Democrats aren't fake just because they adopt a more moderate stance on the issues. Moreover, you should realize that Manchin and Heitkamp need to walk a fine line in order to win reelection in their states, states which voted heavily for President Trump.
My God you people are pathetic. The GOP could cheat and lie its way into every position of power in this country while running on a far-right platform and you'd still insist that Democrats need to play nice 
and use the same old failed triangulation tactics to win over muh swing voters. Seeing you people's faces when Manchin and Heitkamp lose because no principled Democrat bothered to cast a ballot for them will be a silver lining for me next November.
That's not what I think at all. The Democrats need to get really shrewd during the age of Trump. On issues like education, healthcare, unions, and other economic issues, all issues that poll very well an whered showing a contrast will actually win over working class voters to actually realign the country, the Democrats should not play nice. But on something like this, it's a different story. Only harm could come from voting against a Supreme Court nominee that is going to get confirmed anyway in a red state at the presidential level.
This is exactly what I'm talking about. This is all part of the old political playbook, picking your battles based on what "polls well". Voters can see through this bullsh*t and they're sick of it. They want politicians who actually fight for what they think it's right, not ghouls who crowdsource every political stance they take. The idea that a Heitkamp or Manchin are going to win over Republican voters by confirming some hack T***p appointed is laughable. No one cares about these things except people who are already too partisan to be persuaded. On the other hand, the entire Democratic party is harmed electorally by the (correct) perception that they don't stand for anything.
Joe Manchin was one of the most vocal opponents of repealing Obamacare and has been a strong supporter of gun control; he may not stand for all of the things you do, but saying Manchin or Doug Jones (pro-choice in Alabama and never ran away from that position when it looked like he might actually win, despite pleas from national Democrats to do so) don’t stand for anything progressive is just silly. It’d be one thing if there was literally anything Democrats could do to actually block this pick, but there isn’t. If Heitkamp or Donnelly need to do a little empty virtue-signaling on a vote we’ll lose anyway, who cares as long as they’re generally with us when it actually matters?
And while I can only speak to Ohio and this is pretty anecdotal, but I know of at least three Trump voters who support Richard Cordrey instead of DeWine b/c of Cordrey’s empty virtue signaling/kinda-sorta making a pretense of opposing gun control; voters don’t pay as close attention as Atlas posters do and can often be influenced by inconsequential virtue signaling and
ModerateHero
platitudes. I mean, plenty of Ohioans think Sherrod Brown is only a little liberal or even a moderate b/c of his voice/messier appearance and folks tend to think Portman is a moderate (if they’ve heard of him at all) b/c he has a gay son or something. If we take back the Senate and God-forbid Ginsberg or Breyer (along with Sotomayor, easily one of the two best justices on the court) die, we’ll be able to block anyone Trump tries to nominate. That matters and you better believe every Democrat would hold the line if we had any chance of winning a Supreme Court vote.
