Support "Leatherman" products!

[Bluebear]

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=296348&page=1

This freeperish group is boycotting Leatherman tools for Mr. Leatherman's donations to Kerry. So if any handymen are on your Christmas list, buy them a Leatherman!

http://www.leatherman.com/

[Lorien]

1. They sell them at Costco, and I've already given one

to every man in my family, plus a few friends. Good stuff-nice to know that they're dems!

[NMDemDist2]

2. kick n/t

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

3. wow - he sent an e-mail back to all the people who sent him hate mail

I doubt I would be so polite had I been sent death threats. (From the site given in the original post.)

"Dear name removed,

I have received lots of e-mails because of my endorsement of the Kerry/Edwards ticket. Some of you merely made an inquiry as to whether it was true. Some of you supported my position. Some of you opposed, but were polite, and offered well reasoned arguments as why I should not have done what I did - interesting food for thought.

Far more of you stated very, very emphatically that you were no longer going to buy LEATHERMAN products and were going to tell family, friends, co-workers, and everyone else with whom you come in contact to no longer do so either. Some used unbelievably crude and vulgar language. Some made accusations, that if proven, would get me executed. At least one of you stated you hope I'll rot in the place the opposite of heaven.

Most of you, merely because I publicly stated how I was going to vote, jumped to a lot of unjustified and untrue conclusions about my positions on the issues. I did endorse Kerry/Edwards. However, the endorsement was personal. No corporate money (or personal either, for that matter), was contributed to any candidate, any party, PAC, or any political entity what-so-ever.

In the endorsement I did include my job title and the company I work for, and since my name and the company name are the same, many of you said the endorsement was by the company. Some of you say claiming after the fact that the endorsement was personal isn't good enough to escape your wrath. If you were one of them, I don't think anything I can say will change your mind. If you were not one of them, you'll have to decide for yourself.

For many of you, gun control was your one and only issue. Some of you saw Kerry (and still see - I am still getting e-mails written as if the election had not yet occurred) quite literally as an enemy (or worse) for one thing and only one thing - because of how you feel he feels about gun control. One person went so far as to tell me that I am his enemy because being a friend of his enemy makes me his enemy. Amazingly, all those people decided to boycott my company and called me all those names without a single one asking me my position on gun control. My position is, assuming you are a law abiding citizen and own weapons that are legal to own, that no one should be able to take your guns away from you. I own a rifle and shotgun myself.

Some of you have jumped to the conclusion that I don't want hunters and fishermen (and women) to have access to public lands for hunting and fishing. That is incorrect. I too am a hunter and fisherman.

Some of you have jumped to the conclusion that I am anti-military. I am not. I think some wars need to be fought. Some of you think I am anti-Vietnam era veterans. I am not. I have never been in the military, but I lived in Vietnam for over two years (Aug. '72 - April '75). I am probably one of the few Americans of my generation to pay his own way to get there.

Just because I said I was going to vote for Kerry didn't mean that I supported every position Kerry took. And I acknowledge, there were times when it was tough to figure out what his position was. I did (and do) believe that some of the things George W. Bush did during his first term in office were not good for the country. Overall, I felt we needed a change of leadership, but a majority of the country thought otherwise.

Almost all of you said I have a right to my opinion, but having stated my opinion, you have a right to try to punish me economically by not buying LEATHERMAN tools. I agree. You do. With your personal money. (Not government money. See below.) Some of you were concerned that by buying LEATHERMAN tools company funds would go to support political candidates in which you did not believe. I have already assured you that neither company funds nor personal funds went to any candidate, party, PAC, or other political entity. It also seems to me you are being highly selective in only going after those of us who were willing to stand up and state our opinion and not require someone from every company from which you buy anything to state a politically correct opinion or risk a boycott. Also, it seems unfair to me to penalize all the employees of a company when one of the employees states an opinion you oppose. Over 300 people work at Leatherman Tool Group, Inc. Many employees do not share my opinions. U.S. manufacturing jobs are already disappearing fast enough without taking a hit from those of you who undoubtedly consider yourselves to be patriotic Americans.

Most of you are worried about encroachments on your rights. I'm worried too. Some of you say you work for government agencies, and have control over purchases for your agency, and that you will no longer buy LEATHERMAN tools because of how I voted. I would think that is illegal.

How would you feel if it comes to the point that individual government employees make decisions on government purchases or providing government services based on the public positions you are taking? How would you feel if a fire fighter refused to come to your home to put out a fire because he or she didn't like something you said in public?

It seems to me more reasonable to consider whether to buy a product on the merits of the product itself, not on how one of the employees of the company said he was going to vote.

I have to admit I was surprised by the outpouring of response. Some of you pointed out it's Business 101 to not offend your customers. Now that I am looking back, I agree with you. I guess my problem is that I never took Business 101. I graduated in Engineering. And I never realized that merely publicly stating how I was going to vote would bring such virulent responses. I would have thought that if you didn't agree with how I was going to vote, but knowing I had already decided, you would have put your efforts into convincing the undecided to vote your way, rather than try to convince me to change my mind, but I guess you didn't see it that way.

I hope I have given enough information so that those of you who still have open minds can decide how you feel about LEATHERMAN. If not, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Tim Leatherman
President
Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.

P.S. If you are in contact with anyone who e-mailed me, but said I never responded, ask them to check their spam filters. Some of you have set your spam filters so high that my response won't go through."

[Streetdoc270]

4. also point out

That Leatherman tools are made in the USA where Gerber tools are made overseas. So not only will you be supporting Mr. Leatherman you will be keeping 300+ Americian workers employed

[Ilsa]

5. Thanks. My FIL might want a Leatherman tool. n/t

[joeprogressive]

6. This is too ironic

My father who is a fanatical wingnut and usually 3-5 years behind the technology/product curve has been going on and on about how great the leatherman is. He told me he was buying a dozen or so to give out as presents at Christmas. I told him I didn't need one because I still have a multi tool I bought years ago. After reading this I called him and told him I wanted it and he was so happy to oblige. What a moron.