How long will Manchin hold out for bipartisanship? (#4436)

      The truth be told the idea that any republican at this point will willingly be bipartisan is ridiculous. Yet that is what Joe Manchin would have us believe. He has to have an underlying motive to extol this fantasy. That which I cannot fathom from his public remarks yet it is true nonetheless. So what could the motive be for him to act like a republican in obstructing democratic values? I am disappointed in that his explanations are not very deep with considered logic so the only other conclusions I can form is that Joe Manchin is being disingenuous or is not very bright. It is difficult to think that Joe Manchin is not very bright as he has shown an astute political nature over the life of his public career.
     So what is left is him being less than honest with us about his motives. I cannot reckon a reason for him to be so stubbornly glued to the filibuster without changes if he is really a democrat with the same aims as our democratic caucus. He has left some room for change if a serious bipartisan effort from republicans is not forthcoming and I expect at that time he will throw his hands up in the air and say well then it is time to change the filibuster to another form. The theatrics of it all are frustrating though since the time to act is now and not later after once again republicans stall and work to let the time run out on this 117th Congress.
     Joe Manchin holds the keys to our future and he is not letting us get the car started. The pressure we put on him to explain his rationale beyond the bipartisanship angle is what is needed because the longer he has to defend his now becoming more ridiculous stance the sooner he will get to ending his opposition. What all of us who want the filibuster out of the way need to do is keep hammering Joe Manchin with the facts of the filibuster and the sordid intransigence of the republican party. We will get there because I know that Joe Manchin will not want to go down into history as the one person who destroyed America's democracy. Because that is what is at stake as long as the filibuster is held in higher esteem than the fundamentals for democratic rule.