Commentary I have been following the various news stories about Sen. Joe Manchin and the White House staff with considerable interest. It reminded me of an incident in which I was involved with a former West Virginia Senator, the formidable Robert Byrd, and the White House staff of President George H.W. Bush. We were at Joint Base Andrews engaged in the 1990 budget negotiations. I was there as the House Republican whip. The Democrats were demanding tax increases, and the Bush team was gradually giving ground and preparing to break his “Read my lips, no new taxes” pledge. I had a little bit of the Manchin role in that I was the one person in the negotiations who was totally opposed to tax increases—and kept saying so. Like Manchin, I was being cheerfully ignored and humored. The theory of the establishment was that as long as I was in the …