Liberals who were hoping that Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona might vote in support of a minimum wage hike were disappointed and many angrily turned to social media to register their outrage.
Sinema’s critics were especially outraged because of the way she entered her vote.
The openly bisexual senator is also a moderate Democrat on many issues owing to the demographics of the state she represents. On Friday she voted alongside 7 other Democrats to kill the proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to include the wage hike in the latest coronavirus relief package.
“Kyrsten Sinema is the most vapid Democratic politician to come along in quite a while. Her shtick of funky hair and bright clothing as a mask for her apparent sociopathy is downright horrifying,” tweeted Emma Vigeland, a progressive commentator.
“Sinema just jauntily gave the middle finger to tens of millions of low wage workers,” tweeted another critic.
“Kyrsten Sinema giving the $15 minimum wage a ‘Gladiator’ style thumbs down would’ve been a left twitter joke a week ago,” tweeted Ken Klippenstein, a reporter at The Intercept.
“No matter what you think of @kyrstensinema’s vote, these optics are horrible,” tweeted journalist Yashar Ali. “You may think people don’t deserve to be paid more, but you don’t need to make a show of it.”
Others were incensed that Sinema had brought a large chocolate cake into the Senate and compared her to Marie Antoinette, the historical figure known for a similar act.
“Incredible. On the day that she votes to block a raise in the minimum wage for 32 million working class Americans, @kyrstensinema not only walks into the Senate with a big chocolate cake but posts on FB about a future getaway to Bora Bora. ‘Let them eat cake,’ indeed,” tweeted progressive activist Kai Newkirk.
“Kyrsten Sinema is an out-bi Senator but a closeted Conservative and wannabe Marie Antoinette,” tweeted another critic.
“She’s decided she’s going to be a media darling as Marie Antoinette of the establishment. Dress in a super fun way, do performatively hip thumbs downs as she votes to kill higher wages & now rub it in with symbolic cake we can all eat instead of higher salaries,” tweeted failed congressional candidate Cenk Uygur.
HuffPost characterized Sinema as using “an exaggerated thumbs-down hand gesture” to display her opposition.
More from HuffPost:
Although hand gestures are commonplace on the Senate floor, particularly in the coronavirus era, Sinema’s casual body language was disappointing to some who saw the gesture as belittling the fight to end poverty wages.
In response to critics, Sinema used Democrats’ own standards against them.
Hannah Hurley, a spokeswoman for Sinema, denounced the critics, implying they are violating Democrats’ own standards regarding comments about women.
“Commentary about a female senator’s body language, clothing, or physical demeanor does not belong in a serious media outlet,” Hurley told HuffPost.
Sinema released a statement after voting against the proposal explaining that she supports raising wages, but opposes doing so in legislation supposedly meant to address pandemic woes.
“Senators in both parties have shown support for raising the federal minimum wage and the Senate should hold an open debate and amendment process on raising the minimum wage, separate from the COVID-focused reconciliation bill,” Sinema explained.
This is an excerpt from The Blaze.
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