"How does that mitigate his promise to betray us?"
It's not a betrayal, for one thing. Bush openly said during his campaign that he would support all existing gun laws, but no new ones. If he signs the renewal, he would be supporting an existing law, not a new one (of course, if the dems try to slip anything additional into the bill, then Bush wouldn't sign it). Keeping an open, public campaign promise betrays no one, as betrayal requires a reversal of an earlier position or promise.
For another, if gun owners are so politically powerless that they can't stop the House or Senate from passing this bill, then our gun rights are already lost and the entire game is long since over.
Frankly, I refuse to believe that we can't stop this bill in either the House or Senate.
But if we can't stop it, then Bush can hardly be faulted (irrespective of his ethical choice to keep his campaign promise).
Moreover, all of this anti-Bush talk lets Congress off the hook. It's Congress that introduced this renewal bill, not Bush, and it's in Congress where this bill should die.
For another, if gun owners are so politically powerless that they can't stop the House or Senate from passing this bill, then our gun rights are already lost and the entire game is long since over.Applying my cheating wife analogy:
"For another, if the husband is so powerless that he can't stop the his wife from leaving the house, then he has already lost and the entire game is long since over."
I agree, and it explains why so many here threaten to not vote for him in 2004 for this bad policy/promise. I won't stand idly by if my spouse were to break, or promise to break, our Wedding Vows, and I won't stand idly by and vote for a man who promises to break his Oath to support and defend the Constitution, the one function of the Office that means the most to me. Cite all the political gamesmanship you want, I'm not buying the idea that one man's political future is worth more damage to that already-tattered Founding Document. (Gee, wasn't that Clinton's forte? Political genius coupled with a callous disregard for the Constitution?? We screamed bloody murder when he did it, but applaud when GWB does it?!? Sorry, I just can't hold on to that kind of hypocrisy after I see it for what it is.)