Romney the hunter: a total of 2 trips

To hear Mitt Romney talk on the campaign trail, you might think the Republican presidential candidate had a gun rack in the back of his pickup truck.

"I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a hunter pretty much all my life," he said this week in Keene, N.H., to a man sporting a National Rifle Association cap.

Yet the former Massachusetts governor's hunting experience is limited to two trips at the bookends of his 60 years: as a 15-year-old, when he hunted rabbits with his cousins on a ranch in Idaho, and last year, when he shot quail on a fenced game preserve in Georgia.

Last year's trip was an outing with major donors to the Republican Governors Association, which Romney headed at the time.

An aide said Wednesday that Romney was not trying to mislead anyone, although he confirmed Romney had been hunting only on those occasions in his life.

"Governor Romney's support for the Second Amendment doesn't come from the fact he knows how to handle a firearm; it comes from his appreciation of the Constitution and the rights enshrined in it, including the right to keep and bear arms," said campaign spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom.

He went on to cite the pro-gun measures Romney signed into law while serving as governor from 2003 to this past January.

Romney himself made several of the same points to the Keene audience, while also trying to offer some perspective on his hunting experience.

"I support the Second Amendment," he told the man who had asked about his views on the constitutional right to bear arms. "I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a hunter pretty much all my life. I've never really shot anything terribly big. I used to hunt rabbits."

Romney added: "Shooting a rabbit with a single-shot .22 is pretty hard, and after watching me try for a couple of weeks, (my cousins) said, `We'll slip you the semiautomatic. You'll do better with that.' And I sure did."

On the Georgia excursion, he said, "I knocked quite a few birds and enjoyed myself a great deal."

Expressing familiarity with and support for gun rights is key among Republican presidential contenders, who count gun owners, members of the military and the NRA itself among their potential supporters.

It helps explain why Romney joined the NRA last August, signing up not just as a supporter but a designated "Lifetime" member, and why he has softened his gun control positions.

Romney told a Derry, N.H., audience, "I'm after the NRA's endorsement. I'm not sure they'll give it to me. I hope they will. I also joined because if I'm going to ask for their endorsement, they're going to ask for mine."

During a 1994 U.S. Senate campaign, Romney positioned himself as a moderate outsider, warning special interest groups to stay out of the race and saying he supported the Brady gun control law and a ban on assault rifles.

"That's not going to make me the hero of the NRA," he told the Boston Herald at the time. "I don't line up with a lot of special interest groups."

It's a theme he carried into his 2002 gubernatorial campaign. At the time, Romney pledged to do nothing to change the state's firearms statutes.

"We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts. I support them. I won't chip away at them. I believe they protect us and provide for our safety," he said.

True to his word, Romney went on to sign one of the toughest assault weapons laws in the country.

Romney, though, also took steps to protect the rights of gun owners as governor.

The assault weapons ban won the backing of Massachusetts gun owners in part because it included provisions extending the term of a firearms identification card and a license to carry weapons from four to six years. It also created a Firearm License Review Board to provide an appeals process for people whose license applications had been denied.

In 2006, Romney also signed NRA-backed legislation creating exemptions for the makers of customized target pistols who had found it too expensive to sell their guns in Massachusetts because of a state regulation requiring them to test at least five examples of new products "until destruction."

In February, Romney was touting such measures as he and his wife, Ann, toured the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Orlando, Fla., with Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president.

"I'm proud to be among the many decent, law-abiding men and women who safely use firearms," Romney said.

“Oh, I see. It is about hunting if it can be used to smear Romney.”

No.
Two questions:

1- why is it a ‘smear’ to bring out his support for the Brady bill? Or his position against “assault weapons”?

2-Why don’t you and other supporters of him admit that it is silly and beneath him to pretend to be something he isn’t? He’s a dignified and patrician kind of guy.

It can’t be a “smear” if it is factual. I actually like the guy much more than McCain or Rudy, but it’s one thing to honestly change your position- after all POTUS is a very different job with a different constituency - it’s another to act like a hunter when you aren’t

The second is *NOT* only about hunting; when politicians presume that it is they really, really insult those of use who, while we support hunters, own firearms for self defense. At my core I really don’t want Mitt to repeat Dukakis in a tank and helmet.Respectfully.

I know where he is.

Hell, I'm from Washington State, and don't live there. I was raised in Wisconsin but I live in the south, but I'm not a southerner.

Romney has a great past and hopefully a great future. The God, Guns and Gay crowd is going to attack anyone who is not of their own. It does not matter, because in the end, you will not have one of your own to vote for, and you will look pretty silly voting for someone you attacked repeatedly.

This causes third party drift, lost elections and the growth of the liberal elite.

If that is what you are working to achieve, then join the party of demented fools. Don't try to convert me. I'm a Republican and Romney is a traditional conservative. He like Reagan, has shifted politically on issues prior to a presidential run, and comparing Mitt to someone like Kerry is a insult. Kerry flipped and flopped while running in the same month and sometimes week.

No comparison is possible.

God, Guns and gay issues are not going to be in the forefront of the 2008 election, no matter how much you would like them to be. There is a global conflict underway and there are serious fiscal issues on the horizon. These are the hot issues, and candidates with no experience in these areas will not see the light of day.

First off, Mitt has admitted he is not a hardcore guns guy. But on the other hand he is not a Gun-a-phobe.

I think the reporter wanted to make his point by overreaching that Mitt has hunted only twice. I know he has gone a couple of hunting trips as Republican Governor’s Assocation president; once in Minnesota, and once in South Carolina. There could have been a few other times not in the news. Also, he hunted a few times during the time he spent on the ranch in Idaho.

I am not saying he is the best on the Guns issue, but I think he will be friendly towards the NRA.

“God, Guns and gay issues are not going to be in the forefront of the 2008 election, no matter how much you would like them to be.”

Well if you listen to Mitt he sure thinks those are really important issues. He’s changed his views on gays and now guns. Thats the problem with him. He has so solid political belief.

I’ll never vote for Rudy but I can respect him more than I can Mitt. Rudy doesn’t change his positions at the drop of a hat.

I think the reporter wanted to make his point by overreaching that Mitt has hunted only twice.

"An aide said Wednesday that Romney was not trying to mislead anyone, although he confirmed Romney had been hunting only on those occasions in his life."

Personally I can't wait for the photo. It's GOTTA be coming.

#1 (Dukakis in the tank)

#2 (Kerry in the bunny suit)

#3 (Arist rendering of Mitt's core convictions?)

One thing Mitt is not, is a liar.

Actually, as to changing positions, the first thing he changed was his position on abortion. The newer positions reflect his presidential position and that will be the official position if elected. This is how political positions are staked out, for a National election.

Mitt is not as socially conservative as the base wants, so he has reflected that demand in his positions by moving at least half way. This is where he will stay if elected, and you can bank on it, should the issue be raised.

No electable politician will be able to satisfy the fringes of either party, and that's just a reality. You have to understand where the right wing and left wings of the two party's are politically and then compare to the majority of the electorate. You then vector yourself into a position that straddles the middle. This gives you potential votes. The rest is the hard work of earning them.

If you cannot allow a candidate to do this, he/she will not win under any circumstances, except for the situation where multiple parties vie for the largest piece of the pie which only occurs in Parliamentary systems, not ours. When the pie is split 5 ways, a minority can win control of the government on occasion..

You have to understand where the right wing and left wings of the two party's are politically and then compare to the majority of the electorate. You then vector yourself into a position that straddles the middle. This gives you potential votes.

Now THAT is refreshing.

A Romney supporter who admits he just says whatever he thinks will get him elected.

Principles?

Convictions?

Beliefs?

Nah, just say whatever you think the most people want to hear!

Mitt’s problem is what his supporters claim is an asset.

He is a businessman. Used to making and negotiating deals.
Which means give and take.
He thinks he can transfer that to politics. It doesn’t work because we aren’t interested in someone who will give on an issue to win a vote.

In politics core political beliefs are not negotiable. The voters aren’t willing to make a deal.

"We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts. I support them. I won't chip away at them. I believe they protect us and provide for our safety," he said. True to his word, Romney went on to sign one of the toughest assault weapons laws in the country.

I don't like this. At all.

Romney, though, also took steps to protect the rights of gun owners as governor. The assault weapons ban won the backing of Massachusetts gun owners in part because it included provisions extending the term of a firearms identification card and a license to carry weapons from four to six years. It also created a Firearm License Review Board to provide an appeals process for people whose license applications had been denied.

This only helps a little. I'd like to read more from NRA/GOA on how they see this mixed record.

In 2006, Romney also signed NRA-backed legislation creating exemptions for the makers of customized target pistols who had found it too expensive to sell their guns in Massachusetts because of a state regulation requiring them to test at least five examples of new products "until destruction."

Minor but good. But then he was already looking forward to campaigning for president in '08. So this is kind of convenient for him.

Romney needs to make some strong statements on RKBA and stop talking about hunting. The Second isn't about hunting and he damned well knows it.

Now, I want to like Romney. But this just isn't enough. And he needs to be convincing on the subject, to give us and NRA/GOA/RKBA organizations a position from which he cannot back down politically. I don't want to see video of Mitt hunting. That will not be enough.

Get off the fence, Mitt. If you want conservatives to like you, if you want our votes, then make a strong statement on the Second. Mention your support for it broadly, make mention that you will not do anything to inhibit or harass the CCW rights gunowners have in their states. And back away that assault weapons ban. It never helped Bush win any soccer moms. And it made us suspicious of him, probably for no good reason. Don't triangulate on our gun rights!

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