The GQP Thread: I'm even sick of that ****** number and, anyway, he's gone (for now)

[Kepler]

"Beam me up Scotty" and "Luke I am your Father".

"Play it again, Sam."

[Handyman]

"Play it again, Sam."

Damnit that was the one I couldn't think of!

[Handyman]

Miners Really Going after Manchin

For months, Sen. Joe Manchin III has sold his opposition to the Build Back Better proposal as driven uniformly by a brave and hardheaded assessment of the national interest. He has warned that BBB will fuel inflation and that its climate provisions will push energy markets to evolve too quickly and lead to a dangerous dependence on Chinese supply chains.

It just got harder for the West Virginia Democrat to get away with this stance. And the culprit is none other than coal miners in his home state, whose union is redoubling calls for Manchin to support President Biden’s agenda.

What’s happening now with miners seems like a seminal moment. Some of the worst tropes in our politics — Democrats harbor nothing but elitist ill will toward miners, and miners’ “way of life” must be defended at all costs — are cracking up and falling away.

All this emerges from a new report in the New York Times that illustrates the true nature of home-state cross-pressures on Manchin. He’s caught between the miners union and mine owners, who vehemently oppose BBB.

The United Mine Workers of America backs BBB because it will help mine workers transition to a future they now see as inevitable. BBB contains tax incentives to spur manufacturing and consumption of alternative energy sources such as wind and solar, to hasten our transition to a decarbonized economy.

Greg Sargent: The hidden, ugly truth behind Joe Manchin’s stance on BBB’s climate provisions

Crucially, some of those tax incentives would steer some of this renewable manufacturing to coal-producing regions, to smooth the transition for workers away from fossil-fuel toil. Miners also support BBB because it would replenish a fund that aids miners suffering from black lung disease.

But here’s the rub: The mine owners oppose the tax incentives. Apparently, this is precisely because they would speed the transition to clean energy sources, which is bad for the coal business.

To see why this is remarkable, go back to 2016, when presidential candidate Hillary Clinton declared that we’re going to put coal miners "out of business.” She added that transitioning to renewable jobs would be necessary, but that was lost amid the “gaffe.”

Donald Trump pounced, holding events with miners promising to bring coal soaring back. Indeed, the mine owners’ association endorsed Trump on the basis of Clinton’s “gaffe” and Trump’s promise, which was really a vow to resist the clean energy transition at all costs.

Of course, Trump’s promise of a glorious rebound in coal jobs didn’t come to pass. But what has been laid bare is that the mythologizing about these matters we’ve endured for years is nonsense.

Empty platitudes about defending this “way of life” won’t alter the trajectory of the future. Those looking to ease the transition of miners into renewable jobs are not coastal elitists out to destroy them, and self-proclaimed protectors of this “way of life,” like Trump, are peddling a bill of goods.

[ScoobyDoo]

Good. Nail that bastard to the wall.

[5mn_Major]

Modern Mandela affect. Same people who have their minds blown when "learning" it's really spelled Berenstain Bears, it's spelled Froot Loops, it's spelled Double Stuf Oreos, that Curious George never had a tail, the tip of Pikachu's tail is yellow, or that Sinbad never played a magic genie.

It's very easy to misapply logical fallacies. There's an Intelligencer article that says that the youtube video exists with Trump saying that.

[Kepler]

Good. Nail that bastard to the wall.

The thing is, Manchin runs (through his son) an energy company, so he doesn't give a flying **** about energy workers, he cares about energy profits. His best strategy is to squeeze every last moment of black lung from these guys, then pull up stakes and split with the money leaving them with no job, no training, and no future (and no health care if he got his way).

I have no idea how this guy is a Democrat. His moral character screams "Republican."

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

The thing is, Manchin runs (through his son) an energy company, so he doesn't give a flying **** about energy workers, he cares about energy profits. His best strategy is to squeeze every last moment of black lung from these guys, then pull up stakes and split with the money leaving them with no job, no training, and no future (and no health care if he got his way).

I have no idea how this guy is a Democrat. His moral character screams "Republican."

This. Manchin is/was literally a coal baron himself, of course he's gonna side with his millionaire buddies.

[Kepler]

Ruh oh.

[French Rage]

Ruh oh.

His old girlfriend, so she's 18 now.

[Kepler]

His old girlfriend, so she's 18 now.

Maybe.

[Handyman]

Ruh oh.

Rep. Gaetz (R-Orgy)

Now that is funny!

[Handyman]

McCarthy won't cooperate with the 1/6 committee...because again they have no authority to do or force anything. I am sure we will get another PC where Benny Thompson will tell us how they are "looking at their options" and the Merrick Garland will twiddle his thumbs in his office and pretend giving probation to a bunch of nobodies in Flo(R)ida is enough to protect Democracy.

[ScoobyDoo]

McCarthy won't cooperate with the 1/6 committee...because again they have no authority to do or force anything. I am sure we will get another PC where Benny Thompson will tell us how they are "looking at their options" and the Merrick Garland will twiddle his thumbs in his office and pretend giving probation to a bunch of nobodies in Flo(R)ida is enough to protect Democracy.

Yep. Said perfectly. Nothing to add.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

McCarthy won't cooperate with the 1/6 committee...because again they have no authority to do or force anything. I am sure we will get another PC where Benny Thompson will tell us how they are "looking at their options" and the Merrick Garland will twiddle his thumbs in his office and pretend giving probation to a bunch of nobodies in Flo(R)ida is enough to protect Democracy.

"There's just nothing we can do without appearing partisan", whine Democrats when faced with rampant partisanship from the right on a level not seen since the 1850s.

[ScoobyDoo]

"There's just nothing we can do without appearing partisan", whine Democrats when faced with rampant partisanship from the right on a level not seen since the 1850s.

Yeah, Sinema gave a big speech today about the filibuster. And in a vacuum she makes a solid argument. Everyone seems to forget a few things though.

1. Republicans don't give a **** about anything but money.
2. Republicans don't care about legislating or governing and can pass the things they want (tax cuts, and Judges) with no worry of the filibuster.

The Republicans really have set things up very nice for themselves. The only way to get the country out of this **** is for them to disappear into a minority. Unfortunately for us that looks like it's going to take long enough to leave complete destruction of the Republic in its wake.