If you still put Joe Manchin in the same sentence as Kyrsten Sinema, stop. There is plenty to debate about him, and certainly votes to dislike from him, but he knows what he is and behaves like it- a conservative Democrat representing a ruby red state. He is authentically not in line with most of the Democratic Party, especially the online activist type. His “bad behavior” is simply more authentic and honorable than Sinema’s though, and it makes more political sense.

Arizona is not a “blue” state at this point, and it has a history of electing “maverick” Senators. It is a swing state though, and it just elected nearly all Democrats at the statewide level. Mark Kelly, the state’s junior Senator, is certainly a moderate in brand too, but his voting record and political affiliations make sense. Sinema on the other hand is all over the map, sometimes killing Democratic priorities from the left, other times from the right. She stakes out positions that make little sense on legislation, often times making passage hard or impossible. Sometimes she even contradicts her own votes from the past with nonsensical switches literally just for the sake of doing it.

My real problem with Sinema though is she has no political soul, no authenticity, and no values or identity. The former Green Party member lefty, who sold herself as a leftist progressive woman while ascending to state legislative leadership, then Congress, and now to the Senate, has gone out of her way to now rebrand herself as the Senate moderate. Out of principle? Yeah right, she still insisted on some of her former priorities, like fighting climate change. She doesn’t contradict herself to serve some bigger principle, like freedom of speech or individual liberty, but mostly just for attention and political positioning for her re-elections. Sinema must have determined in recent days that the likely primary challenge in 2024 from Congressman Ruben Gallego was highly likely to beat her, either because of a bad poll or former allies telling her they are out, and so today we got the nonsensical announcement from her that while she is still caucusing with the Democrats, she now identifies as an independent. It is a highly cynical move to avoid losing a primary, one that she believes boxes in Democratic opponents- if she runs as an independent, she will likely siphon off enough votes from the Democratic nominee to insure neither she or they can possibly win. She set up a suicide pact, and is essentially willing to hand the Senate to Republicans that literally hate who she actually is, all to try and desperately hang on to power.

I usually am fiercely defensive of moderates. I have my fair share of grievances with where far-left progressives want to take the party. It is imperative though that Democrats, moderates, and frankly any people with any values or decency in them reject this cynical act. Kyrsten Sinema has had her time, had her chance, and had her attention. It’s time to end the temper tantrum in 2024.