Posted on 01/07/2006 7:46:45 PM PST by SJackson
Kerry Blasts Romney On Hunting? Who's He Kidding?
I was sitting on the commuter rail when I nearly laughed myself out of my seat while reading a discarded copy of Friday's Boston Herald What was so funny? Not the comics, but on John Kerry criticizing Governor Mitt Romney's hunting trip at the "Sportsmen’s Challenge" at this week’s Republican Governor’s Conference.
Gov. Mitt Romney admitted he shot at quail in a fenced-in preserve during a GOP outing this week while his possible 2008 presidential opponent — and fellow hunter — Sen. John Kerry slammed the so-called “canned” hunting excursions.“I’ve never hunted in that kind of a preserve. It’s not really my concept of hunting,” Kerry said while visiting Boston Medical Center yesterday.
Kerry, who could face off against Romney in the 2008 race for the White House, is an avid dove and quail hunter who claims he only hunts birds he intends to eat. The Herald reported yesterday that animal rights groups were fuming that Romney and 15 other GOP bigwigs blasted quail at The Lodge at Cabin Bluff, a 45,000-acre Georgia hunting preserve surrounded by fence and stocked with animals for sportsmen to kill.
This article caught me as funny because Senator Kerry is the last person in Washington who should be criticizing the hunting habits of anyone.
Kerry has been caught in quite few hunting lore gaffes. Take for instance, this one while on the campaign trail the summer of 2004:
He was in Wisconsin the other day, pretending to be a regular guy, and was asked what kind of hunting he preferred. "I'd have to say deer," said the senator. "I go out with my trusty 12-gauge double-barrel, crawl around on my stomach... That's hunting."This caused huge hilarity among my New Hampshire neighbours. None of us has ever heard of anybody deer hunting by crawling around on his stomach, even in Massachusetts. The trick is to blend in with the woods and, given that John Kerry already looks like a forlorn tree in late fall, it's hard to see why he'd give up his natural advantage in order to hunt horizontally.
But it doesn't end there. How about Kerry's hunting trip in swing state Ohio, just under two weeks before election day. An obvious attempt at garnering some votes while putting on a pro-hunting facade, Kerry emerged from the woods in full hunting gear, holding his 12-gauge, but someone else was holding the dead goose.
In yet another swing state called Iowa, another Kerry hunting photo op went awry--for him anyway.
My own suspicions were raised as soon as I saw the picture of Kerry firing his shotgun in that Iowa field. It looked suspiciously like a photo op picture, and a bad one at that. While Kerry was shooting to the right of the picture, Buck, the bird dog, was behind and facing left. Why wasn't Buck in front and facing the birds?
Then there is Kerry's shooting stance, knees bent and leaning backward, as if the pheasant broke at his feet and scared the dickens out of him, but one likely to put him on his rump if he fired from it (and no Secret Service agent nearby to blame either). Normally hunters lean forward into their shotgun when firing. Again, this looks fishy.
Real hunters were not fooled when photos of John Kerry's one-eyed shooting stance made the rounds.
But no, it doesn't end there, as many Second Amendment rights group were vehemently opposed to Kerry. The National Rifle Association is most certainly no friend to Kerry, and vice versa. The NRA gave Kerry an F on their last report card and bought a full-page ad in a Youngstown, Ohio newspaper around the time of Kerry's Ohio hunting trip, accusing Kerry of pretending to be a sportsman while opposing the rights of gun owners.
And who is Kerry to criticize Romney for shooting "canned" quail? Harold Hough, a hunter and shooter, talks a bit about Kerry's gaffes regarding hunting, but this in particular about Kerry's pheasant hunting in Iowa.
However, to give credit where credit is due, Kerry reportedly shot two pheasants with two shots. That's a good record, but nothing spectacular for a combat veteran, with a good bird dog and a good field to hunt in. Pheasant are large, slow moving birds in the air, probably one of the least challenging of the game birds to shoot. Dove, quail, and wild turkey are definitely more of a sporting challenge.
While the Herald described Kerry as "an avid dove and quail hunter who claims he only hunts birds he intends to eat," his record leaves little to be desired, particularly by real hunters. He can claim all he wants that he doesn't particularly like "canned" hunting, but one thing is for certain, when Romney goes hunting, it's not to garner votes based on an issue he is not an avid proponent of. Kerry went hunting when it was convenient for his presidential campaign (noted by the various swing state hunting trips), and while Romney doesn't have the strongest pro-gun owners rights record, he is a member of a political party that believes in our right to bear arms.
Kerry is criticizing Romney on the merits of this hunting trip because both are likely after the same thing: the Presidency. Kerry can point to the ridiculous photos above and say "aha! I'm a real hunter" and then say something ridiculous about how "fake" and "staged" these "canned" hunting trips are. That may be, but when it comes around election time, the NRA and hunters and sportsmen are more likely to stand behind only one of these two politicians, and it isn't John Kerry.
Don't tell me he crawls after quail too.
>>>>What was so funny? Not the comics, but on John Kerry criticizing....
Isn't that an oxymoron?
Or, at least a moron anyway :P
Doesn't Kerry realize that he cannot become a BIGGER Jerk and a Liar than he already is? He just keeps on trying though.....and it sure is funny. Thanks for the laughs, John "crawl-before-killing" Kerry. What a loser!
I'm glad to hear the Senator doesn't hunt cans. Can't blame him, I didn't like them either.
But for this hunting stuff, he needs help on the clothes. Maybe the natural color girl Gore hired.
The dog's OK, but that second pic, looks like he's ready to do something, in front of everyone, and it's not pulling the trigger.
And no, I didn't pick the giraffe, but it's perfect.
Or go for the animal rights loons. Excuse me, geese
One can't make this stuff up. It is simply too good.
Humor of the Day
Well, this is old news. But trust me, if he runs again, he can. So could Gore. Which is why neither of them will run. Dems aren't as stupid as we make them out to be.
I suppose. My first reaction was someone HAD to make this up, it's simply too good.
You're right, SJackson. And "Dems aren't as stupid as we make them out to be", but they sure as heck are as stupid as THEY make themselves out to be. LOL
Excellent post, Something that got me was he said he only owned a souvenir rifle from Vietnam and a shotgun. If you are a billionaire with five estates and claim to be an avid hunter and gun sportsman, don't you have a huge collection of firearms for different purposes, for many guests and skeet shooting for instance, and duplicates kept at your various estates? He said the Vietnam rifle was an assault rifle, a staff member claimed it was a chinese bolt action rifle, that in itself seemed odd since an AK would be more likely. I don't want to offend anyone, but John Kerry may not be totally honest.
A letter to the editor of the local paper last fall called John Kerry "Elmer Fudd" over his "hunting".
“I’ve never hunted in that kind of a preserve. It’s not really my concept of hunting,” Kerry said
No. Kerry does his hunting for purple hearts by getting splinters and hunts for rich heiresses to support him in the style he'd like to become accustomed to.
Deer hunting with a shotgun? That John Kerry must be one bad-ass hunter.
-PJ
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