Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is no stranger to dropping a little reality on his own party when he feels the occasion calls for it, and this week has been no exception.
For instance, he’s signaled he’s prepared to implode President Biden’s entire “Build Back Better” agenda, confirming as much just today after tapdancing all over a move by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to slide paid family leave back into the BBB bill.
But in the aftermath of the red wave that swept Virginia Tuesday, Manchin – who is considered a “centrist” in some circles considering how far left the party has gone over the last decade or so – has also had things to say this week about the political make-up of this country, comments that are further enraging leftists as we speak.
During an interview he did with CNN today, Manchin noted that the country was not a “center-left” or even a “left” country. It’s a “center-right” country, he stated, and in his view, elected officials – especially presidents – should govern with that perspective in mind if they really want to get things done:
“We just have to work together. We can’t go too far left. This is not a center-left or a left country. We are a center, if anything, a little center-right country. That’s being shown, and we ought to be able to recognize that. And all my friends on the left are progressives or liberals, whatever. I said I’m not, I always say that I’m a responsible West Virginia Democrat, and I’m fiscally responsible and socially compassionate. I think most people in the middle feel that way.”
Watch:
Naturally, Manchin’s truth dosage about where we are politically as a country triggered prominent “woke” leftists on Twitter, including Adam Jentleson, a former Chief of Staff to former Sen. Harry Reid, who said “something something popular vote” because of course he did:
“Democratic presidents have won the popular vote in seven of the last eight elections and Senate Dems represent 41 million more Americans than Republicans despite holding the same number of seats. We are a center-left country where conservatives are boosted by electoral welfare.”
Clearly, the struggle is real with these people as they continue to come to terms with the drubbing they received (and deserved) on Tuesday.
Are Manchin’s comments self-serving? Of course, they are. After all, he’s a politician, and uttering self-serving statements is a job requirement. Plus, Manchin is the senior senator in a red state, a state that keeps sending him to D.C. because he campaigns as a conservative and yet promises to bring home a lot of expensive goodies (which, sadly, even some Republican red-state senators at times brag of doing).
That said, I think Manchin’s point (and the one he also made about the election being a “wake-up call“) is inarguable. While there are indeed vast pockets of far-leftism in this country (left coast states come to mind), when it comes down to it most Americans are not into the radical left’s push for wokeness in public school classrooms, they’re not into allowing young boys who claim to be girls into the girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms at school, and they’re not into defunding the police – even in many bluer parts of the country. They’re also not into continued mask mandates and other stifling government restrictions as New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy nearly found out this week and Terry McAuliffe did find out.
I could go on, but I think you get the picture.
Manchin’s point that presidents have to govern this country from a center-right perspective should be one that these leftists take under serious consideration, especially if they want to avoid more heartbreak a year from now when mid-term elections are held, where the true judgment of the people on the Biden/Democrat party agenda will be cast.
But they won’t, because historically Democrats have shown that they never learn from their mistakes. Instead, when they lose the default is to yell “election fraud!” or “racism!” (the latter of which they’re doing now) because it simply doesn’t compute with them that there are substantial majorities of people out there who aren’t buying what they’re selling.
Not that I’m complaining. Instead, this southern girl is enjoying sitting back and taking some slow, satisfying sips of ice-cold sweet tea with a little extra sugar, feet propped up in my well-worn La-Z-Boy recliner, grinning like a Cheshire cat as the left melts down and continues to self-destruct.
Bless their hearts.