“This place sucks”: Manchin warns Dems they could remain in the minority “the rest of your life”

[Valin]

Hot Air

Ed Morrissey

January 24, 2018

How close did Democrats come to losing the Senate seat from West Virginia? Close enough to take a lecture from incumbent Joe Manchin, who reluctantly committed to running for another term in November only yesterday. The New York Times reveals Manchin’s surprising holdout, as well as his blunt assessment of the Senate and Democrats’ sharp left turn:

Quote

Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia told colleagues on Tuesday that he intended to run for re-election this year after all, ending an anxiety-making flirtation with retirement and easing Democratic fears that the most conservative Democrat in the Senate was about to effectively hand his seat to a Republican.

In an interview, Mr. Manchin said he repeatedly expressed his frustration to Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, and other colleagues, telling them that “this place sucks,” before finally signaling Tuesday morning to Mr. Schumer’s aides that he would file his re-election paperwork before West Virginia’s deadline on Saturday. …

“I’ve said this point blank: If people like me can’t win from red states, you’ll be in the minority the rest of your life,” Mr. Manchin said about his conversations with other Democrats about the need to tolerate more moderate lawmakers.

(Snip)

The media has spent a lot of time focusing on the so-called civil war among Republicans during the Trump era. This story reminds us that the fractures among Democrats are just as interesting, and potentially more impactful.

[Draggingtree]

 February 1, 2018

Joe Manchin's world of hurt following SOTU

By Thomas Lifson

I can’t understand why Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia remains a Democrat. Ideologically, he is far closer to Mitch McConnell or even Ted Cruz than he is to the Schumer-Pelosi Democrats.  His constituents in the Mountaineer State (“Mountaineer” is the polite word for “Hillbilly”) gave President Trump overwhelming support in 2016, and remain loyal to him.

 When it doesn’t matter to the outcome, he can break with the Dems to support the GOP in Senate votes. But when push comes to shove, he is a Party Man.

During the State of the Union Address, he visibly surrendered to the party leadership and handed the GOP a hammer to use on him when he is up for re-election this November. Don Surber, a West Virginian himself (and a must-read blogger for me every day), spotted Manchin’s embarrassing submission to the power of Schumer:      http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/02/joe_manchins_world_of_hurt_following_sotu.html