Mike Luckovich for February 03, 2021

Democrats suckered for that phony “unity” ploy in 2009 and, at least from what they are currently saying, seem to have learned the lesson that for Republicans, “unity” only means “our way or the highway.”

In 2009, Democrats had a significant margin in the Senate as well as the House, more than today. They wanted bold action on economic recovery from the Bush economic meltdown, healthcare reform and immigration reform. Obama had campaigned on a theme of unity and that “we are not red states or blue states but the United States,” and preferred a bipartisan deal.

Dangling the carrot of a bipartisan deal, Republicans kept teasing them with requests to compromise here and there for the “unity” Obama hoped for, nibbling off bits and pieces of proposals, giving up this or that, until they were essentially what Republicans themselves had proposed in the past. (Healthcare, for example, was essentially what the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation had proposed in 1993 as an alternative to the Hillarycare proposal, and even more conservative than what Romney had fashioned with Democrats in Massachusetts.)

Ultimately, just to be nasty and try to obstruct the first African American president (as #MoscowMitch had pledged to do on inauguration night 2009), the racist Republicans still never gave the bipartisan support they had promised, even with all the compromises.

Ultimately, the economic recovery plan passed with only three Republican crossovers (one of whom, Arlen Specter, would re-register as a Democrat two months later), Obamacare passed without a single Republican vote despite giving up the public option, and by the time they got to immigration reform, Democrats had fewer numbers, and it never did pass.

Lesson: DO NOT TRUST REPUBLICANS. They do not negotiate in good faith.

Let’s see if Democrats can really learn the lesson about trusting Lucy and her football any better than Charlie Brown did.

Best portrait of Mitch, EVER!

We’ve been acting like an abused spouse for decades. If you do this one thing, the beatings will stop, promised the Repubs, but they never do.

The apple is full of worms without a spine ! Pretty soon you’ll know their names.

A friend says her first childhood movie-going experience was when her mother took her to see Snow White.

The next day, when she came down for breakfast, on her plate was a single perfect polished red apple.

She looked up at her mother… who laughed, in a perfect impression of the old hag’s voice….

If we wait long enough for the Repubs to ‘come around’ we will all be dead and gone. Better to give them the rope they seem to be calling for so they can hang themselves and put them (and us) out of their misery. Sad thing is. we do better with a 2-party system, just not the one there now! I get the feeling they are coming apart at the seams which may not be such a bad thing…IF the best of them can survive! It’s ‘our’ turn now folks, let’s just not screw it up!

Has the GOP forgot that Biden was there when Obama was President. Lessons learned, give republicans the changes they want, they still plan to vote against it. So, might as well go with the original bill and if republicans what to be bipartisan and vote for it, great. If not, better to force through a good bill, than one that has been degraded in an attempt to be bipartisan. Republican politicians, that ship has sailed.

We do not want their Unity. Period.

Why would they trust the party that inspired a violent coup over their Trumped-up story about a stolen election?

Appears that Pubs understand the meaning of “unity” about as well as “socialism”. Scratch “words matter”. The meaning of words is what matters.

Amen, all over again.

Unity;Admit there was no large-scale fraud, and the election was fair and correct and the will of the people expressed……then you get a seat at the table.Fair??

Hahaha! You’ve captured the situation perfectly. Good job!

Or if this was the NYC mayoral race, another musical memory: ♪ “Go ahead, bite the Big Apple, don’t mind the maggots.” ♪

“Snow White was so pretty they tell us / That the queen was insulted and jealous / When the mirror declared that Snow White was the fairest of all / She was dumped on the border / But was saved by some men who adored her / Oh I grant you they were smallBut there were 7 of them practically a regiment. . . / Oh sure the queen gave her a poisoned apple. even so. . .” “Happily, Happily, Happily Ever After” from Once Upon A Mattress: music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer (1959).

Yeah…no thanks.

It’s time to push for measures needed in the U.S. If the Republicans want to work with the Dems on measures to benefit all in the U.S., well and good otherwise push them through.

SCREW EM’!! Shove the old bat into her own cauldron and turn up the fire!

We need to find a dictionary (unabridged) that we all can use without compunction. Of course, there be they that know not what “compunction” be.

One can only hope that the Democrats have finally woken up to the Lucy/Charlie Brown football thing.

Yes, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

AOC’s response to the “unity” call from the R’s was right on. You don’t forgive and forget an abuser or they will keep on abusing. It looks as if the Dems are realizing the reality of it and will pass the covid rescue bill by reconciliation.

Best toon in a while, Mike.

Actually the GOP witch should be changed to a depiction of the GOP bitch, MTG.

No. You have the power. Throw it back at her

We’ll know if Biden eats the apple when he stops working on Government projects and flies down to Mar A Lago to golf every day.

Give the republicans no quarter, if its war they want they should recall that they are in the minority.

Charlie will always try to kick the football because he is a trusting, good person that doesn’t believe bad in anyone

The Republicons continue to fill the ranks with bad apples.

The best female fairy tale characters are Ted Cruz (and when SHE isn’t busy, Josh Hawley!)

Dang if the witch doesn’t resemble Mitch!

I particularly appreciate the lack of label on the apple. Could have done without the Dem label as well, perhaps. Strong cartoon.

Make the crazy old murderous witch eat it first.

It is the official policy of the United States that we do not negotiate with terrorists and hostage-takers, lest we lend positive reinforcement to their despicable tactics. While that’s usually understood to apply to radical foreign groups like Al-Qaeda or ISIS, or common domestic kidnappers, the patriotic thing to do is to apply the exact same policy to the terrorists across the aisle in Congress.

What kind of compromise is possible with agents of dementia, death, and destruction, anyway? Settling for only weirdness, maiming, and damage? Hold out for sanity, health, and integrity!

The persistent Trump “base” and the Republican members of Congress who maintain fealty to Donald Trump do so for a variety of reasons.

“Membership” in the Trump base may include entry into one or more of the following categories.

1. “All-in” isolationists, ultra-nationalists, white supremacists, racists and insurrectionists Arguably all those who marched in Charlottesville in summer 2017 and many of those stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 are openly racist, and have felt liberated by the rhetoric and policies of the Trump era.

2. Opportunists and political chameleons Those who fall into this category recognized that the Trump train presented itself as a vehicle by which one could achieve fame, success, ambition and political or personal gain.

3. Narrow-minded, limited information input and vulnerable to cultism This group of followers is either actively or passively limited in the information that they receive through on-air and online media outlets.

4. Voting with their pocketbook Members of this group are totally focused on individual and family wealth.

5. Hold your nose and vote Republican These group members are cousins of the previous group.

6. But he and I are Christians! In many ways an outgrowth of the latter group, these followers maintain their identity and faith as evangelical Christians. They have consistently voted Republican for a widely varying set of reasons, the abortion issue first and foremost among them.

https://www.salon.com/2021/02/03/why-do-70-million-americans—and-many-members-of-congress—still-follow-trump/

Anybody who thinks that Donald John Trump (who worships himself, and Roy Cohn, in that order) is anything CLOSE to a Christian, needs to reserve a cell in Arkham Asylum next to the Joker!

But the librarian is right, when it comes to the contemptible Josh Hawley. Although his (highly priced, paid for by his rich daddy) education is way the hell ahead of his actual intelligence, he is NOT a complete imbecile. Therefore, he knew from the beginning that his support of the lie about the non-existent “election fraud” was (rightly) derided among people who can tie their own shoes. But those ain’t what voted for him!

As an example, @MontanaBill hits categories 1, 3, possibly 4 and 6.

So true. Luck nailed it again.