Joe Manchin Is Not My Favorite Senator

[MineralMan]

However, he is not a DINO. He is not The Great Satan. He is a Senator from West Virginia, one of the most right-leaning states in this country. If he were not a Senator from that state, a Republican would be. And if a Republican were a Senator from WV, we would have a Republican majority in the Senate right now. Mitch McConnell would be Majority Leader, instead of Chuck Schumer. I don't think that would benefit us in any way.

Because Joe Manchin is a Senator, we have a tied Senate with VP Harris casting the deciding vote, thus giving us the majority in the Senate and a Democratic Majority Leader in Chuck Schumer.

Do I wish Joe Manchin would get behind a couple of important bills in the Senate? Of course I do. However, so far, he has voted with the Democratic Caucus on every measure put forward by President Biden and supported by the Democratic Caucus in the Senate.

I have seen many posts here calling Senator Manchin names. I am not defending his positions on bills he does not fully support. I am not defending his tendency to hold up measures we need. I do not live in West Virginia, so I have no vote on that state's Senators. He is one of that state's Senators, and there it is.

Rather than attack him, I would prefer to appeal to him to join with the other Democrats in the Senate to get those important bills passed. I can't see how attacking him or calling him a DINO is particularly useful to Democratic causes.

He's not my favorite Senator, by any means. I live in Minnesota, and we have two very good Senators. I voted for them. I supported their campaigns. I like both of them. West Virginia elected Joe Manchin instead of a Republican. That is a good thing.

I suggest not calling Joe Manchin ugly names. Instead, try to convince him to vote the way you would prefer him to vote. That's more likely to do some good, rather than to do serious harm to our precarious Senate majority.

[Wounded Bear]

1. This should be interesting...

[MineralMan]

2. I hope so.

It will be an unpopular post with some, I suppose, but I felt that it needed to be said.

[True Blue American]

43. Joe always comes around when he gets what he wants.

Again the media is sensational. I imagine he and Biden had a serious talk about what needs to be done.

They exaggerate everything.

[Omnipresent]

3. Sure, he's to the left of someone like Susan collins.

But, still to close for comfort.

[MineralMan]

8. Susan Collins is a Republican. Joe Manchin is a Democrat.

There is a difference. Look at Manchin's voting record this year. Compare it with the record of Susan Collins.

[Omnipresent]

54. No kidding really??

[True Dough]

4. Joe Manchin has held office since 2010

He was re-elected last year. It's time for him to expend a little political capital within his constituency rather than put self-preservation as his top priority. This infrastructure bill could be truly transformational for the United States. Joe Manchin shouldn't be the one individual able to prevent it. He should be in a position to help the Dems push through key pieces of legislation while still maintaining just enough support back at home. And if it means he doesn't get re-elected next time out, well, at least he'd have been the linchpin in accomplishing something that would advance the country in meaningful fashion.

EDIT: Remember, this infrastructure bill would benefit his own riding as well. He should get out there and SELL the HELL out of it!!

[MineralMan]

7. Telling me that does not change anything.

Try telling Joe Manchin.

[True Dough]

29. Joe Manchin didn't create this thread

My response here doesn't preclude me from sharing this same perspective with him or his office.

[qazplm135]

5. Joe Manchin

Doesn't care about message board posts either way, no politician does.

So this is quite frankly meaningless.

No one here is "convincing" him of anything.

[MineralMan]

6. This is not about this forum influencing him.

As far as I know, he is not a member here. In fact, I do not believe that anyone in Congress is a member here.

This post is about something completely different from that. It is about DU and our attitudes toward Democratic elected officials.

[qazplm135]

13. Our attitudes are

And should be directly proportional to their actions.

[MineralMan]

17. Philosophically, perhaps.

However, voicing our philosophies rarely have much to do with what Senators do, especially in states where we do not live.

Manchin, for example, has voted with the Democratic Caucus and Biden consistently. We do not praise him for that. Why?

[qazplm135]

23. Lol

There's been a handful of votes, and only one of real consequence, and if you want to praise him for voting for it, after holding it up, feel free.

Now, he's holding up two seperate hugely important bills over nonsense and he's getting rightfully criticized for it.

It's silly to praise him for a prior vote while he's holding up two current, important bills.

And if voicing our philosophy has no impact, which no it doesn't, then praise is just as irrelevant, which was my point above.

[MineralMan]

31. It's fine to criticize his position on things. I don't object to that

in any way. I'm talking about name-calling, actually, which I thought was clear in my original post. Someone called him a DINO earlier today. That's not productive of anything.

[qazplm135]

35. little done here

is "productive." It's a bunch of people chatting on a message board.

The only productive stuff done here is where it motivates people to get out and vote or get others to vote.

Otherwise, it's a tiny group of Americans talking politics, most of which with like minds.

And I would propose to you that if a bunch of Democrats are upset enough to call Manchin names, maybe that's a Manchin problem, not an us problem. Maybe what he's doing is bad enough that it's causing folks to get really upset.

I don't know about DINO, but he's decidedly not being a team player. He's quite frankly fucking up a pretty good setup and risking things for us in a big way. If people have colorful language about that reality, so be it...it's not the language that's the problem.

[MineralMan]

38. If that's the case, I'm surprised that you take

my post so seriously.

[qazplm135]

51. I don't

but I can respond to things I don't take seriously.

[empedocles]

9. We also need Tester and Sinema types - a lot. They overcome great odds to get elected.

Even Bernie, apart from his loud public positions, recognizes the need for cooperative efforts to get things done.

Some safe blue district Dems, can loudly do things differently.

[MineralMan]

11. Yes, exactly.

States like West Virginia and Arizona will not elect progressive Democrats to the Senate. They simply will not. So, we either have a Democrat who isn't as progressive as we might like or we end up with a Republican in those seats.

That shouldn't be too hard to understand, really. In the current Senate, those red state Democrats are the reason we have a tiny majority in that house of Congress. Without them, we would still have a Senate run by Mitch McConnell. That has enormous value to us. All one has to do is think about the confirmation process for federal judges to understand the importance.

I wish red states were blue states, but they are not.

[ripcord]

10. I am surprised at how many people think Manchin should vote as he is told to

[MineralMan]

12. Well, how people THINK he should vote has very little to do

with how he does vote, really, unless those people live in West Virginia. That is true in every state for the Senators from that state. I continue to be surprised that WV elects a Democrat at all, but it is to our benefit, in the end.

[LakeArenal]

25. He should vote for what his constituents tell him to.

[Xoan]

33. The remaining Koch ?

[Sucha NastyWoman]

37. Well the Republican Senators don't seem to have a problem voting as they are told.

John McCain was sometimes an exception

[ripcord]

55. That is hardly a recommendation

[Beastly Boy]

14. Insulting Manchin on DU may have some theraputic value to those who are doing the insulting.

Otherwise, it is pretty childish.

There is one sure way to neutralize Manchin, and it doesn't involve calling him names.

Vote. Elect one more Democratic Senator. Then watch Manchin humbled and made irrelevant before your very eyes. Much more effective than repeatedly calling him an asshole.

[MineralMan]

16. Exactly. I'm sure some of those attacking Manchin

have at least one Republican Senator from their own states. Perhaps they could work on fixing that in 2022 or 2024. Somehow, though, that suggestion always falls flat.

[JustAnotherGen]

15. The only people who can move Manchin

Are his constituents. ONLY West Virginians can do this. . . So it's not just him - its folks in WV who are allowing him to behave this way.

Ditto Arizona.

Trust me - Senators Booker and Menendez are not paying attention to social media/message boards or even phone calls/texts from out of state. They operate from a place of fear of the Democratic Party voters in this state.

[MineralMan]

20. Yes, exactly.

We too often forget who elects our Senators and other legislators.

[Salviati]

50. In this case though it is Manchin who is forgetting the voters.

I 100% agree that any Dem, Manchin and Sinema included, are leaps and bounds better than any republican, but in this case we cannot attribute Manchin's reluctance to back Biden's plan on representing the people of his state. Biden's Build Back Better program polls very well with Manchin's constituents, I wish he would listen to them.

Link to tweet

NEW: We polled voters in AZ, CO, GA, MI, MT, NH, NC, OR, PA, WA, WI, and WV on the Build Back Better Agenda. We find that voters overwhelmingly support the plan, investments in care, climate, citizenship, and the ways to pay for the package
Full Poll Results: https://t.co/U4BskXt3cF?amp=1

In West Virginia the plan is supported by wide margins, even the clean energy provisions are supported by a +28 point margin.

[brush]

24. Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer might. I'd like to see them...

sit him down and have a frank discussion with him about this.

The Intercept has revealed that Manchin’s daughter, the former president and CEO of the company that made EpiPen, oversaw a 600% price increase that gouged millions of captive EpiPen users. Not only that, she helped dismantle the only company that offered a competing product.

https://medium.com/politically-speaking/the-intercept-just-intercepted-joe-manchins-corruption-51574f33c185#:~:text=The%20Intercept%20has%20revealed%20that%20Manchin%E2%80%99s%20daughter%2C%20the,the%20only%20company%20that%20offered%20a%20c

An opportunity for much delayed generational change in the nation's physical and human infrastructure is at hand and we can't allow a couple of recalcitrant senators with apparent ties to entities on the right stop the Biden/Dem agenda. We may not get another chance. Time to play hard ball to deliver on promises made, on a chance to save our Congressional majorities and democracy itself.

[spooky3]

27. And certain donors Nt

[progressoid]

30. +1

[zeusdogmom]

18. Right on MineralMan

Name calling, etc. of fellow Dems is not productive.

[MineralMan]

19. It also violates DU's TOS.

[Budi]

21. K & R & Thank You.

[luv2fly]

22. Yep and people get away with the name-calling

Either it's a rule or it isn't.

[LakeArenal]

26. Rules are only guidelines I guess

[luv2fly]

53. Which only makes for confusion

Either it's okay to bash or it isn't, and the TOS says it isn't. There have been times when I've pointed this out and consequently been alerted on. Go figure.

[davsand]

49. I've really had issues about this being a "sometimes" thing lately.

I am not a fan of his. I disasgree with him. I'm frequently frustrated. I do, however, really feel that bashing him has become a sport or fad here. I'd like to think that DU is better than this.


Laura

[ancianita]

28. K & R In tough times, remembering who we are is critical. So thanks.

[MineralMan]

32. Thanks!

[bucolic_frolic]

34. Well said

I think he really does believe he can find bipartisanship, or at least compromise, on issues. With the economy heating up compared to what was expected 9-12 months ago, he may have a point about the infrastructure bill. Inflation could be a risk worth moderating.

[LAS14]

36. I totally agree! Great post! nt

[MineralMan]

39. Thanks

[FrankBooth]

40. You had me at...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. I don't understand why this is such a difficult concept to grasp.

And IMO Manchin is not going to torpedo the Infrastructure bill. He'll get some concessions commensurate with his moderate status. Many won't like them, but it will still be a good bill and better than anything that would have happened with Moscow Mitch in charge.

Manchin is negotiating now, why would he give away his leverage 6 weeks early?

[MineralMan]

41. It's important to remember the past and to consider the future,

it seems to me. That shouldn't be all that difficult when it comes to Mitch McConnell. It hasn't been that long since he was Majority Leader.

[NurseJackie]

42. Thank you.

Rather than attack him, I would prefer to appeal to him to join with the other Democrats in the Senate to get those important bills passed.

Uh... yeah... good luck with that. I can't see ANY of his harshest haters doing anything other than publicly griping on Twitter and elsewhere.

That's more likely to do some good, rather than to do serious harm to our precarious Senate majority.

The hatred is so strong that it seems many do not care. For the sake of "purity" I've seen some horrible people (on the "Twitter'') who'd rather he NOT caucus with the Democrats. Presumably this is a way to "punish" the party for having a big-tent and not demanding purity.

It's all so silly. Anyone who wants to hand-over control to the GOP is someone who simply does not live in the real world.

[MineralMan]

45. Irrationality is one of the things that annoys me most.

Politics requires looking at things in a rational and realistic way. It's rarely a black or white thing. It's also rarely a single issue thing.

If progressivism was the majority point of view, we would not have an evenly divided Senate. The system we have is the system we have. Nothing happens unless that system functions, and there are so many "depends on" situations that we cannot insist on whatever "purity" we happen to hold dear.

That has never worked and will continue to fail to work.

[Hekate]

44. Why do you always spout common sense, MinMan? Anyone would think you wanted us to retain...

… our bare majority in the Senate and keep Moscow Mitch away from the Majority Leader’s slot.

[MineralMan]

47. I can't help myself. It's how my parents raised me, I guess.

[IronLionZion]

46. We need to elect more Dem Senators

so we don't have to scramble for every vote on important things like this.

[MineralMan]

48. Exactly. So, that's what we need to be working on,

it seems to me. We can do that, but it's going to require all of us to work together toward that goal. If we're fighting among ourselves over individual issues, we're not going to get what we want and need.

[Silent3]

52. Unfortunately the horse has to come before the cart, not after

What Manchin and others are doing is reducing the chances of electing more Democrats. If Biden's agenda flops because of Manchin, and Republican voter suppression remains unchallenged because of Manchin, we are much more likely to have Republican majorities in Congress in 2022 no matter how much GOTV effort we try to do to compensate.

And good luck with getting a Democratic president in 2024 with a Republican congress that will simply refuse to certify a Democratic winner.

[aocommunalpunch]

56. Too many folks are sheltered from having to take votes

so they get a clean rep. I think that's gaming the system and Manchin is top tier. He already doesn't have any consequences and even that's too much? Stop bending over for him and see if his hurt feelings cause him to become a Republican. If he does, I guess he was something else and if he doesn't, he gets to be seen as an adult that can handle criticism.