Rain expected any time now this late-afternoon Tuesday here in California’s Central Valley, although showers were forecast to have arrived already, and the way this winter is going, rain-wise, it may not come at all.
We’re hurting for water.

What’s also in a weird-ass hurt is GOP DC politcians facng the overwhelmingly-popular support from Americans for Joe Biden’s COVID relief package, especially even among Republicans, and they’re playing shit politics without any reason other than power-sucking assholeness. Last week, not one Republican Senator voted for the bill, and nearly-zero Republicans will tomorrow when the House takes up the final vote. Biden says he will sign it as quick as he can get his hands on it,

In the frame, Republicans are pulling a gamble (Politico): ‘Republicans are making a risky but calculated bet: that voters won’t punish them for opposing a popular $1.9 trillion coronavirus bill.‘

Calculated via lying, gasighting and general bullshit — yet they’re really, really behind the curve:

new Pew poll finds 70% back covid-relief bill, including 41% of Rs.

“The survey finds 57% say Biden made a good faith effort working w/Republicans.

“By comparison, 42% say GOP leaders made a good faith effort to work w/WH, , w/55% saying they did not.”
https://t.co/uPrdO6M3Ig

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) March 9, 2021

Despite what Republican politicans think/act, seemingly the country is way-for the COVID package, even a goodly chunk of GOPers — from Pew Research this afternoon:

As the House of Representatives prepares to give final approval to the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, a sizable majority of U.S. adults (70-percent) say they favor the legislation.
Only about three-in-ten (28-percent) oppose the bill, which provides economic aid to businesses, individuals and state and local governments.

While congressional votes on the legislation have been deeply divided along partisan lines, 41-percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents support the measure.
The bill draws overwhelming support from Democrats and Democratic leaners (94-percent favor).

In assessing the proposed spending in the aid package, 41-percent of Americans view it as about right, while another 25-percent say it spends too little; only a third of Americans say the legislation spends too much money.
Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to view the spending in the bill as excessive (61-percent of Republicans vs. 11-percent of Democrats).

Even with not a single one GOP vote for it in the Senate and their bad-mouthing the package with lies and bullshit, 57-percent of Americans in the poll say Democrats made a ‘good faith effort‘ to cross the aisle creating the bill, though, a sizable portion of rank-and-file Republicans think otherwise: By comparison, 42-percent say GOP leaders made a good faith effort to work with the White House on the pandemic relief bill, with a 55-percent majority saying they did not work in good faith.

Also today, another, separate survey reported about the same numbers — main point from the Invest in America/Data for Progress polling: ‘Sixty-nine percent of voters support the bill, and we find this support holds strong across parties: 84-percent of self-identified Democrats, 65-percent of Independents and 54-percent of Republicans support the legislation.‘
And what about GOP bang-the-drum talking points: ‘We find that the majority of voters reject these conservative arguments, and agree that this is the time for action. By a 24-point margin, we find national voters think Congress should prioritize passing the bill even if this results in an increase to the national debt (58-percent support the bill, 34-percent oppose it). Once again, we find this support extends across party lines: 76-percent of Democrats and 56-percent of Independent voters prioritize immediate relief over austerity.‘

Apparently, the COVD bill is one of the all-time popular bits of legislation ever.

And flashback to add insult to injury to zero empathetic decency  — according to a MorningConsult poll released last week,

In the new survey, conducted Feb. 26 to March 1, 77-percent of all voters and 59-percent of Republicans said they supported the measure which provides direct payments to some Americans, extends enhanced unemployment benefits through July and provides funding for state and local governments as well as K-12 schools and universities.

That level of backing from the public is consistent with findings from a survey conducted ahead of the House’s Feb. 27 successful vote on the bill, which passed without any GOP support.

And the backing is solid — people want the fucking relief:

The latest survey also sought to test whether a more partisan framing to Biden’s plan would materially impact the level of support: Half of voters were shown question wording that did not mention that the plan was Democratic in nature, while half were informed that it was the Democrats’ proposal.

The distinction mattered little.
When provided the partisan framing along with the details of the proposal, 71-percent of voters — including 53-percent of Republicans — still supported it.

As far as getting anything done, Republicans really need to be competely demolished as a political entity, like all those voter suppression shit they’re pulling all over the country be used against them, and despite the twisted rules, defeat the living-shit out of them at the ballot box next year. The entire GOP apparatus is bad, bad for America.
Rock the polls:

“We got a thousand points of light…”

(Illustration by illustrator and portrait painter, Tim O’Brien, and can be found here).