this is very very key. what’s changed over the summer is that Dem mods have spent months calling the package too extreme etc. they’ve also created a drawn out process that has allowed the idea to take hold. the contrast with the covid rescue bill is instructive.
https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1441003645043097601
2/ the bill was,popular. Dems were United behind it. It passed quickly. Done and done. Remains popular. now there’s an element of circular logic here. Pols need to be able to say there are things they don’t support obviously. They also need to be able to negotiate. But here …
3/ we get to something pretty key. The hold ups from the sinemas and Manchins have never been policy focused. Their mostly positioning, which is to say focused on creating good political outcomes for themselves. They obviously wouldn’t agree that that is the case.
4/ But the debates themselves tell the story. They’ve never been able to come up with counter proposals or specifics. And that’s because the focus isn’t policy. Most of the key players are mostly policy illiterate. The angle has been to distance themselves from their party.
5/ And by definition you do that by saying there’s a bunch of stuff you think is too extreme. The problem is that you end up spending months saying your party’s agenda is too extreme. That weakens support for the agenda - no surprise. And that sets up an electoral dynamic …
6/ in which the whole party gets slaughtered. And the first to the slaughterhouse are the mods themselves. The folks in safe districts survive waves. The mods don’t.
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