It isn't difficult for people to see. What seems worth noting (from what little I've had time to grock) is that this compromise has the middle-of-the-road Republican votes needed to get to a total of 60 and thus overcome Mr. McConnell. McConnell is not god, or the devil, he's just some powerful and often-malevolent person, tragically voted into office, again and again, by millions of our fellow voters in Kentucky. Every state in this country, with no exceptions, has many voters who have descended to this level of thinking and the sooner we accept that reality, and find a better more rational more productive way to address it, the better.

[en.wikipedia.org]

so disappointing, not only Biden, but how clueless some of his team is. I get that there is posturing and signaling in politics, and I suppose some of that is to be expected even around a sensitive compromise like this. Still, the compromise was so hard-fought that Biden's stupid comments and his team's apparent additional issues (going by this article), signal to me that degree of tone-deafness that I have been concerned about. Many Republicans seem to have had been at pains to insist that they be voting on an infrastructure bill, and not on something else. Sometimes Republicans ask for things that seem to me ridiculous, but this ask seemed reasonable at least to consider. I think this Republican ask is something for which the Biden Administration should show some respect.

[cnn.com]
Biden tries to walk back comments on infrastructure bill to stem GOP defections
By Arlette Saenz and Donald Judd, CNN
Updated 6:50 PM ET, Sat June 26, 2021

Hi -

• by "brilliant" are you being sarcastic or not?
• What is d$A?

@kmaz No sarcasm at all. divided $tates of America

@kmaz He hates America.

@barjoe I believe that's overstating it a bit. What part of d$A isn't true?

@rainmanjr $

@barjoe Really? “The business of America is business.”

@barjoe

I can't see that far into his comments. I'm sure I've agreed and disagreed with him on this or that, but from what I can tell, rainmanjr at least in some instances is not a fan of making clear intelligible comments for others to consider and respond to. When that happens, it is simply disruptive of productive discussion.

Yes, I kind of agree. The way I see this one, the progressives who are attempting to make passage of hard infrastructure conditional on passage of so-called human infrastructure and climate measures are being willfully, recklessly and irresponsibly tone-deaf to some points that are being made to them, not only by Republicans, but by independents and probably by some moderates democrats. These points include not only some challenges to their assertions of the claimed importance of human infrastructure, but also some challenges to their understanding of the actual critical need to work together and get certain things done. Addressing the hard infrastructure needs of the country is not some sort of optional matter.

@kmaz Climate is our most important infrastructure. When it goes south, bridges, railways, and highways won't mean a fucking thing.

@Sticks48

"Climate" is not "infrastructure". Climate is climate. It's a difficult pill to swallow that so many of our fellow voters are so mentally deficient that they will not elect legislators who will take sufficient action (such as pollution taxes and pollution-cleanup-rewards) on climate change, which is an immediate life and death issue for millions (if not billions) of people, and dozens (if not hundreds) of trillions of dollars in property. And yes, addressing infrastructure needs should be done with climate change firmly in mind, and that was probably not (from what little I know) sufficiently done in this particular bill.

With that being said, if anyone has been paying attention at all, it is quite clear that this was a very difficult-to-get-compromise that we were unlikely to squeeze any more out of, and it should not be needlessly endangered, with chicken-hawk political comments, unless there is some exceedingly good reason. We are dealing with dangerously stupid and malevolent legislators in some cases who have:

• actively sought to block investigation of treason on multiple levels by a President including broad-daylight support for an attempt to overthrow the government, and including that they themselves were physically close to having violence done to them.
• been dishonorably bullied and blackmailed into lying and going against their own inclinations to protect and serve the constitution and who now still cannot recover from that process even though the most prominent murderous bully is for the moment out of office.
• actively sought, in broad daylight, to overthrow the rule of law in the US by bringing further harm to our already in-peril voting system.

We are also dealing with a party from the left which seems to be intellectually incapable, in many cases, of acknowledging any solid thinking at all coming from the right.

We are, in other words, not even close to being out of the woods yet, and if that's true, then wouldn't it be best if, when we get some moderate victory that was difficult to get, .... in light of this fragile background, that we just have that victory and not throw it away. There is plenty of opportunity to posture and make clear where the remaining principles are left on the table for debate.

@kmaz l agree with get as much as you can, but since McConnell will pass NOTHING and has made this very clear as he did when Obama was in office they had better get rid of the filibuster. You may not agree that climate is not the infrastructure, but it is the planet is THE STRUCURE on which everything is built. I don't care about the semantics, climate is the number one priority period.