As RedState reported yesterday, Joe Manchin signaled he could scuttle the entirety of Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda. While Democrats had “agreed” to most of his terms in regards to a top-line number, they did so with a variety of budget gimmicks, many of which were used during the Obamacare debacle as well. Namely, projecting the use of multiple years of tax receipts to “pay for” lesser years of various entitlement programs.
In the real world, we call that a Ponzi scheme. In Washington, it’s called business as usual, at least for the left side of the aisle on Capitol Hill. Yet, Manchin wasn’t having it this time, pledging that he will not be voting for a bill that contains such sleight-of-hand.
Naturally, that has the progressive wing apoplectic and led to Cori Bush (who I nominate for craziest Congressional member) launching a vicious attack on Manchin. Truly, it’s one of the most insane statements by a national politician I’ve ever seen.
Let’s just start at the beginning where Bush asserts that “Joe Manchin does not get to dictate the future of the country.” That’s actually correct, but not in the way Bush means it. Manchin is not dictating the future of the country. Rather, 52 duly-elected senators are. The Republican Party does still exist, and they hold 50 seats in the US Senate. Their votes count just as much as Bernie Sanders’ does. That Manchin isn’t voting party-line on Biden’s wildest dreams does not mean the system isn’t working or that a single person is controlling the country. Math is hard, but it’s not that hard.
Bush then continues by inadvertently admitting her biggest problem: She never should have made promises she can’t keep. Missouri is not New York and the United States is not California. Telling voters that she was going to give them nothing but unicorns and rainbows was dishonest. Now, she has to live with her own failure. That’s not on Joe Manchin. That’s on Cori Bush.
Then we get to the Democrat civil war moment you’ve been waiting for.
With Democrats needing Manchin on board to pass absolutely anything at this point, Bush doesn’t try to find common ground. Instead, she laughably accuses him of racism, chauvinism, and xenophobia all in one sentence. Bush then ends by demanding he bend the knee and do what she wants.
Yeah, good luck with that. Manchin knows where his bread is buttered, and it’s not by members of the “squad.” It’s by voters in West Virginia. The more these radicals attack him, the more hardened his opposition is likely to become. Yet, Bush is so intellectually vapid that she can’t even grasp the most basic rule of legislating: When you’ve got no leverage, you do not trash those who have it.
Missouri is not sending its best.