Sen. Tom Carper Supports Nuking Filibuster For Voting Rights

Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), who previously withheld support for gutting the notorious filibuster, signaled a significant shift on his stance in the face of persistent GOP obstruction, particularly with voting rights legislation.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1393312
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“I do not come to this decision lightly, but it has become clear to me that if the filibuster is standing in the way of protecting our democracy then the filibuster isn’t working for our democracy,” the Delaware Democrat wrote.

Hear! Hear!

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The matter of Voting Rights v. Maintaining Our Democracy is a no-brainer! It’s a mere “DUH” moment!

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I’m so grateful to these senators for very, very, very slowly and deliberately coming to the gradual realization that maybe at some point in the future the fire that is raging all around them and even threatens eventually (in some possible scenarios) to threaten their exclusive privileges – that maybe, I say, this very fire may need some sort of remedial action not entirely in keeping with Senate traditions.

100 years from now, as we work toward the leader and derive insight from state-house approved boneheaded readings of the four gospels in approved translations, we will all be inspired to think back on the slow, deliberate, obtuse leadership provided by today’s octogenarian senate leadership.

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Hopefully, his change in attitude spreads faster than the Delta virus in a Southern Baptist congregation.

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The only problem with this is that one of the two “Dems” who so far refuse to go along with this appears to have sympathies with if not actually belong to this crowd:

Manchin might not be a Trumpie, but in his heart I strongly suspect that he believes in the straight while Christian conservative male power structure, rich version on top, and that a big part of his reason for opposing this and everything else is out of a sense of defending that whole obscene and execrable power structure that he’s a part of and has served him so well all his life. Deep down, he’s more bigoted patriarchal male than anything else. He’s only a Dem because he never had the nerve to flip.

More broadly, what are we going to do about these roid ragers, not just men like this, but the overall subculture that they’re a part of, that in certain ways still lives in the 19th century, focused on white and male dominance, an economy based on heavy industry, extraction and farming, conservative Christianity, a rejection of the modern welfare state and social democracy (except when they need it of course but that’s “different”) and really modernity itself in terms of its ideas, values, norms, lifestyles, outlooks, etc., and basically anything and everyone outside of themselves and their narrow, boring, unchallenging and in my view rather silly little sheltered cookie cutter lives?

These people exist in huge numbers and they’re everywhere, not just the south, midwest and rural areas. And Trump is their messiah, their great white hope, their Jesus on a cross of gold-plated pig iron. They vote in large numbers, they’re terrified and angry and out for blood, and they’re not going away. We’re taking away their birthrights, and they just won’t stand for it.

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Too bad it doesn’t matter.

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This is all too late for states that already redistricted, right? Won’t the R’s just tie it all up in court and nothing will happen until 2024?

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And now you know why dem aliens just aren’t that into us.

At the very least, it needs to be changed. At the very best, the filibuster just needs to go away.

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Sen. Tom Carper Supports Nuking Filibuster For Voting Rights

I have now heard of senator tom carper, so I guess he’s got that going for him.

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“I do not come to this decision lightly, but it has become clear to me that if the filibuster is standing in the way of protecting our democracy then the filibuster isn’t working for our democracy,” the Delaware Democrat wrote.

The above statement is an interagency effort of the Department of the Bloody Obvious and the Better Late than Never Bureau.

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Of course that rant ignores that Winsome Sears and Jason Miyares - Hispanic male and black immigrant female - won the attorney general and lieutenant governor races in that same state last night. Oh yeah, both of them are evangelicals too.

Sorry guys. The narrative was that “we need to pass these voting rights bills because the only way that the GOP can win is by passing voting restrictions that allow them to suppress turnout and overturn elections.” Well sorry, that narrative was crushed last night. Democrats lost all 3 statewide elections in reliably blue Virginia. They nearly lost the governorship in even bluer New Jersey. And Seattle elected its first Republican officeholder in 3 decades.

So, with the entire PR rationale for the bill gone the real reason why Democrats want this bill passed is clear: they want it in order to make it easier for Democrats to win elections and - by adding Puerto Rico and DC - retain control of Congress. Manchin and Sinema aren’t interested in helping Democrats rig the game in the name of “democracy”.

You break them on the wheel of justice, and grind their bones into dust.

“Reliably blue Virginia”

Fact not in evidence.
Virginians however, “reliably” elect the opposite of the presidents party in their off year elections for governor. You seem to have overlooked that “fact”.
Likewise NJ broke traditional trends in electing Murphy.

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I will only note that the bulk of the voting restrictions we are currently concerned with, and the gerrymandered districts currently being worked on, were not in effect on Tuesday, thus, the losses were only on the previously regular voter suppression and gerrymandering that Democrats who have been getting more votes than republicans overall but for some reason can’t seem to gain majority status in states where they have a majority of voters and receive a majority of votes overall.

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Are they typical and representative or outliers? The latter tend to prove the point, as you know.

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This is utter bullshit. How is it “rigging the game” to enact laws that make it easier for everyone to vote? This Repug talking point is so outrageous that it should be soundly called out every time it’s asserted. The reason such a law would “rig the game” is only because Republicans are so devoid of popular policy positions that if the playing field is level they lose elections. As for making DC and Puerto Rico states to gain seats, how is it unreasonable that people who are US citizens should be able to have their votes count? And with the built-in antidemocratic structure of the senate, how would trying to at least chip away at that anachronism be unfair? If this is the sort of intellectual rigor of otherpointofview, then you’ve got a serious logic problem.

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There aren’t enough pants to put on fire in response to this nonsense.

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