Since the day he took over as Senate Majority Leader, I’ve been following Chuck Schumer a whole lot closer now than I ever did in the past. And 18 months in, I think I have a feel for the man, and his basic strategy, and I’ve been impressed by his leadership.
Schumer’s leadership style is fairly simple. He welcomes all voices in the Democratic caucus to the table, and actually listens. He set himself up as the Alpha Male in the Senate when Minority Leader Mitch McConnell held up turning over committee chairmanships to the Democrats, demanding a pledge that the Democrats wouldn’t nuke the filibuster. Schumer took to national television to laugh in his face on Rachel Maddow’s show, and the next day McConnell backed down.
There is only so much that Schumer can do in a 50-50 Senate, with two recalcitrant caucus members who won’t carve exceptions in the filibuster. Meanwhile, the Pelosi led House is passing popular shit on to the Senate, where it can’t pass. So Schumer has gone tactical, and I like it.
The standing rule of practice in both the House and the Senate is that you never bring a bill to the floor without the votes to pass it. That’s why the Whips are so important, they whip and tally to votes before calling the bill to the floor. But with a potentially tough midterm election looming on the horizon, and a whole slew of publicly popular Democratic House bills on his desk, Schumer is taking a different tack.
He’s calling bills to the floor of the Senate for a test vote on cloture to debate the bill, knowing that it will fail. Why do it? Because it forces GOP Senators to make a firm vote against a popular issue that Democratic opponents can use to campaign on in November. A couple of those votes have cast Sinema and Judas Joe on the wrong side, but that’s their problem. Take one for the team.
Which is why Schumer’s response today in the Senate is so intriguing. Right now he has HR8 on his desk, which would mandate universal background checks, even for over the fence sales. It’s DOA in the Senate, but in the wake of the Texas school shooting, it makes perfect sense for Schumer to once again stick the GOP with having to vote against popular public opinion, and then campaign off it in November.
But he’s not. Last night, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut, who suffered the sins of the damned after Sandy Hook, took to the Senate floor with an impassioned plea asking why Senators went through all of the trouble to get elected if they weren’t going to do anything to serve their constituents. He begged the GOP to at least come and see him and talk. And it appears that he may be getting a few nibbles.
And now, Democratic AZ flake Kyrsten Sinema went to Schumer, wanting to make contact with and negotiate with amenable GOP Senators on exactly what they could support. And being a tactician to the bone, Schumer has given her his blessing. And I think I know why.
The NRA is scheduled to convene its national convention on Friday in Houston. That’s right, within 200 miles of 19 freshly murdered 4th graders. It was originally billed as a Texas GOP-a-palooza, with Governor Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, and TX rep Dan Crenshaw all set to speak, with Traitor Tot mainlining the event.
But the wheels seem to be falling off of the NRA’s party wagon. Crenshaw related that he won’t be appearing, since he’ll be in Ukraine. Smart man. As a veteran I think he realizes he’ll be safer in Ukraine, fewer guns there than in Texas. And John Cornyn’s office released a statement saying he won’t be appearing due to Personal commitments in Washington that weekend. Really? That shindig has been on the schedule for months. I’m guessing Cronyn’s wife blew into town, and told him if he spoke at that stupid conference, they were history.
But this is starting to appear almost like the planets coming into alignment in a way we haven’t seen since The Age of Aquarius. It appears that Cornyn may be one of the Senators who may be receptive. But there’s a whole lot more in play here. You have moderates like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski who might be receptive to stopping the carnage, at least in a limited way. And you have moderate GOP Senators like Pat Toomey in PA, Richard Burr in NC, and Rob Portman of OH who are retiring, and have nothing to fear from voters for doing the right thing.
But the linchpin of the whole thing could well be John Cornyn. He is a senior leadership moderate Republican, not a Trombie. He could have influence over moderate retiring members, as well as more moderate incumbents like Tim Scott of South Carolina. And a prime pickup opportunity could be wishy-washy Marco Rubio of Florida. Not only was Rubio a member of the original Gang of Eight, but his own then Governor Rick Scott signed a bill raising the gun purchase age from 18-21, as well as banning bump stocks.
Look, don’t get your hopes up here. It’s not like the Senate GOP is going to fall all over itself to pass HR8. But there are several places where negotiation and compromise is possible. There are several GOP dominated states that have passed so called Red Flag Laws that allow local judges to confiscate guns from those proven mentally unfit, and to prohibit them from purchasing guns. Also, there appears to be some appetite to snip off the so called Gun Show Loophole that exempts gun shows from running federal background checks. Who knows what else is out there, waiting to be negotiated.
Y’all know me, I’m a cynical son of a bitch. But while I’m not predicting a breakthrough, I’m at least hopeful enough to allow the negotiations to go through. Look at the infrastructure package. And this latest tragedy may just be a bridge too far for the GOP Parkland massacre survivor David Hogg appeared on MSNBC tonight, and said their organization was fired up and ready to go. In 2018, a whole shitload of A and A+ NRA members got their heads handed to them in the House. That was 2018. There’s 4 more years of pissed off students eligible to vote this year, and they’re registering. We’ll see what happens. But from where I’m sitting, almost anything is better than nothing.
You do have a point. This time is a little different. There were several gaffes by law enforcement and lawmakers on this one. The one I like the best for this, if you can have one is Beto confronting those clowns and instead of engaging him and try to get some control over the situation. They in their infinite stupidity through him out of the venue. That went viral. And I do mean viral. It was the bang heard around the world. Beto couldn’t buy that image of him being escorted out. And I personally think Greg Abbott better dust off the furniture in his own home because I think he might be getting an eviction notice from old Beto. It’s time for some action. This one was personal for a lot of people. And like you said earlier. The gop just can’t stop tripping over their own feet.
I am less than hopeful. If the democrats win enough seats in the senate and keep enough in the house, legislation could go through if the senate had a filibuster-proof majority. Unless/Until they achieve these numbers nothing will be done. Will this latest massacre of children make a difference in November? Hard to say. The republicans have allowed children to be murdered in mass shootings for quite a while now and have done exactly nothing. I just don’t see the people who voted them into office thus far changing their votes to the candidate with a D by their name. Especially in our polarized society.
If the ‘pubes thought this would have an adverse impact on their election/re-election chances, a-holes like abbott and cruz would have backed out of the Murder Inc. meeting (nra). They believe this will not hurt them. Hell, cruz is such a rancid piece of offal that he ought never have been re-elected and yet he keeps his senate seat regardless-there is, perhaps, no man hated as much as he is.
I will not get my hopes up.