What is his MO within the Democrats? i don't know  much about him, and his professional contrariness piques me...?

Edited July 15, 20223 yr by StringJunky

Manchin is to Democrats what Collins is to Republicans.
And they seem to work well together.
( see the new elections bill )

2 hours ago, StringJunky said:

What is his MO within the Democrats? i don't know  much about him, and his professional contrariness piques me...?

Manchin is from a coal producing state and takes in more money from the fossil fuel industry than any other member of the Senate. It is no real surprise that he just torpedoed the Democrats' climate strategy to increase solar, get more electric cars on the road, etc.

Democrats are not as close to being monolithic in policy views as republicans are, and not as susceptible to pressure to align with a platform

He’s a DINO, but also the only dem that could ever win an election in West Virginia 

At this point, the pique is understandable given how many times he moves the goalposts of compromise.   Given the fossil fuel money he's raked in - as @zapatos noted - I like to call him Joe Mansion.

 Mansion is why I get cranky when the Right rhetoric turns to "the Democrats control Congress so why is Biden so impotent blah blah blah..."  Democrats don't control the Senate, because Mansion doesn't really caucus with them.  

He deserves a lump of coal in his Xmas stocking.

48 minutes ago, TheVat said:

At this point, the pique is understandable given how many times he moves the goalposts of compromise.   Given the fossil fuel money he's raked in - as @zapatos noted - I like to call him Joe Mansion.

 Mansion is why I get cranky when the Right rhetoric turns to "the Democrats control Congress so why is Biden so impotent blah blah blah..."  Democrats don't control the Senate, because Mansion doesn't really caucus with them.  

He deserves a lump of coal in his Xmas stocking.

One is elected to represent the group in ones state so I suppose he is what one gets in that situation. He is only reflecting the degree of political swing in  his state.

Edited July 16, 20223 yr by StringJunky

If I was hoping to improve the outlook for the coal industry, I'd be in favour of electric vehicles. A bigger demand for electricity generation is surely good news for coal. 

Not when EV subsidies are yoked to a larger plan to move towards carbon neutrality with green power sources.  And coal won't be the bridge fuel, because it produces twice the carbon per watt that NG does.  And NG plants are much cheaper to build and operate.  Coal is dying of natural economic causes, there's no good news for it, and Manchin does a disservice to his WV constituents by pretending otherwise.   But as Stringy noted, he is what you get in WV - the voters live in denial.  

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

Coal is dying of natural economic causes, there's no good news for it, and Manchin does a disservice to his WV constituents by pretending otherwise. 

But not to his owners… erm… donors.