This time the Argus gets it right

On page 3B of today’s Argus Leader is a Jennifer Sanderson ad watch on the most negative ad so far this here:

Dressed in an orange hunting vest and cap, Daschle cradles a semiautomatic shotgun while a friend talks about their many hunting trips together. The senator pledges his continued support to preserve the Second Amendment.

For those that do not hunt, hunters wear blaze orange so that they can see each other for safety reasons. It is the exact opposite of camouflage, which is used to help hide the hunter. But there is a very small number who use blaze orange as camouflage. It is an anti-gun political running for re-election who wants to hide his anti-gun votes in Washington DC. We have two of those this year…John Kerry and Tom Daschle.

Sanderson also provides Thune’s response to the ad:

“Tom Daschle gets an ‘F’ from the NRA. How are you an advocate for the Second Amendment if the largest gun owners association in America flunks you?” Thune asked. “Daschle has consistently voted with the anti-gun lobby. When you’re in a state like South Dakota, with a very gun-owning culture, and you vote against that culture, you have to spend a lot of money to convince people you’re not.”

Sanderson provided the March 2004 anti-gun votes of Daschle:

Though Daschle received some favorable NRA feedback earlier this year for the limited-liability bill (S.1805), officials at the association retracted their praise when the minority leader voted for two amendments they considered unacceptable. The first (S.AMDT.2636) would have required criminal background checks at gun shows and other sites where licensed and unlicensed dealers sold products temporarily. The second (S.AMDT.2367) would have extended by a decade the assault-weapon ban that expired this month. After the Senate added the amendments, the NRA urged senators to kill the bill it first had celebrated.

Sanderson then pointed out Daschle’s vote against gun shows went against the wishes of his South Dakota constituents:

A few months before the Senate vote, the South Dakota Legislature had passed its own concurrent resolution (SCR3). State senators voted 33-1 and state representatives 64-0 to recognize the “many positive contributions” made by gun shows and to resolve that “all future attempts to inappropriately regulate, restrict, encumber or eliminate gun shows should be judiciously resisted.”

Her report made this conclusion:

In the wake of the student shootings in Columbine, Colo., Daschle supported President Clinton’s administration in pushing for tighter restrictions on gun-show sales. The Senate split 50-50, with Vice President Al Gore casting the deciding vote to require criminal background checks at gun shows (S.AMDT.362 to S.254, in 1999). Thune is correct in his assessment of Daschle’s rating from the NRA. The group gives Daschle an “F.” In contrast, the Brady Campaign reports a 78 percent rating for the incumbent.

A great job of analysis by Jennifer Sanderson. The record is clear…Tom Daschle turned his backs on his South Dakota constituents, the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of South Dakota with regard to the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms without the interference of the federal government. A true American patriot would defend the Constitution, not attack it. A true South Dakota Senator would represent the wishes of his constituents, not turn his back on them. In the ad Daschle states, “I believe in the Second Amendment”. That is an outright boldfaced lie about the Constitution of the United States of America. Instead he failed to represent the good people of South Dakota. It can’t get more negative than that.