How is Manchin a Democrat?

[TheGoldcountry]

We could use a few more like him, to balance out with the very real RINO's.

Yes, anyone who doesn't lick McConnell's boots is a RINO.

Give me a ******* break.

 

[a_unique_person]

I have been a resident of West Virginia since 1976 and I really do not consider Manchin to be much of a Democrat.

However, he is still more of Democrat than our current Governor Jim Justice who originally ran as a Democrat against a Republican, then won the election, then changed his party affiliation to Republican after winning the election. And for a while, Justice was buddy-buddy with Trump.

When it comes to conservative Democrats, then one can find a significant number of them in West Virginia.

He switched parties after being elected governor. What a dick.

 

[Brainster]

I don't give a **** about West Virginia (in this context that is). I'm talking keeping our stupid unbalanced Senator system from doing more damage to the overall country.



Again West goddamn Virginia. Only 17% of the population identify as liberal. They voted for Trump at the highest margin of any state in the Union.

The fact that there is ANY Left Leaning person of any kind at any high elected office is insane. Anything less than two Klan members holding those two Senate seats is cause for celebration. One of those two Senate seats even being a moderate Republican would be a goddamn miracle. The fact that we have someone who's 50.0000001% Democratic should leave us in a state of constant orgasm.

Let's run a scenario. Manchin doesn't run in the next Senatorial Election for his seat.

What is the far, far, far, far, far more likely scenario?

Option A: A far right extremists gets that seat.
Option B: We get a full on actual party line liberal.

If you think Option B is even a remote possibility, go outside, find as much grass as you can, and touch all of it.

Or, more likely, the Democrats run a prog against him and he either switches parties or runs independent and wins easily. BTW, I am sure that the Democrats' other recalcitrant senator, Kyrsten Sinema appreciates being out of the limelight, but was she on board with the current deal? Or is the assumption that once they steamrolled Manchin she'd be forced to go along?

 

[Warp12]

You know that when Dems are squealing about WV, they are sweating bullets.

Hilarious.

 

[Stacyhs]

We could use a few more like him, to balance out with the very real RINO's.

Name some of these alleged RINOs. Before you do, anyone who had the courage to speak out against Trump and/or not support the Big Lie, but who votes a majority of the time with the GOP, does not qualify. That makes them sane, not a RINO.

You know that when Dems are squealing about WV, they are sweating bullets.

Hilarious.

You know when someone makes repeated posts demanding an opinion on a law not covering something that is non-existent, he is just sweating bullets in desperation. Hilarious.

 

[Tero]

Well, he is more Democrat than Trump or McConnell. That's about it.

 

[wareyin]

Manchin is a Democrat because he registered as such. That's it. Democrats aren't like Republicans, there aren't any ideological purity tests or requirements to blindly follow dear leader. It's why RINO is a term in use by politicos and the average public but DINO isn't.

 

[JoeMorgue]

And as noted Manchin votes with the Democrat Party Majority most of the time, he's just broken ranks on a few high profile issue, yes with very bad results in some cases, no arguments there.

It's not his fault the margin between sanity and insanity is so razor thin that one vote is such a big deal.

Again I need to be clear I don't like that guy, nobody has to @ me over this, and yeah he's getting off a little on the amount of out of balance influence he has because of the aforementioned razor thing margin, but at the end of the day he's just a not very Democrat Democrat. This isn't a super-complicated concept.

I don't get why in politics if you think All Bleens are Flarks the guy who thinks Bleens are Flarks 90% of the time gets more hate and vitriol than the guy who thinks no Bleens are Flarks.

 

[BobTheCoward]

Manchin is a Democrat because he registered as such. That's it. Democrats aren't like Republicans, there aren't any ideological purity tests or requirements to blindly follow dear leader. It's why RINO is a term in use by politicos and the average public but DINO isn't.

He is one of the most liberal Democrats to hold office. He has some positions to the left of the Obama presidency,, and has voted for things liberal Democrats have voted for that most elected Dems would have not.

Have people forgotten there have existed elected Democrats from before 5 minutes ago?

 

[Donal]

It's degrees, though. We can all agree this is a problem because the GQP have long given up even the pretense of good governance. That doesn't let Manchin off the hook.

And it's not just that Manchin and Sinema have blocked some high-profile legislation. Manchin has rejected proposals despite Biden and Schumer shaping them to give Manchin exactly what he asked for. He keeps moving the goal post. So it isn't even about him being a conservative.

Sinema won't even engage in a discussion about what she wants. She just blocks legislation and hides.

And what really annoys me is they are most likely just protecting other right-wing Democrats like Tester and Coons.

 

[Stacyhs]

It's degrees, though. We can all agree this is a problem because the GQP have long given up even the pretense of good governance. That doesn't let Manchin off the hook.

And it's not just that Manchin and Sinema have blocked some high-profile legislation. Manchin has rejected proposals despite Biden and Schumer shaping them to give Manchin exactly what he asked for. He keeps moving the goal post. So it isn't even about him being a conservative.

Sinema won't even engage in a discussion about what she wants. She just blocks legislation and hides.

And what really annoys me is they are most likely just protecting other right-wing Democrats like Tester and Coons.

Tester and Coons seem pretty much Dems to me:


Jon Tester votes with Biden 90% of the time.
Christopher Coons votes with Biden 100% of the time.


I think you mean they aren't 'progressives'.

 

[Upchurch]

It's degrees, though. We can all agree this is a problem because the GQP have long given up even the pretense of good governance. That doesn't let Manchin off the hook.

And it's not just that Manchin and Sinema have blocked some high-profile legislation. Manchin has rejected proposals despite Biden and Schumer shaping them to give Manchin exactly what he asked for. He keeps moving the goal post. So it isn't even about him being a conservative.

This. It's the Affordable Care Act negotiations all over again. Democrats bend over backwards to get buy-in from the other side of the aisle, make concessions, make the proposals weaker, and then the other side votes against it anyway. It's bad faith politics.

 

[Brainster]

And as noted Manchin votes with the Democrat Party Majority most of the time, he's just broken ranks on a few high profile issue, yes with very bad results in some cases, no arguments there.

It's not his fault the margin between sanity and insanity is so razor thin that one vote is such a big deal.

Again I need to be clear I don't like that guy, nobody has to @ me over this, and yeah he's getting off a little on the amount of out of balance influence he has because of the aforementioned razor thing margin, but at the end of the day he's just a not very Democrat Democrat. This isn't a super-complicated concept.

I don't get why in politics if you think All Bleens are Flarks the guy who thinks Bleens are Flarks 90% of the time gets more hate and vitriol than the guy who thinks no Bleens are Flarks.

"The only people we hate worse than the Romans are the ******* Judean People's Front."

 

[Beelzebuddy]

I don't get why in politics if you think All Bleens are Flarks the guy who thinks Bleens are Flarks 90% of the time gets more hate and vitriol than the guy who thinks no Bleens are Flarks.

The chilling effect on discussion. No one even dares bring up topics where they risk exposing disagreement, much less try to force the issue. That 10% is only when they're pretty sure he'll bleen with the rest and risk a vote but instead they get flarked anyway.

 

[Donal]

Tester and Coons seem pretty much Dems to me:


Jon Tester votes with Biden 90% of the time.
Christopher Coons votes with Biden 100% of the time.


I think you mean they aren't 'progressives'.

You're asserting Biden is not a conservative himself. Dude can't even reflect on the Crime Bill. And again, Coons and Tester are getting cover from Manchin and Sinema.

You're also overlooking that most votes are on procedural matters that until very recently, even opposing parties support the majority of the time.

You also didn't address where I pointed out Manchin and Sinema weren't dealing honestly based on principal.

 

[Stacyhs]

You're asserting Biden is not a conservative himself. Dude can't even reflect on the Crime Bill. And again, Coons and Tester are getting cover from Manchin and Sinema.

To a progressive, anything less is being 'conservative'. False premise.

You're also overlooking that most votes are on procedural matters that until very recently, even opposing parties support the majority of the time.

That doesn't change the fact that Tester and Coons overwhelmingly vote with Biden. To call them 'right wing Democrats' is, again, based on your opinon that anyone less than a far-left progressive is a 'conservative'. This is black and white thinking.

You also didn't address where I pointed out Manchin and Sinema weren't dealing honestly based on principal.[/QUOTE]

That's because I wasn't discussing Manchin or Sinema, but your claim that Tester and Coons are 'conservative' and 'right-wing Democrats'.

 

[Donal]

To a progressive, anything less is being 'conservative'. False premise.

I didn't say that. What I'm not doing is pretending a politician who helped push the 1994 Crime Bill and to this day defends it as well as opposing real health care reform, supports tax cuts for corporations and corporate-friendly trade deals, and keeps opening up lands for oil drilling is anything other than a conservative Democrat.

Can we agree that being a Democrat should go beyond checking a box on your driver's license application?

That's because I wasn't discussing Manchin or Sinema, but your claim that Tester and Coons are 'conservative' and 'right-wing Democrats'.

We're discussing protecting Manchin as a conservative Democrat. I simply brought up more conservative Democrats because I believe that even if the Dems added 2 or 3 more Senate seats, we'd see them suddenly sounding like Joe Manchin.

 

[theprestige]

I didn't say that. What I'm not doing is pretending a politician who helped push the 1994 Crime Bill and to this day defends it as well as opposing real health care reform, supports tax cuts for corporations and corporate-friendly trade deals, and keeps opening up lands for oil drilling is anything other than a conservative Democrat.

Can we agree that being a Democrat should go beyond checking a box on your driver's license application?

I can't speak to you and stacyhs, but I certainly don't agree. Political party membership in the US is essentially just that. Political party representation is nothing more than a bunch of other people with the same box checked, ratifying your checking of the box.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Manchin is a lobbyist.
His type exists in both parties.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

Manching is a lobbyist.
His type exists in both parties.

Not for the past decade.