Politifact tested Patrick Morrisey’s (R) claim that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has a D-rating from the NRA and suggested it is only “mostly true” to point out the low grade.
They reached this conclusion because Manchin had a higher grade over a decade ago. In so doing they missed Morrisey’s point, which is that Manchin has been “abandoned” by the NRA because of his embrace of gun control in recent years.
Morrisey tweeted:
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[1][2]
— AG Patrick Morrisey (@MorriseyWV) September 7, 2018[3]
On September 28 Breitbart News reported[4] that Manchin came into office via a 2010 special election in which he campaigned as defender of West Virginia gun rights. However, once in office, he quickly became one of the Democrats’ staunchest gun control proponents and, following the December 14, 2012, attack on Sandy Hook Elementary, he garnered enough favor with Barack Obama that PBS reported[5] he was chosen as gun control point man for Obama’s White House.
On January 7, 2015, Breitbart News reported[6] that Manchin actually believed the NRA would support his post-Sandy Hook gun control push. Instead, they ended any and all contact with with him regarding the gun control bill and went on the offensive against Manchin for trampling his own pro-gun campaign promises. Then they ran a commercial showing candidate Joe Manchin promising to protect Second Amendment rights, followed by an NRA narrator saying, “That was Joe Manchin’s commitment. But now Manchin is working with President Obama and New York
