Dueling for the NRA Vote

[Township75]

This is a long article, but it is a good one. It covers a lot more than the 3 paragraphs I posted.
Get your comments in before the posts become saturated with racist, KKK, horseshit, right wingers, ect...

SNIP
Ricker says, "The power of the gun lobby is more perception than reality." In fact, he claims that even among the NRA's 4 million members, "many of these join only to get the gun magazines or insurance. They believe in the Second Amendment but understand that an AK-47 isn't a hunting rifle." It often puts them at odds with the group's top brass which so often parrots GOP talking points to suggest that they're actually more politician than freedom fighter. At its convention in April in the gun-saturated swing state of Pennsylvania, NRA President Kayne B. Robinson warned members "In Kerry's America, guns and hunting are like polo and yachting – for the elite."

Second Amendment fundamentalists, not so affectionately referred to as "gun nuts," are fed up with Bush. Sam Cohen, director of a New Hampshire NRA affiliate, asked Karl Rove "whether President Bush was aware that many thousands of gun-rights activists around the country felt so strongly about this that we had drawn a line in the sand (my exact words), and would not support any politician – even President Bush himself – who supported this atrocious legislation." Angel Shamaya, executive director of KeepAndBearArms.com, a proud member of the Anybody But Bush crowd is equally disenchanted ''Gun owners who know the issues know that Bush is all talk...he's turned out to be a phony in so many ways, I'm embarrassed I voted for him in 2000.''

In sum, the gun lobby today is divided into at least three camps: A political leadership more interested in electing Republicans and strengthening connections with the Washington elite; strict libertarians less interested in Bush's second term than in the Second Amendment; and sporting enthusiasts who like the magazine.

The rest is at
http://www.alternet.org/election04/19223/

[TheMightyFavog]

1. Anyone know if the NRA's

gonna be doing that whole Vote Freedom First thing again?

[Township75]

2. I guess so...

how long have they been using it? I believe they used it in 2k and 2k2.

[TheMightyFavog]

3. I remember the infomercials in 2000.

But not in 2002.

Maybe its because I was actually not watching daytime TV in 2002. :shrug:.

[Township75]

4. It may have been regional in 2k2...

I saw an add for Vote Freedom First which didn't even endorse a candidate or party. I guess it was just to get voters in my region to think about the candidates respect for gun rights.

Fortunately, Dems in my region are very pro gun rights.

[MrBenchley]

7. Wonder who would possibly be dumb enough to buy THAT

considering Life Member AshKKKroft turned out to be the NRA's gift to "freedom"...

[RoeBear]

8. They used it before 2000...

...my Democratic in Congress had one with his name on prior to that.

[69KV]

5. The latest repuke spin is getting absurd

THIS is funny:

NRA President Kayne B. Robinson warned members "In Kerry's America, guns and hunting are like polo and yachting – for the elite."

Funny, because the Repukes ARE the party of polo and yachting!

The NRA isn't all that great on "guns and hunting" for the common folks either. Watch for code phrases on their website. "Law-abiding" for example is a code word for "white".

Last time I looked at the NRA website they had an article featured attacking Farenheit 9-11. WHAT in the HELL does Farenheit 9-11 have to do with gun rights one way or the other?

The NRA is a Repuke tool, nothing more, nothing less. I'm saying this as somebody who generally supports the second amendment.

[MrBenchley]

6. Gee, town...the article says it all....

"Phone banking and other methods are an option but they require a sizable volunteer force and you don't get the same bang for your buck. In response, the NRA has created its own news agency, because, as LaPierre says, "if you own the news operation, you can say whatever you want. If you don't, you're gagged." NRA News may well survive legal challenges and successfully open a loophole in campaign finance law allowing them to broadcast editorials 24 hours a day to listeners. Problem is, NRA News hasn't really got any. The press has jumped all over its campaign finance shenanigans but the actual content and listenership of the "news agency" hasn't registered a blip on anyone's radar."

and

"Yet, Kerry could attach a shotgun rack to his campaign jet and still be opposed by the NRA leadership. More important is the fact that in the end the imprimatur of the NRA isn't as decisive as it is rumored to be. As long as the gun rights movement remains fractured into Second Amendment fundamentalists, GOP-connected politicos and sportsmen in it for the freebies, the NRA isn't quite the bogeyman it once was.

And when the NRA begins to crop up in Democrats' nightmares, they should remind themselves that the most abhorred "gun snatcher" in the consciousness of the gun rights movement is William Jefferson Clinton – a man who made it to the White House, twice. "

In short, there's no fucking reason on earth to pander to the lunatic fringe that's creaming their jeans for assault rifles and popguns in their pockets.

[Township75]

9. gee, bench

"In short, there's no fucking reason on earth to pander to the lunatic fringe that's creaming their jeans for assault rifles and popguns in their pockets."

THere is no reason to pander to the anti gunners that wish they were capable of creaming their jeans over renewing the POS AWB.

If so many people supported the AWB and more gun control, Dems wouldn't have lost congress in 1994, and Gore would be in the white house.

[MrBenchley]

10. Not so town....they're not a lunatic fringe

but 70% of the voters...and the liberal and moderate 70% at that.

"If so many people supported the AWB and more gun control, Dems wouldn't have lost congress in 1994"
What the HELL are you talking about. Show me WORD ONE about guns in the Republicans' dishonest Contract on America.

http://www.digitas.harvard.edu/~salient/issues/941212/page4.html

"Gore would be in the white house"
Yeah, gun nuts were a big lot of help on that, weren't they? Oh wait, the NRA helped put pResident Fuckwit in...Heston even called for his followers to lynch Al Gore.