Manchin said harsh rhetoric from either side does little to help the country. Dem senator defends Koch brothers

Sen. Joe Manchin on Thursday strongly defended the Koch brothers from attacks by fellow Democrats, saying the wealthy and politically active businessmen are taxpaying Americans who are creating jobs.

“People want jobs. You don’t beat up people. I mean, I don’t agree with their politics or philosophically, but, you know, they’re Americans, they’re doing— paying their taxes,” Manchin said on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.”


“They’re not breaking the law. They’re providing jobs,” he added.

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When asked whether Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s attacks on the Koch brothers “helps or hurts the cause for the country and the Congress,” the West Virginia senator said it’s people in the middle that need to be reached.

“If you’re trying to rally the base, the bases have already been rallied. The right and left bases have been rallied,” Manchin said. “It’s us in the middle that have to start making something happen here in Washington to move this country forward.”

Machin, who also served as governor of West Virginia, said harsh rhetoric from either side does little to help the country.

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“Right, wrong or indifferent, whether you like the politicians, or not. There’s people who don’t like the extreme Democrat politics or extreme Republican politics, we got to start being Americans again,” the senator said.

A spokesman for Koch Industries said Manchin’s comments likely reflect what others, on both side of the aisle, are thinking and that “it’s about time” somebody spoke out.

“My guess is that Sen. Manchin has expressed a point of view that a lot other senators — Democrats, Republicans — have probably wanted to say and haven’t,” Steve Lombardo said.

A request for comment from Reid’s office was not immediately returned.

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