Manchin Admits After Tuesday’s VA Blowout: America Is ‘Center, If Anything A Litter Center-Right Country’

In the wake of the stunning GOP victories in Virginia and their strong showing in New Jersey in Tuesday’s elections, West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, appearing on CNN’s “New Day” on Thursday with host John Berman, admitted, “This is not a center-left or a left country. We are center, if anything, a little center-right country.”

Berman asked Manchin, who has stonewalled President Biden’s “Build Back Better” program, deeming it too expensive, “Abigail Spanberger, Congresswoman from Virginia, a Democrat, said of Joe Biden, she says, ‘Nobody elected him to be FDR, they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos.’ What do you think about that?”

“I think he can do that; I really do,” Manchin answered. “I believe in President Biden. I still do and I will always because he’s a good person. He’s here for the right reason. He really is in government for the right reason.”

“We just have to work together,” Manchin argued. “We can’t go too far left. This is not a center-left or a left country. We are center, if anything, center-right country, that’s being shown. And we ought to be able to recognize that.”

“And all of my friends on the left, the progressives or liberals or whatever, I said, I’m not,” he continued. “I always say that I’m a responsible West Virginia Democrat. I’m fiscally responsible and socially compassionate. I think most people in the middle feel that way. But I also empathize with the people on the far left and the far right. That’s aspirational. But come together. Realize what can and can’t be done. Don’t force basically something that’s not going to happen to make people believe it will.”

“Let’s look at the finances, John, inflation,” Manchin suggested.  “You asked about the election? People are scared to death in West Virginia about the high rising cost of gasoline, of food, now of utilities. The basic needs of life is going up and making more of a burden on them. No matter how much money we send out.”

Berman seemingly tried to insinuate the Virginia voters who voted for the GOP were racist, saying, “One of the issues that seemed to play a large role in Virginia was education and parents’ role in education and in some cases the way that America’s history regarding racism has been taught in those schools. Now you were a former governor. You have dealt with schools directly. Why do you think this