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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Dem" Senator Defends Koch Brothers: 'They're Not Breaking The Law'
CAITLIN MACNEAL APRIL 10, 2014, 12:25 PM EDT
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Thursday morning defended the Koch brothers, the wealthy conservative donors who have been repeatedly bashed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on the Senate floor.
"People want jobs. You dont beat up people. I mean, I dont agree with their politics or philosophically, but, you know, theyre Americans, theyre doing paying their taxes," Manchin said on "Fox and Friends" when host Brian Kilmeade asked if Reid's speeches criticizing the Koch brothers "helps or hurts the cause for the country and for Congress."
"Theyre not breaking the law. Theyre providing jobs," Manchin continued.
The senator said that criticizing the Koch brothers is not going to help Democrats with voters.
more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/manchin-defends-koch-brothers
riqster
(13,986 posts)IADEMO2004
(5,566 posts)Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)But Manchin is doing what the voters of WV asked him to do...represent their interests.
MindMover
(5,016 posts)enough already .... the selling out of the USA has to stop ....
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Prophet 451
(9,796 posts)THAT'S THE PROBLEM!
Tom Rinaldo
(22,917 posts)He votes with Dems far more often than he votes against us, with obvious glaring exceptions. His record is about as good or better on whole as the old school North East moderate Republican Senators when such a beast still roamed Capital Hill. I'm not going to lose sleep over Joe Manchin when he predictably fails to act like a Liberal. I have more tolerance for his sort when they come out of states that are prone to elect reactionary Republicans. However I have no tolerance for that crap when it comes from a Blue State Democrat.
Dawgs
(14,755 posts)Hey, at least they're not breaking the law.
spanone
(135,900 posts)whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)Or whatever the typical partisan nonsense line is.
justhanginon
(3,290 posts)They don't have to, They wrote the GDamn laws with campaign contributions to appropriate congressmen. Unless and until we change the campaign finance laws there will always be Koch brothers in one form or another. The problem lies with the people charged with changing those laws are the very recipients of the their largess and do not have the moral courage to make those changes.
With the current makeup of the so called Supreme Court today I am not sure that it would get past the fab five since they have abdicated their responsibility to the American people in favor of both the rich and business classes.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)If Harry Reid wants people like the Kochs to pay higher taxes, or to benefit from fewer tax loopholes (and there is certainly a reasonable case for this) then why not spend his time proposing and introducing legislation that would actually achieve this, as opposed to making speeches vilifying the Kochs and calling them unAmerican?
a kennedy
(29,723 posts)has been on faux, cnn and DOES NOT VOTE WITH THE DEMOCRATS..... D*MN.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)All Democrats voted to keep federally funding Planned Parenthood, including self-proclaimed pro-lifers Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Of course, Casey and Nelson had already voted for Planned Parenthood funding in 2007 and voted for taxpayer-funding of abortion in Obamacare last year. Not so with Manchin. This was the first vote that really pits him against pro-lifers. He was a very popular governor, but this voting to send taxpayer money to a billion-dollar "non-profit" business that performs more than 330,000 abortions per year could come back to haunt him in his conservative state in 2012.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/joe-manchin-votes-send-taxpayer-money-planned-parenthood_557431.html
a kennedy
(29,723 posts)let's just check his recored on voting.....http://www.opencongress.org/people/voting_history/412391_Joe_Manchin Votes with party 79% Abstains: 1% Ugh.....not a strong Democrat. Ugh.
AlinPA
(15,071 posts)Otherwise, he acts like a republican. The Fox "news" asshole seems to like him.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)I have never supported repealing the Affordable Care Act because I came to Washington to find solutions to our countrys problems, the West Virginia senator said Friday. We cannot go back to the days when millions of Americans were uninsured and nearly twenty percent of our GDP was spent on healthcare, while only being ranked 43rd in the world in health and wellness outcomes.
http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/manchin-makes-clear-he-still-opposes-obamacare-repeal/?dcz=
AlinPA
(15,071 posts)geardaddy
(24,931 posts)Look at the caption: "Demonization and Hypocrisy the New Democratic Political Attack Strategy"
What, are they pissed that we're stealing their ideas?
Not that that's what Dems do though.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)That they are not breaking the law, perhaps the Senator has forgotten that the Rockeffelers at the turn of the last century were not breaking the law either
The law had to change and that monopoly was broken perhaps it is time we have the law changed.
Oh and morally they are not quite the most ethically bound people but that is a whole different story.
Now given the reliance of WV on energy..