Mercenaries

 The MSM calls Sens. Manchin and Sinema "moderates." On the political spectrum redrawn by the GOP, they qualify as "moderates" only because the GOP has rebranded right-wing extremism as "conservative" and they are to the left of the extremists.

Juan Cole nails it here:
"The horse race du jour is the obstruction by arch-plutocrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and wannabe plutocrat Sen. Kirsten Sinema of Arizona of Build Back Better. These two have been dubbed “moderates” by the corporate press owned by a handful of billionaires sympathetic to their obstructionism, hence the moniker “moderate” for a far right wing plot hatched by big Oil and Big Pharma to gut Biden’s bill.
"But Manchin and Sinema are not plucky mavericks standing on high personal principle against those spend-and-tax Democrats in their own party. They are mercenaries. The second meaning given by Merriam Webster for mercenary is, “serving merely for pay or sordid advantage: venal also: greedy.” Sordid advantage just about sums it up." https://www.juancole.com/2021/10/advantage-corporate-mercenaries.html?fbclid=IwAR2kfg49oMbAFjvHAw8vlY5qOBF3mi5NA6oPRfAEJlDyBmWWklIaj_KMt5A

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