Sunday, July 17, 2022

BERNIE COMES TO BIDEN'S AID
Joe Manchin hammered on ABC’s 'This Week' for ‘intentionally sabotaging’ Biden’s agenda

Bob Brigham
July 17, 2022

Sen. Joe Manchin / Senate Democratic caucus on Flickr.

Democratic Party Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was blasted on the ABC News program "This Week" after announcing he would scuttle President Joe Biden's agenda.

During an interview with host Martha Raddatz, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Maine blasted his Senate colleague

"Senator, I want to turn Congress and the agenda there. Senator Manchin, of course, abruptly pulled the plug this week on the Democrats’ plans to pass," Raddatz began before being interrupted by Sanders.

"No, Martha, he didn't abruptly," Sanders interjected.


"Okay, let -- okay, he abruptly on Friday did that," she argued.

"Martha, let me disagree with you. He didn't abruptly do anything," Sanders said. "No, look, if you check the record, six months ago, I made it clear that you have people like Manchin, [Kyrsten] Sinema to a lesser degree, who are intentionally sabotaging the president's agenda, what the American people, what a majority of us in the Democratic Caucus want. Nothing new about this.

"And the problem was that we continue to talk Manchin like he was serious," Sanders continued. "He was not. This is a guy who is a major recipient of fossil fuel money, a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires."

Sanders went on to blast Manchin for imperiling younger Americans.

"So, when Manchin sabotages climate change, this is the future generations what's going on right now," Sanders said. "In the West, all over the world, we’re looking at significantly increased -- more and more heat waves. You’d have to look at more flooding. This is an existential threat to humanity. And what this election must be about is whether or not we’re going to vote for candidates who will have (ph) to stand up for working people, stand up for the planets and have the courage to take on the billionaire class who dominates our economy and our political life."

"That's what this election is about," he said.

Watch below or at this link.
 

Bernie Sanders Is Mad as Hell at Joe Manchin’s Corruption, And He’s Not Gonna Take It Anymore


Peter Wade
ROLLING STONE
Sun, July 17, 2022

Bernie Sanders - Credit: AP

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday pulled no punches when attacking Sen. Joe Manchin, accusing him of “intentionally sabotaging the president’s agenda” and blocking “what the American people want.”

Manchin this week announced his refusal to support two major provisions in President Biden’s economic package: tax increases on the rich and spending on initiatives to stave off climate change. It likely marked the nail in the coffin for Biden’s and Democrats’ vision of a transformative economic package — a vision that the party has continually revised and pared back in a failed bid to win Manchin’s support.

More from Rolling Stone

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Sanders was so mad, he opted not wait for journalist Martha Raddatz to finish her question, balking at the framing.

“Sen. Joe Manchin, of course, abruptly pulled the plug this week on the Democrats’ plans to pass,” Raddatz began.

“No, Martha. Let me respectfully disagree. He didn’t abruptly do anything,” Sanders interjected during a Sunday appearance on ABC’s This Week. “He has sabotaged the president’s agenda. … Six months ago, I made it clear that you have people like Manchin — [and] Sinema, to a lesser degree — who are intentionally sabotaging the president’s agenda, what the American people want, what a majority of us in the Democratic caucus want. Nothing new about this.”

Sanders added, “The problem was that we continued to talk to Manchin like he was serious; he was not. This is a guy who’s a major recipient of fossil fuel money, a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires.”



“You say he wasn’t serious,” Raddatz said in response. “Manchin says his main goal is to do what’s good for West Virginia, and he’s worried about inflation.”

“Really? Really?” the Vermont senator replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Is that right?”

Responding to a Manchin quote about inflation and how it affects his West Virginia constituents, Sanders argued that it’s “the same nonsense Manchin has been talking about for a year” and pointed out that Manchin’s state is one of the poorest in the nation. “You ask the people of West Virginia whether they want to expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing, and eyeglasses. You ask the people of West Virginia whether we should demand that the wealthiest people and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes. Ask the people of West Virginia whether or not all people should have health care as a human right like in every other country on Earth. That’s what they will say.”

He concluded, “In my humble opinion, Manchin represents the very wealthiest people in this country, not working families in West Virginia or America.”

 

This is far from the first time Manchin has torpedoed Biden’s legislative hopes. He opposed an earlier version of Biden’s Build Back Better Act, which included proposals to lower health care costs and expand access, fix immigration, assist families with child care costs, and attempt to address climate change. Manchin’s reluctance to act on climate — despite his recent public claims to the contrary — is fueled by his deeply vested interest in oil and coal. Manchin has fought for years to keep open his state’s dirtiest coal plant while reaping the profits at great expense to his constituents, Jeff Goodell reported for Rolling Stone. “Joe Manchin will absolutely throw humanity under the coal train without blinking an eye,” Maria Gunnoe, director of the Mother Jones Community Foundation and a longtime West Virginia activist, told Goodell. “My friends and I have a joke about his kind: They’d mine their momma’s grave for a buck.”

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