Month: July 2011

The Plan

On: By: admin

The Daily Beast reports on Obama’s gun control plan, “Obama’s Quiet Guns Crackdown“:

“… Administration officials told Newsweek and The Daily Beast that starting as early as next week, Obama will begin a series of changes designed to tighten regulations and penalties under current laws—bypassing a fight in Congress with the pro-gun National Rifle Association in the process.  The changes will include:  A national electronic system designed to make background checks for handgun buyers simpler and faster, leaving an electronic paper trail under a law named for James Brady, Ronald Reagan’s press secretary who was wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on the president …”

We need to watch to see if this becomes defacto registration.

“… A new reporting requirement that federally licensed gun shops report any person who tries to buy two long-arm weapons near the Mexican border over a five-day period …”

Bloomberg loves this.  NRA does not.

“… Tougher sentencing guidelines for straw buyers that Holder’s department pushed through procedural hoops at the U.S. Sentencing Commission earlier this year …”

Going to have see what exactly this is.

This whole thing looks like Obama is trying to shift the discussion away from the Fast & Furious scandal. Brit Hume is right on when he calls it a cover-up:

Not again

On: By: admin

Do we really need to go through this crap again?  From the Boston Globe, “Spokeswoman: Giuliani to decide ‘very soon’“:

“Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will decide whether to run for president “very soon,” his New Hampshire spokeswoman said today …”

Dear God, why?  His last campaign was a total farce.  The man has no support.

“… Giuliani will visit New Hampshire this Thursday and Friday, yet spokeswoman Alicia Preston said he is not expected to announce his plans on this trip … He will then meet with gun owners, National Rifle Association members, and motorcyclists at Manchester Harley Davidson, followed by a private dinner …”

While I don’t see Giuliani’s campaign going anywhere, this is why it was a big mistake for David Keane to basically say NRA is going to endorse the GOP presidential candidate regardless of their record.

Helmke bows out

On: By: admin

Today is the last day for Paul Helmke at the Brady Campaign.  Despite suffering major defeats in the court and an inability to move an agenda in Congress and most of the states, Helmke insists the antis will win in the end.  A successor has not been named yet.  I don’t think Colin Goddard will be it.  He’s a bit young and I don’t believe he has the management skills necessary to run their operation.

In any event, Paul decides to leave us laughing with these closing remarks:

… “I am not trying to ban all guns,” he said. “I don’t want to take everyone’s guns away. I’m not anti-gun. And I’m constantly having to say Brady doesn’t mean we are going to disarm everybody …” …

Announcements coming soon?

On: By: admin

USA Today reports, “Obama aide: Gun legislation in ‘near future’“:

“… White House spokesman Jay Carney said a special task force has been “working through these complex issues, and we expect to have some more specific announcements in the near future.” …”

Wonder if that “special task force” has anything to do with Project Gunrunner?

“… the real action in Washington this week isn’t the partisan wrangling over the debt ceiling but something — literally — even more incendiary: Operation Fast and Furious, which seems about to explode right in the face of Attorney General Eric Holder — and maybe other administration officials, too … With the Obama administration wedded to the fiction that 90 percent of the guns Mexican cartels use originate here — they don’t — many suspect that “Fast and Furious” was a backdoor attempt to smear domestic gun aficionados as part of its stealth efforts on gun control by executive fiat …”

I still cannot see Obama coming out with a grand scale gun control proposal along the lines of the Clinton AWB.  With his approval ratings heading south, I can understand the need to shore up his base but pandering to the antis isn’t the way to do it.  They have no organized constituency like big labor, no voter base to turn out and no money to throw around.  It makes little sense for him to reach out to fringe groups which cannot give him the political support he needs if he wants to be re-elected next year.

Not going to happen

On: By: admin

Some rumormongering from Fred Dicker, “Obama to ask Cuomo to be 2012 running mate: sources“:

“… Former New York GOP boss William Powers … was effusive in his praise of Cuomo’s successes in the just-ended legislative session, and in his prediction of the freshman governor’s political future … “I don’t think there’s any doubt Obama is going to pick him as his running mate. The president is in trouble and [Vice President Joseph] Biden doesn’t bring anything to his ticket.   “The president will call him up later this year and say, ‘Andrew, you have to do this for the good of the country.’ What’s Andrew going to say, ‘No?’ ” …”

Yes, he’d say No.

Andrew Cuomo’s political stock is rising, Obama’s is sinking.  There’s simply no reason for Cuomo to tie his political fortune to the Obama administration.  If he were to join an Obama ticket he would inherit all of Obama’s negatives.  Assuming he is even interested in running for president, Cuomo could just wait until ’16 or later and run on his own record which thus far has been considerably better than I and most other people expected it would be.

That being said, I don’t see Obama dropping Biden from the ticket unless a major health issue arises.  First off, who would want to run with him?  Obama’s popularity is clearly on the decline.  Second, it wouldn’t help his re-election bid.  The problem with the Obama administration is Obama.  Biden is background noise.