Kyrsten Sinema, throughout her first and worst term as senator, has pointedly refused to engage meaningfully with her constituents. She’s held few town halls and won’t meet with representatives from groups who helped elect her in the first place. However, she always finds time for her beloved donor class.
This week, she enjoyed a private fancypants luncheon with billionaire CEOs at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, which is not a city in Arizona. Joining her were fellow bipartisan crusaders Sen. Joe Manchin and Chris Coons, plus special guest villains Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and former House Speaker Paul Ryan. Sinema hasn't looked this happy since she voted against a minimum wage increase.
Watch her pour on that Sinema charm! (Available for purchase wherever big-money donors gather.)
“I've heard from wealthy donors that Sinema is at her most comfortable and gregarious around rich donors and you can really see it here!”
— Chris Hayes (@Chris Hayes) 1673984579
PREVIOUSLY:
Kyrsten Sinema OK With Saving Planet, If We Just Do Her Hedge Fund Friends One Little Favor Though
Kyrsten Sinema: Why Does Every Democrat I Betray Betray Me?
Time To Launch The 'Beat Kyrsten Sinema' Campaign
Everybody Hates Mitch McConnell's BFF Kyrsten Sinema
Sinema traveled 6,000 miles to lecture us some more about the filibuster while dressed like she was auditioning for the series "Shaun the Sheep." She was very pleased with herself, even gleefully high-fiving Manchin when they congratulated each other on helping Republicans kill voting rights legislation.
“That massive voting-rights bill wasn’t passed through Congress," she said, referring to legislation she voted for and claimed to support. "And then we had free and fair elections all across the country." Amen!
No, actually, voters of color might've resisted Republican voter suppression efforts, but that doesn’t make those elections “free and fair.” If you put chains on someone’s ankles and they still manage to (barely) complete a marathon, that doesn’t make the race less crooked. Citizens are still facing effective disenfranchisement. Look at Wisconsin, where Mandela Barnes arguably lost because of voter suppression in Milwaukee.
Sinema kept talking: “So one could posit that the push by one political party to eliminate an important guardrail and an institution in our country may have been premature or overreaching in order to get the short term victories they wanted.”
One could also “posit” that Kyrsten Sinema is a vainglorious buffoon. However, that statement is correct, and hers is insultingly wrong.
Sinema neglects to mention that Republicans passed state voter suppression bills on party line votes with a simple majority. She travels a lot while wine interning, but she might’ve noticed Republicans doing this in her own state. Democrats attempted to defend voting rights with a simple majority. That's hardly “overreach.” But Sinema, ever the useful idiot, wants to maintain asymmetrical warfare.
Demonstrating more of the same political savvy that had her speaking at the McConnell Center just before midterms, Sinema referred to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as a “dear friend” of hers. Not even McCarthy deserves that slander.
Sinema lamented that her good buddy — a power-hungry moral vacuum — is now willingly under the thumb of far-right extremists. “He's now in an unenviable position that will make it very difficult for us to meet our obligation,” she said, referring to the likely debt ceiling default. Sinema and Manchin did agree to a filibuster carveout to raise the debt ceiling last time. (Black people voting doesn’t impact stock portfolios.)
From the Wall Street Journal:
Ms. Sinema, who used to teach a bipartisan spin exercise class that Mr. McCarthy attended when she was in the House, criticized leaders of both parties for what she said was an unwillingness to reach across the aisle.
“This is not healthy for democracy. So I think that this is an opportunity for us as a country to look back and say, ‘Is this partisanship serving us?’"
What’s not “healthy for democracy” is a violent far-right insurgency posing as a political party. These nihilists run the show and Sinema’s corporate Republican besties are willing collaborators. Claiming Democrats refuse to work across the aisle is a damn lie. President Joe Biden, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi actively negotiated several bipartisan legislative wins, which Sinema shamelessly suggests is all her doing. Democrats' inflexibility on opposing coups and supporting civil rights is not a moral failing.
We can all see the game Sinema is playing here. Recent polls show her losing (badly) a three-way race between Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and MAGA election denier Kari Lake, the imaginary governor of Arizona. If she runs, she's gonna drop a load of "both sides" BS all over the race. But rigid partisanship isn't why Gallego might run against Sinema. He just believes Arizonans deserve a senator who'll actually represent them. Sinema's most important constituency exists within her mirror.
Follow Stephen Robinson on Twitter if it still exists.
Subscribe to the Wonkette YouTube Channel for nifty video content!
Look at our pretty photos on Instagram!
Yr Wonkette is 100 percent ad-free! Please subscribe, donate, and otherwise help keep us alive and kicking!
I fucking hate clowns.
https://media0.giphy.com/me...