Thanks for your 10/14/2004 email. I was surprised to hear from you. Just several months ago you refused to shake my hand or discuss the documentation I was willing to provide you regarding the gun issue. I remember you saying you took great pleasure in not shaking my hand and that you had no respect for me.
I do have enough respect to at least respond to your questions: “What do you make of the NRA switching their recommendation from Larry Diedrich to Stephanie Herseth? Guess you can't count on anything these days, right?”
I would like to begin my answer by pointing out that you proved in 2002 that you have little understanding regarding the ratings provided by the NRA. In fact you generally do not understand the NRA because you seem not to understand the meaning of “freedom”, as defined by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution of the United States.
In 2002 you argued the NRA endorsement of John Thune was based simply on party. The Herseth endorsement proves you were wrong. So now you change your charge to one that argues the NRA endorsement is based on who is leading. Nonsense.
The NRA endorsement is based primarily on voting records. In May, Diedrich had a favorable voting record at the state level and Herseth had no voting record. Therefore Diedrich received the endorsement, although Herseth received an “A” due to the answers provided on the questionnaire. Today, Heresth has a federal voting record and Diedrich does not, so Herseth got the endorsement. Both candidates are strong on the gun issue and have “A” ratings. The NRA endorsements are based on a consistent and rigid system based on voting records. It can be counted on to provide accurate analysis on how candidates vote on gun rights.
In 2000, Tim Johnson had decided to vote in support of Clinton’s anti-gun agenda and received a “D” rating. By 2002, after Clinton had left office, Johnson had begun his swing back to supporting the Second Amendment and was upgraded to a “C+”. Since John Thune’s record was much more consistent he received the NRA endorsement. Unfortunately, your lack of understanding lead you to believe the NRA were lying and your negative attacks were out of line. Have you learned your lesson?
With the NRA endorsing a Democrat in the House race, you should have serious reservations about Tom Daschle who received an “F+” rating. His current hunting ad that states he believes in the Second Amendment is an outright lie.
In 1999 he voted to regulate gun shows beyond what regulations were in place outside gun shows, including an unspecified gun tax that could have been $5 or $500 or any amount a President would chose to charge. In 2000 he voted in support of the anti-gun Million Mom March whose emcee, Rosie O-Donnell, stated hunters who think they have a right to own guns should be thrown in jail.
In 2004, he said he supported the removal of frivolous lawsuits against the gun industry, but worked on, and then voted to add poison pill amendments that killed the bill. Tim Johnson even voted opposite of Daschle on mandatory gunlocks.
I am certain that all this talk about guns is boring you. I don’t believe you care about the Second Amendment. I say that because you do not care about the freedoms the Constitution of the United States protects. Instead you and your environmentalists friends would take away property rights of landowners. All so you elitists can decide what we can or can’t do with our property. You also advocate more public ownership of land, which is an anti-thesis to freedom because it undermines property rights of the individual.
You like to say that all of this makes you a Teddy Roosevelt Republican. But Teddy was a life member of the NRA who helped promote the Civilian Marksmanship Program. A program that promoted surplus military weapons be provided to civilians for competitions designed to prepare us for defense of this Nation and freedom itself. In this regard, you are no Teddy Roosevelt.
Furthermore, a true believer in the Constitution will support the equal protection to the unborn. Based on Herseth’s tendency to support environmental causes over the property rights of landowners and her pro-abortion position, I will be voting for Larry Diedrich. I can’t think of one good reason for anybody to vote for Tom Daschle.
Why don’t you let sportsmen know that Daschle earned an “F+” rating and he received contributions from the anti-gun Brady campaign? Instead your far-left environmental plans are more important. Like 2002, you probably don’t want the truth, such as Daschle’s dismal voting record on gun issues, get into the way.
By the way, I do support protecting the environment. Because of the Constitution, I do not believe it should be shoved down the landowners’ throats by the government. I instead consider it a moral issue. Putting self-interests ahead of the foundations of freedom may not be immoral, but it is not very conservative.
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