Senator Joe Manchin recently sat down with an interview with The Journal, a newspaper published out of Martinsburg, West Virginia, but he placed one condition on the interview:
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.
The interview itself seems like it was rather brief, focusing on the sequestration, issues regarding West Virginia infrastructure, and energy policy. On the the whole, it was a rather bland interview and Manchin’s answers aren’t particularly noteworthy. Indeed, they seem like the same kind of “safe” talk one normally hears from politicians.
The stipulation, though, strikes me as problematic. The few people who have commented on the article so far seem to be reacting quite negatively to it. I can understand why the Senator would want to avoid questions about gun control, though. He’s a pro-gun Senator from a pro-gun state who is part of a party that is pushing a gun control agenda. He is also rumored to be part of a bipartisan group of Senators talking behind the scenes about a compromise on universal background checks. He doesn’t want to be put on the spot. It’s not very honorable to put a condition like this on an interview, but it is understandable. What I don’t understand is why the newspaper would agree to these terms.
