President Joe Biden gave an alarmingly far-left speech on Tuesday in Philadelphia, in which he lied about voter integrity laws being passed in Republican states across the country, referring to them as "21st century Jim Crow assault," among other names. Katie covered the highlights from that day. Yet it wasn't enough for some liberals. You can probably guess why that is. It's because Biden didn't reference the left's boogeyman, the filibuster, as Hanna Trudo and Amie Parnes highlighted in a piece on Saturday for The Hill.
The piece cites an unnamed "Democratic strategist" who issues a warning that Biden could lose his base over this:
President Biden gave an impassioned speech this week on democracy and protecting the right to vote, but Democratic strategists and activists say it's something he failed to mention — namely filibuster reform — that could cost him.
“This is really the first place that Biden risks losing the base,” said one top Democratic strategist.
“It’s no accident that it’s the issue of voting rights. I think Black voters feel like ‘we did the hard work and got you elected’ and want to make sure that the president stays true to his commitments,” the strategist added.
When it comes to how "some say it lacked the natural follow-up needed to actually pass the bill before lawmakers," others are named:
“The silence was deafening on the filibuster question that would make it a reality,” said Joseph Geevarghese, who leads the left-wing group Our Revolution.
“We will not have voting rights legislation unless we have filibuster reform,” agreed Stasha Rhodes of Just Democracy. “You can’t talk about the problem without talking about the solutions. We know the White House sees this as a problem. Our goal is that they share the same level of urgency. But we have to hear how.”
“If now is not the time, then when?” Rhodes added. “Voting rights is connected to everything we care about.”
Geevarghese, Rhodes and other activists emphasized that their work to get Biden and the two Senate moderates to commit to a forward-looking blueprint does not stop after one speech.
Trudo and Parnes also point out that the White House hasn't given what one would call a straight answer on the filibuster:
The White House has effectively shuffled the question about how to handle the filibuster to the upper chamber. Press secretary Jen Psaki recently called it a “legislative process tool” that’s “important” and “warrants debate.” But she stopped short of taking a stance about any future tweaks, saying that “determination about making changes will be made by members of the Senate, not by this president or any president.”
This is perhaps the least newsworthy thing anyone could possibly write about this administration, considering that they are great at giving non-answers. Biden himself was less than forthcoming about the filibuster in his first solo press conference on March 25--64 days into his presidency--and he's stopped short of sharing how he really feels since then.
Recommended
The talking point for many in the Democratic Party--save for the incredibly brave Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)--is that the filibuster is racist. It's not just that Democrats can't stand for red states to pass these voter integrity laws, it's that they want a federal takeover of elections everywhere through the For the People Act, aka HR/S 1, aka the Corrupt Politicians Act.
Considering how much of an unconstitutional overhaul the legislation is, it didn't earn a single Republican vote in the House or the Senate.
As I reported last weekend, some liberals lost their mind about the two Democratic senators still supporting the filibuster after footage from an activist recording an event held by Rick Santorum's Patriot Voices group. Republicans, including Santorum and Reps. Andy Biggs (AZ) and Byron Donalds (FL) were seen praising the senators and emphasizing support for the filibuster as it protects the rights of the minority from the majority.
Nothing new or shocking or scandalous was said though, and Santorum acknowledged in a statement that they always knew bloggers might be recording.
The left just really really hates the filibuster.
