I mean really, he’s a coal baron for crying out loud
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Manchin is not moderate by any stretch. He is so blatantly beholden to his special interest money sources that he doesn’t seem to have any political direction at all. He’s a democrat by title who pretty much hangs out with the Republicans, and also votes with them. That’s not moderate.
He’s a “moderate centrist” in the sense that he’s basically the median senator. Which honestly says more about the Senate than it does about him or his politics.
He votes with Biden about 90% of the time, though. He’s obstructed some big parts if the Democratic agenda, but if you’d rather have another Republican like Shelly Capito in his seat then you’re nuts. At this point, the chance of replacing him with even a mainstream Democrat is basically nil. That whole state has swung very far right.
When he voted the same as Democrats 70% of the time.
So right wing, got it.
Hurr hurr DNC isn’t progressive enough. Move along.
But it isn’t and I must vote for them to prevent the US from becoming A Handmaid’s Tale. 😭
Whenever someone like you speaks out it’s abundantly clear that none of you will understand that people don’t vote more progressive because they don’t agree with your ideas. You’ll keep on pushing extremists views and continue with rhetoric that makes the average voters eyes roll so far back into their head they might become unstable and fall over backwards.
Pragmatic politics are dead replaced by ideology and a refusal to meet in the middle.
I can’t imagine being so braindead as to blame progressives for not meeting in the middle with literal anti democratic christo-fascists.
You’re right. It’s actually just our fault that we want the country to not be a shithole.
Yes because everyone who believes that capitalist policy mostly works and want minor changes is christo-fascist.
Thank you for driving my point home.
Wanting social programs and a safety net is branded as communism by a lot of the supposed left. Socialism can exist in a capitalist system.
The entirety of the rest of the western world is more left leaning than US politics. The Dems are center right in any other country. The only reason for that is decades and decades of capitalist propaganda programming the electorate. An electorate that when asked about specific issues is largely much more open to leftist solutions than the bought politicians they vote for.
The US Democrats are basically the conservative of any other EU countries. There are progressives among them but they are often fed to the wolves and sold as a nuisance by their own party. Think AOC and other justice dems.
Jesus Christ. Tell me where I said that? What the fuck does Europe have to do with being pragmatic about what people in the US actually vote for?
What a fascist troll. All that in response to me saying the DNC isn’t progressive enough. You’re actually unhinged dude. You don’t know the first thing about my politics. Calm the hell down.
Yeah I think we should just block this guy.
Thank you once again for driving the point home. It’s comical how easy it is.
Everyone left of the DNC is a fascist troll. I’m sure you’ll get so so many people to vote your way acting like that.
Probably about the same time “centrist” became synonymous with “conservative apologist”.
Centrists haven’t changed. The Liberal perception of them has changed. Largely because the right has gone so far fascist that it’s pretty difficult to defend allowing them into office, even if you don’t agree with the left on an issue or two.
So… the right has moved, and thus so has the “center”, meaning “centrists” are further right? So… centrist means something different?
The “centrists” that I know stand on the same ground they stood on 20 years ago. If we’re talking about the ideologies then I feel that the right has moved further right, and the left further left, which would leave the centrists about smack dab in the same spot. If we’re referring to actual political parties then the left has moved further right too. Biden is not a leftist. Any actual leftists get clobbered by the DNC.
Politics uses more buzz words than tech. Liberal, democrat, republican, moderate, progressive, etc. Usually just for headline effect, as they largely are misleading.
Just remember to call his “Left Virginia” and when it’s natives get enraged, react with mild confusion. Gaslight the hell out of them lol
He has never been moderate. Quit aping corporate media.
Bout the same time Biden the Bastard became a “Hero of the Left.”
What left wing people are you talking to? Nobody I know likes Biden. They just vote for him because the alternative is literally going to collapse democracy.
Yeah, Biden is literally the reason we have the current student debt crisis - he originally supported the bill that made it illegal to declare bankruptcy from loan debts in the early 2000s after supporting getting loans super easy back in the 70s.
More like “Hero of the Left Hook I Wanna Give Him”.
Oh I know. I was talking about the perception of the ignorant masses.
I’ve never heard anyone anywhere call Biden the Hero of the Left.
He’s the one man standing between the neoliberal middle class status quo and Trump. He’s the best they can do without compromising their relationship with the corporate overlords. That’s as far Left as we’ll ever see on the news.
Team left just censured one of their own. I’m mean, team corporate 2.
Well that may be true, it doesn’t address the comment you replied to.
It does. Blue MAGA and Red MAGA both believe the Democrats are “The Left.”
Robert Byrd was the longest serving senator. He was a leader of his local chapter of the KKK in his 20s, but left it when he got into politics.
He voted against the civil rights bill of 1965, but started supporting civil rights in the 70s and 80s.
When he died, the NAACP said:
Senator Byrd came to consistently support the NAACP civil rights agenda, doing well on the NAACP Annual Civil Rights Report Card. He stood with us on many issues of crucial importance to our members from the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, the historic health care legislation of 2010 and his support for the Hate Crimes Prevention legislation," stated Hilary O. Shelton, Director of the NAACP Washington Bureau and Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy. “Senator Byrd was a master of the Senate Rules, and helped strategize passage of legislation that helped millions of Americans. He will be sorely missed.”
Byrd certainly wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t Strom Thurmond, George Wallace or David Duke.
I really doubt he just did a 180 on being a klan leader turned anti-civil rights politician. He was an opportunist who saw a chance to gain more support by supporting more progressive policies. It’s good that he started supporting civil rights, but he and politicians like him will turn their backs on progressivism the moment it benefits them, which scares the shit out of me in times like this where conservatives are getting more radical and violent all the time.
Idk what the context for biden being with them is, but politicians take photos with all kinds of people though, even politicians on the other side of the aisle. It’s part of the political game, and based on the picture alone I wouldn’t judge him too hard just for having a picture with them
“I see your evidence but I am going to ignore it because it does not support my internal narrative”
Is basically what you just said.
Byrd was a Democrat.
The Democratic party has always been an ideologically diverse big tent coalition. Before the civil rights bills, part of that coalition were the Dixiecrats - the traditional southern pro-segregation, pro-Jim Crow part of the Democrats.
Strom Thurmond, George Wallace and Byrd were originally all Dixiecrats.
Following the civil rights bill, the Dixiecrats stopped being a part of the Democratic coalition. When people talk about the party switch, that’s what they’re talking about. Strom Thurmond joined the Republican Party, George Wallace joined the newly formed American Independant party, and Byrd publically renounced the Dixiecrat platform and became a mainstream Democrat.
Byrd died in office, back in 2010, at the age of 92. We can’t really say how much was an honest reconsideration of racism, and how much was just reading the political tea leaves and oppourtunism. But you can rest easy that the only kind of turning he can do anymore is metaphorically turning in his grave.
“Oops, I was accidentally a racist for most of my life, but I’m cool now!” --Robert Byrd.
I mean, he died over a decade ago, so at this point the question is really just academic.
It certainly sounds like he was a true believer in the KKK in his youth.
He publically rejected them in his middle age. I’m not going to pretend that I know if it was cynically reading the political tea leaves or him honestly growing as a person.
I would just say that it’s interesting to contrast what the NAACP said about Byrd when he died to what their chairman said about Strom Thurmond when he retired:
[Strom Thurmond] is a relic of America’s shameful past, who had long overstayed his welcome. And shame to his colleagues who confuse simple longevity with an illustrious legacy.
Good riddance.
I don’t think anyone considers Biden the hero of the left, except for maybe dummy Republicans who can’t understand that you can vote for a politician without worshipping them. Leftists know he’s not a leftist. Hell, centrists know he’s a corporatist.
Democrats believe they are they left as well. If you’ve never met a Blue MAGA then I envy you.
