Neither the media nor Joe Biden seems to be able to deal with the simple fact that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has always been clear that he had issues with the Build Back Better (BBB) bill, from various provisions to the price tag of the whole monstrosity.

As we noted earlier, the AP chastised Manchin, claiming he was the “single senator” standing in the way of the Biden Administration’s grand plans. How to have bias and untruth there, all wrapped up in a fake news package. Then CNN analyst Kirsten Powers suggested it would be better for Joe Biden if Manchin left the Democrats so that Biden wouldn’t be blamed for not uniting all the Democrats — a truly strange take, and not ultimately helpful to the Democrats.

But the worst reaction was that of Joe Biden himself. The BBB imploded after the CBO score came in and laid out how much the true cost of the bill would be with all the social programs properly scored out over 10 years. It wasn’t even close to the number that Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been pitching of around $1.75 trillion. Manchin said that was “very sobering,” and the reports were that he and Biden were far apart. That’s what resulted in the BBB being put off and essentially killed.

Now, Biden has released a statement where he mentions Manchin three times and falsely claims that Manchin had agreed with him on a number.

Biden statement on BBB: "I believe that we will bridge our differences and advance the Build Back Better plan."

He says Manchin reiterated support for the framework's total funding level, and there'll be more talks next week.

"We will – we must – get Build Back Better passed." pic.twitter.com/FrrripxzMN

— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) December 16, 2021

‘In these discussions, Senator Manchin has reiterated his support for Build Back Better funding at the level of the framework plan I announced in September,’ he said.

‘I believe that we will bridge our differences and advance the Build Back Better plan, even in the face of fierce Republican opposition.’

It’s really impressive how much Biden boldly lies, even with an official statement like this. There was never an announced agreement on the numbers, and Manchin has never said he supported the BBB. So Biden’s statement is a bunch of horse manure. He’s trying to put lipstick on a pig after he was rejected by Manchin, and paint it as just Republican opposition. Biden also is completely dismissing the reality of the CBO score with this statement.

Manchin is a very genteel fellow, but his response to Biden’s statement, for him, seemed perturbed. “The president put out a statement. It’s his statement, not mine,” Manchin said. That’s probably as close as Manchin will politely come to calling Joe Biden a liar. It also is a comment as to where they are at this point — which is not anywhere close to an agreement.

But if Biden thought he would paper over their differences and move Manchin closer by lying about his position, I’m thinking Biden’s going to find out that he only drove Manchin further away. If the bill wasn’t already dead, he probably just put the final stake in it.