How Joe Biden lost Joe Manchin -- and how he can win him back

[marmar]

How Joe Biden lost Joe Manchin — and how he can win him back
The huge comprehensive deal that Democrats wanted may be dead — but not all is lost

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 20, 2021 10:01AM


(Salon) Iexpect you're going to be reading an endless number of hand wringing analysis pieces over the next couple of days about the deeply disappointing decision by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to go on "Fox News Sunday" after the Senate had recessed for the holiday and announced his decision to destroy the Democratic agenda — making it even more probable that the Republicans will win in 2022. Merry Christmas.

Now it is understandable why podcaster Charlamagne tha God asked Vice President Kamala Harris the other day which Joe — Biden or Manchin — is the real president. Manchin is powerful enough that he has veto power over the entire legislative agenda and he's apparently decided to use it to kill Biden's Build Back Better Bill (BBB). As he said:

I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can't. I've tried everything humanly possible. I can't get there. This is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do.

Manchin went on to say that he believes the Biden administration should direct all of its attention to "the variant," although he didn't explain what exactly he thought they should be doing about it that they have been unable to because they were distracted by their legislative agenda. But then he's offered up dozens of different and conflicting reasons for his reluctance to support the bill during the entire process, stringing the White House along with vague impressions that he could be seduced, so this latest reasoning was no more convincing than any of them.

....(snip)....

If the Democrats and the White House decide to give that approach a go and pick just a few programs that Manchin and Sinema have both supported in the past it will no doubt result in some very hard feelings among the various constituencies that will be left out of this round of legislation. It's a bitter pill to swallow. But this negotiation has almost certainly clarified that having such a small majority makes it extremely difficult to pass anything, particularly when dealing with divas like Manchin and Sinema who are perfectly content to walk away.

To those who say that the Democrats should never have decoupled the infrastructure bill from the BBB bill because that would have been leverage over Manchin, I doubt it would have gone that way. Manchin would just as easily walked away from that as well, particularly since it wouldn't have been bipartisan which is something he actually does care about. ........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/12/20/how-joe-biden-lost-joe-manchin--and-how-he-can-win-him-back/

[BlueJac]

1. Let the asshole be KING for a day!

Screw Manchin

[Budi]

5. 👍

King for a day. He can go away now.

[onecaliberal]

2. I get that we have a small majority in the senate, we didn't have a small majority of voters that

Put them all in office. Completely fed up with the outsized weight of their votes and the decreased weight of democratic votes. It’s wrong, it’s unfair and it is destroying us.

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. If Schumer caves and kills most of the programs to fit Manchin's "10 years or nothing" demands

I predict the CPC will kill the revised bill when it returns to the house.

And justifiably so.

Something is better than nothing, but nothing is better than a Sophie’s Choice Shit Sandwich of Manchin lies.

[Budi]

4. Thanks Salon

"To those who say that the Democrats should never have decoupled the infrastructure bill from the BBB bill because that would have been leverage over Manchin, I doubt it would have gone that way. Manchin would just as easily walked away from that as well, particularly since it wouldn't have been bipartisan which is something he actually does care about. ."

[walkingman]

6. Nope - the whole "I care about it being bipartisan" is a lie. He cares

about his fossil fuel and pharma buddies.

[grumpyduck]

7. Biden didn't lose Manchin.

That PoS was never there to begin with. Don't blame it on Biden.

[Harker]

8. He should be visited by an apparition of Reagan in chains...

and subsequently be shown how his failure to stick with the Democratic party's plans will prevent his constituents from living better lives.