Senator Kyrsten Sinema of AZ announced she'll leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.

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Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has announced that she will leave the Democratic Party and officially register as an independent. “I’ve registered as an Arizona independent. I know some people might be a little bit surprised by this, but actually, I think it makes a lot of sense,” Sinema said in an interview Thursday with CNN’s Jake Tapper in her Senate office. “I’ve never fit neatly into any party box. I’ve never really tried. I don’t want to,” she added. “Removing myself from the partisan structure — not only is it true to who I am and how I operate, I also think it’ll provide a place of belonging for many folks across the state and the country, who also are tired of the partisanship.”

The announcement from Sinema comes just days after Democrats solidified a 51-49 majority in the upper chamber with Sen. Raphael Warnock’s win in Georgia. Sinema declined to say that she will caucus with Democrats like independent Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Angus King (Maine), but the Arizona senator said she plans to continue in her committee assignments.

“When I come to work each day, it’ll be the same,” Sinema said. “I’m going to still come to work and hopefully serve on the same committees I’ve been serving on and continue to work well with my colleagues at both political parties.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/376 ... dependent/
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Senator Kyrsten Sinema of AZ announced she'll leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.

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CDFingers wrote: Fri Dec 09, 2022 8:49 am "Primary from the left" has entered the chat.

CDFingers
Absolutely was going to happen regardless of any decision Sinema took.
"Being Republican is more than a difference of opinion - it's a character flaw." "COVID can fix STUPID!"
The greatest, most aggrieved mistake EVER made in USA was electing DJT as POTUS.

Re: Senator Kyrsten Sinema of AZ announced she'll leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.

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Sinema's op-ed in the Arizona Republic newspaper with an explanation.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion ... 712395007/

In the US our legislative representatives are elected by states (US Senate) or districts. Parties are weaker because elected representatives like Sinema, Manchin and all the rest are beholden to voters in their state or district and not a political party. There is a different system used in most European countries which is called proportional representation, in that system parties are all powerful because voters don't vote for a candidate, they vote for a party. Ballots only show parties, not candidates. Then once a party wins a certain percentage of votes, the party is assigned so many seats and they designate individuals from their approved list of candidates. Legislators allegiance is not to a district or constituency.

US political parties try to whip members into submission, but it's state and district voters who have a representatives allegiance not a political party. If Americans don't like the system, then change it.

Years ago I worked at a hotel where many of the employees were Republican and they liked to rag on Sen Ted Kennedy who was liberal. They knew I leaned left and vented at me, my answer always was that it was up to Massachusetts's voters as they elected him. In this country people confuse allegiance to a party to allegiance to voters.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Senator Kyrsten Sinema of AZ announced she'll leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.

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I usually vote for the person be they Repug or Dem. But lately there hasn't been much choice, since none of the above is not on the ballot. It has become, hold your nose, and vote for the best of a bad lot.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Senator Kyrsten Sinema of AZ announced she'll leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.

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There’s a difference between being a staunch independent based on one’s principles and a political opportunists always testing the winds. Long before she held office in AZ, when she was still running as leader of AZ Dems, we kept hounding her about her position on Single Payer Healthcare. She of course said the right things, noncommittal, determined to stand up for affordable healthcare for all Arizonans, etc, etc. Some say she is purely a political animal. I’ve always considered her a repugnant hack.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: Senator Kyrsten Sinema of AZ announced she'll leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.

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SubRosa wrote: Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:12 pm Ol' Sleeveless Sinema", trend bucker.

Phtttt.
Following right along with Sleeveless MTG in the house.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Senator Kyrsten Sinema of AZ announced she'll leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.

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'Watch Joe Manchin going forward' after Sinema leaves Democrats

Reacting to the announcement that controversial Sen. Kyrtsen Sinema (AZ) has left the Democratic Party to become an independent, CNN's Melanie Zanona and Van Jones both suggested that all eyes should be on Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to see if he follows suit in an effort to continue his hold over his colleagues.
According to CNN's Zanona, there are already questions about Manchin's plans.

'It's a big question, a valid question and it's unclear at this point," she told the "CNN This Morning" hosts. "I would point out there are two Independents who caucus with Democrats, Bernie Sanders and Angus King. She didn't say whether she was going to caucus with Democrats but she said she was going to keep her committee assignments. If that promise holds, Democrats still control the committees -- that was a big deal, they have control over committees -- so theoretically that won't change"

"But when it comes to the floor, Democrats aren't going to have the neat and tidy 51-49 Senate they anticipated, "she elaborated. "This potentially gives Joe Manchin outsized influence again and so the question is whether Sinema feels more emboldened to vote freely and does Joe Manchin follow suit?"
https://www.rawstory.com/manchin-and-sinema-2658943183/

There is also noise that [Rep.] Rueben Gallego (D-AZ) will challenge her in the next election. It use to be the rule that you never attack or disparage a member of your own party. well She has now made herself open to attack because she has no party. If she tries to declare herself as a Repug they will still have those that will run against her as true Repugs and not a turncoat.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Senator Kyrsten Sinema of AZ announced she'll leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.

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Bisbee wrote:There’s a difference between being a staunch independent based on one’s principles and a political opportunists always testing the winds. Long before she held office in AZ, when she was still running as leader of AZ Dems, we kept hounding her about her position on Single Payer Healthcare. She of course said the right things, noncommittal, determined to stand up for affordable healthcare for all Arizonans, etc, etc. Some say she is purely a political animal. I’ve always considered her a repugnant hack.
Yup, we’ll said. She didn’t have any problem taking act blue donations.

That’s my issue - if she had ran & won as an independent, more power to her. But running as a dem, the. Switched to independent right after Warnock wins. What an opportunist.


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Re: Senator Kyrsten Sinema of AZ announced she'll leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.

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jc57 wrote: Fri Dec 09, 2022 6:45 pm I would love to see a large enough number of independents to break the Red-vs-Blue stranglehold. That's 3 senators so far.
Me too and if Manchin goes that way it could be 4. Democrats haven't had any problems with Bernie and even let him run for president under their banner. And they gave him chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee. IIRC Angus King was an independent when he was governor of Maine, so he's been consistent. If third parties in the US don't catch on more and become dominate, then encouraging more independents could be the solution.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Senator Kyrsten Sinema of AZ announced she'll leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.

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Oh, she originally promised to pry an Arizona senate seat out of the cold dead hands of the modern GOP. "I'll be an independently-minded centrist" she said, and to her credit she started the slippery slope that got us Mark Kelly and another purple state out West.

She didn't mention the bit where she was going to use her ability to strangle legislation in the cradle as a way to milk every relevant industry lobby for everything it was worth, that was just gravy. You know, on rails. She'll follow Bernie and Angus as D-associated indies because that's the way she gets the committee seats she needs to stay relevant.

We desperately needed to get Johnson out of WI or block Vance here in Ohio to make the Sinema-Manchin shenanigans act obsolete, but I think this actually pre-empts Manchin. He can't win a primary in WV by going (R), and he's the last electable Dem in the state - he loses the Dem vote if he hands control over to Mitch. Sinema dodges a competitive primary this way by jumping straight to the main event. If she'd stayed in the party, she was toast - this way she holds the party hostage more effectively.

Without people like Mur-cow-ski (remember that indie bid after getting primaried?) joining that independent caucus, the Senate remains an exercise in partisan hostage negotiations. I would love to see more nuanced and pragmatic centrism prevail, sure, but my state couldn't keep a hypocrite hillbilly out of the Senate.

Re: Senator Kyrsten Sinema of AZ announced she'll leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.

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Political parties are weak in the US, politicians loyalties are to voters in their states and districts and special interests and not necessarily to their party. The two political parties are always stirring up conflict to make themselves appear relevant, but politicians say FU to parties all the time and survive. Republicans in West Virginia increased their supermajorities in the legislature this November, I don't know of another Democrat who could be elected to the US Senate from WV other than Manchin. The Democrats really lost WV in the 1990s, they used to be powerful there because of their support of coal miners unions. In a closely divided US Senate, the moderates of both party have power.

People around here still think that party platforms are important and that every D or R has to vote the party line. If we had multiple parties and not two and proportional representation and not first-past-the-post, then yes parties could whip elected officials into compliance. A D or an R politicians can mean a lot of things and that's why Rs have Tea Party or Trumper wings and why Ds have progressive and moderates wings, it's because our political system was designed in a debating chamber without political parties in mind. The writers of the Constitution didn't like political parties as they saw them in England. They created a system that's very difficult to change which is bad and good.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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