The opinion you are about to read is not a very popular one when it comes to former Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), nor is it widely believed.
Manchin has always portrayed himself as a moderate, but when his chips were pushed in, the usually fell on the Democrats' side.
When he was railing about reconciliation and pushing back against then-President Joe Biden, I warned everyone that he would cave, and he did, but now he is telling the truth about the former commander in chief, ripping him for scenarios to which Manchin himself contributed.
Remember when Manchin was in office and he vowed that he would not support reconciliation to help Democrats ram through spending packages?
Yet, when push came to shove, Manchin was bought off by the Biden administration, and he did a major reversal on legislation that was packed with unnecessary spending.
The package included $369 billion in alleged climate spending and was touted as a way to reduce inflation, but it did nothing of the like.
After reversing his position, Manchin stated, “The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 addresses our nation’s energy and climate crisis by adopting commonsense solutions through strategic and historic investments that allow us to decarbonize while ensuring American energy is affordable, reliable, clean and secure.”
Late in his term, Manchin decided that he and the Democratic Party were no longer focused on the same mission, but again, you have to remember that everything he was calling out was related to legislation that he previously helped pass.
When Manchin announced that he was turning independent and would not be seeking re-election, he stated, “I came to a decision with a heavy heart that I think it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation.”
Manchin further stated that he would not be endorsing Biden for a second, but he further stated that it did not mean that he supported Donald Trump for president.
He stated, “I’m as concerned today as I was that President Trump has basically not acknowledged that the insurrection was real. They tried to overthrow a government. That was real.” That, as we all know, is a bit of an exaggeration, as our government itself was never in serious jeopardy.
My problem with Democrats these days is that they deny everything and only call out the wrongs our government has perpetrated after they leave office.
In this case, Manchin ripped Biden for writing big checks our country could not afford and also for Biden’s “very bad temper,” something about which I have written several times.
In his new book, Manchin writes, “I don’t say this lightly, but under the leadership of President [Barack] Obama and Majority Leader Harry Reid, and later President Biden and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrats have systematically tried to weaken the very guardrails that have protected our democracy for generations -- all in the name of advancing their agenda.” An agenda he supported!
This, sadly, is typical of what we see in today’s political world. Nobody is willing to put their name on the line when they are in office because it is always about the next election. Only after they leave office, when it is far too late to mean anything, do they come forward to tell the American people the truth. Manchin should not be rewarded for that now, as he had a unique opportunity to stop Biden, and he failed the American people.
