OP-ED: Why Joe Manchin is good for the nation Virginia Heffernan Los Angeles Times (TNS) When Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse addressed the Senate on Jan. 6 just after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, he said grandly, "America isn't Hatfields and McCoys, blood feud forever." Oh no? I wish C-SPAN had cut to the face of West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III. The people of Appalachia don't always take kindly to Hatfield-McCoy references. At least my Appalachian mother, a proud daughter of McDowell County, W.Va., texted me to scoff. "Of course we are a nation of Hatfields and McCoys," my mountain mama said. "What country is this flatlander Sasse living in?"