Politics – Page 186 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Single-Issue Voters: For Wine?

Hey, people get passionate about their drinks – especially when those drinks are restricted at the hands of a state monopoly that jacks prices up. Not to mention, the selection sucks and if you try to buy out-of-state, you are committing a crime.

In his August newsletter, Keith Wallace of the Wine School of Philadelphia made a pitch for Tom Corbett. As he says, â€œâ€¦ I have gained assurances that Gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett will make reforming the PLCB an element of his administration.â€

This is significant because, besides being a well respected person amongst the wine circles in the Philadelphia area, he also isnâ€™t your expected Corbett supporter. â€œAfter all,â€ he says, â€œI am a former NPR journalist and Democratic operative [originally] from Massachusetts.â€

This shows two very important things. First, the PLCB is a significant enough of an issue to get people to be a one issue voter across party lines. Second, while there is the debate between both sides on where the line is drawn on the appropriate role of government, the PLCB crosses that line for many people.

I would love to be part of the wine vote coalition. Our state rep already knows that we’re all about the guns and letting our wine & beer run free. (Although getting rid of our stupid beer laws will be another tough sell, and much harder to do.)

Today is Delaware’s Primary

And we’ll find out just how nuts NRA is for endorsing Christine O’Donnell in the primary. My instinct would have been to sit this one out. Not because Mike Castle is our best friend, but because this strikes me as a risky bet. Some polls have shown the race between O’Donnell is close, and turnout is expected to be low. NRA would, no doubt, like to be able to send the message to Castle, and by contrast all the other Republicans, that they can end the political careers of intransigent Republicans (hear that Lindsey Graham?).

But to send that message, you have to win, and we’ll see how O’Donnell does after tonight when the results start to come in. The end result, either way, is likely going to be that seat remaining anti-gun. If Mike Castle wins his primary, he’s polling well for November against Chris Coons. If O’Donnell wins, the Democrats are very likely to hold that seat. These party concerns can’t and shouldn’t be a concern for NRA, but it’ll make November interesting. O’Donnell, to put it mildly, is nuts. I don’t see any scenario where she wins in Delaware, with the Democrats holding a significant registration advantage, and where Independents tend to like more moderate candidates. I think Delaware could support a better conservative than Mike Castle, especially this election, but I don’t think it can support someone as far right as Christine O’Donnell. This seems to be a frequent mistake being made by the Tea Party movement.

Earning the Brady Love

Apparently Obama can find some room to praise Texas Christian University’s shooting team, and mentions he shoots with the Secret Service (color me skeptical on that one). Either way, this likely is an indication he still does not want a fight. After the EPA incident, he’s looking to back away from the issue visibly, and calm nerves.

That’s not to say I’d trust the guy. He’s still going to nominate anti-gun Supreme Court justices, and for that reason he has to go, but he’s definitely no Bill Clinton. At least not yet.

We Return to Better Political News…

I’m currently catching up on the insanity in Delaware, where it seems enough crazy broke out over the last couple of weeks to entertain folks on both coasts nearly 24/7 on Twitter.

But, there’s this bit of interesting news from one of my favorite local political news sites:

That means some Democratic-held seats have become more competitive, most notably Patrick Murphyâ€™s 8th District, which now sits at No. 4 on the rankings. Republican challenger Mike Fitzpatrickâ€™s strong fundraising, an anti-Democratic climate and polling data weâ€™ve seen all contributed to this change. Political forecasters increasingly see the Bucks County race as a battleground. No race has become more competitive since we inaugurated the Power Rankingsâ€”itâ€™s moved from No. 10 all the way to No. 4.

This fascinates me, and likely will until the morning after election day. Talking to people on the ground, there’s not much enthusiasm for Fitzpatrick – the GOP candidate looking to reclaim the seat he lost in 2006. However, there is quite a bit of enthusiasm for voting out Patrick Murphy – the Democratic incumbent who ran as a Blue Dog and has voted fairly far left.

Of course, nothing we see here in Pennsylvania compares to the level of political engagement we saw out in Hawaii. Their primary isn’t until next weekend, and yet we saw sign wavers every single time we got in the car (with some exceptions when we were driving late at night). There are signs in lawns and banners hanging off the sides of a huge number of homes. We found it was even common for businesses to get in on the political game by showing their support for various candidates. It’s very clear that the Djou special election win has energized the GOP there, and they are out in full force showing their support for their candidates. On the Democratic side, Mufi Hannemann, the primary challenger to former Congressman Neil Abercrombie for the Governor’s office, appears to have quite the enthusiasm advantage. His volunteers were out everywhere. We never saw any Abercrombie supporters (at least in person – beyond a sign in the yard) until our next to last day. Even then, it was one group doing one sign waving event.

The Obama Administration is keeping up appearances – Health Care Edition

Once again, the Secretary of HHS is threatening insurance companies who say they are raising rates in response to the coming Health Care Reform. This kind of thing is, if nothing else, disturbing because of the assymetry of power between a federal regulatory agency and the industry it regulates. If thre is fraud, prosecute it. Making threats is simply an attempt to suppress speech.

BATF Budget Growth

Dave Hardy at Of Arms and the Law posted a link to a Congressional Research Service analysis of the BATF budget for FY 2011. He notes that their budget has doubled in the past ten years while the number of employees has only increased from about 4,100 to 5,100.

As some have said, the only area of the economy growing seems to be government. Dave adds firearm sales to the mix as well.

Making Assumptions

The old saying about avoiding assumptions because when you assume you make an ass out of you and me is correct. Yesterday, a number of non-gun bloggers saw the notice about hearings to be held by the Senate Judiciary Committe next week. The title of the hearings was â€œFirearms in Commerce: Assessing the Need for Reform in the Federal Regulatory Processâ€. They immediately thought this was some backdoor effort by Democrats to get back at us bitter clingers now since they might not have a chance after the coming elections.

Gun bloggers, on the other hand, were not so ready to jump to this conclusion. Instead most readily connected these hearings to the BATFE Reform Act when has been working its way through Congress. The House version, HR 2296, has 240 co-sponsors and the Senate bill, S. 941, has 36 co-sponsors including Pat Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

And guess what? The primary focus of the hearings will be on S. 941. I have a “for background purposes” release on No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money that I received this morning from Erica Chabot, the Committe Press Secretary.

The bottom line is the most obvious answer is often the correct answer. It was in this case.

Mayor Daley hangs it up

Mayor Daley has announced that he will not be seeking another term. Wonder if he’s hoping to get away with his bundle before the hue and cry is raised?

Daley Won’t Seek Re-Election in Chicago

Mayor Richard M. Daley stunned the political establishment in Chicago this afternoon when he announced he would not be running for re-election in 2011. He has held the office since 1989 when he won a special election to replace Mayor Harold Washington.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Daley said “it just feels right” regarding his decision to not seek re-election. On December 26th, he will eclipse his father, Mayor Richard J. Daley, as the longest serving mayor of Chicago. The Sun-Times quotes his brother, William (Bill) Daley, on what is behind the decision:

â€œItâ€™s not Maggieâ€™s health or [the cityâ€™s] financial problems, unemployment or crime. Blaming this decision on the re-election campaign or fear he wasnâ€™t gonna win is silly also. All of the things you go to to find a reason, thereâ€™s bits of truth in all of them. Itâ€™s not one thing. Itâ€™s an accumulation of 21 years and looking, not just at an election, but the next four years in oneâ€™s life. Heâ€™s healthy. Heâ€™s got time to do other things â€” or nothing.â€

However, a poll commissioned by the Chicago Tribune conducted earlier this summer found:

The poll found only 37 percent of city voters approve of the job Daley is doing as mayor, compared with 47 percent who disapprove. Moreover, a record-low 31 percent said they want to see Daley re-elected, compared with 53 percent who don’t want him to win another term.

Now that Daley isn’t going to run for re-election, politicians who have previously suppressed their desire for the office are now thinking of running. Some of the names mentioned include Rahm Emanuel, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., a number of sitting aldermen, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, and Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan.

The announcement leads to two important questions. First, will the coalition that kept Daley in office and the Chicago Democratic Machine running start to fight amongst themselves? And, second, what will this mean for gun rights in Chicago and the State of Illinois?

I think the answer to the first question is absolutely yes. Alderman Ed Smith, considered the dean of the African-American alderman on City Council, guarantees that there will be an African-American candidate for mayor.

â€œIf we can raise the money, thereâ€™s gonna be a [black] candidate. Weâ€™re not short on people who can run this town and who would get in the race.

Probably the best analogy would be to Yugoslavia upon the death of Marshall Tito. Without a leader that could hold a coalition of antagoinistic factionsÂ together, the factions began to fight for power and control and the place fell apart. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the same in Chicago.

As to gun rights, none of the potential candidates is going to be good for our side. However, they could be “less bad” than Mayor Daley. For example, Rahm “Never let a crisis go to waste” Emanual has described being Mayor of Chicago as his dream job. He saw what the impact of gun control did for the Clinton administration in 1994. When he was head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he recruited many “Blue Dog” Democrats who were pro-gun. I’m not saying he’d be pro-gun but might be less anti-gun than the present regime.

Sheriff Tom Dart came out against concealed carry in Illinois last year when SB 1976 was proposed. Obviously, Jesse Jackson, Jr. would not be good for gun rights but he may be damaged goods due to Rod Blagojevich.

I’d love to hear the comments from people who live in the Chicago area who might have a better feel for potential candidates and where they stand on gun rights.

The Korean M-1s are back in the news

This time, Maxim Lott brings them up on Fox News. No new information here, it appears to be a rehash of the Korean Times article; except that Dennis Henigan brings some PSH to the discussion, and Chris Cox counters. Still no one directly involved willing to be quoted on the record.

A couple of things jump out at me based on this whole fiasco. First, The Obama administration denying Korea’s request to sell could be a PRO-gun move in that they could be saying “nope, you can’t sell them, you have to give them back.” (Could be. Not saying it is, or even that it’s likely. Bear with me). Secondly, there is no good that can come out of the administration’s official silence and buck-passing on this. It’s fired up the pro-gun side less than 90 days out from a make-or-break election for the White House; and if they do come in under the terms of the Lend-Lease (given back to the US, rather than sold directly), they have another stark choice; send them to Captain Crunch to appease the Bradies and PO the NRA, or give them to CMP (which will have the opposite result). Pick a side of the fence and stick with it, guys – straddling it just ends painfully when you slip… At any rate, this stealth gun-hating has consequences.

Seen at the Volokh Conspiracy – where Dave Kopel’s post gets a new world record by going from 0 to Godwin by the first comment. Which leads to the funniest thing I’ve seen all week on gun control “However, it is almost certain that Hitler wished that Americans didnâ€™t have so many M1 Garands and Carbines.Â :)” (David Kopel)

Has anyone gotten the CMP on-record about these rifles?

(As a side note – I can’t own the Carbine – it be banned by name as an assault weapon in the state of New Jersey)