They Don’t Want “Bipartisanship”
Alabama’s Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville — the coach who thought World War Two was a fight against the Communists — got yet another round of mocking in the media. Speaking to Forbes reporter Andrew Solender, Tuberville said he would not support a commission to investigate the events of 1/6/2021 “until they make it bipartisan.”
Of course, the commission is already incredibly bipartisan in nature, including an equal number of Republicans and Democrats and giving the Republicans the ability to stop subpoenas anyone the Democrats might want — which basically stops any chance of Donald Trump, Rudy Giulliani, Sindy Powell, or Josh Hawley being forced to testify. It should be noted that Republicans did not give Democrats these same niceties during their endless investigations of Behngazi nor during their investigations of Whitewater under President Bill Clinton. Even though neither of those scandals went anywhere — although Ken Starr did get to become the main investigator for the Monica Lewinsky scandal — Republicans still meant millions of dollars and waited hour after hour of the time of Americans in hopes of taking down a President.
However, the Democrats, once again, are responding to Tuberville in the worst way possible. All we have been hearing about regarding the 1/6 Commission is how bipartisan it is — it’s even the same as the 9/11 Commission that previously allowed Republicans to cover up their crimes — instead of the truth, people like Tuberville are not interested in “bipartisanship,” and nobody should be operating under the delusion that they are. When the Republicans want an investigation, they don’t waste time with “bipartisanship,” they just investigate. This is the same party that once gave us the House UnAmerican Activities Committee and McCarthyism, these people understand the power of pure ruthless politics and are willing to use it when it benefits them.
The Democrats keep working under the impression that maybe, just maybe, if they're nice enough to Republicans, Republicans will work with them. Recently, we saw Biden say he’s given up any chance of Student Debt Cancelliation — because doing so would not mean a bipartisan measure. Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (who used to be a member of Ralph Nader’s Green Party before becoming the “Blue Dog Democrat” she is now) have repeatedly used the defense of “bipartianship” as an argument against abolishing the filibuster. (The evidence that the filibuster increases bipartisanship is nonexistent, for the record, but that’s besides the point.)
And, of course, Joe Biden has been leading the charge. He has cut down his proposed stimulus package — just as Obama did back in 2009 — to nearly half of what it is. Ignoring the fact that the stimulus package as it was remained very popular, Biden is allowing a handful of Republican Senators — and a handful of cowardly Democratic ones — to stop him from actually governing the country that elected him President (unless you believe certain nonsense conspiracy theories). Joe Biden also met with Republicans who had their own alternative relief bill during those debates — despite the fact the plan of Democrats had a higher approval rating among Republicans than the Republican plan.
Republicans do not want bipartisanship, they want to win. If Democrats want to play the game, they also have to play to win. Since they refuse to do so, that makes it very likely they will lose.
