It’s strictly politics, Sonny
Joe Manchin, like Fredo’s younger brother, was proving tough in the negotiations over the $3.5 Trillion spending blowout. You can’t talk reason with the man!
So Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont, fired an op ed into Manchin’s hometown newspaper accusing the West Virginia Democrat of being the property of greedy corporate plutocrats. In his HOME! Where his wife sleeps! Where their children play with their toys!
Most people would say if you are trying to persuade someone to vote on your side you don’t trash talk them. But Bernie, like all progressives, would rather threaten than persuade. The self-righteous Woke are, after all, commissars of the cancel culture.
“Bernie Sanders shows Democrats how to deal with Joe Manchin,” John Nichols boasts via the pages of The Nation. It’s the Frankie Five Angels approach. “Let’s hit him now while we got the muscle.”
(We do believe John’s sycophancy is sincere. Our old comrade is too ethical to serve on the Vermont socialist’s paid PR staff. Instead, he gives it away for free.)
Quick, more free stuff!
“Manchin couldn’t handle the truth,” Nichols scolds. Colonel Nathan Jessup could not have said it better. But we see Manchin is still standing.
The longterm strategy of progressives is to push more “Free Stuff” (won’t cost you a dime) to make everyone dependent on Big Gummint. By doubling down on the New Deal and the Great Society, Democrats finally are going to “lift children out of poverty,” Nichols promises. (Even Strachi promised to keep it out of the schools. “I don’t want it sold to children! That’s an infamia.”)
→ Socialists actually believe that robbing Peter takes Pauline out of poverty.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Nichols tiptoes past the inconvenient truth that Bernie Sanders chairs the Senate budget committee for one reason. Coming out of a state that Donald Trump won by 39 points, that reason’s name is Joe Manchin.
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
How old is old Bernie? Unless he’s more persuasive as a Senator, he may be unable to conclude the deal for the RBG reason. And then the MSM would hail him as a great statesman, though not a great legislator.
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Bernie is a crazy old Socialist who would tax clouds if he could.
Age-wise he is on par with Pelosi and Biden although I’m willing to bet he does not have the cognitive damage they do.
The three of them could make a “so bad it’s good” reboot of Grumpy Old Men.
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“Most people would say if you are trying to persuade someone to vote on your side you don’t trash talk them.” Quite right, Davedawg, but Lefties haven’t learned that little lesson.
This was self-evident. When Schumer recently went off on a partisan political attack on the Senate floor, Manchin shook his head in disgust and said, “This is effing crazy. Civility is dead.”
I like Manchin, but I don’t trust him.
He’s still a Democrat.
However, he did say, “Defund the police? Defund, my butt. I’m a proud West Virginia Democrat.
We are the party of working men and women. We want to protect Americans’ jobs and healthcare.
We do not have some crazy socialist agenda, and we do not believe in defunding the police.”
Comrade Nichols is proglobotically perturbed that Bernie sold out to Hillary to take home another lake home. Reagan said, “Politics resembles the oldest profession.” He was right.
We know what these proggy politicians are. Now, we’re just negotiating the price.
In retrospect, … like a two-bit hooker, … Bernie sold out cheap.
Jon Nichols is disappointed because Bernie didn’t go the distance and become president.
Those free money trees he promised to plant would proglobotically be bearing fruit by now.
Voofda!
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Watch Manchin leave the Party.
Sinema may not be far behind him.
One or both could declare themselves as independent. And it only takes one to team up with the GOP to torpedo the Dems in advance of a midterm election that could swing both chambers to the GOP anyway and basically badly wound Biden’s presidency.
Sleepy Creepy Joe is fast on his way to the Carter Zone of presidential disasters. The rest us will suffer economically for years, unfortunately.
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Manchin’s problem is his constant trying to thread the needle between being a Dem on paper and taking money from the same people who were doing fund raises for trump. That’s why no one trusts him on either side.
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Richard, AKA: May-I-Calls-Ya-Dick, ya might finally be onto sumthin’ here… However, “threadin’ a needle” vs. bi-partisanship is the same thing and is worthy of applause. You seem to denigrate anything remotely/possibly positive.
Jes’ sayin’ but Hallowe’en’s comin’ up -Are ya gonna wear the “wienie-wagger” outfit again? You know the one -Green moldy doughnut wrapped around a 1-1/2 inch appendage.
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