The Media Should Not Fall For Joe Manchin’s Schtick, Again

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is the conservative uncle you have to tolerate at Thanksgiving dinner because he is family.

In 2004, when Joe Manchin was running for governor of West Virginia, he received an “A+” rating from the NRA and received the group’s endorsement when running for governor.

He won the 2004 gubernatorial election by a large margin and was reelected by an even larger margin in 2008.

Joe Manchin won the 2010 special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by incumbent Democrat Robert Byrd’s death. For that campaign, Manchin ran this ad of him shooting the “cap and trade” bill (something that several politicians have since emulated).

He was elected to a full term in 2012 with 61% of the vote, and reelected in 2018 with just under 50% of the vote. He should be considered vulnerable in 2024 (unless he suddenly switches parties).

The mass shooting of first graders and their teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012 led the Obama Administration, with Vice President Joe Biden as the point man, to propose a series of reforms to address America’s epidemic of gun violence.

One proposal was universal background checks, supported by upwards of 90 percent of Americans and even 70 percent of NRA members in polls at the time. This should have been an easy layup.

But Senate Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin said no to universal background checks. Manchin, with Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA), said that they could get a much narrower background check bill approved by Congress on a bipartisan basis. Because of the Senate filibuster rule that requires a supermajority vote for cloture, something which Manchin steadfastly supports, the Manchin-Toomey bill died in the Senate. Manchin failed miserably to deliver on his promise to grieving families that he could get a bipartisan compromise through the Senate.

One could fairly argue that the Manchin-Toomey bill was meant to fail by design, with the Senate filibuster rule in mind. The end result was that Congress did nothing in response to the Sandy Hook massacre of first graders, which is exactly what the NRA wanted.

To be fair, the radical extremists at the NRA looked this gift horse in the mouth and decided not to support Joe Manchin when he ran for reelection in 2018. They supported his Republican opponent, Patrick Morrisey, who laughably attacked Manchin for not being a big enough advocate for gun rights. Morrisey also laughably called Manchin a “liberal.” No one has ever mistaken Joe Manchin for a liberal, which is probably why this Republican tool lost the election.

Joe Manchin has a "D" rating from the NRA, and fought alongside Obama and Schumer for anti-gun legislation. Lying liberal Joe abandoned our Second Amendment values and disrespected West Virginia gun owners. #WVsen pic.twitter.com/jvmf9IOJV4

— Patrick Morrisey (@MorriseyWV) September 7, 2018

It is true that the radical extremists at the NRA, who had given Joe Manchin an “A+” rating and endorsed his previous runs for office, now rated him a “D” because of the weak Manchin-Toomey bill that never even got a vote in the Senate. “Joe Manchin has a ‘D’ rating from the NRA.”

We’ll focus on the NRA rating for Manchin.

In a news release, the NRA said Manchin has earned a D rating from the group this year. In the same news release, the group said it was endorsing Morrisey and airing ads on his behalf in the Charleston and Bluefield markets.

“Contrary to what Joe Manchin says in West Virginia, he has supported the agenda of Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer by voting in favor of gun control in Washington, D.C.,” said Chris Cox, chairman of the NRA Political Victory Fund.

So it’s clear that the NRA has given Manchin a D rating this year. But the group hasn’t always been so negative about Manchin — something the ad glosses over.

In 2004, when Manchin was running for governor, he received an “A+” rating from the NRA and received the group’s endorsement when running for governor.

And in 2010 and 2012, when Manchin was running for a U.S. Senate seat, he was endorsed by the NRA and received an “A” rating.

Manchin’s relations with the NRA soured in 2013 after he and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., proposed legislation that would have enacted tighter background checks for certain gun purchases.

The House passed two background checks bills this month: one to extend the window for completing a background check before a gun sale and a second that would extend background checks to all sales and transfers. However, the second bill provides exemptions including for transfers between family members, responding to an immediate threat or temporary transfer for hunting.

Once again, Joe Manchin objects to even this modest proposal. Once again, Joe Manchin wants us to believe in his magical powers to achieve a bipartisan compromise with Republicans on a weaker measure, something he failed miserably to accomplish in 2013. We have seen his shtick before, don’t get fooled again! Manchin says he doesn’t support House-passed background check bill:

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Tuesday that he does not support House-passed legislation to expand background checks to all gun sales.

“What the House passed? Not at all,” Manchin said, when asked if he supports the legislation.

Manchin, however, suggested he wanted a bill that provided a bigger carve-out for private sales between individuals who know each other.

“I come from a gun culture. I’m a law-abiding gun owner,” Manchin said, adding that he supports “basically saying that commercial transactions should be background checked. You don’t know a person.”

“If I know a person, no,” Manchin said.

So your judgment, your “gut feeling” about someone you think you know – do you really, because spousal abuse is often hidden – is your version of a background check? I don’t trust your judgment anymore than I trust the judgment of those snake-handling West Virginia hillbillies living in bumfuck holler in the backwoods of Appalachia.

Manchin and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) previously offered legislation to expand background checks to all commercial sales, including those at gun shows or on the internet. Of the GOP senators who supported the bill in 2013, only two are still in the Senate: Toomey and Sen. Susan Collins (Maine).

Collins reiterated Tuesday that she still supports the proposal.

It failed in 2013, and now there are even fewer Republican votes for it this time. Once again, this is a distraction for which the end result would be that Congress does nothing because of the Senate filibuster rule that Manchin steadfastly supports, which is exactly what the NRA wants.

Once again, it is fair to argue that the Manchin’s proposal is meant to fail by design, because he is more concerned about running for reelection in West Virginia than he is in actually accomplishimg anything.

Manchin’s opposition also raises questions about if the legislation would be able to pass even if Senate Democrats nixed the legislative filibuster, a move they also do not have the support to do.

Manchin may have to come out from hiding behind the veil of the Senate filibuster rule and show those grieving families he promised to do something who he truly is.

Jason Easley writes that Rachel Maddow Tore Apart Sen. Joe Manchin For Opposing Background Checks Bill last night.

Maddow said (rough transcript):

We have to act. But he’s talking to the United States Senate there. And Joe Manchin, the senator from West Virginia, he will not ask, even after the humiliation and what he dragged the country through in 2013. Sen. Manchin reiterated that he doesn’t support background checks for all gun sales, which is something that has already passed the House. It passed the house even with some Republican support, which means Joe Manchin is to the right of Republicans. If he alone changed his mind on this and decided that he really does care about this, that actually probably would be enough to get that one reform over the finish line, which if he changed his stance on the bill itself, if he found it in his heart to support background checks, given that, and his stamps on keeping the filibuster rule in place, so that majority votes don’t count even for his own legislation, Joe Manchin holds the fate of this in his hands.

He promised this was an issue that moved him, in tears, as a parent, as a grandparent, he promised that he could get it done. He could get it done, actually, now. If he wanted to. I mean, even now, with the NRA almost dissolved in disgrace and in bankruptcy, instead of doing what he says he wants to do, he will do what the NRA wants instead. Not even the NRA’s members want that, but Joe Manchin does. Because of that, he personally will stop the whole country from getting any substantive relief from this thing that plagues us still.

It will likely almost certainly come down again to whatever the president now President Biden can do on his own without Congress, which is not much. And that is because the United States Senate does not work, even for things more than 90% of the country wants done, even things that tear our hearts this much, and even when we seem to agree on nothing else, the senate does not work in large part because of Democrats like Joe Manchin. Because of that, we can’t do anything substantive as a country on this issue. Despite senators like Joe Manchin saying this means a lot to them.

Rachel Maddow called out Joe Manchin’s basic hypocrisy in claiming to support expanded background checks, but it turns out he will only support them if the bill passes his way, which is a bipartisan fantasy land that does not exist in the United States Senate.

Democrats don’t like it, but the truth is that the only thing separating them from Mitch McConnell becoming Senate Majority Leader tomorrow is Joe Manchin remaining in the Democratic Party.

Maddow was right to call Manchin out for his obvious issue inconsistency on gun legislation.

Does Joe Manchin really want bipartisanship, or does he want Republican cover so that he can keep his Senate seat in West Virginia?

Callously setting America up for more mass shootings and deaths in exchange for potential political survival is not a good look, and it is really something that Joe Manchin needs to think about.