It has to be hard sticking to your incumbent friendly endorsement policy when you have an NRA Board Member running for Governor against an really Second Amendment friendly incumbent Governor. How much do you like a race where that’s your choice? Beats voting in Pennsylvania, I can tell you that. Jan Brewer signed a constitutional carry bill into law, and the other guy is on the NRA Board. Maybe I can get used to 110 in the shade!
Category: Politics
Passed the House
DISCLOSE is through the House. See NRA’s statement here. Hopefully it won’t have the same luck in the Senate.
DISCLOSE Voting Happening Soon
For once I am going to join with the Brady Campaign in opposing a piece of legislation in the form of the DISCLOSE act. The vote on DISCLOSE is going to be today. It’s important that we light up the switchboards if we want to stop this. You can find contact information here. It will be a huge embarrassment too Pelosi and the White House if this goes down to defeat.
Civil Rights Victory
News came yesterday from Kim Stolfer of Firearms Owners Against Crime that Mayor Bill Goldsworthy of West Pittston, PA has resigned from the group, thanks to the work of a handful of dedicated FOAC activists. It doesn’t take much to make a difference. Sometimes it can just be a matter of explaining to your mayor what MAIG has been up to. By now we have clear and convincing evidence they are the same tired agenda slickly repackaged as an anti-crime measure.
More Crap From the “Family” Groups
For those who believe these people are about freedom, think again. See this media release from GOProud:
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, GOProud, the only national organization of gay conservatives and their allies, responded to attacks from the anti-gay Family Research Council (click here and here). “Over the last week, the Family Research Council has shown its true colors – attacking GOProud for working with the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America to protect 2nd Amendment rights, attacking GOProud for supporting cutting taxes on American families, and for supporting the free market healthcare reform proposal offered by Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK),” said Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director. “These attacks make it clear the Family Research Council doesn’t care one iota about the conservative agenda.”
I’m not speaking of individual conservative Christians. I know many, and they believe in small government and individual freedom. They understand what free will means. But the groups that claim to speak for them have become bastions of big government, and now are criticizing our promotion of the Second Amendment as a right of all Americans, no matter what their color, creed or persuasion:
Equalize “concealed carry reciprocity†amendment with gay rights via state rights. Support guns being carried and recognized across state lines, in order to further the agenda that gay marriages legal in only a few states be recognized legally in all. (July 2009)
Get that? National reciprocity is part of a homosexual conspiracy to get gay marriage legalized. Please don’t anyone tell Rep. Metcalfe that!
Texas GOP Still Running Scared from Gay Cooties?
I’ve had a few people send me this article from the Raw Story. Not really the raw story, because these passages are cherry picked from a very long document, and a are a bit distorted. For instance, it would only be a felony for officials to issue a marriage license to same sex couples. Gay marriage itself would not be a felony. But nonetheless, there is this:
We believe that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans.
Read the whole sorry section. Really guys? When this was what the debate was about the Democrats were kicking our asses all over creation. The polling for these kinds of issues is looking increasingly favorable to Democrats, especially for younger people.
It’s one thing to oppose gay marriage. This is a safe position for the time being, and has to do with state power rather than individual liberty. But standing in favor of criminalizing sodomy, cracking down on porn, gambling, and using the FCC to crack down on that which the Christian right finds offensive? Explain to me what these things have to do with promoting individual freedom and encouraging small government? That’s right, exactly nothing.
God help the GOP if the Democrats actually learn something from the beating they are about to take this election.
Castle Backing Away from DISCLOSE
Even RINO support seems to be drying up. Granted he’s disgusted by the deal rather than the unconscionable restrictions on free speech, which really tells you all you need to know about Mike Castle. It doesn’t look to me like it’s going to get easier for Pelosi to push this bill forward with time, but health care looked doomed more than a few times, until it wasn’t.
Pulled Again
The Lentz bill, HB 2536, to weaken PA reciprocity, was scheduled for a vote today, but has once again been pulled from the agenda. I’m guessing because Lentz still doesn’t have the votes. Keep the pressure on.
Why the Democratic Leadership Wants to Shut us Up
Last night, I spent 2 1/2 hours making phone calls for Tom Corbett for Governor, Pat Toomey for Senate, and Dee Adcock for Congress. Â I assumed, when asked to help out, that we would be calling hardcore Republicans to recruit volunteers and get a general sense of how much they know about the specific candidates now that the primaries are over – not formal polling by any means, just a general view of the picture.
Except, I found out when I arrived that the call list was of “soft” Republicans. Â They don’t vote in primaries very often, if at all. Â They are registered with the party, but not active by any measure. Â A few undecideds here and there, a few who didn’t really know about the candidates (especially at the Congressional level, which isn’t a surprise given the district and the lack of a specific media market for that area), and a surprising number of people willing to volunteer for the candidates.
Really, the Democrats really could be in big, big trouble if this is a sign of the times. Â Of the 4 other people in the room with me, 2 had never volunteered for phone banks before. Â One was moving over into general Republican issues after having mostly volunteering for pro-life groups before. Â Keep in mind that it is June. Â It’s freakin’ June and nearly half the people in the room are new to volunteering, and I recruited several more from the soft Republican call sheet. Â (There were many more callers in the rest of the building, I just eavesdropped on those in my room so I could make more calls instead of chatting it up.) Â This can’t be good news for Democrats.
On Saturday, we’ll be doing a walk for the same candidates. Â I don’t know if that list is for hard or soft Republicans. Â I do know that Obama’s camp is already canvassing soft Democrats, particularly those who just registered last year and/or those who don’t vote in midterms. Â So we definitely need to be doing the same on our side.
If you’re in SE Pennsylvania and want an excuse to get a little exercise & help a good cause on Saturday, I’ve got locations for several events in Montgomery, Bucks, and Delaware counties.
I would also suggest to bloggers that helping a campaign out for a couple of hours a month is a great way to get a read on the pulse of your local voters. Â It’s absolutely fascinating at times. Â Great blog fodder, too. :)
Aiming to Shove DISCLOSE Down Our Throats
Well, it looks like the White House is putting its full weight behind DISCLOSE to get it back on the House calendar for a vote. This is bad news. When this story first broke, I left a comment at Joe’s about some of the writing on the wall that had to go into the decisions that any group was making on the bill (with additional notes):
From what I’m seeing out of other groups, this amendment could very well kill the bill. Here’s what we either know or can safely assume by the actions of this Democratic Congress so far:
- They have a history of ramming things down the throats of the American people even when there is 50%+ opposition – even very loud and visible opposition.
Health care, anyone? Â Try getting people as worked up over campaign finance – an issue that few people know anything about. Â Hell, just look at the comments here and on other blogs to show how little people know about the issue. Â Besides, you’re also talking about competing with the millions that George Soros has pumped into a “campaign finance reform” public relations effort over many, many years.
- They pretty much see the writing on the wall that this is their last stand in the House. They could back off to calm people down before the elections so they have a shot at holding on to power or they could try to get every little thing they can right now while they know they have it.
Talking to some DC folks this weekend, this point is even more important than I realized at the time. Â Everyone there knows that this won’t pass court muster. Â But that’s not the goal. Â The goal is to get this into law before this year’s elections so that angry groups are cut off from the voters. Â Whether it’s liberal groups turning against Democratic incumbents or conservative groups targeting Democrats, they want them all shut out of the campaign process. Â They are actually the ones who are just trying to live to fight another day here.
- They wanted this bill, and it’s clearly a priority of the President who broke all standards of reasonable protocol by attacking the Supreme Court justices who attended his SOTU. Therefore, fact # 1 becomes more relevant to anyone working on this issue.
See above. Â The White House is now getting in to twist some arms. Â They are, however, conceding the big group exemption. Â My guess is that they are going to tell the far left members of Congress to shut the hell up and get in line – just like they did on healthcare. Â And they will do it. Â The House leadership & White House will probably promise that the bill will eventually be “fixed” someday, but they really know it won’t and that it will be struck down. Â That doesn’t matter, they just need some of it to work this year to try to minimize their losses.
- NRA could make sure their members were taken of in the event they do ram this through Congress. It may only hold off the fight for another day, but come January, we’ll at least have a friendlier House – even if we don’t take full control of it back. In two more years, we may have a friendly White House & Congress to gut this thing.
The big group exemption makes sure gun owners can still be heard on Election Day. Â I hate it, but it at least makes sure our concerns don’t go down the tubes this year while we wait on the courts to (hopefully) throw the law out or a future Congress & president to gut it.
- The side benefit to this kind of exemption is the added attention that could kill the bill in all forms. The outrage is there from the left. But, looking back at # 1, NRA donors are still safe for now. It’s just a matter of whether Pelosi, Schumer & Obama are so confident to stick their tongues out at the left and yell, “What are you going to do, vote Republican? Just take it with a smile and vote for us again in November.” Based on the “hell no” Van Hollen gave to any union exemption last night, I tend to think they’re going to try and ram it down everyone’s throats even over the objections of their base.
This is may still be the case. Â The opposition may be the reason the House cut their calendar by a week this year – always a good thing to get the politicians out of DC. Â However, with the White House making the noises they are about how it’s not a “perfect” bill, but they will take it, it does appear they are telling their base to shut the hell up and get out of the way.
Now, there is still room for those of you who fall in the general conservative category to fight this. Â If you live in a Blue Dog district, get on the damn phone right now. Â If you live in a far left district, get on the phone now and tell them to kill the bill – leaving them to assume you’re part of the base. Â If you live in a GOP district, there’s a good chance that they will oppose it, but get on the phone anyway because we can’t afford to have any stray. Â You know the Democrats can afford to have a few wander off the reservation, but the Republicans can’t afford it. Â And when you’re dealing with literally hundreds of millions invested into convincing the public that anything called “campaign finance reform” is a good idea, it could be a tough fight. Â Whether we like it not, that’s the political reality of the moment. Â We have to figure out how to beat them anyway.