July 15, 2022 09:27 AM UTC

Manchin Kills Climate Change Bill to Joe O'Dea's Delight

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• by: Colorado Pols

West Virginia “Democratic” Sen. Joe Manchin is every Republican’s favorite Senator. He showed why again on Thursday, as The Washington Post reports:

Manchin told Democratic leaders Thursday he would not support an economic package that contains new spending on climate change or new tax increases targeting wealthy individuals and corporations, marking a massive setback for party lawmakers who had hoped to advance a central element of their agenda before the midterm elections this fall. [Pols emphasis]

The major shift in negotiations — confirmed by two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the talks — threatened to upend the delicate process to adopt the party’s signature economic package seven months after Manchin scuttled the original, roughly $2 trillion Build Back Better Act, which President Biden had endorsed.

Manchin has become such a reliable wet blanket for Republicans that political reporters around the country probably operate off of a pre-written template for similar storylines: West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin singlehandedly sunk hopes for [election protection/climate change/tax reform/gun violence] legislation on [insert day].

While Democrats and anyone worried about Climate Change fumed on Friday morning, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Colorado was busy patting Manchin on the back:

This Tweet is an interesting look at how Joe “Horse Sushi” O’Dea is trying to pivot toward a broader General Election audience after concluding his Primary Election run by talking about all of his connections to MAGA land and Donald Trump. This is not the first time that O’Dea has praised Manchin, nor will it be the last. O’Dea wants voters who pay some attention to politics to think that Manchin is the ideal example of a “moderate” so that O’Dea can say that he’s just like the West Virginia Senator.

The reality is very different from the spin. Manchin isn’t a Climate Change denier, but he does have strong personal and political ties to the coal industry in West Virginia that (wrongly) color his views on potential legislation. O’Dea, meanwhile, won’t even acknowledge that humans are causing Climate Change:

Based on characterizations of his position by other outlets, I’ve been giving Joe O’Dea too much credit on climate change.

This, from a @DenverChannel interview last week, is not just hedging or obfuscation, it’s straight-up flat-earth climate denial. pic.twitter.com/HrR6Ci0tEh

— Chase Woodruff (@dcwoodruff) June 30, 2022

As we wrote before in this space, O’Dea has also said in no uncertain terms that he would have supported ALL of the recent nominees for the U.S Supreme Court.

O’Dea may want voters to think he’s similar to Manchin, but he’s really more like another former Republican Senate candidate from Colorado who pretended to be a moderate on the campaign trail and then became a rubber stamp for Mitch McConnell.

You might remember the name: Cory Gardner.