Might be time for you to join a senior center and just chill. We’ll take it from here. Your time is the past. It doesn’t work like that anymore and your inability to grasp the current state of affairs.. smh. Time to retire and play bingo.
McConnell blocked Tom Daschel's appointment to HHS despite Democrats having a 60 seat majority in the Senate. Tubberville held up 100's of military promotions from the minority last year, and he's functionally illiterate.
What if it's not love of politicians but love of facts? Because reality says the most powerful people in the world are the current standing president and shadow president who have the majority in all 3 branches and have purged most of government from anyone disloyal.
They don’t have the power to pass legislation but they do have power. The constitution & parliamentary procedure are pretty generous to the minority and give them tactics to slow things down. Republicans do this every time they’re in the minority but Democrats don’t out of a misplaced sense of duty
No, they have not done that. They have not used a fraction of the power they have in the Senate to grind business to a halt. They have allowed the cabinet nominees to proceed through briskly.
Enough. Y'all live in a world where you're more angry at Dems for what you think they're not doing than you are at Republicans for what they are doing. Power was handed to them, no block is forever, & citizens have to stop this crap & focus on fighting the GOP.
If you'd like to argue with a guy you made up, Twitter is right over there.
I am not more angry at Dems than I am at Republicans. I have said absolutely nothing to suggest that. But you are lumping me in with some vague "y'all."
Not at all. I just know the Republicans are my enemies and Democrats are supposed to be my friends. I donated time, money, and my vote in November. Straight blue ticket. I told people to drop criticisms during the election for unity but when you lose you need to allow criticism of a bad party.
They could also appoint a shadow cabinet with the purpose of having accurate messaging to respond to each of the outstanding crises instead of being caught on the back foot. They knew this was going to happen back in November.
Yeah a whole shadow government. That's brilliant. Meanwhile, do you know what they're saying about the crisis? You think they're caught on the back foot? They're not the ones who felt this wasn't going to be that bad.
They could also have their older members announce their retirement and set the stage for younger, more effective members to take over. Folks like Schumer, Pelosi, Durbin should be done. A handful of elders is fine but it can’t be your whole party.
They really haven’t though. Look at the legislative record and they advance stuff out of committee quickly, give unanimous consent decrees, and voted for most of Trump’s appointees overwhelmingly. They also don’t play games with quorum or threaten to filibuster appointments. They held the floor once
You’re setting up a straw man here. I didn’t say “they all voted for Trump’s nominees.” I said they overwhelmingly voted for his nominees, which your link actually confirms. Only 8 of the 47 Dem senators voted no on all 15/16 nominees. Meaning 39 of them voted yes at least a third of the time
But that's NOT "the dems." That's just citizens, many of whom aren't "dems." We're leftists, progressives, & radicals. I vote democratic (lesser of 2 evils) but don't call me a "dem" -- I am not.
Democratic politicians are absolutely failing to meet this moment. THAT is what the criticism is about.
I didn't say they were covering themselves in glory, or that it is wrong to criticize them, unless you're lying, either on purpose or because you don't know how something works.
It's INSANE that people are mad about the Munich trip.
I’m with you. The GOP are just as scared of getting voted out as they are of trump. We’ve gotta be slamming republican offices with calls. Protesting their local offices. Tell media the tough questions you want asked. Hold the GOP accountable!
And remember to use *67 to block outgoing caller ID!
It is not "blaming Democrats for the actions of Republicans" when you say, "the actions of Republicans are existentially bad and we need someone to fight these actions tooth and nail, and the guys best positioned to do that aren't doing it."
Nah, people like you refusing to ever expect anything from Democrats is literally how we got to this situation. "How dare you think a shit sandwich isn't good enough! You should just be grateful that your shit sandwich doesn't have shards of glass in it!"
Yeah man, It’s Roxanne Gay’s fault that we live in an oligarchy because she said “Why aren’t congresspeople doing congress stuff” instead of “Why are congresspeople being fascists and also collaborationists”
For some reason, this talking point that was completely manufactured as pretext for a fascist coup isn’t hitting the marketing demo we wanted…. Strange.
Miss Roxane - and I mean this respectfully - we can’t very well have a healthy two party system if everything that happens is always deemed the fault of Democrats. You are part of the problem.
They don’t want a two party system. The Republican vote was about 30%. THAT is the problem. We have the 3rd parties and 5678 parties that make up the other 21%. I don’t want to elect leaders where only 20-30% of the voters want. What does that accomplish OP🤦♀️
If we had 3 or 4 million people with more homogenized backgrounds it might be easier to be outside of the two party system. It works fine for Republicans.
America can have a healthy democracy with only 2 major parties, but one req is journalists/media who hold both parties equally accountable, which is not what we have today. Major scandals that would end a Dem presidency under unified GOP govt and @roxanegay.bsky.social fixated on what Dems are doing
Well, do journalists refer to themselves at the “4th estate” or not? Only works if news media collectively apply the same scrutiny and accountability equally to both parties, otherwise they become propaganda.
'Not our friends' and 'awful and terrible' are two different things. There are people who shit on Dems unnecessarily, but this thread is completely reasonable.
She's just demanding that they do their jobs, while retaining skepticism about their motives. That's simple pragmatism.
Yet, not since #SpeakerGingrich in the 1990s began speaking Each Weekday Evening to the Empty House Chambers plus the Not Broadcasting CableTVStation, #CSpanChannel, hoping hisHate Speech & Lies Delivered to Rile Up Mainstream America would LEACH Dem Voters from the Party, bc few people Ever STOP &
Think- #ThisDoesNOTMakeSense SO I Will Research These Facts Logically & without Emotions... With the Clintons, the #CrookedGOP had #KenStarr ALREADY As The #PrivateLawyer For #PaulaJones!! Bc the #GOP & #RNC ALREADY Sent Top Lawyers To #Arkansas As Soon As Clinton Won DemPrimary to #SNIFFOut Women
How were the Republicans able to keep Democrats from doing what they claim to want when Dems had the majority but when the shoe is on the other foot the Democrats are helpless little children?
Again for the millionth time, 📢 SINEMA AND MANCHIN always voted with Republicans even though they ran as Democrats and were expected to finally tip the majority votes for Dem bills. Not surprising for West Virginia.
That didn't answer his question. Republicans were successfully able to obstruct many of the things Obama wanted to do without a majority, but for some reason the Democrats can't do the same to Trump?
What a bad faith response to being called out for having a huge platform to promulgate Murc's Law. Like the two options are only "loving politicians", or blaming the Dems for not immediately fixing everything awful the Repubs do.
I'm not being bad faith. I'm not imagining things. I hold the Republicans fully responsible for the terrible things they are doing. It is not unreasonable to want our leaders to have a coherent response to something they knew was coming given that it was a 900+ page plan that was shared publicly
The corruption of the United States Government started decades ago.
We all who pay attention have been watching the Patriot Act, Citizens United, the big bank bailout in 2008-2009 and the PPP loan forgiveness give money to people with money.
Trump just is a better liar and manipulator. He has been breaking laws and hiding behind money and lawyers his entire career. He threw them under the bus every chance he got and bilionaires still back him.
Why? They see the end of civilization they created.
hells yeah, if this little nobody saw it coming in November and started making plans, why didn’t the folks who hold political roles also spend that time making plans for action?
Biden did make a plan which is why he pushed through so many judges in his last few months. If we don’t have the executive, legislative and part of the judicial branch (Supreme Court) he was trying to protect the laws at the federal level with the judges.
Thanks for clarifying. I was reacting specifically to your equating criticism of your post with wanting zero criticism of Dems. A sentiment that's all over bsky lately. What exactly do you want them to do? And why imply that Dems are "just gonna ride this additional crisis to the end of the line"?
Many folks with thorough knowledge of how Congress works have made specific asks of Democrats in Congress. You could start by following @indivisible.org.
What can Ds do? Actually fight the coup, don't just talk about fighting. Shut down the Senate. Shut out of a building taken over by Musk? Don't walk away. Get arrested. Act like it's an existential crisis. Be a story that the media can't ignore. Give time for lawsuits to work. Stop whining and LEAD.
He's not, though. There was a Senate vote on RFK, Jr. And the Senate Democrats delayed it, as long as possible, by holding the floor for "debate" overnight.
My whole thing since the certification has been, maga confederates were willing to commit sedition for a lie, but I couldn’t get my Rep to *maybe* be held in contempt by _objecting_ to a disqualified traitor.
You're right about the mischaracterization ("immediately fix..."). But the main sentiment can still be fairly described as Murc's Law. And then she went further, suggesting that any and all vague criticism ("do something") is helpful, and that if you disagree it's because you "love politicians".
I mean, you do see why it's hard to find you the sympathetic party here when your rhetorically calling something bad faith while making a bad faith argument?
I agree. Also, engage w your Reps!! I joined a town hall w my Rep & the state AG. I feel better about what they're doing. Signing up, I was asked for questions & feedback. I have to wonder how many people's (not directed at you) engagement ends with posting "do something".
You are loved. We are building something now and no one like mark warner is part of it other than for his near-term votes for impeachment and the like. I’m Irish — Irish ppl never ever forget. 🍀
It’s that part of human nature where people need to believe there is a benevolent being with more knowledge and power than they have that will magically take care of things so that they themselves do not have to be arsed.
thank you roxane- more people need to be told to stop uncritically believing their elected officials are Good rather than political figures who often need to be pressured into Doing The Right Thing
Comments
I'd say start doing what they did.
Military promotions (Tubbervill) do not have the same procedures as appointments, so that trick won't work.
And if Tubs can figure out procedural obstruction on the military, surely Chuck Schumer can figure it out for anything else, even if it's just delays.
Seriously, stop caping for learned helplessness. It guarentees failure.
Dems failed and continue to fail
I am not more angry at Dems than I am at Republicans. I have said absolutely nothing to suggest that. But you are lumping me in with some vague "y'all."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-democrats-block-kash-patel-194401990.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAId8nMN2iOPEKIqkAUnk2U3Ukh2gjnXxQ4z-iitD-1QUTMxp3o1yNzPfrcaNrCZPzoXBPPcpJiUP3fN4-q757EQnggKqYP9IQD8z4zPKUx-aR8FoG-HRPaheaf6yMNqEud1HXOsf3IIHFdIJGb80VFUNXNa2yCMuMUMoJEf0G2e-
https://indivisible.org/resource/explainer-how-senate-democrats-can-delay-defy-trumps-agenda-procedural-hardball
https://ballotpedia.org/How_senators_voted_on_Trump_Cabinet_nominees,_2025
There are protests at 50 state capitals today. There is no sign of them anywhere on NYT's pages.
https://bsky.app/profile/rainsurname.bsky.social/post/3lifwpajey227
Democratic politicians are absolutely failing to meet this moment. THAT is what the criticism is about.
The people who think the long weekends are vacations are the worst ones. THAT IS OBSTRUCTION.
It delays votes while they hold packed town halls & give us a chance to protest at R homes.
Yet so far, I have not seen anyone on here talking about doing that except me & people I talked to.
10,000 marching vs one person yelling at them while they're trying to eat dinner, the one person yelling seems to get to them more
I didn't say they were covering themselves in glory, or that it is wrong to criticize them, unless you're lying, either on purpose or because you don't know how something works.
It's INSANE that people are mad about the Munich trip.
And remember to use *67 to block outgoing caller ID!
If the two party system does not have tools innate to their function, which keeps each party in check, that's a failed system
Again, if the two party system does not have a way to check and balance power embedded in their makeup, it's a failed system
She's just demanding that they do their jobs, while retaining skepticism about their motives. That's simple pragmatism.
The corruption of the United States Government started decades ago.
We all who pay attention have been watching the Patriot Act, Citizens United, the big bank bailout in 2008-2009 and the PPP loan forgiveness give money to people with money.
Why? They see the end of civilization they created.
Very good faith. The most good faithest thing I've ever read, maybe.
Shills are so hard to distinguish from denialist and defeatists anymore, this one is living proof.
So like, I expect them to at least stay in building they are legally allowed to enter.
Or remove a corrupted mayor that is now a puppet!
My whole thing since the certification has been, maga confederates were willing to commit sedition for a lie, but I couldn’t get my Rep to *maybe* be held in contempt by _objecting_ to a disqualified traitor.
Weak.
Sauce.