Joe Manchin's elusive hunt for a pony named 'bipartisanship' - by Jonathan Capehart

[DonViejo]

April 10, 2021 at 8:25 p.m. EDT

President Ronald Reagan had a favorite joke he loved to tell about twin boys, one perennially pessimistic and one perennially optimistic. In an attempt to dampen the latter child’s sunny outlook, a psychiatrist brought the child to a room piled high with manure. Delighted, the little boy started frantically digging. Eww, right?

So, the shrink asks, “What do you think you’re doing?” The boy, brimming with his characteristic optimism, replied, “With all this manure, there must be a pony in here somewhere!”

That punchline makes me think of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), who has become a one-man roadblock to President Biden’s policy agenda on Capitol Hill because he insists that a pony named bipartisanship is stalking the halls of Congress just waiting to be found. And in his effort to find it, Manchin lowered the boom on abolishing or reforming the filibuster.

“There is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster,” Manchin wrote in an op-ed in The Post this past week. He’s not a fan of the budget reconciliation process either. “I simply do not believe budget reconciliation should replace regular order in the Senate,” Manchin continued. “Working legislation through regular order in the Senate prevents drastic swings in federal policymaking.”

Regular order? Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.) served in Congress from 2008 to 2017. When she was asked about regular order on Washington Post Live’s “First Look” on Friday, Edwards said, “In the 10 years I served, we never had regular order. So, everybody called for it but we never had it.”

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/10/joe-manchins-elusive-hunt-pony-named-bipartisanship/

[SWBTATTReg]

1. I would think that Manchin would have already found such a person on the other side, that's

bipartisan. You would think that he would have seen that person way before now, before he's now making such a big deal over this (the bipartisanship). Maybe someone needs to point this fact out to him, he's seemingly forgotten this fact already, that republicans didn't invite democrats to anything in crafting a bill, etc. (nor did rump).

[mopinko]

10. if he cant even get mittens on his side,

he need to take his ball and go home.

[Blue Owl]

2. That stupid fucking filibuster is Manchin's Precious

[CrispyQ]

3. He has never been as relevant as he is right now. -nt

[elleng]

4. 'there must be a pony in here somewhere!"

“In the 10 years I served, we never had regular order. So, everybody called for it but we never had it.”

[andym]

5. Let's hope that Manchin is an empiricist

Last edited Sun Apr 11, 2021, 03:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Let him try to find common ground with a party that is now rooted as strongly in opposing Democrats first and foremost, and then opposing anything the federal government does that they believe private business would do better: basically everything.
When he fails, as is almost certain, will he now agree to proceed with the Democratic legislation?

[BlueNProud]

6. Manchin is a stupid old racist a-hole pretending that he's standing up for some "principle"

Its insulting to even try to figure out what point he's trying to make. Bottom line there's not much separating him from John Cornyn and the like.

[Bristlecone]

7. More like a Unicorn

[doc03]

8. I remember him a few years ago talking about

running for governor again. He said he was just fed up with Washington that you can't get anything done because of the partisan politics. Now he has a chance to do something and holds everything himself.

[Irish_Dem]

9. What he really wants is not elusive.

[msfiddlestix]

11. Quite a perfect description, even if I don't remember Reagan say that joke

I wasn't in the habit of listening to Ronald Raygun, avoided a lot of the time, but I appreciate this one from him.

Clever of Jonathan Capehart to call it up for this occasion.

Well done!

[Baked Potato]

12. 7 million more votes got us THIS!? Just kidding.....

[Salviati]

13. The Man of LaManchin tilting at windmills.

[moondust]

14. He wants to appease the insurrectionists.

Last edited Sun Apr 11, 2021, 05:02 PM - Edit history (1)

The West Virginia Democrat not only still supports the filibuster — now he wants to appease the insurrectionists

That's the message I've gotten as well. He's basically legitimizing the insurrectionists as if they are just another interest group with legitimate concerns that need to be heard and addressed with compromise.