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James's avatar

Couple-a things: first, Senator Warren, author of several books on finance for teens and average people, is not stupid, despite sometimes appearing so. It's worse than that: she's dishonest. She knows quite well that inflation, as Milton Friedman said, is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon. Simply put, inflation always comes from money-printing not backed by equivalent increases in production. It's ALWAYS a government thing.

Second, Joe Manchin is the senator from my home state, West-by-God-Virginia. I've met him a couple of times, and he, too, is not stupid; far from it. His family tradition as Democrats goes way back, to include an uncle, A. James Manchin, who was a flamboyant politician in the old school of back-slapping and baby-kissing. Truly a delightful man.

But Joe now has a real problem. He was elected as a Democrat in a highly Democratic, United Mine Workers of America state. They say every kitchen in West Virginia has two pictures on the wall: Jesus and John L. Lewis. Unfortunately, as the Democrat party lurched to the left, West Virginia became heavily Republican, leaving Joe - elected as a Democrat - hanging high and dry. Change parties? He'd might as well try to change his sex. But he now has to walk that line between common sense and the radical left. Never trust him completely; just hope he can hang in there and stop the lunatics bent on destroying this Nation.

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Deep Turning's avatar

The Warren books on finance were ghostwritten. Her knowledge of finance is limited, her knowledge of economics zilch.

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James's avatar

I wasn't aware. How do you know that?

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Stewie's avatar

If you listen to Elizabeth Warren early in her legal career she sounds smart, sincere, and really doing her best standing up for consumers. Sometime after going into politics she really lost her way. Power corrupts.

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James's avatar

I couldn't agree more. I bought several of her books when I was teaching my two teenaged sons about money. She's a perfect example of how important it is to have a strong mind and solid morals when assuming public office.

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Kevin Durant?'s avatar

I’m sorry did you say…….powwow corrupts?

😂😂😂

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James's avatar

I remember in the debates when she ambushed Bernie Sanders, accusing him of having called her a liar. I always thought his response, "This is not the place to discuss it." was pretty weak. He should have said, "So you think I called you a liar huh? This is not the place to talk about it. Let's go to your tent." --- and walked away.

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Stewie's avatar

There is most likely a scandal underlying that particular episode but maybe not. Our favorite quasi-indigenous senator does not have a great relationship with the truth.

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Kevin Durant?'s avatar

I made this same point about Elizabeth Warren, in a way that was both crass and slapdash, in my last newsletter titled Elizabeth Whorin’.

It’s important to create a distinction between the Democrats who are evil and the ones who are stupid. The politicians are 95/5 evil/stupid and the voters are 80/20 stupid/evil.

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james p mc grenra's avatar

James...nice light on that topic...yepper

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TxFrog's avatar

Mitch McConnell should offer Joe Manchin the position of majority leader if he will switch parties.

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Brian Katz's avatar

Joe Manchin is a hero and a patriot. He has to hold the line until the midterms, where red reinforcements will be added. I do worry about what the loons on the left will throw at him come January. It will be ugly I’m sure.

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JD Free's avatar

Manchin is... less crazy than the rest of his cohort, that's all.

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Shane Gericke's avatar

He is neither hero nor patriot. He's an extraction industry politician desperate to get re-elected, and believes this "moderate" approach will allow it to happen. He would have happily voted for BBB if it guaranteed six more years in the Senate.

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Brian Katz's avatar

Politicians are whores, yes I agree. WVA is coal country too. So Joe Manchin did what anyone from WVA should have done. But most would not have done so under the circumstances. So Manchin gets the gold star for saving America and Killing the Bill.

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Shane Gericke's avatar

Respectfully disagree, Brian. He did exactly what he had to do to get re-elected in coal country, but most anyone else in his situation would have done the same. Gonna be interesting to see if this backfires, though--the United Mine Workers and others out of work are monumentally irritated at his refusal to vote for BBB and lobbying him to change his mind.

Personally, I always considered BBB too much of a whale. Something so big, nobody knows what's inside, good or bad. I'd rather Democrats break it into pieces and offer up each for a vote. It's smarter financially, and political gold: force the GOP to vote against $300 a month payments for children? Genius politics.

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Brian Katz's avatar

Ah yes, the politics of morality.

Ridicule, Saul Alinsky’s favorite tool.

Glad I never stepped into that cesspool.

I can’t quite understand why anyone would choose this as a career path.

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Shane Gericke's avatar

Ridicule was also Rush Limbaugh's favorite tool. He used it to run the Republican Party.

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Brian Katz's avatar

Yes, Alinsky had that affect on all of them.

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Shane Gericke's avatar

Alinsky was a genius. I'm not a fan of his ways, but he knew how to break things.

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Brian Katz's avatar

I read his book, yes - he was very smart. Scary.

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Lars Porsena's avatar

Manchin may be a hero but he's the unlikelyest of heros.

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