Joe Biden and the Democrats need to give up the ghost on Build Back Better already. But the Democrats just don’t seem to be able to quit it. I guess the bottom line is that they don’t have much to promote themselves for re-election with, as we go into the midterms. They don’t have much that they can pitch to their base that they’ve done that’s positive. Not that BBB would be positive, but the leftist base would like it.

But if the last word from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) wasn’t enough on Tuesday saying it’s not happening, now there’s more.

On Tuesday, Manchin said there weren’t any negotiations going on for Build Back Better when asked about reports that perhaps there were talks ongoing to cut Build Back Better up into smaller bills that might pass. “I’m really not going to talk about Build Back Better anymore because I think I’ve been very clear on that,” Manchin said. “There is no negotiations going on at this time, ok?”

Sen. Joe Manchin: "I'm really not going to talk about Build Back Better anymore because I think I've been very clear on that. There is no negotiations going on at this time, ok?" pic.twitter.com/SDNJhU8ew3

— The Hill (@thehill) January 4, 2022

But now, just to put an exclamation point on that rejection, comes the word that Manchin has yanked a prior $1.8 trillion compromise proposal he put on the table. He had never agreed with Joe Biden on BBB. But he had allegedly put out a counter proposal that was vastly different from the original BBB bill. It would have left out a lot of the desires of the progressives including expanding the child tax credit, according to reports. Now, according to insiders, he would be a “no” even on his own compromise offer — after the way that the White House responded to his rejection of the bill back on Dec. 19, and how they subsequently treated him.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s now the tantalizing word that Manchin has also been meeting with Republicans including Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Trump advisor Larry Kudlow. While meeting with Romney leaves me cold, meeting with Kudlow is intriguing. It means – to me – that Manchin is looking and open for truth. Kudlow basically confirmed that he’d been in contact with Manchin this week. “Joe Manchin [has] been heroic,” Kudlow said in the New York Sun on Wednesday. “I fully expect him in the next couple days to tell us all that he intends to save America and kill the bill.”

I think he’s done that, seemingly, already. But this puts some more emphasis on it and if he wants to put more out there, I’m all for it. If Joe Biden hasn’t gotten the message yet, this may just slam shut that door on him. And if Manchin wants to take the full walk across the aisle, I’m all for that as well.