by Noah There's ordinary betrayal and then there's betrayal to the max. Forget about burning the FOX "News" Christmas Tree. The perfect American Festival Of Lights would be a coordinated day called The National Burning Of Joe Manchin Effigies Day. Smirking Joe Manchin dragged this out for the whole year, Then, on the eve of Christmas, Smirking Joe flipped the bird to the whole country and handed the enemy what they wanted, just like his role model Benedict Arnold handed over West Point. Might as well throw Pelosi on the fire, too. I have much more to say about Smirking Joe Manchin in Part 6 of my GOON-O-RAMA Year In Review series. It's fitting that that will run on Christmas day. In the meantime, this post will concentrate on what some of those who are in the trenches of the warzone that is Congress have to say. First up is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY): Her NY-14 district consists of more than a third as many Americans as live in the entire state of West Virginia. That in itself points out a structural flaw in our form of government. "When a handful of us in the House warned this would happen if Dem leaders gave Manchin everything he wanted first by moving BIF before BBB instead of passing together, many ridiculed our position. Maybe they’ll believe us next time. Or maybe people will just keep calling us naïve." Or maybe they knew damn well what they, being owned by banks, bribe dispensing CEOs, and other slime, were doing all along, eh? Next, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN): The mere mention of her name and the sight of her headwear is enough to raise the blood pressure of any Republican. There's a certain power in that. If all the Democrats in the House were actually cool, they would all come to work everyday dressed exactly like her. Then we could all place bets as to which Republican would keel over dead first from apoplexy, high blood pressure, or blood spurting out of both ears and the tops of their heads like an oil gusher. My money would be on Paul Gosar. "When democracies are no longer able to address their constituents’ needs and demands, authoritarians seize power. I’ve seen it time and time again. And ours was already on life support." Well, that's what a lot of those goons in Washington and the people that own them want, isn't it? Next up is Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA): As Smirking Joe was leaving his beloved FOX "News" studio in his Maserati on his way to his "Fuck You I've Got Mine" yacht, Rep. Lee said: "This is exactly why my progressive colleagues and I fought so hard to keep the Build Back Better and Bipartisan Infrastructure bills together, because we knew that Senator Manchin may choose to side with Republicans and corporate lobbyists over American families." Unfortunately, most of the Washington scum in suits crowd tells us every damn day, "American families? Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." Smirking Joe Manchin is merely the latest of the scum to rise to the top to assert his sociopathic power over "the ordinary Americans," "the little people," "the rabble." Isn't that right, Joe. Last up is Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA): Ms. Jayapal should make a great Speaker Of The House someday. "Today, Senator Manchin has betrayed his commitment not only to the President and Democrats in Congress but most importantly, to the American people. He routinely touts that he is a man of his word, but he can no longer say that. West Virginians, and the country, see clearly who he is." Well, people who are awake and paying attention, people who have enough properly functioning brain cells see who Smirking Joe Manchin is, but that's not nearly enough. The rest asked for this and they got it. This huge and all too predictable betrayal can only be a surprise to the most naive among us. I won't be shocked if a photo of Pelosi and Manchin having a celebratory Sunday dinner after his deliberately in your face FOX appearance surfaces. Will they be toasting each other in the photo or just high-fiving? I can't help but think of the movie Casablanca. "I'm shocked! Shocked and appalled" to find subterfuge and betrayal in Congress!
