2018 General Election Elected 50 – 46
Joe Manchin? JOE MANCHIN?? JOE MANCHIN???
How important is it that Joe Manchin stay in the Senate? There is a lot I don’t agree with him about. There is a lot you don’t agree with him about. Are we better off if he is replaced by a Republican?
Doesn’t he have a primary opponent? Don’t we avoid writing Political Notes when there is a primary? We do. We don’t when it is clear who is going to win the primary. Joe Manchin http://joemanchinwv.com/ is not going to lose the primary, not to a primary opponent who is a coal miner’s daughter and a Bernie supporter.
How pro-business is Joe Manchin? His family (Italian-Americans who changed their name from Mancini) had businesses. His grandfather owned a grocery store. His father owned a furniture store. His daughter is the CEO of a generic drug maker.
Isn’t there a story about his daughter? More than one. West Virginia University, while Joe Manchin was governor, helped her get her MBA by, among other things, altering transcripts to credit her with courses she never took.
When he was governor, was Joe Manchin pro-coal mine owner? He was an enemy of Don Blankenship, retired as CEO of Massey Energy and out of jail. The New York Times described Blankenship as “a man who can come across as a cartoon of a corporate villain. He tangled with inspectors and buffaloed rivals. He [was] a Republican in a state that [had] long [been] a Democratic redoubt, and he seemed to relish making public officials his enemies.” Blankenship sued Joe Manchin for threatening his first amendment rights by initiating investigations of his mines. After Blankenship’s Sago mine disaster, Joe Manchin ordered all mines in the state closed pending safety checks, making him one of the most popular governors in West Virginia history and, at the time, in the country.
Joe Manchinis very conservative, isn’t he? See what you think.
Didn’t Joe Manchin vote to terminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood? Yes in 2015. No in 2017. In 2017, he voted to prevent states from withholding money to abortion providers foiling a Trump effort to end a regulation. He earned a 44% rating from Planned Parenthood.
Is Joe Manchin a climate change denier? Pro coal? Is he like Trump? He voted for the Keystone pipeline. He supported the proposed Energy Tax Prevention Act to prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases — the only Democrat to do that. He sought to lengthen the timelines for the implementation of EPA air pollution rules. Is any of that offset by his introduction of a bill to remove restrictions to the development of alternative fuels, to repeal restrictions on the federal governments ability to purchase alternative fuels, to support the development of algae based fuels and synthetic natural gas? The League of Conservation Voters gave him a 47% rating in 2016, slightly higher than his 44% lifetime rating.
Isn’t Joe Manchin pro gun? He gets endorsed by the NRA even though he and a Republican proposed strengthening background checks after Sandy Hook. Those strengthened background checks didn’t happen, of course.
Joe Manchin was the only Democrat to vote against cloture in the debate about Don’t ask, Don’t tell. He voted in favor of almost every appointment Trump made that required Senate approval. He has supported strong measures against the current drug problems including crackdowns on the use of bitcoins, crucial for large scale drug transactions. He supports the Affordable Care Act, a crucial vote to make it law in the first place.
Is Joe Manchin a loyal Democrat? Maybe he is. Chuck Schumer and the leadership have been happy with him. Joe Manchin can be feisty in his loyalty. He called for the withdrawal of Trump’s nomination of Representative Tom Marino as Drug Czar — denouncing how Marino made it hard for the DEA to control the opioid epidemic. Marino withdrew.
Joe Manchinis intent on remaining a Democrat. West Virginia’s governor, Jim Justice, elected as a Democrat, switched shortly after his election in 2016. There is no sign that Joe Manchinwould do the same.
Joe Manchin is the most conservative Democrat in the Senate at a time when the parties have become polarized. But he is a Democrat. He is not a conservative. The American Conservative Union gives him a lifetime rating of 28.17%. That’s way too low to be a conservative. CrowdPac rates politicians based on a combination of their donations, their statements, and their votes with a 20 point scoring system from 10C to 10L. They rate Joe Manchinas slightly liberal at 1.7L. The Americans for Democratic Action rate him 60% liberal. He votes for a Democrat to be the Senate Majority Leader.
Joe Manchinhttp://joemanchinwv.com/ represents a state that Trump won in 2016 by 42 points — 68% to 26%. We should be glad he is a Senate Democrat. We should be glad to help him get reelected as a Senate Democrat. He needs help. Monthly donations make a difference. The election is rated as a toss up and we need him.
