Manchin vows that he won't vote to kill filibuster 'under any condition'

[ecdab]

19. We're not going to have a progressive Senator from West Virginia any time soon.

I remember when Democrats clamored for Mark Pryor, Democratic Senator from Arkansas, and Mary Landrieu, Democratic Senator from Louisiana, to be removed because they were not sufficiently progressive. They both lost their seats in 2014. Pryor lost to Tom Cotton and Landrieu lost to Bill Cassidy. We didn't even bother to run a Democrat against Tom Cotton in 2020, that's how out of touch with Arkansas the Democrats have become inside of just 6 years because they let the perfect become the enemy of the good.

Great trade. Instead of having a vote that was about 65% reliable, we have votes that are 0% reliable. Instead of votes for a Democratic majority in the Senate we have votes for a Republican majority in the Senate.

These red states are not going to elect progressive Democrats during this chapter in history. West Virginia is not going to elect a progressive Democrat during this chapter in history.

Joe Manchin may not represent me or you well at all, but that's not his job. Given the state of play in West Virginia politics, we Democrats should feel extraordinarily lucky to have Joe Manchin voting to give the Democrats the Senate majority, as opposed to having another lunatic Republican Senator from West Virginia giving McConnell the Senate leadership.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It doesn't work out well in the end.