Posted on 10/14/2004 1:27:22 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
NRA makes bang for Bush
MUNDY TWP.
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Joe Lawlor
MUNDY TWP. -- In the home county of liberal, anti-gun filmmaker Michael Moore, the National Rifle Association endorsed President Bush for re-election, promising him millions of dollars in ads, phone banks and other efforts.
NRA leaders chose the Flint area for one of several news conferences in the Midwest to announce their endorsement Wednesday of Bush, citing Michigan as a battleground state with many gun owners and hunters.
Wayne LaPierre, the group's powerful executive vice president, said Bush is a true supporter of the Second Amendment's right to bear arms, while Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry is a phony.
During the campaign, Kerry has said he supports the Second Amendment. Commercials show the Massachusetts senator hunting in a field, a portrayal that made LaPierre scoff.
"He's a Cape Cod fraud who poses with a shotgun," LaPierre said in his trademark blunt style.
But LaPierre said it's a ruse because Kerry has consistently supported gun control measures.
"If John Kerry supports the Second Amendment, then maybe Al Gore really did invent the Internet," said LaPierre, speaking at the Holiday Inn in Mundy Township.
Bush supports legislation to protect the firearms industry from lawsuits and opposes centralizing files on gun owners, LaPierre said, calling the difference between Bush and Kerry on guns "day and night."
LaPierre said it was a coincidence the NRA chose to make the announcement on Davison native Moore's home turf. The group frequently has been a subject in Moore's movies, such as the anti-gun "Bowling for Columbine." "I wish I had thought of that," LaPierre said, when asked about Moore. The NRA also held news conferences in Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The Journal could not reach Moore for comment.
But Paul Rozycki, a political science professor at Mott Community College, said he thinks the NRA's choice was intentional. "Bowling for Columbine" criticized the NRA, and the filmmaker interviewed NRA President Charlton Heston.
"I think the choice of Flint was a counterpoint to Moore," Rozycki said.
Rozycki said people shouldn't brush off the NRA endorsement because gun issues matter in the presidential election. The organization has some 4 million members.
"Gore lost in places where the NRA had an impact like West Virginia, Tennessee and the U.P.," Rozycki said.
Randy Dresback of Groveland Township, an NRA member, watched the news conference, and he said he immediately recognized Kerry as a fake.
"A leopard doesn't change his spots," Dresback said.
The NRA's political action committee already has spent about $1 million on TV commercials and other ads opposing Kerry. The NRA plans to spend about $20 million in all, focused on 10 to 15 targeted states.
Kerry's campaign has derided the NRA's leaders as tools of the Republican Party and said they are out of touch with their membership.
Kerry has been endorsed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which is helping finance anti-Bush television ads.
Kerry has been endorsed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which is helping finance anti-Bush television ads.
LOL the NRA is a pawn yet Sara Brady is not?
Did the NRA formally endorse Bush last time? A lot of democrat gun owners supported Gore last time because they did not believe he was anti-gun. Can this stuff stick on Kerry?
"Why, I love hunting. Ever since that day back in Nam when I hunted down that wounded teanager and shot him in the back. Got a medal for it. Did I tell you I was in Nam?"
MI is afflicted with some major, stupid gun owners.
A fellow I know is a big sportsman, hunting, angling, trapping, yet he's voting for Kerry.
When I tell him that Kerry voted to ban or tax common hunting ammo, he stands there dumb and wide-eyed and turns away. That Kerry is a gun-banner and wants to close federal lands to sports activity just doesn't register.
I'd grab him and shake him but I'm afraid his brain might fall out. Maybe if I buy him a box of ammo and wrap it in Kerry's anti-gun senate votes he might get enlightened.
"He's a Cape Cod fraud who poses with a shotgun," LaPierre said in his trademark blunt style.Geez...could've fooled me!!!
With people like that a brain falling out would not matter since they rarely use it.
Yes the NRA did endose President Bush in 2000.
Go to thomas.loc.gov and print out S Amdt 2619, the roll call vote for it, and Kennedy's comments about the .30-30 Winchester.
If he still votes for Kerry, then he's an idiot and if I was there, I'd tell him that to his face. Especially since Kerry also voted for every outsourcing bill that existed.
Yes they did and in fact I drove up to Flint after work from Troy (approx. a 45minute drive and an hour to drive home) to participate in the rally. The main arena was filled to capacity by the time I arrived and so they channeled the rest of us into the adjoining arena. FWIW, LaPierre came out to greet all of us who were waiting in line and he was kind enought to sign a protest poster I had brought with me.
Damn right it was and it had nothing to do with Moore. Moore just happens to be the bacteria growing on the feces..........
Michael Moore's hometown is not Flint.
They did support Bush -- that swung West Virginia to Bush (a bit a surprise on election night).
If Michael (You are what you eat) Moore's town is not Flint, what is it?
You didn't tell us which Union Local he is affilliated with......
I have a friend from our plant in Detroit who is a Vietnam Vet and God bless him he is very active in veterans issues and visits the vets at the veterans hospital on a regular basis. he is also a member of the Mt. clemens chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. When I last spoke with him I asked him about his thoughts about Kerry and he said he supported him because he was a Vietnam Vet.......... I asked him about Kerry's postwar activities and he was silent.
Heres the deal on my friend:
1. He is not the brightest bulb in the room but is a good mechanic.
2. He is a member of UAW Local 306........ Nothing more needs to be said
Flint
Deceit 57
Mrs. Lipscomb is from Flint, Michigan, which Moore calls "my hometown." In fact, Moore grew up in Davison, Michigan, a suburb of Flint. Davison is much wealthier than Flint. According to the Census Bureau, 6 percent of children in the Davison public schools are from families living in poverty, whereas in Flint, 31 percent of children are. Calling Flint your "hometown" when you really grew up in Davison is like calling the Bronx "my hometown" when you really grew up in Westchester County.
Flint is working class, industrial, down-at-heel, where the majority of the population is black or Latino. It's where the factories are.
Davison, where Moore grew up and attended Davison High School, is comfortable middle class, suburban, and white. Overwhelmingly white. It's where the managers and professionals live. While many of the children of Flint go on to work at the factories...the normal trajectory for the children of Davison is university. Michael Moore went to university (though didn't stick long). Unusually, he also went to Flint and tried his hand on the blue-collar front line with a job on the Buick assembly line for General Motors. He found the conditions under which the working class actually worked so appalling he quit the job after one day.
http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm
You're right but that is Moore's claim when in fact he is from an upscale suburb of Flint.......
Yep. Davison. It's like claiming Detroit and living in Livonia.
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