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During the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden was outspoken in his desire to revive the spirit of bipartisanship in this country.

On May 15, Politico reported that, at the urging of many advisers, Biden had mostly given up on working with the GOP, which he purportedly now views as an existential threat to the nations democracy.

Four days later, Biden enjoyed the biggest bipartisan victory of his presidency. Talk about timing.

The historic $40 billion aid package for Ukraine was, as Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell predicted, a big bipartisan landslide. Just shy of 80% of Republican senators voted for it.

Biden did applaud the Congress for sending a clear bipartisan message to the world in a written statement as he left for Asia. But he hasnt boasted about delivering on his promise of bipartisanship.

Meanwhile, other leading Democrats think the real story are the Republicans who voted against the Ukraine package. It is beyond troubling to see a growing circle of Senate Republicans proudly oppose Ukrainian funding, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said last week. It appears more and more MAGA Republicans are on the same soft-on-Putin playbook that we saw used by former President Trump.

Schumer has a point the share of Republicans opposing Bidens requests for support has grown; only three House Republicans objected to Bidens initial statement of support for Ukraine in March.

But Schumers focus on the rump group that lost the vote illustrates why few in either party want to tout their bipartisanship. Theres very little incentive, particularly heading into the midterms, to brag about working with the enemy. The base just doesnt want to hear it.

This has been a dynamic in Washington for a long time. When members of Congress work on a bipartisan basis, they like to do it as under the radar as possible, to avoid seeming like sellouts to the parties respective bases that see any compromise or collegiality as cowardly surrender.

Some call this the secret or shadow Congress. In an era of hyperpartisanship, if you want to get something done, the best thing you can do is not make a big deal about it. Its a zero-sum calculation if one party can declare a victory, the other party sees it as a loss. Thats both why Biden rarely boasts of the bipartisan in his Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill win (officially the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) and why the Republicans who voted for it have been treated like traitors by the base.

All Republicans who voted for Democratic longevity should be ashamed of themselves! Trump declared in November. That Trump desperately wanted an infrastructure bill when he was president shows how partisanship is a bigger priority than policy.

Still, in such a climate, one might wonder, why did Republicans overwhelmingly support the Ukrainian aid package? The most important, and obvious, reason is that it was necessary on the merits. A second reason is that a huge majority of Americans including Republicans support helping Ukraine any way possible short of sending troops. Republican approval of Bidens handling of Ukraine is low, but that probably reflects Republican disapproval of Biden generally. Indeed, Republicans have often been more likely to say Biden has been too weak on Ukraine.

Theres a third answer that doesnt fit a popular narrative among Democrats and many in the media.

Despite decades of handwringing to the contrary, the GOP is not an isolationist party, a fact Trump often learned to his consternation in the White House as he was forced to sign Russian sanctions and intervene militarily in the Middle East.

Even among the opponents of helping Ukraine, most argue that the U.S. should focus on confronting China instead, hardly an isolationist argument. Others hide behind newly discovered concerns about fiscal or procedural propriety. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, a leading noninterventionist, claimed that he merely wanted an inspector general to oversee the spending of the aid money.

Its true that there is a loud noninterventionist or realist bloc on the right, increasingly and surprisingly led by the Heritage Foundation and unsurprisingly by various instruments of the Koch network. But such efforts are hardly new, even if they are often treated that way.

Indeed, one might ask, why are Democrats so supportive of Bidens effort? The most important answer to that question is the same for Democrats, too: Its necessary and popular. But the fact that Biden is president is probably a big part of it as well.

After all, when Vladimir Putin seized Crimea, Democrats rallied to President Obamas fairly tepid response. Partisanship works wonders.

Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast.

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OP-ED: Why do Democrats and Republicans agree on Ukraine aid? - Observer-Reporter

Someone needs to remind Doug Forcier about his response to MAGA letter that the Democrats have controlled the majority in the House and the Senate as well as the White House. So when he states incoherent list of Fox News talking points and finger pointing, he needs to open his eyes and see the gridlock in congress is due to his own partys policies that even level-headed Democrats disagree with.

Its safe to assume he hasnt watched Fox News and he just gets his Fox News talking points from CNN or MSNBC since they tell you what they want you to believe. Maybe one day he will realize the Democrat party isn't helping anyone and only making matters worse. I challenge him to watch any Fox News program from 5-11 p.m. for a week. Then he can research the sources/editors from articles/stories he reads, compare the two and he will see just how radicalized Democrats are and how they bring the fake news right to his living room.

Democrats have you right where they want you, wrapped around their little fingers. Its not a coincidence that on day 1 of Biden taking over, with a stroke of a pen, he proceeded to ruin this beautiful country. Maybe, just maybe, one day he can admit that he voted for the wrong guy and that everything he has been told has been a plan to keep him brainwashed. Highly unlikely, I can only lead a horse to water but I cant make him drink.

Continued here:
Ezovski: Democrats are 'making matters worse' | Letters to the Editor | valleybreeze.com - Valley Breeze

Now that folks have begun to speculate openly about the possibility of a coming recession, its long past time for the White House to start acknowledging economic reality. Put plainly, the people are hurting, the picture is not at all rosy and things could well soon be taking a turn for the worse.

With the November midterm elections fast approaching and Democrats likely to lose their majorities in one or both houses of Congress, theres effectively no time left for President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers to turn things around. So what to do?

Send Biden out on the road to tell folks that things really arent as bad as they appear. Thats one of the administrations plans, anyway. Not a good one, obviously.

Democrats, from Biden on down the line, need to accept reality: Most people are focused on the economy, and they dont like what they see. How could they?

Anyone who has been to a gas station, a grocery store or a restaurant or has endeavored to buy pretty much anything of late has doubtless been shocked by the prices. Things appear out of control, with no end in sight.

Want even worse news? Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently used the s-word. Yes, she said theres a real worry about stagflation, the term for an era of increasing prices coupled with stagnant growth.

If you arent old enough to remember the late 1970s, you may wish to ask someone who is to describe how things were back then. You mean in the bad old days? he might begin, before regaling you with stories of spiraling prices, endless lines at gas stations and general malaise across the land.

Except for the folks who have fond memories of nights at the disco, you wont find too many people waxing poetic about the late 1970s.

If Biden goes hither and thither, touting a success story or two in the hinterlands, hell not be doing Democrats, or anyone, a bit of good. Hell look completely out of touch.

Democrats need to acknowledge reality, accept their share of the blame and promise to do better going forward.

First, though, the so-called progressives need to realize that they are living in fantasy land and that doubling down and pledging more of the same is a losing proposition.

See more here:
Democrats need a reality check on the economy (Editorial) - MassLive.com

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York at a press conference on Capitol Hill on April 7, 2022.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

AOC slammed top Democrats for backing Rep. Henry Cuellar, an anti-abortion Democrat with an A rating from the NRA.

Cuellar faced a primary challenge from progressive Jessica Cisneros, but leads her by less than 200 votes.

"This was an utter failure of leadership," said AOC. "Congress should not be an incumbent protection racket."

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York laced into top House Democrats late on Tuesday night, condemning them for working to bolster conservative Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas over a progressive challenger.

"Accountability isn't partisan. This was an utter failure of leadership," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. "Congress should not be an incumbent protection racket and sadly it is treated as such by far too many."

Cuellar, the only House Democrat with an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association and the only House Democrat to vote against a bill that would codify abortion rights into law, faced a primary challenge from progressive lawyer Jessica Cisneros. As of Wednesday morning, the incumbent congressman led Cisneros by less than 200 votes.

But despite his conspicuous break from major party priorities, top Democrats held fundraisers and recorded robo-calls on behalf of Cuellar. That support became even more notable as aleaked draft Supreme Court opinion indicated that Roe v. Wade was likely to be overturned, and two mass shootings took place in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas.

Adding to the drama, Cuellar's home and campaign office were raided by the FBI in January, though his lawyer says that the congressman is not the subject of the investigation.

"On the day of a mass shooting and weeks after news of Roe, Democratic Party leadership rallied for a pro-NRA, anti-choice incumbent under investigation in a close primary," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "Robocalls, fundraisers, all of it."

Top Democrats had defended their support for Cuellar in light of the leaked abortion ruling. House Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told Insider earlier this month that the Democratic Party is a "diverse party" with "diverse opinions," while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended him as a "valued member of our caucus."

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"The fact is those who fail their communities deserve to lose," Ocasio-Cortez said. "They don't need rescuing from powerful leaders who state they fight for gun safety, the right to choose, and more."

The New York congresswoman and other top progressives including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington had backed Cisneros, who was challenging Cuellar for the second time. And Cisneros had called on Democratic leaders to drop their support for Cuellar in light of the leaked abortion opinion.

Noting that the run-off was "extremely close," Ocasio-Cortez argued that Democratic leaders had "gone to the mat for a pro-NRA incumbent" and will have "mobilized against a badly needed grassroots" ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

She also noted that Cuellar was a member of the "Unbreakable Nine," a group of conservative House Democrats who demanded that the bipartisan infrastructure law be passed separately from the now-doomed "Build Back Better" social spending bill, which ultimately imperiled the expanded child tax credit that was set to be renewed as part of the legislation.

"We can't afford to reward such acts," she concluded. "We can do better."

Read the original article on Business Insider

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AOC denounces top Democrats for supporting an anti-abortion congressman with an 'A' rating from the NRA on the heels of two mass shootings and news of...

A draft of the new map was released on May 16, with stakeholders having the opportunity to submit feedback throughout the week before a final map was produced on Friday. The newly drawn map features districts that are more compact, particularly in New York City, which is famed for its unusually apportioned seats. But opponents of the special masters draft map argued that the odd shapes of many current districts reflect the historic racial and ethnic makeup of those areas, thus giving those populations a voice in Congress.

It certainly is a fairer map from the partisan perspective than the one passed by the legislature, Michael Li, senior counsel for the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center, told The New Republic on Friday. The bigger issue is whether the map gets the right balance with respect to various communities, and in particular, communities of color. Its unclear to me that the map violates the Voting Rights Act, which is not to say it doesnt necessarily adversely affect communities of color.

Cervas seems to have taken some of these considerations into account in the finalized map, reuniting some communities that he had divided. One such example was Sunset Park, a neighborhood in Brooklyn that was previously divided between the districts of Representative Jerry Nadler and Representative Nydia Velazquez. Sunset Park has significant Asian and Hispanic populations, Lerner argued, so it made sense for part of the neighborhood to belong to Nadlers district, which includes Chinatown in Manhattan, and part to Velazquezs district, which has a plurality Hispanic population. But under the special masters initial map, the entirety of Sunset Park had been drawn into a new district with Staten Island, with smaller Hispanic and Asian populations. Cervass initial map therefore significantly diminished their voice within the district, said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, an advocacy group that opposed the new map.

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New Yorks Redistricting Has Caused a Train Wreck of Democrats Own Creation - The New Republic