There was a lot of chatter last week to the effect that Republican senators won’t pay any political price for voting to sink the Toomey-Manchin compromise on background checks. This may well be true, but as we seek to determine that, one place to look is Arizona.
Sen. Jeff Flake was thought to be one of the “gettable” Republicans on Toomey-Manchin. This was an early high-profile vote after winning a close election last year, and in the end he voted against the amendment. The reaction on the front page of the Arizona Republic was brutal: The paper ran a large photo of Vice President Joe Biden comforting Jackie Barden, whose son was killed in the Newtown, Conn., shootings, along with a smaller picture showing former Rep. (and Tucson shooting victim) Gabrielle Giffords. The headline? “Outcry as Senate defeats gun bills.” The paper also displayed how the Arizona senators voted, so Flake’s “no” vote was juxtaposed with John McCain’s “yes.”
Meanwhile, an editorial in the paper directed scathing criticism at Flake, ripping him as “cowardly” and claiming that he “failed the test” of “political bravery.” It added: “This was not a proud day for Arizona’s new senator.”
Flake has also gotten himself in a public spat with a high-profile friend: Mark Kelly, Giffords’ husband and a retired astronaut. After Flake said on Fox News that he wants to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, Kelly tweeted Thursday: “I’m confused, friend. You had that chance yesterday. Want to rethink and join me and Gabby in making Arizona safer?”
Flake may have a chance to do that sooner than he might have expected, since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pulled the gun-control legislation from consideration and later said that he intends to bring expanded background checks back for another vote.
Editorial, Pages 78 on 04/21/2013