My first thought after seeing the news about October’s inflation bombshell was that it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Democrats.

Which isn’t true, upon reflection. Having that news break the day before Virginia and New Jersey voted last week would have been worse for them, right? That could have been the final nudge to put the GOP over the top in NJ.

But today’s timing is almost as bad now that the bipartisan infrastructure bill has passed and the reconciliation package coveted by progressives is in limbo, awaiting a score from CBO and a verdict from the Decider, Joe Manchin.

Manchin’s leverage over the process was maximized last Friday when the roads-and-bridges bill cleared the lower chamber (with help from centrist Republicans) since that freed him to quit reconciliation entirely if he so chooses. He’d infuriate progressives by doing so, but so what? What are they going to do, primary him in West Virginia?