Moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., pointed out the polarization of politics as a crippling development in American democracy, defending the ideals of the upstart No Labels third party as an alternative to vitriolic politics.
"If you're a Democrat, they expect you to villainize every Republican; and if you're a Republican, you should villainize the Democrats," Manchin told WABC 770 AM's "The Cats Roundtable" on Sunday, The Hill reported.
"That's not the way our Founding Fathers intended for this democracy to work. It was intended for us to work together."
No Labels is a burgeoning third-party movement pushing a potential "unity ticket" for the 2024 presidential race, even talking about a Democrat and Republican running together.
"All they're asking for is, Do the citizens of the United States want some other options?" Manchin told host John Catsimatidis.
Democrats fear Manchin might be kicking up a third-party run for president, noting he would be more likely to suck up votes from President Joe Biden than the Republican nominee, which is former President Donald Trump and his rock-solid MAGA base in a runaway in polling right now.
Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., is the founding chair of No Labels, having been one of the Democrats to have left the party for a more moderate position as an independent.
There is "too much hatred" in Washington, Lieberman told Catsimatidis in a separate interview.
"There's always been differences of opinion, but today, you just don't have a difference of opinion and a debate on an issue on the floor in Congress," he added. "You treat the other person as if they were the member of an enemy nation."
No Labels will "never really stop the partisanship and gridlock" like a bipartisan president can, Lieberman concluded.
"What motivates us is not that we want to run a ticket, but we hope that maybe the strength that we're showing will be a message to the two parties to try to come back toward the center and, not to change what they think is right, but to begin to work together for the good of the country," he said.
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