Posted on 04 March 2021
On Tuesday and Wednesday evening, MSNBC’s Joy Reid took to the airwaves to perform her typical race-baiting and ad hominem attacks on those who disagree with her. Displeased by Neera Tanden’s decision to withdraw from consideration for the director of the Office of Management and Budget as her nomination stalled, The ReidOut host fervently denounced Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Republicans for supposedly being an impediment to the success and ascent of people of color.
Reid never once explained to viewers the genuine concerns shared by some Democrats and Republicans over Tanden’s past incendiary rhetoric and her policies. Instead, Reid slammed former President Donald Trump and his congressional allies as “vulgar,” “misogynistic,” and “racist” for refusing to support Tanden.
The nasty left-wing host continued bashing Manchin, and his family, during a later interview with Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA). [Click expand to read full quote.]
“What do you make of Joe Manchin’s claim that he essentially has a veto? He has declared for himself a veto over Joe Biden’s Cabinet. He’s decided that he doesn’t like Neera Tanden’s tweets. Therefore, she may not have a job in the administration. He’s decided he doesn’t like the minimum wage being $15 an hour, even though there are a lot of poor folks in his state that, I will bet, would love to make the kind of money that he and his daughter, who’s a health CEO, make. They make lots and lots of money. I bet lots of people in his state would like to have it. But he said, no, you can’t have that.”
Reid’s indignant assertion is unequivocally false. Manchin previously said that he does, in fact, support increasing the minimum wage to $11.00 an hour — a rate that he feels is more appropriate and pragmatic for his state’s economy.
She also failed to inform viewers of what exactly Tanden had tweeted and why Republican senators and Manchin believe she is unable or unqualified to serve as OMB director.
Apparently, Tuesday’s ripping on Manchin wasn’t sufficient for Reid or her producers. Indeed, she dedicated roughly the last fifteen minutes of her show on Wednesday to explain to her viewers why Manchin is “the absolute worst.”
The diversity-obsessed host bemoaned the fact that Tanden, a woman of color, was “was made to apologize on television for tweets.” Reid belabored the point that Tanden would have “become the first woman of color to lead the budget office,” and contended that she was worthy of the position since she was the daughter of immigrants and “grew up on food stamps and lived in the projects as a single mom as her family clawed their way to the middle class.”
Reid even went so far as to speculate that Manchin opposed Tanden because she had previously attacked his daughter who is the chief executive officer of a pharmaceutical company:
“So, when Joe Manchin puts his flag down on torpedoing Neera Tanden's nomination because [AIR QUOTES] bipartisanship, it’s not hard to imagine that that decision wasn’t at least partly personal, given that one of Neera’s apparently disqualifying tweets was aimed at the jacking up EpiPen prices back in 2016, by the pharmaceutical company Mylan whose CEO, Heather Bresch, just happens to be Joe Manchin's daughter.”
In a statement, Manchin actually said that he opposed Tanden’s nomination because he believed that the “overtly partisan” comments she made would have a “toxic and detrimental” impact on the relationships between Tanden and members of Congress. In a series of now-deleted tweets, Tanden had personally attacked Republican members of Congress as well as Democrats that supported Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid.
Reid went on to falsely claim that the filibuster (a technique to delay or prevent a vote on a bill unless there is support from at least 60 senators) was a solely utilized and invented “to prevent black Americans from getting civil and voting rights by giving Dixiecrat southern senators a veto.”
"Why should Joe Manchin get to decide who in America gets help and jobs in the administration?" asked Reid rhetorically. The answer is simple: he's a senator and certain cabinet positions -- such as the one Tanden was nominated for -- require the advice and consent of the United States Senate.
Joy Reid’s blatant attack on those who oppose the increase of the federal minimum wage or other leftist policies was brought to you, in part, by Allegra. You can contact this advertiser, and others, via the Conservatives Fight Back page, conveniently linked here.
Please click "Expand" to read the full March 2 and March 3 transcripts:
The ReidOut
03/02/2021
7:00 PM Eastern
JOY REID: Good evening, everyone. We begin The ReidOut, tonight, with breaking news. President Biden tonight has accepted the request from Neera Tanden to withdraw her name for nomination for the director of office and management and budget, tonight. We're going to get to that breaking story in just a moment.
[…]
7:08 PM Eastern
REID: Yeah, indeed. Not to say nothing of the Proud Boys and the questions of whether they've had too close of relationships with police. It's all very weird. Um, but I do want to ask you before I let you go about this Neera Tanden nomination. Um, what do you make of the fact that Republicans, who for four years were absolutely silent and would run from cameras at the vulgar, misogynistic, racist, Nazi-cuddling commentary of the President of the United States along with one Democrat at least, at least one Democrat, Joe Manchin, essentially torpedoed the nomination of a woman of color. And are setting up more people of color. They’ve got—an interesting observation of the people that they don’t like Xavier Becerra, Deb Haaland. People of color seem to have a problem, um, with Republicans supporting their nominations. What do you make of what's happened with Neera, given the fact that the former president was a constant racist, misogynist, et cetera, and they seem fine with it?
ALEX PADILLA [U.S. SENATOR D-CA]: Well, it's an insulting double standard, and I tried to call it out during Neera Tanden's confirmation hearing in committee, right? It coincided, by the way, with the impeachment trial. If you want to hold somebody accountable for offensive tweets, you know, let's be consistent, not hypocritical. Uh, I called the double standard out when I was introducing Attorney General Becerra in finance committee last week because he's up for confirmation as secretary of health and human services. I have lived through that double standard throughout my 20-year career in public service and now have the voice as a United States Senator to call it out in this venue. You know, I hope that President Biden finds another spot for Neera somewhere in the administration. She's a tremendous asset that can be very helpful for the administration and for government as a whole. But we will address and call out the double standard at every turn.
REID: Yeah, absolutely. Hopefully he will, and somewhere where she doesn't have to get Joe Manchin's permission to serve in the service of her country. Thank you, Alex—Senator Alex Padilla. Thank you for your time. Really appreciate it.
[…]
REID: And up next on The ReidOut, more on the breaking news tonight that the White House has pulled the nomination of Neera Tanden after criticism from Republicans and, of course, Senator Joe Manchin.
[…]
7:18 PM Eastern
REID: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has vowed to force a vote to overrule the parliamentarian and get rid of the filibuster. But West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin says he will never vote to end the filibuster, telling reporters: “Jesus Christ, what don’t you understand about never?” Well, that’s a charming guy. Manchin also says he’s concerned about the size of the bill, which presents a problem for President Joe Biden, who’s working to unify Democrats behind the plan. Today, Biden told Senate Democrats to stick together and pass it quickly.
[…]
7:23 PM Eastern
REID [TO CONGRESSWOMAN KAREN BASS (D-CA)]: What do you make of Joe Manchin’s claim that he essentially has a veto? He has declared for himself a veto over Joe Biden’s Cabinet. He’s decided that he doesn’t like Neera Tanden’s tweets. Therefore, she may not have a job in the administration. He’s decided he doesn’t like the minimum wage being $15 an hour, even though there are a lot of poor folks in his state that I will bet would love to make the kind of money that he and his daughter, who’s a health CEO, make. They make lots and lots of money. I bet lots of people in his state would like to have it. But he said, no, you can’t have that. He’s also raised questions about Deb Haaland, another woman of color, who Republicans don’t seem to like having women of color get Cabinet spots and men of color as well. He seems to be standing in the way of a lot. Do you think, at this point, Democrats like him are as much an issue as Republicans?
[…]
7:29 PM Eastern
REID: You trust Tim Scott to be the negotiator? The last time he put up a bill, it was essentially a gutted shell of a George Floyd Act. Do you think that he’s an honest broker here?
CONGRESSWOMAN KAREN BASS (D-CA): There have been many — there have been many conversations that have happened since then. And I do believe that we will be able to reach an agreement and we’re going to get to work right away —
REID: I love optimism.
BASS: — off the floor on Thursday. You will see.
REID: I love optimism.
The Reid Out
03/03/2021
7:44 Eastern
[…]
JOY REID: What we do know is Neera Tanden, a woman of color, was made to apologize on television for tweets. The lead Democrat responsible for torching Neera Tanden’s nomination to become the first woman of color to lead the budget office, which would’ve been a huge feat for a child of immigrants, who grew up on food stamps and lived in the projects as a single mom as her family clawed their way to the middle class. The person most responsible for making the math impossible was one Joseph Manchin III, considered the most conservative Democrat in the Senate and scion the old-time West Virginia political family. Now, to be clear, West Virginia is a rather particular state. In many ways, it functions like a fossil-fuel oligarchy. Its sole billionaire is also the current governor, coal baron Jim Justice. And for a southern state it's very non-diverse. More than 93% of the population is white and the poverty rate is high at 16%. And Manchin is well known to the nearly 1.8 million residents of his state. He used to be the governor, and the legend is that many of his constituents have his personal cell phone number. The personal clearly matters in West Virginia. So, when Joe Manchin puts his flag down on torpedoing Neera Tanden's nomination because [AIR QUOTES] bipartisanship, it’s not hard to imagine that that decision wasn’t at least partly personal, given that one of Neera’s apparently disqualifying tweets was aimed at the jacking up EpiPen prices back in 2016, by the pharmaceutical company Mylan whose CEO, Heather Bresch, just happens to be Joe Manchin's daughter. And Manchin has put his flag down on other policies, acting like a kind of Senate underboss. Manchin is still saying hell no, never, to getting rid of the Senate filibuster, whose only purpose, upon its creation, was to prevent black Americans from getting civil and voting rights by giving Dixiecrat southern senators a veto. He scoffs at policies like providing supplemental unemployment insurance during this pandemic and raising the federal minimum wage to $15 and hour and the fact that we still don't know how much of those policies this one senator who, in theory, is on the side of 80 million Americans who voted for COVID relief and adult supervision in the White House will weaken or eliminate is a huge problem. Why should Joe Manchin get to decide who in America gets help and jobs in the administration? And yes, West Virginia is a Trump state. It went for trump by 42 points in 2016 and 39 points in 2020. But if you think West Virginians, who are among the poorest, largely white populations in America, don't want to earn a living wage, listen to what some of them have been telling the Poor People's Campaign.
[CUTS TO CLIP OF POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN INTEVIEWS]
REDI: So, today, Senator Manchin, not just for what you did to Neera and what you seem to be threatening to do to weaken Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, which, to be clear, which means will help fewer people, you, sir, for bossing around the Senate, which is not your job, you are the absolute worst.
[…