Manchin: Biden's coal comments are 'divorced from reality'

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By AAMER MADHANI

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday was criticized by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democratic antagonist and ally, for being “cavalier” and “divorced from reality” after vowing to shutter coal-fired power plants and rely more heavily on wind and solar energy in the future.

The powerful coal-state lawmaker said Biden’s words “ignore the severe economic pain” for people from higher energy prices and are why Americans “are losing trust” in Biden. Manchin’s stinging rebuke of his party’s leader comes at precarious time for Democrats on the final weekend of campaigning before Tuesday’s elections that could put Republicans back in power in Congress.

Biden raised Manchin’s ire with his reference to coal power during a speech Friday in Carlsbad, California, to spotlight his $280 billion plan to boost the semiconductor industry and scientific research.

“I was in Massachusetts about a month ago on the site of the largest old coal plant in America. Guess what? It cost them too much money,” Biden said. “No one is building new coal plants because they can’t rely on it, even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of their existence of the plant. So it’s going to become a wind generation,” Biden added. “We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar.”



FILE - Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., speaks during a news conference Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, at the Capitol in Washington. President Joe Biden on Saturday was criticized by Manchin for being “cavalier” and “divorced from reality” the day after vowing to shuttered coal fired electric plants and lean heavier on wind and solar energy in the future. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/biden-west-virginia-joe-manchin-joliet-congress-06dc975e7f7efd58465d32326d44acfe?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_05

[FBaggins]

8. He's setting himself up to switch parties?

He thinks we lose control of the Senate next week and the remaining democrats (no longer needing his vote) strike back for his lack of loyalty over the last two years... removing him from his chairmanship and/or other committee slots.

[global1]

12. I Believe He And Sinema Are Both Setting Themselves Up To Switch Parties.....

I think it's going to depend on how - after the election - the Senate numbers shake out.

I'm thinking that the Repugs have already cut a deal with these two - and that this is the Repugs ace in the hole.

[Traildogbob]

19. We need contracts

With politicians we back. If you switch parties after and while in office, you pay pack every dime spent to send you there. You could bet your ass Gabbert would have switched within months if she would have lied her way to a win. This type of crab may well be another tactic in the GQP arsenal, if eliminating elections does not happen soon enough for em.

[Evolve Dammit]

21. me too

[Fiendish Thingy]

35. They will switch only if they plan to retire in 2024

Neither of them could win a GOP primary.

[ColinC]

14. The odds either way do not favor Dems needing him for their majority

Whether they gain seats or lose seats.


So yeah, I think there’s a lot to your hypothesis.

[Traildogbob]

16. Eat coal asshole

A little black lung to match that black soul would not generate a thought or a prayer from me.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

2. It's Joe M, NOT Joe B, who's divorced from reality when it comes to coal.

[cilla4progress]

3. Exhibit A

for why we are self- immolating here on planet earth.

Wait - was this on 9/20??

[kysrsoze]

4. So says the head of a coal company.

I really hope we end up with 52+ Senate seats so he and Sinema can fuck right off.

[Srkdqltr]

5. Of course he says that.

[packman]

6. Hard to smell coal or suffer it's effects aboard his yacht

[hamsterjill]

20. Yeppers

He certainly doesn’t give a damn about the miners who worked to get him that yacht. Most of them are probably already dead or dying from the conditions of their work.

And some people on DU get pissed because I’ve called him an asshole! SMDH…

[Ray Bruns]

7. Hey Manchin, GFY.

[SergeStorms]

15. I second that motion.

I've heard just about all I care to hear from Mr. Coal.

[Gaugamela]

9. Manchin confuses money with reality, as COP27 gets underway in Egypt:

A ‘clear political will’ to reduce emissions must be the outcome, says UN chief

The UN chief said the 27th annual Conference of the 198 Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — better known as COP27 — "must be the place to rebuild trust and re-establish the ambition needed to avoid driving our planet over the climate cliff."

https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/11/04/cop27-a-clear-political-will-to-reduce-emissions-must-be-the-outcome-says-un-chief

[ruet]

10. Unforced Error.

Joe Manchin is a first rate dickhead but President Biden shouldn't have given him the ammunition a week before the election.

[SergeStorms]

17. It's not like Democrats are going to win....

in coal country West Virginia. Manchin is the only Democrat who can win there. He might wear a blue suit, but underneath he's nothing but red.

[Polybius]

29. Excellent point

Manchin has been relatively quiet the past few months. No need to wake him up days before the election.

[Paladin]

11. Hang it in your ear, coal baron. (nt)

[sakabatou]

13. Says the guy who's paid off by Big Coal

[SergeStorms]

18. And owns a coal mine.

And whose brain is soaked in coal tar.

[Botany]

22. Manchin is killing the people in Grant Town, WV and the planet with his dirty ass power ...

... plant there. It should should have been shut down years ago but the former carpet salesman has kept it
open in order to make millions for him and his family all the time dumping CO2, heavy metals, NO2, and
H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) into the atmosphere.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/27/climate/manchin-coal-climate-conflicts.html pay wall



The people who live around this plant live shorter lives, have COPD, asthma, and other illnesses.

[Midnight Writer]

23. Divorced from reality is believing burning fossil fuels is the best energy solution for the world.

[Lonestarblue]

24. The people of West Virginia would be far better off with investments in alternative energy

manufacturing. No black lung, no predatory coal companies damaging the very places miners live.

[harumph]

25. It is unclear to me when the comments were made. The AP article does not make it clear.

[Omaha Steve]

28. Today

"President Joe Biden on Saturday was criticized by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin"

[DashOneBravo]

33. Here

“Biden said that generating electricity from wind and solar energy is cheaper than generating it from coal and oil. He said people are not building new coal plants because they cannot rely on it.

“We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar,” he said.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3721230-manchin-slams-biden-for-disgusting-comments-about-shuttering-coal-plants/amp/

[Icanthinkformyself]

26. Three things to keep in mind

1. It's AP reporting, so they will slant everything to the right. It's what they do. The MSM has awakened to the fact that their narrative of a Republican take over is not coming to be. So they run stories of Democratic 'discontent' the weekend before the election in an effort to resurrect the dead horse, 'Common Wisdom'. It's an empty suit and the dead horse that the media is obsessed with beating. See also, polls, that are meaningless and are reported breathlessly, of the red toxic surge that's not happening.
2. It's Joe Manchin. He received his marching orders from the oligarch class and is expressing their contempt for the planet.
3. The voters are not going to be listening to Manchin. His comments will have no effect on the vote. AP is ginning up a controvesy that doesn't exist.
I'll add 4. Joe Manchin should STFU.

[Orrex]

27. If Manchin were a Democrat, we wouldn't be allowed to bash him

[Joinfortmill]

30. With all due respect to Mr. Manchin, he does have a vested interest in fossil fuels.

[AZLD4Candidate]

31. I don't know what to type to not bash this guy. I know he's supposed to be a Democrat

but I sincerely have nothing good to say about this guy and I don't want to be juried.

[SoBlueInFL]

39. I'll just agree with you and leave it at that. :)

[JohnSJ]

32. Can we just wait until after the midterms?

[Marcuse]

34. MAGA voter.

[discocrisco01]

36. Completely unneccessary

[Samrob]

37. Voters, please give us 2 additional Senators and Manchin is history! nt

[Javaman]

38. How do you convince someone of your position

When they are being paid to believe the opposite?

Manchin is a opportunist sociopath

[kimbutgar]

40. F Joe Manchin

He’s too much of a paid political whore to realize coal is a factor in the climate change disasters we are having.

[Martin68]

41. Fuck West Virginia Manchin, he's in the pocket of Big Coal.

[Archae]

42. Friend of mine from Maryland said this...

"There's stupid, and there's West Virginia stupid."

[LudwigPastorius]

43. Old King Coal still wants to be the Senate...

gadfly, to be courted and fawned over for his vote. However, it looks like he’s betting on the Democrats losing the Senate.

This attack on the president could be Manchin positioning himself to declare Independent-caucusing-with-Republicans. Or worse, just saying fuck it and switching parties entirely.

He wants to maintain his status as the Senate prom queen no matter what.

[SouthernDem4ever]

44. Republican don't give two shits about coal country

but they will pretend they do to obtain power.

[czarjak]

45. Joe's not divorced from his money.