He was mad before (during the Trump administration). He was mad earlier this year when the January 6th “mostly peaceful” tourism riot transpired at the Capitol Building, and sustained
his anger at the subsequent second impeachment of private citizen Donald J. Trump (which failed).
And now he’s really, really, really, REALLY mad after the Republican senate “minority” filibustered his party’s badly mislabeled “voting rights” bill last week, sending the 800-page printed piece of legislation to the recycling bin and the electronic copy to the archives of history.
Speaking of Charles “Chucky” Schumer, the upper chamber’s Majority Leader. Everyone knows “Chucky” doesn’t even lead a majority, he shepherds a mere half of the senate’s members. The other half is under the control of “murder turtle” Mitch McConnell, and the bespectacled Kentucky Republican wasn’t about to let Chucky’s anger get to him or force a capitulation on a bill that would have federalized elections. Thankfully, the other 49 Republican senators kept true to form on this issue as well and voted against the measure.
“Chucky” was irked that the bill didn’t pass. Or perhaps Schumer was simply miffed that the GOP leader and senators didn’t bend to his over-the-top rhetoric or the promise of a potential “compromise” under the guise of filibuster-defending West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin. At any rate, “Chucky” is mad as heck now. Whether he takes it anymore remains to be seen.
After the “voting rights” bill died, “Chucky” previewed what his next steps would be. Jordain Carney reported at The Hill:
“Democrats are vowing to push forward, arguing that after the 2020 election, which former President Trump falsely characterizes as ‘stolen’ despite losing dozens of election challenges, not addressing voting rights would threaten the very core of American democracy.
“’Once again Senate Republicans have signed their names in the ledger of history alongside Donald Trump, the big lie and voter suppression to their enduring disgrace. ... But I want to be very clear about one thing: The fight to protect voting rights is not over, by no means,’ Schumer said after the vote, calling the GOP filibuster ‘ridiculous and awful.’
“’Make no mistake about it, it will not be the last time voting rights comes up for a debate in the Senate. ... We have several serious options for how to reconsider this issue and advance legislation to combat voter suppression. We are going to explore every last one of our options,’ Schumer added.”
Chucky additionally blubbered he’d have more to say about the Democrats’ never-say-die “voting rights” push this week. The whole caucus seems furious that Republicans wouldn’t at least give them a token vote for a real majority, and several of them indicated the fight wasn’t over (even if they didn’t share how they planned to alter the status quo). Well, liberals can huff and puff and blow the (senate) down, but unless they find a way to solve their filibuster numbers conundrum, they’ll be just as red-faced and irritated the next time as they are now.
One of the liberal nutcases (Ellen Sciales, communications director for Sunrise Movement) quoted in Carney’s article said the bill was, “a corpse in Schumer’s legislative graveyard.”
Ouch. For all the lying and superheated hyperbole that good ol’ Chucky has offered the America-trashers over the years, this is the thanks he gets. Leftists aren’t thrilled with senile Joe Biden either, but it looks like they’re concentrating the preponderance of their rage at Schumer himself. The New York senator’s never given a hoot about barbs and criticism from conservatives and Republicans over the years, but if his own kind start questioning his leadership bona fides, he’s toast!
For his part, Manchin did end up voting to end the GOP’s filibuster, but only under the condition that his amendments and changes would be included in the bill’s final version. Considering the West Virginian was very public about not intending to vote for the as-is S.1, this had to be considered a small victory for Chucky, since he could now brag that he got all 50 of his honks to agree to end debate. The “negotiation” between the two probably sounded a little like this:
Chucky: “Hey, Joe, got a minute? I know you’ve already told the media that you’re against our ‘For The People Act’ because it’s not bipartisan and all that other crap. Now that it’s not going to pass, can you at least toss us a bone and vote to end the Republican filibuster? You can tell your redneck Mountain State voters that you were just trying to improve it or something. Doesn’t matter. What do you say?”
Manchin: “Sure, Chucky. I was hoping to find a way to compromise with you on this, since I want to be a loyal Democrat and stooge to the leftist fringe but can’t risk the backlash from folks back home. They believe all that garbage about voter ID and elections integrity and that type of thing. What do you expect from a state that went 68.6% for Trump? Shoot, ‘voting rights’ to my people means being able to bring a gun to the polling place in case a varmint presents itself as dinner.”
So it came to pass -- I mean Manchin’s vote was secured. Democrats united in favor. Republicans were solid against (though apparently Sen. Lisa Murkowski is working with Manchin to concoct some sort of “voting rights” compromise bill -- this is the next thing for us to combat and beat). The wave of states passing new vote protection laws are safe -- for now. But take Chucky at his word that he hasn’t given up.
What’s perhaps most remarkable about the rigidly partisan battle over H.R. 1/S. 1 was the Democrats’ convincing the dog-whistle establishment media to echo their refrain that “democracy” is at stake if the federal government isn’t sanctioned to swoop into state and local elections and mandate mail-in voting, ditching of I.D. requirements and various other unnecessary and harmful provisions like ballot drop-boxes and the like.
“Voting rights” used to equate to the one-person, one-vote standard where, after a couple constitutional amendments, every American citizen over the age of 18 who had registered with the proper authorities could show up on Election Day with voter card or identification in hand and cast a secret ballot for the candidates of his or her choice. None of the laws being debated and passed in the states today purport to deny anyone of their “voting rights.”
To say otherwise is a blatant lie. That’s what Democrats do best, though.
The media -- including Carney above -- is quick to state that Trump’s claim of election fraud is “false”, but they don’t scrutinize Chucky’s “voter suppression” assertion with the same degree of cynicism. For all the times Democrats have screamed “suppression” they’ve never once provided a case of it, much less proven it. Trump’s claims weren’t even litigated, but several states are now conducting ballot audits. Schumer is surely terrified that the results will shore-up Trump’s theories while invalidating his own.
If the issue is a dead-letter, then, why are Chucky and his senate Democrats vowing to fight on to save “voting rights”? It’s a ploy to keep the ill-informed liberal base active and agitated. Sooner or later, Americans will realize that the recent vintage state measures don’t “suppress” anything at all. There’s only so many times you can cry “wolf” before the townspeople won’t respond to the emergency plea.
Or it could be that Chucky is so enraged that his power to “change the world” (as he promised after the 2020 election) is limited by the political process, the same one he took advantage of during his years in the minority. “Voting rights” isn’t going anywhere as long as the filibuster for legislation remains at the 60-vote threshold. Schumer can’t verbally bludgeon ten Republicans to pass his schemes. And “compromise” isn’t in his vocabulary.
No one expected “Chucky” Schumer to passively accept defeat, and most can understand his frustration at not being able to move legislation like his colleague Nancy Pelosi does on the House side. But freaking out after the Republicans killed the “voting rights” bill is a bit excessive, even for Schumer. Enjoy the show as Chucky gets madder and madder.
For the People Act
Chuck Schumer
Mitch McConnell
filibuster
60-vote threshold
Democrats
liberal interest groups
Donald Trump
2020 election investigations
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