NOT THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER: Shhhh! Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet. He’s Hunting Wascally Wabbits.
Mitt Romney was against gun control before he was for it – or is it the other way around? According to The Associated Press, he’s changed his position on the Second Amendment more times than he’s actually been out hunting:
To hear Mitt Romney talk on the campaign trail, you might think the Republican presidential candidate had a gun rack in the back of his pickup truck.
"I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a hunter pretty much all my life," he said this week in Keene, N.H., to a man sporting a National Rifle Association cap.
Yet the former Massachusetts governor's hunting experience is limited to two trips at the bookends of his 60 years: as a 15-year-old, when he hunted rabbits with his cousins on a ranch in Idaho, and last year, when he shot quail on a fenced game preserve in Georgia.
Last year's trip was an outing with major donors to the Republican Governors Association, which Romney headed at the time. …
"I support the Second Amendment," he told the man who had asked about his views on the constitutional right to bear arms. "I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a hunter pretty much all my life. I've never really shot anything terribly big. I used to hunt rabbits."
Romney added: "Shooting a rabbit with a single-shot .22 is pretty hard, and after watching me try for a couple of weeks, (my cousins) said, `We'll slip you the semiautomatic. You'll do better with that.' And I sure did."
AP then goes on to detail Romney’s history of flip-flopping away on guns: In his 1994 Senate campaign, he stated his support for the Brady gun control law and a ban on assault rifles; when he ran for governor of MA is 2002, he pledged not to change the state’s gun laws, and while in office he signed one of the toughest assault weapons laws in the country; in 2006, he signed an NRA-backed law creating exemptions for selling customized target pistols; and he joined the NRA last August as a "Lifetime" member.
In a follow-up, AP reports that, game and wildlife officials in Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Utah – four states in which Romney has resided – never issued hunting licenses to him. And his campaign now admits that the “lifelong” hunter and “lifetime” NRA member does not, in fact, own a firearm, despite Romney having declared himself "proud to be among the many decent, law-abiding men and women who safely use firearms" at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Orlando, FL, less than two months ago.
Um, having to switch from a rifle to a semi to hunt wabbits doesn’t exactly make you a sharpshooter – a point that Romney concedes in a statement meant to “clarify” his creds as a hunter after AP called him out as a phony: "I've hunted small game numerous times, as a young man and as an adult. I'm by no means a big-game hunter. I'm more Jed Clampett than Teddy Roosevelt," he said, referring to the "Beverly Hillbillies" character.”
According to “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” the poor mountaineer was, in point of fact, “shootin’ at some food” and up through the ground … well, you know the rest. The Stiletto stands by her Elmer Fudd analogy.
Editorial Notes:
In a recent post, The Stiletto took radio talk show host Kevin
A reader points out that Romney may be a "Life" member of the NRA and not a "Lifetime" member, as The Associated Press reports: " ... Romney joined the NRA last August, signing up not just as a supporter but a designated 'Lifetime' member ..." The Stiletto checked the NRA Web site, and found that one can sign up for "Life Membership" by forking over $1,000.00. The Stiletto is not sure what AP meant by "designated" in its characterization of Romney's membership status.
Trackbacks
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April 11, 2007
The Stiletto wrote:
After Rudy Giuliani told CNN’s Dana Bash that he favors taxpayer funding for abortion, Chris Suellentrop posted an item in The Opinionator blog (Times Select, subscription required) titled, “Is Rudy Toast?” and noted that, “In a matter of hours, the commentariat shifted from speculating that Rudy Giuliani is the front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination to wondering if his campaign just self-destructed.” Conservative pundit John Podhoretz went so far as to write the candidate a “Dear Rudy” letter in the New York Post “because I'm worried you're blowing it”: I ...
You liberals are really afraid of him, aren't you.
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The Stiletto has never been accused of being a liberal before. Oh well, eye of the beholder. Afraid of Romney? No. More like loathe him. He is a pandering, insincere, flip-flopper - another John Kerry, in The Stiletto's opinion.
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Interesting comments on Romney. I was in fact a support of his but now I see I need to do some more homework. I can't stand politicians who change with the wind. Essentially, they are dishonest
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Was lurking on Free Republic and came across this:
http://revolveonline.net/uploads/09%20Kill%20The%20Wabbit.mp3
Ozzie Fudd – Wabbit Slayaw (Kill The Wabbit)
In the dead of night
A shimmewin' light
Gleem of a blade
And dah devil was paid
When dah axe comes down
A chillin' sound
Steel against dah head
Anothew wabbit's dead
I'm a wabbit slayaw
A guitaw playaw
With a nasty habbit
Kill dah wabbit!!! (hah hah hah)
AhhhaahooOhhh
Be vewy vewy qwiet!
I'm lookin' fow wabbits...
I'm a mean mistweetaw
A wabbit feastaw
And I pwedict
A bwoody Eastaw
A scuwwowing shadow
And dah shadow was dis wabbit
And dah night aiwah echoes
Kill dah wabbit!!!
Kill dah wabbit!!!
Kill dah wabbit!!!
Kill dah wabbit!!!
Kill dah wabbit!!!
Kill dah wabbit!!!
Kill dah wabbit!!!
Kill dah wabbit!!!
Kill dah wabbit!!!
Ohhhh...and thehw won't be any mow wabbits awound
No mow Wodgaw Wabbit
No mow Petaw Wabbit
And no mow Playboy Bunny Wabbits!
Ah ha ha ha ha
Be vewy vewy cawaful
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Regarding Romney. You refer to him joining the NRA as a "lifetime" member. Could this be possibly a "life" member? A life member is simply someone who has paid a lifetime's dues in one lump payment and says nothing about how long you have actually been a member.
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Here's what The Associated Press says:
" ... Romney joined the NRA last August, signing up not just as a supporter but a designated 'Lifetime' member, and why he has softened his gun control positions."
It is posible that the reporter meant "life" member. Checking the NRA Web site, "Life Membership" can be had for $1,000.00.
Thanks for pointing this out. Will add a correction to the post, in addition to our correspondence here.
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