Swamp Rabbit had a confession to make. “The closer I follow the news, the less I understand what them Dems are up to. What am I missing?”

He’d been trying to figure out why Democrats in Washington, D.C. weren’t pushing harder to pass the For the People Act, which would prevent Republican state legislatures from imposing Jim Crow-ish voter restriction laws and redrawing district lines. I told him establishment  Democrats don’t push for anything. They “reach across the aisle” to establish bipartisan support for their bills, even though they know they will get their hands smacked and achieve nothing.

“Yeah, but Biden got all them Covid vaccinations done like he promised, and another round of stimulus checks and money for childcare providers and Obamacare,“ he said. “And he wants to pass a giant infrastructure bill and fix all the sabotage that nasty jackass Trump did to the environment laws. But things ain’t looking so good no more.”

Swamp Rabbit had had his first drink at 10 am, like Hemingway in Cuba, but it wasn’t yet noon, so I figured he might still be half-sober. “So what’s your point?” I said. “The last time the subject came up, you were all in. You said Biden and the other Dems are doing okay, considering they’re up against a bunch of Republican jackals who tried to help Trump overthrow democracy.”

He told me he’d reconsidered.  The Democrats have a slim majority in the House and are 50-50 in the Senate only because of the miraculous election of two Democrats in Georgia. And now Republicans want to stall a vote to prevent the For the People Act from ever being passed.

“My point is time’s running out,” he said. “Game over if Republicans get them majorities back in the mid-terms. The Dems gotta remind people every day they want to make voting rights stronger and raise the minimum wage and tax the rich and so on. Especially in them states with DINO senators like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Gotta shame ’em. And they gotta get rid of the filibuster.”

This time I played devil’s advocate. “Sure, but how do you get rid of the filibuster if the DINOs want to keep it? How do you stay on message if some in your tribe are Dixiecrats and neolibs who don’t really want to change anything?”

He sighed. “I don’t know. That’s why I asked you, Odd Man. I see you don’t know either, so I might as well just have another drink.”

Footnote: Art by jameslsy at James Lee | Facebook