How I wish Rod Serling (and his alternative reality machine) were still around.
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That looks like Whitney Young of the Urban League. I might be wrong, but it looks like Young…
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Manchin and Sinema could have a point, but they seem to be making the wrong one. The optimal mix of a modern economy seems to be 60% private sector and 40% government or public sector making goods and services. The US, through congressional aversion to use of monopsony power, e.g. in the health sector, doesn’t do a very effective use of federal spending. The total public economy is underdemensioned which leaves room for about $540 billion more a year on public goods and services. The reason for Manchin and Sinema’s reluctance is that, unlike Denmark, which does have a near-optimum mixed economy, they don’t want to collect the tax revenue necessary. Danes pay their taxes because they enjoy the public services and goods they get for it.
Biden needs to sit these people down and explain, you get what you pay for, even in our democratically enfeebled system.
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LBJ taught “close talking” to Judge Reinhold.
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Bingo.
I think this is accurate.
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While wearing wet suits
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If it is, it’s feckless, because the GOP is getting more cultish by the month.
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As if McConnnell would give either the time of day …
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Yeah, he’s a fairly tough guy and he thinks well of himself, and he’s the POTUS, so he’s not going to them hat in hand to ask them pretty please with sugar on top. But as a longtime senator I think he knows they care about themselves too and I doubt it’ll be a ream-out session. It’s just not typical for senators to treat each other like dogs, or to allows themselves to be treated like dogs by outsiders, even if much of the comity and elaborate politeness is a thing of the past. I imagine he’ll mostly try to impress on them how he understands their ostensible concerns but the historical moment supersedes that. The argument is true enough and it takes it out of the realm of the personal.
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They might have a major problem on with their hands…
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Exactly. Manchin loves his TV face time and will milk it for all it is worth but in the end he will vote with his party.
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He’ll be the Joe we all know—direct, to the point, firm, and he’ll let them know what’s in store if they don’t play ball with him.
I fully expect President Biden to come out on top here.
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Biden mentioned his Infrastructure Bills before he even got to Newsom, when he did his pro-Newsom pep-talk before the Recall Election.
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I was just going to point that out. You beat me to it. 
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“Manchin, the more media-loving of the two…”
That’s a tough call.
Like saying that, between him and Sarah Huckabee, Chris Christi is “the more nacho-loving of the two”.
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I did a phone interview with a senator once and he was pleasant enough until I asked a tougher question, saying as a devil’s advocate what would he say to people who criticized his proposal in such and such a way. Oh boy did it get chilly all of a sudden. None of these people like to be crossed in any way. But Joe, he’s got plenty of that and on top there’s a a very slender to nonexistent patience for listening to bullshit or malarkey or whatever you want to call it. I think just scheduling a meeting is a hint the time for fooling around is over.
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The Coal-fueled electric cars initiative is going to win Manchin over.
Dunno what he can offer Sinema, though.
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Take her shopping, maybe.
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Maybe just ball squeezing, to both of them.
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Or give her a dungeon filled with minimum-wage employees she can torture.
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