Seems they are considering it, according to Salon. What purpose would this serve? Do they think they can get a better deal on guns from an Arkansas Republican? The fact is Toomey was about the only Senator they could conceivably hoodwink scare into accepting a deal. Helping Toomey ruin his relationship with an important GOP voting block could pave the way for an anti-gun Democrat. That was a huge victory for Bloomberg.
Bloomberg is not going to be able to do a thing to Pryor on guns, short of replacing him with a pro-gun Republican. Same goes for other red state Democrats. They voted the way they did because the consensus on guns in Arkansas is vastly different than it is in New York City. Bloomberg will be running campaign ads for Pryor if he buys up Arkansas airtime telling everyone Mark Pryor hates gun control.
Nanny Mike should leave NYC once in a while and see the unwashed masses of Americans who reject his limousine liberal nanny state agenda. Oh wait, that’s right, he’s too busy spending the week in his Bermuda compound with an armed NYPD security detail.
Arkansas resident here. Myself and my wife must have written to him at least 10 times a piece since December. I’m glad he voted correctly this time but his butt is still gone when it comes to the next election. His party is the party of gun control and I will not stand for any of my elected officials being a part of that no matter how they voted. We have more at stake with SCOTUS in the upcoming years of litigation. I need a Senator that won’t blindly vote with the President’s nominee.
What would you do if he switched parties?
So far, isn’t the MAIG record better at beating pro-gun Democrats than Republicans?
And from an anti-gun point of view, perhaps Bloomberg is looking long term and willing to give up near term control of the U.S. Senate in exchange for entrenching a Democratic party litmus test for gun-control every bit as strong as the test for abortion.
This!
Do you ever get the feeling that half of a politician’s job is to APPEAR stupid? Bloomberg is an arrogant, appallingly cynical nanny-stater tyrant, but stupid he ain’t. He knows how to build up Illegal Mayors Against Guns, and a flood of cash from Kossacks trying to “sink” Mark Pryor will boost Bloomberg’s fortunes elsewhere in the country while keeping Pryor’s head above water. This may not be the infighting you think it is.
I lived in Arkansas for three years before moving back to PA ten years ago. At the time I lived down there, the Democrats still had a lock on local and state politics including Federal Congressman and U.S. Senator elections and the Republicans were some far out fringe group. The Republicans today are the majority party in Arkansas. I remember testifying a few times before committees of the State legislature about issues related to my work and as a native Pennsylvanian I came away shaking my head and thinking that the Democrats down there are far more conservative, and anachronistic than the Republicans. anyway, look at AR now. The days of voters just blindly towing the National party line of the Democrats are long gone. It is a Republican majority state now. Bill Clinton could not get elected Governor there now. It is a different political place now. Mark Pryor may not realize it yet, but his days in office are numbered even if he walked around handing out AR-15’s for free. Someone mentioned him switching parties. That’s a really intriguing thought. He might have to wake up on Christmas morning and do just that if he wants to win another state-wide election in Arkansas.
Almost sounds like my experience being a NY native moving to SW PA. My father, who’s very conservative, still lives in upstate NY and finds it strange that Democrats outnumber Republicans in this neck of the woods. I keep telling him that the Democrats out here are nothing like the ones in NY. With the exception of union support and the desire to keep SS and Medicaid going, the Democrats in SW PA are practically Republicans socially. It’s pretty funny when your suburban NYC hometown votes for more GOP presidential nominees than Fayette County, PA.
Unfortunately, they are also the folks that too many around here would malign and ignore out of a hatred of the dreaded “social cons”. They see magic votes appearing suddenly the GOP turned its back on them and became democrat lite (except on guns and economics pretty much). You can’t have it both ways. A “culture war” covers more ground than just guns, and these posts illustrates that.
Like I’ve said before, that 4% number interested in gun issues as a top priority is 4% on both sides with the advantage to us. However, it’s no coincidence that most of these Dems in question are also mostly pro-life and fit in well with the values of most outside of the cities. Manchin, for instance, had a mostly pro-life rating. I believe in 2012 some of the pro-life WV groups endorsed his opponent in the primary (also a Dem, of course), though.
Then we have Republicans like Rep. Peter King and Sen. Mark Kirk who really don’t deserve any kind of conservative support as well. Peter King is one of the “kill ’em all” conservatives that have shown not to be our friends because of their simple-minded rhetoric on national security which, sadly, seems to appeal more to rural voters (such as the dems you speak of).
It’s a crazy world. Vote wisely.
Sorry… first paragraph got mangled. Should read:
Unfortunately, they are also the folks that too many around here would malign and ignore out of a hatred of the dreaded “social consâ€. They see magic votes appearing suddenly if the GOP turned its back on them and became democrat lite (except on guns and economics pretty much). You can’t have it both ways. A “culture war†covers more ground than just guns, and these posts illustrate that.