As Americans, we have grown accustomed to the reality that politicians will say anything to get elected or stay elected. Many of us remember the famous “read my lips” pledge made by George H. W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election that he would never back new taxes–and of course, he did.
Most politicians have good intentions and when they say something they mean it – at least at that moment.
Enter national Democratic progressives like AOC, Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer who apparently don’t understand the English language very well and thought that they could bully Sen. Joe Manchin into submission.
While wacko actor Bette Midler ridiculed West Virginians for electing Manchin, many of us around the country are eternally grateful that the good citizens of that state cared enough to send a politician unlike most others to Washington. When he says something – and when he puts his thoughts down on paper and gives it to the Senate majority leader – Manchin isn’t playing word games. He means exactly what he says.
What is ironic is that Pelosi, who supposedly knows how to pass legislation when her back is to the wall, obviously doesn’t know how to deal with Manchin. Despite Manchin’s consistent comments that the House version was riddled with budgetary gimmicks and false accounting, Pelosi kept adding new programs to an already bloated piece of legislation.
The idea that President Joe “Bunker” Biden believed that the legislation was all “paid for” demonstrates how out of touch with reality he truly is. Besides the fact that he will hardly answer questions from the press and that he repeats that he is not supposed to be taking questions, our president is a sorry example of a politician who is way, way behind his time. Add to that approaching senility and the inability to communicate clearly with Americans in the few press conferences Biden actually holds, and you have the most incompetent administration since President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s.
Schumer is in denial. He refuses to believe that “Build Back Better” (BBB) is dead, as does the president. The Senate majority leader has stated that he intends to bring BBB up for a vote in January despite knowing that it will fail, as Sanders has demanded to be done. This is the same Sanders that the national Democratic Party worked overtime to defeat and keep him from being the Democratic nominee instead of Biden. To now allow Sanders to call the shots just means that the Senate Democrats are going to form the proverbial suicide circle and shoot each other so that they can feel better going to bed that night knowing that they put Manchin on the spot.
But what happens if other Democratic senators,including three incumbents in swing states who are up for reelection in November in toss-up states, join Manchin in order to preserve their chance for reelection?
Pelosi has famously played House moderates against far-left progressives, and those centrist Democrats, who she promised she would not put in a vulnerable position, have fallen victim to her ideology which is going to lead the Democrat’s to a historic loss come November.
AOC and her Gutter Squad have hollered from the belfries that Manchin is just one vote and that the Senate shouldn’t be ruled by just one person, even if that person is in the same party, they are in. Naturally, what they don’t get is that it isn’t just one senator–it’s 51 senators.
We need to thank Manchin because he has taken a lot of fire for a long time despite the enunciation of his principles and what his concerns were. First was that BBB would feed inflation. When he originally raised this argument, inflation was but a blip on the nation’s radar screen. But since last summer, inflation has come roaring in on our economy and every American feels it in one way or another unless of course, you are one of the uber-rich. Everyone else understands that gas, groceries, rent, cars, are more expensive than when President Donald Trump was in office. Economists across the board, except those wedded to the Democratic mantra, acknowledge that inflation will cause interest rates to increase which will cost us all in the coming future.
Manchin then explained that the president and his comrades had to cut the programs and the costs to get it to the $1.75 billion that was his upper limit of what he would support. No one believed him. I didn’t believe him. I thought that surely, Manchin would capitulate and accept a compromise. However, the senator refused to be cowed and he stuck to his guns.
That’s not supposed to happen anymore. There aren’t any “Profiles in Courage” anymore because both Democrats and Republicans can’t settle on a compromise, much less allow for a politician that will stand against their own party for the betterment of the country.
If anyone has earned recognition for his political courage, it is Sen. Manchin.
Barney Bishop III is a life-long Democrat having served as executive director of the Florida Democratic Party in the early nineties. He is also the former president and CEO of Associated Industries of Florida, known as “The Voice of Florida Business.” He is now president and CEO of Barney Bishop Consulting in Tallahassee, and he can be reached at barney@barneybishop.com
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