"The Democratic Party is filled with all types. One type is Joe Manchin" (updated)

[ProSense]

Last edited Fri Apr 20, 2012, 01:28 PM - Edit history (1)

Dems and Progressives

by Armando

The Democratic Party is filled with all types. One type is Joe Manchin:

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who has done more than any other Democrat up for reelection this year to distance himself from President Obama, said he does not know if he will vote for Obama or presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney in November.
“I’ll look at the options,” Manchin said this week. The last three years “have made it pretty rough” for his state, he said.

Manchin said his own vote will depend on how his constituents view the contest. “The people in West Virginia, they basically look at the candidates—whatever you’re running for, whether it be the president itself, or whatever—(they look at) the performance and the result that’s been attained,” Manchin said when asked how he will vote. “Right now in West Virginia, these first three and a half years haven’t been that good to West Virginia. So, then you look (at) what the options will be, who will be on the other end.”

Like every pol I can think of, Joe Manchin is worried about his own election and not anyone else's.

All things being equal, I hope Manchin wins reelection because the alternative is worse. But that's as far I as think about it. Joe Manchin is not someone who supports what I support. I'm not going to spend my time, energy and money on worrying about if Joe Manchin is reelected. For the issues I care about, Joe Manchin is not an ally. Heck, I'm not sure if he is a sure vote for an Obama Supreme Court nominee. I suppose he is a sure vote for a Democratic Senate leader. That's it.

But my point here is progressives should leave the Joe Manchins of the Democratic Party to their own devices. Let The Third Way fight for him. Let the DSCC fight for him. Joe Manchin does not fight for us. He can;t really expect we will fight for him.

- more -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/20/1084942/-Dems-and-Progressives

Why the hell does the Democratic Party have to settle for this asshole?

Updated to add:

Man On A Wire: Joe Manchin’s Two-Step Alienates Dems And Fails To Convince Republicans

Brian Beutler

Sen. Joe Manchin’s may think running for re-election as a Democrat while remaining uncommitted to President Obama will buy him cover with … somebody. But it’s not with Republicans.

“What a difference one Democratic Senator’s upcoming re-election and three years of failed economic policies by the Democrats makes,” emails Brian Walsh, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in a statement. “But no amount of election-year rhetoric from Senator Manchin will cause voters in West Virginia to forget that three years ago he unabashedly supported President Obama, while predicting great things for West Virginia under his Administration. Instead of trying to put distance between he and the President, Senator Manchin should be more focused on a simple, three word message to his constituents - ‘I am sorry.’”

Attached to Walsh’s email are exactly one dozen statements from then-Gov. Joe Manchin waxing enthusiastically about candidate Obama in 2008. In other words, any voters who might be moved by Manchin’s sudden skittishness will quickly be reminded that Manchin’s skepticism is something new. And because it’s new, his constituents, and members of the media, will ask him to explain: What changed? And the awkward, unvirtuous cycle will churn along.

Manchin’s staff didn’t respond to a request for comment.

This isn’t some rookie error. Manchin has been a politician for three decades, and has served in the Senate now for well over a year. And yet his tenure has been marked by what seem like reactionary, rather than strategic, attempts to distance himself from his party.

Yes, as a Democratic senator from a conservative state, he has to walk a political tightrope — for instance, he won Robert Byrd’s old seat in coal-rich West Virginia promising to take a rifle to Democrats’ cap and trade proposal to regulate carbon emissions. But unlike other, similarly constrained members who walk that rope like nimble acrobats, Manchin has tripped, stumbled and nearly fallen repeatedly.

- more -

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/04/joe-manchin-obama-romney.php

Good grief!

[butterfly77]

1. And..

Kent Conrad,Claire McCaskill,Testor,Casey,among others...last night I saw Paul Ryan praising Kent Conrad for all he does to give us the shaft..

[Enrique]

2. I could come up with a "list"

if it were my job to convince people that Manchin was great, I could use the list technique.

[ProSense]

3. Well,

"I could come up with a 'list' if it were my job to convince people that Manchin was great, I could use the list technique."

...do it. I'm sure you could, one similar to your Bush list, which was extremely pathetic.

[Enrique]

5. we wouldn't have Obamacare without Joe Manchin

so all those people whose lives were saved by Obamacare, they were saved by Joe Manchin as well. So if you don't like Manchin, I guess you want all those people to just die or something.

[ProSense]

6. We

"we wouldn't have Obamacare without Joe Manchin"

...would with anyone breathing with a D by their name. Anyone who won as a Democrat in WV would do. And you know what, had Byrd lived, he was a much better Democrat compared to Manchin. If a Republican had won, then a different strategy would have had to be employed, and reconciliation would still have had to be used. In that case, 55 votes would do.

"So if you don't like Manchin, I guess you want all those people to just die or something."

I supposed you think that's clever?

[Enrique]

11. same with any president with a D

your whole line of arguing in support of Obama is undercut by what you say here about Manchin.

[ProSense]

13. Oh please

"same with any president with a D your whole line of arguing in support of Obama is undercut by what you say here about Manchin."

Yeah, FDR = Clinton = Obama. By your logic and if he could win, Joe Manchin would be like every Democratic President.

Your argument in nonsensical. You're trying to make a sarcastic point and you're failing miserably.

[Enrique]

15. you can't reconcile calling Manchin an asshole

with everything you've argued about Obama. It is just a pose.

[ProSense]

17. Oh

"you can't reconcile calling Manchin an asshole with everything you've argued about Obama. It is just a pose."

...I can: Manchin is an asshole. Obama is not. Again, the point you're trying to make is silly.

[JNelson6563]

4. My guess is they had no one else?

See, herein lies the problem. We always hear of asshole candidates that nobody is happy with. It is hard to recruit good candidates for big races for lots of reasons.

So often local and state parties are not very strong. They often do not have the support system to encourage "good" candidates. As a potential candidate if there is no organization to speak of they know they will be out there on their own. If there is good organization it is more likely to encourage candidates.

But for some reason people seem to think candidates just magically materialize and then, when they get the kind of candidate that no grass roots organizing results in, the hue and cry is raised "How come we have such a shitty candidates?"

It is a thing to marvel at that so many "seasoned politicos" here sat DU seem mystified at the process of recruiting candidates. Yes, but just this morning I read that so very many DUers are involved in meaningful ways. mm hmm.

Julie

[FSogol]

8. Good point. n/t

[DCKit]

7. "...the performance and the result that’s been attained,”"

So, that's what low information voters look at. Who knew?

Joe Manchin represents the absolute worst of the (D) party, assuming, of course, that he is a Democrat.

[Capt. Obvious]

9. Will Manchin run ads of him firing a bullet through the Buffet rule legislation?

[FSogol]

10. According to wiki:

"The website Open Congress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus. According to the website, Manchin voted with the Democratic Party 83.3% of the time, which ranked 50 among the 51 Senate Democratic members in November 2011"

[ProSense]

14. Who was

"The website Open Congress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus. According to the website, Manchin voted with the Democratic Party 83.3% of the time, which ranked 50 among the 51 Senate Democratic members in November 2011"

...51, Ben Nelson?

[FSogol]

16. My parents retired from Northern VA down to the Shendandoah Valley.

In that area of Virginia, Democrats are outnumbered 8-1. While an occasional Democrat might win some local contest, any candidate that rises out of that system has to maintain a slight deviation from the mainstream Democratic party or they are finished. While I don't like Manchin, he is a product of that system. Until someone can bust that system, we have to get along with someone who agrees with us, 83% of the time.

[ProSense]

19. I understand that,

but the point is that he's likely not the best Democrat the state has to offer.

To that point, I agree with this comment: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002587573#post4

There simply isn't enough effort being made to cultivate better candidates, not by the Democratic Party or the grassroots organizations.

[MountainLaurel]

20. Manchin is in WEST Virginia

Not Virginia.

[FSogol]

21. It is called an example. They live 30 miles from WV.

[warrior1]

12. he needs a pink slip

[SidDithers]

18. Simply stated, an asshole Democrat is better than an asshole Republican...nt

Sid

[meow2u3]

22. A progressive Democrat can't get elected in statewide elections in West Virginia

just as a conservative Democrat couldn't get elected statewide in New York or California. It's the part of the country.

Why the hell does the Democratic Party have to settle for this asshole?

Would you rather have a conservative Democrat or a guanopsychotic repuke? At least you can reason with a Dem rightie.

[jsmirman]

23. You and others with this view in this thread

are probably correct.

But, wow, Joe Manchin is an asshole par excellence.

He sure is good at blowing with the wind and carefully tending to his power, though, considering how reviled he is in-state and that he continues to reign. That man is a snake.

[ProSense]

24. It's not working. n/t