October 1, 2021

We spent 20 years building up some non-Taliban structure/society

that evaporated almost as soon as they knew we were living, which is an utter disappointment. But what else could we have done that would have created a better outcome? Staying for another week, month, year, decade? And we got a lot of people out, so..........

Your neighbor seems to be "Monday Morning Quarterbacking". Besides, it was Trump that negotiated the withdrawal over a year ago (which was actually even extended once by Biden) and released thousands of Taliban prisoners. Staying would have violated the agreement and lead to more hostilities. Is that what your neighbor wanted?

There was simply no good outcome. We would have done well to smash the Taliban, kill OBL, and and get out of there. However, W. Bush took his eyes off the ball and went after his real destination, which was Iraq, of course. We didn't get OBL and a large contingent of the Taliban escaped to cause problems later.

September 30, 2021

No

And they only hear supposed "horror stories" (without citations and support of fact) about the evils of "socialism" in other first-world countries. If people REALLY knew what it was like elsewhere, it would be amazing if there is no massive revolt. But a lot of our leaders- including even a few Democrats like Manchin and Sinema- keep us ignorant and in perpetual fear of becoming "like Europe".

September 30, 2021

Kyrsten Sinema

seems to want to be a Democratic incarnation of John McCain, however she lost the plot somewhere. McCain did occasionally stand up to his party and reveled in his "maverick" status, but he wasn't mindlessly obstructionist with his own party either and still stuck with his team on most votes. I think that her cluelessness was best epitomized by trying to re-create that moment when McCain thumbed down the ACA repeal- with the $15 minimum wage hike.

September 29, 2021

Anytime I hear that Democrats "know" something

or *can* do something but are simply NOT choosing to do something just makes me want to roll my eyes. If things were really that simple, you'd already have to have a pretty low opinion of Democrats to think that they are just literally refusing to do something that needs to be done to save the country if it were as easy as everybody on the internet always seems to claim that it is. I know that the party isn't perfect but to make it seem like the party is willfully complicit in the destruction of the country being wrought by the Republican Party is just offensive to hear. If people on the internet have answers that our current elected officials do, then perhaps, they should be running for office instead of sitting on the sidelines yelling at them.

September 27, 2021

With "friends like Joe"

Has anybody noticed how many "Joes" (excluding Biden) have been the bane of our party over the years? Joe Lieberman was a plague on the party under Obama and now Joe Manchin seems determined to play that role under Biden.

September 27, 2021

Exactly

Democrats try to be responsible. Republicans are irresponsible Media: BOTH SIDES!!!!!


Hope you noticed that McConnell just tried to get out in front of this the other week by claiming that Democrats could lift the limit all by ourselves, clearly trying to avoid Republicans getting blamed if the ceiling doesn't get lifted unilaterally?

September 23, 2021

Good question

I think that it mostly comes back to politicians generally worried that the public values cooperation and "bipartisanship" and being seen as "not fighting and getting things done" and that, at the end of the day, being able to push out a "bipartisan bill" (even if it is not the best bill possible) is of paramount importance. I don't know exactly what Manchin and Sinema's issues are but we always seem to have a few Democrats beholden to special interests whom are willing to use their leverage to kill deals and/or pare things down, almost reflexively. IMHO we just need more and better Democrats so that folks like Manchin and Sinema can't hold us hostage every five seconds or keep us from doing what we need to do in order to move forward with better bills

September 22, 2021

Are "moderates" insulated somehow?

As I recall, "Blue Dogs" whom gave Obama lots of problems in 2009-2010 were largely wiped out in the 2010 midterms. What are they even doing?! If they want to negotiate a smaller deal, fine. whatever. But don't tank the whole thing. We just got rid of Trump and they want things to just fall back to Republican control so soon? And as far as the distancing, Biden still has an average 50% approval rating. Not even all of the smearing over Afghanistan has brought Biden down to Trumpian levels of approval, approval figures which Republicans BTW DID NOT CARE ABOUT. Approving popular policies will make Biden and every other Dem MORE popular.

September 21, 2021

Not to mention

Republicans being BIOLOGICAL TERRORISTS (re: COVID)

September 20, 2021

Republicans have no "answer" to COVID

other than just trying to go on with "life as normal". Unfortunately that stubborn virus just keeps getting in the way of their stubborn denial. Their secondary response is to try to claim that Democrats are just using COVID to distract from......Afghanistan, which stopped being a major news item weeks ago. And still doesn't change anything happening with COVID anyway.