General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is the (D) behind the name more important than the voting record? [View all]BainsBane
(53,031 posts)Being a Democrat is not an ideology but membership in the party. As a voter you may well weigh voting record as a primary issue, but when it comes to administrative organs like the DNC, that is a matter for members of the party.
The comparison between Manchin and Sanders is pointless. There aren't running against each other. WV voters decide on Manchin and VT voters on Sanders.
If this is all about purging the party of the red state Dems people despise, I'm not disposed to be so helpful to Donald Trump and the GOP.
Here is a key difference between Manchin and Sanders: Manchin, although a registered Democrat, doesn't try to control the party, whereas Bernie feels entitled to decide internal party positions and dictate its direction despite not joining the party. He also spends a lot of time criticizing the party in ways that haven't varied between the 1960s and now, even to the point of denouncing a "status quo" already upended by the election and the Trump administration.
I might make the analogy of neighbors. If I have a neighbor whom I happen to agree with on most issues who spends his time telling me off about my housework, I am going to find him more annoying than the neighbor with whom I share few common opinions but doesn't lecture me. Manners matter, and It's my damn house.