Replies

Can Dean actually win next November?

Read forwarded message below...

2004 presidential elections, a pro-gun grassroots activist's dilemma?

A brief NRA-related history of gun-control politics played out here in our Nation's Capital:

1980, 1984 – NRA endorses Reagan for President. He wins landslide victories.

1988 – NRA endorses George H.W. Bush, Sr., after he becomes a member and makes certain pro-gun promises. Bush wins.

1989 – Bush bans importation of semi-auto (civilian model) AK-47s via Executive Order, enforced by the BATF, FBI, etc.

1992 – NRA does not endorse Bush. He loses.

1993 – Waco debacle. Brady Bill, endorsed by all living U.S. Presidents, passes Congress. Clinton signs into law.

1994 – So-called “Assault Weapons” Ban (semi-auto ban) passes Congress, gets signed into law. NRA launches all out effort to defeat politicians who supported ban. NRA plays decisive role in the historical election of a pro-gun, Republican Congress.

1996 – Clinton stages duck-huntin' photo-op; lies about support of “2nd Amendment”. NRA does not endorse Dole, due to his history of compromise with the moderates. Clinton wins 60% of gunowner vote; is re-elected.

2000 – Sen. Al Gore favors more “sensible” gun safety/control laws. Gov. Dubya Bush favors “enforcing current laws”. NRA mobilizes unprecedented, anti-Gore, grassroots efforts targeting key swing voter states with gun-owning union members (PA, OH, KY, AR, WV, TN, FL, etc.) and in support of pro-gun candidates. After secret meetings in Washington, Bush receives NRA endorsement about two weeks before election day. Bush wins 60% of gunowner vote, carrying critical swing states with lots of gun-owning union members.

2002 – Congressman Bob Ehrlich, a co-sponsor of the 1995 House Bill to repeal the 1994 federal assault weapons ban, receives the NRA's endorsement for Governor and goes on to win a decisive victory in the historically liberal, anti-gun, Democrat-dominated state of Maryland.

2004 – Presumptive Democrat presidential candidate, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, proud of all his NRA “A” ratings and endorsements, has the SAME issue positions on gun-control as President Bush. Both have said they will sign the renewal of the 1994 so-called “Assault Weapons” Ban. Both favor bans on affordable guns - the so-called "Saturday Night Specials".

Soooo, just who will all those gun-owning Reagan Democrats, independents, union members, etc., who decisively supported Clinton over Dole in 1996, and Bush over Gore in 2000, be voting for next November?

-- A former NRA EVC (Election Volunteer Coordinator)

Soooo, just who will all those gun-owning Reagan Democrats, independents, union members, etc., who decisively supported Clinton over Dole in 1996, and Bush over Gore in 2000, be voting for next November?

They will vote for Dean (or a third party wackjob which is the same as voting for Dean) because they are knee-jerk, one issue morons.

The better question is...

Sooooo after cutting off their nose to spite their face in the previous elections, what body part will it be this time?

Soooo, just who will all those gun-owning Reagan Democrats, independents, union members, etc., who decisively supported Clinton over Dole in 1996, and Bush over Gore in 2000, be voting for next November?

Bush, if they look closer. Dean sees gun ownership as a state perogative - which means states could restrict or ban gun ownership without the interference of a Dean Administration, whereas he should properly see it as a federal, 2nd Amendment right - and for whatever problems exist with the Bush Admin and the nasty-looking rifle ban, it is the position of his Justice Department that the 2nd Amendment infers an individual, not a collective right.