Joe Manchin: Flips On Support For ObamaCare, Won't Endorse Obama Or Reid

It's like his plan is to hope voters forget he's a Democrat or something.

Gov. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, declined over the weekend to endorse Barack Obama for a second term for president or Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as Senate majority leader in interviews with Politics Daily.

"That's such a hypothetical thing, but basically I think there's two more years that have to play out," Manchin said when I asked him if he expects to endorse Obama for a second term. "Things have got to change. People will have time to evaluate and make a decision over the next two years and four years. I just think there's a lot of correction, a lot of changes, a lot of things that need to be fixed before I would say anything about anybody running for office."

As for ObamaCare, he was for it before he was against it.

The Democratic Senate candidate from West Virginia, Gov. Joe Manchin, says he didn't understand key details of the health care reform legislation when he publicly endorsed it in March — an endorsement he has since withdrawn.

"Reaching as far as they did in the — in the weeds of the bill that we didn't know about, no one else knew about until it came out — knowing that, I would not have supported that or voted for that at that time," Manchin said on "Fox News Sunday."

Asked about areas where he disagrees with President Barack Obama, Manchin cited the health care reform legislation Obama signed in March.

"The health care reform is far overreaching in areas that I don't agree with — the 1099 part of that, the mandates. Also, the firewall's not strong enough for abortions. I'm pro-life. And we're just a different type of Democrat here in West Virginia," Manchin said. (The "1099" reference is to a revenue-raising provision that requires businesses to report more transactions to the IRS.)

So his defense is, "Hey, I was too stupid to understand what you all knew at the time but now I get it"? Yeah, um, good luck with that.

Charlie Crist emails to say: "Wow, Joe Manchin is pretty shameless with the lying and the flipping".

As of last Wednesday Rasmussen has Manchin down by 7 to John Raese. But...the RCP average, based mostly on a Marshall University poll, has Manchin up 1.5%. Which one is right, which one is wrong?

We're on the edge of great things here and other places. It's not the time to let up but to push down on their necks even harder.

posted by DrewM. at 11:41 AM

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