Joe Manchin isn’t running for president
It’s not absolutely official yet, but there’s this:
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced Friday that he will not run for president, ending long-running speculation that he would mount a third-party bid.
“I will not be seeking a third-party run. I will not be involved in a presidential run,” Manchin said in remarks at West Virginia University.
“I will be involved in making sure that we secure a president that has the knowledge and has the passion and has the ability to bring this country together,” he said.
The West Virginia senator, one of the most moderate Democrats in the Senate, already announced that he would not seek another term for his Senate seat, but he had previously not ruled out running for president.
Is this good news or bad? Most pundits seem to think that a Manchin run would have hurt Biden more than Trump, so perhaps this helps Biden. But I’m not at all sure they are correct. Manchin was a wild card, and it’s possible he would have drawn votes equally from each candidate. I don’t pretend to know, but I doubt anyone else does, either.
But he’s out. Was he ever in?
When it doesn’t count, you can always count on Joe Manchin. He hoodwinked the voters of the nation’s reddest state by pretending to be a moderate–yet he somehow always provided the last vote when Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer needed it. Good riddance.
Chad King:
Very often, but not always. He blocked HR1, for example, and defended the filibuster.
Funny how Manchin ended his campaign, right after positing Mitt Romney as his running mate. I thought at the time, that there was nothing more Manchin could have done to discredit his own campaign than suggest Romney as a running mate.
He may have had the positions that “No Labels” wanted, but he wasn’t a very charismatic or telegenic guy. He’s not a cool, “with-it” guy who appeals to status-conscious Americans. He doesn’t give people who aren’t cool and don’t want to be much reason to vote for him either. He was a politician with local, rather than national appeal, and he sold out his local constituency.
So who does “No Lables” go with now? Maybe they’ll just pack it in and tell their followers to vote for Biden.
Boo-hoo, Joe.
So who does “No Lables” go with now?
Abraxas:
There has long been a hope for some “neither left nor right” alternative since the late 60s. But it always turned out to be the left with some secret sauce folded into the mix.
I want to believe!
huxley:
Well, Joe Lieberman’s only 81 years old.
Neo,
First, thank you for your blog. I don’t always agree with you, but I always respect your opinion and enjoy reading your perspective.
Second, Manchin stood with Krysten Sinema to protect the filibuster. But when he was alone blocking the infrastructure bill, he traded his vote for a promise to “reform permitting” (which of course never happened). If Sinema had been in favor of blowing up the filibuster, I very much doubt that Manchin would have stood alone. In any event, it’s a travesty that he represents WV–no Republican replacement would favor ending the filibuster. Sinema deserves far more credit.
And third, as long as I’m on the filibuster, I believe that the minute the Democrats have the votes, they’ll blow it up–and then proceed to finish their destruction of our country. In the event that the R’s manage to win the house, Senate, and White House, they should propose a constitutional amendment to codify the legislative filibuster and promise to blow up the filibuster in 180 days if the amendment isn’t ratified (it only took 100 days for the states to ratify the 26th Amendment giving children the right to vote). If the amendment isn’t adopted, the Republicans should end the filibuster and immediately pass legislation requiring paper ballots, same day voting, advance registration, government photo ID, and a thumb in the inkwell–kind of an HR1 with good ideas. Then get on with the business of fixing the problems caused by the Democrats since the “New Deal” and the “Great Society.”
The best of all worlds is to require a legislative filibuster to prevent radical change in the absence of consensus. The next best world is for the Republicans to have first mover advantage. And the end of America is for the Democrats to have first mover advantage. I hope the Rs smarten up in time to avoid #3. Coupling HR1 with illegal immigration and statehood for DC and PR will make for a permanent liberal government (at least until we become Greece or Argentina). But open and honest voting will end the Democrat’s run of “good luck” in elections.