Krysten Sinema Leaves Democratic Party

[lpetrich]

A Message for Arizonans from Senator Kyrsten Sinema | Senator Kyrsten Sinema - has a transcript

In 2017, I warned we were approaching a crossroads.

Our democracy was weakened by government dysfunction and the constant pull to the extremes by both political parties.

"Both sides are equally bad" centrist nonsense.

I promised I would do my best to fix it.

To protect and defend our constitution, to listen to others without judging, to focus on what unites us, and to make Americans’ lives better.

Through listening, understanding, and compromise we delivered tangible results that make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.

Who does she listen to other than her big donors?

Yet, despite modernizing our infrastructure, ensuring clean water, delivering good jobs and safer communities, Americans still choose to retreat farther to their partisan corners.

These solutions are considered failures either because they are too much, or not nearly enough.

It’s all or nothing.

The outcome, less important than beating the other guy.

The only political victories that matter these days are symbolic, attacking your opponents on cable news or social media.

Compromise is a dirty word.

We’ve arrived at that crossroad, and we chose anger and division.

It's the Republicans who have been the nastiest here.

I believe in my approach.

But, it’s not what America wants right now.

You're telling *me*.

I love Arizona and I am so proud of what we’ve delivered.

Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year.

But not in her party. She chose to be an obstructionist rotating villain.

Over my career, I’ve shown how government can work for everyday people.

(snipped for brevity: her working with politicians from both parties)

These solutions matter.

They make an impact in the lives of everyday Americans.

And this is how government should work.

It has been an honor to serve Arizona for the past 20 years.

Thank you.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Sinema was not the greatest communicator. Never quite knew where she was going to fall. However, as far as I know, she didn't interfere with justices. She made things harder, but she was not a Villain. However, she can take the Moore-Coulter and cram it wherever "moderates" cram things.

 

[Ford]

Sinema was not the greatest communicator. Never quite knew where she was going to fall. However, as far as I know, she didn't interfere with justices. She made things harder, but she was not a Villain. However, she can take the Moore-Coulter and cram it wherever "moderates" cram things.

When McSally dropped out of the debate, Sinema went on and did it alone, and it was the weirdest thing. You'd think maybe it would turn into more of a conversation than a back and forth, or at least be a little more casual, but no...she stuck to her scripted talking points. A recitation of shallow slogans and answers that said nothing. I don't regret voting for her because McSally was so much worse, but I'm glad to see Sinema gone. Go Ruben!

 

[lpetrich]

Where Will Kyrsten Sinema’s Voters Go? - The New York Times - March 12, 2024 - "The Democrat-turned-independent senator from Arizona said she will not run for re-election. Some voters who supported her say they are feeling squeezed out of politics."

Some independent voters in Arizona said they feel as though they have lost a champion. Although Ms. Sinema infuriated many onetime supporters, moderate voters said she spoke for a slice of the country that aches for compromise and feels alienated both from the Democrats and from the Republicans.

...
Each campaign issued conciliatory statements about Ms. Sinema after she dropped out of the race last week. Mr. Gallego, who had previously called her a “corporate sellout” who was unfit to lead Arizona, thanked her for her service. Ms. Lake, who had accused Ms. Sinema of being partly to blame for the border crisis, said “I know she shares my love for Arizona.”

...
But the election may now hinge, the strategists said, on which campaign is better at portraying the other as extremist, and on whether Mr. Gallego or Ms. Lake can better appeal to Arizona’s center on issues like border security, inflation and abortion.

Then about how she stabbed her supporters in the back.

Ms. Sinema, a social worker, entered politics in the early 2000s as an antiwar activist affiliated with the Green Party. But after losing her first race by a wide margin, she joined the Democratic Party and began what analysts called a long upward march toward the political center, modeled after the maverick image of Mr. McCain. Ms. Sinema calls him a personal hero.

In 2018, she became the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Arizona since the 1980s. She accomplished the feat by running as a conservative Democrat who attracted just enough independents and moderate Republicans who were repulsed by former President Trump.

But she drove away her own supporters after she gave a thumbs-down on a vote to raise the minimum wage as part of a Covid relief bill. They seethed after she blocked efforts to set aside the filibuster to pass voting-rights legislation, and protected a tax loophole that benefits wealthy investors. Liberal activists criticized her for taking millions of dollars in donations from the financial industry and wealthy corporate donors.

Seems like she has a bad case of "pundit brain", believing that there is some large population of centrists who are frustrated with both parties. But it seems like her main supporters are her donors, donors that have now deserted her.

 

[lpetrich]

Kari Lake, a Trump Acolyte, Struggles to Find Her Path - The New York Times
A Trumpie or a normie?

Kari Lake opened her Senate run in Arizona showing every intention of shedding the trappings of the Trumpism that made her a star in conservative circles but cost her the governor’s race two years ago: unfounded claims of election fraud, ruthless attacks on fellow Republicans and obsequious tributes to former President Donald J. Trump.

Ms. Lake, a former television anchor, has reached out to her critics. She has sought to appeal to the Republican establishment in ways that Mr. Trump has not, framing his Make America Great Again movement as a natural evolution of Reaganism, which attracted legions of voters to the party more 40 years ago. And she has moderated her message on abortion, opposing a federal ban on the procedure she once called “the ultimate sin.”

...
At a campaign event last week in Cave Creek, Ariz., she announced plans to continue her legal challenges to her 2022 election loss, castigated Republicans as cowards who did not support her fight and claimed, without proof, that Democrats were orchestrating illicit voting schemes involving undocumented immigrants.

“That’s the only way they can win — with illegals voting,” Ms. Lake said.

...
Ms. Lake has reached out to one of Mr. Lamb’s supporters, former Representative Matt Salmon, who ran against Ms. Lake in 2022. Mr. Salmon said he ignored a text message from Ms. Lake last month, which came days after she mocked him during a radio interview for refusing to meet with her.

“There’s nothing authentic about her,” Mr. Salmon said. “She touts her endorsements, but two years ago she would have criticized anyone with those same endorsements and declared them swamp creatures.”

 

[Copernicus]

Seems like she has a bad case of "pundit brain", believing that there is some large population of centrists who are frustrated with both parties. But it seems like her main supporters are her donors, donors that have now deserted her.

Gallego holds only a 4 point lead over Lake at the moment. Independent voters break for Gallego 42% to 38%.

Gallego leads Lake in Arizona Senate race: Poll​

 

[lpetrich]

Kyrsten Sinema leaving Senate: Her shtick was worn-out and destructive. But that’s not why she won’t run for reelection. - March 07, 202411:18 AM - Jill Filipovic - "The Arizona senator’s shtick was worn-out and destructive. But that’s not why she’s leaving the Senate."

Her farewell speech had one overarching message: America, I was great, but you didn’t appreciate me enough.

“Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done,” Sinema said, “I will leave the Senate at the end of this year.” She listed out her many purported accomplishments, then lamented, “But it’s not what America wants right now.”

It was an on-brand moment from a politician whose primary consideration and most important constituent has been herself. Sinema has long styled herself as a reasonable moderate just trying to get stuff done. In reality, she has been a self-serving attention monster, consistently willing to bend any purported principle if she believes doing so will empower her.

Like the more venal showboaters in Congress, usually Republicans, men, or both, but instead a Democratic woman. Someone who eagerly does what she once called taking bribes.

"Sinema was something of the enfant terrible of the Senate, albeit in the body of a Gen X woman fond of jewel-tone dresses and statement jewelry. "

"When one thinks of the most publicity-hungry grandstanders in American politics, the man at the obvious top of the heap is Donald Trump."

Also such Trumpies as Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, George Santos.

They largely share a penchant for the ridiculous and the extreme, an apparent allergy to actually legislating, and an obsession with cultural statement-making and attacking the left. The Democratic Party also has its very public-facing members, many of them on the party’s left flank (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren).

But most of the time, those Democrats place themselves in the public eye to advocate for specific progressive policies, and position themselves as public servants advocating for the most vulnerable Americans. They find GOP foils, but their political identities hinge on making tangible change, not simply signaling their hatred of anyone who disagrees. Compare, for example, Boebert’s Twitter bio with AOC’s. AOC includes her raison d’être: “In a modern, moral, & wealthy society, no American should be too poor to live.” Boebert declares herself a “Professional RINO Hunter” who is “Raising my boys to be MEN before liberals teach them to be women!”

Then talking about KS's move from the Green Party to bipartisanship-loving centrism, complete with cozying up with Republicans. But it's not the Republican Party of previous decades, but a party that prefers obstructing Democrats to achieving bipartisan successes.

Sinema’s attempt at centrism didn’t exactly set her apart. Her posturing did. While she routinely avoided answering questions from journalists, she did seem to court a lot of press. It quickly became clear that reasonable moderation didn’t grab headlines. Smashing Joe Biden’s agenda did—especially when cloaked in the huffy self-righteousness of “independence.”

 

[Swammerdami]

It is, however, idiotic for a supposed public servant to pamper herself on the public’s dime.

Remind me again how much this hideous dress cost?

Not to mention her bougie DC apartment with a garbage disposal.

The thread is about K.S. If another Infidel trotted out an alternate example and a "same-same" claim you'd be whingeing that it was off-topic.

Anyway, we know YOU would NEVER make a FALSE comparison. But save me a Google, please. @Derec : Show us how you know AOC bought her dress on the taxpayer's dime.

I shamed you away from your perverse need to never mention AOC without mentioning that she was once a b_______r^*. So now, you're reduced to "her bougie DC apartment with a garbage disposal." Wow! (But thanks I guess. I learned a new word!)

* - Though now you'll use my mention of "b_______r" to rant about that some more, blaming it on Swammi.

Pro-tip:
To show how BIG a number is, writing "$3,500,000,000,000.00" is suboptimal. Next time try "3,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 nanodollars."

 

[lpetrich]

Kyrsten Sinema Does Us All a Favor | The Nation

Sinema’s official Senate farewell was, in other words, a classic Sinema performance: claiming the enlightened, above-the-fray rhetorical high ground while wallowing in the professional-class petulance reserved for an insufficiently grateful client base. Sinema’s announcement was good news for the sort of partisan political calculation she professes to deplore, since it leaves Democrats fielding a strong and accomplished House member, Ruben Gallego, against MAGA grievance merchant Kari Lake, a former TV newscaster who continues plying a paranoid election-denial narrative to dismiss the results of her failed 2022 run for governor.

Kyrsten Sinema’s donations from investors surged to nearly $1 million in the year before she killed a huge new tax on private equity and hedge funds | Fortune
Early KS would say that late KS was shamelessly taking bribes.

And in perhaps her most morally incoherent citation of the holy mandate of bipartisanship, she withheld support for a desperately needed package of voting-rights reform on the grounds that it lacked across-the-aisle appeal.

The formalist myopia of this stance overlooks perhaps the most salient political truth of our age: that the Republican Party relentlessly restricts ballot access and gerrymanders congressional districts so it can continue to exercise maximal power as a governing minority.

This bill: H.R.4 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

Kyrsten Sinema on X: "I voted for John Lewis, ...." / X

I voted for John Lewis, my hero. He embodied all that I wished the Congress would be and what I hoped to be - kind, humble, honest, hardworking, and steadfast to his values. A man of principle and courage.

These last few days, I’ve been remembering the January day in 2015 when I loudly called out his name on the floor of the House. I was the only member of Congress to vote for him that session.

He came over afterwards, hugged me and said “thank you my dear, but I’m happy just tending to my chickens.”

I smiled and thought to myself, “yep, I’ve voted for the right man.”

Rest in power, my dear friend.

But she was happy to let the Republicans filibuster it to death, and she defended that parliamentary maneuver as part of good government.

 

[Derec]

The thread is about K.S. If another Infidel trotted out an alternate example and a "same-same" claim you'd be whingeing that it was off-topic.

It's not off topic. It was a direct comparison between two lawmakers and their expensive wardrobes. The difference is, AOC sees herself as some kind of socialist and also her dress was only good for one day. I presume KS wears her clothes more than once.

Anyway, we know YOU would NEVER make a FALSE comparison.

Thou speakest the truth.

But save me a Google, please. @Derec : Show us how you know AOC bought her dress on the taxpayer's dime.

Did I say it was on "taxpayer dime"? But would it be any better if it was paid by some rich donor?

I shamed you away from your perverse need to never mention AOC without mentioning that she was once a b_______r^*.

You have not. Your search results were just embarrassing. Many had nothing to do with her tending bar, and others were me responding to people bringing it up (like you just now), often bringing it up as something positive.
Rarely it was me who brought it up, and when I did it was relevant to her professional experience.

So now, you're reduced to "her bougie DC apartment with a garbage disposal." Wow! (But thanks I guess. I learned a new word!)

That was a reference to this.

* - Though now you'll use my mention of "b_______r" to rant about that some more, blaming it on Swammi.

Yes. Lately, you have been the only one bringing it up.

To show how BIG a number is, writing "$3,500,000,000,000.00" is suboptimal. Next time try "3,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 nanodollars.

LMAO. But my point stands. That was a huge spending bill and especially in an already inflationary environment would have accelerated inflation even more.
Of course, as huge as B³ was, it can't hold a candle to AOC's GND, which is estimated at ~$60,000,000,000,000.00-100,000,000,000,000.00. Or should that be 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 nanodollars?

 

[lpetrich]

The thread is about K.S. If another Infidel trotted out an alternate example and a "same-same" claim you'd be whingeing that it was off-topic.

It's not off topic. It was a direct comparison between two lawmakers and their expensive wardrobes. The difference is, AOC sees herself as some kind of socialist and also her dress was only good for one day.

For AOC, that was a one-off event. She does wear some of her clothes more than once, though I have not tried to keep track of what she wears. She has mentioned that she rents much of her wardrobe, and she says that that's a good way to try out clothing.

KS isn't nearly as talkative as AOC is, and the most I've done about her wardrobe is note how flashy it is.

I presume KS wears her clothes more than once.

I haven't tried to keep track of what she wears. Derec, you could show us all how good you are at research by doing that.

I shamed you away from your perverse need to never mention AOC without mentioning that she was once a b_______r^*.

You have not.

Right-wingers like to brag about the proletarian class origins of themselves and their heroes. But when it's someone they don't like, a good class origin becomes a bad class origin.

 

[Derec]

For AOC, that was a one-off event. She does wear some of her clothes more than once, though I have not tried to keep track of what she wears.

Aren't you the guy who always posts about what female politicians are wearing to events?

She has mentioned that she rents much of her wardrobe, and she says that that's a good way to try out clothing.

The saying goes "if it floats, flies or fucks, it's cheaper to rent". I would think clothing is cheaper to buy by orders of magnitude unless it's a one-off like wearing a tux for a wedding and not being in the habit of attending black tie parties.

KS isn't nearly as talkative as AOC is, and the most I've done about her wardrobe is note how flashy it is.

I did not notice, so I did a quick google image search. I guess some results are quite flashy, like that yellow number with the puffy sleeves, but overall she seems normally dressed. Again, AOC's "tax the rich" dress was much flashier.

Right-wingers like to brag about the proletarian class origins of themselves and their heroes. But when it's someone they don't like, a good class origin becomes a bad class origin.

I am not a right-winger, but AOC's job tending bar has nothing to do with her supposed "proletarian class origins". She is the daughter of a NYC architect, and has attended a very expensive private college.
The point of her bartending is not her class origins but the fact that after graduating with a degree from a prestigious university, she did not get a job to actually use that degree. I suspect it was because a job like bartending afforded her more freedom for activism, like driving >2000 miles to North Dakota, burning gasoline along the way, just to protest against an oil pipeline. You can't take time off willy-nilly working at McKinney or Bain ...

 

[lpetrich]

For AOC, that was a one-off event. She does wear some of her clothes more than once, though I have not tried to keep track of what she wears.

Aren't you the guy who always posts about what female politicians are wearing to events?

Only about KS, because that seems to be her main way of telling us about herself.

I would think clothing is cheaper to buy by orders of magnitude unless it's a one-off like wearing a tux for a wedding and not being in the habit of attending black tie parties.

Why not do some research?

Right-wingers like to brag about the proletarian class origins of themselves and their heroes. But when it's someone they don't like, a good class origin becomes a bad class origin.

I am not a right-winger, but AOC's job tending bar has nothing to do with her supposed "proletarian class origins". She is the daughter of a NYC architect, and has attended a very expensive private college.

But if it is a virtue to accept whatever job that one can find, then by that standard, AOC is very virtuous.

The point of her bartending is not her class origins but the fact that after graduating with a degree from a prestigious university, she did not get a job to actually use that degree. I suspect it was because a job like bartending afforded her more freedom for activism, like driving >2000 miles to North Dakota, burning gasoline along the way, just to protest against an oil pipeline. You can't take time off willy-nilly working at McKinney or Bain ...

Some people have to take care of their families. Seems like you expected her to become some Wall Street analyst.