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from http://www.newsmax.com
Democrats Tout Second Amendment, but Voting Records Show Hostility
Robert B. Bluey, CNSNews.com
Monday, Nov. 17, 2003
A year before the 2004 presidential election, major Democrat candidates have moderated their rhetoric on firearms, trying not to alienate voters who own guns, while also carefully reassuring liberal voters of their continued support for gun control.
However, CNSNews.com's extensive review of the candidates' votes and statements on firearms policy shows that those with congressional experience have anything but a moderate voting record.
In the 2000 race, former Vice President Al Gore lost three battleground states - Arkansas, his home state of Tennessee and West Virginia, each by 6 or fewer percentage points - in part because he was unable to shed the anti-gun image he developed during the Democrats' primary contest.
U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who has voted with gun-control proponents 100 percent of the time, views sportsmen as an important constituency. Just last month, with a shotgun in hand, Kerry had reporters follow him on a pheasant hunt in Iowa.
The Democrats' front-runner, Howard Dean, has no congressional track record to explain. Instead, he has stressed his endorsements from the National Rifle Association, while serving as Vermont's governor, in a concerted attempt to reach out to pro-gun Democrats.
Even Dean appears to be trying to have it both ways with his campaign rhetoric, according to groups that defend the Second Amendment and rate politicians on the issue.
The other leading contenders, including retired Gen. Wesley Clark, U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, fit into a similar pattern, according to pro-gun groups.
The Democrats' rhetoric mirrors a strategy outlined last month by the Democratic Leadership Council and Americans for Gun Safety. The groups touted a survey that showed a Democrat who endorsed the Second Amendment and supported reasonable gun control would defeat a pro-gun Republican.
Gun-rights advocates aren't buying the strategy of these "camouflage candidates," as they are sometimes called.
'Revisionist History'
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/11/17/110407.shtml
from http://www.newsmax.com
Democrats Tout Second Amendment, but Voting Records Show Hostility
Robert B. Bluey, CNSNews.com
Monday, Nov. 17, 2003
A year before the 2004 presidential election, major Democrat candidates have moderated their rhetoric on firearms, trying not to alienate voters who own guns, while also carefully reassuring liberal voters of their continued support for gun control.
However, CNSNews.com's extensive review of the candidates' votes and statements on firearms policy shows that those with congressional experience have anything but a moderate voting record.
In the 2000 race, former Vice President Al Gore lost three battleground states - Arkansas, his home state of Tennessee and West Virginia, each by 6 or fewer percentage points - in part because he was unable to shed the anti-gun image he developed during the Democrats' primary contest.
U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who has voted with gun-control proponents 100 percent of the time, views sportsmen as an important constituency. Just last month, with a shotgun in hand, Kerry had reporters follow him on a pheasant hunt in Iowa.
The Democrats' front-runner, Howard Dean, has no congressional track record to explain. Instead, he has stressed his endorsements from the National Rifle Association, while serving as Vermont's governor, in a concerted attempt to reach out to pro-gun Democrats.
Even Dean appears to be trying to have it both ways with his campaign rhetoric, according to groups that defend the Second Amendment and rate politicians on the issue.
The other leading contenders, including retired Gen. Wesley Clark, U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, fit into a similar pattern, according to pro-gun groups.
The Democrats' rhetoric mirrors a strategy outlined last month by the Democratic Leadership Council and Americans for Gun Safety. The groups touted a survey that showed a Democrat who endorsed the Second Amendment and supported reasonable gun control would defeat a pro-gun Republican.
Gun-rights advocates aren't buying the strategy of these "camouflage candidates," as they are sometimes called.
'Revisionist History'
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/11/17/110407.shtml