Philip Klein of National Review Online explains why one Democratic U.S. senator shouldn’t be too disappointed to face a new attack from a House counterpart.

Rich [Lowry] predicted a looming smear campaign against Senator Joe Manchin for reiterating that he opposes the filibuster and also Democrats’ federal elections bill H.R. 1. Manchin has been facing mounting criticism from the left all day, and now Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has joined the pile on, claiming he has joined Republicans in supporting “voter suppression.”

Whenever AOC attacks, it is a gift to Manchin, a Democrat in a state that Donald Trump carried by an average of 40 points in the past two presidential elections. The only way Manchin can survive in the state is by showing people back home that he is defying the left wing of his party. Triggering AOC likely made his whole op-ed “Why I’m voting against the For the People Act” worth it.

Given Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s track record of consistent wrongheaded assessments of public policy challenges, Manchin’s choices look better every day.

“Unfortunately, we now are witnessing that the fundamental right to vote has itself become overtly politicized,” writes Manchin, who previously served as West Virginia’s secretary of state. “Today’s debate about how to best protect our right to vote and to hold elections, however, is not about finding common ground, but seeking partisan advantage. Whether it is state laws that seek to needlessly restrict voting or politicians who ignore the need to secure our elections, partisan policymaking won’t instill confidence in our democracy — it will destroy it.”

He adds that any federal voting rights legislation must be the result of both parties joining together to find a compromise lest lawmakers “risk further dividing and destroying the republic we swore to protect and defend as elected officials.”

Yes, that’s better than any statement that emerges from the mouth of the wrong AOC.