The NRA is now openly floating, or at least allowing to be floated, its endorsement of Harry Reid, a man who voted for the Brady Gun Bill. In a New York Times puff piece on the NRA that largely gives the NRA credit for things it tried to undermine (more on that later), there is this:

A point of contention on both the left and the right is the N.R.A.’s close working relationship with Mr. Reid, the Senate leader who helped get a number of pro-gun rights measures included in broader bills.That relationship has led some gun rights supporters to lobby against the idea that the N.R.A. might endorse Mr. Reid in his tough re-election campaign this November in Nevada.The N.R.A. is not tamping down speculation.

The NRA’s lobbyist, Chris Cox, claims that Chuck Schumer would be Majority Leader were Harry Reid gone (note the NRA’s implicit expectation of a Democratic Senate majority). But here’s the thing — Chuck Schumer could not get anti-gun legislation through the Senate and what’s more, Schumer, when head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, recognized the damage to the Democrats being anti-gun was having. Many of the Democrats in the Senate the NRA loves were people supported by Chuck Schumer.So they have gone from denying they would endorse Harry Reid to “not tamping down speculation.”