Ted Strickland got high marks from NRA during his tenure as Governor, but now that he’s running in a Dem primary he’s changed his views to back gun control.
“Ted’s views about gun violence and gun safety have been deeply influenced as a result of the multiple horrific incidents of gun violence that our country has suffered, and particularly after the Sandy Hook tragedy (in Connecticut).
“Just like many Americans, after Sandy Hook, he called for a reassessment of laws in order to help keep Ohioans and all Americans safer,†Bergstein said.
Yeah, I’m sure running in a Dem primary where Bloomberg money can be had has nothing at all to do with his election year conversion of the issue. Remember folks, politicians are rank opportunists. Don’t believe a Republican’s support on this issue is any less shallow. Politicians pursue what they feel is in their best interests, and like it or not, Bloomberg and Obama have convinced Dems that supporting gun control is in their best interests. Remember these wise words from Milton Friedman:
Snakes on a plane isn’t just a movie. It’s a description of every flight one of these dirty politicians boards.
It’s been really sad following him on facebook the last couple years. I actually voted for him over Kasich in 2010 in part because of his gun-rights support. (Strickland actually had the NRA Endorsement) But he’s tacked full progressive since deciding that he would run for senate.
I would seriously consider 2010 Strickland vs current Portman for senate, as that guy was full Blue Dog (his original representative district was along the Ohio River bordering PA & WV).
However, he’s always been in the Hillary camp, and has apparently followed her in “evolving” his views on everything. *spits*
Just another example to prove never trust or vote for a Democrat because his says he is pro gun. It is always a lie. At least the GOP is open to pressure from gun owners.
Gun Control is an article of faith for the Democrats
I don’t think you realize how good he was on guns before he lost the 2010 Ohio Governor’s election. A rating from the NRA, signed improvements to Ohio’s CCW, consistent opposition to the AWB. He was an Honest politician (“stayed bought”). He voted pro-gun. (John Kasich was the freaking “can’t trust him” squish in that election. I would have said that Strickland was a solid progun until now.)
What this really shows is why Sebastain’s worried about how anti-gun the Dems are getting. In order to get elected in the Dem primary in a centrist state, as a guy otherwise firmly Dem in most policies, he feels he has to completely repudiate his past pro-gun positions to survive the primary. This basically shows that the Dem has been LOST to gun-owner pressure, as he was previously one of those that responded to it.
It has BECOME an article of faith, when it wasn’t as little as 5 years ago. That is what is sad.
This shouldn’t be surprising. Even with NRA endorsements, too many gun voters voted based on non gun issues and voted for a guy like Kasich who had a long federal legislative history of supporting stringent gun controls instead of supporting the guy who signed quite a few reforms to be Ohio CHL statutes.
Democrats learned not to trust gun owners for this reason.
Yep. Toss that in with Bloomberg bringing real money to the table and you have a recipe for what’s going on today with the Dems.
Good video by Milton Friedman. Now how can we get the wrong politicians to do the right thing Ie: vote pro gun?
Has anyone done the political calculations for the 2016 senate races? Losing Kirk in Illinois to an anti-gun Dem won’t hurt us. In Wisconsin if we lose Johnson it might, but there is a question mark with Feingold. He is, much like Strickland was, a “blue dog” supportive of gun rights but even they can turn on us with the right kind of pressure as we’ve see.
Toomey’s loss would not hurt as much seeing as how he screwed us and won’t have an enthusiastic army of gunnies behind him.
As for Portman in Ohio, it would suck to see Strickland win now after these comments. Prior to, I could understand it more. It was a very tight (46-43 I think) race in the last poll done in October with Strickland ahead slightly.
I don’t see the Dems flipping any other states. The last time the UBC vote came up as an amendment a few weeks ago I believe we had 54 against it. Just doing the math, we could be down to 51 against UBCs or 50 at the worst? Gunnies Need to work through our groups and get to the polls on this.