It was a sad day for Democracy. It was a good day for Democracy. It was a good day because the racism and hypocrisy of all Republican and two Democratic senators got to see the light of day and was on full display. (which wouldn’t have happened with one less D).
The best I can do is to offer excerpts from today’s article by Jennifer Rubin:
This was a clarifying moment for the country. The two Democratic senators’ excuses for leaving the filibuster in place have been utterly debunked. Manchin, for example, made the preposterous statement that the filibuster had a 232-year tradition in the Senate. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that the filibuster was used to block legislation. Since then, the Senate has repeatedly carved out exceptions, such as to confirm judges, to pass budget reconciliation bills and to raise the debt ceiling.
Meanwhile, the moral and intellectual chasm between the parties has rarely been so vivid. Republicans offered nary a word as to why the Voting Rights Act should not be fully restored. The argument was nearly entirely devoted to defending a false account of the Senate’s procedural history.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who bent over backward to accommodate Manchin’s concerns on voting reforms, blasted the gamesmanship: “I think by voting this down, by not allowing us even to debate this, to get to the conclusion of a vote, that is silencing the people of America, all in the name of an archaic Senate rule that isn’t even in the Constitution. That’s just wrong.”
Biden did not let up, either. “There are certain things that are so consequential that you have to speak from the heart as well as your head," he said at his Wednesday news conference in response to criticism for saying that Republicans would be on the side of Bull Connor and George Wallace if they continue to pursue their voter suppression tactics. “You don’t get to vote this way and somehow it goes away,” he added. “This will stick with you the rest of your career and long after you’re gone.” It’s typical that on an issue of such historic importance, all the Republicans could think to do was to play the victim.
The media today so often frame politics about winning and losing. Had they been covering John Lewis on the bridge, one shudders to think that they might have “scored” that day as a win for the Alabama troopers who met the marchers with clubs and tear gas. Coverage entirely denuded of moral content becomes camouflage for bad conduct.
Democrats cannot force Republicans to do the right thing. But Democrats did force Republicans and their two Democratic cohorts to reveal the paucity of their arguments and the puniness of their consciences.