Some Progressive policies are popular. Note the early 20th century Populist / Progressive movement was kind of the same way…they had a lot of ideas, some were way out there and kind of crazy, and not very popular. But some were very popular. Over time the popular ideas got implemented, and left with only the non-mainstream ideas left, they faded from power. I think the GOP has been flat wrong on climate politics for years, even young conservatives are fairly green, but the old scions of the party are still stick in 1990s denialism or quasi-denialism. Progressive positions on climate are mostly popular, aside from when they delve too far into radicalism. Paid family leave, universal pre-K, and universal healthcare coverage are also generally much more popular than their support levels in Congress indicate.
But I could write out a long list of progressive policies that would be deeply unpopular in most of the country.
Infrastructure Bill passed 228-206, with 13 Republicans crossing over and 6 Dems in the opposite direction. Next a vote on the ground rules for bringing BBB to the floor.
Uhm, no, that quote had nothing to do with what I’ve said. We actually know exactly what’s in these bills. What we don’t know is if they’ll ever actually pass.
What we also know is that a large percentage of Americans are both massively ignorant, and actively opposed to improving on that situation, which is where the advertising comes into it. You need messaging so ubiquitous that even the most aggressively ignorant voters can’t avoid learning something. Every project undertaken with money from this bill, should it pass, needs to be plastered with signs that not only say, “Building Back Better, from Biden and His Democrat Buddies!”, but also: “Remember, Senator X of the Republican party voted against all this! Why didn’t Senator X want you to have a good-paying job?”
"Here are the six House Democrats who broke from their party to vote against the bill:
Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York
Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York
Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota
Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts
Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan
13 Republicans vote in support
Thirteen Republicans in the House voted with Democrats to approve the bill. They are:
Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania
Rep. Andrew Gabarino of New York
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio
Rep. John Katko of New York
Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York
Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia
Rep. Tom Reed of New York
Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey
Fred Upton of Michigan
Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey
Rep. Don Young of Alaska"
(Sorry Fred Upton for the lack of a Title for you, that’s how CNN printed it!)
The progressives clearly made a tactical mistake here regardless of how you look at it.
However it’s not like there’s going to be a big revelation where someone gets them to finally admit their secret plan. They were public about it from the start and are quite happy to continue to talk about it.
Continues to be darkly amusing to me how similar “moderate liberals” are to, say, Trump supporters, in how reflexively and unreasonably they snap to a completely black and white perspective as soon as their guy doesn’t get his way, for any reason, in any way.
You can have a long conversation about why a progressive might hypothetically see tactical value in doing something differently from how Joe Biden wants them to, every once in a while. But as soon as they actually do it–because they’re progressives, and that’s what they’re there to do–it’s just “they’re babies, they’re stupid, they’re selfish.” Impossible to tell whether it’s coming from the right wing of the party or the right wing of the country. Same degree of willingness to actually grapple with the underlying political differences.
I’m about 99% sure they got the word from Pelosi that it was ok for them to vote no, because she already knew it had enough Republican support. If there’s one thing Pelosi is good at, it’s counting votes.
I hear everything you’re saying and you’re not wrong. But here’s where these progressives cross the line between fighting for progressive values and becoming childishly obstinate. It’s when they vote “NO” for a bill that every Democrat and some Republicans (and the majority of the country) supports. This was done to make a petulant point. They put their principles ahead of what’s good not just for the Democratic President that supports them, or the Democratic party that needs as many wins as it can get right now, but ahead of what’s good for the country.
ISTM at this point that the biggest sin of the progressives was overstating their unity.
It’s really hard to believe that Jayapal went from dozens of hardliners a week ago to literally just the squad now. If she had been up front about it we could have saved a lot of time, because it’s likely Pelosi always had the 10-15 Republicans she needed to overcome a handful of defectors.
I think this is a massive negative in the future even just from a self-interested perspective because next time Pelosi is going to call the CPC’s bluff rather than spend a month longer haggling.