"Democrats have systematically tried to weaken the very guardrails that have protected our democracy for generations--all in the name of advancing their agenda."
–Former West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin
Stephen Moore: Unleash Prosperity Hotline – Former West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin - the last of a now-extinct breed of moderate Democrats in Congress, helped Joe Biden pass some of his infamous budget-busting "Build Back Better" bills.
Now, he's lashing out at his former party in a new book. He says Democrats are in the grip of "ideological purity tests" and a lust for power. "Democrats have systematically tried to weaken the very guardrails that have protected our democracy for generations--all in the name of advancing their agenda," he writes.
He is especially tough on Chuck Schumer, who is still Democratic leader in the Senate.
On Schumer's drive to kill the filibuster, Manchin fumes that it became "a vote he could weaponize, a moment he could broadcast to the radical left to prove his loyalty. This wasn't about governing or principle. It was about power."
Heroically, Manchin helped block that Schumer power play.
In one visit to the White House he warned Biden that his multi-trillion dollar spending bills were the "Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren" agenda. "I've known you for a long time, and I do not believe that you believe this is the right thing for the country." Biden denied it all.
We're happy to hear this act of contrition from Senator Manchin now. We just wish he had had the courage of his convictions back in 2022, when he provided the crucial vote to pass Biden's Inflation Reduction Act that increased corporate taxes and raided Medicare to pay for massive green energy giveaways. We're still digging ourselves out from under that multi-trillion dollar mess.
