As the moderate Democrat continues to stoke talk about a future third-party White House candidacy with the nonpartisan organization No Labels, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) accused both parties of villainizing one other on Sunday.
It’s a given that Democrats are supposed to see Republicans in a negative light. And if you’re a Republican, Manchin told John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable,” you should demonize Democrats.
Manchin said that’s not how our founding fathers meant for our democracy to function. “We’re supposed to be a team,” he said.
The West Virginia senator praised the work of No Labels, which has been advocating for a possible “unity ticket” as a third alternative in the 2024 presidential contest.
He said they wanted to know whether or not Americans were open to new choices.
Manchin has declined to rule out a third-party run, and last month, he co-headlined a No Labels event with former Utah governor Jon Huntsman (R), sparking concerns among Democrats.
Similarly, in an interview with Catsimatidis on Sunday, former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, the founding chairman of No Labels, lamented that there is “too much hostility” in Washington right now.
Lieberman said there have always been conflicts of opinion, but there is hardly any room for disagreement or discussion in today’s Congress. You talk across the aisle like they’re from a hostile country.
He said that his group seldom gets engaged in presidential elections, but without a president dedicated to bipartisanship, they “may never completely halt the divisiveness and paralysis.”
Lieberman emphasized that the desire to “run a ticket” did not drive the group.
They hope that maybe the strength they’re displaying will be a message to the two parties to try to come back toward the middle and not modify what they believe to be correct but to begin to work together for the nation’s sake.
