Fetterman's Not Wrong

People got upset about this:

The guy is a walking political catastrophe, but at least he’s not lying to us. I’m writing this on Monday late afternoon because I have some family stuff going on, but it appears that the vote-a-rama is happening and that the parliamentarian has signed off on most of what’s in the bill. The arcane, stupid rules of the Senate, all designed to lump every appropriation into one big stupid bill, are working. Barring some Republican getting a conscience, it will pass. And, lazily, I haven’t looked hard at the bill because I want to see what, exactly, passes first. Kay pointed out that a lot of the bad stuff is on a big delay so the next election can't be fought on bad consequences, just the spectre of bad consequences.

My once-normie wife is consuming media that tells her that the bill might not pass. I informed her that, sadly, it’s almost certain to pass. The media she’s consuming (stuff like Meidas Touch and others) get clicks by raising false hopes. The reality is that Schumer and Democratic leadership could grind Senate proceedings to a halt if they had a concerted effort to do it that started months ago. Now, what we’re seeing is a halfhearted effort to get some headlines indicating that “they tried”. Well, OK, I guess they tried. A fraction of a point to Gryffindor. A slightly tarnished gold star will be affixed next to the names “Schumer” and “Durbin” on the “Who Tried Today” celestial tracking board.

I’m very slightly sympathetic to Fetterman because he knows that it’s bullshit and at least he’s saying so. I have little sympathy for Democratic Senate leadership, which has been pretty useless. Thune is no genius. Nor is Johnson. There’s probably some smart staff in Congress who could help Jeffries and Schumer throw some sand in the gears. They’ve been stuffed in a closet since the inauguration, by a leadership that thought the smart move was to have a 99-0 vote for Marco Rubio.