Is the Biden agenda Dead? Just ask West Virginia [TJM]

Note from Ace: TJM's post is actually a week or ten days old. But it has new relevance today!

Polls have come out from West Virginia about Joe Manchin's popularity since his effective murder of the Build Back Better Bill in the Senate.

Is the state that gave Trump a 40 point victory just over a year ago mad with their Democratic senator?

Why, no. No, they are not.

Senator Manchin's job approval has gone up seven points to 59 percent.

I have no idea what Schumer's strategy was going into this Congress. It was obvious that he never had the votes for major, nation changing legislation from the beginning of the Congress, even with the pair of wins in Georgia. Publicly and loudly pushing BBB as THE agenda item of Biden's first term, a bill that was all but guaranteed to fail, was a curious choice.

On the one hand, this could have been a huge ploy to help prop up Manchin in WV, ensuring his re-election in 2024. However, if that were the case, then Schumer is just angering the progressive base while painting Biden as an ineffective failure of a master negotiator who knew Congress so well he could work everything. This will probably lead to a massively funded progressive primary in WV that will sap tens of millions of dollars away from other races in a presidential election year.

The other big thing is that Manchin was obviously operating as the scapegoat for several other Democratic senators up for re-election in 2022 who are facing challenging races. Kelly in Arizona, Warnock in Georgia, Masto in Nevada, and Hassan in New Hampshire probably don't want votes on their records for a massively unpopular piece of legislation.

However, no matter the intention, this makes Schumer and Biden look foolish and ineffectual.

All they've managed to do is show that fighting the Biden agenda is popular.

posted by Open Blogger at 02:36 PM

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