Oh FFS isn’t this gimp up like 10+ points in polls?
12%
It would be morbidly ironic if Manchin did this and then Kavanaugh proved to be the decisive vote on the Supreme Court for restoring extreme Constitution-in-Exile jurisprudence that overturns some of the things Manchin has gone out on a limb to support such as Obamacare, the minimum wage and Social Security.
Note “freedom to vote his conscience” in this case seems to mean he’s willing to take a hit with Democratic voters to stand up for a bro.
What a surprise. He doesn’t seem to mind to have an unprincipled partisan warrior that expressed extreme animosity towards his party during the confirmation in the supreme court who will for decades be the deciding vote, all he cares is keeping his seat, true patriot this Manchin.
Maybe now, let’s see after his yes vote.
I’ve been wrong before, but I see this as a political play for Manchin. He’s trying to win reelection in West Virginia for goodness sake. If he publicly stays on the fence, even suggesting to conservative voters in his home state that he’s inclined to vote Yes, but is telling the potential no GOP votes that he is opposed to Kavanaugh, he gets the best of both worlds. And, of course, he’s really hoping they’ll never take the vote at all.
He is a yes vote since day 1.
all the rest is kabuki theatre.
Why does this guy even call himself a Democrat?
“Manchin is well up in recent polls, which likely gives him more leeway to vote his conscience than his Democratic peers …”
Anyone who has a conscience - or a soul - would vote “No.”
I don’t believe in most purity tests for politicians. I understand that red state Democrats will sometimes need to vote against the party, and why it’s important to have some red state Democratic senators and reps.
But this is a necessary purity test. If Manchin or any other Dem votes to confirm Kavanaugh, I will support anybody that opposes them in their reelection bids. Voting to install Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court for the rest of his life goes so far beyond partisan politics or even reelection concerns. Sometimes a politician has to put politics aside and simply vote for what is right, and voting to confirm Kavanaugh is wrong, wrong, wrong on every level.
Don’t go there, Joe. We gals in WV don’t like rich, drunk, grabby frat boys.
Of course Manchin is voting YES - he’s a Republican and the Democrats don’t have the spine to remove him from the party.
Manchin and Suzy Collins of Maine have a secret agreement: He will vote YES and keep the base happy in right wing W. Virginia so that Suzy can vote NO and keep her Senate seat in less right wing Maine. This way Manchin and Suzy both keep their gravy train Senate welfare paychecks and benefits rolling in.
Kavanaugh gets confirmed for 2 reasons: 1) He will reverse Roe V. Wade so men can control women and their doctors; 2) while Kavanaugh helped Ken Starr to witch hunt Clinton after Whitewater came up empty, he now is the opposite and key to shutting down Mueller and keeping the Russian influenced election facts hidden from the American people - the Russians changed actual vote counts! Trump will be above the law if Kavanaugh gets confirmed…which means if Hillary wins in 2020 she too will be above the law.
Per Politico, while Manchin does not want the spotlight that would accompany being the 50th vote to put Kavanaugh over the line, he would not mind being a “yes” vote after that.
That’s always been the plan. Wait until GOPers either confirm or kill the nomination and then it doesn’t matter how he or Heitkamp vote.
Link?
And, of course, if even one Democrat votes to confirm Kavanaugh, Sen. McConnell will refer to it forever as a “bipartisan” vote. In the increasingly unlikely event that the Dems hold firm, McConnell will say that his confirmation was approved “over unprecedented Democratic obstruction.” And the media will report those lies with more less straight faces and then move on to other news. Rinse and repeat.
I advise everyone to read 1861: The Civil War Awakening" by Adam Goodheart – especially the description of Congressional relations in the late 1850s…
That would require putting country before party something that none of them want to do.
Just one of them to come out and say “I don’t care if I get re-elected , this man is not qualified and does not have the temperament to sit on the Supreme Court”
Ya in my dreams
Pretty much expected.
If there are only 49 votes for Kavanaugh, Manchin votes no. However, if Kavanaugh is already at 50 or 51 votes, Manchin seems perfectly fine voting yes. Still doesn’t change the fact that if you want to stop Kavanaugh, you need Collins and Murkowski to vote no.
I think anyone thinks the confirmation is not going to happen is nave. The GOP will vote in lockstep and the DINOs will support it too.
More significantly, that generally means voting against your conscience and what you think is right, because the people who make the margin of victory for you think differently. In this case, it appears that “voting his conscience” means backing Kavanaugh.
Fucking unbelievable.