Even Manchin Seems Tired of Hiding His Record in D.C.

Manchin went on what he called his "Common Sense Tour" lately across several West Virginia counties.  Along the way, he had some modest turnouts at townhall meetings like the one in Elizabeth.  It must have been quite an interesting display for the approximately twenty-five people who came out to hear him at the Wirt County Courthouse. 

According to a January 13 report by Brett Dunlap in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel, Manchin led with his oft-expressed concern about America's financial health, calling it "weak."

But what was missing from Manchin's remarks was any kind of openness about the rather large spending bills Manchin has voted on over the past year as the state's junior U.S. Senator.  In fact, Manchin never acknowledges his part in attemptingto bust the federal budget, with votes like these:  two votes on October 20th in support of President Obama's failed $440 billion spending bill and then a vote on a rehash of that same failed Obama spending bill.  

So not only did Manchin vote down the line for the President's $440 billion spending bill last fall--he even voted for it again by joining other Democratic senators in a rehash of it under a different name!  In other words, if a so-called conservative Democrat like Manchin is willing to go to the mat for Obama's spending bills, well, no wonder our government is awash in red ink.

That's why the turnouts for Manchin's "Common Sense" tour have been so modest in turnout.  Voters are beginning to realize that Joe Manchin doesn't shoot straight with them. 

Even Manchin himself seems weary by all the subterfuge.  At the end of his talk in Wirt County, Manchin sounded almost mournful.  "You can vote against me," Manchin said. "And the worst thing that can happen is that I get defeated."  What's happened to Manchin all of a sudden?  Why does he sound like a defeated man already?  Could it be the fact that he knew then what the rest of us know now, namely that he will have opposition in his own Democratic primary, from former Monongalia County Delegate Sheirl Fletcher?

Hoofbeats.  That's what Manchin seems to be hearing, whether it's guilt from the Obama spending bills he's voted for, the mood of the country, the competition within his own party's primary this May, or the prospect of facing Republican John Raese again this fall.   At this rate, no matter how many empty endorsements Manchin receives from the West Virginia Coal Association or the State Chamber of Commerce, Manchin has been in politics long enough to know that his career in the U.S. Senate may be one of the shortest in history.

The only endorsement that matters, especially this year, is the one from the people.  Increasingly, they seem restless and irritated by the lame excuses of incumbents like Manchin.

 

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