Come on, have a heart. You have to feel for Senator Joe Manchin. At least a little. It’s been so hard for him since Sandy Hook. Put yourself in his shoes for a minute. He sold himself to the red-trending voters of West Virginia as someone with whom their gun rights would be safe, Democrat party affiliation or not. So to show his independence from his party’s orthodoxy, he plugged a copy of the Obama-supported cap and trade bill with his real-gun-owner huntin’ rifle to soothe all those Mountain State coal miners. And he wore his NRA A rating like Hester Prynne. Mission accomplished! Joe managed to get himself elected to the Senate, filling Bobby “I’m Moving As Much of the Federal Government to West Virginia as I Can” Byrd’s seat. And he was reelected to a full term in November. Then came Newtown . . .

That’s when the cracks appeared. A-Rated Joe began to waver in his much-touted Second Amendment support.  He said he was “changed” by the horror that was Sandy Hook and signaled that no matter what he he may have posted to YouTube during that long-ago campaign, he was open to “common sense” gun control measures. For the children.

There was only one problem with his little epiphany — it didn’t sit well with the home folks. And they let him know about it in no uncertain terms. So Ol’ Joe, who can’t be accused of not knowing which way the wind’s blowing, tacked back the RKBA way. The most dangerous place in Washington suddenly became the space between the Senator and anyone who even looked like a member of the press who’d quote him as saying he won’t take away West Virginians’ guns.

Only he apparently wasn’t unequivocal enough for the poor rubes back home when he told MSNBC, “I do not support (an assault weapons ban) right now.” Right now. In politispeak, that leaves a yawning gap for wiggle room that’s almost as big as Piers Morgan’s ego. So shortly thereafter, Joe took to YouTube again just to be sure his constituents wouldn’t have any doubts about where he stands 2A-wise.

Given all that, you’d think that when a home state paper like the Journal News asked for a sit-down, he’d jump at the chance to — yet again — tell everyone who’d listen exactly where he stands on his party’s civilian disarmament push. Only he didn’t. Jump, that is. Not at all.

The paper’s interview, posted at journal-news.net, had an interesting disclaimer prominently posted at the top:

Editor’s note: This question and answer session was permitted under the condition that The Journal would not ask questions regarding gun control legislation or the Second Amendment, as requested by the senator’s staff.

Huh? Were they talking to the same A-Rated Senator Joe who was knocking down old ladies and little kids fore a chance to tell anyone within earshot that Mountain Staters’ gun rights were safe with him? Apparently it was. And now Manchin’s getting no shortage of ridicule for his prior restraint groundrules.

But the fault apparently lies with the dumb hicks running the paper back home. His spokesnoid made it clear that it just isn’t true that Manchin wouldn’t let them ask any questions about gun control. As atlanticwire.com explains,

The Senator’s staff got a head start rebounding from the criticism. See, it was a miscommunication on the paper’s part. “I didn’t tell her she couldn’t ask I told her he wouldn’t answer them,” a Manchin spokesperson tells Politico’s Reid Epstein. The paper has yet to respond.

Glad they cleared that up, no?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

46 COMMENTS

  1. Unfortunately, Jumpin’ Joe has about six years before he has to face votes again, so plenty of time to repair perceptions…

    • I wouldn’t bet on that. West Virgina had more to do with Gore losing in 2000 than Florida. In the 10 elections between 1960 and 1996, the Republicans only one twice, the second terms of Nixon and Reagan. Clinton was bullet proof, he knew how to play the game. But the Brady Bill hurt Gore in the upper South/Hill Country. If Gore had won WV, he would have been president.

  2. I’m not sure I could handle having to keep his position on this straight. Glad it’s not my job.

    • On what would you base your vote? What exactly is this guy’s position? Do you know? I don’t.

    • The citizens of a state can not recall a Congressman. The only way to remove him would be for Congress to impeach him.

      That said, He swore to protect the West Virginia State Constitution. Any vote in Congress that takes away rights that our own State Constitution gives us could be considered treason against the state. That said, if he votes for any types of gun control at all it is possible for any prosecutor in the state to go after him for Treason Against our State. Of course our own Democrat controlled State Supreme Court would dismiss any charges he was found guilty of.

  5. No one should be surprised at another spineless politician who has no real principle. The real problem is that our politicians will say and do anything, as exemplified by this cretin, to get elected. He will be the one who will put a stake in RKAB and vote in unconstitutional laws to oppress the 2A. This is not the basis for why I sacrificed to serve and is still serving my country.

    molon labe

  7. Huh. So that clicking noise was Joe tap-dancing around the issue .

    I know because I’ve seen the same show before. Up here in South Dakota, I wrote both my House and my Senate rep right after Obamas first press conference.My Republican house rep got back to me 3 days later and made it clear she valued our Second Amendment rights.

    Last week I heard back from my Democrat Senate rep. His stance is as ill defined as the event horizon of a black hole.

  8. Governing is not a PR campaign. This asshat must be voted out by Virginia voters. He has no spine, or he is a deceptive “Tell them whet they want to hear every so often” POLITICIAN. If he threw his constituents under the bus once, he’ll do it again.

    Has anyone noticed that whenever a politico tries to explain an action that is controversial or unpopular they refer to “poll results”, but not the poll results that required votes to calculate. On day a politician will kill me by saying that he asked his constituents what they want and I will have a heart attack.

  9. That’s easy: his position is that he’s pro-gun control, he just does not want his constituents to realize it.

  10. flip flop, flip flop, flip flop — everyone in WV should send him a pair and ask him to take a stand. It will be interesting to see how he votes. Will he bend to the party or will he do as the people who voted him in wants. Either way, I hope it is remembered 6 yrs from now when he has to fight for his job.

  11. While Joe wont be up for reelection for some time, this could and should be the chink in the armor to get a conservative elected to the WV Senatator position that will be vacant when Rockefeller retires.

  12. We just love those pro-2A Democrats, don’t we? Phonies and sellouts. Every goddamn one of them.

    Remember when Kirsten Gillibrand was the head of the northern “Blue Dog” faction? She was A-rated by the NRA. Then Chuck Schumer put her up to fill Clinton’s Senate seat and acquainted her with the facts of Democrat life and snap, just like that, she’ an F. Bob Casey has already flipped. Manchin is soft. They all suck.

    If you don’t toe the Democrat party line on guns, you don’t get any of that tasty George Soros or Mike Bloomberg or Move-On cash. And we can’t have that, can we?

  13. Just another Crypto-Commie dry-humping Zeke’s leg in the hopes he’ll land a juicy position as one of the Overloards in the New AmeriKa

  14. I give the guy a small break on voting no on Obama’s AWB. But W.VA gun owners keep extreme pressure on him to vote no on Obama’s gun bans its the people of the state who must make this guy stay so called progun.

  15. West Virginia is full of truly pro-gun Democrats. Joe Manchin is not one of them. He told me in a face-to-face that he couldn’t understand why anyone needed a 30 round “clip.” I responded, “As governor, you made sure your WV State Police had 30 round magazines for their M4s. They face the same criminals we do. Why do they need them but we don’t?”

    Manchin responded that the self-defense angle isn’t one he considers.

    I met with this man for over an hour talking the nitty gritty of these issues. He does NOT believe in the Second Amendment. He DOES think it only pertains to hunting. He blatantly disregarded James Madison’s words in federalist 46.

    Joe Manchin is a traitor to West Virginia.

  16. All Politicians have no firm position other then getting re elected.

    just get all of his incriminating quotes, wait patiently, run pro 2A candidate next time

    keep vigilant, have a long memory, and a firm resolve…

    • I used to vote the person, not the party, until I learned two things: legislators will usually wind up toeing the party line, and party majorities in legislatures are critical to controlling the overall legislative agenda–so I haven’t voted for a Democrat at any level of government since 2004.

      I wish the voters of WV would learn that their Democrat senators may bring home the pork, but on policy they’ll go against the wishes of their constituents. The pork isn’t worth it.

      • Juliesa, I’m inclined to agree with you. Unfortunately, the public often votes with their pocket-book. Civil liberties seem to take a back seat.

  19. I am a West “By God” Virginian, born and raised. I did not vote for this back stabbing SOB when he was Governor and when he ran for Byrds Senate seat. But I can tell you that the West Virginia Citizens Defense League is fighting the good fight by protesting Big Joes offices around the state as well as burning up the phones and internet advising him of our outrage and making it clear that he won’t get another term until he follows our wishes. Here is a great youtube of the WVCDL Pres talking to the State Journal. http://youtu.be/ECxDvwObwZk http://youtu.be/FUcT1b_boFw

  20. Number one…”dumb hicks”! What is this guy some kind of bigot? As for “Big Joe” looks like he is now in DC and wants to suck up to the Dems. To hell with the people who sent him there.
    This is all to typical of what happens when a politician is elected to national office.
    He/she sells out their constituency for the love of power. The only solution is to vote them out and never elect them to another political position.
    West Virginia voters have a third party when they go to the polls. The Mountain Party. Take a look this party just might be West Virginia’s solution to politicians who sell out.

Comments are closed.