no skin in the game.......two are retiring and the other six are not up for re-election?????????

The Major point of the Dems was what was going to happen to ACA, and the Dems CAVED.......The Republican Politicans are having champagne parties....................

Three were never on board

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada was almost always a yes

Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was always a yes

Sen. Angus King of Maine went back and forth and was part of the group pushing for a deal.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire were working on the minibus part of this deal, along with some other senior Dems on relevant committees, for some time.

Jeanne Shaheen was the driving force, with her enormous power and utterly wrongheaded, downright deluded dedication to the insanity of "working to find solutions" with evil, immoral, Un-American traitors to their oaths.

If only she had retired before her current term.

Those who share her delusion are damaging the ability of others in the party to accomplish goals, whether those are moderate, liberal, or whatever. It is delusion about the realities of what we face, not where a Democratic elected is on the political spectrum, that is the true bane of our party.

I have no idea if the other three were in on negotiations, or just found the pain inflicted on their constituents unbearable, but either way, just as the Democratic Party scored enormous wins against the strong and wrong Trumpublicans by being Strong and Right, they declared "nope, let's stop this. It is far less painful to be weak and right."

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia

Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada

If the Democrats who believed the Trumpublicans were never going to cave on extending the ACA subsidies had held out anyway, they would have forced Thune (under increasing pressure form the felon) to "go nuclear."

And that would have been a better outcome by so much that words fail me.

Frankly, I always thought that would be the likely end..Democrats declaring we will not be complicit in these harms, and Thune ending the filibuster.

Three of the eight were lost from the start, but the five Democrats who engaged in negotiating, and who supported the "deal" robbed us of so many benefits that outcome would have yielded.

If the Republicans had gone nuclear, which I firmly believe they would have within a week because they all dreaded their constituents hating on them over Thanksgiving dinner:

Instead of saying WTF did the Dems subject us to this pain for, people would be up in arms at the Trumpublicans: "You mean you could have ended this by getting rid of the filibuster before it even started!!!"

Democrats would have demonstrated an unprecedented strength.

Democrats would be riding as high as they were on Friday. Enraged by the ACA loss, but proud as hell of the strength demonstrated.

The depravity and cruelty shown by the felon during the shutdown would be all the more evident as the Trumpublicans took 100% responsibly for the horror show.

The shutdown was absolutely coming to an end. Even if you accept that winning the subsidies was impossible, it ended in the most damaging way possible.

But we live to fight another day. ACA vote is our next battle, and whatever the outcome of that, some lines need to be drawn for the coming Feb shutdown. The eight may yet have time to redeem themselves.

great commentary................The dems just can't help not looking past the ends of their noses........

WASF

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