NRA endorsed Romney

NRA endorsed Mitt Romney:

“… “As the Supreme Court has recently reaffirmed, the Second Amendment protects a basic and fundamental individual right—the right to bear arms,” said Mitt Romney.  “And it is the NRA that protects the Second Amendment.  I am proud to have their support for my candidacy, and when I am president, I will do all in my power to defend and protect the right of all law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms.” …”

This was hardly unexpected and not everyone is happy about it.   At least they appear to have learned something from their endorsement of John McCain in that they make it clear that they are concerned about the future makeup of the Supreme Court:

“… Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will protect our Right to Keep and Bear Arms by appointing Supreme Court justices who will uphold the rulings in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago – two landmark cases which held that the Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental, individual Right to Keep and Bear Arms for all law-abiding Americans …”

While clearly all members won’t like this, at least they will understand it.  NRA isn’t trying to make Romney himself into a great hero of the 2A, which is what they tried to do with McCain, and that is what pissed so many people off because it was such blatant bullshit.

Gun control FAIL

Despite all the crying from the Brady Campaign and Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to intimidate the candidates with his money, gun control did not come up in yesterday’s debates.

Even better, most viewers believe that Romney wiped the floor with Obama, much to the chagrin of talking head Chris Matthews who was losing his shit over it.

Bloomberg’s ego

Mayor Mike is trying again to get Obama and Romney to take up his gun control agenda.  This time he’s using one of the Aurora victims as his puppet:

As George points out, Mayors Against Illegal Guns receives 99.97% of their funding from one source: Bloomberg.

He’s funded a number of print and broadcast advertising campaigns over the years and nothing has come from any of them. You’d think that, as a businessman, Bloomberg would realize he’s not getting any return on his investment. The only explanation I can think for his continuing to run them is that he’s just so full of himself that he doesn’t care.

Juan Williams doesn’t get it

Juan Williams writes, “Terrifyingly large questions for Obama and Romney“:

“Here are really big questions for the big presidential debate on domestic policy on October 3rd in Denver … President Obama, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has given you an “F.”  They say the failure is based on your “lack of leadership” the gun control issue.  In your first term, we have had three of the worst mass shootings in US History … Could you have done more to stop the spread of assault weapons and gun violence over the last four years?  Will you make gun control a priority in your second term?  Are you paralyzed by the National Rifle Association’s political clout? …”

Just like the antis, Williams’ either doesn’t get it or simply refuses to admit that gun control is not a winning campaign issue.

There’s a reason for all the gun control rollbacks the past few years and it is not because of the NRA.  It is because the public knows gun control is a fraud and are not demanding their elected officials enact more restrictive laws.  Is the NRA somehow responsible for the inability of New Yorker’s Against Gun Violence to bring people to Albany to lobby their issues?  Is NRA preventing people from showing up at Ladd’s weekly protests outside the White House?  The reality is that gun control is a unpopular issue pushed only by a handful of (unfortunately) well-financed and politically connected astroturf groups with negligible genuine public support.

Bloomberg’s bucks

Mayor Mike is spreading his money around:

“New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $1 million to the Senate Republicans’ housekeeping committee, a contribution that continues his support for the last lever of power controlled by the GOP in the state …”

Bloomberg is not doing out of the goodness of his heart.  He’s going to want them to push his agenda including microstamping.  He’s got the money, but not the voters behind him.  Legislators need to be reminded about this.

UPDATE: Political functionary Blake Zeff writes at Capitol New York, “On gun control, Bloomberg’s money does battle with his words“:

“… What Bloomberg either doesn’t understand or won’t acknowledge is that his words have little influence over these pols, because they can’t damage the officials’ political prospects.  But his money—that’s another thing altogether.  This is not complicated.  If Michael Bloomberg wants to gain traction in pushing gun control laws, financially supporting candidates who actually share this agenda, and trying to oust those who do not, is the better use of his money …”

What Zeff either doesn’t understand or won’t acknowledge is that neither Bloomberg nor any of the gun control organizations represent a voting constituency.  Politicians love money, but it won’t make them commit political suicide which is what his gun control proposals would do to the Senate GOP.

More polls

As I previously said, I don’t believe polls showing Obama is ahead.  Now comes a Boston Herald poll showing incumbent Scott Brown leading his Democrat opponent:

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown has moved into a narrow lead over rival Elizabeth Warren while his standing among Massachusetts voters has improved despite a year-long Democratic assault, a new UMass Lowell/Boston Herald poll shows …”

This shows how dissatisfied enrolled Democrats are with the party.  They’re not just going to stay home and let the Republican win by default, they’re planning on going out and voting for him.  If it is this bad for them in Massachusetts, how bad is for them in the rest of the country?

The Obama campaign must be shitting themselves over this.

Polls

There’s a lot of polling going on showing Obama with a slight lead over Romney.

I don’t believe any of it.  If Obama was really ahead, even by a little, the Democrats would be happy.  Democrats are very clearly not happy.  They must have internal polling indicating the campaign is much worse off than their media allies are willing to admit.  There’s no reason for gunnies to panic over the prospects of a 2nd term Obama at this time.

MAIG -1

Endorsed candidate Claudia Tenney defeated challenger Brian Maher in both the Republican and Conservative primaries yesterday in the new AD-101.  Microstamping was an issue as well as Maher’s membership in Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

McDonald v. Marchione

The race in the new SD-43 pits incumbent Roy McDonald against Saratoga Co. Clerk Kathy Marchione.  McDonald has gotten himself into a lot of trouble over his gay marriage vote, which clearly was not done out of principle, but out of Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign contribution.

Both have pro-gun records and both are trying to make the most out of them.

From the McDonald campaign:

From the Marchione campaign:

Marchione’s postcard is much nicer and 4x bigger than the one NRA did.  I believe it will motivate more people to support her than McDonald’s endorsement will get for him.