And he’s chosen to make it far more likely that a Republican will have his seat. Fuck him.
You’re right that he kept the Senate blue these last few years, and that’s why I had no ill will for him and defended him. But now? He’s not only throwing that away, but considering to run third party with a bunch of enlightened centrists against Biden.
I mean, if people under 40 voted at the same rate that people over 40 did, Dems would have a super majority and be able to amend all sorts of stuff in the constitution…
If they vote for a republican then so be it. Better than a Republican in Dem’s clothes. Besides, maybe when people have an option that is better than “shitty fake dem” versus fascist, maybe they’ll surprise you.
You are assuming that a good democratic candidate wouldn’t win. Maybe a good democratic candidate never ran because they didn’t want to split the vote.
What’s the difference? Joe Manchin still held up legislation, and threw tantrums when he didn’t get his way. Not everybody votes Democrat just because there’s a D next to the name. Hell, if we got rid of first past the post, I’d never vote for a Democrat again. Wouldn’t vote Republican either, just to be clear.
The difference is being able to confirm judicial appointments. We have Gorsuch on the SC because the Republicans had a majority in the Senate and wouldn’t confirm Obama’s appointment.
Manchin is a coal dust covered piece of shit, but he’s the least shitty senator WV will probably ever send to the Senate. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress not going backwards.
Yes. Which is one of the many reasons why he’s a piece of shit.
The point I was making is that not having a Democratic majority in the Senate allows the Republicans to pull stupid shit like not confirming appointments, not letting any bills be voted on, and by letting a turtle run the Senate. When we lose Manchin, we’ll be in a situation where the Republicans could prevent any judicial confirmations from happening, assuming they pick up 2 seats.
Yet a lot of legislation still passed. Inflation reduction act, while imperfect is still the most significant climate change legislation America has produced. I cannot imagine a Republican senator would do that.
Biden’s confirmed a boatload of judges with Manchin’s help (the importance of confirming judges should be obvious at this point.)
Was it ideal? Nope. Was it better than having 50 Republican senators? Yes oh God yes.
Sooooo, what blackmail do they have on him and/or is he trying to run for prez and pull votes from biden? There’s no way he can win, so he’s up to something.
Well, this sucks. Yes, he was an obstructionist asshole and many of his votes were real howlers, but without him, Biden wouldn’t have had ANY majority in the Senate during his first two years.
Given how wretched the Senate map is for Dems, I’m extremely pessimistic about them holding the Senate in 2024. None of the GOP seats look flippable, and the Dems now have to hold every battleground state (Montana, Ohio, etc.).
They can still keep control. But with the loss of West Virginia, they have to win re-election for: Tester in Montana, Brown in Ohio, Casey in Pennsylvania, and keep Sinema’s seat in Arizona and the retiring Stabenow’s seat in Michigan.
Horrible senator. Best we’d ever get out of West Virginia though. This only lowers the oddds dems can retain majority leader going forward by quite a bit.
So, who’s the next senator to perfectly represent every last centrist in the country by blocking things Democrats ran on but never had any intention of implementing?
Don’t pretend that there isn’t a line of them just itching to be the next Perfect Centrist.
Our coal baron governor is the likely replacement. I don’t know who else has announced they’re running yet, but all signs point to JJ getting elected into Manchin’s seat.
I suspect he and Sinema are the tip of the iceberg. There’s a few other corporate ball coddlers in there that were happy to have Manchin and Sinema the the heat that they otherwise might have to take.
In addition to the two centrists you mentioned, six members of the Democratic caucus voted to keep the federal minimum wage at 7.25 an hour (2.13 an hour tipped). If we’re talking candidates for the next rotating villain, I wouldn’t bet against any of those.
Manchin is leaving because he knows he can’t win. Moving to the right has failed as a strategy. There is no farther right for the party to go than Manchin. Trying to find an even bigger sellout than Manchin is a fool’s errand.
A centrist definitely won’t win. The rightmost Democrat in the Senate just admitted he’s unelectable. May as well run a progressive. We just saw a progressive win a statewide race in vermilion Kentucky.
That said, I agree with you that we should run a progressive. Someone like Manchin had an incredibly slim chance. A progressive has a larger chance of pulling off a win I think.
This means that the West Virginia Senate seat will likely go to a Republican in 2024. And this announcement will raise questions about whether Manchin will run for president as an independent.
There’s a dog I know, like all good bois this dog loves absolutely everybody. Doesn’t matter who you are, this dog has nothing but unconditional love for you. I was sitting around, petting this wonderful dog when Joe Manchin came on the television. This dog stopped the belly rubs, sat up straight and looked me in the eye and said “maaaan that guy’s a motherfucker.”
Of course I was shocked, you can talk?? I asked.
This dog just tilted his head and asked for more belly rubs.
Add comment