Joe is our 50th senator. You goto war with the army you have. Let Joe try to frame this so he can get reelected. He will vote for all this stuff in the end.
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The key to Manchin is appearing to be a good guy, looking out for the average âJoeâ and protecting him from either âextremeâ, in other words a bunch of horseshit. You think he is going to abandon that ruse and go full extremist GOP? You think it is good to have someone willing to do that essentially controlling our party? If you have a turd in the washing machine do you leave it in there and just not wash your clothes, or pull it out and deal with the clean up?
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The lack of any evidence of such.
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That is exactly what is going on. Propping up the white patriarchy is how Manchin got the power (and money) he has.
I think you are pretty spot on. Manchin has to appear to be a bit, well, maverick-y for his constituents, and the fact that most of us are all wound up gets him a lot of kudos back in WV. But, when push comes to shove, heâll do whatâs right. (Sinema, I am less certain aboutâŚ)
Lots of behind-the-scenes stuff going on, the facade to the public is just a facade.
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That said, he does seem to be going out of his way here, op-eds and all, to be an extra bit of an asshole.
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The type of turncoat who votes for the recovery act when not a single actual Republican would do so.
Sure this position is a major kick in the balls to the president, but calling him just like a Republican is not accurate. he is seriously wrong about the implications of the filibuster on partisanship, but he also seems like he will not listen to the evidence (and logic) that proves it.
who in the hell is talking to him.
And how is that not like any current member of the GQP - sounds like youâre making an argument that Manchin is using the same rationale as many on the Right.
West Virginia is a small, insular, 92% white population of mostly Appalachian Scots-Irish who have a long, long history of mistrusting anyone not from there, especially from the government. With good reason: when coal miners in WV tried to stand up for themselves in the 1920s, the US Army was sent in to put them down.
That just reinforced already long-standing antipathy toward any outside government trying to tell them what to do, an antipathy that goes back to why the Scots-Irish came to this country in the first place, and went way the fuck off into the mountains to get the hell away from having to deal with the Crown, and later the government.
So, yeah, go ahead, plan out how youâre gonna develop liberal candidates who can win in that environment, all while, you know, being an outsider yourself.
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Well, if youâre gonna do something, do it right, you know? Go big or go home?
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This seems like a whole lot of nothing, at least on the new news front. Manchin has never been for getting rid of the filibuster, ever, so nothing has changed there. The only change heâs ever been open to was the oh so painful reform of making Senators actually talk during their filibuster, which he is still open to and which ultimately does nothing other than give both sides some advantage in pushing the media narrative on a given bill.
That said, Manchin needs to be squeezed, and hard, not to get filibuster reform, but because heâs a colossal idiot who is holding up vital legislation and despite his ego thinking otherwise, hurting his own constituents and any chance he has of keeping his seat should he want to run again for Senate or any other office.
Yeah, I get it, gets my dander up as well. Would prefer a unified front, but we are talking about someone who has managed to hang on in a liberal desert and so I would prefer to wait until the vote to call him an asshole if he disappoints us.
Biden doesnât seem to be getting in too much of a lather about it, and they have known each other a long, long time. Havenât ever heard that thereâs any animosity⌠And I am sure Biden knows exactly what Manchin needs and will find a way to make it work.
In other words, I guess I am seeing this all a bit along the lines of good cop/bad cop and Manchinâs the bad cop here on this.
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Manchin once again gets on his high horse to protect a normal that no longer exists - Republicans blew up regular order when they embraced manichaean politics that makes compromise impossible and culture wars that makes rational debate futile. As long as Republicans continue to act like they are holy soldiers in an existential war with godless socialists out to destroy the country, there can be no âregular orderâ.
So, stop behaving like a Republican by pretending you are defending anything other than your reelection with your performative grandstanding. If, on the other hand, you want to actually govern and pass legislation that helps people, get rid of the filibuster and find another way to protect the rights of the minority.
" His primary weakness is that he canât get 10 GOP votes for a bipartisan bill."
This is the only thing to remember about all this talk of Bipartisanship, IT IS EXTINCT.
No GOP Senator can vote for gun anything. No GOP Senator can vote for immigration anything.
Joe will talk a good game, meet with Collins, Porter, and Willard and then fail to get a deal. He will show his state he did all he could and going it alone is the only way.
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Keep telling folks, bring back steam locomotives⌠Biden loves trains, and that would kickstart King coal again.
Yet another tirade from the âplease primary meâ would-be King of grandstanding.
Claiming the need to negotiate with people well-known for bad faith is, in and of itself, bad faith.
Follow, lead, or GTFO of the way, Joe.
So we continue to allowâŚ
to scuttle OUR âlife, liberty, and pursuit of happinessâ?
At some point we have to understand that keeping these people in ignorance and poverty by supporting Blue Dogs and Manchins in these States is a self fulfilling prophecy, a feedback loop. We have to break the chain, and every time the opportunity presents itself, the fear of what could be is always trotted out to prevent it. Hence after a Barack Obama we get a Donald Trump. The cycle has to be broken, and if it means Manchin is outed as a Trumpian scumbag who will switch parties for his own vanity, the sooner the better. I for one donât have much more time to try and set us on a course that will provide a livable planet for my kids. Never mind the lofty and far away âlife, liberty, and pursuit of happinessâ, others less fortunate than I have already been robbed of that right for generations and in plain sight.
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The teacher unions are not that powerful. Scott Walker did what he could to destroy them. I
know a woman and her husband who moved to So Cal because they were teachers and saw the
writing on the wall. He is high school teacher now, she is a rep for public employees union.
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Because without Manchinâs vote in favor of it, there is no such thing possible.
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