy was nearly toppled from within. The point should be clear to the DEM Senate caucus: working with Republicans under their self-inflicted extremism is impossible. 2022 is around the corner. If the DEM Senate doesn't unify now, measures imposed by Republican legislatures to suppress the vote will mean pushing democracy beyond reach of citizens. A hybrid autocracy will supplant the republic, modeled on Republican majority control of legislatures in Florida, Texas, and Republican states where gerrymandered districts build silos to protect party power. We are in a very bad place, and Republican actions this week prove that beyond a doubt.
I believe the Republicans are beyond the point of bipartisanship. If we want to save our democracy it is imperative that we get rid of the filibuster and address voter suppression. It is up to us. Failure is not an option.
The GOP has endorsed domestic terrorism. There is no negotiating with terrorists and those who support them. This is Berlin 1930’s. Stop this now.
After McConnell announced complete opposition to Biden, why would you expect cooperation
or amity? This was completely predicable so Democratic options should have been carefully
explored and subsequently used. We have lost so much time, and so much sympathy.
Yes. They are not a serious party anymore.
YES! The Democrats should absolutely STOP trying to work with the Republicans and unite behind the values they profess to hold dear and get going on getting voting rights, raising minimum wage, protecting the environment from further devastation by greedy corporations, taxing the rich, getting money out of politics, passing gun laws that abolish automatic weapons, etc etc. TO DO all this as fast as is necessary (they could lose the House in 2022 due to Republican gerrymandering of districts) THEY MUST GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER. It is not that complicated. If they situation were reversed, the GOP would already have done that. They are nothing if not determined and they can unite around anything, even the most brazen lies. If Dems continue this pitiful luke warm let's be friends I'm sure we can find common ground shit, the psychopathic power mad leaders in the GOP ( and there is more than a few of them) will eat us all for breakfast. I CANNOT for the life of me understand WHY the Dems (with a few exceptions - the Squad, Bernie, Elizabeth, Pramila, etc) are willing to throw the majority of us citizens along with our democracy under the bus. If the Dems do not understand the lawlessness, the actual criminal impunity that the Republicans are endorsing by their continual refusal to hold anyone in their party accountable (1st impeachment, 2nd impeachment, voting against certifying the election results AFTER the attack on the Capitol and now refusing to investigate the attack) then we are most certainly doomed.
Democrats should only agree to work with the Republicans that PUBLICLY accept the 2020 election as it was certified by Republicans and Democrats in all communities across our nation. Any person/Republican in Congress that continues to deny the 2020 election as so certified needs to be vigorously DENIED any right to participate in Congressional processes. They have proven themselves to be unfit to continue as they have broken their oaths of office.
I have completely given up on the GQP. The GQP is a fascist party now. Here is how they have operated since Reagan. It has only been perfected over the decades:
1) Fearmonger Christian fundamentalists and other bigots.
2) Elect atheist Ayn Fanatic libertarians. (As a Christian atheist I can say this.)
3) Warp, twist, and distort democracy with voter suppression and savage gerrymandering.
4) Whore for the Koch faction super-rich.
5) Go to step 1
With the help of FoxNews and other hate talk for profit media, Trump made the celebration of bigotry and denial of truth acceptable on the right generally.
There is nothing left to say.
Abandon negotiations. Save democracy. Eliminate the filibuster, pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (HR1), make D.C. and Puerto Rico states, expand the Supreme Court and the House, put redistricting in the hands of a nonpartisan commission of professionals, mandate ranked choice voting everywhere.
This, or the GQP will turn America into a fascist authoritarian oligarchy.
Short answer, yes. I also think, that after this vote, that anyone who choses to remain a Republican, gets painted with the same brush. Enough, already. If after 4 years of the former guy, to this group of insurrectionists, remaining a member of this party means you are okay with most of it. McConnell has come right out and said they will support nothing. I believe at least some of them are guilty of either incitement of 1/6 or actual aid to the insurrectionists. The Republicans were given everything they asked for in these negotiations and still voted no. I'm sick and tired of Democrats giving away everything in the name of bipartisanship. It doesn't exist anymore. I saw a thing this morning that said, if Democrats were given a magic lamp with 3 wishes, they would negotiate it down to 1 wish, and that wish would be what the Republicans want. I'm scared to death that the 2020 election is the last free and fair one we'll ever have. If the Democrats don't start behaving like our country's life depends on them growing a pair, we're done.
This is a hard decision. Democrats need to continue to work with Republicants just to show that they are reasonable. They need to lower their expectations that the Republicants will actually negotiate. There is need to act like the kid down your street that was always disagreeable. Democrats need to hold our heads high and be the adults and act like adults while expecting the others to act like petulant children. At the end we need to push them to the limits and do the right thing, the American thing, with courage and honor. But then privately we can say “screw those ass**les”
If Dems intend to keep the filibuster, then a talking filibuster with all in attendance must be required.
It seems as if Republicans are just playing at bipartisanship. It is just to slow Democrats down so time will run out and nothing gets done. We have to face it, the GOP does not give a crap about Americans.
The Democrats should have stopped working with Republicans during the Obama administration when McConnell declared that he wanted to make Obama a one-term president. At that point they showed that their only desire is to remain in power, no matter the cost to our democracy. Now, there is no Republican party, only the Trumpist Part. Honest Republicans should leave and form a new party which will have our democracy and its survival at the top of its agenda, not the one the stated at their convention: "whatever Trump wants".
NO - NOT - NO - It is failure all the time. They want dictatorship. Do you negotiate with dictators? NO. NO STOP.
They are doing the same thing as they did to Obama. Obstruct and delay. If dems accept that repubs have given up on democracy & telling the truth, they are complicit and we will definitely lose our democratic republic. There is a time to reach out, but when the stakes are this high and it's obvious that they will not receive cooperation, IT IS TIME TO FORGE AHEAD AND FIGURE OUT HOW TO ACHIEVE WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY WITHOUT LOOKING BACK. TAKE THE CRITICISM AND DAMN THE TORPEDOES! Otherwise, disenfranchised voters will either not turn out or vote for repubs in the midterms.
‘When someone shows you who they are, you should believe it.’ I think this saying fits the situation Dems are dealing with perfectly. Republicans have shown us who they are repeatedly. They are openly advocating government overthrow. I don’t know how much more obvious it needs to be before Dems acknowledge it.
Right now is a good time for Dems to come up with a plan to counter republican anti-democratic rhetoric. Things like: Is there a metaphorical line in the sand beyond which Dems won’t go? If there is, what would be an appropriate action to take in response to republicans crossing that line? Should criminal investigations of certain senators be launched as a strategy for sidelining them? Should Dems get a rough estimate of the number of white supremacists there are in the armed forces, FBI, national guard, capital police, etc.? If the number is large, what should be done about it? At any rate, we need to know that information.
Dems should be looking into what can be done about tv shows, hate radio & internet platforms that host what is really seditious rhetoric 24/7. The forces that are trying to destroy our democracy count on those entities to keep a steady stream of radical, anti-democracy, domestic terrorism speech flowing into homes across America and we turn a blind eye to it at our own peril. It’s nuts to ignore that!
Almost every senate republican voted against creating a commission to find out what happened on 1/6. Someone should be researching the law about whether or not the republicans who voted against it can be found guilty of sedition, advocating gov’t. overthrow or condoning insurrection:
Ҥ2383. Rebellion or insurrection
“Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the ...“1994—Pub. L. 103–322 inserted "under this title but" before "not less than $10,000.” OR
Ҥ2382. Misprision of treason
Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States and having knowledge of the commission of any treason against them, conceals and does not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known the same to the President or to some judge of the United States, or to the governor or to some judge or justice of a particular State, is guilty of misprision of treason and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than seven years, or both.”
I’m not saying any particular action should be taken right now, I’m saying the research on all of the above should be in progress now, so it’s ready if & when it’s needed. I’m also saying that whatever else may be going on, Dems absolutely, positively MUST have a plan with contingencies and must keep the plan updated weekly.
We have to keep in mind that Democrats may already be doing some of these things, we just don’t know about it. But, if Dems are pretending that all is well and ignoring the trajectory of the republican party, that’s not a good strategy when the democratic rights of over 3 million people are at stake.
Republican Rep. Katko was able to get the Dems to bend on every GOP demand on the Jan 6th Commission. The GOP had planned on that not happening. As a Conservative (that wanted to think the best of the party I supported for 40 years) even I can see that McConnell is still flaunting his "Grim Reaper" persona and my elected Reps and Sens are kowtowing to it. Too many of the motions they make are unprincipled. They need a wake up call. Even if a third party pops up, it won't have the influence needed to get things running again for quite some time. Though I'd prefer just restoring the talking filibuster, (and I wish a Conservative hand was somewhere on those Bills,) the Dems may have to push needed legislation through budget reconciliation.
Give it up , the Republicans do not want to work with Dems they just want to stop or slow up anything the Dems want to get done.
From outside of the US in Canada, all these political developments in the Great Republic of the South are frigthening.
Sure, if Republican(s) seek out cooperation. See what they have to offer. There's no longer any point in being the first to offer compromise. It doesn't work.
Unfortunately, It seems to me the Republican politicians currently in office are not very interested in working with Dems to support democracy and share wealth with the entire population. IMO, the leadership, at least, is primarily interested in power and money. If they start showing some interest in sharing the wealth with the entire American population and not trying to eliminate everyone who is neither white nor rich from voting, I would be perfectly happy to work with them. 50 years ago I took the same oath they did (support the Constitution...etc) and I think that oath is still binding even though I left active government service in 1984. I don't think many of the Republican politicians even remember the words.
There really is no way to work with McConnell. That's the plan. Obstruct and delay until the Democrats fail or succeed. Either way the Republicans have something they can use for the next election.