pretty much gone. And I am quite pleased about that.
He was very much a 1999-2010 Democrat: Lie about who you really are and what you really will do in order to get elected while pretending to be guided by principles. If he were a fellow soldier, he might well shoot you in the back if he deemed that to be profitable for him! THAT was his character.
He might sometimes be an ally. But never reliably so! Actually, not reliably so for either Democrats or Republicans. And THAT is often mistaken for “fairness,” when it is in fact just weak-mindedness and rent-seeking. Like many of his fans, he mistook intellectual flaccidity for broad-mindedness…
He fancied himself “a man for all seasons,” but he was really just a man who changed with the seasons, and whichever way the wind blew at the moment…
Be off with you, lukewarm Joe Manchin!