— Joe Manchin A “ Reptilian” Democrat —
Just *Totally* Screwed The Democrats and All Of Our Citizens
— P.R.I.C.K Stands For People Regurgitating Intelligent Certifiable Knowledge —
History —
Joseph Manchin III is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from West Virginia, a seat he has held since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 34th governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010 and the 27th secretary of state of West Virginia from 2001 to 2005.
Democrats Say They’re At A Turning Point With Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) —
THE HILL - Hanna Trudo — Manchin’s decision to make known his opposition to the party’s sweeping voting rights legislation, a top priority for many Democrats, has raised serious questions about whether they can enact the bold agenda envisioned for President Biden’s first term.
Manchin and another centrist, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), have created irksome obstacles within their own caucus, and Democrats have yet to land on a strategy for dealing with the internal dissent.
A host of Democratic leaders and progressive activists who spoke to The Hill on Monday expressed a mix of resignation and anger over Manchin’s weekend op-ed voicing his objection to the For The People Act. Several noted there appeared to be no heads up to the White House or key Democratic leaders that it was coming. And it was widely seen as an abrasive move.
While a number of Democrats were careful with their public remarks, anger is building given the difficulties to passing major structural reforms now coming from within the party.
“Anger at Manchin and Sinema, when it comes to response, it’s nearly as strong as what we saw under [former President] Trump,” said Brianna Wu, executive director of Rebellion PAC, a left-wing political action committee attempting to recruit primary challengers to centrist lawmakers.
A vocal portion of the party believes that challenging Manchin and Sinema from the left is the best way forward.
The thinking is that with enough pressure, voters will see the moderates’ attempts to work with Republicans as increasingly politically untenable. Progressives like Wu want to run ads meant to dampen Manchin’s and Sinema’s approval ratings on their home turfs. And they believe they can make inroads.
But other Democrats believe finding a Democrat to the left of Manchin who can win a general election in Trump-loving West Virginia is nothing more than wishcasting. Manchin isn’t up for reelection until 2024, and with the 2022 midterm elections on the horizon, they argue the window for experimentation is limited.
CNN — A Great Article and Analysis by Chris Cillizza, Editor-at-large —In the space of just 1,000 words on Sunday, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) effectively quashed any chance for major liberal legislation between now and the 2022 election.
In an op-ed to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Manchin made clear that not only will he vote against the "For the People" Act, the package of election reforms being pushed by his party but also opposed any effort to end the legislative filibuster as a way to pass several of President Joe Biden's policy proposals.
Both pronouncements do considerable damage to Democrats -- not only on the policy front but also as both parties begin to prep their arguments ahead of the 2022 midterms.
Let’s take a look at the “For the People” Act first — Democrats -- on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue -- have cast the legislation as a necessary antidote to the ongoing efforts by Republican-controlled legislatures to put more strictures on voting. "Today, in the 21st century, there is a concerted, nationwide effort to limit the rights of citizens to vote and to truly have a voice in their own government," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (New York) in support of the "For the People" Act last month. In introducing the bill, Schumer called it "a top priority" for the 117th Congress.
Had Manchin supported the bill -- even if he opposed changing filibuster rules to pass it -- it would have allowed Schumer (and Democrats more broadly) to make the case that Republicans had blocked legislation every Democrat supported because they don't want more people voting. Schumer was already teeing up that sort of rhetoric when he first introduced the legislation -- calling new GOP-backed election laws "one of the greatest threats to modern American democracy."
That argument just had the wind entirely taken out of it by Manchin’s words —
"Democrats in Congress have proposed a sweeping election reform bill called the For the People Act. This more than 800-page bill has garnered zero Republican support. Why? Are the very Republican senators who voted to impeach Trump because of actions that led to an attack on our democracy unwilling to support actions to strengthen our democracy? Are these same senators, whom many in my party applauded for their courage, now threats to the very democracy we seek to protect?
“The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen."
SIDEBAR — Deepen? It’s already a obstructionist game played by McConnell, T-RUMP and the other Reptilians. There is no partisanship, thats bullsh*t, this is a power takeover and this schmuck is killing the party.
Oomph. Manchin's both-sides-are-to-blame argument hands Republicans a perfect talking point to use against Democrats. Even your own party didn't sign on because it was a "partisan" bill -- and other similar arguments.
Then there's Manchin's reassertion that under no circumstances will he vote to eliminate the legislative filibuster. Wrote Manchin: "Some Democrats have again proposed eliminating the Senate filibuster rule in order to pass the For the People Act with only Democratic support. They've attempted to demonize the filibuster and conveniently ignore how it has been critical to protecting the rights of Democrats in the past ...
" ... Yes, this process can be frustrating and slow. It will force compromises that are not always ideal. But consider the alternative. Do we really want to live in an America where one party can dictate and demand everything and anything it wants, whenever it wants?”
SIDEBAR — It would probably do better without him, throw him out of the party and censure him like they did to Cheney, that would be appropriate, he’s powerful but a traitor to his own party and the people… Is he dumb enough to believe there is good blood from the Reptilians GOP who goose-step better than the Wehrmacht.
Again, This Pronouncement Has Policy And Political Implications —
On the policy front, it effectively means that Democrats will need to find Republican support for almost anything they want to do legislatively between now and November 2022. Which means things like the "Fair Vote Act" are dead in the water.
On the political front, it further divides the already riven Democratic base between those, like Manchin, who are focused on the need to find bipartisan solutions to America's problems and liberals who insist that the GOP has zero interest in ever signing on to any compromise legislation and, as a result, that their side needs to use any means necessary to get their policy priorities passed.
The worst part of all of this for Democrats? Manchin is effectively un-punishable. His state is overwhelmingly Republican and even the senator's biggest detractors admit that no other Democrat could hold the seat for their side.
As CNN's Manu Raju noted on Monday morning in the wake of New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman referring to Manchin as the “next Mitch McConnell" on CNN: "Without Manchin, Mitch McConnell would be majority leader. With Manchin, Dems got a nearly $2 [trillion] Covid relief law that McConnell tried to derail."
And because of the clear conservative bent of West Virginia, Manchin not only won’t pay a price for his apostasy but will likely be lauded for it, meaning there is zero political incentive for him to change his mind or even amend any of his positions. In short: Joe Manchin is untouchable. And, as his sinking of the Democratic agenda in a single op-ed on Sunday showed, extremely powerful.