You have to hand it to West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, he’s never run from a fight in his life. And that’s because the craven coward just never bothers to show up in the first place.
The Texas Democratic legislature, which showed more courage in one shining moment, when they marched en’ mass off of the floor and denied the Texas GOP the quorum that they needed to pass the worst voting restriction laws in the country, traveled halfway across the country to take their case directly to their Democratic brethren that can bring them relief.
And Judas Joe blew them off. He didn’t bother to show up at the regularly scheduled Democratic Senate caucus lunch, where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hosted the Texas legislators. And he was not in his Senate office before or after the lunch either. Texas legislators finally managed to wrangle a measly 35 minutes with his staff before heading back to the airport. That was it. And somehow or other, I get the feeling that Manchin doesn’t tend to pay much attention to his staff, or their input.
This is getting to be a serious habit for Judas Joe. On Monday, the magnificent Bishop William Barber went to West Virginia to hold a Moral Monday March on Manchin’s office to present their demands. Of course, Manchin was once again MIAS, already back in DC, leaving his staff to take the heat.
I don’t mind saying it, Joe Manchin is a cowardly, craven, self serving chickenshit. God knows he likes strutting around playing the kingmaker of the Senate, but when the heat of the spotlight suddenly gets uncomfortably bright, he bails out to the cellar. These are not the actions of a morally motivated legislator.
Look, I get it. Maybe Joe Manchin honestly believes in bipartisanship, and honestly believes that the filibuster is a legitimate tool in the Senate to reach it. But if he did, then he wouldn’t run like a 3 year old in a thunderstorm, he would be more than willing to meet with the members of the Texas delegation and calmly explain his position, just as he would be willing to meet with the Moral Monday marchers, and explain why he was not betraying them.
Joe Manchin is nothing but a craven, power hungry coward. A moral man doesn’t hide, he proudly stands and defends his position. Manchin runs away and hides every time the heat gets turned up, because he cannot logically defend his position. And left unchecked, he will torpedo Biden’s first term agenda. And I don’t know how we stop it.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
Craven and coward are the operative words.
I’m telling you: Biden and Schumer pull him aside and lay out that if he wants the financial support of the Democratic party and affiliated groups in 2024, he needs to play ball now.
or they can tell him that if he and Sinema want to vote with the Rs, they can resign their seats now and run as Rs in 2024 or whenever they would otherwise be up for re-election.
Sorry, P J, but they are under NO obligation to resign if they wish to switch parties. There is no law requiring it.
Richard Shelby of Alabama won re-election in 1992 as a Democrat and just over 2 years later, he switched parties.
Jim Jeffords of Vermont was re-elected as a Republican in 2000 and less than 6 months later, he switched to “Independent” and began caucusing with the Democrats.
If Manchin and/or Sinema wish to switch parties, they can do it without resigning.
And, um, the Democratic Party NEVER demanded Bernie Sanders formally switch party affiliation during either of his presidential campaigns.
Manchin will NOT be re-elected as a Democrat. There is absolutely no way in hell it’s going to happen. He barely won re-election in 2018 without a presidential race to draw voters and a year that was largely a referendum on Trump. His only chance to be re-elected is to switch parties and that, right now, is his (pardon the expression) trump card to keep Biden and Schumer off his ass. If they come down too hard on him, he can hold a press conference, announce “I’m now a member of the GOP” and hand the Senate back to McConnell.
For all our (justified) complaining about him, Manchin has way too many votes on legislation and other stuff in the Senate to ever survive a GOP primary. He’d get torn to shreds. He might put on airs about “If you’re too mean to me I’ll become a Republican” but he knows damn well that would be the end of his political career when his term is up. I’d be surprised if in some behind closed doors meetings he hasn’t been told exactly that by Schumer and maybe even Biden.
Is it justified when no one will address the real questions? Manchin supports the goal of the bill, just not that particular bill. He has yet to clearly and coherently articulate why, but other analysts say the bill is flawed. The New York Times analysis says it is full of extraneous details designed to pander to each and every faction of the Democratic coalition (as if merely protecting the right to vote is not motivation enough). Public polling may ask people if they support the bill, and like Manchin, they support the goals of the bill. However they, like most of us have very little understanding of the particulars of the bill itself.
We need analysis that is far deeper than the simplistic “Manchin won’t toe the party line”. Manchin has said he supports reauthorization of the seminal Voting Rights Acts and passage of the John Lewis Act. Why not go ahead then and bring both of those up for a vote? The very real possibility that the GOP will not allow them to come to a vote is not an argument, because the same applies to the For the People Act. So the real question is whether the FTP Act is flawed and those other two options are better, and if so, then fight for those other two options. Another question no one is addressing is whether Dems really want to bequeath a no-filibuster Senate to the GOP to use the next time they have the majority.
When has he ever put on such airs?
He’s handing the GOP & McConnell the keys to authoritarian rule anyway. Whatever he appears to support that matches Biden’s (& the majority of voters) agenda will be undone anyway when the traitors in the backroom overturn everything & ENSURE they never lose power again. We are headed for civil war, as I nor 80 million of us will not accept they get to install Frump as the next dictator. Although booth was wrong about the tyrant (it was the rich southern slave holders), he was right about death to tyrants & tyranny. B4 all u chickenshits start with ur ignorant ‘i don’t advocate violence’ routine, I don’t either, however, history has shown that tepid responses to tyranny END UP requiring armed resistance to stop it. Unfortunately, you won’t be the ones demanded to stop it. It will be our children in uniform. So go back to ur comfy arguments, which, by the way, were paid for in blood of patriots, most of whom were boys called to die like the men they became. U have the luxury of expressing ur opinion until the tyrant says it’s agree with him or become an enemy of the state.
Careful Murph……there are some who think we should be scratching Ol’ Joe behind the ears and telling him what a good boy he is in spite of shatting all over the floor for months now.
*smirk*
No one is doing that.
I don’t think he listens to his official constituents, either, or he’d know that they’re with Biden’s program.
If this were the kind of man we sent to Normandy in 1944, we would have lost the war. He, like every Trump supporter I’ve run across, have no legitimate argument, so they get mad & flee. Every time. Bishop Barber, from my home state, knows his stuff. Not surprised they all run from him. When authoritarian rule commences, he’ll whine until they come for him. There will be no thanks. Idiot on parade. A true phucking coward.
How does McConnell keep his conference in order. There is no pressure on murkowski, romney, portman, collins won so she wont be even clutching pearls any more. why is it dems like manchin who always seem to bend when republicans never do or even seem to need to?
This reads like a preformed narrative looking for construe anything as support. “Never bothers to show up” sounds like a pattern of behavior, and yet such a pattern is never set forth. We do not know why he missed that particular lunch.
Meanwhile, no one is even addressing the real question. Manchin supports the goal of the bill, just not that particular bill. He has yet to clearly and coherently articulate why, but other analysts say the bill is flawed. The New York Times analysis says it is full of extraneous details designed to pander to each and every faction of the Democratic coalition (as if merely protecting the right to vote is not motivation enough). Public polling may ask people if they support the bill, and like Manchin, they support the goals of the bill. However they, like most of us have very little understanding of the particulars of the bill itself.
We need analysis that is far deeper than the simplistic “Manchin won’t toe the party line”. Manchin has said he supports reauthorization of the seminal Voting Rights Acts and passage of the John Lewis Act. Why not go ahead then and bring both of those up for a vote? The very real possibility that the GOP will not allow them to come to a vote is not an argument, because the same applies to the For the People Act. So the real question is whether the FTP Act is flawed and those other two options are better, and if so, then fight for those other two options. Another question no one is addressing is whether Dems really want to bequeath a no-filibuster Senate to the GOP to use the next time they have the majority.