Manchin: Legislation, Sometimes You Need to Blow It Up
West Virginia Governor and Senate candidate Joe Manchin literally fires a gun in his latest campaign advertisement, when discussing President Obama's policies.
Manchin told CBS News Correspondent Nancy Cordes on Tuesday's Washington Unplugged, "In West Virginia, if you don't know how to shoot or handle a gun, you probably shouldn't run for office."
"We're not talking about the president, we are talking about cap-and-trade. Cap-and-trade should be dead on arrival," Manchin continued. "Legislation, sometimes you need to blow it up when it's bad."
Despite his popularity as governor, most of the latest polls show Manchin slightly trailing his Republican opponent, businessman John Raese.
Manchin told Cordes that he believes that he is being punished for the public's disapproval of actions in Washington. "I believe that the prevailing view in Washington is just to print more money, we figure that sooner or later that they will run out of ink or get sick of printing," he said.
He added, "The government in West Virginia is not going to be your provider, we are going to be the best partner," Manchin said. The governor said, however, he believes that he has an obligation to look after the people who absolutely cannot help themselves.
Cordes voiced the frustration of voters in West Virginia, who want to know what exactly Manchin will do for them.
His response was that he can't get his opponent to talk about issues like Social Security, improving public education and the sales tax. "We fixed our state because we didn't look at it through the eyes of a political party or the eyes of a political position, we looked through the eyes of the challenges of West Virginians," Manchin concluded.
Watch Tuesday's Washington Unplugged, also featuring a roundtable on the Colbert/Stewart Rally with CBS News.com's Kaylee Hartung, Caroline Cunningham from the Trust for National Mall and Public Citizen's Joe Newman. Kiki Ryan also joined us for our weekly segment, "Plugged In."