On the NRA endorsement of Trump
From John Richardson. The fact is the NRA made a very practical endorsement. Hillary is absolutely not on the side of the righteous on this issue. She’d be a disaster in court appointments alone, much less any executive powers. I can’t fault them.
But I can fault a system that yields a choice between two shitty candidates.
May 24th, 2016 at 7:00 pm
The NRA has been successful, very successful, under LaPierre, because it is a single-issue organization. Focused. On RKBA. So its endorsement of Trump was not only practical, it was the only thing it could have and should have done. Because Hillary is a gun-grabber with a capital “B”.
Other people can make their respective decisions based on other things, in accordance with their own personal or organizational priorities.
May 24th, 2016 at 7:05 pm
It makes me sad that Trump is our ‘pro-gun’ choice. Maybe Gary Johnson will burn it up… 🙂
A man can dream….
May 24th, 2016 at 7:23 pm
Richardson is right about the endorsement but wrong about the system. The latter is our fault. It’s your system, it’s your fault.
May 24th, 2016 at 7:24 pm
I should have said that you, Uncle are wrong about the system.
May 24th, 2016 at 8:13 pm
Anyone who’s surprised at this has forgotten (or didn’t know) that the NRA endorsed Romney 4 years ago.
And that man signed an AWB.
Now one can dislike the endorsement, but it shouldn’t come as a shock.
May 24th, 2016 at 9:01 pm
Just why the hell does the NRA need to endorse anyone if faced with the choices we are this time . Better to be silent and thought a fool than endorse and prove it .
May 24th, 2016 at 10:10 pm
The system doesn’t pick good people. What a shock.
Bill Clinton and Bob Dole in 96 – Dole’s campaign came down to “it’s my turn, dammit.” A bigger stuffed shirt would be hard to come by.
G.H.W Bush and his “read my lips. no new taxes” lie.
I won’t even bring up Gerald Ford. After Nixon, he didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell. No way was the country going to elect a Republican after Watergate.
But George W. Bush is another story. He did more to expand the powers of government and create the surveillance state than anyone before or after. The .gov got bigger and harder to control.
Nixon: Gave us the EPA and the War on (Some) Drugs. Responsible for a lot of the insanity we have today.
Reagan (and Nancy) doubled down on the War on (Some) Drugs, which has destroyed the 4th Amendment, and added to police powers. (Property confiscation without trial or guilt – war on drugs.)
Not that the Dems are any better, but exactly when did the system give us better choices?
May 25th, 2016 at 3:28 am
Zendo, with me it’s been “who’s the lesser evil” since Reagan’s time. I consider ALL politicians to be slimeballs no matter what party they’re supposedly affiliated with. The ones with a (D)isgusting after their names are just the slimiest ones.
May 25th, 2016 at 10:57 am
The American electoral system has evolved to be a two-party system. (We could theoretically make legal, not constitutional, changes that would change that, but it’s unlikely.) That means having to choose between a shitty candidate and a somewhat less shitty candidate,
The alternatives, of course, are a system where a candidate wins with 2% of the vote (because all the other candidates got 1% of the vote) or a quasi-parliamentary system where weeks or months are spent after the election trying to assemble a governing coalition.
The only person who agrees with you 100% is you. (And the only one who agrees with me 100% is me.)
May 25th, 2016 at 5:14 pm
@Zendo Deb, great rehearsal of recent history which many tend to forget or ignore. Add recent Republican candidates Romney and McCain. George W. Bush supported renewal of the Clinton AWB which he pledged to sign, but House Republican leadership refused to bringing it to a vote. Clinton’s recent statements re: gun rights make her MORE anti-gun than Obama!!
May 25th, 2016 at 6:51 pm
To zendos point the phrase I uttered most in the 2012 cycle was “so my choice is between a gun banner and Barack Obama?”
May 26th, 2016 at 11:12 pm
Last couple of cycles, the “system” (dims, gopes, media, academia, hollowood…it’s a long and redundant list) did choose the noms and preordained the gen.
This time, so far at least, the choice was from about 20 or so shitty candidates, but the “system” had nothing to do with the ultimate choices*; for better or for worse, finally, the people did the choosing. Good…let the chips fall where they may.
*Obviously the “system” is shocked and appalled at the choice on the R side, and can there really be any doubt that given their ‘druthers, all of those system groups I listed above would dearly love and swoon to have a real-deal commie in control? So yeah, the beast too is in her own way from outside the system.