Why doesn't Joe Manchin just become a Republican?

Or die. Whichever.

He comes from a Dixiecrat family.

I’d rather he become a corpse...seriously.

Not everyone deserves to live.

He really pisses me off. The Republican fucker

Only Turtle makes me angrier.

Another lowlife who doesn’t deserve to live.

Because then Mitch McConnell would be Senate Majority Leader OP

It's West Virginia.

Unfortunately, the Dems need Manchin even though he's an asshole.

Better that he's openly a Republican. He can vote with the Democrats when he wants to. He ought to be expelled from the party so that e real Democrat can challenge him without a primary.

We need to double down in 2022 and make Manchin—whether he’s a Democrat or Republican—irrelevant. It’s that simple. He’s a Democrat from West Virginia. He’d be a fool to not use that clout. Let’s make him impotent in the next Senate session.

He's walking a tightrope in a heavily Republican state, and if we lose him we lose the ability to get judges and other things we want, so yes, while he may be infuriating and possibly costing us democracy in the US, he's necessary. We just need more Democrats so he and Sinema aren't controlling everything. Put pressure on him for sure, but we do NOT want McConnell back in charge of the Senate.

r10 either you are a Republican and want the Dems to lose the Senate, or you have no clue about the situation he's in.

r3 like you, for example.

[Quote] if we lose him we lose the ability to get judges and other things we want

My feeling on this is to stop the useless negotiations over the infrastructure bill, install as many federal judges into vacancies as possible, try to prod Breyer off the Supreme Court and then let Manchin go. If we continue on this charade of him stopping the Democratic party from accomplishing shit, then people will stay home and they will lose control of congress. If Manchin flips, then they can use it as an excuse for why they couldn't get shit done, which will motivate people to turn up to the polls in big numbers.

It's better than trying to reason with him on an infrastructure bill that will basically be the GOP wish list without a single one of their votes. It will be forced into passage via reconciliation anyway, it will be despised by the base and it will be seen by the reich as socialism, motivating them to show up in huge numbers to oppose Democrats for it. The Obamacare playbook has been done before. It's time to change tactics.

I'm with R1.

r14 He's not using the Obamacare playbook - Biden learned from the way the Republicans stalled and then didn't vote for the bills. There's a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we're not privvy to, but Biden has been pretty strong about getting his legislation passed thus far. He's also patient, and is allowing the pressure to build on Manchin. Koch Bros are running ads etc. in his state because they're concerned he is wavering.

Chuck him aside. He is a decoy. He’s sitting on a senate seat pretending to be a Democrat that we need for a real Democrat.

Guys, if we lose Manchin it's back to majority leader McConnell. West VA is heavily trump leaning, the voters there just like Manchin. Sinema's the real dolt in my eyes, elected by progressives and too out of touch and to see she's being played by Rs. Stuck in the vapid "both sides" mindset

"he votes with them most of the time anyway". Not true. Only an idiot would say that.

R18 = Manchin. Hello senator!

Throw Sinema out while we’re about it.

Get them off all committees.

He's taking money from the right and the Koch network to maintain the filibuster and support the Heritage Foundation and suppress the vote. He's a dirty greedy bastard. 79 percent of West Virginians support the voting rights bill-which the dirty old grifter cosponsored but now refuses to vote for and around over 65 percent of his constituents support the infrastructure bill which they desperately need. He is a dirty old man. He drives around in his Porsche and honks at the poor whites to get out of his rich ass way. His cut daughter doubled or was it tripled the cost of the epi pen and had her fat ass called in front of congress to answer for her greed. The whole Manchin gang are money grubbing whores/

Many people on here can’t seem to count to 50.

Joe Manchin is the best we can expect out of West Virginia.

Sinema is another matter - she could be improved on in AZ.

But neither of them “vote more with the GOP” than with the Democrats.

And both of them prevent Mitch McConnell from being majority leader. That’s a good thing.

[quote] He’s sitting on a senate seat pretending to be a Democrat that we need for a real Democrat.

Tell that to the voters of WV and see what kind of answer you receive.

Seriously—I think the people talking about throwing Manchin overboard must be disguised Republicans. Manchin has the Dems over a barrel if he chooses. Dems don’t have any good options right now. The time to make Manchin ineffective is in 2022. And yes, if he’s primaried and defeated,, we’ll only end up welcoming the mew Republican Senator from West Virginia.

^Hah “new” at r24.

It is Schumer's job to pull his caucus together. Toss Manchin the bone he needs and rip into McConnell. A bunch of Senate Democrats could handle the Majority leader job better than Schumer.

He likes his power. He likes being a swing vote.

Exactly r27. He’d been foolish not to take advantage of it.

[Quote] A bunch of Senate Democrats could handle the Majority leader job better than Schumer.

Amen. Both he and Pelosi are way past their sell by dates.

We have a pumped up Oval Office and cabinet, while the two houses are still led by these two tired deflating mannekins.

R26: Shut the hell up. The Anti-Schumer troll is getting quite tedious.

R31 Mattie

Amy Klobuchar would be a delightful Senate Majority leader.

No, she wouldnt

R32 Matilda

Stacey Abrams just endorsed Manchin's voting rights amendments.

R27 Tammy Duckworth could replace Schumer.

Amy Klobuchar would make a great president.

No, she wouldn't

Amy Klobuchar told me she is still having talks with Joe Manchin in an effort to cut a voting deal that will get 50 members of her caucus on board. “All is going well,” Klobuchar said. “He’s working in good faith” “We worked all weekend” and are continuing to have talks tonight

He's walking a thin line between being a Democrat senator in a right-wing state and not offending voters he relies on. But I think he's become power hungry and loves basically being in control.

Part of all this is also to lift his profile. If he can get this done his standing inside the democratic party will massively increase. It never made sense that he is blocking legislation that is popular with his voters, that even has bipartisan support.

Biden met with Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin in separate meetings on infrastructure.

Biden also talked to Manchin about the Dems’ push to overhaul voting and election laws ahead of tomorrow’s key procedural vote, WH official says. “The President expressed his sincere appreciation for Senator Manchin’s efforts to achieve reform,” the White House official said.

Stacey Abrams backs Manchin's voting rights compromise as Senate eyes vote

I’m confused—maybe someone can help explain the voting process. Don’t we need 60 votes in the Senate to pass the voting bill? Since it’s not a budgetary bill?

Joe Manchin does not vote with Republicans "most of the time".

If your idea of progress is handing the Senate back over to Mitch McConnell, I wouldn't be surprised. You sound like an AOC "Yasss Queen" anyway.

[quote]Amy Klobuchar told me she is still having talks with Joe Manchin in an effort to cut a voting deal that will get 50 members of her caucus on board. “All is going well,” Klobuchar said. “He’s working in good faith” “We worked all weekend” and are continuing to have talks tonight

Klobuchar knows how to get shit done in the Senate and get legislation passed. She should be far more effective as Majority Leader than Schumer.

Shut your gob OP. Dems need to control Senate. Without Manchin, we'd allow gobble neck Mitch to stop real progress and select another Supreme Court Justice.

r33 You watch too much TV. Klobuchar is good on TV. I'm sure the other senators know that she has the highest staff turnover in the senate, treats employees like shit, micromanages her office, and would be unpleasant to deal with normally, let alone with increased power.

OP: we’re talking about West Virginia ..Bro….they think Manchin is one of those Dixiecrats…..

[quote]I'm sure the other senators know that she has the highest staff turnover in the senate, treats employees like shit, micromanages her office, and would be unpleasant to deal with normally, let alone with increased power.

We need an unpleasant bitch on a power trip to deal with the Republicans and treat them like shit.

r51 You don't vote for someone to be your boss when she treats her current and former employees like shit. Lots of campaign consultants turned down work on her presidential race in 2020 because her reputation is so toxic. And this reputation didn't start in the senate.

Think of her kinda like John Edwards. Her behavior was so awful that they weren't going to let her be president and if her campaign had caught fire, it would have been extinguished immediately by the media. There may be a sexist double standard there but before Trump, its hard to think of someone who won the nomination fo either party while also being a constant bully and asshole with a staff that was regularly abused and terrorized.

Yes, i recognize Trump was president.

I would think he's afraid the voters in his district would not reelect him. They're obviously used to voting democrat. I think he's stuck and he knows it. But I say again, should the dems sufficiently increase their hold on Congress next year they need to clamp down on him or kick him out. If he doesn't want to be a republican he can be an independent. But he needs to suffer if he's going to continue being a hindrance to the progressive agenda.

During the debates, Amy's attacks on Pete Buttigieg were delivered with anger. It was evident in her facial expressions and tone. It is normal, even expected, to be critical with political opponents on issues and the comparable differences. However, letting a vicious demeanor to be exhibited, confirmed certain observations and rumors.

I don't know much about him but I guess he is a democrat in beliefs but knows that if he votes that way he'll lose his seat in post-Trump West Virginia.

You people saying that Manchin needs to be primaried by a Democrat in his hick state of WVa are clueless. Look into the stats on that state. He's the last Dem we'll be getting from those Trump lovers for several generations.

We need to work on gaining additional Democratic seats in states not living in the Dark Ages instead, so this shithead can go back to his dirtbag existence of irrelevance.

R49 also believes Hillary kills little children.

[quote]I would think he's afraid the voters in his district would not reelect him.

That's ridiculous voting rights bills have bipartisan support among voters.

[quote]During the debates, Amy's attacks on Pete Buttigieg were delivered with anger. It was evident in her facial expressions and tone. It is normal, even expected, to be critical with political opponents on issues and the comparable differences. However, letting a vicious demeanor to be exhibited, confirmed certain observations and rumors.

We know all the rumors and know they’re true. I don’t have any problem with her hurling a stapler at that bitch Sinema’s head.

r57 You are a genuine idiot. To paraphrase the big lebowski, you're like a child who has wandered into the room in the middle of an adult conversation...

There is nothing wrong with not understanding politics. Or being aware of the histories of some of the players involved. But when someone takes the time to explain to you exactly what the reality of a situation is and the best thing you can do is insult them, then you may indeed be a genuine fucking moron.

Instead of blindly sending an insult in response to this, why don't you take 3, 5, maybe 10 minutes to using that amazing machine at your fingertips and read about what a terrible bitch Klobuchar is to her staff. How some of the awful behaviors on VEEP were based on her. How her lack of self esteem turns her into a monster resulting in frequent firings and employees who leave, so much so that she has the highest turnover in a pool of 100 ego maniacal monsters (the senate). How the A-list consultants turned down working for her Presidential campaign because they knew she was a nightmare and they didn't need the money that badly. Because for all the insults i've flung here at you and her, all of those are facts. And it's not some weird coincidence or result of sexism, there are dozens of former staffers who have gone on the record to discuss WHY she holds that distinction and just how awful she can be to work for. For the most part, I could care less that she behaves like that, it doesn't effect the senate or public policy, but then to go a step farther and suggest that she could ever get elected as Majority Leader, which requires only the votes of her colleagues, that is idiocy.

[quote]And it's not some weird coincidence or result of sexism, there are dozens of former staffers who have gone on the record to discuss WHY she holds that distinction and just how awful she can be to work for.

It's totally sexism R60 and idiots like you are falling again for the crap the press is throwing at women. They did it with Hillary too.

More than 60 of her staff members wrote an open letter to the NYT saying these smears against Klobuchar were completely untrue.

West Virginia still has fundamentalist snake handlers. The state is not a bastion of eastern establishment liberalism. It is better to have Joe Manson who knows how to reason with a significant portion of these people. The alternatives that are electable are worse.

^Joe Manchin (correction)

Not all Dems are liberal, some are moderate and some are conservative. If you want to insist that every Dem be conservative, you end up sounding like the GOP who refuse to accept Liz Cheney.