The very fact that Joe Manchin took the lead in preserving the filibuster should be enough to keep Republicans giddy for the next two years and possibly well after. After all, if McConnell has 51 votes on January 3rd, 2023, how long do you believe that filibuster rule will last, an hour? Democrats know it’ll be gone, or they wouldn’t be fighting to rid themselves of it this term. Joe Manchin kept the Republican party from getting rolled by a president who wanted a New Deal for the 21st Century. That massive gift isn’t enough. The GOP requires total adherence.
As this site reported on Sunday, Manchin’s decision to back a reconciliation bill that he had earlier opposed gave Joe Biden a massive victory. The very fact that the bill will help West Virginians in the long run (as it will all Americans, especially those making under $400K annually) is of no concern. Republicans will sell it as selling out West Virginia, and they’ll do it with vicious anger.
According to Politico:
In a potential 2024 race, the West Virginia Democrat would face his state’s conservative voters for what Republicans are already hoping to turn into a referendum on Manchin’s party-line deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. His prospective reelection opponents are already hitting him for “betraying West Virginia and destroying our economy,” as Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) put it. And there’s a crowded GOP field brewing.
After playing such a critical role for the GOP, how dare Manchin be a Democrat for once!
“After holding the line against some of the terrible bills being pushed by President Biden and the left, Joe Manchin just changed course and let the dam break wide open,” said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who lost narrowly to Manchin in 2018 and could run again in 2024. “I respectfully ask Senator Manchin to change his position and vote no.”
Translation, after the blue dog Democrat acted like a fall-in-line Republican with respect to all that Democratic legislation, he is going to pay dearly for letting one get through.
Manchin himself is dismissing questions about 2024 at the moment — though by declining on Sunday to endorse a second term for Biden, he took a position that probably helps him in his state. As for the party-line deal with Schumer, Manchin said, “this is not about politics.” He’s repeatedly said the party-line energy, tax and health care bill is neither Republican nor Democratic, but instead “an American bill.”
There are many elements of the bill that Manchin absolutely can sell in West Virginia, a poor state where more money for healthcare is desperately needed, particularly for black lung that has ruined the lives of so many innocent, hard-working miners. Like most Democratic bills, the benefits are targeted to improve the daily lives of the poor to the middle class. But we all know that the GOP puts used car salesman to shame in selling an agenda as essentially the end of life as West Virginians know it. The bill is near solely about healthcare and clean energy (while preserving some of that “clean coal” that doesn’t exist), the Republicans will sell it as a bill requiring every classroom in West Virginia to have a trans teacher to teach a trans curriculum. The bill outlaws heterosexual marriage and every gun except 30-year-old double barrel 20 gauge quail guns.
Manchin has been the GOP’s best friend this term, but that means nothing to the GOP, and Manchin knows it. We all do appreciate that he agreed to this vote. It was vital, and that best be acknowledged by Democrats, or Manchin has no shot in 2024. Thank you, Senator. You made all the difference… on this one.
@JasonMiciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, and currently studies philosophy of science, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact for speaking engagements or any concerns.
