Rejoice--Kyrsten Sinema's Political Career is Already Over

[turbinetree]

Last edited Sat Jan 22, 2022, 12:26 AM - Edit history (1)

By Josh Marshall
|
January 21, 2022 12:16 p.m

Amidst all the disappointment and tribulation of recent days please join me in taking a moment to step back, in a posture of mindful gratitude, to contemplate the fact that Kyrsten Sinema’s career in electoral politics is already over. Yes, the damage she’s already done will be difficult to remedy. She still has three solid years to do yet more damage. And she probably will. But none of that damage, none of the hijinks and characteristic game-playing to come, will or can change her electoral fate. In political terms, she’s already dead senator walking. And the most perplexing but paradoxically delightful part of it is that she doesn’t even seem to realize it yet.

How can I be so sure she’s a goner in such an uncertain time and in a reelection campaign almost three years away? It’s not just the increasingly likely primary challenge, which could end her Senate career on its own. Her problem runs much deeper. She has already made herself essentially unelectable, whether her quest for reelection ends in a primary or the general election.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/rejoice-kyrsten-sinemas-political-career-is-already-over

I know Josh Marshall added the cartoon metaphor about a person jumping off a building....

but I think I will add this....

[tikka]

1. At the end of her six year term she will be eligible for a pension.

The Republican network may or may not find her a cushy job. I doubt that she will have any luck as a lobbyist.

[Trueblue1968]

53. maybe she won't serve her term, maybe AZ will remove her. Is that possible?

[Celerity]

58. no recalls for Congresspeople

[Polybius]

70. Yes, if she commits a high crime and gets expelled

But then the Republican Governor Doug Ducey picks a replacement.

[madville]

66. The FERS pension kinda sucks, even for Congress

Especially since she joined Congress in 2013. If she goes 12 years until the end of 2024 (6 years in the House and 6 in the Senate), she’ll get about 12% of her high three salary years when she turns 62. So say $175k a year, 12% of that would be about $21k a year at age 62, or about $1750 a month. She could draw it early at age 57 with a 25% penalty, so that would be $1300 a month about 12 years from now since she is only about 45 years old.

Not really all that great, they reformed the congressional pensions years ago and made it similar to most other federal employees.

[Raster]

2. Hallelujah!!! Not. A. Fan.

I voted for Sinema. I campaigned for Sinema. I donated to Sinema. All because she was a Dem and a woman in Arizona.
I have never been more disappointed in a vote I have cast.
I will do EVERYTHING in my power and pocketbook to make sure this is the first and only term for Sinema.

#ArizonaDeservesBetterThanSinema.

And to the DU member I had "discussions" with before the election and I voiced my Sinema concerns...
So it really didn't matter all the fancy dinners you attended and functions where you spent "quality time" with the Senator-to-be, it was all crap. She turned out to be the arrogant, self-aggrandizing, cluster-fucking traitor we suspected she would become.
Told you so.

[JustAnotherGen]

8. On point - and thank you

My thank is for doing the hard work - all of the fancy fundraisers in the world can never replace door knockers, door hangers, voter registration drives, working a booth at a local event, calling, texting, and driving people to the polls.

You earned the right to post what you did.

[LittleGirl]

27. Same, same! Total regret voting for her. Never again. eom

[DENVERPOPS]

30. We must be careful

to screen our candidates much better, so we don't end up with DINO's...............

All the rhetoric the candidates throw around pre-election is usually pure crap, intended only to get votes, and often lies.
You need to study their past history to see where they really stand on issues.

It is an old game. A person runs as a Dem, gets elected because all of the Republican Voters realize he/she is truly a Republican underneath all his/her Dem rhetoric he/she says to get elected. He/she has a D under their name, so all the Dems vote for him/her and the Repubs do the same knowing he will shift to his/her true self once elected.

It happens all the time, Manchin and Sinema are just the most egregious.......

[Carlitos Brigante]

3. He must not have watched her speech, in which she put on that middle school

drama club performance. Pulling back tears and everything...... in the least convincing way possible.

[Goonch]

4. BOOTS

[XanaDUer2]

6. She looks like an idiot nt

[IronLionZion]

14. Her way of letting corporate lobbyists know she is for sale

or trying to keep those legs warm. or something

[oasis]

24. More like "BOO".

[tanyev]

54. LOL, just squeezing in some Senate business during a break in Pirates of Penzance rehearsals.

[Polybius]

71. She's got sex appeal

I don't agree with all of her positions though.

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. I predict she will run as an independent spoiler in 2024

Since AZ has a Sore Loser law that would prevent her from running if she lost the Dem primary, I predict she will skip the primary and run as an independent, in the hopes of peeling off enough independent voters to get the GOP candidate elected. I’d bet the GOP will even fund her independent campaign…

Unless she decides to go for broke and run for president, again as an independent/third party spoiler.

Her senate career may indeed be over, but her role as a political disruptor is likely not.

[tinrobot]

7. Spot on, except I suspect she'll run for president instead of Senate.

She'll become yet another spoiler in the tradition of Jill Stein.

[IronLionZion]

16. Who would vote for her?

She doesn't seem that popular with anyone on the left. The right would vote for DeSantis or whoever the GOP nominates.

[FakeNoose]

40. Exactly right - the Dems hate her and why would the Repukes want her?

She's done. Let her go work at Faux Noise.

[Budi]

11. Back to her roots. Green Stein Party.

She'll land where she began.

Thanks for the generous lift anyway, Emily's List, NARAL...
~Misson Accomplished!

There's a few more just like her...fyi
Like suckerfish riding on the back of the great blue whale.

[SergeStorms]

28. I'm not sure they'd want to associate with her anymore.

She used them once to get what she wanted, she got it, and she didn't even wave goodbye in her rear-view mirror. I don't think they'd even lower themselves to taking her back into the fold. There are many more viable candidates for their support.

[Budi]

55. It doesn't matter where she ends up at this point. Somewhere a fascist is already making a deal

[Traildogbob]

29. How can

She be considered Green when she is totally against all the Green in BBB? She only cares for two greens, cash and being as self important as Margery Traitor. How would she run for President, she will not meet her constituents, how would she face a trump like GQP rally?
I mean look At all the hard work Stein has been doing for Green issues. Endless efforts to protect our environment. (🤢🤮 The Green Party is about the color Green of paper money.

[homegirl]

33. Emily's List

has already denounced her, more to come.

[Torchlight]

19. Given the regional environment, I suspect she'd siphon off as many GOP votes

if not more than Democratic votes were she to run as an independent.

[DENVERPOPS]

35. Sore loser is very pertinent here in Colorado

Years ago, Josie Heath ran against Dottie Lamm. Lamm beat her soundly. Josie went off pouting until someone suggested that if she wanted to get even with Lamm, all she had to do was run as an independent and it would steal enough votes that Lamm couldn't win.
Spiteful Josie Heath, single handedly handed the election to a Republican.............

[Fiendish Thingy]

63. But Sinema will have choose, she can't run in primary, lose, then run in general. Nt

[uponit7771]

57. +1

[keep_left]

9. It's pretty clear she doesn't intend to run again. What's next? A sinecure...

...think tank job or media gig? Who knows. And now she is tripling down on the antics.

[Efilroft Sul]

10. A show on RT seems perfect for her experience as a saboteur.

[DENVERPOPS]

64. the Republicans

will kick her to the curb the minute she doesn't serve their purposes anymore........

[FBaggins]

12. So she's entirely unshackled from any influence for the next three years?

Doesn't seem wise to me... but what the heck? If we don't care about her votes going forward I suppose the OP makes sense.

[Ray Bruns]

15. Kyrsten Sinema

[Silent3]

18. There's no amount of shadenfreude sufficient to compensate for the end of democracy

And besides that, Sinema has probably cashed in well enough already that she'll do quite well under the Republican Reich.

[NNadir]

20. I note that she started her political life as a "Green."

We have to be careful of people who begin their careers opposing Democrats.

[housecat]

21. I like her snake outfit. Good choice.

[BadgerMom]

26. Came to say this.

Glad I checked comments first.

[dobleremolque]

32. Thoroughly appropriate fabric choice. n/t

[xxqqqzme]

42. I thought it was Spiderman.

She does have that trendy middle school wardrobe thing going on.

[sarge43]

49. GMTA n/t

[CrispyQ]

23. She will leave office a millionaire. I think that was her only goal, to enrich herself.

She'll probably land a cushy job, too. Our system is so broken & corrupt.

[themaguffin]

36. She would lose. 100% Here's why...

Anyone actual Republican would primary her and say that they're the "real thing and didn't switch parties."

She's done either way, but she will fuck us all the way until the end.

[ShazzieB]

37. Did you read the article?

I did, and I recommend it as a very interesting read.

The author very clearly lays out why none of the options open to her can save her political career at this point. Here's what he says about her becoming a Republican:

Some people say she’ll have the last laugh if she just switches parties and throws the Senate into GOP hands even before the 2022 election. That’s entirely possible, given her reported egomania. But while she can become a Republican she can’t win reelection as a Republican. Sinema is pro-choice. She’s affirmatively irreligious. She’s openly bisexual. On virtually every hot-button culture-war issue she has standard Democratic positions. There’s no place for her in the GOP and no way to win a Republican primary. Perhaps Mitch McConnell might offer to clear the field for her in exchange for making him Majority Leader. But it’s just not in his power to do. There’s a backlog of Arizona Republicans who want that seat. They’re not going to stand aside to let her take the seat as a Republican. And the state’s Republican voters won’t either.

She's in the Senate now, and we're stuck with her through 2024. But I think this article makes a good case for her Senatorial career being over after that, no matter what she does.

[radius777]

43. She also voted to impeach Trump twice.

Same as Manchin, neither have a chance winning as a Repub.

She also has zero appeal to independents who tend to prize 'getting things done'. She's an obstructionist who stood in the way of a core right such as voting rights.

[Sherman A1]

31. Hopefully that is the case, but we will see

if it happens in three years.

[themaguffin]

34. She's still in office & will scorch the Earth until her term is up, so I don't feel celebratory.

[YoshidaYui]

38. i SURE hope he is right....

not impressed by her at all.

[Stuart G]

39. i must inform you- Wile E. Coyote is an outstanding comedian..Kyrsten Sinema is not outstanding..

...in any way shape or form. Wile must not be compared with Sinema ...EVER AGAIN!!!!

The cartoon community and the courts have ordered that Wile E never be in the same sentence with that fool....

The courts refuse to even mention the lady's name.. .........And I don't blame them at all...............

and...........Chuck Jones ..who created Wile E Coyote..was a truly great animator working for Warner Brothers. I met Chuck Jones once and proud to have shaken his hand and got his autograph...

[Joinfortmill]

41. Let her be a warning: Make sure you're voting for a REAL Democrat.

[Scalded Nun]

44. She does not care about any of the politics

Her killing of democracy on this country at the behest of wealthy corporations and individuals has earned her enough money to last a lifetime. That she does care about.

[patphil]

45. It would be better if she was up for reelection in 2022, not 2024.

Unfortunately this mentally unstable, egomaniac has 3 years of playing Senator left.
She's too into herself to realize how toxic she has become to both parties.
At this point, she's basically worthless as a candidate for Senate. I don't think she could come close to winning either primary, and would have a hard time getting enough signatures to run as an independent.
In Arizona, party members must vote for candidates from their party. Only independents are allowed to choose which party's primary they'll vote in.
Standing against Biden's agenda may be a huge ego trip for her, but it's political suicide.

[radius777]

46. Rep. Ruben Gallego is the perfect candidate

to primary her. He's a charismatic Latino and miltiary veteran with appeal to the Dem base as well as independents.

Voting rights and Civil Rights are a litmus test for any Dem - you see that 48 of them voted for the carve out, even Dems from red and purple states like Mark Kelly from her state - because they know what it means in the context of the past 60 years and what the modern day Dem party stands for. There can be disagreement on other issues but not core rights such as voting rights. She (and Manchin) sided with Jim Crow instead of MLK and John Lewis. She's finished. Manchin could also be finished as the Dem base won't come out for him and neither will the pro Trump voters (he voted to impeach fatass twice).

Basically Manchinema's instincts are bad and are rooted in outdated thinking about their being some large centrist bloc in America that values 'bipartisanship'. The reality is that we live in a base driven country now with both sides being dug in, and you're either on one side or the other.

[Bristlecone]

47. It would not surprise me if she changed parties when it becomes apparent to her

She has no integrity. She’ll switch on a dime imo.

[Progressive Jones]

48. How long until Krusty The Trojan Horse completely flips to the GOP? nt

[aggiesal]

50. It's only over if she runs as a (D) ...

She'd no doubt get elected if she ran as a (R).

[Celerity]

59. bi-sexual, pro-choice, atheist equals doom in Rethug primary nt

[JI7]

60. No she wouldn't.

[aggiesal]

61. As the old saying goes ...

Never under estimate the stupidity of the American voting public!

I don't know how made this quote, but it's pretty accurate.

[wellst0nev0ter]

69. What trumpanzee

would vote for a dem who voted to convict the former guy twice?

[aggiesal]

72. A stupid one. n/t

[shanti]

51. Yes, she's a snake

and that dress proves it.

[Javaman]

52. she doesn't care.

she made her money and her contacts

she carpet bagged herself into a pension and now can skate off very much wealthier than when she first got into office.

sociopath.

[madville]

67. It's a crappy pension these days

Especially since she entered the House in 2013. Only 1% a year so if she gets 12 years of service she’ll get a 12% pension at age 62 and she’s only about 45 now. At age 62 she’ll get around $1700-1800 a month based on her current high-3 years salary, not really a windfall.

[mucifer]

56. she will make millions as a lobbyist

[brooklynite]

62. Nope...her career isn't over

It MIGHT be over in 2024 if she loses her Senate race, and it MIGHT be over in 2022 if Democrats elect 2 more Senators AND hold on to three at-risk seats. In the meantime, we need her vote.

[halfulglas]

65. She kind of reminds me of the plain middle school girl whose mother took her for a makeover.

Trying so hard to be popular with the rich kids and turning her back on any of the kids who stood with her before. She's trying to please the mean rich girls but she won't ever really be one of them.

[wellst0nev0ter]

68. Traitor Joe Lieberman was forced to retire after ratfucking Obama

That's the same fate awaiting for Sinema now—unless she wants to be a third-party presidential spoiler in 2024.