By now, I think you’ve all heard the news that Harry Reid will not be getting an endorsement from NRA this election cycle. They didn’t come straight out and say it, but it appears the Sotomayor and Kagan votes are being graded heavily.
It would have been hard to defend an endorsement after the Kagan vote. NRA detractors certainly would have made that argument and they would have had a good point.
Will the NRA back Angle? That is the true test. Not endorsing is a passive approach.
NRA detractors certainly would have made that argument
They already were.
Does Angle have a record to endorse her on?
Some things have consequences after all, and his two-faced high-wire act finally grew tiresome.
Drang,
IIRC, Angle’s got a solid 2A record at the state level.
I don’t think they would endorse Angle, nor should they. That would be a huge Fuck You to Reid. Reid has a pretty good chance of defeating Angle. Remember, endorsements are a calculated political tool, not an emotional affirmation.
I can’t see why they wouldn’t endorse Angle – maybe it’s time to tell Mr Reid ‘fuck you’.
David Codrea agrees:
Certain news outlets are also reporting tha the NRA will not endorse Angle.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/08/nra-will-not-endorse-sharron-angle-either/62193/
And I agree with Sebastian “nor should they”.
Here’s perhaps why making Sharron Angle a winner could be a top priority: Now that the IRA has slapped Harry Reid in the face, what’s to stop him if he’s re-elected, of working with Schumer and Durbin to attack RKBA, and send the NRA a message? I’m curious about people’s thoughts on this.
The NRA system of endorsements results in the status quo being maintained and does not advance gun rights. There is no distinction in the system between a pro-gun champion who pushes pro-gun legislation and someone who doesn’t vote for an anti-gun bill. If the later is an incumbent, he will get the endorsement as reward for nothing.
Let me share with you an example. In Georgia, we had a candidate for Governor who sponsored a bill to add mutual recognition reciprocity of carry licenses to the law. He was relatively pro-gun. There was an incumbent who did NOTHING to advance gun rights in 4 years or his time in the Legislature. Who do you think did the NRA endorse? The incumbent, Gov. Roy Barnes. Barnes lost to Sonny Perdue in that election and the NRA endorsement soured Perdue to gun rights legislation for nearly 6 years.
Reid and Angle is very similar, except Reid did vote against gun rights several times. Even worse, he voted for 2 of the future no votes for any gun cases that become before the SCOTUS. Supposedly Angle has a pro-gun record in Legislature and is making pro-gun promises.
If the endorsement system was designed to drive the proper behavior (more gun rights), Angle would get the endorsement hands down. Instead, the endorsement system protects incumbents and the status quo which is why Reid doesn’t have to run against a NRA endorsed candidate.
Endorsing candidates isn’t easy and the potential for losing is high. But, an organization should give out endorsements based on past and promised future pro-gun efforts, not because they won the last election or did nothing. You want endorsements to drive behavior.
Mike …….. just another NRA hater to be made fun of.
What the NRA did is avoid an embarrassing mess. Harry Reid is a bad guy who is about to lose for 2 reasons. First, there is a tidal wave against Democrats coming like nothing ever seen before and it is going to wash them out of both house of Congress.
On the local side, Clark County – Las Vegas and the surrounding towns, the population center of Nevada – has the worst foreclosure rate in the country. 12% of the homes there were in some stage of foreclosure in 2009 – and 2010 may be worse. Nothing Harry Reid has done made the situation better and it is very easy to argue that everything he did made it worse. He’s a dead duck.