Manchin’s Sin? He Has a Mind of His Own.

But the implication was there. In refusing to vote to end the filibuster and give Democrats the final say in every damn thing, Manchin became Jemele’s worst nightmare, a throwback to the guys in sheets.

It’s incredibly ironic, since that other guy from West Virginia who the Democrats absolutely loved really did wear white percale, presumably against a backdrop of evening flames. Yes, I’m referring to the late, not-so-great Robert Byrd, who was an actual member of the KKK for years. Eventually, he became one of the first victims of wokeness and apologized for being the racist that he always, apparently, was.

The Democrats have forgiven him, over and over again. Sure, he was a bigot, and sure, he thought that the KKK was a civil rights organization and sure, he wasn’t particularly concerned about the optics of wearing sheets in public, but the Dems just chalk that up to a misspent youth. He was in his twenties when he joined, and older than that when he publicly condemned the group, but why quibble. And we can even forgive him for writing this in a letter to a colleague in 1946, since he did say he was sorry:

“I shall never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side … Rather I should die a thousand times and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt, never to rise again than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”

Like I said, he apologized, so all good.

Not so with Manchin. People like Jemele Hill will continue to blather on about how Black people saved democracy just so a bigot like Joe Manchin could destroy it all over again. It couldn’t possibly be because the senator has a mind of his own.

Apparently, being an independent thinker is racist these days.

But being a Klan member is a youthful mistake. The Dems are such a forgiving group, aren’t they?

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Christine Flowers is an attorney and a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times, and can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com. Copyright 2021 Christine Flowers, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.