Today Machin told FOX that he will not support the BBB.It was the great double-cross of the year after his alleged agreement with Biden with the framework and the cost. He has been playing us for suckers and fools long enough and he must still feel worried that he will not win reelection in his home state, West Virginia, that voted for Trump by a70% win. Manchin is continuously inventing new reasons why he stonewalled on each step of the way. Manchin is no profile in courage, but a coward who values remaining in the Senate above the interests of ordinary people in one of the poorest states in America.West Virginia Rankings and Facts | US News Best States
He isn't the first to have a conversion and a reversal recently. Mark Meadows is another who, after providing a treasure house of documents as Trump's chief of staff, suddenly reverse course and now to testifies to matters that were not even protected by any sort of immunity or, unlike a list of others party to the January 6 attempted coup, took the 5th, fearing they might be prosecuted for a crime. Is it something in the DC water or is the poison in the air of a Trump seeking his hateful revenge on those less than 100% loyal to him. White House lights up Manchin after he crushes Biden's megabill - POLITICO Since both Meadows and Manchin jammed their gear in reverse suddenly and unexpectedly, one wonders if the hand of Trump threatened either Meadows' future in politics or if he threatened to oppose Manchin's reeleciton in a states where 70 percent had voted for Trump. Stranger things have happened, but this is a believable conspiracy theory since this how Trump is maintaining control of the GOP up and down the ballot.
Manchin is continuously inventing new reasons for why he stonewalled on each step of the way. One argument was that it would add to the deficit. That ignores the fact that the deficit has been reduced by the Biden administration thanks to the kick his legislation gave to the economy in 2020 with the COVID recovery act.https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-budget-deficit-for-2021-declines-from-2020s-all-time-high-above-3-trillion-01634922141 Both his most recent excuse for torpedoing the BBB was about adding to inflation and dealing with Omicron are short-termers, arguments du jour, and speculative.. Some of these reasons are short-term. It may sound good now, but it may be old news in a few months. The Fed raises interest rates to cool inflation and Omicron works its way through the unvaccinated, who are mostly members of the GOP. Because Manchin saw the BBB as a negative to the economy, consider this: Goldman Sachs readjusted its economic forecast because of what Joe Manchin just did. Defeating the BBB will take a hit on the economy, not the other way around.https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/19/economy/goldman-sachs-joe-manchin-build-back-better/index.html
On FOX, Manchin reiterated his reasons that if he could not explain the bill to West Virginians, then he would stop supporting it. Manchin has done what he could to not explain the bill, blasting Bernie Sanders who attempted to bring the information to West Virginians. It is also an insult to the intelligence of West Virginians that they did not have the ability to grasp how the BBB would have made their lives better.
Underlying the real reasons for Machin's position are two I suspect: 1) he is aligned with West Virginia voters. https://wvmetronews.com/2021/11/16/manchins-poll-bump/, besides representing a Trump-voting state . 2) He loves big coal and hates environmental legislation. Found in his past campaign funding disclosures... big coal and anti-environment fossil fuel industry were heavy contributors.He has made millions for himself from coal, as well. Joe Manchin has made millions from coal. He's also at the center of the US energy policy debate as Democrats scramble for an agreement - CNNPolitics Biden appears unwilling to drop the environmental segments in the BBB to appease him.
West Virginians never have come to grips that the train has left the station, yearning for the return to a coal-based employment sector of yore, but the rest of the world is on that train and the real enemy of coal is natural gas, which is cheaper and less damaging to global warming. Coal has lost the race to natural gas, alternative energy, and \plant conversions to gas and alternatives are too expensive to change back now. . https://www.brookings.edu/blog/planetpolicy/2019/01/16/why-theres-no-bringing-coal-back/ The penalty for living their fantasies is to remain one of the poorest states in the Union, struggling forever near the bottom at whatever is an economic indicator of the ranking of the 50 states. I once had sympathy for those coal miners. Now, it is time for them to get an education to find another line of work like the rest of the south has done. No matter who is the next president, the reality of the marketplace disadvantage of coal will not change.
Democrats have been whining that without the BBB, they have nothing to run on in 2022. That is a silly and self-defeating argument. Of course, they have accomplishments to run on, just not all of the ones they had hoped for. Democrats have also argued that to save democracy, they need to show that government can work. That, too, is an argument that is a silly one, appealing to a few who put saving democracy as their top priority. Most voters are motivated by the old "what have you done for me or hurt me, lately. " That, too, can be turned against the GOP. It has become a political party that has no written public policy issue platform and instead relies on catering to the preservation and spreading of southern states' "cultural values" and/ or maintaining their donor base. They seem willing to do anything to stay in power by sabotaging the other party's ability to get much done that would have provided for the day-to-day needs of all but the rich. They are so far getting it both ways: sabotaging the Biden agenda and then claiming Democrats are failing, promoting anti-vaxxers and misinformation, and blaming the Democrats for failing to end COVID. In fact, going unvaccinated was the insignia of the most loyal Trump supporters. On the other hand, each component of the Biden agenda has polled popular. It is all good stuff and needed by large chunks of the constituency.
The truth is it was a stroke of luck and guts of local election officials sworn to their oath to support the constitution and the personal antics of a narcissistic incumbent that Democrats won the White House and the Senate The problem is, Democrats did not win enough seats to avoid being held hostage by one or two senators. That in itself is a good argument to be made to get more Democrats in the Senate. The infrastructure bill and the stimulus of the COVID recovery were no small accomplishments. Those were huge and effective. If there was any failure on the part of the Biden administration, it was their failure to crow about what they did and get credit for it. They did much in ten months and it looks like they were about to succeed with more.
Democrats need to put GOP candidates on the defensive and they can. The ending of those provisions of the COVID relief bill will be realized in early January when the nation will feel the results such as the end of the child tax credit provisions that lifted half the kids out of poverty. Instead of a positive campaign, Democrats can turn this into a dual campaign of positives and negative attack ads, and give the voters a good reason to vote against those who are not for the good of their constituents and their concerns.
All elections in non-presidential years are local, but there are some basic nationwide umbrella strategies that would work. Put the GOP on the defensive. The GOP has been given plenty of rope to hang themselves. The theme: the GOP does not care about you; because they voted against X (child tax credit; the infrastructure bill). Make them vote on the record against the BBB so there is no question of what they did, regardless of what reasons they give.. Force the GOP candidates to explain why they are not in favor of the child tax credit or lowering pharma bills or helping grandma stay at home, or making the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes or even improving their roads and bridges and access to the internet and drinkable water. Yes, Democrats, you have plenty to run on in every state. Just take off the kid gloves and do it.
Update: Jan.6, 2022 Biden took off his gloves and called Trump out a loser and the "stop the steal" lies. Why Joe Biden's intense Jan. 6 riot anniversary speech was stunning TV (usatoday.com)
From a previous posting (Nov. 25), the case for Biden's successes:
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