Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday appeared to be preparing a poison pill to doom the chances of increasing COVID-19 stimulus checks to $2,000.
Moscow Mitch derailing legislation?
Unshocking… 
Meanwhile I’m declared myself a resident of the great state of Ja Ja so I can vote next Tuesday before re-relocating back to Orygun.
/s
It’s only a poison pill if you think that protecting social media companies from lawsuits is more important that economic relief. That is far from clear.
I doubt anyone familiar with the legislative process is surprised by this, Moscow Mitch knows the procedures better than anyone. I’d be tempted to say vote yes for the package deal then wait and deal with the poison pill aspects after Biden is swore in. Any commission will go nowhere and that regulation should be able to get enacted some other way
That SOB really is a special piece of work. Sociopathic to a tee. It appears to me to be all about flexing power, and not much more. Just being Mean ol’ Mitch.
McConnell is playing the politicking dick, simply because he can. He thrives on self-created schadenfreude. Feeds on the misery of others. Do we have a word other than “vampire” to apply here?
Meanwhile, any ‘halo effect’ on the GA runoffs is likely to be minor or nothing at all, but that’s just my opinion.
Moscow Mitch never fails to do the wrong thing. He wants to kill the aid package. He also is harming the chances of his Georgia lackeys to win. His move makes no sense.
As many here already know, Moscow Mitch is truly an awful person who has utter contempt for what is right. A cynical partisan hack, the only things that matter to Moscow Mitch are retaining power and his rich donors.
Me too. Gonna get that sweet, sweet Soros money for the 3-5 ballots I cast in the Peach State next week. Huzzah!
If TPM were legally responsible for everything that’s posted on its site, it would have no choice but to shut down commenting entirely. They couldn’t possibly police everything without hiring large numbers of people. Facebook and Twitter might as well close up shop, as well.
Think of it this way: do you think Verizon should be held liable if someone uses a cellphone to make a bomb threat?
Why do Loeffler and Perdue support child pornography?
I had thoughts along this same line. Call his bluff and hopefully change it later.
Hoping Sen Schumer and other Dems anticipated this and have a counter plan.
There is nuance which I think may not be captured by your phrasing. Section 230’s protections are crucial to websites small and large. There are valid complaints about it, and reasonable adjustments could (and maybe should) be made, but Section 230 is not just “protect Jeff Zuckerbot from being sued”. It’s also “protect Josh Marshall from being sued”.
If Section 230 were repealed in its entirety, the damage to all social aspects of the internet would be significant and, due to the widespread uncertainty introduced, would likely result in a massive restriction if not outright elimination of all sorts of online interactions.
Maybe it’s still worth it, in your opinion, to revoke Section 230 in order to get the (much needed!) extra COVID relief money. But be sure you understand the nuance and the likely repercussions.
“I’ll say first that I don’t think these races will come down to stimulus checks. But the races are close enough that it could come down to anything and everything.”
There’s some courage, Josh!
I really don’t think this harms them one bit. Kelly and David have each expressed support for the $2,000 check and can easily say they support the other stuff trump wants. Repub voters don’t tend to blame their Party for things the way Dem voters do.
Moscow Mitch really is an evil bastard.
The only thing keeping Killary from taking down The Hive for our exposure of her horrendous actions murdering the ambassador in Benghazi to cover up her trafficking in and developing weaponized coronaviruses in labs across China is Section 230.
Let alone what Soros did to manufacture votes in swing States across America in 2020 to ensure that both Bernie and Trump were “defeated” despite massive and overwhelming support from Real Americans.
Just another episode of America Held Hostage.
Hitler was an evil bastard.
MoscowMitch exists on an entirely different plane of malexistence.
For the sake of argument, though: suppose 230 was eliminated. Wouldn’t there be such chaos as to almost immediately start a drive to reinstate it? and then wouldn’t it all blow over, even as people get their checks?
I was thinking back to when McConnell fell down the stairs last year and broke his shoulder.
I guess I’m a sick fuck for smiling but now I can’t get the grin off my face.
I guess I’m saying tje threats don’t really seem all that daunting: a toxic, rather than a fatally poisonous pill.