Bitter Kicks Butt!

My good friend Bitter Bitch is kicking some John Edwards butt over on her blog, in response to the Edwards campaign to answer "non-partisan" questions about the Senator's real feelings on guns:

Countertop noted that the “rural liaison” of the John Edwards campaign is answering questions from gun owners over at Field & Stream. This guy just happens to be “Mudcat” Saunders, a Virginia Democratic organizer with a history of sexist and negative rhetoric about gun owners. The campaigns usually just defend him as being “colorful” and ask that he be ignored by anyone other than rural white men, even as they hire him as their spokesman.

I understand the desire of a campaign, especially for someone like Edwards, to try and hire “real” people to counter his very preppy and almost fake image that gives some people the creeps. However, I do find that who they choose to represent gun owners can be very telling in how they view what the gun culture should be. That doesn’t mean I write someone off because they are mostly just a hunter, but when they start proudly spouting off rhetoric that would turn off most non-rural gun owners, I’m concerned since I’m a non-rural gun owner.

So, in an effort to participate in the Democratic primary, I submitted a question to the blog asking Mr. Saunders to address these concerns:

My question is geared for Mr. Saunders and his previous statements regarding voters who own guns, and if the attitudes reflected in those statements reflect the views of Mr. Edwards as well.

While working for a Virginia campaign in 2005, Mr. Saunders publicly referred the gun owner voters as “Bubba.” While he officially represents the Edwards campaign now, I am curious to know how that attitude reflective of sexism and negative stereotypes has either been incorporated into the campaign or if Edwards has distanced himself from such statements.

When I called to lodge a complaint with the previous campaign that issued such statements from Mr. Saunders, I was told that he was simply colorful, so I would like to know if Edwards takes the same position on such negative rhetoric.

As a gun owning graduate of one of the top women’s colleges in the country who has spent years doing outreach to other women on gun safety and the shooting sports, I found this term and the rhetoric of the statements highly offensive. It actually made me reconsider my support for the candidate because of my concern.

Lest anyone think I am simply a reactionary uppity female from New England, I am actually from a very rural Southern upbringing, grew up fishing, and have taken steps recently to get into hunting. I am one of many changing the face of gun ownership and sportsmen/women, and I’d like to know if the Edwards campaign is embracing this progression in gun ownership or if the candidate stands by such stereotypes as the “Bubba” vote.

Read the whole thing...good job, Bitter!