It Begins: Vulnerable Senate Democrats rush to slam anti-Donald Trump plans

[kebob]

From Salon:

While many Democrats prepare to fight Trump, some facing re-election in 2018 are already willing to appease him

While congressional Democrats were certainly slow to come to grips with Donald Trump’s election and therefore appeared hesitant to back the calls for resistance that flooded the streets in major American cities in the immediate aftermath, they’ve since embraced their role as the loyal opposition.But even as most Senate Democrats gear up for confirmation battles with a whole host of questionable Trump Cabinet picks, some of their Democratic colleagues are already willing to kowtow to the president-elect’s most fundamental decisions.
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Still, nearly all the five Democratic senators facing re-election in 2018 in states that strongly supported Trump — by 19 percentage points or more — apparently disagree with their more progressive colleagues and have rushed to signal their willingness to cooperate with the new regime.

“That’s just bullshit,” West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, whose state supported Trump by 42 percent, said of his fellow Democrats’ strategy of opposition. “I’m going to help when I can. But I’m going to be holding him accountable when I need to,” he added.
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North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp was quick to suggest that she is ready to work with Republicans on legislation to invest in “clean coal” technologies, as she praised a decision to boot oil pipeline protesters from Standing Rock. Heitkamp was one of the first Democrats to meet with the president-elect and his transition team at Trump Tower last week. Trump won North Dakota by more than 36 points and there’s speculation he is considering Heitkamp for secretary of agriculture or energy.

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/05/deals-with-the-devil-vulnerable-senate-democrats-rush-to-slam-anti-donald-trump-plans/

Other dinos include Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Jon Tester of Montana, and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. And I predict every one if these cowards will suffer the same fate 23 months from now as the Democrats who distanced themselves from President Obama in 2014.

[world wide wally]

1. Fuck them! Campaign against them.

[branford]

3. To what end?

Whether you or I like it or not, these Senators know the priorities and concerns of their constituents (and what it takes to get reelected in their states). If we try to primary them from the left, it will do nothing but ensure a Republican challenger will win. More progressive candidate has no chance in those races in 2018.

The reality is that it's better to have a more moderate Democrat in office that will vote progressive most of the time and support a Democrat majority, rather than a Republican who will never support liberal positions and will ensure Republican dominance of Congress.

Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy was brilliant and should be emulated. The alternative is the horrific situation we have now with Democrats out of power at the federal level and most states and with virtually no political leverage.

[world wide wally]

4. There is a distinct chance that their constituents will be thinking differently soon

[Maru Kitteh]

5. Wishful thinking at it's worst. Do you live in a red state?

Have you lived in one in the last decade or so? That's not how it works out here.

[DarthDem]

2. Completely Overblown

AND overwrought article. Manchin is Manchin. We all know that. Heitkamp's quote signals nothing at all surprising, Donnelly's stuff that he wants to work on is totally unobjectionable as is Tester's, and Casey isn't mentioned in the article at all.

Typical melodrama from Salon.

[Maru Kitteh]

6. And so it does begin. Would you rather have Ryan Zinke instead in Montana?

He's an ambitious, social-climbing, self-promoting jackhole conservative who you will see in the clown car running for president one day and he's just itching to crawl out of the house and run against Tester. He's put his mug on TV and in every newspaper that will have him saying just that.

Ideology Score
most conservative (by cosponsorship) 5% among All Representatives

Our unique ideology analysis assigns a score to Members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by how similar the pattern of bills and resolutions they cosponsor are to other Members of Congress.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Zinke’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

House Freshmen 3rd most conservative (by cosponsorship) out of 64

House Republicans 17th most conservative (by cosponsorship) out of 247

Safe House Seats 17th most conservative (by cosponsorship) out of 385

All Representatives 17th most conservative (by cosponsorship) out of 440

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/ryan_zinke/412640/report-card/2015




Do you live in a red state? Have you ever lived in a red state? When we run against our own Democrats here, we get more fucking Republicans, and usually the shittiest variety possible.

NO THANKS.