First day was pretty electric, I thought. AOC, Clinton, Warnock and Crockett tearing the roof off the joint.
Tuesday is generally a light day with the VP on Wednesday and top of the ticket Thursday, but check this out:
https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/19/dnc-speaker-schedule-by-day/
Tuesday, Aug. 20: A Bold Vision for America’s Future
Former President Barack Obama
Former first lady Michelle Obama
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff
Gov. JB Pritzker
Duelling Obamas!
Streaming info:
Obamas at the DNC Convention:
Honestly… I think I’m good on Obamas. Barack wasn’t awful but he fell quite short of Biden’s accomplishments including the two year super majority where the Democrats did fuck all except pass Romney’s healthcare plan.
I also dislike dynasties and nepotism so I hope to fuck that Michelle never goes into politics. I’m happy to see them supporting Harris but that’s all I want from them. Ditto for Clintons and Bushes and every other fucking dynasty.
TL;DR: The Democrats only had a supermajority in the Senate for about 60 days from the end of 2009 to the beginning of 2010.
Yeah, that’s because the Dems never had a supermajority for one year, and definitely not for two.
In Jan. 2009, the Senate had 57 Dems + 2 Independents who caucused with them (Sanders and Lieberman), which as you would note is less than the 60 needed for a supermajority. However, Al Franken had (barely) won in MN- the margin of victory was just a couple of hundred votes. The GOP demanded recounts and filed court cases to stall Franken from being sworn in (fuck, that sounds real familiar, doesn’t it?) and he was finally sworn in in July 2009, a full six months after the rest of Congress. That gave the Dems their supermajority, except a month later in August Ted Kennedy died.
Now the cynic in me will point out that Kennedy had a glioblastoma and it’s probably likely that McConnell was involved in the fight over Franken’s seat, knowing that the longer he could delay it the less time the Dems would have to pass whatever they could. And this tactic was mostly successful, since Ted more or less checked out of Congress sometime in March that year.
The governor of Massachusetts appointed a replacement for Kennedy, who was sworn into office at the end September. However, Massachusetts law meant that a special election to fill a vacancy had to be held within 5 months. It was held on January 19, 2010 and that’s when Republican Scott Brown won, and the Dems lost their supermajority.
In other words, the Dems only had a supermajority from September 25th 2009 to February 4th 2010, which was about 60-ish working days for the Senate. They spent most of that time getting the PPACA passed (and fuck you forever, Lieberman) but soon after that Congress ground to a halt thanks to GOP obstructionism.
Supermajorities wouldn’t be needed if Democrats weren’t so devoted to the preservation of the Jim Crow Filibuster.
Just outlier DINOs… Manchin & Sinema fucked Democrats the most on this. At least Democrats have been the only ones who attempted to stop the lazy filibuster threat.
Good riddance to Manchin and Sinema now that they’re both out of the party.
And always just enough of them.
They will have replacements. Not necessarily from the same states, but replacements that will serve the same function in the Senate.
He’s a great speaker though…
Most definitely, he’s an amazing speaker!