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Gretchen Sisson's avatar

I spoke to Senator Sinema on the phone last week, and I was the worst conversation I've ever had with an elected official. I went in thinking she was just a contrarian who likes being the center of attention. But it's worse than that: she actually believes she is protecting democracy by preserving the filibuster. (She also launched into a full lecture on the history of the filibuster, and when I said that everyone on the call was familiar with the history and did not think it supported its continuation, she replied, "Well, sorry if this is boring to you.")

I don't really doubt that Manchin will get where he needs to be on this, but I have no idea how we move her at this point.

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Mark Hernandez's avatar

I do wish journalists asked questions that were more pointed, and more specifically held her to account. So many of the questions seem designed to grab a rage-inducing headline rather than nail her down on the specific ramifications of her position. Rather than "Will you vote to kill the filibuster?", I'd rather see something like:

"You're here today with John Cornyn, who propogated The Big Lie of election fraud, a lie so preposterous that it got Trump banned from even Facebook. Members of his party have pretended that the 2020 election was not secure, as a cover for advancing voter suppression laws. What specific evidence do you have that ten Republican senators will reverse course and ensure the right to vote for all eligible Americans?"

"What about working with supporters of The Big Lie makes it more important than the passage of a bill you co-sponsored?"

"Can you point me to the specific place in the Constitution that the founders wrote in the filibuster?"

"Our republic barely survived the Articles of Confederation, a key feature of which was a super-majority requirement. By my reading, there is no super-majority requirement in the Constitution, which--if I may--suggests the founders saw the dangers of it. Since the filibuster as it exists today essentially requires a super-majority on most legislation, why do you view it as more conducive to democracy than the founders did? What are your other favorite features of the Articles of Confederation that the Constitution writers left out?"

Confession: I, too, saw the clip yesterday with Cornyn, and was irate.

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