Dem Senator (Manchin) Defends Koch Brothers: ‘You Don’t Beat Up People’
Source: Mediaite
Democrat Joe Manchin has occasionally put himself at odds with his Democratic colleagues in the Senate, and did so again on Fox News Thursday morning when he pushed back against attacks by Harry Reid and others against the Koch brothers. Brian Kilmeade asked Manchin if he thinks it “helps or hurts the cause,” and Manchin said it doesn’t help anyone and doesn’t even rally the base like it’s meant to do.
He said, “The right and left bases have been rallied. It’s us in the middle that have to start making something happen here in Washington to move this country forward.” Manchin thought it wasn’t wise for Democrats to “beat up people” just because they disagree with them. He defended the Kochs because “they’re not breaking the new, they’re providing jobs.”
Manchin called for a rejection of “extreme Democrat politics [and] extreme Republican politics” spewing the kind of rhetoric that “does not help us move this country and move the agenda forward.”
Read more: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/dem-senator-defends-koch-brothers-you-don’t-beat-up-people/
Joe Lieber-Manchin strikes again. No surprise - this guy was the state chair for ALEC in WV when he was in the Legislature.
also, note his use of "Democrat" as an adjective
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, you are sorely missed by real WV Democrats.
= new reply since forum marked as read
When Joe had his ass handed to him by populist progressive Charlotte Pritt in the 1996 Democratic gubernatorial primary, he went out and worked for the election of her Republican opponent Cecil Underwood, claiming Pritt was "too lib'rul."
The so-called "Democrats for Underwood" was comprised of the same rightwing types that are now in control of the WV state party and bash Obama at every opportunity. Pritt, who was extraordinarily popular initially, was smeared left and right and eventually lost the election to Underwood in a close race.
Flash forward to 2004. Incumbent Democrat Bob Wise is caught in an extramarital affair. Even though polls showed voters didn't give a shit and would have easily re-elected Wise (who was a decent congressman and governor), Manchin immediately announced a primary challenge and his by that-point massive political machine (inherited from his crooked, impeached uncle) pressured Wise out of the race and Manchin took the governor's mansion for himself.
And we're still waiting for Joe to tell us who voted for in the 2012 Democratic primary in WV: Barack Obama or convicted felon Keith Judd. Manchin refuses to answer the question when pressed and can not clearly say he voted for the President of the United States over a lunatic domestic terrorist residing in a prison cell.
No surprise Manchin says the Kochs create jobs - these are the kind of jobs Joe's always championed:
But you can count on one thing - like Zell, Joe will never leave the Democratic party. There's no GOP infrastructure in the state, and he has a Huey Long-esque control of the state Dems (the current governor is simply a ceremonial figure while Manchin controls the show), and he's perfectly content to keep it that way.
