The Inquirer wants its readers to believe that guns now commit crimes in Lancaster, and in other smaller cities. The problem is not urban violence spreading to the country; it's obviously the guns that have always been there.Read the whole thing, because it outlines the current wildly successful antigun strategy of ignoring the national arena and focusing on localities. Our own side of the movement is still focused on the macro national battles, where we win victory after victory. In the meantime, the antigunners chalk up small victory after small victory at the state, local and municipal levels.
One of the reasons I'm considering running for the NRA Board of Directors is to make the elephant a bit more nimble on its feet. I also never want to hear that our gun rights were abdicated because we didn't want to "embarrass" a sitting President.
Here's a flash...I don't give a damn who I "embarrass" (arguably, not even myself)...I am unwilling to give up my gun rights because the party in power, who sought our support in the elections, hasn't bothered to notice we exist.
And no, it's not just me that thinks were all alone out here. Read the great Peggy Noonan's analysis in the WSJ of the current state of the Republican administration:
What conservatives and Republicans must recognize is that the White House has broken with them. What President Bush is doing, and has been doing for some time, is sundering a great political coalition. This is sad, and it holds implications not only for one political party but for the American future.The current Republican administration is willing to marginalize its most stanch supporters...that would be the true believers...think what they're willing to do to us, already the most marginalized wing of the Grand Old Party!
The White House doesn't need its traditional supporters anymore, because its problems are way beyond being solved by the base. And the people in the administration don't even much like the base. Desperate straits have left them liberated, and they are acting out their disdain. Leading Democrats often think their base is slightly mad but at least their heart is in the right place. This White House thinks its base is stupid and that its heart is in the wrong place.
[...]
Now conservatives and Republicans are going to have to win back their party. They are going to have to break from those who have already broken from them. This will require courage, serious thinking and an ability to do what psychologists used to call letting go. This will be painful, but it's time. It's more than time.
Bottom line...the gun culture can no longer count on the current Republican administration for anything. We MUST forge a new alliance for 2008! And in the new alliance, we're not going to be content to be the moles on the elephant's butt.
Michael you have indeed spoken the truth. I voted twice for this President and I am so disappointed in the way he has handled the mandate. I believe that he is so deeply immersed in the Iraq situation he has failed to move forward any domestic strategy. Hell he has failed to move forward a myriad of international issues He is such a poor communicator I am actually embarrassed. The liberal Democrats are having a field day at our expense. Unless the conservative side of the party rallies and gets a Fred Thompson or his equivalent (geeze I would take a Zell Miller in a heart beat. Is he or Bob Barr interested in running for President?) into the 2008 race we are looking at a decade ahead of pure hell for 2nd Amendment issues.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to loses we are experiencing at the local level let me relate the following. When I was at the NRA Annual Meeting in St. Louis I struck up a conversation with a veteran out of Dallas. I said I feel as if I am living behind enemy lines. I told him I live on Long Island New York. I live in Carolyn McCarthy’s district. My Senators are Schumer and Clinton. My Governor is Eliot Spitzer. My state Attorney General is Andrew Cuomo. My county exec is a liberal Democrat. I am considering moving out of this state in a desperate bid for freedom.
Thompson / Bolton '08!
ReplyDeleteNow if we could just get him to do a campaign ad with a REAL Thompson...
Bush has made the same mistake his daddy did, trying to get along with the liberals. They ate him alive, just like his pop. When are we gonna have a Republican President with a set of gonads?????? Bush did not mind going into Irak but will bend over backwards not to offend Ted Kennedy, Pelosi, etc.
ReplyDelete'08 is probably a lost cause. I see a bloodbath coming and it won't be pretty for Republicans. A dem prez and more dem senators and congressmen. It will take all our efforts just to keep a new AWB, etc from being passed by the dems.
ReplyDeleteYou'd have my NRA vote.
ReplyDeleteAfter the bastards sold we here in Nebraska out during the last few days of the legislative session, I am convinced moreso than ever that the NRA needs shaken up.
It angers/depresses me too much to type out the full details again, so if you want to see the full story on the deal the NRA cut with the gun banners (and still got hosed) check out my blog. It can be accessed by clicking my name.
Please run, Michael. I'd vote for you.
geez Michael, quit doing a Fred Thompson on us, go ahead and run!
ReplyDeletethe rank and file NRA member agrees with YOU I am convinced...
Regarding political loyalties; It's a two-way street. Just as we were loyal to the GOP, we expected the GOP to return the "favor". Unfortunately, I, a Christian, Hard-Working, Self-Supporting, Highly Taxed and paying more that my fair-share, NRA Life Member American also feels that we are not just being abandoned, we are being betrayed.
ReplyDeleteSo, what do we do? We absolutely cannot join the "enemy" of our values, just to send the GOP a message. That would be as dumb as the Republicans who voted for Ross Perrot, the Third-Party candidate, or worse yet, Bill Clinton in 1992; "Just to send a message"!. Those who did so literally handed the power over to the the wrong side!
We need to stick together, write letters, show up at offices and "flesh-pressings" (a. k. a. hand-shake and baby-kissing events), so that we are heard and noticed. We need to field candidates like Fred Thopmson for President and MB for NRA BOD, and so on. Now's the time for action, not retreat.
Life Member