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A new interview with Mitch McConnell this week showed the first cracks in the wall of his optimism about the midterms. While not going down a path of gloom and doom, he no longer sounds positive of breaking a long-standing trend of the party in power losing ground in such scenarios. He’s not coming out and saying the GOP’s majorities in both chambers are toast, but he seems to think they’ll be losing seats. (The Hill) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says in a new interview that he expects to see GOP majorities in the House and Senate shrink...

It’s doubtful you can find a more succinct example of TDS than a seemingly inebriated Democrat Senator asking the aggregate intelligence apparatus, during a public session of congress, to give specific details of U.S. covert intelligence efforts to thwart Russian, Chinese and North Korean cyber-warfare. As Democrat Senator Joe Manchin professionally restrained himself from laughing, even Democrat Senator Kamala Harris couldn’t avoid the eye-roll. ‘Muh Russia’ is real. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), ranking member of armed services committee, began his mid-day sluration with a ‘resist-we-much‘ effort to continue the vast White House Russian conspiracy narrative, and slowly morphed into a...

It’s not easy being the man in the middle. Joe Manchin will be the first one to tell anyone that. “I am trying to hang in there, but it is getting tougher every day,” he told me. “You know why I say it sucks? Because it doesn’t have to suck. It doesn’t have to be an unfriendly, hostile work environment. The reason I say hostile is the way things are set up on both the Republican and Democrat side, you are supposed to come to work every day and work against the person on the other end,” he added, referring...

I can’t understand why Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia remains a Democrat. Ideologically, he is far closer to Mitch McConnell or even Ted Cruz than he is to the Schumer-Pelosi Democrats.  His constituents in the Mountaineer State (“Mountaineer” is the polite word for “Hillbilly”) gave President Trump overwhelming support in 2016, and remain loyal to him.  When it doesn’t matter to the outcome, he can break with the Dems to support the GOP in Senate votes. But when push comes to shove, he is a Party Man. During the State of the Union Address, he visibly surrendered to...

Enny, Meany, Miney, Moe, whose the dumbest political buffoons you know? Answer, Pollsters, Pundits and Obamabot Media Fools, enmasse. Oops...looks like, the upcoming political "Blue Wave of The Democrat Party has gone "South" big time. Trump wins again, this time, done & accomplished, with great ease, style, and a hands down political whipping given and administered by POTUS, Donald J. Trump in his magnificent, SOTU speech. Actually, the Democrat Party, The absolute racist, Congressional Black Caucus, the Democrat "Frothing" Media Goons took a serious tongue lashing last evening dished out by DJT. The handwriting is now clearly on the wall,...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Tired of all this Winning yet? – President Donald Trump (I never tire of typing those words) gave a wonderful State of the Union Address Tuesday night. The speech was filled with soaring rhetoric about American unity, American greatness and America’s renewed place of leadership in the world. So naturally the Democrats hated it. The speech talked about the creation of 2.4 million new jobs since Trump took office, record low unemployment and the booming stock market. So naturally the Democrats hated it. The speech talked about our flag and what it...

West Virginia's Sen. Joe Manchin (D.) criticized House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) after being shown a clip of her characterizing President Donald Trump's immigration plan as a way to "Make America White Again." CNN's "State of the Union" host Jake Tapper used the Pelosi clip to start a discussion on immigration. "Let me just say what I said last night: that plan is a campaign to make America white again," Pelosi said. "You know what, we don't need that type of rhetoric on either side, from Nancy, Paul Ryan or anybody else," Manchin said. Manchin proceeded to say...

“Let me just say what I said last night: that plan is a campaign to make America white again." That was House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's deranged analysis of President Donald Trump's new DACA proposal. Jake Tapper played the video and asked West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin (D) for his reaction to Pelosi's wild statement on today's State of the Union on CNN. 

RUSH: Here’s another great piece, another Limbaugh echo. There’s so many Limbaugh echoes out there today that I’m reveling in it here, folks. By the way, from TheHill.com, headline: “Left Says Democrats Caved on Shutdown — Progressives are hammering [Chuck You] Schumer for his agreement … to end the government shutdown on Monday. Even House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has spoken out against the deal, saying there was no reason to support it. ‘I don’t see that there’s any reason — I’m speaking personally and hearing from my members — to support what was put forth,’ Pelosi said…” Pelosi is...

Though federal employees won’t get a paycheck during the governmment shutdown, members of Congress will — unless they specify otherwise. Ten Democratic senators on Friday introduced a bill that would withhold pay for members of Congress during the government shutdown. The legislation comes from Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), along with Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.). “It’s wrong that members of Congress would still get paid in...

Of course it will, Joe.  More than 80 percent of Americans will get a tax cut next year under the new law, with nearly as many taxpayers enjoying relief through at least 2026 (and very likely beyond).  Of the plan's tiny handful of 'losers' (less than five percent), most are high-income earners living in high-tax states who itemize their deductions -- as opposed to taking the now-doubled standard deduction, as 70 percent of filers currently do (a number that will grow).  It...doesn't sound like many West Virginians fit that profile.  Manchin knew all of this, of course, but he voted...

At the Netroots Nation conference in Atlanta, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the darling of the progressive Left, was blunt and straightforward in her vision of the party. They’re in a rut because they’re not left wing enough and further left is where they should go. Ever since the 2016 primaries, the Warren/Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wing of the party has become more vocal, more active, and completely blinded with rage over Donald Trump’s 2016 win. Many are saying the moderate, centrist path that kept Bill Clinton in the White House for two terms is over, and that Jon Ossoff, who...

Senators Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp on Thursday became the first Democrats to support the confirmation of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, giving Republicans two of eight Democratic votes needed to avoid a nasty fight on the U.S. Senate floor next week. Both West Virginia's Manchin and North Dakota's Heitkamp are up for re-election next year in states that voted for Trump in the 2016 presidential election. "I hold no illusions that I will agree with every decision Judge Gorsuch may issue in the future, but I have not found any reasons why this jurist should not...

After his speech Tuesday night, President Trump gave Sen. Joe Manchin a bro handshake and a bro hug. Now almost a quarter million liberals want Sen. Chuck Schumer to give the West Virginia Democrat the boot. On Thursday dozens of activists plan to deliver 225,000 petitions to Schumer's office, asking the minority leader to kick the "Trump-apologist Joe Manchin from Senate Democratic Leadership."

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) told CNN anchor Chris Cuomo on Wednesday that he looks forward to meeting with President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, and has no intention of filibustering him with fellow Democrats. Manchin began the interview by scolding Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and other Republican senators for refusing to allow a vote on former President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland last year. While Manchin acknowledged that Republicans probably had enough votes to block Garland, he said that they should have at least met with Garland and allowed a vote. Manchin then...

Did Joe Manchin just open the door for Republicans to invoke the nuclear option if necessary to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court? In appearances on CNN and MSNBC this morning, Dem Senator Manchin blasted his fellow Dems for having invoked the nuclear option in the first place. Said Manchin on Morning Joe: “I’ve been opposed to the nuclear option. I thought Harry Reid was dead wrong when he did it. I voted against that. My dear beloved senator, prior to my coming here, was Robert C. Byrd and he would be rolling over in his grave knowing what...

A group of 25 environmental activists stormed West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s office Tuesday morning, demanding he vote against President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for key administration posts. Activists carried a sign that read, “Democrats: You’re not climate deniers. Don’t vote like them.” Activists are specifically urging Manchin, a pro-coal Democrat, to vote against the confirmation of former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., extended an olive branch on Thursday to his Republican colleagues and the incoming GOP administration, stating he would have no personal issue confirming Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., for attorney general. "I know Jeff Sessions. Jeff is a friend of mine and I would say I would support Jeff," Manchin told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday evening. Manchin also plans to vote for Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. "He's a tremendous person. Now they said 'are you worried about Rex because he might have a relationship with Putin.' I said 'I...

President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is considering Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia for the energy secretary job, according to three sources close to the discussions. The conservative Democrat “is being considered to show the coal people how serious Trump is about coal,” one source said. Manchin told POLITICO Thursday afternoon that he and his staff haven’t been contacted by Trump’s transition team and he didn't have any trips to New York City on his calendar. But Manchin, who is up for reelection in 2018 in a state that has become increasingly more Republican over the past decade, also didn’t...

What a difference a few weeks makes. Right up until the morning of November 8th the two parties were lined up in the political equivalent of trenches on the western front in WW1. You’d have been hard pressed to find a Democrat anywhere in the nation who wasn’t ready to declare open rhetorical warfare on Donald Trump and anyone agreeing with a single policy he endorsed. But now, with the dust largely settled, there’s a particular group of Democrats in the Senate who suddenly are finding common ground to be a good thing and are ready to work across the...