'OPPORTUNIST'
‘Massive Fail’: Sinema Slammed for Traveling With Trump-Loving Republican and Praising the ‘Racist’ Filibuster
U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema on Wednesday toured U.S. Customs and Border Protection migrant facilities in her home state of Arizona, and praised the Senate filibuster which is standing in the way of passing crucial voter protection legislation in a hyper-partisan 50-50 Senate.
Sinema, a conservative Democrat who is increasingly coming under fire not only for her right-wing voting record (she voted with President Donald Trump 50.4% of the time, per FiveThirtyEight,) but for what some Democrats see as detached and callous behavior, and opposition to helping secure the Democratic agenda.
A large and growing number of Democrats are demanding Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer kill the filibuster, a Jim Crow-era relic that “was designed and used for decades to thwart civil rights legislation,” as far back as 99 years ago.
Sen. Sinema, along with her fellow conservative Democratic Senator, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, have steadfastly held on to the filibuster, refusing to even consider allowing it to be killed.
On Thursday, news began to spread of her trip with far right Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), who voted to filibuster the commission on the January 6 insurrection, a vote Sinema did not even make.
Sinema on Wednesday spread some disinformation about the filibuster (video below, full video here.)
She called it “a tool that protects the democracy of our nation rather than allowing our country to ricochet wildly every two to four years back and forth between policies,” while ignoring the attacks on American democracy from Republicans like Senator Cornyn, who have gone so far as to support the violent and deadly insurrection, and then attempt to whitewash it.
“The idea of the filibuster was created by those who came before the United States Senate to create comity, and to encourage senators to find bipartisanship and work together. And while there are some who don’t believe that bipartisanship is possible. I think that I’m a daily example that bipartisanship is possible, not just this trip today and tomorrow that John and I were doing, but the work that John and I and I and many other my colleagues and both parties do on a regular basis.”
Calling herself “a cheerful and happy warrior” who is “aggressively seeking bipartisanship,” Sinema also claimed the filibuster “was created as a tool to bring together, members of different parties to find compromise and coalition.”
That no longer happens, and as former deputy chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said last week, at this point the filibuster is destroying our democratic way of governance:
It’s actually the filibuster that is destroying our government. Ending it would let our government work again, as It did for the 200+ years before the supermajority threshold came to be used with any regularity in the Senate. https://t.co/TEnZGPF7u6
— Adam Jentleson 🎈 (@AJentleson) May 28, 2021
She also claimed the filibuster is “protect[ing] the rights of the minority, from the majority, regardless of which party is in a majority of the time.”
Sinema is falsely claiming here that the filibuster was “created as a tool to bring together members of different parties.”
Either wildly naive or intentionally deceptive. pic.twitter.com/t7zWqgO70U
— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) June 2, 2021
Many are now criticizing Sinema over her latest self-inflicted wound.
Here’s former Democratic NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito:
Minority rule was never the intent. The filibuster has been corrupted beyond recognition from original iteration and has become the weapon of choice for those committed to perpetuating white supremacy. https://t.co/V6WDzBXMNb
— Melissa Mark-Viverito (@MMViverito) June 2, 2021
More:
Sinema isn’t the person she claimed to be when she ran. She is a vile opportunist living off the work of others dropping every card she can to get what she wants. https://t.co/jVOaZ5HtqW
— ᗩᖇᑕTIᑕ ᐯEᒪOᑕIᑭEᗪIᔕT (@UrbaniteAlaska) June 2, 2021
A US senator that is unfamiliar with basic political history. Seems about right for the 2020s. https://t.co/k8IJO5KgUg
— Scott Jennings (@Lum_) June 2, 2021
@SenatorSinema Ah there is no bipartisanship WTF are you talking about? What you are doing is frustrating progress.. Either do your job or get the fuck out of the way. Our Democracy is at risk and you’re here bold face spinning shit. https://t.co/t9ZFju0BGi
— Decatur Tenant Association (@DecaturTenant) June 2, 2021
Dear Gawd 🤦♀️ now she’s using old racist lies https://t.co/FsfXuRhEtp
— Desert Sooner 🇺🇲 (@THarris1939) June 2, 2021
Dear Gawd 🤦♀️ now she’s using old racist lies https://t.co/FsfXuRhEtp
— Desert Sooner 🇺🇲 (@THarris1939) June 2, 2021
Two solid minutes of nonsense. The filibuster does not “protect democracy”; all it protects is white supremacy. It was not “created” to achieve any goal; it arose from a mistake. And the GOP has made it clear they are not going to cooperate on anything. This is a massive fail. https://t.co/lPFgiY12L7
— Inwood Indivisible (@InwdIndivisible) June 2, 2021
Stop lying, @SenatorSinema, or learn the true history of the racist filibuster that you’re defending! #NewJimCrow https://t.co/p7Bi8TZPIe
— Stephen Roach Knight (@knightopia) June 2, 2021
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