Reply #122: I would just add to that [View All]

[Sparkly]

You're right that "many, many thousands" of voters would embrace other changes in the Democratic party's platform, as well; as I'm sure others have pointed out, it's a slippery slope (to "move right"), and it doesn't work.

I think that this is another issue where we do not need to "move right" because more voters actually agree with the Democratic position. The assault weapons ban was widely supported, for example; and when Chimp was asked in the debate why he hasn't pushed the ban's renewal, he didn't say "They'll have to pry assault weapons out of our cold dead hands!" No... He said he believed in the ban, and went on to say he approves of closing loopholes regarding background checks at gun shows. Why would he have taken those positions in the debate if he thought they were unpopular?

Like many other such things, I think this is an emotional issue for gun owners. You can see the emotion in these threads. Something is triggered (pardon the pun) by the mention of 'gun control' and there are long-standing stereotypes that say no Democrat *really* likes to hunt, while a good ol' boy like Chimp surely does... I suspect that there are many other things that go along with that stereotype that make voters who subscribe to it unwinnable anyway -- Democrats are weak, dislike the military, care too much about spotted owls, wouldn't defend the nation, would appease terrorists, would seek a "permission slip" from the UN, aren't tough enough on crime, aren't tough enough on welfare abusers, aren't sufficiently masculine to protect us from the scourge of the "homosexual agenda," etc. etc. etc... Seems to me that's all one big package and it has much less to do with stated policy positions than larger stereotypes and 'frames.'