This Is Your New Senator

Senator Tina Smith on Facebook, failing a question that used to be a no-brainer in ninth grade civics:

“Senator”:  the Continuing Resolution requires sixty votes.

The GOP doesn’t have sixty votes in the Senate.

Senator Smith exhibits a level of command of her office not seen in the Senate since…

…well, gosh, who was the worst Senator in recent memory?

Who, oh, who indeed?

25 thoughts on “This Is Your New Senator

  1. The Republican party is self-destructing, but President Trump is not.

    Predictwise has the probability that Democrats take back the House at 64 percent, a record high. In contrast, Trump’s approval rating has increased by about 4 percent in the previous month, probably as a result of the tax act and immigration. A large majority of Americans don’t like taxes and tax cuts signal smaller government, which in the abstract is an idea that Americans like.

    Immigration is an issue that has been contentious throughout American history. Most Americans think that people who are here illegally should in some sense not be here otherwise what is the point of having a law. Pragmatism suggests that some compromise on the undocumented be reached at of simple national self-interest. In contrast, Republican proposals on reform of family reunification policies have a lot of merit. The current policy puts lots of older immigrants on SSI (a monthly income supplement) and Medicaid plus possible housing assistance. Limiting family reunification to spouses and minor children is not a return to atavism. In California there is an entire Christmas tree of additional benefits for people here on family reunification but are too old to work. It’s actually subsidized babysitting in many instances.

    Further to the Left are the Open Borders people who are advocating a concept anathema to the broad middle of American voters. There is also a reasonable amount of evidence that admitting low skilled and unskilled immigrants lowers real wages at that end of the labor market. In many semi-skilled local labor markets in the US one cannot fit in if one doesn’t speak Spanish or whatever the language is that is spoken by the dominant cohort in that labor market. So the question of why the US should let more low-skill people in from impoverished and troubled places is a valid question even if Trump posed it in unacceptably crude terms. Finally, the country can ask the policy question whether or not legal immigration should be reduced or increased. If, for example, the undocumented are to be regularized, is it not reasonable to reduce other legal immigration while this cohort is processed in? Can a grand compromise be reached? Probably not at this time.

    The other elephant in the Democrats’ living room is single payer health care. This is the biggest losing public policy initiative for middle class voters out there. The liberal wing strategically seems not to understand the waiting electoral pitfalls of advocating single payer health. Much better to advocate proposals to strengthen the existing health care system. That much of the Democratic establishment does not understand the singular distinction between improving Obamacare and single-payer schemes suggests troubled waters ahead on what should be a building block issue. But a lot of Democrats have never taken to Obamacare and want to go towards something that the Republicans will effortlessly be able to brand as “more socialism.”

    In California, Democrats are hoping to win a half-dozen Congressional districts from Republican incumbents (I live in the middle of three of these districts in Orange County). The leading Democratic contender for governor, Gavin Newsom, has made advocacy of single payer his headline issue, and number two contender, Antonio Villaragosa, has wisely targeted Newsom’s position. Single payer is going to lose Democrats bushel baskets of votes in suburban Congressional districts that are “in play.” The Democrats are not playing smart politics at all.

    So next November’s voting could be much closer than many observers think — mostly BECAUSE OF immigration and health care buoyed by an increasingly robust economy.

    Eventually, a dynamic Democratic candidate in 2020 advocating a positive message to the broad middle of the American voting public should defeat all this negativism. Trump is not consolidating around a potential 51 percent consensus; he is failing the number one test that a successful incumbent president should achieve. But it’s never a done deal in American presidential politics.

    Romney, like his late father, is destined for margins of the Republican party because now more than ever he is not really one of them. If Romney enters the Senate, look for a lot of visibility but not much influence. Sinking ships sink regardless of who is the cabin boy.

  2. Well, at least she fits in with other Democratic senators we’ve had recently…..”privacy” is a core Constitutional value, Senate rules, ah, not so much.

  3. You have to remember her audience, Mitch. Willful quarter-wits that have already taken up the chant.

    So, go ahead reprobates, shut the damn government down to protect your crop of illegal voters. It’s the wards of the state that will pay the price, those unproductive leeches which are also part of your base. But evidently y’all see a greater return with the border jumpers…which is exactly why they all must go back; every damn one of them.

    Although I didn’t need to, I have sent email to all members of my congressional delegation, reminding them that a vote to allow illegals to stay is a vote for them to go. I hope y’all take the time to remind yours of the same thing….especially since most of them are scumbag lefities.

  4. A 700-word threadjacking. I guess if you’re gonna be rude, be thorough about it.

    As for Senator Abattoir, I wonder if her party would have an easier time winning elections if some of the millions of babies it has killed had been allowed to live.

  5. Your predictive abilities have been shown to be crap, Emery.
    It was not so long ago that Emery said the willingness of some congressional tea partiers to shut down the government was insanely irresponsible at least and paramount to treason at worst.

  6. And Brexit prediction. Do not forget that jem. Inability to learn from one’s numerous mistakes is a clear sign of lack of intelligence. But then Shvonder-eTASS is a troll after all, dontchaknow?

  7. Mitch, everyone missed this from this past weeks Villager. Recent Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges spoke out against the tip credit for the $15 an hour minimum wage in Mpls and St Paul. Reason? She said tipping is “rooted in slavery” and therefore if you tip, you are participating in a legacy of slavery.

    I know it gets very old, but…..imagine if a Republican or a Christian said something that stupid.

  8. Pingback: In The Mailbox: 01.19.18 : The Other McCain

  9. That was a “guest” comment from a fellow skier. We’re up in the UP of Michigan. Skiing at trails in Houghton (Michigan Tech trails) and Ironwood (Wolverine trails) preparing for the Birkie tour, Pre-Birkie and then the American Birkebeiner in Hayward Wisconsin. We were most amused at your responses. Thank you all for the laughs! ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

  10. Yeah well, if he’s enjoying a vacation with you Emery, he’s sure to be a real cornhole dude, too. No surprise you’re both easily amused.

    Unless it’s all BS, which is always a solid possibility with you.

  11. You would think that somewhere at the beginning or ending of that thread-jack the actual author would at least have the courtesy to state that he/she/it is not the shown author but someone else. And even perhaps identify whom they are.

  12. I agree with that. But she hit send and our cell and WiFi were pretty spotty in the UP. I did point it out as soon as possible.

    Loren: over 100” of snow in the UP. Our primary concern was: intervals and long steady grades, and not STiD. We’re all 1st wave skiers in the Birkie. We take our skiing seriously. Similar to you taking your road biking seriously. ❄️❄️❄️❄️

  13. An immediate follow up as to authorship would not take much time either, if send was hit too quickly. And using your login as hers is blocked? If so, that’s abusive.

  14. Why is anyone surprised Shvonder-eTASS used another sock puppet? Trolls will troll, that’s what they do.

  15. I see Shvonder-eTASS’ retort is in line with the level of his intelligence. I mean lack thereof.

  16. Why do you spend so much effort dragging a throwaway blog post through the mud? When I don’t like an article, I rarely finish it, much less comment on it. I comment on articles where I have been interested or amused, and feel I have something to add, not just a critique.

    How can your comments be viewed as anything but vanity, a self-pleasuring through venom? You seem to lack your own filter.

  17. Emery, you threw a bunch of BS comments in an unrelated topic. Sorry, but I’m not buying that you don’t finish or comment on topics you don’t like, since you’ve just proven the opposite.

    And please convey to your friend the fact that our new Senatrix is so obtuse, she hasn’t learned anything about the filibuster or cloture in the organization she serves–something every high school graduate ought to know, and certainly anyone who’s spent decades working for our nation’s foremost tax-funded abattoir ought to know.

    It seems that Governor JimBeam had some competition for dumbest person in St. Paul, to put it mildly.

  18. BB, which sock puppet have you addressed this to? Now we are not only dealing with multiple accounts by the same person, but different people using the same account. But if that is OK with Mitch, hey, it’s his blog, he can allow this insanity if he so wishes.

  19. “We’re all 1st wave skiers in the Birkie. We take our skiing seriously.”

    He’s the Eldar Rønning of Powderhorn Park…who knew???

    LMFAO!!!!!

    I think we can conclude that Emery’s “friend” comes from the same Bullshit locker that fuels his prolific plagiarizing, and for all he knows of them, he would as soon strap a ski to his head as his foot.

    The poor thing is a real mental case…he should run for DNC chair.

  20. Swiftee, you should not make fun of schizophrenics, it is a serious disease. And when combined it with liberalism, oh vey!

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