NRA Flubs Endorsement
They should maybe think about this whole backing incumbents thing. They’ve backed a troubled Texas Democrat who has, in the past, received an F-rating and voted for a number of gun control measures.
Update: Reader Stranger says Chet Edwards endorsement doesn’t show up on NRA’s endorsement page.
But NRA did email a statement about it. Looks like they did endorse him.
August 12th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Well – I heard the Candidates “people said” he would get the NRA endorsement. Which sounded a bit strange, since I have that Chucacabra down in the double letters, around MM. Very undesirable.
The NRA-PVF website list of endorsed candidates for Texas is – strangely – missing his name:
http://www.nrapvf.org/Elections/State.aspx?y=2010&State=TX
It would not be the first time in 77 years I have heard a campaign lie. In fact, that seems to be the greatest part of what they do.
Stranger
August 12th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
I have no dog in this hunt, but is it possible, some politicians have “seen the light”? I looked at the links provided and it looks like Chet Edwards had a “come to Jesus” moment with the 2nd Amendment about 8-10 years ago compared with his record from 10-20 years ago.
In Ohio, we have a politician (democrat) from the Cleveland area who did a complete flip-flop, becoming a staunch gun rights supporter after being forcefully “mugged” a few years ago.
August 13th, 2010 at 8:34 am
I don’t see this an example of NRA flubbing an endorsement. Rather, I think it demonstrates folks simply want NRA to endorse Republicans, even if the Democrat in the race has a good record which he clearly does over the last 8 or so years.
While Chet Edwards had a bad rating in 2002, since that time he’s made a pretty solid effort to make up for his past bad actions. A quick read of the NRA email will show you that.
In school if you failed a test, you got an F. But you could improve your grade by doing well on subsequent test. Codrea and others would seem to say you keep your F no matter what you do, even if you do everything right going forward.
The attacks I’ve seen on NRA point to Edwards’ rating in 2002, not 2010. What I’m hearing seems to suggest that if you screw up, you can’t ever make up for it. If that’s the way NRA is going to deal with legislators, there is no reason for someone who previously had a bad record to ever start voting with them. Why try, because no matter what you do(even if you do everything NRA asks), it will never be enough for NRA because they will endorse the Republican with no record over you.
Given the make up of the House and Senate, NRA has to work with pro-gun Democrats. They don’t have to work with NRA if NRA never recognizes or rewards their efforts to get right on the issue.