Last night after the debt ceiling cloture vote in the Senate, Chuck Schumer stood up and gave a partisan speech attacking Republicans and Joe Manchin was not impressed. In fact he was visibly upset by the speech as he sat in the background shaking his head and covering his face:
Joe Manchin was asked about the speech by CNN hack reporter Manu Raju and he explained that civility is gone, that the speech was inappropriate and that Democrats need to “de-weaponize” and stop “playing politics”:
Manchin tells us he didn’t like Schumer’s speech after the vote to break a filibuster on the debt ceiling. "I didn't think it was appropriate at this time," he said, arguing that "we need to de-weaponize" and stop "playing politics … That was not a way to take (frustration) out” pic.twitter.com/TsGDsMNAqK
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 8, 2021
At one point Manchin was asked by Raju if he reportedly called Schumer’s speech “a f***ing embarrassing speech”. Manchin responded “You are confusing me with my good friend Jon Tester,” admitting that he wasn’t the only Senate Democrat who though the speech was an embarrassment.
Manchin tried to be as diplomatic as he could in his criticism, claiming both sides are guilty of partisan attacks and blah blah blah. But he was clear that Schumer’s speech was inappropriate and suggested it undermines the bipartisan way forward that he would like to see, especially considering they are going to have this debt ceiling fight again in December.