West Virginia Dem defends Clinton support despite coal remarks

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) defended Monday his support for Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential front-runner takes heat from the coal industry, despite acknowledging it might hurt him politically. 

Coal interests and Republicans slammed Clinton in March in which she promised to “put a lot of coal companies and coal miners out of business” if she’s elected president.

{mosads}The statement came during a speech on her plans to help distressed coal communities, but it prompted a bitter response from those who said she would continue President Obama’s so-called war on coal.

Manchin, who had endorsed Clinton already, said he was upset about the statement but called her to discussed it. 

“If I thought that was in her heart, if I thought she wanted to eliminate one job in West Virginia, I wouldn’t be sitting here,” he said Monday at a roundtable with miners in Williamson, W.Va. 

“I’m willing to take the flack because I believe in her. I know that’s not in her heart.” 

During an appearance with Clinton, Manchin praised her for her foreign policy experience and said she would be the best candidate to handle an international crisis. He acknowledged that in West Virginia — where voters have grown significantly more conservative during the Obama presidency — his support for Clinton might hurt him.

“If I’m going to take criticism on that — if I might get defeated on that — that’s a small price for me to pay,” he said.

Clinton has apologized for her remark about coal and promised in Williamson — as she did in Kentucky earlier Monday — to institute policies to help miners and distressed coal communities.

She said she knows the odds are stacked against her in the state in the general election. 

“I know my chances are pretty difficult to be honest,” she said. “I’m here because I want you to know that whether people vote for me or not, whether they yell at me or not, it’s not going to affect what I’m going to do to help. Because I feel like that’s a moral obligation.”

Manchin also took aim at Bernie Sanders, who is running for the Democratic nomination on a platform to the left of Clinton, especially on energy policy. 

“Bernie would shut down every coal mine. … We call him ‘Leave It In The Ground Bernie,’” he said, referencing Sanders’s call to move away from fossil fuels.

“I know [Clinton’s] one statement, but nobody prints statements Bernie makes. If they would print those statements, trust me: You’d forget about this statement.”