Bloomberg, McAuliffe Lose That Lovin' Feelin'

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and his benefactor Michael Bloomberg don’t seem to be on the best of terms right now. It’s almost like Bloomberg took it personally when McAuliffe took $1.7 million of  his money to get elected, and then double-crossed him.

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A national gun-control group recently allied with Gov. Terry McAuliffe took out a full-page newspaper ad against him Tuesday to blast the Democrat’s surprise gun deal with Republicans.

“Terry McAuliffe is wrong,” begins the ad that Everytown for Gun Safety placed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It goes on to quote several of the governor’s statements about the deal, declaring each one “false” and then providing a detailed analysis on each point.

Last week, Everytown unleashed Facebook and Twitter ads against McAuliffe, posting his photo side-by-side with that of the National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre.

Top McAuliffe administration officials called the newspaper ad “disingenuous” and “misleading.” His spokesman doubled down on criticism of Everytown, a group launched by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, as an outsider organization meddling in Virginia politics. At McAuliffe’s request in the fall, Everytown bankrolled $2 million in attack ads on behalf of two Democratic allies in state Senate campaigns.

Republicans, who enjoy an overwhelming majority in the House, nevertheless held onto their narrow 21-19 advantage in the Senate.

“This out-of-state group’s misleading political attacks won’t distract from the real lives this historic bipartisan agreement will save by keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and people who can’t pass background checks,” said McAuliffe’s spokesman, Brian Coy in a statement. “The Governor is proud to stand with the Virginians from both parties who worked together to make our communities safer, even in the face of Mr. Bloomberg’s negative politics.”

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McAuliffe had originally been behind Attorney General Mark Herring’s severing of concealed carry reciprocity deals with 25 states, but quickly caved to a tsunami of political backlash from Virginia and surrounding states. McAuliffe not only reversed course to accept reciprocity from those 25 states, but is signing onto a deal that will recognize permits from 49 states (it would have been all 50 states, but Vermont doesn’t have a permitting process).

I’ll just be over here laughing at Bloomberg’s angst like:

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