Posted on 07/12/2009 7:01:49 AM PDT by don-o
Bill Haslam is a lifelong Republican and, as of a few months ago, a card-carrying NRA member, too.
After announcing his bid for governor in January, the Knoxville mayor was criticized by gun-rights advocates over his membership in Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which has considered suing weapons manufacturers for gun crimes.
Haslam's response was to quit the group in March and join the National Rifle Association, explaining it as an attempt to clarify his support for the Second Amendment and saying that the mayoral group had strayed far beyond its original mission with a number of proposed policies.
Candidates often assert conservative credentials, such as support for gun rights, in Tennessee Republican politics.
Each of the four men running for the GOP nomination for governor in August 2010 - Haslam, Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey of Blountville and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp of Chattanooga - counts himself as firmly conservative.
(Excerpt) Read more at knoxnews.com ...
“After announcing his bid for governor in January, the Knoxville mayor was criticized by gun-rights advocates over his membership in Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which has considered suing weapons manufacturers for gun crimes.”
Sniff...............I smell RINO!
Maybe. Did you quit reading right there?
I do not TRUST Bill Gibbons!
Doesn’t matter. Once everyone’s cherrypicked their favorite candidate, all others will be RINOs regardless of their actual views.
Actually, I did quit there. I went back and read the whole piece. I would have to live there to really figure out the best candidate. Even then its tough.
“Sniff...............I smell RINO!”
Reading the whole article does put more perspective on that point, but I agree that suddenly ponying up for a life membership to the NRA does not suddenly make one a gun rights advocate. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to have political candidates that run based on what they believe and what they have done and propose to do instead of triangulating everything they say based on “formula” politics? If we haven’t learned anything from recent election cycles, WYSIWYG should be a reminder that elections have consequences.
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I agree.
You smell right. Haslam is another Country-Clubber gun-grabber RINO who thinks he can buy the nomination just like Corker and Lamar!, makes me sick. We’ve never had a decent Conservative Governor in the modern era in TN.
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