Manchin's little filibuster was political poison

Mar. 22—Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., during this, his last year in a long run of what has been, at times, distinguished political service to the people of West Virginia, decided to embarrass himself on Thursday with a clumsy and sophomoric tactic on his way out the door. Manchin said he would not vote to confirm any of the president's nominees to the federal bench unless the candidate could draw at least one vote from the Republican side of the aisle.

Yes, it was all about politics, a selfish and poisonous brand, instead of what would best serve the nation. Regardless of a judicial nominee's credentials and competence, legal ability, breadth of experience and standards of judicial temperament and integrity, despite all of those qualifying characteristics that would weigh the fitness of a judge to sit on the federal bench, Manchin instead turned to politics and a head count.

It was a sad and confounding day for the Senate and for our senior senator.

There is no confusion. Manchin is an opportunist. Like too many politicians, he loves the spotlight and delights in leveraging any advantage to have his way and get his name in the headlines. He seems to enjoy piquing President Joe Biden and those from the left wing of his own party.

Well, once again attracting news cameras and scribes, Sen. Manchin delivered yet another failed and disappointing effort to push his own agenda of bipartisanship. We get it. These are dark days for our politicians. Collaboration has largely gone missing in efforts to pass legislation that might push the country forward on a wide range of issues.

But withholding a vote while waiting on someone from the other side of the aisle to vote the same way? On a judicial nominee?

Too clever by half, Manchin called his little gambit "my own little filibuster."

There was a time when Manchin, doing what was best for the general welfare, summoned the courage to do what was right. Perhaps the most notable of all was when he teamed up with Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, on gun control legislation that would have mandated criminal background checks on all sales between private parties with limited exceptions.

But those days are all but packed away in a dusty old cardboard box, waiting for the moving van to carry it all back home.

Even his fellow Mountaineer, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, expressed surprise with what Manchin was up to.

"I can't explain, all of a sudden, why he's decided to vote against these," she said.

As we count down the final days of Manchin's public life, let's hope that he parks the bitterness and resentment at home and goes to work, again, for the people of West Virginia.

What we saw this week was both confusing and embarrassing, hardly a principled approach we expect from our U.S. senator.