Should Kyrsten Sinema be primaried?

[Nightcore Nationalist]

Lol.

[Alben Barkley]

No, I like keeping seats we win in purple states. And she’s easily the safest bet for that.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Yes, by someone who’s actually a Democrat.

Sinema is a Democrat. Sorry that reality doesn't care for your idiotic litmus tests!

Nah, emphatically voting against a minimum wage increase after campaigning on the idea that you grew up poor and needed government assistance to survive is a level of out-of-touchness that is reserved typically for Republicans. Not to mention the filibuster thing and voting with Trump over 50% of the time during her time in Congress. She may have been a Democratic 20-30 years ago, but not anymore. But 20-30 years ago, she was actually progressive. Funny how things change.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Yes, by someone who’s actually a Democrat.

Sinema is a Democrat. Sorry that reality doesn't care for your idiotic litmus tests!

Nah, emphatically voting against a minimum wage increase after campaigning on the idea that you grew up poor and needed government assistance to survive is a level of out-of-touchness that is reserved typically for Republicans. Not to mention the filibuster thing and voting with Trump over 50% of the time during her time in Congress. She may have been a Democratic 20-30 years ago, but not anymore. But 20-30 years ago, she was actually progressive. Funny how things change.

Looks like you are, instead of trying to put forth a thoughtful way to criticize a intra-party opponent, just decided to slap a label on someone you don't like and call it a day. You are displaying Ben Shapiro levels of rhetorical cleverness right now. Usually the lazy old "Democrat I don't like is a Republican!" talking point is done more elegantly.
What a shambolic display. You don't know how to define "Republican" and you might never will. Democrat and progressive are not synonymous and never have.
The talking points you are using do little more than imbue our politics with additional toxicity, and amount to laughable gatekeeping.

[Never Made it to Graceland]

Yes, by someone who’s actually a Democrat.

Sinema is a Democrat. Sorry that reality doesn't care for your idiotic litmus tests!

Nah, emphatically voting against a minimum wage increase after campaigning on the idea that you grew up poor and needed government assistance to survive is a level of out-of-touchness that is reserved typically for Republicans. Not to mention the filibuster thing and voting with Trump over 50% of the time during her time in Congress. She may have been a Democratic 20-30 years ago, but not anymore. But 20-30 years ago, she was actually progressive. Funny how things change.

Agreed. To be in the party of FDR and LBJ you should be working actively to do the bare minimum to improve the lives of the marginalized.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Yes, by someone who’s actually a Democrat.

Sinema is a Democrat. Sorry that reality doesn't care for your idiotic litmus tests!

Nah, emphatically voting against a minimum wage increase after campaigning on the idea that you grew up poor and needed government assistance to survive is a level of out-of-touchness that is reserved typically for Republicans. Not to mention the filibuster thing and voting with Trump over 50% of the time during her time in Congress. She may have been a Democratic 20-30 years ago, but not anymore. But 20-30 years ago, she was actually progressive. Funny how things change.

Looks like you are, instead of trying to put forth a thoughtful way to criticize a intra-party opponent, just decided to slap a label on someone you don't like and call it a day. You are displaying Ben Shapiro levels of rhetorical cleverness right now. Usually the lazy old "Democrat I don't like is a Republican!" talking point is done more elegantly.
What a shambolic display. You don't know how to define "Republican" and you might never will. Democrat and progressive are not synonymous and never have.
The talking points you are using do little more than imbue our politics with additional toxicity, and amount to laughable gatekeeping.

Yeah, you’re right. I don’t know what Democrats believe in. Let’s ask the Democrats:

Democrats will fight to raise wages for working people and improve job quality and security, including by raising the federal minimum wage so it reaches $15 an hour by 2026. Raising the federal minimum wage, so fewer workers are forced to hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet, will significantly decrease risks of infection from COVID-19 and in the future.

https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/building-a-stronger-fairer-economy/

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Yes, by someone who’s actually a Democrat.

Sinema is a Democrat. Sorry that reality doesn't care for your idiotic litmus tests!

Nah, emphatically voting against a minimum wage increase after campaigning on the idea that you grew up poor and needed government assistance to survive is a level of out-of-touchness that is reserved typically for Republicans. Not to mention the filibuster thing and voting with Trump over 50% of the time during her time in Congress. She may have been a Democratic 20-30 years ago, but not anymore. But 20-30 years ago, she was actually progressive. Funny how things change.

Looks like you are, instead of trying to put forth a thoughtful way to criticize a intra-party opponent, just decided to slap a label on someone you don't like and call it a day. You are displaying Ben Shapiro levels of rhetorical cleverness right now. Usually the lazy old "Democrat I don't like is a Republican!" talking point is done more elegantly.
What a shambolic display. You don't know how to define "Republican" and you might never will. Democrat and progressive are not synonymous and never have.
The talking points you are using do little more than imbue our politics with additional toxicity, and amount to laughable gatekeeping.

Yeah, you’re right. I don’t know what Democrats believe in. Let’s ask the Democrats:

Democrats will fight to raise wages for working people and improve job quality and security, including by raising the federal minimum wage so it reaches $15 an hour by 2026. Raising the federal minimum wage, so fewer workers are forced to hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet, will significantly decrease risks of infection from COVID-19 and in the future.

https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/building-a-stronger-fairer-economy/

Imagine thinking that supporting $15 is a precondition for being a Democrat.
I guess everyone who recommended the OP in my thread calling $15 nationwide minimum wage an iteration of voodoo economics isn't a Democrat either! By default!

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Anyway, I am stopping here. Your clownery has been exposed for what it is, and frankly, all that can be done has been done.

[Never Made it to Graceland]

Yes, by someone who’s actually a Democrat.

Sinema is a Democrat. Sorry that reality doesn't care for your idiotic litmus tests!

Nah, emphatically voting against a minimum wage increase after campaigning on the idea that you grew up poor and needed government assistance to survive is a level of out-of-touchness that is reserved typically for Republicans. Not to mention the filibuster thing and voting with Trump over 50% of the time during her time in Congress. She may have been a Democratic 20-30 years ago, but not anymore. But 20-30 years ago, she was actually progressive. Funny how things change.

Looks like you are, instead of trying to put forth a thoughtful way to criticize a intra-party opponent, just decided to slap a label on someone you don't like and call it a day. You are displaying Ben Shapiro levels of rhetorical cleverness right now. Usually the lazy old "Democrat I don't like is a Republican!" talking point is done more elegantly.
What a shambolic display. You don't know how to define "Republican" and you might never will. Democrat and progressive are not synonymous and never have.
The talking points you are using do little more than imbue our politics with additional toxicity, and amount to laughable gatekeeping.

Yeah, you’re right. I don’t know what Democrats believe in. Let’s ask the Democrats:

Democrats will fight to raise wages for working people and improve job quality and security, including by raising the federal minimum wage so it reaches $15 an hour by 2026. Raising the federal minimum wage, so fewer workers are forced to hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet, will significantly decrease risks of infection from COVID-19 and in the future.

https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/building-a-stronger-fairer-economy/

Imagine thinking that supporting $15 is a precondition for being a Democrat.
I guess everyone who recommended the OP in my thread calling $15 nationwide minimum wage an iteration of voodoo economics isn't a Democrat either! By default!

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

[Heebie Jeebie]

I consider myself a good Democrat, but I think a $15 minimum wage is probably too high, so her "no" vote on that doesn't bother me.

[BudgieForce]

Of course not.

[MargieCat]

Of course. The Republican Party has actively encouraged/facilitated primary challenges in situations like this, and this has been a major contributing factor in them getting more of their preferred legislation to pass when they’re in power. If Democrats want to do likewise, they should take a page from their counterparts’ book on matters like this.

In this case, I would like to note that I would have voted for Sinema’s primary opponent in 2018 had I been residing in AZ at the time (although I would have voted for Sinema herself over McSally in the general election). Her voting record in Congress has only strengthened my desire for another primary challenger the next time her seat is up for re-election.

What preferred legislation?

Their whole agenda when they are in the majority are tax cuts (passed through reconciliation) and judges.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Obviously Sinema's record is well to the right of what you'd expect from her background, but she's yet to actually vote against the Democrats on something where her vote actually matters. The minimum wage wouldn't have passed with her vote anyway and even if all Democrats were on board would still require 60 votes under the Parlimentarian ruling, so that doesn't count.

That being said she's not necessarily the strongest candidate for the seat and obviously not the only one who can hold it, so primarying her or at least using the threat of one to drag her to the left would be fine by me.

[Never Made it to Graceland]

I consider myself a good Democrat, but I think a $15 minimum wage is probably too high, so her "no" vote on that doesn't bother me.

Remind me how many of those countries have exploding healthcare premiums and massive, gaping wealth inequality?

In his 1933 address following the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act, President Franklin D. Roosevelt noted that “no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.”

“By ‘business’ I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level — I mean the wages of decent living,” he stated.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Democrats can’t afford anything but total unity in a state like Arizona. Not advisable. I also don’t think the trends are quite as strong there as others think. I think there’s a reason why Sinema is as moderate as she is and Kelly has kept a pretty low profile so far. Contrast that with his unabashedly progressive the two senators from Georgia have been.

[Heebie Jeebie]

I consider myself a good Democrat, but I think a $15 minimum wage is probably too high, so her "no" vote on that doesn't bother me.

Remind me how many of those countries have exploding healthcare premiums and massive, gaping wealth inequality?

The minimum wage is not a tool to address rising healthcare premiums, and we're hardly alone in wealth inequality.

[Never Made it to Graceland]

I consider myself a good Democrat, but I think a $15 minimum wage is probably too high, so her "no" vote on that doesn't bother me.

Remind me how many of those countries have exploding healthcare premiums and massive, gaping wealth inequality?

The minimum wage is not a tool to address rising healthcare premiums, and we're hardly alone in wealth inequality.

It makes your comparison irrelevant.

And in the developed world, we certainly are, at least to the extreme Gilded Age / Bourbon France levels we're at currently.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Sinema isn't losing, the Latinos in AZ are more blue color than in California

[xavier110]

I’ll vote for anyone over her — she’ll prob face some nobody though, unfortunately

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

If we primary her, since AZ is a closely divided state, we may lose it, but Manchin is gonna lose in 2024

[wbrocks67]

No. The way the left is going after her is absolutely ridiculous.

You cannot expect someone from Arizona to be some liberal stalwart. It's not going to happen, it's not going to be realistic, and honestly, she never campaigned on being that.

Not to mention, she still falls in line with Democrats 95% of the time, so ...

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Sinema is by far the worst member of the Senate Democratic Caucus. Ruben Gallego would be my first choice for the seat, but literally any Democrat would be better than her.

I just wanted to rec this some more. But this really needs to be stressed, no one is mad at her for not being Bernie Sanders, just be a standard Democrat.

Anytime a conservative Democrat comes under fire, there is always someone out to fingerwag and tell us Cortez/Omar/Sanders can't win in their electorate. No duh, but how about Sherrod Brown or Tammy Baldwin? Or hell, just be John Tester. No one has excuse for being to the right of Tester.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Obviously Sinema's record is well to the right of what you'd expect from her background, but she's yet to actually vote against the Democrats on something where her vote actually matters. The minimum wage wouldn't have passed with her vote anyway and even if all Democrats were on board would still require 60 votes under the Parlimentarian ruling, so that doesn't count.

That being said she's not necessarily the strongest candidate for the seat and obviously not the only one who can hold it, so primarying her or at least using the threat of one to drag her to the left would be fine by me.

Kyrsten Sinema is the strongest defender of the filibuster in the Senate. Even Manchin makes noises that leaves him room to back down.
Sinema is why the 41 vote veto exists.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Yes, by someone who’s actually a Democrat.

Sinema is a Democrat. Sorry that reality doesn't care for your idiotic litmus tests!

Nah, emphatically voting against a minimum wage increase after campaigning on the idea that you grew up poor and needed government assistance to survive is a level of out-of-touchness that is reserved typically for Republicans. Not to mention the filibuster thing and voting with Trump over 50% of the time during her time in Congress. She may have been a Democratic 20-30 years ago, but not anymore. But 20-30 years ago, she was actually progressive. Funny how things change.

She was a green party member 20 years ago. More evidence for my theory she is a sabetour.