Joe Manchin is a man who clearly needs a giant enema. There is a serious blockage that he needs to let go of.

Who is Joe Mancin you ask. Joe Manchin is the Senator from West Virginia, a Democrat (allegedly),  who stubbornly clings to the belief that the Republicans can be “reasoned with” in some kind of bipartisan way.

To support this belief Manchin stubbornly refuses to make any changes to the filibuster, even though the filibuster is clearly blocking the Democrats agenda, especially with respect to voting rights.

Texas is the third major state after Florida and Georgia attempting to enact major restrictions in voting rights. Like the other states, Texas is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist: fraud in the current voting systems. No, what Texas, Florida and Georgia have set up is the following merry-go-round:

1. Support Donald Trump’s fantasy allegations that the election was stolen from him.
2. Support of those allegations has led a majority of (only) Republicans to believe that the voting system is beset by fraud.
3. Enact voter suppression laws to respond to Republican’s mistaken belief that the voting system is beset by fraud.

Democrats have introduced two major voting rights bills to combat the Republican effort at voter suppression: the “For the People” Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. But Democrats have no chance of getting these enacted as long as the filibuster is in play.

Now, I’ve been clear that I think there is a risk in abolishing the filibuster outright, but we should at least go back to the “talking” filibuster, the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington filibuster, the Wendy Davis Texas filibuster, the Strom Thurmond 24-hour filibuster, the one where you have to put on your adult diapers, hydrate yourself, and then keep the floor without going to the bathroom, without drinking, without eating, or without engaging in any other bodily function. 

Joe Manchin has, in the past, claimed that he’s on board with going back to the old filibuster. Well, Joe, better get to it sooner rather than later, because time is a wasting, and we have a short legislative window to actually get anything done here. Get an enema Joe, so you can relieve that giant blockage in the legislative system.