Stuff you didn't know about Manchin's agenda

Peter Zeihan has disappointed me on politics but his understanding of geo-politics is typically spot on.  Here he answers a question about what Joe Manchin's machinations have delivered to his state. It's an interesting take.

Vote these patsies (or liars) out in 2024.

Manchin, Tester and Kelly all need to be voted out of office in the Senate in 2024.  Here's Joe Manchin claiming buyer's remorse on the Bill he sponsored - the Inflation Reduction Act - because he isn't getting what he agreed to out of it.

Buyer's remorse? Here's the thing, he's either a liar trying to position himself as a stand-up guy for his own reelection effort, or he's a gullible patsy undeserving of the office. Either way, not good.  I'd say it would be good for him to move across the aisle and become a Republican, but do we really want him, or anyone of that caliber?  It's not worth it.  He needs to be voted out West Virginia, make him a former senator.  The same goes for the other two supposedly independent-leaning senators.  They are all socialist liars to their voters, or else patsies. 

Joe Manchin: duper gets duped

Joe Manchin has convinced voters he's not a typical Democrat even though he eventually cedes to Democrat positions on most everything - even the stuff he rails against.  Now he's complaining he was duped by Let's Go Brandon and the Democrats.  Joe Manchin is either a liar or an idiot.  We all knew this would happen, why didn't he?

Sinema is good news, but not the solution

Democrats like Senator Krysten Sinema who leave the Democratic party to sit as an independent are a sign of the problem, and a reaction to the problem but they are not necessarily part of the solution. The problem, is that the Democratic party has over decades and decades continued to tilt so far to the left that they are in many if not most ways, socialists.  They want to to overhaul the fundamental principles of America and in large part they have succeeded.  That's the main problem, the real problem.  It was always the direction but it has accelerated dramatically since 2008.  Unravelling their mess is the challenge of our lifetimes.  

Thankfully their ship has listed so far to the left it now has all the makings of a capsizing in progress.  That's great.  But it's also not.  There are a couple of problems with the death spiral of the socialist Democratic party when you notice the likes of Sinema abandoning ship.  It's an indicator that there's a problem for sure.  But firstly, it's just one person.  Jeff Van Drew switched parties in 2019/2020 and now Sinema has done so in 2022, oh and Tulsi Gabbard also left the party this year (but she also bowed out of politics as a candidate at least).  That's not exactly a wave of departures.   It's a trickle, much like the expected but not materialized Red Wave of the 2022 midterms.  A departure here and a departure there are clearly good signs, and they should be applauded for awakening from their 'woke' stupor. But the Blue ship socialism continues to ride the seas largely intact and unchanged.

Secondly, these individual moves may signal a larger, longer term trend but they could also be for individual gain - Van Drew may have seen the signs on the wall in his particular district.  Gabbard may have been sick of politics or seen the opportunity for more money in the private sector. Sinema may have been sick of harassment from within her own party for her reluctance to groupthink the nation's way into insane deficit spending in light of the inflation monster that is still raging.  I'm not disparaging the motives of any of these individuals, simply questioning if it is indeed a sign of a real rupture in the party or just people being personally practical.  We don't know with certainty.  Our confirmation bias leads us to believe they have seen the light.  We want that to be true but we don't know with certainty.

Is the demographic wide shift to the right started?  Has the left gone so far they have finally started alienating sane people who were still left-leaning? Hopefully.  But these small pieces of good news are not the solution.  Sinema has not declared if she will caucus as a Democrat or Republican or neither.  Joe Manchin is still a Democrat. Sinema has not lost any committee position so far.  There is evidence this is still all just a trickle rather than an unstoppable wave. 

What then is the solution?  Short of a mass exodus of representative Democrats to the Republican party, the most appealing scenario I can envisage is a significant splintering of formerly moderate Democrats breaking away to form a new party.  It would most certainly suck more votes away from Democrats than from Republicans in future elections. The split would ensure Republican hegemony for at least a decade. That would be a truly significant amount of time that is needed to undo the massive cultural and geopolitical damage Democrats have done to the country. It's what's needed.  It's possible it could happen.  What would make it a much more possible outcome is if disaffected but seemingly unmovable Joe Manchin were to follow suit with Sinema in the very near future.  It's the not the first but the second person to join a movement that actually starts the snowball effect. 

This, THIS is the solution in action.  We need another high profile Democrat or two to follow suit soon.  Whether it's a new independent party or new Republicans or even standalones, the tipping point depends on Democrats more than Republicans now.

Tim Pool discusses Sinema and Manchin

 Tim Pool's thoughts on the Sinema news:

Did that just happen?

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema registering as an Independent?

This doesn't make her suddenly pro-Republican, but at least there's a chance to avoid the 51-49 senate now, especially if Joe Manchin decides to follow suit. And the good news is that with high profile Democrats like Sinema and Tulsi Gabbard leaving the party, the fractures in the Democratic party from the speed rush leftward have finally begun to show in a highly visible and undeniable way.

Never forget

This bill is the catastrophically wrong idea at the wrong time.  Remember who agreed to it and made theis fiscally irresponsible monstrosity possible - Joe Manchin. Inflation is bad, it's not over and now they want to spend more money they don't have. It's gonna get worse, way worse. Thanks Joe Manchin.

Manchin must be replaced.

West Virginia, what are you doing with this guy? Stop re-electing him.  He's a Democrat, he doesn't have the interest of the people in mind. Stop supporting him!

Manchin vs. Schumer and Let's Go Brandon

Spend, spend, SPEND!!!! So say Democrats, excluding senator Joe Manchin.

Manchin's no hero for conservatives, but then again he is

Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia has been one of the stalwarts holding up the Let's Go Brandon "Build Back Better" debacle of a massive spending bill for months.  Conservatives should be thankful that he's standing on principle and not caving to the AOCs, Pelosis and Schumers of the Democratic party. In fact there has been talk of co-opting him into the Republican party.  Hold up conservatives, not so fast. He's not a sudden new hero for the future, he's just a hero for right now.  This is just a marriage of convenience.

The reason that Joe Manchin has surged on popularity with Republicans is not a result of some awakening or slow drift to the right on his part, but rather his view of his own West Virginia electoral base. True, Manchin has publicly claimed he is no liberal.  But that extends only as far as the fact that the liberal wing of the Democrat party has openly drifted so far left as to be an absurdity. Manchin is blocking the Let's Go Brandon agenda only because it's anti-coal. Manchin is pro-coal because his voters are pro-coal, in turn because his state is a coal state. That's just self-preservation. So standing on those principles is not a sudden conversion to common sense.  In fact, Manchin already has common sense; with regard to his own political positions and their impact on his electability. 

Take a look at his recent surge in voter approval within his state, it comes from carving out a position aligned with his state voters and not his Democratic colleagues. Manchin is to be fair, an old school Democrat and much further to the right than his party; he's generally pro-business, pro right to life and pro 2nd amendment. But if he were to switch parties he would not be a stalwart conservative Republican. As a reference point, the ACLU rated him 100% and the Republican Liberty Caucus rated him at 43%.  These are not ringing endorsements to conservative ears.

To be sure, we have common cause with Manchin at the moment, and we should support his efforts to withstand the onslaught from his fellow party members. But while to work with him where possible is a good idea, to embrace him would be a mistake. Remember, he voted with the Democrats to impeach president Trump on a bogus made-up scandal.  He has repeatedly voted against a repeal of Obamacare. Meanwhile West Virginia has shifted presidentially so far right since the 1990's as to be a potential senatorial pick up for Republicans in 2024. Minus Manchin, the state would almost certainly have elected a Republican to the senate seat long ago. 

In 2024, Manchin will be 77 by the time the election rolls around. It's not clear if he would run again but if he did he would likely win again.  At that point, it may be worthwhile making a deal, with Manchin - if it makes political sense to do so. If he doesn't run again, the senate seat by all rights will flip to Republican anyway.  A GOP candidate from the state is far more likely to support a patriot type agenda than Manchin would ever do. Ronald Reagan said that the person who agrees with you 80% of the time is a friend and ally, not a 20% traitor. That is not the situation with Manchin.  He's not a bad guy per se, but having perhaps 50% common cause with him does not make him an outright conservative ally.

Joe Manchin's In/Out 2-step

Joe Manchin, U.S. senator from West Virginia, reportedly is leaving the Democratic party.  Except apparently he's not.  If he did, it could shift the balance of power in the senate.  But at this point the speculation seems a little bit premature, as does the denial.

Are we done here, now?

The Senate just acquitted president Trump on both counts of the impeachment.  No surprise there. While that should put to rest the impeachment frenzy on the left, it won't. I can say this: even though we should be done with it, no, we are not done here.  The Left will keep coming back until 2024 trying to impeach president Trump.

Here are some senators to note - Mitt Romney, Kyrsten Sinema, Doug Jones and Joe Manchin all voted to impeach president Trump.  These members of the senate should be voted out.

Liberals abandoning Manchin maybe?

political winds follower.

West Virginia would be better served with a Republican senator.  If liberal voters do not turn out to support Manchin this November, that's a good thing.  The Tea Party has shot itself in the foot a few times, despite earnest intentions.  It seems the radical left have not learned from the mistakes of grassroots conservatives. In lieu of Manchin's Kavanaugh vote, the tide seems to be slowly turning.

...Manchin’s vote should call old party strategies into question. If the Democratic Party can’t count on its own senators for votes as morally pivotal as the Kavanaugh confirmation, its big tent might just be too big. Its tolerance for conservative members might not be as pragmatic as it appears, either. Since Trump took office in 2016, a number of Democrats to Manchin’s left have performed surprisingly well in so-called red states, winning some unexpected primary elections and polling well against Republican candidates.

...Manchin himself faced a primary challenge from the left. He won, decisively, but Paula Jean Swearengin’s final showing against the senator bears re-examination. For Swearengin, an environmental activist with no name recognition and no campaign budget to speak of, to earn 30 percent of the vote against Manchin, who has served as senator since 2010 and was governor before that, indicates that progressive opposition to the senator is hardly nonexistent. After all, this is the same state where Bernie Sanders handily trounced the more centrist Hillary Clinton in 2016’s Democratic primary.

Democrats are clearly stuck with Manchin for now. The senator’s reelection seems like a sure bet, and the same can’t be said for every progressive candidate running in 2018. The real question, though, isn’t whether the party should shun him today, but whether it should continue to settle for conservatives with uncertain loyalties — and the party arguably can’t answer that until it figures out what it wants to be. All its efforts to brand itself a party of the people, from the Better Deal platform to its emerging tolerance for left-wing policies like Medicare for All, look like pandering as long as it allows conservatives like Manchin into the fold.

The necessity of right-leaning, red-state Democrats might not be good strategy, but rather a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Tepid support at best, and only for now.  Senator Manchin, you're soon going to be no longer welcome in the Democratic party's continued march to the far left.  Jump ship.

As for you liberal voters - what she said, she's a New York liberal who clearly knows your state better than you. So stay home this fall and do her bidding.  That's the smart play

Midterms Matter: Can West Virginian's overlook Manchin's political machinations?

I'll admit this one one is a bit of a longshot, but even though Joe Manchin voted to approve Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, that has to be a calculated political move given that West Virginia is a red state, he's calculating that voters will re-approve him for another term in the senate.  But here's the deal - if he's going to vote with the Republicans then why isn't he one of them?  If he's a conservative why is he in a party that has no room for his sort of voice?  And why would West Virginians condone that when a more straightforward option is simply to elect a Republican candidate who more aligns to voter values?

Joe Manchin votes with Republicans 61% of the time.  That's not all that dependable. In fact if you look at his voting record, the Kavanaugh vote aside, it is in key votes where he is reliably liberal.  He's a stealth Democrat, a stealth liberal, being just conservative enough to sneak by voters' awareness.  While seemingly above partisanship, he is actually getting away with betraying West Virginia's voters while skating along on his personal likability. 

Short of Joe Manchin switching parties and actually standing up for conservative values when it really matters - as in immigration, tax reform for example - the choice is obvious.  His underdog opponent Patrick Morrissey deserves your consideration.

Patrick Morrisey is West Virginia’s first Republican Attorney General since 1933. Elected in 2012 and reelected in 2016, Morrisey is a conservative champion for Mountain State families and taxpayers. His conservative principles and record of standing up to President Obama is one reason why his colleagues named him national chair of the Republican Attorneys General Association.

Please support his efforts; volunteer, donate or at least check out his positions on his website.  And by all means - vote.

Thank you.

Manchin Machinations

West Virginia senator Joe Manchin seems to be onside with president Trump on the wall, and apparently he loved Ronald Reagan.  He's definitely more reasonable than your average Democrat politico. But he's still a Democrat, and his votes in the house are not representative of a Trump voting state. In 2018, as reasonable as he is, he's not a dependable vote on reforming Washington as a Trump leaning Republican would be.

Sorry Joe, you're a more reasonable guy than Chuck Schumer. You are on Fox News trying to look reasonable but you are still a Democrat and a lot of things you said in that interview are still dependably liberal. You have got to be voted out in 2018.

Manchin's deceit

Senator Joe Manchin's being disingenuous when he said president Trump had his support but blew it.  He's up for re-election in a red state (West Virginia) in 2018. 

Via Politico:

During the transition last year and several times since, Donald Trump repeatedly pushed Joe Manchin to switch parties and become a Republican, the West Virginia senator revealed in an interview for POLITICO’s Off Message podcast.

He said no—“I said, ‘You need more Democrats like me, you don’t need Republicans,’” Manchin explained.

So Trump asked Manchin to support repealing Obamacare, and then the Republican tax bill.

He said no to those, too.

Where's the proof Joe? All people have to look at are your own words and actions. You said you were onside for two different things, you rejected both. End of discussion.