"This is not a center-left country," Manchin says to @JohnBerman on @NewDay

but if you take all of the voters in the USA and categorize us by far right, center right, middle, center left, far left...

We are, in fact, a center left nation.

Based on individual politics, we are a center left country

Based on structural politics, we are center right (or even a right wing) country.

That has to do with structural bias in the Senate, Electoral College, voting restrictions, gerrymandering not to mention the secondary effects that those biases have on the courts and other institutions.

This is what makes it so frustrating to be a Democrat. Being in the majority isn't enough to actually get things done and it sucks.

This is why the often-cited fact that "we are the majority" (which I hear every day on Progressive radio) isn't as comforting today as it used to be. Wasn't only 15% (?) of Italy Fascist when Mussolini took over? It doesn't take that many people to overthrow a system of government.

generally they are very loud minorities.

many left leaning things. The more recent is getting rid of the police dept and replacing it with something else in Minneapolis .

But things like paid family leave do have large majority support so in that case what you describe is true.

And another thing is people would vote for the candidate that opposes paid family leave if they support keeping the police dept over a candidate that would support family leave while supporting getting rid of the police dept .

But I wouldn't characterize the police initiative as "left-leaning". I don't know much about it but it sounded pretty left wing. So it doesn't surprise me that it failed because the entire "defund the police" movement was not nearly as mainstream as the right wing made it sound. At least as it relates to complete defunding as opposed to reform.

Which speaks to your point about how people would support someone against that initiative even if they were against something like paid family leave. It is simply a bridge too far for most people.

our agenda. More than anything, I wonder if West Virginians read the newspapers and realize what he is attempting to deprive them of. Doesn't he get local blowback from anybody? How do the WV newspapers handle him?

This is to help the working class and poor. Obviouly you don't care. Apparently you and the GQP feel threaten and feel that you guys will lose power and lots and lots of money. And I guess that is the whole point.

Even if he's right, (he's right about West Virginia, but not about America) he should still support Biden and the bill. America wants to pull back from government negligence and the fascist abyss.

I would really like to hear from Manchin’s mouth, as to why he is a Democrat.

And while there's a lot of religious wingnuts in WV, there are probably more centerist independent types that if given a good ol boy coal type to vote for, they would prefer to vote Dixiecrat like grandpappy than vote Republican, especially if they feel their Dixiecrat will poke a finger in the eye of those damn fool elitist liberals that seem to have took over their party.

Haele

Americans are liberal-libertarian.

So I half agree with Senator ManChild.