In a rare moment of agreement, Meghan McCain and Joy Behar both argued Monday that Vice President Kamala Harris should have reached out to Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin before doing local interviews in his state.
McCain and Behar, noting just how powerful a moderate Democrat like Manchin was in a 50/50 Senate, said that Harris would have been wise to at least discuss the topic with Manchin before going ahead with the interview. Cohosts Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin disagreed. (RELATED: ‘You Are Joe Biden And You’re Losing The New York Times’: Meghan McCain Says It’s Time For Biden To Work ‘With The Other Side’)
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Manchin responded to the interview, during which Harris touted the Biden administration’s proposed American Rescue Plan for coronavirus relief, by saying that it was not the way to promote bipartisan solutions. Manchin has voiced concerns about the size of the Democrats’ proposed package, arguing for more targeted relief.
‘No One Called Me’: Joe Manchin Is Not Happy About Kamala Harris’ Interview With West Virginia TV Stationhttps://t.co/oL7syPtepg
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 1, 2021
“Okay. So let me just point this out. Joe, she is the vice president. She does not work for you,” Goldberg began, arguing that Harris did not need Manchin’s permission to come and go and saying that he was “a little bigoted” for suggesting otherwise.
Goldberg then turned the question to Hostin, who was on the same page.
“Well, you just said it, Whoopi. She doesn’t need his permission. As Vice President of the United States, she’s actually, you know, sort of President of the Senate, right?” Hostin went on to say that she had found Manchin’s comments to be disrespectful.
Behar jumped in then, warning that no matter how people felt about Manchin personally, it might not be politically advisable to alienate him.
“Well, you know, Joe Manchin is a Democrat, but he swings to the right, and at this moment in time, the Democrats need Joe Manchin more than Joe Manchin needs the Democrats,” she said. “He’s got an ego problem, I’ll grant you that, but the guy voted for impeachment. He voted for the ACA. He’s on the Democratic team, so I don’t think it’s a great idea alienating Joe Manchin, no matter how big his ego is.”
“I’m sorry, so you think that she needed to speak to him before she went and gave this interview?” Goldberg cut in, reminding Behar that Harris was the vice president.
“I get that, but we’re talking about politics, and like I just said, the Democrats need Joe Manchin’s vote,” Behar replied. “He has a lot of power right now in the Democratic Party. That’s all I’m saying. It’s politics.”
“But she is the vice president. She’s the vice president. He works for her,” Goldberg insisted.
“I completely agree with Joy,” McCain said, arguing that especially since President Joe Biden had presented himself as a unifier for all Americans, there should have been some effort to make the pitch appear bipartisan.
“We’re all seeing this through very different lenses … if the Biden administration doesn’t care about a moderate Democrat, they’re sure as hell not going to care about Republicans,” McCain continued, adding, “So I was surprised, and I think just on top of everything else, as Joy said, it’s stupid politics on behalf of Kamala’s part.”