Comments by "wvu05" (@wvu05) on "Liberals Have Learned Shaming Joe Manchin Works" video.

@sandpiperr Ojeda never ran against Manchin. He lost to Swearingen in the 2020 Senate primary. Ojeda pretty much blew his goodwill when he resigned his state senate seat to run for President... and quit the race before the Legislature convened. (As with other small states, West Virginia has a part-time legislature, in this case meeting 60 days a year with special and monthly sessions that usually last for a day or two.) At that point, he gave off serious vibes of wanting to be a celebrity rather than a public official.
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@Chazreal Before this session, Manchin's tendency was to whine about something being too much, and then going along with some watered-down bill. That's why, quite frankly, a lot of people were shocked that he torpedoed BBB. Quite frankly, at that point I figured that he must have decided to retire. Before last year, he was very good at finding that place where he could go just far enough left to avoid a revolt and voters who stayed home, but not an inch farther.
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@sandpiperr English translation: "I am lazy, and I would rather have Republicans control the Senate."
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@Chazreal I'm using 2020 as the dividing line. Before then, find any instance in ten years in the Senate where Manchin provided the deciding vote to give Republicans a win or Democrats a defeat. Yes, he voted for Kavanaugh, but not until Collins said that she would, meaning that his vote was a bonus. BBB was a huge break from that pattern. When he went along with Republicans, it was because they had already won. In his first four years in the Senate, when Democrats had control, he never went against them unless Reid either already had the votes or was already defeated.
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