Can’t the Dems just throw some money at projects in WV to buy Manchin’s vote? Pork-barrel politics may not be pretty, but it works. And I’m sure that state could use a lot of help.
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If it were not for Everett Dirksen, a lot of POC would not have been able to order a hamburger using the front door of a diner.
Yes, it was a different (pre-Gingrich) era, but this Trumpism and its accompanying people-hating ideology has got to end.
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From what I can tell in media reports, it’s about the fact that she went to WV to do the interview on local media, which at least on the surface looks like an attempt to pressure him by talking directly to his constituents. So it’s not just that he wasn’t warned in advance. If she had given the interview in DC it might not have been an issue. I have no love for Manchin but this might not have been a good idea.
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This guy is going to think he is special for the next 2 years. Has to be a way to normalize him.
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Bipartisan and unity are not the same thing. Sen. Manchin is concerned with manipulating the bipartisan element to his advantage.
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The Republicans are again reverting to their reptilian nature.
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Is anyone clear what Harris said that ticked Manchin off? This article doesn’t make it clear at all. Could it be this…
“To your point, in West Virginia, 1 in 7 families is describing their household as being hungry, 1 in 6 can’t pay their rent, and 1 in 4 small businesses are closing permanently or have already closed, so it’s a big issue in West Virginia and across the country,” Harris told WSAZ. “That’s why the president and I are offering the American Rescue Plan.”
And what’s Manchin’s problem? That his state is chock-full of underserved people in the state of a pandemic & opioid crisis? Or that she pointed it out?
ETA: I see @seamus42 has the same puzzlement above.
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Sausage making. Biden sent Harris in to let Manchin know who runs the show. POTUS flexing on a senator. It is what it is.
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Seems right. I hope our friends at TPM will make this clear in the article, so that relying on (other) media reports won’t be necessary!
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[Sitting here chuckling…]
Recalling over the holidays, many here wondering what we’d find to be outraged or bicker about post-inauguration.
Joe Manchin it is then. 
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Finishing your Post
AND HE HAS TO CAMPAIGN IN WEST VIRGINIA
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Manchin should F-Off.
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You’re right of course.
“Close touch” also describes a slap.
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Manchin is a twofer for Republicans. He can veto whatever Biden wants, AND he’s dead set against eliminating the filibuster. The best friend McConnell could have hoped for. Essentially the GOP’s 51st Senator.
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Every time Manchin talks, whatever comes out of his mouth makes no sense. this guy literally ran for the Senate using ads where he shot a copy of the ACA with a rifle. What an ignorant gasbag he is. If he’s going to be a self-aggrandizing moron like this, then I am all for Joe and Kamala bypassing him over and over until he gets with the program and acts like a damn Democrat.
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No Senator wants to see their party’s VP travel to their state and go on local media to talk directly to their constituents, as a form of pressure on a vote. For once, I don’t blame Manchin for getting his feathers ruffled.
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I would say the VP has every right to go on the air to lay out the President’s agenda and if lawmakers from any of those places feel it is pressure being put on them, then it is on them. Is Manchin suggesting the WH has to clear their agenda with people like him first?
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“DEMOCRATS IN DISARRAY!!!”
It’s amazing how many people still take the bait.
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When the GOP governor of the state is in agreement with the Democratic POTUS, and the only dissenting voice is the Democratic senator in the state whose knickers are in a twist because he resents not being consulted before the VP gives an interview to his AND HER constituents, I’m not quite sure where the “bipartisanship” issues arise.
Sounds more like implicit misogynistic, slightly racist, and powerhungry issues than bipartisan ones.
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FFS Joe, the reason everything from water treatment plants to court houses to men’s urinals in every county are named for Robert Byrd and WV was the most Democratic state in the country for years was because Byrd brought home the bacon. Nobody cares how it gets done, just get it done.
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