Be sure to check out the latest entry in my North Country series over at Glibertarians!
Now then: Joe Manchin. an old Democrat, is greeted pretty warmly back home in deep-red West Virginia. Why? Because he’s more in the mainstream than his detractors on the Left, by a wide margin. Read on:
If you listen to Democrats, they want people to think that Americans are on their side on the issue, and they think — somehow — they can do Manchin in with his constituents.
But the bottom line is the truth of how Joe Manchin was greeted back in West Virginia.
What it says is where most of America is at — and that’s not with the progressives to do away with the rules and impose huge, obnoxious spending packages.
Now, it’s hard to hear exactly what Manchin is saying, but the point is how he’s cheered at the end.
As our friends at Hot Air note, 72 percent of West Virginians support Manchin blocking the Build Back Better bill. It’s a red state, and Republicans control both the House and the Senate, so they’re definitely supportive of what Manchin has done. He might be the only Democrat who could win that office in that state. So, Democrats have the choice between Manchin or a Republican because that’s the reality.
Imagine that – a politician, an elected official, actually carrying out the wishes of his constituents.
Frankly, even given his popularity now in the face of some of the overt madness of the progressive left, it’s rather amazing Joe Manchin has hung on this long. Some of the more nutcase Democrats are making noises about a primary challenge from the left, which would survive in deeply conservative West Virginia about as long as a fart in a hurricane. What’s mildly amazing is that Joe hasn’t been knocked off yet by, you know, an actual Republican.
But West Virginians keep voting for him, and that’s a sign in itself. West Virginian are obviously happy with how Joe Manchin represents them and that is, after all, how the Republic is supposed to work.
Clinton creature James Carville had this to say about it:
Look, I’m a liberal Democrat. Always have been. But some of these people bitching about Manchin can’t see political reality straight. Six percent of adults in this country identify as “progressive.” Only 11 or 12 percent of Democrats identify as progressive. So let’s just meet in the middle and say something like 7 or 8 percent of the country agrees with the progressive left. This ain’t a goddamn debate anymore. Someone like Manchin is closer to the mainstream than a lot of these people think and pretending like he isn’t won’t help the cause.
He’s right. Still a bit of a whack job, but in this case, he’s right. He gets it, the people of West Virginia get it, and apparently the only people who don’t are the proggie Left and the folks who live and work in the Imperial Mansion.
