How the National Rifle Association helped get Bernie Sanders elected

[hack89]

A few days before Election Day in 1990, the National Rifle Association sent a letter to its 12,000 members in Vermont, with an urgent message about the race for the state’s single House seat.

Vote for the socialist, the gun rights group said. It’s important.

“Bernie Sanders is a more honorable choice for Vermont sportsmen than ­Peter Smith,” wrote Wayne LaPierre, who was — and still is — a top official at the national NRA, backing Sanders over the Republican incumbent.

As a candidate in 1990, Sanders won over gun rights groups by promising to oppose one bill they hated — a measure that would establish a waiting period for handgun sales. In Congress, he kept that promise. The dynamic served as an early demonstration that, despite his pure-leftist persona, Sanders was at his core a pragmatic politician, calculating that he couldn’t win in rural Vermont without doing something for gun owners.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-the-nra-helped-put-bernie-sanders-in-congress/2015/07/19/ed1be26c-2bfe-11e5-bd33-395c05608059_story.html

This is why it is dangerous to underestimate Bernie - he is a canny and pragmatic politician. He hasn't lasted as long as he has on pure idealism.

[HassleCat]

1. And yet...

The NRA has given him "F" grades for failing to support them. What does one make of that?

[hack89]

3. His views are in line with the Democratic Party platform

that upsets the NRA for some reason.

[JaneyVee]

19. I guess he's evolving, although....

I don't know how much faith I'd put in their rating system to begin with.

[Betty Karlson]

2. Let me get this clear:

The reason Mr. Sanders is not your preferred candidate is no longer that he is a (democratic-)Socialist, but because he is pragmatic?

Is that the new meme?

[hack89]

5. I have never had a problem with him being a Socialist

I would love America to be more like Sweden or Norway. I support HRC but if Bernie is our candidate, I would vote for him with absolutely no hesitation.

My point is that it is dangerous to underestimate him.

[Betty Karlson]

8. Pragmatic reform? Do I underestimate Sanders if that is what I expect from him? eom

[hack89]

9. Pragmatic campaigner.

he will learn and adjust his message. It is easy to dismiss him because his base is so narrow but it is a dangerous assumption that he won't figure out a way to appeal to POC.

[Betty Karlson]

10. So we will end up in a situation where ALL Democratic candidates

have the backs of PoC, LGBT, and women.

Sounds like a winning situation to me.

[hack89]

13. Bernie or HRC would both make excellent presidents. nt

[Le Taz Hot]

4. So, we're back to this now?

[Autumn]

6. The quiver only holds so many arrows.

[Snotcicles]

31. And most were lost through attrition.nt

[arcane1]

17. I'm counting the days until "dual citizenship" comes up again

[frylock]

26. There's blood in the water. May as well attempt the death blow.

[TM99]

7. Wait Hack89, you are ahead of Clinton's plan.

We have not yet finished with the Sanders is a racist and the NrN protest in Phoenix coupled with the Twitterverse proves it.

We can't move on to how he is a gun humper until this meme runs its course.

So please kindly self-delete, and we will let you know when to start this meme up again.

The American electorate is just not smart enough these days to handle two memes at once.

[hack89]

11. He is not a gun humper - his views are very main stream.

just a pragmatic politician. His middle of the road views on guns make him an even more dangerous opponent - you know he will not make gun control a key part of his campaign.

[frylock]

27. And neither will Clinton..

at least not in the general.

[hack89]

28. I certainly hope so. nt

[Dawgs]

12. Bernie supports hunters. Hillary voted for an illegal, unjust war that killed thousands.

I'll go with Bernie.

[hack89]

14. Either would make excellent presidents. nt

[Dawgs]

15. We'll see. Has Hillary said who she's putting on her economic cabinet? n/t

[hack89]

16. Probably a little too early for that. nt

[Dawgs]

23. Bernie did. n/t

[JaneyVee]

18. How many do guns kill a year?

[Dawgs]

24. Hunters, not guns. And, they killed far fewer than the Iraq war. n/t

[JaneyVee]

25. Hunters? The PPLCA had nothing to do with hunters.

[Dawgs]

29. Got it. You're concerned about Bernie and the NRA from 25 years ago.

I'm concerned about now.

"Rated F by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun control voting record"

http://www.ontheissues.org/domestic/Bernie_Sanders_Gun_Control.htm

[Vinca]

20. Back in 1990 the NRA was still a group most often associated with hunting and hunter safety.

That's not the NRA of today so I don't think any association of any candidate from that time period is good for anything other than an attempt at an attack on their character. Come to think of it, back in the 1980's I took some NRA firearms training. Guess that makes me a faux leftie.

[hack89]

21. The 1994 AWB lit the fuse that changed everything

best gift the NRA ever received.

[hollowdweller]

22. This will probably help him with a segment of the working class population

I know a lot of people who agree 100% with the dems on economic issues but will not vote for them due to the democrats being perceived as anti freedom over the issue of guns.

The fact that he was attacked by the radical black activists will only help him with same, since they perceive the dems as being for minorities but not for the average worker.

[cascadiance]

30. Howard Dean also had a similar approach to run rights that Bernie has as a fellow Vermonter...

http://www.ontheissues.org/2004/Howard_Dean_Gun_Control.htm

You can tell he took a measured stance on what made sense for a state like Vermont, where like Bernie, their laws gives more latitude for gun ownership, etc. than many other states that have more city demographics where gun violence is more of a problem.

I think this issue is a testament of a politician that listens to their constituents, as both Bernie Sanders and Howard Dean have done as politicians in Vermont, and how they are willing to work more towards more stricter regulatory stances at a federal level to help the problems with guns in other states and communities, when they are listening more to a constituency at a national level.

I think their stances make good sense for us. If there is shown to be a lot more violence in a growing population center in Vermont, I would be surprised if either of them would look to more state laws to regulate those situations too. But this is why as Thom Hartmann says that many parts of Vermont, where he also used to live, he'd drive through very Republican communities and see campaign signs both for someone like Romney or McCain for president, and Bernie Sanders for senator on the same lawn.

They know him and they LIKE that he works for them. As Bernie's campaign grows nationally, the same thing will happen nationally. Voters will come to know him and will like that he has worked for Vermonters and also will work for them too, and not Korporate Amerika!

[beam me up scottie]

32. Hillary pandered to gun owners and bragged about goin shootin with Daddy in 2008:

"You know, my dad took me out behind the cottage that my grandfather built on a little lake called Lake Winola outside of Scranton and taught me how to shoot when I was a little girl,” she said. “You know, some people now continue to teach their children and their grandchildren. It’s part of culture. It’s part of a way of life. People enjoy hunting and shooting because it’s an important part of who they are. Not because they are bitter. I have gone hunting. I am not a hunter. But I have gone hunting."

I believe Obama called her Annie Oakley after that.

You're welcome, HC supporters.