If it’s “honorable” and “brave” when a Republican man bucks his own party, what’s it called when a Democratic woman does the same thing? In the case of Kyrsten Sinema, I’m almost afraid to find out.
The Arizona senator announced Friday that after nearly two decades as a Democrat, she was switching her party affiliation to independent, stupefying liberals and Democrats in her own party, now unsure as to what it means for the Democratic majority in the Senate.
There’s nothing off brand about it. She literally tweeted after her first Senate victory in 2018, “I’ll be an independent voice for all Arizonans.” And Sinema routinely agitates her caucus by either demonstrating a willingness to side with Republicans or by withholding support for Democratic legislation that isn’t closer to her own political preferences. In recent months, Sinema has opposed eliminating the legislative filibuster and a major social welfare package pushed by the Biden administration, both of which were priorities for her former party.
As part of the routine, liberals and Democrats are once again doubting her sincerity, belittling her competence and insulting her very presence as an elected senator. But only after attacking her in the most viciously sexist ways.
Channeling the spirit of mean girls everywhere, GQ magazine writer Gabriella Paiella wrote on Twitter, “It’s so crazy that Kyrsten Sinema is a senator when she would be soooo much happier running a burlesque-themed knitting store that also sells those retro signs of housewives saying things like ‘I’m not a bitch, I just play one in your life.’ ”
Sunny Hostin of ABC’s “The View” rattled off a bunch of Sinema’s approval ratings by demographic and sniffed, “They’re still gonna not like her.”
The title “maverick” is apparently only reserved for Republicans who go against on their own party, a la John McCain, who never missed an opportunity to show up on NBC to explain how principled he is for tanking the GOP’s legislative agenda. “Integrity” seems to only radiate when it’s a Republican who hates the head of his own party, in the vein of Mitt Romney.
When Sinema, who identifies as bisexual, spent the better part of last year in headlines because she declined buying into every item on the Democratic wish list, a slew of articles popped up to attack her in the most personal ways possible. An online piece for NBC asked, in earnest, “Is Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema bad for bisexual Americans?” The author said that Sinema’s unreliable vote for the party fed into supposed stereotypes about bisexual women being “untrustworthy.”
The New York Times’ Michelle Goldberg diagnosed Sinema with “pathologies” for having “come to believe in bipartisanship for its own sake.” (Bipartisanship is only good if it means granting mass amnesty for illegal immigrants or joining Democrats in prosecuting their political opponents.)
And after liberal activists published a video wherein they’re seen chasing Sinema into a public restroom — they literally recorded images from the outside of her stall — an MSNBC article online said the spectacle was “a long time coming.”
Liberals and Democrats don’t care about the well being and elevation of women or sexual minorities for the sake of “equity.” They care about it for votes and power. If Sinema isn’t going to guarantee them those things, they certainly don’t care about her, either.
