In American politics, whenever something pops with the suddenness and scent of corn, it is usually a diversion. A decoy. A deliberately designed distraction. That may be what's afoot where the Joe Mansion Manchin debacle is concerned.
Manchin, the staunchly conservative Democratic Senator from West Virginia, is all the rage right now after he signaled - on Fox News of all places - that he will NOT vote for the president's ambitiously hefty Build Back Better plan. That kind of forked-tongue action draws a lot of light and heat... Which should make us squint into the cold, dark corners of the room to see what's really going on.
It is no secret that the sand is running out of the Democratic Party's hourglass. Typically, the Party in power will not fare well in the midterm elections, and we are only about 43 weeks away from that. It can already be assumed that the GOP will take over as the majority in the Senate, and possibly the House of Representatives, as well.
The reasons for this don't matter at this point. Once the Republicans get the gavels back in their hands, they will not use power to help our struggling nation - no. They will instead use it to make life miserable for their perceived opposition. And to cement themselves into their seats in ways that amount to malfeasance if not worse.
How do we know that? We know that because Republican Senators have been asked what their intentions are if they take over the Senate where Supreme Court nominations may be concerned. They stated clearly, they will block any such nominations, the way they did with Merrick Garland's in 2015. They don't want to govern, they want to control, and any rapist will tell you that control is power (and that's what gets them off).
In order to keep some semblance of control on their own end, many Democrats are opining that octogenarian Justice Stephen Breyer should retire, giving Democrats the opportunity to nominate and confirm his replacement before November of 2022.
But, because they're Democrats, they don't want to do anything unseemly. Many have said that pushing Breyer to leave will only make him dig in and stay. People who think that way also think that we are as stupid as they are.
Breyer knows what people say. It does not come to him as any sort of shock or offense. But who among us would give up a job that pays $265,000 a year, whether you are any good at it or not? Precedent has been set for this scenario already. In 2013, Barack Obama tried to get Ruth Bader Ginsburg to step down while Democrats had the ability to replace her.
Obviously, she did not, and then she died while Donald Trump was in office, allowing her right-wing replacement to be fast tracked by Mitch McConnell's Senate. Since Breyer refuses to care about the handwriting on the wall, that will very likely happen again.
Democrats have apparently lost their memories (if not their minds) about how to play the game of modern politics. Worse, they barely seem to notice that the other side has no interest in any kind of My-Fellow-Americanism.
Which brings us back to Senator Manchin. Perhaps being independently wealthy has numbed his soul to the needs of the many. Naked-faced greed obviously runs in his blood; you may or may not recall that the $600 EpiPen was the dark creation of his own daughter.
Whatever that says about him, the point is that he gave certain assurances to his fellow Democrats and to the president that he was on their team. And now he's not on their team. A good scolding from the White House Press Secretary is all the punishment he's going to receive for that.
Many voters will be left with no choice but to believe that the Democrats cannot even keep their own house in order; how are they supposed to run the country? Can't have that. Joe Biden needs to make such an example of Joe Manchin that nobody in his own party will ever model his slimy-treacherous behavior again.
The nation's Chief Executive only has so many tools in his belt. One of those tools happens to be the military. This is not to suggest that the military should be sent into West Virginia, but rather, that it should be sent out of it. Military bases used to get relocated all the time - and it almost always had something to do with the president getting something he wanted.
In this case, he could do it to get rid of something he doesn't want. Or someone. Because politics ain't beanbags... Remember?
GG
