The latest from Adam Nagourney of the NY Times: "Dean Walks a Tightrope Over Positions on Gun Control".
Let's pause for a moment. There are a number of issues on which the passionate, check-writing, Barbra Streisand wing of the Democratic Party are hopelessly out of touch with America. Every four years, we have flashbacks to found childhood memories of "S-P-U-D", as the Dem nominee runs frantically away from his base. This list will be incomplete, and we encourage folks to submit their personal faves, but quickly, Dems who hold the position of "the base" on gun control, capital punishment, or partial-birth abortion are not electable.
Bill Clinton knew this, and disgraced himself to create a "tough on crime" image in 1992. Al Gore was a mute on gun control in the closing weeks of the 2000 race, with Pennsylvania and Michigan up for grabs. And so it goes.
But enough nostalgia. One of the hopes to which Dean supporters cling is that, as Governor of Vermont, he had a mainstream position on gun control. Within the context of the Dem nominating process, however, mainstream won't cut it:
Polls show overwhelming support among Democratic primary voters for federal regulation of gun ownership. But that is not the case among general-election voters as a whole. Dr. Dean himself has said that Al Gore would be president today were it not for support of gun control. Like many other Democrats, he is mindful of Mr. Gore's losses in the 2000 election in states where gun control is not popular, like Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas and West Virginia.
And, a bit earlier in the story, the circular firing squad:
...a spokeswoman [for Dean] said there was no contradiction between his current position and what he told the N.R.A. in its 1992 questionnaire, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times by aides to a rival Democratic candidate who is a stronger advocate of gun control.
The truth will set you free.
MORE:
John Kerry fires back:
"Shotgun in Hand, Kerry Defines His Gun-Control Stance"
COLO, Iowa, Oct. 31 -- Senator John Kerry blasted away at Howard Dean on Friday, accusing him of currying favor with the National Rifle Association and opposing an assault-weapons ban that Mr. Kerry and other supporters of gun control fought for in the 1990's.
Then Mr. Kerry took his 12-gauge shotgun and blew two pheasants out of the sky in two shots.
...Mr. Kerry proved quite the shot. Moments later, he leveled his gun suddenly and squeezed his trigger once more, and another pheasant fell to the ground, this time with an appreciative pack of journalists witnessing the kill.
Bizarre as the juxtaposition seemed, Mr. Kerry said his gun control stance and his marksmanship were quite compatible.
"It's not a mixed message," he said. "I'm just being where I've been all my life."
"I believe in the Second Amendment in this country," Mr. Kerry continued. "But I don't believe that assault weapons ought to be sold in the streets of America. Never believed it, don't believe it now."
Gun control is a delicate issue for Democrats. Polls show overwhelming support among Democratic primary voters for federal regulation of gun ownership, but that is not the case among general-election voters as a whole, nor in Iowa and New Hampshire, rural, gun-loving states with the first nominating contests.
Indeed, Dr. Dean, urging Democrats to take gun control off their national agenda, has argued that Al Gore would be president today were it not for his support of gun control. Dr. Dean points to Mr. Gore's losses in the 2000 election in states where gun control is not popular, like Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas and West Virginia.
To succeed in the early contests, Mr. Kerry has to peel liberals away from Dr. Dean, who has drawn supporters with his antiwar stance. And Dr. Dean, who won the rifle association's highest ratings when he was governor of Vermont, has had a difficult time putting the gun issue to rest before liberal primary audiences.
On the campaign trail, Dr. Dean says that gun control is an issue that should be left to the states.
But he also assures voters that he supports the central federal gun-control measures adopted during the Clinton administration: the 1994 ban on assault weapons and the Brady Bill, which mandated a waiting period and background checks for the purchase of handguns.
The 1992 questionnaire from the rifle association, however, showed that Dr. Dean said he would "oppose restrictions on semiautomatic firearms."
On Friday afternoon, Mr. Kerry said, "Howard Dean needs to square his support for the N.R.A. with his current position."
He added: "You can't just flip a position in the year you decide to run for president and say, `Here I am.' I think people are looking for something more than that."
During an appearance on Friday at a technical college in Portsmouth, N.H., Dr. Dean was asked by a voter about the questionnaire. "My position on guns isn't any different now," he said, adding that he believed the questionnaire had referred only to state restrictions.
"I believe in the assault weapons ban and I believe in its reauthorization, because deer hunters don't need to have assault weapons," Dr. Dean said. "I believe in the background checks we have in retail, and I believe they should be extended to gun shows. But after that, I think every state ought to make its own gun laws."
Oh, really? He supports a Federal ban, but would have opposed a ban in Vermont? Actually, this is not totally absurd - Kerry goes on to explain the problem with a "states-only" approach to gun control:
In Iowa, Mr. Kerry dismissed that distinction.
"You cannot favor federal gun control and allow the states to do it their own way," he said. "That's a complete contradiction. If you can go buy a gun under one loophole in one state and then drive it in your car secreted across a line to another state, the people in those other states are not safer."
...More than anything, though, the event seemed to be Mr. Kerry's way of signaling that he could meet a threshold test in the eyes of many gun lovers, if not in the eyes of the rifle association.
"I want to prove to people that you can be responsible about guns, and you're not anti-Second Amendment, but you can still vote for common sense in this country," Mr. Kerry said. "And I think it underscores the emptiness of what Governor Dean was doing in the past year."
"The governor can't have it both ways," Mr. Kerry added.
Call me wacky, but I doubt this election's going to turn on gun control.
Posted by: Emma | October 31, 2003 at 01:55 PM
Oh, you say that now, but will you still respect them in the morning?
Actually, part of Clark's appeal is that he won't annoy the gun crowd, being a general and a Southerner and all. So the two leading Dems are, ostensibly, gun tolerant. Currently.
Posted by: TM | October 31, 2003 at 03:09 PM
I'd add, just as a throwaway, that politicians who have contradictory positions aren't exactly an endangered species. The question will be whether this is an issue significant enough for Dems to care. One thing that killed my man Dennis (like he was just poised had it not been for this) was his views on abortion. Now that's an issue that can kill a campaign.
Posted by: Emma | November 01, 2003 at 12:42 PM