It's Joe Manchin's fault.
That is, a "progressive" organization fighting to remake America in the pattern of a socialist nation that would be a long way from its roots as a republic, has concluded that whatever losses handed the Democrats during the midterms, Manchin, the Democrat senator from West Virginia, is responsible.
That verdict from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee came even before the polls closed Tuesday.
The leftists blamed Manchin for having slowed down Joe Biden's agenda last year, when he declined to support spending trillions of additional dollars that the nation didn't, and doesn't, have.
Adam Green, one of the leaders of the group, said, "Candidates up and down the ballot — from progressive to more conservative — were hurt by Joe Manchin’s stalling of the Democratic economic agenda for an entire year.
"Manchin owes all Democrats and the country an apology."
He's also been critical in the 50-50 Senate, controlled by Democrats only by virtue of Kamala Harris' tiebreaking vote, where Democrats have not been able to shove through all of their agenda.
That key to Biden's agenda was called the "Build Back Better" spending bill, but it failed, only to be replaced this year by a much smaller Democrat handout of taxpayer money. That came about only after Manchin reversed his position after obtaining concessions from other Democrats in the Senate.