New York Times says there’s a difference between a maverick like John McCain and a narcissist like Kyrsten Sinema

A lot of people have pointed out that the late Sen. John McCain was hailed as a “maverick” for bucking his party and working with the Democrats, and yet Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is … what? New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg has figured it out: Sinema is a narcissist, not a maverick.

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“The bipartisanship that was once a source of liberation for her seems to have become a rigid identity,” writes @michelleinbklyn on Senator Kyrsten Sinema. “There’s a difference, it turns out, between being a maverick and being a narcissist.” https://t.co/GxN2yaNi4o

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 5, 2021

There is a big difference, and that difference is that McCain helped out Democrats while Sinema is stalling their efforts.

Goldberg writes, citing a “Saturday Night Live” skit:

People sometimes describe the Arizona senator as a centrist, but that seems the wrong term for someone who’s been working to derail some of the most broadly popular parts of Joe Biden’s agenda, corporate tax increases and reforms to lower prescription drug prices. Instead, she’s just acting as an obstructionist, seeming to bask in the approbation of Republicans who will probably never vote for her.

A “Saturday Night Live” skit this weekend captured her absurdist approach to negotiating the reconciliation bill that contains almost the entirety of Biden’s agenda. “What do I want from this bill?” asked the actress playing Sinema. “I’ll never tell.” It sometimes seems as if what Sinema wants is for people to sit around wondering what Sinema wants.

On the other hand, “people admired McCain because they felt he embodied a consistent set of values, a straight-talking Captain America kind of patriotism.” Yes, that’s what we Republicans think of when we think of John McCain.

99% of national media pieces on Sinema reveal no interest in understanding her, only controlling her. That’s why they keep failing. https://t.co/8Vr71o1Xkn

— Jon Gabriel (@exjon) October 5, 2021

Shorter version: bipartisanship is good, and being bipartisan is good, only when it helps Democrats. https://t.co/JQ9KrI4Aok

— Ken Gardner (@KenGardner11) October 5, 2021

GP This is exactly the opposite of what liberals said about Sen. McCain. https://t.co/0gq685w2BO

— The Gormogons (@Gormogons) October 5, 2021

The media is going full bore on using “narcissist” to describe Sinema despite the fact that it almost entirely does not apply here.
Sticking by your values when it is wildly unpopular is actually the antithesis of a narcissism — which requires constant admiration and praise. https://t.co/QQjIc7KTPw

— Fiscal Therapist (@BigLifeMark) October 5, 2021

The left wing harassment and destruction of one their own when she doesn’t fall in line continues https://t.co/6WKGUrvrRJ

— Muad’Dib (@paulatreides99) October 5, 2021

Her state doesn’t support a Marxist agenda it’s simple

— Craig (@Craig01357278) October 5, 2021

How DARE she not do what us leftists tell her to do! You people are pathetic.

— TurtlePower98 (@sstaedtler98) October 5, 2021

Cry harder. She is the bravest person on the Hill. And way too pretty to be a Dem. Shoulda have been a red flag right from the jump.

— Bob Lepore (@lepore_bob) October 5, 2021

Maybe she knows enough math to know a $3.5 trillion spending bill doesn’t cost zero dollars.

Related:

Jim Geraghty’s new must-read thread takes an insightful look at what the attacks on Kyrsten Sinema say about the progressive Left’s true intentions https://t.co/M5onxgJx47

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 5, 2021