“For a full year Democrats have tried to divine what Sen. Joe Manchin would say yes to, beginning with private huddles last fall at the White House to more recent Zooms with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY),” the Washington Post reports.
“They seem to have all made the same mistake: Hearing the nice tones that the West Virginia Democrat said in their private meetings, while dismissing his pessimistic comments in public as standard negotiating ploys.”
“Instead, Manchin is the odd politician whose public pronouncements, whether in brief Capitol hallway interviews or in detailed prepared statements, carry more weight than whatever he tells his colleagues in private.”
