J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on his way to a caucus lunch at the Capitol, December 17, 2021
It’s time for Democrats and the media to stop bashing Joe Manchin and to start bashing the other 50 members of the U.S. Senate who are keeping the public’s business from getting done—the Republicans. Especially bash-worthy are three world-class phonies named Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, and Lisa Murkowski.
These alleged moderates vote in lockstep with Mitch McConnell and the Trumpers. Once, Collins actually was sort of moderate. She is said to be worried that if she breaks with the MAGA gang, she would likely be defeated in a primary. But in independent Maine, Collins would win in a walk running as an independent.
Murkowski might do better in Alaska as an independent in a three-way contest, as well. Romney, who was a centrist Republican when he was governor of Massachusetts, will have to look to his own conscience as an enabler of outright fascism.
Manchin is at least good for half a loaf. These Republicans are good for nothing.
If even one of them broke ranks and worked across the aisle, Manchin would suddenly be a lot less powerful. They should be taking more of the heat.
A long time ago, when I worked for Sen. William Proxmire, and we succeeded in getting a lot of progressive legislation out of the Banking Committee and enacted into law, we often lost the votes of conservative Democrats, including Manchin’s West Virginia predecessors, Bobby Byrd and Jennings Randolph. But these nays were offset by the yeas of moderate-to-liberal Republicans like Ed Brooke of Massachusetts.
There is another Democrat whom we and the media should stop bashing—Joe Biden. At the Prospect, we’ve kept the pressure on Biden to appoint good progressives and to use his executive power to the utmost, as in this piece by David Dayen. But we resist the cheap grace of blaming everything on Biden and the congressional leadership when the votes simply are not there.
Here is part of an email blast that went out from Susan Morgan, director of Indivisible of Marin County, California:
The Freedom to Vote Act MUST be the first priority in January. And the President and the DNC MUST make it happen. They MUST find a way around Manchin and Sinema. If the tables were turned, and the GOP in our position, I imagine they would have long ago figured out a way around similar obstacles … Grassroots volunteers are not going to show up in 2022 in the numbers, or the intensity, we need to combat the structural inequity in our electoral system UNLESS Dem leadership quickly prioritizes and passes the Freedom to Vote Act out of the gate in 2022.
Seriously? I don’t know what secret sauce Morgan thinks she has, to pressure Biden into finding a way around Manchin and Sinema. These are tough, challenging, frustrating times. It would help if we were all clearer about who our friends are and who our enemies are.
