Anonymous wrote:They would've had a better deal last fall with Manchin when he supposedly agreed to a pretty large package (maybe it was around $1.3T, IIRC?). But that's evaporated now with inflation.
Dumb dumbs.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Watching the democrats crash and burn even with a mandate is hilarious.
At least someone has the spine to say no mas to more wreckless spending.
A 50/50 Senate and a narrow majority in the House is not a mandate.
Of course that is exactly the nature of the problem. They want so badly to believe they have a mandate to do great big incomprehensibly expensive things, but what voters really wanted was Trump out and otherwise no big changes.
Anonymous wrote:In hindsight, thank heavens for Manchin. If not for his decision to stand firm against the outrageous spending that BBB was, inflation would be in the double digits by now.
I’m a Democrat who was cursing Manchin’s name until a couple of weeks ago when I read up on what’s causing this rampant inflation. I’m not too proud to admit I believed pundits and manipulative talking points before now.
Anonymous wrote:They would've had a better deal last fall with Manchin when he supposedly agreed to a pretty large package (maybe it was around $1.3T, IIRC?). But that's evaporated now with inflation.
Dumb dumbs.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Interesting that he made a point to note the failure was not Biden, but either some staffers or some people in his administration (can't recall the quote exactly) that slipped some stuff in there that was absolutely unacceptable to him. He said they know what it is.
OOOOo I want this gossip. What interview, do you remember?
Biden and Manchin are long-time friends who have worked together for decades. Manchin did not want to throw Biden under the bus, but there was one WH staffer (none of the news sources have identified them yet) who apparently tried to browbeat Manchin into agreeing to BBB. Manchin's little reversal to the media was essentially saying that this staffer had better back off, apologize and change tactics or the bill is dead. That staffer had better do something to get Manchin back at the table or they are done...they may already be done, but their only hope is the apologize and try to coax Manchin back to the table.
DP. This sounds so petty. If Manchin has problems with a staffer, he should take it up with the White House instead of vaguebooking to the media. And whatever it is should have nothing to do with whether he supports this bill - if the bill is good, he should vote for it regardless of what some staffer said. If it isn’t, then he should own his opposition to the substance of the bill instead of trying to deflect any blame onto a WH staffer.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
They already tried that. Right before Manchin said it was dead, with the sole objection of Bernie Sanders, the Senate Dems offered to give him the pen and said "you don't like parts of it, strike them out, you make BBB into something you would vote for."
Manchin's lazy answer to that was "no, it's dead."
Manchin is not operating on any principled stance whatsoever. He is not operating in good faith. His latest arbitrary reason was "the debt is over $30t." That one never came up before. He just keeps moving goalposts and making up new excuses. And sorry, all of that shows plainly that he is not the hero anyone wants to tout him as.
It was still called BBB and that name is now toxic. The individual pieces are popular. But few people are aware of what's actually in it (including me - and I am overly invested in politics). I think you could craft a new bill that leaves behind some stuff and is called something new, and bring Manchin in earlier, and - unicorns. I don't know. One dares to dream.
Manchin was already given that opportunity. Every Senate Democrat except for Sanders said "Here, YOU write the bill. YOU call it whatever you want, YOU put in the pieces you want."
Manchin said "No."