Posted on 12/09/2022 10:12:15 AM PST by bitt
On Friday morning, Americans woke up to the news that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) has left the Democratic Party and is now a registered independent.
This defection, revealed in an op-ed in the Arizona Republic, was probably the last thing anyone expected to hear, especially mere days after Democrats officially secured a true majority in the Senate.
According to The Guardian, this “bombshell defection” will have “far-reaching consequences as Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer attempts to plot a course through the upcoming Congress.”
Really? Will it? I can certainly understand why it might seem that way… at first… but upon closer inspection, I think it’s safe to say that Sinema’s leaving the Democratic Party is merely a political stunt.
First starters, this will literally change nothing. While her party identification will change, all indications are that she will continue to caucus with the Democrats. Chad Pergram, the senior congressional correspondent for Fox News, reports via Twitter that “Sinema is expected to maintain her committee assignments through the Democrats, suggesting she will caucus with the Democrats.”
Had Sinema decided to caucus with the Republicans, it would have returned the Senate to a 50/50 split, and the parties would continue a power-sharing agreement in the upper chamber.
In this respect, Sinema is independent in name only. This shouldn’t shock anyone. Despite her reputation as a “moderate” or “independent” voice, she has voted with Joe Biden 93% of the time on legislation and has voted to confirm all of Biden’s judicial nominees to lower courts, even the controversial ones, like including pro-child-sex-offender Ketanji Brown Jackson. So, as grateful as we can be that she stood in the way of Build Back Better, overhauling elections, and eliminating the filibuster, she really doesn’t bear any resemblance to a moderate.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
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Say what you want about her but she helped save us last year.
By being Independent she can go both ways politically as she does sexually.
I was a registered Republican since 1976 but changed to unaffiliated a couple of weeks ago. The only change in my voting behavior in the future will be if I have to hold my nose I wont bother to show up. Im suspicious of Republicans who are allowed to win.
a donkey in deed
She does look cute in her boots, though.
No one seems to know yet if she is going to be a true “independent” that works outside the caucus or a fake independent like Anus King or Bernie Sanders. I am not sure how senate rules work if you have 50-49-1 in terms of organizing the chamber.
The Democrats were going to primary her for someone who will fall in like they're supposed to.
By becoming an Independent, she's safe from being primaried, and if the Democrats run a candidate, then it will split the vote and the Republican will win (I know, I know, that's what would happen in a fair election).
Speaking of fair elections, maybe Sinema also believes that in 2023, Kari Lake's lawsuit might make it to SCOTUS, and with the early Twitter revelations on Hobbs, who knows what else will surface.
As long as Sinema continues to caucus with the Democrats, this changing of parties is all to benefit her and not the country.
She will now be the consigliere between the two parties bartering for even more fleecing of Americans wealth and liberty.
Yep...She, just as Manchin, will probably be useful at times to the right wing of the uniparty; just as Collins, Romney, Murkowski etc. will help the left.
Before she was expected to be a good soldier, now she gets a seat at the table.
Sure, she’s still a radical leftist, but saving the filibuster is pretty darn essential right now. I’m hoping she (and Manchin) hold firm on that point.
Bring me up to date if I’m incorrect on this.
There’s one thing that I think will get Sinema to change her MO.
When Title 42 ends, SoCal, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas hospitals are going to be overwhelmed. Tsunamis of sick and diseased illegals are going to come over that border.
Elective surgeries, out the window as there will be no more hospital beds.
Surgeries that can wait, will be delayed while people are living with injuries and conditions.
Tax increase for Medicaid/Medicare going thru the roof to pay for all of it.
It’s gonna get ugly.
It was bad before. Pres Trump put an end to it and through other policy decisions slowed all of it down to a trickle. Enter Biden and the rest encouraging folks.
Gonna get bad down there.
She wants Manchin money.
The correct count is R 49, D 48, I 3.
This is a political move only. She cannot be primaried by a Dem if she’s not a Dem. The Left wants her out so they can get a true lefty in her spot. This makes it more difficult to do that.
independent = rudderless
The other two Independents are far left socialists. Sinema is more of a pragmatist and I am pretty sure her decision has a lot to do with the way her far left has treated her personally for not being part of the lunatic attack dog battalion. Sinema, with Manchin and a unified GOP (ahem) could block or at least slow a lot of nonsense. Which is what the structure and tradition of the Senate is supposed to do.
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