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KY and WV Share A Common Stark Reality, But KY Has Beshear As Governor, While WV Gave Us Manchin. [1]
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Date: 2023-11-10
I’ve often despaired of the present conditions of my home state of Kentucky in my diaries. I was greatly relieved that Governor Andy Beshear was re-elected this week, but I have to be honest that Beshear may be- as the Louisville Courier-Journal’s Joseph Gerth stated recently — the last Democratic governor in Kentucky for a generation. A similar situation has developed in WV over the years, and now, we are having the media writing about Democratic Senator Joe Manchin retiring from the U.S. Senate. The last remaining state wide Democrat in WV. But that is where the parallel between Beshear and Manchin ends.
Beshear offers a ray of hope of what is the best in Democrats, while Manchin is an example of the worst in any politician.
Here is a link to Beshear’s accomplishments for the state of Kentucky.
Here is some of what Beshear has proposed for his second term:
Fresh off a decisive victory to keep his job as governor, Andy Beshear says now is the time to “get more big things done” for Kentucky families — and education tops the list. “That starts with the type of investments that we need in our system of public education and begin with the educator raises that are absolutely critical for moving our state forward,” Beshear said while speaking to reporters from the Capitol Wednesday afternoon. “A second piece is universal pre-K. It’s time to make sure that no Kentucky child starts kindergarten behind, that we address learning loss before it ever even begins.” Beshear, 45, sailed to victory over Republican challenger Attorney General Daniel Cameron, 37, with roughly 53% of the vote, carrying 29 of Kentucky’s 120 counties, up from 23 in 2019. Other goals Beshear listed for the next four years: continuing to attract new industries, increasing workforce participation and rebuilding communities devastated by tornadoes and floods.
You might say those things are vague, and everyone knows that the Republican super majority in the legislature will ignore all of Beshear’s agenda. And they are already carping about Beshear, which tells me they are angry that Beshear won. But Beshear has at least proposed those worthy policies.
What has Manchin accomplished over the years?
Now, look at the different trajectories of these two Democrats. One is trying to make life better for his constituents, while Manchin is only looking out for polluters and himself. Some might say that Beshear is some wild radical lefty, but Beshear is a MODERATE, while Manchin is nothing more than a Dixiecrat.
Sadly, both, however, share one common flaw. Both Beshear and Manchin did nothing to strengthen the state Democratic parties. Andy Beshear’s dad, Steven Beshear, did the same damn thing as governor. Only good old boys were selected to “run” the Kentucky Democratic Party, and those good old boys did nothing but show up once a week to pick up their pay checks.
With Manchin, he did the same damn thing in WV.
This is why Beshear will be the last Democratic governor of Kentucky for quite some time. There are no other up and coming Democrats to take his place. In case anyone noticed, all the other Democrats running for state wide office got beaten by landslide Republican victories. This same thing happend in 2019.
The same pattern exists in WV.
Now, both states are solidly Republican.
However, as I mentioned earlier, Beshear is a very different leader than Manchin. Maybe Beshear might run against Rand Paul in 2028? He has ruled out running against McConnell in 2026.
As for Manchin, he will try to be a dick to Biden during 2024, and eventually, Machin will go off to his yacht and count his money. I expect he will show up on Fox everyone now an then to piss on the Democratic Party.
But what strikes me is that KY and WV are very, very similar. But at least KY produced a good Democrat to be our governor during a time of crisis. WV, on the other hand, has given us an egotistical, greedy, selfish politician who enjoys the finer things for himself and the hell to the rest of us.
And it is the reason why I despise Joe Manchin. And while others will say, “Well, Manchin is the best we could get out of WV!”, I look at Andy Beshear and reply “Oh fucking really? KY is very much like WV, but how is it we elected Andy Beshear as governor?” According to all the talking heads, Kentucky should have thrown up a Joe Manchin because it is only conservative Dixiecrats who can win.
Andy Beshear ran as pro-choice for governor. Both times. This should have doomed Beshear. Instead, we have a two term Democratic governor, while WV has the anti-choice Manchin who is retiring.
Something to think about people.
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