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**DECEMBER 24, 2021**
Kuttner on TAP
It's Not Manchin
It's those other 50 members of the Senate.
It's time for Democrats and the media to stop bashing Joe Manchin and
to start bashing the other 50 members of the U.S. Senate who are keeping
the public's business from getting done-the Republicans. Especially
bash-worthy are three world-class phonies named Susan Collins, Mitt
Romney, and Lisa Murkowski.
These alleged moderates vote in lockstep with Mitch McConnell and the
Trumpers. Once, Collins actually was sort of moderate. She is said to be
worried that if she breaks with the MAGA gang, she would likely be
defeated in a primary. But in independent Maine, Collins would win in a
walk running as an independent.
Murkowski might do better in Alaska as an independent in a three-way
contest, as well. Romney, who was a centrist Republican when he was
governor of Massachusetts, will have to look to his own conscience as an
enabler of outright fascism.
Manchin is at least good for half a loaf. These Republicans are good for
nothing.
If even one of them broke ranks and worked across the aisle, Manchin
would suddenly be a lot less powerful. They should be taking more of the
heat.
A long time ago, when I worked for Sen. William Proxmire, and we
succeeded in getting a lot of progressive legislation out of the Banking
Committee and enacted into law, we often lost the votes of conservative
Democrats, including Manchin's West Virginia predecessors, Bobby Byrd
and Jennings Randolph. But these nays were offset by the yeas of
moderate-to-liberal Republicans like Ed Brooke of Massachusetts.
There is another Democrat whom we and the media should stop
bashing-Joe Biden. At the
**Prospect**, we've kept the pressure on Biden to appoint good
progressives and to use his executive power to the utmost, as in this
piece
by David Dayen. But we resist the cheap grace of blaming everything on
Biden and the congressional leadership when the votes simply are not
there.
Here is part of an email blast that went out from Susan Morgan, director
of Indivisible of Marin County, California:
The Freedom to Vote Act MUST be the first priority in January. And the
President and the DNC MUST make it happen. They MUST find a way around
Manchin and Sinema. If the tables were turned, and the GOP in our
position, I imagine they would have long ago figured out a way around
similar obstacles ... Grassroots volunteers are not going to show up in
2022 in the numbers, or the intensity, we need to combat the structural
inequity in our electoral system UNLESS Dem leadership quickly
prioritizes and passes the Freedom to Vote Act
**out of the gate in 2022**.
Seriously? I don't know what secret sauce Morgan thinks she has, to
pressure Biden into finding a way around Manchin and Sinema. These are
tough, challenging, frustrating times. It would help if we were all
clearer about who our friends are and who our enemies are.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
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Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
**Robert Kuttner's latest book is**
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.
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