Except all politics isn’t local anymore. It’s been nationalized for nearly two decades now, at least for House/Senate races. Bernie Sanders basically told West Virginians in their newspaper that Manchin isn’t helping them, and Manchin told him to shut the fuck up. What’s happened since then? West Virginians vote GOP. They hate outstaters because outstaters think they’re dumbfuck fat redneck methheads. Democrats making Manchin the face of inaction in West Virginia would do absolutely fucking nothing to move the needle on Manchin voting “yes” on a larger reconciliation bill. In fact, it would do the opposite. When he says he knows his constituents better than us, he’s not wrong. Joe Manchin is not going to be cowed by Bernie Sanders or others telling him to vote for the bigger bill. Democrats offered him millions to switch coal plants over to clean energy plants, and provide money to those coal workers until they could start their jobs as renewable energy workers, etc. Manchin called it “welfare” and added an “oh, fuck you.” You think an educational video on how Manchin is wrong from elitist outstater intellectual a—holes is going to change their minds, much less Manchin’s? Please. There is no West Virginia Democratic apparatus anymore to even be effective at making that play.
Sinema’s numbers are dropping because Arizona is purple and has way more Democrats who are able to effectively recognize and relay the message that she’s a fucking piece of garbage than West Virginia does Manchin. She either doesn’t recognize the threat, doesn’t care, or thinks Republicans will vote for her against a Republican again come 2024. She’s wrong, but she’ll fuck around and find out come then.