LogFAQs > #950364949

Hmm. I thought my post was pretty clear, but apparently it requires some clarification.

~Bipartisan amendment~ has the ~ to indicate my sarcasm and eye-rolling. I'll admit this part, and this alone, I felt may have been a bit unclear. I didn't think scare quotes would convey the right meaning, but from the rest of my post I thought it was pretty clear I was taking a pretty dim view of the Senators involved in this amendment given I accused them and this amendment as being purely performative political theater. There may have been a better way to convey that, I kinda feel like there may have been but for the life of me I couldn't think of anything past scare quotes and tildes.

My post does not, in fact, literally state that I think "Sanders is freaking out." In fact, I state I saw worrying elsewhere now, granted I suppose you could stretch this somewhat as me seeing Sanders doing so, but it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you all that Bernie Sanders is not part of my social circle. Also, that I follow political discussion in places other than Board 8's Political Containment Topic and I was referring to people in those discussions and forums freaking out as this amendment was being proposed, voted on, and passed during vote-a-rama.

Additionally, I will very much assert I do not think Sanders is "freaking out" about this. I think he's pretty calm, honestly. I think he knows Manchin and co are acting their act and what he's doing is reiterating and reinforcing the message. In a way, I almost think it's a game, Manchin probably gets street cred back in WV for being able to go to his constituents and say "Hey, look, I was fighting against Sanders for you, look how moderate I am!" Nor am I particularly concerned about House Dems sending a letter, again, I'd take this as them drawing their line here.

The one and only fact in play here that would have me even slightly concerned is the reporting that Biden is willing to at least entertain talks on targeting. However, on the other side of the scale, he had the Senate vote through the reconciliation process for the $1.9t price tag which very much suggests we're not going to see it scaled down and Biden has been surprisingly (to me, at least) upfront with hammering in the messaging that he has no interest in getting bogged down in negotiations and instead wants to forge ahead on getting this done.

Now does this mean I'm saying it's a done deal that the $50,000 phase out is not happening? No, I'm not. But I don't think it's an imminent or likely threat here. Nothing has actually crossed from rhetoric to action yet that has gotten me worried that Democrats are going to fuck this up. I don't begrudge anyone the anxiety that the political theater that is discussing it might bring, but to this point I don't see it as anything more than just that - theater.

If they actually phase it down to $50k, I promise you I'll be raging against them for their utter stupidity and cowardice but we're not there.

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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?