#vbnmw gets shitty dems who are only a step away from being a republican

[odinsblog]

In her first bid for office, Sinema ran as an independent candidate affiliated with the Arizona Green Party. She lost, finishing last in a five-way race. By the next year, building on her previous work for Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign, she had become a vocal anti-war activist. She organized 15 rallies by the start of the Iraq War, the biggest a February 2003 protest in downtown Phoenix attended by an estimated 2,500 people. The flyers promoting the rally, as CNN’s KFile reported, called for direct action “against Bush and his fascist, imperialist war.”

But today, Sinema is one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, and with the Senate evenly split, she is now in a position of incredible power. Just recently, she broke with many of her Democratic colleagues by voting against including a minimum wage increase in President Joe Biden’s pandemic relief bill. Eight Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the measure, but Sinema’s defection—curtsying on the Senate floor and offering an exaggerated thumbs-down—struck a particularly sour note.

The display went viral, frustrating progressives and activists, who accused her of being all too eager to preserve poverty wages for millions. It also encapsulated the cynicism of her political transformation, and the ways liberal politicians increasingly present a left aesthetic when it’s in their own interests. In response to the outcry, Sinema spokesperson Hannah Hurley told HuffPost that it was nothing more than evidence of a sexist double standard. “Commentary about a female senator’s body language, clothing, or physical demeanor does not belong in a serious media outlet,” Hurley said.

Sinema, along with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, is poised to be a deciding vote on all legislation the Biden administration asks Congress to enact, giving her and her right-leaning colleagues the ability to obstruct the entire Democratic agenda. Unless Senate Democrats do away with the filibuster, a long-standing Senate rule requiring a 60-vote supermajority to advance most legislation, it’s hard to see a path forward for many Democratic priorities, including major investment in infrastructure, aggressive climate action, and expansions to voting rights. The failure to pass sweeping action could then jeopardize Democrats’ razor-thin majorities in the 2022 midterm elections, which don’t historically go in favor of the sitting president’s party—potentially giving up control for a generation.

During her time in Congress, Sinema has voted with former President Donald Trump’s position about half the time, according to FiveThirtyEight’s tracker, and even joined Senate Republicans to confirm some of his nominees. In 2018, Sinema went further right than most other Democrats running in Republican-held states, campaigning on her opposition to Chuck Schumer as Democratic leader (despite being his handpicked candidate).

Brianna Westbrook, an Arizona Democratic Party official and former national surrogate for the Bernie Sanders campaign, said Sinema’s political transformation was “a complete 180” and is “hard to put in words.” There is “no doubt,” Westbrook says, that Sinema will face progressive pressure at home if she tries to hold up legislation.

There were signs of what was to come when Sinema entered national politics. During her first term in Congress, she joined the Blue Dog Coalition, a corporate-friendly group of Democrats obsessed with finding common ground with conservatives. It was also clear from the beginning, Andiola recalled, that Sinema “really believed the way to try to win or to push back on legislation was by working with Republicans.” Sinema voted to block the admission of Syrian and Iraqi refugees and has often sided with Republicans on immigration, including in support of the punitive anti-immigrant proposal known as “Kate’s Law,” which Trump pushed as part of his crackdown. In 2018, she voted with House Republicans to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a rogue agency that has faced countless allegations of abuse and inhumane treatment. For Andiola, Sinema’s rightward turn, particularly on immigration, has been disappointing to see. “I don’t know what she believes anymore,” Andiola said.

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