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Matthew Yglesias
@mattyglesias
People sometimes ask what I mean when I talk about a big tent Democratic Party and one way to make it concrete would be to say that the tent should be big enough for Senator Murkowski (blocked ACA repeal, pro choice, voted to convict Trump) to fit inside.
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Sen. Lisa Murkowski
@lisamurkowski
I am appalled by the egregious security breach from top administration officials. Their disregard for stringent safeguards and secure channels could have compromised a high-stakes operation and put our servicemembers at risk. I hope this serves as a wake-up call that operational
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Josh Bazzoli
@holymolybazzoli
What is even supposed to be the takeaway from this reasoning? You can declare that the four most “moderate” Republican senators would make good Democrats, but they still won’t give Democrats a legislating majority or pass Democratic legislation in the chamber?
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Vidor
@Vidor1
This is posed as if Democrats are somehow barring Murkowski from switching parties. If she wanted to, she would do it, and it would be fine. She hasn't b/c obviously she imagines GOP-lite to be her best path to success in AK.
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Andre De Toth
@AndreDeToth
Her inclusion/exclusion is due to her own whims not the size of the tent. What's stopping her from becoming an independent and causing with Dems like King?
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Eric Sugi
@sugi_eric
This is the bare minimum of what we should expect from gop politicians. That she didn't demand resignations, oversight, or anything resembling accountability is still a problem. But I agree we should not have a problem welcoming them into our tent if they want.
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Mark Peckham 🥥🌴
@AK_Organizer
As an Alaskan Democrat, she's the only Republican I've ever voted for, and I would welcome and celebrate her party switch!
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Throatwarbler T Mangrove
@mangrove_t
she's the only decent human being left in the GOP caucus, but she's also proof that courage, even a teeny bit of it, is not in fact contagious has she explicitly called for hearings? I believe a couple other have, which actually passes for a pleasant surprise these days
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Arie Brown
@arietotootwo
It would be a difficult transition but a party that focuses less on policy agreement and more on abstract ideas about government and institutions would be a better party.
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Nor
@RudHayes1876
If she wanted to switch parties right now I'm certain she would be welcomed with open arms. She's not a Dem because she doesn't want to be a Dem. The tent spanned from AOC to the Cheneys last year and they still lost, yet your solution is to move further right still
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Ouhbick
@ouhbick
Her not fitting inside has a lot to do with her having to face an Alaska electorate, no? Like, if she lived in Duluth and had similar aspirations, she'd almost certainly be a Dem with ~0 position movement.
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Sheena Avena
@kash_avena
I wholeheartedly agree. What a brave woman in a sea of spineless politicians.
@lisamurkowski
@AOC
@BernieSanders
please join forces. We have neoreactionary, accelerationist, and other evil tech billionaires to safeguard democracy from apart from MAGA. Thiel, Andreessen, Musk.
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Hooded Justice ⚖️👨🏾‍⚖️
@tragic_maverick
She is a republican because that’s what she wants to be. She could very easily become a Democrat if you wanted to, and the tent is huge there’s not enough white people, but the tent is extremely huge. If y’all got people like me voting for y’all the tent too damn big.
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En Passant
@alekhines_gun
What is the mechanism by which the Democratic Party could invite her to the caucus despite 30 years of resisting it?
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Ekerot
@Ekerot57
She doesn’t win Alaska with a D by her name. Which speaks to Democrats’ problem here. They have to run heterodox independents in light red and red states if they ever want the Senate back.
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Lone Ranger
@_SofaKingPetty
Remember when Harris TRIED to do that, and yall bullied her for campaigning with Cheney, whose ONLY demand was that she destroy Trump.
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willietrom
@willietrom
If you want the "tent" for the Democratic Party to include the Kochs and Murkowskis but not who you call "the groups", you are just explicitly for the Democratic Party becoming a second Republican Party. If you actually wanted a bigger tent you'd expend it both directions!
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Banjo Kabluey
@lonestar33512
Not like Alaska just voted out of office the exact type of Dem who moderates on a couple issues like you're always talking about or anything.
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paudieshea
@paudieshea1
Any place for those who don’t want to murder babies in the womb, or would that tent be a bit too big?
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Chai LeBeouf
@heyitsneero
Meaningless drivel. Your party is already big enough for people like Fetterman and Manchin, how’s that working for you?
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Drew
@drew9102
Dems would welcome her with open arms! She owes her last 3 reelections in no small part to Dem voters. She has just always declined to make the switch.
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Brian🇲🇽🇮🇱
@SpeakingBee
Murkowski’s top agenda item is to wreck our natural heritage and drill for oil in our most vulnerable remaining habitats. She should not be welcome in either party.
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American Rebel
@rebels2008
There's nothing stopping Murkowski from doing a Jim Jeffords and becoming an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. She was reelected in 2022 with a mostly Democratic leaning coalition. But she doesn't want to be in the minority. I assume that she would likely do a Jim
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hip hop postal mascot
@mistahzip_es
Plenty of congressional democrats are to the right of her. You are either too dumb to understand why she in particular is a Republican or you're pretending to be for some reason
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Nathaniel Myers
@UberNaffa
There will be no electoral advantage to turning the Democratic party into a Lincoln Project wet dream. It would attract roughly zero new voters, and the kind of platform that would be acceptable to a Murkowski would depress turnout and enthusiasm elsewhere. Terrible idea.
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Pernicious Deed
@PerniciousDeed_
I wasn't aware Murkowski was looking to become a Democrat, seems to me you don't actually want Democrats you want Republicans that weren't grown in a test tube You're functionally the crank left version of centrists, and stupid enough to believe that's a good thing
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