Do I Think Chuck Schumer Should Be Replaced?

I DON'T KNOW,  maybe what he managed to do was the best that a Democratic Leader in this Republican fascist dominated Senate could get.  Listening to Sheldon Whitehouse with Lawrence O'Donnel last night what he said made good sense.   Sheldon Whitehouse always makes good sense.   If I were posing the question it would be maybe we should do what should have been done and scrap the entire Senate.   The Senate has been the killing floor of democracy only second in that position to the entirely anti-democratically chosen and staffed Supreme Court.  

I agree with one thing he said above all WE HAVE TO MAKE THE PROMISED VOTE ON THE ACA PREMIUMS AS HARD AND COSTLY TO REPUBLICAN-FASCISTS AS POSSIBLE.   I will be doing everything I can to put the heat on the eternally concerned but never responsible Susan Collins and not on the retiring Angus King.   That skank is running for reelection in a state in which there are many Republicans and independents who are on subsidized ACA.    If I were in his district I'd be putting pressure on Jared Golden who, now that he has announced he will not seek reelection can be the Republican- he has been suspected of being.   If he'll vote to extend the subsidies is not something I'd bet on with any confidence. 

I think there is a case that Schumer should consider retiring to make room for a younger politician,  of course I'd like someone with AOC's politics in that seat though if she could win the seat is far from clear.  I agree with those who point out that there are too may octogenarians who haven't done enough to bring along their successors in the party.  I think one of our problems in Maine is that the adoption of term limits in the legislature and state Senate (and why we need to have one of those in the state government is a good question, too)  has left us with some pretty sparse choices for higher office.  You don't develop enough tested and experienced politicians with term limits,  it's absurd that the alternative to Graham Platner, the troubled neophyte against Susan Collins is our 78-year-old incumbent governor.   I say that acknowledging both that Janet Mills has been one of our better governors of my lifetime (though she was no Ken Curtis and who knows how he'd fare half a century later) and that I have had some large areas of disagreement with her.    But it's far from optimal to have someone who will be 78 when the election is held running against the aged Susan Collins.*   But there should be at least a handful of more obvious and younger choices.   It doesn't matter much in Republican politics because all Republicans stand for is the further enrichment of the rich and throwing bones to the white supremacist-fascists.   Any Republican is pretty much replaceable with any other one.  Democratic politics is far more complicated.   Also simplifying things for Republican-fascists is that the media everywhere, especially in Maine, will support the worst of them as a totally reliable practice, including that of  "Maine Public" the alleged public broadcaster of both radio and TV the only state-wide media here. 

But, on the other hand, if I lived in Massachusetts I'd be supporting the veteran Ed Markey over Seth Moulton (from the Jared Golden-Rahm Emanuel wing of the party) who is doing what a self-entitled Kennedy tried to do before him.   I don't know if Markey has been cultivating younger politicians who would be as good as he has been in the Senate but I'm pretty confident that Moulton wouldn't do that,  he'd be one of the three like Fetterman who voted with the Republicans to start with on the shutdown. 

I do think Schumer owes the party a full and honest discussion of what happened.   Keeping that quiet serves no one but the gossipers and off the handles fliers.  

*  If Mills is the nominee,  she should pledge that this will be her last political office sought,  reminding Mainers that Susan Collins lied through her teeth when she originally promised Maine voters she would not run for more than two Senate terms.    Collins has been a liar from the start.