Joe Manchin was never going to save voting rights

[DonViejo]

Joe Manchin Was Never a Mystery

It’s always been pretty obvious who he is: a middle-of-the-road guy with good electoral instincts, decent intentions, and bad ideas.

By David A. Graham

The failure of the For the People Act in the Senate yesterday evening didn’t provide much drama. All 50 Democrats backed the voting-rights bill, but with no Republican support, they didn’t have enough votes to break a filibuster. That Democrats didn’t have the votes was clear from the start of the Congress.

But journalism requires drama, which means that over the past few months Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has been the subject of extensive coverage. The problem with this coverage is not that Manchin is unimportant; as the most moderate Democrat in a 50-person caucus, he is crucial. It’s that there is no mystery to him.

Trying to figure out who Manchin is and what he wants, or how he’s changed—the natural and reasonable defaults of political-profile writing—assumes there’s something more than meets the eye. Really, though, Manchin is who he’s always been: a middle-of-the-road guy with good electoral instincts, decent intentions, and bad ideas.

Manchin made the bill’s fate explicit on June 6, when he published a column in the Charleston Gazette-Mail announcing he’d vote nay, and would also not vote to weaken the filibuster. Given Democrats’ thin margin, that meant they would be unable to overcome a Republican filibuster, even after Manchin announced yesterday afternoon that he would vote to open debate on the bill. (Some other Democrats reportedly privately opposed parts of the bill, meaning it might have failed eventually even if there were no filibuster too.)

more
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/06/unmysterious-joe-manchin-for-the-people-voting-rights/619268/

[Joinfortmill]

1. Yup, but it's not over yet.

[LakeArenal]

2. I agree.

[Hortensis]

3. Yes, not over by a long shot. We also SAW that "saving voting rights"

at this point with that bill was never something Manchin or any other of our senators could do, by themselves or with all the others. The battle continues, as they all knew it would have to.

[gab13by13]

4. The Atlantic got this one way wrong,

Manchin isn't opposed to The For The People Act because of any political ideology, he probably isn't even running for reelection again, he is opposed to it because well, it has to do with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Dark Money.

[ColinC]

5. To be fair, I believe he did vote for it

Fwiw

[Hortensis]

6. Seemingly that's one of those alternative facts: he voted for it or

sabotaged it for dastardly motives, according to one's personal preference. Maybe someone might post a poll and see how we're running.

[ColinC]

7. I mean I obviously think he's horribly wrong in his position

But when it comes to voting against the fillibuster with any exceptions, he has been nothing but consistent. His policy positions have generally also been consistent with the democratic majority.

On edit: I want to be clear, I do not like Joe Manchin largely because of the horrible consequences of this position, but we do need to have some respect for the facts.

[Hortensis]

8. Exactly. "We do need to have some respect for the facts."

I'm not at all happy with him either, or the others hiding behind the Manchin target, but facts rule. He is who he really is, and his record, both the parts we like and the parts we don't like, is long and real. Fear and anger do not excuse ignoring it.

[ColinC]

9. Absolutely.

Although I absolutely hold out some hope (not much) that the continued gop blockage and refusal to negotiate on anything -especially a 1/6 commission, push him further towards considering real exceptions for things -especially voting rights.

One edit: and his negotiations including letting the cocaine brothers(or brother? Is there just one now?) That their agenda will be burdened if their number one donor recipients continue to refuse negotiations.

[Hortensis]

10. That's been my hope all along. The man whose NYT op-ed was

"Why I'm Voting Against the For the People Act" then turned and voted for it as the various maneuverings progressed. An example of justifications being created for "real exceptions."

I believe he wants a compromise and he is ideologically with his fellow Democrats overall and on most provisions. Same as with the American Rescue Plan, which he actually cut into very little.

As for the filibuster, a fairly safe guess is that Manchin would support reform. After all, in 2011 he coauthored a bill to reform the filibuster, which failed. He was against abolishing it altogether then also.

Time will tell, but wish I could skip to the end.

[ColinC]

11. Haha same!

Fingers crossed!!