Tweet of the Day, …No, Senator Manchin, We Would Not edition.

It’s not a 100% rule, of course.  I’m sure that there’s been a time or three when we have.  But our mistake is in being too loyal*. Ask Senator Manchin how he feels about that right now:

Moe Lane

*No, it’s actually a mistake sometimes. Usually when the person that we’re being loyal to doesn’t really deserve it.

Joe Manchin (D, West Virginia) backstabs Nick Rahall (D, WV).

Well, isn’t this interesting.

  • February, 2013: “U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced today that he is honored to invite Major Richard Ojeda, a West Virginia veteran and a community organizer, as his guest for the President’s State of the Union address.”
  • October, 2013: “A nationally recognized political report has moved a possible race for Congress next year in West Virginia from “Lean Democrat” to “Toss Up.” The Cook Political Report said Friday state Sen. Evan Jenkins, R-Cabell, is drawing closer to longtime 3rd District Congressman Nick Rahall.”
  • January, 2014: “Rahall has outrun the political change in West Virginia so far, but Obama’s dire approval ratings here are dangerous for the veteran incumbent.”
  • January, 2014: “Richard Ojeda, a West Virginia veteran who was Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) guest at the State of the Union last year, apparently liked what he saw of Congress. Ojeda has announced that he plans to challenge 19-term congressional veteran Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) in the state’s upcoming primary.”

Continue reading Joe Manchin (D, West Virginia) backstabs Nick Rahall (D, WV).

Today’s the day @Sen_JoeManchin hits up liberal gun-grabbers for cash!

Remember this?

WASHINGTON – Mayor Bloomberg, who has spent millions of dollars to attack opponents of gun control, will raise hundreds of thousands this month for an advocate of tougher gun laws.

Bloomberg will host a July 22 fundraiser at his upper East Side home for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), sources said. Tickets for the event start at $1,000.

Yeah, Sen. Manchin wishes that you wouldn’t – certainly he’s been shy about admitting that he was going to this shindig. But then, who could blame him?

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns is finding it hard to keep its membership up, thanks to dozens of resignations and lost elections over the last few months.

Worse for Bloomberg, who has become one of the faces of the gun control movement: the people replacing his lost comrades aren’t particularly eager to sign up with the organization, a rare group battling in the trenches against the well-organized and deep-pocketed National Rifle Association. Some appear not quite to have signed on for that level of political heat.

Continue reading Today’s the day @Sen_JoeManchin hits up liberal gun-grabbers for cash!

Joe Manchin shows the Huffington Post why gun-grabbers lost.

I wonder if they have the mother-wit to figure it out?

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) may blame the National Rifle Association for the failure of his background check legislation, but he has no plan to leave the group anytime soon.

“Why would I quit when I’m trying to change from within?” he said in response to a question from The Huffington Post at a breakfast discussion on Friday, sponsored by centrist think tank Third Way.

Translation: Why would I quit when I’m still intending to run for re-election in 2018?  Let me spell it out: the opinion of the Huffington Post is irrelevant to West Virginia voters.  The opinion of the National Rifle Association is not.  Thus, picking which group to gratuitously insult is a simple decision for Joe Manchin – and, yes, waving one’s NRA Life Member card in the face of a prominent Lefty media group is gratuitously insulting, particularly when the discussion is on how the Left can properly punish Democratic Senators who aren’t inclined towards committing political suicide.  Said punishment, by the way, is something that Manchin is not really interested in enabling: Continue reading Joe Manchin shows the Huffington Post why gun-grabbers lost.

#rsrh So… a guy in jail gets 42% in the WV Democratic Presidential primary.

This is.

Well.

This is certainly something.  Maybe not as much a something as the sight of Senator Joe Manchin (D, WV) refusing to admit whether or not he voted for Barack Obama last night* – profiles in courage, folks. Profiles in courage – but definitely something.  What it does mean is open for interpretation, but here’s one way to figure out whether or not there was an, um, ethnic dimension to this: poll West Virginian Democrats who voted for the convict and ask ’em whether they would have voted for Rep. Allen West if he had been the one running.  That guy was practically the definition of ‘Jacksonian’ when he was serving.

Moe Lane

*Via @jaketapper.  And that should worry Manchin.

Special election in WV?

The report is that West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin (D) will be pushing for having a 2010 special election for the late Senator Robert Byrd’s seat.  In this he’s joined by Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R), who shares with Manchin a desire for the job.  Which is fine: neither politician is making a secret of it and they’d be the most likely candidates for 2012 anyway.

There does seem to be a general consensus that while a special election is not required, it would be desirable:

Secretary of State Natalie Tenant has already called on state lawmakers to revise the law to allow for a special election.

“For me, there is a distinct line between how I personally feel and what I can legally do,” Tennant said on her website late last week. “I personally believe that the voters of the state should be allowed to elect a successor to Senator Byrd sooner than November of 2012.”

Continue reading Special election in WV?