Manchin Insists On Bipartisan Push For Certain Parts Of Voting Rights Bill | Talking Points Memo

I don’t disagree with him. It would be lovely to have bipartisanship on something as significant as voting rights.

What’s he going to do to push the ball forward? Who’s he going to talk to? Who’s he going to arm-twist?

I suspect this is yet another bluff on his part to confirm that he’s the most significant Senator in the chamber. And it will possibly cost the bill getting passed because he isn’t prepared to lift a finger in reality to make this a bipartisan bill.

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Agreed, and I’m completely fine with that approach. It’s smart politics. I like that they’re continuing to try to get Republican support and making a big show of it. When they fail to get it then they can say, “We tried really hard. They wouldn’t budge. But we tried, and now it’s time to move on to a vote.”

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Just remember that it’s not necessarily any actual republican support he’s angling for, but the show he needs to put on at home for his backers (i.e. financial backers in WV).

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Joe Manchin far more popular with GOPers than AOC, also, too. Does that qualify as bipartisanship?

AOC doesn’t need WV votes though. A national popularity poll isn’t relevant to Manchin’s decision making process, nor should it be.

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Correct, passing the laws is only the beginning, but Congress has the power to pre-empt the challenges that will arise: Congress can by law remove matters from SCOTUS appellate review by the A.3, S.2, final clause of P.2 power to create exceptions.

So they should pass a complete set of national campaign finance regulations that override the abuses enabled by Buckley, Bellotti, Citizens United, etc., and include in the legislation the removal of constitutional questions that arise from the new rules from SCOTUS review. The provision has been used before a number of times, so it’s not as if they’re reaching deep for some obscure clause and twisting it into something it was never intended to be. The framers clearly saw that the courts shouldn’t be the final word on every matter, but we have arrived at such a tortured view of constitutional jurisprudence that necessary legislation dies in the womb because of the mere prospect of SCOTUS differing.

As to felon re-enfranchisement, the 13th A. establishes that the only legal form of involuntary servitude is as punishment for crimes duly convicted, and the 15th prohibits denial of the right to vote “on account of … previous condition of servitude.” Taken together, they make permanent felon disenfranchisement unconstitutional. DOJ could take a single felon’s voting right case to SCOTUS, and I think they could win on the merits, making new laws unnecessary.

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Ha! It’s not the financial backers, it’s the actual voters. But otherwise, you are 100% correct.

I really disagree strongly with all the people who think Joe Manchin is just waiting to become a Republican. If he was going to be a party flipper, the time for him to do it was back when he ran for Senate after being Governor. Jim Justice, Manchin’s protege, flipped. Jim Justice has also overseen a very effective vaccination program and was interested in getting help for his state (I think for the same reasons Joe Manchin does).

He supports a ton of Dem. policy approaches, because he comes from a poor and depopulating state, and he knows that Dem policies will do far more for the people of his state than the GOP policies will. But he has to run against the GOP bogeymen that WV rank and file voters reject.

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You also can’t assume that anything regarding voting rights gets to the supreme court with either 1) bipartisan support or 2) a drastic altering of the filibuster with the prospect of altering the courts without republican input.

Regardless of which one, it’s going to have an impact on the courts decision making process.

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Joe Manchin can push, but that doesn’t mean Republicans will fall over or even budge an inch. Get with the Democratic program, Joe.

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Is he giving lip service to bipartisan support, or is he really delusional that the Republicans have any interest in supporting any aspects of this bill whatsoever? Or unaware of all the state-level shenanigans that are going on?

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Gerrymandering reform is a must-have, and isn’t on his list.

And while I agree about not making the perfect the enemy of the good, the problem with passing all the popular provisions is that then you have no way of getting people to vote for the less-popular, but still necessary, provisions.

In other words, sometimes half a loaf is better than no loaf. But other times I’d rather leave people hungry for more in the hopes that it motivates them to get three-quarters of a loaf.

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Mr. Manchin should go out and get the first Republican vote in the Senate. I’m sure it should be easy enough to do.

Right?

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The things we need out of the bill:

  • guarantee vote by mail
  • guarantee 2 weeks of in person EV
  • remove barriers to voting. no onerous requirements. ban states from messing around with voter access.
  • reauthorize the voting rights act

Everything else are nice to haves that can be dumped in favor of getting the essentials passed into law.

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I don’t know why more people aren’t saying this. If we need a coal-miner kickback in the bill to get his support, then it is money well spent. This bill is THE top priority for Dems, and the one in charge of getting the votes for it isn’t Manchin, it is Schumer. Schumer needs to sit down with the man and tell him to name his price.

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Jumpin’ Jesus on a Pogo-Stick! So fucking what? I think it’s kinda the point, Joe. Oh, and, er, who cares? If you’re harboring distrust when ensuring all votes are counted, well, then, fuck you, you fucking fuck.

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Indeed! Don’t want to hear anything out of his pie-hole unless it’s something along the lines of, “I’ve got X Republican Senators who will support…right now”

Otherwise STFU

ETA:
And even then, I probably don’t want to hear what he has to say.

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Its relevant to what a lot in his party think of him.

Is it suppose to ?

After four years of Trump I can’t remember a time when any of the GQP reps went against anything they wanted to do.

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As for at least one part of the bill, SCOTUS has already ceded authority to Congress. In Rucho v. Common Cause, SCOTUS said it’s not up to the courts to decide if partisan gerrymandering is legal or not — it’s a purely political matter. I strongly disagree with the decision, but they’ve given up the right to do anything about any legislation that restricts partisan gerrymandering.

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