Manchin doesn’t waiver on support of Hillary

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With the last primaries of the 2016 election cycle set to happen in a matter of days, the battle for the Democrat nomination for president continues to be a much tighter race for Hillary Clinton than anybody expected.

Clinton has been dogged of late by the fallout from her private e-mail server used during her tenure as Secretary of State.  An internal report by the State Department last week scorched Clinton’s actions in violation of the law.  Here in West Virginia she lost every county to Bernie Sanders, but what sealed her fate in the Mountain State was that now famous line, “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

The line angered U.S.Senator Joe Manchin, but he hasn’t backed down from his support of Clinton.

“The smart political thing for me to do is run as quickly as I can away from her,” Manchin remarked in a recent appearance on MetroNews Talkline. “But I’ve known Bill and Hillary for quite some time. They’ve never lied to me and never misled me. They’ve always been there and willing to help.  They’ve been compassionate about West Virginia and the plight of West Virginia because they come from a state like Arkansas with the same demographics.”

Still, Manchin is drawing heat for continuing to back Clinton.  But for Manchin, the last Democrat in West Virginia’s Congressional Delegation, there was really no alternative.

“There is no one more detrimental to the fossil fuel industry, coal in particular, than Bernie Sanders,” Manchin said.

Although the Delegate Math continues to favor Clinton, Sanders’ popularity has steadily grown throughout the campaign and could disrupt the Democrat National Convention. Manchin said he had blasted the Clinton’s when they support measures which hurt West Virginia and vowed, he’d continue to be that way. However, Manchin reasoned the former Secretary of State had a higher percentage than not of becoming the next president and if that happened, he would be in a position to have a compassionate ear for West Virginia’s needs.

“I’m the only one willing to take that political risk,” said Manchin. “If it means the end, then it means the end, I’m okay, I can live with myself but I’m not going to leave my state stranded.”





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