to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together
There is not.
this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
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It's crazy how politicians assume that everyone that doesn't fit in either of the parties is automatically 'in the centre'.
There's probably more people on the left of the Democrats than somewhere between Democrats and Republicans.
The space between Democrats and Republicans is razor thin, precisely because they've spent so much time toeing the same neoliberal line while fixating on a handful of hot-button social issues.
The country is replete with people who are far to the left and right of this mushy center. Even beyond that, the country is full of (very rationally) cynical people who don't trust the process to promote anyone sincere or popular. So when you do have a guy like Sanders or Trump who comes across as outside the mono-pole, they immediately aggregate a huge swath of the electorate.
The only real defense modern politics has against these guys is to cut them out of the media limelight entirely. Minimize their TV presence and people will forget they exist.
But Manchin can't capture any of that energy, because he is the Ur-centrist. Dude can only exist in a state like W. Virginia, where the political landscape is monopolized by a handful of plutocratic families. But as soon as he steps outside his niche, he's got the Giuliani dilemma of becoming increasingly unlikable the longer he talks.
But they will get a lot of money to fail either way
Liberal: "We're gonna lose the Senate! We're gonna lose the Senate! We're gonna lose the Senate! We—"
Leftist: "Here's a crazy idea. The dems could support an actual leftist."
Liberal: "Why would we ever do that? That's crazy! They are all extreme and they'll lose."
Leftist: "Any typical dem you put forward is going to get totally crushed. An actual alternate to a traditional politician might get surprising results. What you call 'extreme' other people might call refreshing. I know it's a longsh—"
Liberal: "Some people are acting crazy! And we're gonna lose the Senate!"
Leftist: "Yup."
Leftist: "Here's a crazy idea. The dems could support an actual leftist."
They periodically do. And the captured media turns on these candidates like rabid dogs. The reason guys like Clinton and Kerry and Obama and Manchin persist is because they are such media darlings. Anyone meaningfully to the left of John McCain results in Chris Matthews stumbling around the news set, screaming and pulling his hair, convinced that a lynch mob will drag his desiccated corpse through Central Park.
Leftist: "Any typical dem you put forward is going to get totally crushed."
They don't get crushed. They sit in their impregnable seats for their entire lives. They cement themselves into their positions of power, surround themselves with lackies and sycophants, build a robust patronage network that nobody else can challenge, and spend all their waking hours sucking up to the business community to guarantee their status indefinitely.
convinced that a lynch mob will drag his desiccated corpse through Central Park
democrats in shambles - who will they blame their dysfunction on now?
the Parliamentarian's still hanging around in an office up there somewhere I imagine
you dare utter the name of that dread spirit, whose potency cannot be matched by mortals, whose rulings congeal the liberal humours?
In a system that truly represented the people's interests, they would be the legislature's owl-keeper. 
I wonder how long it's gonna take before he gets his own talk show.
On CNN? On Fox News?
"Hello, I'm Joe Manchin and I'm excited to be here. This is my new show - The Center Lane..."
He could just join a think tank