Democrat Senator Manchin Vows Not To Support “Crazy Stuff” If Party Wins The Senate; Progressives Hit Back
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia said he won’t back some of his party’s progressive plans should they win control of the Senate like packing the Supreme Court and some other “crazy stuff” that Democrats are looking to put forward under a Biden administration.
Senator Manchin — who said he is a proud Democrat — told Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” on Monday that not everyone in their party supports far-left policies.
“I commit to tonight and I commit to all of your viewers and everyone else that’s watching, I want to allay those fears, I want to rest those fears for you right now because when they talk about, whether it be packing the courts or ending the filibuster, I will not vote to do that,” Senator Manchin said.
“I will not be the 50th Democrat voting to end that filibuster or to basically stack the court, and in all the other things you’re hearing about … also, defund the police. I don’t know of any of the Democrats in the caucus that are for defunding the police. We’re not for that whatsoever. And when they talk about basically, Medicare for all, we can’t even pay for Medicare for some. It doesn’t make any sense at all,” he added.
He went on to refute the tag that Democrats all support “crazy stuff” like the Green New Deal, which he said he doesn’t.
“I’m a proud moderate conservative Democrat. Maybe there’s not many of us left but I can tell you what this country wants is moderation,” he added, as he took a subtle jab at progressives saying their policies are not those of the Democratic Party.
Progressive policies not the Democrat Party
“Whatever the message was, it was wrong for this many people to be split, for us not to be able to have a mess that didn’t scare the bejeezus out of people and when you’re talking about basically the Green New Deal and all this socialism, that’s not who we are as a Democratic Party,” Senator Manchin added.
On Twitter, he reiterated his point.
“Let me be clear: I will not vote to pack the courts & I will not vote to end the filibuster. The U.S. Senate is the most deliberative body in the world. It was made so that we work together in a bipartisan way. If you get rid of the filibuster, there’s no reason to have a Senate.”
Let me be clear: I will not vote to pack the courts & I will not vote to end the filibuster. The U.S. Senate is the most deliberative body in the world. It was made so that we work together in a bipartisan way. If you get rid of the filibuster, there's no reason to have a Senate. pic.twitter.com/g0fasdzVmt
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) November 10, 2020
“Abolish the Senate” trends
His remark on not supporting progressive policies irked supporters of far-left Democrats who, in turn, called instead for abolishing the whole Senate.
There is, in fact, no reason to have a Senate. https://t.co/Kx1BL9Z2mt
— Samuel Black (@potter_black) November 10, 2020
abolish the senate https://t.co/CNZGIYrU3O
— justin block (@JBlock49) November 10, 2020
Actually, filibuster or no, there's no reason to have a Senate. It is an artifact of a slaver constitution that in both intent and practice preserves white minority rule. https://t.co/0OePnnOL0r
— Goldy (@GoldyHA) November 10, 2020
The Electoral College – and with it the need to treat obsolescents like Manchin and his constituents like ANYONE should give a damn what they think about running a 21st Century world – cannot go away fast enough.
End stupid, end problems. https://t.co/ke63Cxci5S
— MovieBob Productions (@the_moviebob) November 10, 2020
There actually is no reason to have a Senate. It's already horribly counter-majoratarian. Add to that an even higer threshold? When the Framers wanted a higher threshold, THEY SPELLED IT OUT. https://t.co/rucg6mfIhp
— Shannon McCormick (@sadogre) November 10, 2020
I vote for abolishing the senate, let's do it. https://t.co/M8kotVegTO
— Russ Bengtson (@russbengtson) November 10, 2020
Get rid of the Senate? Where do we sign up https://t.co/0Ls83V5rer
— Jessica Mason Pieklo (@Hegemommy) November 10, 2020
Ilhan Omar calls out Manchin
Senator Manchin’s comments were also not taken nicely by one of the Democratic Party’s progressive firebrands, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
Rep. Omar, who is a member of the progressive Democrats’ “Squad” — along with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Rashida T’laib (Michigan) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts), slammed the moderate Democrat for calling out progressive ideas.
Stop worrying about progressives, this might be the reason we don’t win the Senate races in Georgia.
Good grief 🤦🏽♀️ https://t.co/r45ibpRs7K
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 10, 2020
“Stop worrying about progressives, this might be the reason we don’t win the Senate races in Georgia. Good grief,” Rep. Omar tweeted.
She was referring to the ongoing tight race in Georgia between Republican incumbent David Perdue and Democratic candidate, Jon Ossoff, as well as the neck and neck fight between Democratic Senate challenger Raphael Warnock and Republican incumbent, Kelly Loeffler.
Earlier, AOC also pushed back against Democrats trying to put the blame on progressives for the seven incumbents seats they’ve lost to Republicans, while failing to oust a single Republican lawmaker.
One thing I’ll say: for the last two years, I and progressive candidates have been unseating powerful Dem incumbents supported by DCCC.
Not *once* has anyone in the party asked me what weaknesses I’ve found in their operation.
If they stop blaming progressives, we can help.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 7, 2020
“One thing I’ll say: for the last two years, I and progressive candidates have been unseating powerful Dem incumbents supported by DCCC. Not *once* has anyone in the party asked me what weaknesses I’ve found in their operation,” the self-proclaimed Democratic socialist lawmaker said.
“If they stop blaming progressives, we can help.”
