Two pieces about why and how Joe Manchin and other Democrats should move rightward…..
Manchin should formalize his split with the Democratic Party (Oct. 6) If Republican leaders are smart, they will start a concerted effort, right now, to entice Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to leave the Democratic Party.
Manchin may not become a Republican (although he would fit in well as an “independent who caucuses with Republicans”), but he would better represent the values of his West Virginia constituents if he no longer affiliated himself with the increasingly radical -leftist Democrats who run the White House, the Senate, and the U.S. House. As a Republican or as an independent caucusing with Republicans, Manchin could retain a maverick persona while doing both his state and country the favor of forcing policy back to a sensible center.
Even just by making subtle noises about Manchin leaving the Democrats for good, Republicans could increase Manchin’s bargaining power against the left wing of his party. Even the most blinkered lefties might understand that holding a bare Senate majority (with Manchin remaining a Democrat) lets them accomplish more than they would if Manchin renounced his party and let Republican Mitch McConnell again become Senate Majority Leader. Republicans wanting to block the worst of the Biden-Bernie Sanders agenda would want to strengthen Manchin’s hand.
Why, though, would Manchin consider switching? There are many reasons…. [Link to full column]
Ten Dems should start actually being the moderates they claim to be (Oct. 6)
The most damning indictment of the national Democratic Party these days is that Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are relegated to their own little island.
More than a half-dozen other Democratic senators should be showing the modicum of legislative caution and fiscal sanity that Manchin and Sinema are demonstrating in talks on federal spending. They all campaigned, falsely , as supposed “moderates,” and they represent “swing states” that are relatively evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. In these states, voting records far from the center make it far harder for senators to be reelected…. [Full column at this link.]
