Sunday, December 13, 2020

One More Comment

I don't know if I have said this before.  I fully expect most Congressional Republicans to continue to profess uncertainty as to who our next President will be up through January 5.  On January 6, they will have no choice but to make a decision.

My guess is that the majority of Republicans in both houses will refuse to accept the outcome of the Electoral College.  In the House, the Democrats will hold a majority and vote to certify Biden.  In the Senate, the Republicans will hold a majority, but a handful (probably Romney, Collins, Murkowski, Sasse and Toomey, all of whom have already declared for Biden) will join the Democrats to certify Biden.  Republicans will probably keep litigating the election until the inauguration -- and maybe even after.  And Republicans for the next four years will use the close vote to question Biden's legitimacy.

As for the Georgia Senate elections, I 100% endorse everything in this article.  Compromise will be impossible if Republicans control the Senate.  Yes, there are moderate Republican Senators who support compromise legislation.  But the Majority Leader controls what comes to the floor, and, unless the Democrats win both seats in Georgia, the Majority Leader is Mitch McConnell.  

I would add one thing to the article, though.  I think winning even one of the Georgia Senate seats will be worth doing.  Why?  Because maybe we could persuade one Republican Senator to bolt the party.  (It has happened before).  He or she wouldn't have to become a Democrat, just an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.  My bet would be on Pat Toomey.  He has decided not to run for reelection, so he has nothing to lose, and he is clearly fed up with his party's behavior.  If we can persuade Toomey to bolt, there will be a rich irony to it. Toomey was elected in 2010 after his predecessor, Arlen Specter, another moderate Republican, switched parties and thereby tanked his career.

Update:  No, apparently not Pat Toomey.  Fearing that he might be considered reasonable, Toomey set out to sink COVID relief by inserting a poison pill to keep the Fed from saving the economy.

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