1. Manchin's often gets profiled as a moderate or a conservative but his actual political stance is a bit odder than that. Being a Dem Senator from a very red state, he's figured out a way vote with his party on major legislation while keeping a distance.
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1368932881754685442
2. I think a lot of Manchin's behavior is more performative than ideological. He has a lot of voters who aren't Dems & don't like the Dems, so he needs to have very visible public spats with Dems. But he rarely abandons Dems on decisive votes.
3. Look at this recent actions. If scuttling Neera Tanden's nomination was the price to pay for a vote for $1.9 trillion stimulus, I'm not going to shed any tears. The trimming of UI top up by 3 weeks was bad, but pales against one of the biggest stimulus in history.
4. There's also the minimum wage, but he was hardly alone in voting against it. And the minimum wage can be brought up again after filibuster reform. $15 is a lift but Biden might get $12 tied to inflation, which would lift up many working poor.
5. I say let Manchin have a few small victories if that gives him cover to vote for big Democratic bills. thenation.com/article/politi…
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