Sebastian – Page 1051 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Involvement

David and I might disagree on a lot tactics wise, but he’s absolutely right about this:

We expect politicians to champion our rights, but how many of us make it worth their while to do so on such a hot button issue–one that is radioactive in most urban locales? Yes, true, a principled person does not shrink from hoisting his colors, but most politicians, even the ones who vote our way the majority of the time, view it as but one of many issues. And even though we don’t like to hear this, most constituents do not consider gun rights their major concern.

If that’s to change, we can’t elect someone to do it for us. Representative government doesn’t mean we abdicate our own initiative and go back to sleep.

He’s absolutely right, and gun owners don’t do nearly enough to help out politicians that support them.Â It’s going to be very rare to get true believers in politics, but we do have some.Â We even have some in my district here in Bucks County.Â Yet I would have been happy to have even a dozen dedicated volunteers.

How the Second Amendment Fared

Dave Kopel reports it’s not a disaster, and makes this note about the presidency:

President. Based on past record, certainly a -1. One important difference between our last Democratic President and our next one is the latter has shown himself to be much more self-disciplined. Accordingly, it is possible that he will not waste his political capital on a reckless culture war against gun owners, as President Clinton foolishly did.

So perhaps President Obama will spend his political capital elsewhere, and be a -0.1 President on the gun issue. The approach would be in line with the positive, unifying themes that Obama presented on victory night in Iowa last January, and with his eloquent victory speech tonight.

I don’t know if President Obama will be so temperate. But anyone who fears for the worst can still hope for the best.

We must hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.Â 2010 will be important for us.

Barack’s Insurance Policy

Steven Den Beste has an excellent, and serious post about this election.Â But I love his update:

One other good thing: no one will be spinning grand conspiracy theories about this administration’s Vice President being an evil, conniving genius who is the true power behind the throne.

Joe Biden is Obama’s insurance policy.Â He’s better protection for him than a whole legion of Secret Service agents.

Quote of the Day

From tgirsch:

Anyway, itâ€™s not the end of the world, and this too shall pass. Youâ€™ll get over it. And if you wait long enough, the Democrats will screw themselves, as parties in power always do, and it will once again be your turn to fuck everything up royally.

Very true.

It’s Theft You Can Believe In

A college professor who gets a tingle up his leg from stealing McCain signs.Â What great people who have won this election.

The Brady Spin

The Brady Campaign is already spinning this election as a victory for “sensible gun laws.” ‘Fraid not Brady Campaign.Â Number one issue cited by Sportsmen this election was the economy.Â Guns were not even an issue this election.Â At all.Â That didn’t help us.Â In the end, Barack Obama’s tactic of running as far away from gun control as possible was a winning strategy for suppressing the gun vote.

Barack Obama is my President

I can’t agree more with this message from Bob Krumm and Rightwingprof.Â Obama won.Â He will be legitimately our President.Â The margins were high enough in most of the states that mattered, I don’t think we can attribute it to fraud.Â We can attribute it to Republicans sucking.Â I am willing to give Obama the chance to govern as the center-left moderate he’s sold himself as.Â I am willing to give him a chance to show me he’s not going to come after gun owners.Â And I am absolutely willing to start talking about the 2010 elections.Â We have an election to win, folks, and we only have two years to get ready.

How NRA Fared in District 8

Unfortunately, we lost our presidential and congressional race this election.Â It was a bad day to be a Republican, and people overhwelmingly said the economy was their top concern.Â But, both our endorsed State Representatives comfortably held on to their seat, and we did oust one anti-gun Democrat in my distrct (Chris King).Â We also got a B rated state rep elected over a question mark candidate.Â Interestingly enough, I don’t think Obama’s coattails reached down to state level races.Â We did pretty well at the state level, overall, at least in my district.

The Silver Lining: Frank Farry Wins!

My State Representative, Chris King, who’s grade dropped from an A- to a C-, was ousted by Frank Farry.Â Â Frank’s NRA grade was “?” because he didn’t get his questionare in, so I could send him no volunteers.Â But I did talk to him, and got a reassurance he was a good guy on our issue.Â This is a win for gun owners.Â It’s also a win for class.Â Seriously, how much of a goober are you if you don’t show up to thank your supporters and congratulate your opponent?Â I think it’s safe to say Chris King’s political career is finished.Â Frank Farry ran a stellar campaign, and to oust an incumbent as a Republican in a Democratic election year is a testament to that.Â I hope we’ll be able to work with Frank moving forward, and that he’ll earn an NRA endorsement for 2010.

Thanks George!

Let’s be honest about who’s fault it really is we lost this election.Â The Rove strategy has proven to be a total failure at this point.Â New England now has no Republican representation left at all.Â Pennsylvania is following close behind.Â The South is still solid, well, except for Virginia, and maybe North Carolina.Â George Bush destroyed the Republican Party, with a lot of help from a formerly Republican Congress.