2010 – Page 193 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Santorum Starting out Strong

It looks like defeated Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is looking to run for President in 2012. I’d certainly take Santorum over Hope and Change, but his plan, if you can call it that, needs work. Kathryn Jean Lopez has it over at The Corner:

Because youâ€™ve been with me through thick and thin, I wanted to share this plan with you first before anyone else.Â Itâ€™s this simple:

Reinforce our conservative allies in Congress for the next 11 months in order to slam the brakes on the Obama agenda.

Take back the House of Representatives in the 2010 election.

Lay the groundwork to defeat Barack Obama in the 2012 election.

You heard me right, XXXXXXXXXX.

See, I was really hoping I didn’t hear you right, Rick, because that’s not a plan. That’s putting the Republicans back in power, which is not a plan. Republicans, who I would point out, had six years of rule to get our house in order and failed, and Rick Santorum was part of that Republican leadership.

Santorum is a pretty consistent fiscal conservative, I’ll give him that, but I don’t think he’s presidential material, and this “plan” reinforces that. He better have seriously reinvented himself if he’s going to want me support in 2012.

Obama Going to “Help” in Massachusetts

It’s a difficult position Obama is in, in regards to the Massachusetts Senate race. After campaigning for Corzine in New Jersey and Deeds in Virginia, and having them both fail spectacularly, he’s going to be naturally reluctant to put his weight behind another candidate who might fail. But it looks like he’s going to go. I guess they really can’t take a chance of losing Massachusetts at this point. This article says it’s the a questionable decision, pointing out:

Obama has a net favorable rating in MA, according to public and private polls. A Suffolk Univ. poll out today shows 55% of MA voters viewing him favorably, while just 35% see him unfavorably. But the intensity of voters who view him unfavorably, or who disapprove of his job performance, is so high that an appearance with Coakley could bring out more GOPers ready to vote for Brown than it could Dems set on their nominee.

“Obama is radioactive in polls,” said one senior Dem operative who has seen the campaign’s internal numbers. “Every time they dropped his name in a poll, it was awful. So you just can’t take those kinds of chances.”

Personally, I would advise Obama to go if I were his political advisor. If he goes and loses, his presidency takes a hit from losing a Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts to the GOP. If he doesn’t go and loses, his presidency takes a hit from political failure, because the political earthquake that a Brown victory in Massachusetts would cause certainly will frustrate, if not outright derail the Administrations agenda. Everyone knows this race is important. Victory is really the only option that works for Obama, so he has to try to achieve it.

But from our perspective, there is no better way to but the kibosh on all this nonsense than by sending Scott Brown to the United State Senate, so if you live in Massachusetts, be sure to get out to vote next Tuesday for Brown.

UPDATE: More bad news for the Dems.

What Publishing Permit Information Gets You

I’ve said before that no gun owner ever complained about permits being public record until newspapers decided to be bozos and publish lists of permit holders. If the Brady Campaign and MAIG were smart, they’d be the first on the phone to these papers telling them to knock it off. I would have no problem with papers iterating through the permits finding and reporting on people who legitimately should not have them. But that’s not what they do. That’s what we would call real reporting, and no newspaper has the money to do that these days.

But why should the Bradys be against publishing? Because that will create a backlash that will cause the law to change.

Thursday, a House committee voted 11-0 to keep information about gun permits from being released to the public — information The Indianapolis Star has used to document how guns have fallen into violent hands.

The NRA lobbyist for Indiana is Ashley Varner, mentioned in the article, who used to handle NRA’s media relations with bloggers when she was working in ILA’s Public Affairs office. A lot of us bloggers know her, so I think I can speak for us all when I say “Go get em Ashley!”

Political Uncertainty

Democrats are probably crying in their coffee this morning with reports that a legit poll has Brown up by 4. That is within the margin of error, so it’s no assured victory. However, Geraghty notes that the numbers look right for a reasonable sample. At this point, it’s purely turnout.

Granted, lack of turnout by Republicans helped turn a red seat blue this week in Virginia – for gun owners, sent an A+ rated seat into the hands of an F rated candidate. The direct result of the election appears to be a shakeup on a key committee that may mean pro-gun reforms are stalled until the next election. No one can afford to be cocky.

In other news, it looks like the Massachusetts race has Charlie Cook re-examining a lot of other Democratic races perceived to be safe in 2010. Our own, PA-8, was just flipped from “Safe Democratic” to “Likely Democratic.” We’ve got until November to swing that to “Toss Up” and the Massachusetts Senate seat made the transition from “Solid Democratic” to “Toss Up” in just 8 days.

Well, At Least Now They Admit It

The Star Press is admitting that they are treating gun owners in Indiana like child molesters by publishing their permit information for people to search. The problem is they think this is how it should be, because those sex perverts could have gun permits, you know. Can you think of any offense that involves fondling children that doesn’t make one a prohibited person? I can’t.

Do You Feel Safer?

Thirdpower wants to know if you feel safer knowing that if the Brady Campaign & Michael Bloomberg had their way, this boy would never be able to own a firearm in his life.

Smart Marketing

I’ve been critical of NRA’s marketing before, but I’ve also offered suggestions. Today, it’s time for another suggestion.

We all know that periodically NRA offers discounted life memberships and life member upgrades. However, the portion of the membership to receive the offers often seems quite random. I’m sure there’s some equation they do to come up with their lists, but, regardless, not every one gets the offer. In addition, when some do get the offer, they just don’t see the benefit over annual membership. The discount is great if you actually plan on buying a life membership anyway. For those who never thought about it, the conversion rate is going to be greatly reduced.

So, how do you market to a) people who are more likely to take advantage of the buy-in, b) people who could find a “use” in being a life member, and c) get other NRA to do your pressure sales for you?

Taking a look at Sebastian’s gun club newsletter this morning, I see that roughly 10% of their club members have expiring NRA memberships coming due in the next few months. Since the club is a 100% club, there’s a vested interest by the members in keeping up their NRA memberships. Since the club checks everyone’s NRA membership, there’s a vested interest in leaders to minimize work. Haha, we’ve now found a group that meets all three needs above.

So for those of you in Fairfax reading, perhaps it’s time to update the Clubs & Associations databases, plead with membership to open their minds to new ideas, and offer clubs who recruit life members at discounted prices the chance to minimize their own paperwork. Frame it in terms of incentives. Crazy enough, it works as a pitch to most people. In fact, make the minimization of paperwork a theme and offer to create a special co-branded flyer for the clubs to send to their members either via email or snail mail. Bringing on even one new life member, even at a discounted rate, would more than cover the costs.

Now, if we really want to get crazy and look at the incentives for NRA to take a chance with a new marketing idea, they could look at doing this now so that they have more people on their lists for the 2010 elections. I know, it’s nuts!

Oh yeah, and I’ll use this post to put in a pitch that NRA should offer the life member discount their give to their own staff to the staff members of official state associations. They usually make far less than those in Fairfax do, have far fewer benefits (if any), and don’t get much in return. It would the decent thing to do to recognize the contributions those folks (however few right now) make to the cause.

Corzine Signs Bill Weakening His One-Gun-A-Month Election Scheme

When John Corzine thought that pushing gun control was the key to his re-election bid, there was nothing more important that the legislature could possibly do. Without fanfare, he signed the measure that makes the law slightly less of an abuse on the law abiding gun owners of New Jersey. I guess the theatrics don’t matter to him anymore now that he’s politically irrelevant.

We are the NRA

It would seem that someone in Tennessee finally figured out something important about the culture of the Second Amendment:

Legislators are often scorned for being afraid of the National Rifle Association and passing gun bills, quaking in fear of the special interest group. Most Tennessee legislators are not afraid of the NRA, they are the NRA. Most rural Democrats and most of the Republicans have been members of the NRA for decades. They feel exactly like the NRA lobbyists on most gun issues.

It’s amazing that it took this long for them to notice. How many candidates use their membership in stump speeches and materials? It’s fairly common and yet the press just now noticed? Observant ones, they are.

The easiest lobbying job in Nashville is the gun lobby. The only controversy on gun issues is an argument over who gets to sponsor which gun bill.

Somehow I doubt that. If it was really that easy, there would never be debate.

It is also argued that the last session of the Legislature was only about guns and gun bills. The last session of the Legislature passed more bills than any other in modern history. The gun bills got coverage, as they should have, but it doesnâ€™t mean the regular work of the General Assembly did not proceed as usual. There are always one or two big issues that suck up the coverage and the vast majority of legislation passes unnoticed. Thatâ€™s how we get blindsided with bills like the workmanâ€™s comp bill, which turned out to be such a disaster it will have to be dealt with in a special session.

This is not the fault of the people who cover the Legislature. They get limited minutes and inches to report on the doings of the day, and gun bills are going to get more play than workmanâ€™s comp.

You mean the press purposely sensationalizes coverage and ignores major legislative concerns? Shocking, I tell you.

Yes, it is true that it’s not actually the fault of people who cover legislative news that Tennessee’s lawmakers screwed something up. However, perhaps if those covering the legislature were more interested in the overall work of the legislature instead of only the sensational stories, more of these problems would be caught. There is no excuse for poor work on the matter, especially when the coverage of gun-related bills is often terrible to begin with.

Phoenix, Not Philly

It would appear that Philadelphia is making a play to grab the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Â Phoenix is also submitting a bid, though they will also try to get the Republican National Convention.

Here’s hoping that the Democrats find the desert air refreshing enough to choose Phoenix. Â It comes with our endorsement as a great convention city. Â If Phoenix wins, it means that I won’t have to go on vacation to avoid the added stench of dirty hippie blended with corruption.