Anyone still convinced that Mitt Romney isn't a RINO?

[erik the bold]

Found this on TN USA today, posted by non other than Ryan from Red's Trading Post:  http://www.tednugent.com/HUNTING/forums/thread/281051.aspx

Well I just got my letter from my good buddy Mitt Romney, about his stance on the ATF's Back Door attack on the Second Amendment. I got my form letter but I was particularly concerned with what he defines as "extreme weapons, those which were not meant for hunting, sport, or self-defense, have no business being on the streets."

I think Mitt may have beat Josh Sugarman to the punch on his coining of a new phrase to demonize certain weapons. I wonder if you can take extreme weapons hunting?

Dear Ryan:

Thank you for contacting me about the important issue of gun ownership and the right to keep and bear arms. I appreciate your interest in my campaign for President and would like to extend my sincere gratitude for taking the time to share your views with me.

I strongly support the Second Amendment right of Americans to keep and bear arms. I am proud to be among the many decent, law-abiding men and women who safely use firearms.

I firmly believe in the importance of responsible gun ownership and sales. As a member of the National Rifle Association, I do not believe that we need any more federal gun control laws. I also recognize that some types of extreme weapons, those which were not meant for hunting, sport, or self-defense, have no business being on the streets.

An individuals right to keep and bear arms is a freedom guaranteed to all Americans by the United States Constitution. Together, we must ensure this freedom is protected. As Governor of one of the most liberal states in the country, I stood up for the rights of gun owners and sportsmen over burdensome bureaucratic regulation. I look forward to upholding these same ideals in Washington, D.C.

I am running for President because I fervently believe that I have the experience and vision to address the issues facing our country. Throughout my years in both the private and public sectors, I have been successful by pursuing innovation and transformation. If there ever was a time when innovation and transformation were needed in government, it is now.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please feel free to visit my website at www.MittRomney.com for updated information on 2nd Amendment rights and other issues that may be of interest to you. I look forward to hearing from you in the future, and earning your support.

Sincerely,

Mitt Romney

I too, wonder what an "extreme weapon" is.......

[Perd Hapley]

And he just said this?  He really needs some new handlers.  Oy. 

[brer]

Rino or not, I cannot vote for anyone that has beliefs on the restriction of the second amendment.

[Waitone]

It is a war fought over definitions.  Gotta give to him.  Inventing a new term during an election will bring all kinds of attention he may not want to endure. . . . . . unless of course he introduced the term and will rely on various other groups to provide the definition.  It will be interesting to see who helps Mitt flesh out the definition.

[Perd Hapley]

The definition won't be fleshed out.  Everyone knows what he means.  We could sit here on gun boards and vex about what extreme weapons or assault-type rifles might be, but we'd just be talking to ourselves. 

[Manedwolf]

I stood up for the rights of gun owners and sportsmen over burdensome bureaucratic regulation.

Like the 98 MA AWB?

Where's those hip waders?

[Standing Wolf]

We already have a RINO in the White House, thanks all the same.

[Paddy]

Some guy with a net worth north of $200 million doesn't represent me. And I suspect he doesn't represent 98% of the American people. He's only in it for his own self-aggrandizement.

BTW, where are all these 'guns on the streets' I keep hearing about?  I'm always on the lookout for them, never see 'em.

[RevDisk]

Some guy with a net worth north of $200 million doesn't represent me. And I suspect he doesn't represent 98% of the American people. He's only in it for his own self-aggrandizement.

BTW, where are all these 'guns on the streets' I keep hearing about?  I'm always on the lookout for them, never see 'em.

Yea, I felt kinda foolish for believing the media when they said waves of blood and guns would flood the street when the AWB expired.  I spent six hours with a snorkel and a net in front of my apartment!   

[Perd Hapley]

Some guy with a net worth north of $200 million doesn't represent me. And I suspect he doesn't represent 98% of the American people. He's only in it for his own self-aggrandizement. 

Yawn.  It's called politics.   

[Paddy]

Yawn.  It's called politics.   

Got it. BTW, when did we become an oligarchy?  I was under the impression we were a constitutional republic.  Silly me.

[Perd Hapley]

Because in a constitutional republic, people in the lower income brackets become President.  And they are more interested in enlightened, disinterested statesmanship, than in their own power.  Except none of that is true. 

I thought the anarchists were the ones with the unbounded faith in human nature.    

[Paddy]

First, I'm not an anarchist.  Second, I'm twice as old as you, fistful, and I can tell you young folks are losing a grip on this country.  Don't get bogged down in where it started or whose fault it is.  Grab hold of it while you still can.  Please.  Too much blood has been shed for your liberties. Guard them jealously and don't give any of them up without a fight.

Edited to add:  "any of them" means gun rights, privacy rights, property rights, representative rights, don't let any of them go without one helluva fight.

[Perd Hapley]

Of course you're not an anarchist.  But I must point out that you old folks are the ones who "lost grip." 

I thank you for your exhortation to reclaim our rights.  That is very important.  Nonetheless, it is a fact that the people with power, especially in more egalitarian regimes like ours, tend to be those with more money and more ambition than you and I.  It was true in 1800 and it's true today.  So complaints about candidate X having too much money or too much interest in power are sorely lacking in perspective.  But of course, you know so much more about these things than a whippersnapper like myself.   

[CAnnoneer]

I don't see how 200M disqualifies him to be president. If anything, it is probably better that way, because a poor candidate would likely be tempted more sorely to embezzle and would be more susceptible to pressure. I'd be more worried about the sozie type that gets elected on the money of politicized unions and special interests than one that is willing to put his money where his mouth is.

The younger generations are losing hold on the political steering wheel because they do not appreciate what they have been given as default or starting point. There is a problem that appears with every successful society towards its later days. Politicians and voters corrupt one another, whether they realize it or not. Inefficiency, idiocy, wastage, and embezzlement undermine the system until a sharp change of leadership, an external wake-up call, or eventual internal collapse.

By the way, fistful is right that the decay started much earlier. I'd say since the 1960s. The old generations should have shot up some commies, and isolated and crushed the leftists when they had the chance. Instead they chickened out and lost a couple of generations to pothead land, which then percolated through the educational system and infiltrated the gov and political structures. By now the disease is so badly spread out that any change of political authority at the very top does not affect the day-to-day operations, because the mid- and low-level administration is completely percolated, resistant, hostile, passive-aggressive, and outright saboteur. Case in study: the Bush presidency.

[Perd Hapley]

I must again point out that is the older folks who vote.  There are many more of them.  Blaming thirty and forty-year-old people for the current state of affairs doesn't make sense. 

"The Greatest Generation" are to blame.

[Paddy]

"The Greatest Generation" are to blame.

You're really gonna have to explain that, fistful.  My Dad, born 1917, served in WWII from La Havre, France to Raguhn, Germany and my Mom, born 1923, (both died 2005), 'Rose the Riveter', making warplanes, are to blame, how? 

[CAnnoneer]

"The Great Generation" won the shooting war with the nazis only to come back and lose the political war with the commies.

[Paddy]

"The Great Generation" won the shooting war with the nazis only to come back and lose the political war with the commies.

I'm not sure what you mean.  Reagan brought down the Berlin Wall about 1988. The (former) USSR is no more.  Children no longer practice 'drop drills'.  What more do you want?

[Perd Hapley]

"The Greatest Generation" are to blame.

You're really gonna have to explain that, fistful. 

Shocking, I know.  First of all, don't make this personal.  I'm talking about a generation, which is a generality.  Your folks might well have been solidly on the good side of these issues.  But when you think about it, who gave us the Baby Boomer, flower-power generation?  Who raised them and taught them?  Who is in charge right now? 

Children no longer practice 'drop drills'.  What more do you want?

He's talking about much of the same political discontent you're always talking about.  Big government.  Loss of liberties.  That sort of thing.  You can't tell me the Greatest Generation didn't have a lot to do with those things. 

[CAnnoneer]

"The Great Generation" won the shooting war with the nazis only to come back and lose the political war with the commies.

I'm not sure what you mean.  Reagan brought down the Berlin Wall about 1988. The (former) USSR is no more.  Children no longer practice 'drop drills'.  What more do you want?

Looking at Hillary & co., the sozies are live, well, and kicking.

What do I want? Many things, but for purposes of this discussion:
1) Shift the mean of political spectrum back to where it was in the 1950s.
2) Arrest, try, convict, and shoot all traitors.
3) Sweep the gov ranks of leftist saboteurs
4) Wipe the highschools and college campuses clean of commies
5) outlaw all communist organizations

[Paddy]

fistful and CAnoneer, I'm trying to connect, really.  I remember the 50's, 60's, etc.  What the hell are you guys talking about?

[Balog]

Communism and socialism in various forms have been around in America a long time. They started edging their way in under the bad Roosevelt, but only took off under the baby boomers.

I think what fistful et al are saying is that while the "greatest generation" did well in terms of defeating the Nazis, they did a piss poor job raising their kids. Those born in the post-WWII baby boom are the most narcissistic, entitled, traitorous little pricks to ever disgrace this country. They were given freedom by their parents, sure. What they weren't given was a sense of duty and responsibility.

[Paddy]

Communism and socialism in various forms have been around in America a long time. They started edging their way in under the bad Roosevelt, but only took off under the baby boomers.

I think what fistful et al are saying is that while the "greatest generation" did well in terms of defeating the Nazis, they did a piss poor job raising their kids. Those born in the post-WWII baby boom are the most narcissistic, entitled, traitorous little pricks to ever disgrace this country. They were given freedom by their parents, sure. What they weren't given was a sense of duty and responsibility.

That is one helluva statement, Balog, and I believe it's sincere (although I don't know your age).  I am 61.  I grew up in the 1950's and '60's.  Mom stayed home; Dad was self-employed.  Worked his ass off as a roofing contractor in the San Fernando Valley, LA, CA.  Dad immigrated from Nova Scotia, Canada about 1926 when he was nine years old.  Mom was from Monmouth IL, born 1923.   Have you ever heard of the Great Depression?  Or the Dust Bowl days?  If not, please look them up.

They went through ten years of poverty and soup lines and no money (can you even envision that?) before WWII.  Dad was in the CCC's (Civilian Conservation Corps) who built roads, etc.   Mom was a telephone operator.

It's interesting now, how you ideologues, talking from prosperity and abundance, condemn FDR's New Deal.  You've never gone without, never worried about your next meal, always lived in abundance.  Yet you're quite willing to condemn those who provided that to you.

I think you'd better wise up, lest you lose what has been given to you.

[CAnnoneer]

It's interesting now, how you ideologues, talking from prosperity and abundance, condemn FDR's New Deal.  You've never gone without, never worried about your next meal, always lived in abundance.  Yet you're quite willing to condemn those who provided that to you.

I think you'd better wise up, lest you lose what has been given to you.

Non-responsive, unless it is your assertation that the New Deal inevitably led to the rise of leftist scum since 1950s. I don't see why that would be, so please explain.

Also, prosperity does not seem to go well with communism, as witnessed by known history. Yes, capitalism is susceptible to crises, but it does seem to work better overall, and allow far far more personal freedom than any other practicable system.