Joe Manchin: Landrieu’s Keystone push shows she's not afraid to take on Obama & the establishment

[Cali_Democrat]

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/224639-republicans-pounce-on-landrieus-keystone-defeat

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Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), both supporters of the pipeline and strong allies of Landrieu, flanked the Louisiana Democrat at the presser. They spoke as if Landrieu would be around to take up the bill again in the next Senate.

“I look forward to the next Congress when Mary Landrieu, Joe Manchin and a number of our other great Democratic senators step up to say yes on the pipeline,” Heitkamp said. “It’s not the end of this issue.”

Manchin said Landrieu’s Keystone push was evidence that she’s “not afraid to take on the president and not afraid to take on the establishment.”

“Her coming back as ranking minority is important," Manchin said of Landrieu's spot on the Senate Energy committee. “I hope that happens for people of Louisiana.”

These people are not Dems

[Cha]

1. Right.. and The Democratic Dems who think for themselves on the Environment are not afraid

to take on big Canadian oil. And, didn't the Kochsters want this Keystone? Not sure why.. but, Push!

[arcane1]

2. So being anti-Keystone is "establishment” now?

Those damned environmentalists, entrenched within the highest levels of government!

[merrily]

6. Good point. The right lies a lot.

The environment is about us, our kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids, etc., born and yet to be born, being able to survive.

Guess he didn't get the lesser of two evils memo.

[merrily]

3. Snatching defeat from the jaws of defeat.

[Segami]

9. BWHAHAHAHAHA.....

wiping down my screen....

[merrily]

13. Glad you enjoyed it.

[bluestateguy]

4. And, in a couple of months she can take on Obama and the establishment as a private citizen!

So there you go.

[merrily]

7. Will her job at Fox allow her that much time off, though?

[cali]

28. her job as a lobbyist certainly will.

[pnwmom]

5. It would still be better to have Dems in those positions than Rethugs, because we need enough

Dems to maintain control of either branch of Congress.

[merrily]

8. If he's not voting the correct way, he is not contributing to control by Dems.

[pnwmom]

17. Wrong. Even when a legislator is not always voting the "correct way,"

a Dem legislator is contributing to Democratic control of a branch of Congress. With that comes control of all the Committee Chairmanships, majorities on committees, etc.

We are much better off when we control the House and/or Senate than when we do not, even if some of those Dems that gave us control don't always vote our way.

[merrily]

18. True, BUT the point of all that is only the ability push through an agenda more easily

Not just to flex muscles (to use one of the more polite terms for it).

[pnwmom]

20. But we don't have a single item agenda. Even if a Red state Dem votes as his or her constituents

wish on some items (not with the Dems), they are MUCH more likely to vote with the Dems overall than any Rethug. And they help give us very important Committee control. This isn't a matter of flexing muscles. It's a matter of deciding which bills ever come up for a vote.

You will see, now that we have lost control of both Houses. It won't be pretty.

[merrily]

21. It won't be pretty because of the votes that get taken (or not) that affect our lives

and the lives of future generations.

Again, committee control is important because of driving an agenda, not simply for the right to say you have control.

[pnwmom]

22. And red state Dems helped us to maintain control so we COULD drive our agenda.

It didn't matter if they didn't always vote with us. We could still pass many more bills than if they weren't on the team.

[spanone]

10. i fart in their general direction.

[Segami]

12. Tickets please...

[spanone]

16. priceless...

[calimary]

38. Rocket Man... ROFL!!!!!

Dammit, Segami, you would have to post something like that! I could watch that all day! Reminds me of last night...

I just got through sending the boys off to a brief tour. SHEESH... arguing, giggling, bickering, one of 'em snoring through the middle of it, another one in full face-palm position, and yet another one of them is recording everything with a shit-eating grin on his face. Your little gif reminds me of an average day with the band.

[Initech]

30. Their mother was a hamster and their father smelt of elderberries!

[belzabubba333]

37. best movie evah

[onecaliberal]

11. Dear joe

Take a jump off a very talk hill.

[JI7]

15. but they ARE democrats, Southern Democrats, that's what today's southern democrats are

and Manchin is the type of dem that can win in the south.

and it's not just the south but many in midwest and some other states which are blue/purple like pennsylvania support the pipeline and other things which could hurt the environment because they think it will bring them jobs.

[Wellstone ruled]

19. Keystone is such a joke,

People have to read the Guardian U.S.edition. This whole thing is a P.R. stunt. The Canuks have a plan B a 2800+mile pipe headed to Nova Scotia. These Tar Sand People think they can run over everyone. Bottom line,they are counting on the Corrupt Press and their like wise Political Buds to pull this Keystone think off. After seeing all of the prepostioned pipe this past summer in North Dakota and the right of way prep in Nebraska,this is a done deal. And to hell with what we say or do to stop it. Bet they just rename the thing and call it a Gas Line and then reconvert it couple of days after putting it in operation.

[Odin2005]

23. Go back to the holler you crawled out of and go fuck yourself, Joe.

[hughee99]

24. I think it's great to have Senators who aren't afraid to oppose the President when he's wrong.

In this case, though, he wasn't wrong.

[cascadiance]

27. The strategy shouldn't be "standing up to Obama", but "standing up FOR most Americans!"

He is basically jumping on board the Fox News narrative of everything that Obama does is wrong and "socialist" which is a total mischaracterization of Obama. Obama does the right thing sometimes, and not other times. Senators should be praised for supporting traditional American values, not just voting for or against what Obama supports.

Supporting Obama coming out against Keystone is a good thing. Taking a stand against Obama on his support for the TPP is also a good thing.

[bobclark86]

25. Oh, she's a Republican all right...

Frome VoteSmart.org... Some liberal groups:
NARAL Pro-Choice America rating: 100%
Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 92%
American Civil Liberties Union: 100%
American Federation of Teachers: 100%
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers: 100%
National Education Association: 100%
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO): 100%

And some conservative thoughts:
Americans for Prosperity: 17%
John Birch Society: 16%
Gun Owners of America: 10%
Federation for American Immigration Reform: 0%
National Organization for Marriage: 0%
Family Research Council: 0%
Center for Security Policy (their motto is "Peace through Strength&quot : 0%

Yeah, she's a Republican, all right.

Better to have an actual Republican in the Senate than a Democrat, apparently.

[pampango]

32. Thanks for posting this. The Senate will be more conservative if she loses.

I would love to see a more liberal senator from Louisiana but that is not the choice in front of us.

[bobclark86]

41. Yeah, the cutting off of noses around here...

If I wanted to watch a group cut off their noses to spite their face, I'd go over to a gun forum for New York residents and watch the "Constitutionalists" lashing out at the "Fudds" over Andrew Cuomo getting re-elected.

Does anyone honestly think it will be better to have another Republican in the Senate? Anti-union, anti-choice, anti-marriage equality... Look long-term, folks. In 2016, the GOP will have 20-some seats up for grabs. One more Democrat in the Senate now means one fewer we HAVE to win in 2016 to retake the Senate.

"But she disagrees with me on one thing, so screw her. She can go to hell!"

That'll win the Senate in 2016 for sure.

[lonestarnot]

26. You can go straight to hell and take mary landau top with you. I'm sick to death of both of you!

[Quackers]

29. Didn't throwing Obama under the bus already backfire for these Dems?

[Man from Pickens]

31. How is this taking on the President and establishment?

The establishment wants this, it's a big-corp interest issue.

Obama wants it, he's said so multiple times recently.

When I see a Democratic Senator stand on the floor of the Senate time and time again to oppose a war, I'll believe they're taking on the establishment and the President.

Landrieu's support has actually dropped since the general election, she's running lower in the runoff polls than she got in the general, something that is near-impossible without actively antagonizing the Democratic base.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

33. He said he would veto it if passed

How it that "wanting it"?

[JoePhilly]

40. It's part if his double secret evil plan.

[carolinayellowdog]

34. WV and LA two of the most ecologically messed-up states, what do they care

if the rest of the country ends up in similarly dire straits?

[hatrack]

35. So, voting for Big Oil & Kochs = someone who's "not afraid to take on the establishment"?

STFU, Gunslinger Joe.

[alcibiades_mystery]

36. Pffffffft...that's the sound of the fart that is Manchin's already lost strategy

Landrieu's done. She should cab it up to K Street for her plush lobbying job and stop the nonsense. Manchin's doubling down on his Obama-Hater routine? Fuck him sideways.

[hobbit709]

39. That's because she's more afraid of what her corporate owners might do.