I was going to not write about Joe Manchin again today, but then Joe Manchin got on Fox News Sunday today and announced he could not vote for the Build Back Better bill. Just couldn’t do it. He tried and tried to get himself to a place where he could vote for it, but he never arrived. So that’s that.
Politico is reporting that less than 30 minutes before his television appearance, Manchin sent an aide to inform the White House of what he was about to announce. WH staff tried to get him on the phone before the interview, but he wouldn’t take the call.
Jen Psaki then delivered a statement on Manchin that called Manchin a liar and a traitor without using those exact words. She did call Manchin’s announcement “a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.” She laid out all the ways that Manchin’s excuses for not supporting the bill were total bullshit. Do read it.
In June we learned that Manchin more or less takes orders from No Labels, a “third way” sort of organization whose members include many billionaires — capital management, equity firms, hedge funds, etc. Even though he got “caught on tape,” so to speak, no one in mainstream media has been willing to call him out on this, I have noticed.
I thought there might still be hope for Build Back Better, in some greatly reduced form, but Joe Manchin just stabbed the president and every swing-district Democrat in the back, as well as every person who would have benefited from the bill, because the people who own him want to keep ordinary people’s grubby hands off what they consider their money and want Democrats to lose every election, and Manchin wants whatever they want.
It’s well known that Manchin makes money from fossil fuel investments, which puts him off any provisions in the bill meant to develop new energy sources. But if that were all that bothered him he wouldn’t be against all the rest of it. Which he is. I’m guessing his donors ordered him to pull the plug this weekend. Maybe right before Christmas fewer people would notice.
Up until now I have suspected there has been an agreement among congressional Democrats to not speak ill of Joe Manchin in public no matter how much he was pissing people off. I suspect that agreement just got nullified.
“Today, Senator Manchin has betrayed his commitment not only to the President and Democrats in Congress but most importantly, to the American people,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, whose left-leaning bloc, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, advocated fiercely for the bill.
“He routinely touts that he is a man of his word, but he can no longer say that,” she said. “West Virginians, and the country, see clearly who he is.”
Independent Bernie Sanders tweeted:
If Joe Manchin does not have the guts to stand up to the powerful special interests, he’s going to have to explain that to the people of West Virginia who are hurting and hurting badly. pic.twitter.com/U5OeNlk6ea
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 19, 2021
Bernie hadn’t really been holding back on criticizing Manchin in public before today, of course. Bernie caucuses with the Democrats but isn’t exactly one of them.
At Slate, Jim Newell writes that maybe something can be salvaged if Democrats just hand Manchin a pen and tell him to write the bill he would vote for. But this is a disaster, for President Biden, for the Democratic Party, for the nation, and for a world facing climate change.
"Traitor Joe" ManBUTT (Or Manchin, if you must. I don't must!).
He's lower than a snake's balls.
No.
Even more low down.
"Traitor Joe" is lower than amoeba poop in the Marianas Trench!
But really, is anyone surprised?
I'm not.
The second the more liberal/progressive wing of the Democratic party allowed the "Moderates" to split the conjoined infrastructure/BBB bills and handed over the infrastructure hostage, I smelled a rat.
A WV rat. Or an AZ rat. Or both. Maybe other rats around, too.
And I'm sure I wasn't the only one who saw possible double-dealers in those two DINO's.
And this is why we can't have nice things.
If humanity survives,I hope the names Manchin and sENEMA are remembered as notorious traitors on the level of Arnold, Davis, Lee, etc…
When the Republicans hold a fundraiser for a "Democrat" as they did for Manchin a couple months back, the handwriting is on the wall. He was never satisfied and now has just globalized his objections into a sort of perfect world as the only possible condition under which he could ever maybe possibly perhaps slightly vote for BBB. Why do the WVA folks elect him? They're poor as hell, live in post-industrial environmental waste and have not advanced themselves well. I mean, here in NC plain old bigotry explains a lot. But we are better off than WVA, and still have R senators, so I suppose they have their reasons.
The Manchinian Candidate? Why would he announce the sinking of Biden's agenda on Fox news?
They should proceed with the vote for BBB rather than letting it just die on the vine. Let those who oppose it own their opposition on the record. If its going down its going down, but at least some political fodder can be salvaged. There are a lot of hurting people out there who could use some help.
I often find myself thinking what it must like for those starting out in today's economy. And it's a scary thought! I just don't get it…is it a case of, I got mine, so fuck you?
Joe Manchin uses his mouth to create a partial vacuum on his wealthy funders and Repub overlords, but just screws over the American people.
Can nothing be done?
Dems just can't give up.
When the Japanese flew planes into the world trade center did we just give up? No we did something. I forgot what since I was reading out of a West Virginia high school history book.
Coal in all our stockings. No, Joe Manchin would love that.
Just. Cannot. Leave. It. Like. This.
Of course he announced it on Fox "News… A) On Fox this news would be gladly received by the anchors, and B) That's where he could be sure his donors would see it.
Whatever it costs the two senators from Wall St must be primaries.
This will cost us Manchins seat. AZ probably not.But the depth of their betrayal can not be ignored.
The best thing I ever did for my mental health was stop expecting anything of the Democrats after 2009. Vote for them if you like (there's no harm in it), but no one should be giving them free labor or money. There will always be a Manchin or a Ben Nelson or a Joe Lieberman.
And do what instead of supporting Democratic candidates with the right priorities? If you have nothing more constructive than, "There will always be a Manchin or a Ben Nelson or a Joe Lieberman." please, just STFU. Some of us are trying to overcome the dead weight of defeatisits.
It is always darkest before the dawn. Tis the eve of the solstice which happens tomorrow at 10.59 EST. We in this hemisphere will have the day of the year with the most darkness. It is marked on my calendar as both a Pagan and a Wiccan holiday. It is only a point in the orbit of our earth around our sun, as we know today, but quite the cultural enlightenment in its day.
The powers of darkness have invaded our country's politics. Tomorrow the darkness cycle will, in all probability, continue. The elite will continue to have excess and the rest of us will continue to be reminded that we do not count very much. We will bear the brunt of the country's problems while the elite will revel in its bounty. It is the way of unbridled capitalism.
The climate change induced calamities will continue also unabated. Our state senators have been quick to beg for welfare for those effected by the plagues of wind and fire that descended on Bob Dole country of late. How long will we give subsidy to their denial and obstructionism? How do we continue to bail them out when those with darker skin tones and smaller carbon footprints get thrown rolls of paper towels? The elite of Egypt ignored the plagues as warnings of their excess but that cycle eventually ended and their empire fell to ruin. The welfare we need is real concern for the welfare of our planet. It is the only welfare that benefits all of humanity. Only when we see enlightenment here will we have a much-needed solstice, hope for a brighter tomorrow, and a reason to celebrate.
Updated headline from your 17 Dec blog:
The Trumps: Too Much Corruption to Count
to:
Joe Manchin: Too Much Corruption to Count