I was left scratching my head when I read the headline of this post at Memeorandum.
Obama on GOP: 'If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun'
Barack Obama is warning supporters that the general election fight between him and John McCain may get ugly, but the Illinois senator is vowing not to back down.
"If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun," Obama said at a fundraiser in Philadelphia Friday, according to pool reports.
So much for the politics of HopeNChange, right?
I just found it to be an odd turn of phrase considering Obama's stance on gun control. Admittedly, like so much of Obama's transformation from the hard left to the center, his positions seem to be--how can we say it politely?--determined by the audience. Indeed, Obama's been engaged in what Robert Novak calls a Second Amendment dance.
That is a dance that many Democrats do, as revealed in private conversation with party strategists. As urban liberals, they reject constitutional protection for gun owners. As campaign managers, they want to avoid the fate of the many Democratic candidates who have lost elections because of gun control advocacy.
Obama's "clinging to guns" comment has been given some credit for his poor performance in Pennsylvania, remember.
Now, it seems, Obama wants to preserve gun rights for hunters but not for protection. At least, that's what Obama's website says today. Tune in tomorrow to see how that changes. But as Pajamas Media points out, Obama's stated position is in direct contrast to his voting record.
In 1998 Obama stated a desire to “ban the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons.” Many people confuse semi-automatic firearms, which use the energy created when a gun is fired to eject the spent cartridge and load a fresh round, with automatic weapons, more commonly known as machine guns.
Semi-automatic firearms are the most common firearms sold in America today.
The post goes on to discuss all the different types of weapons Obama's votes would ban, which include guns used for hunting and target sports. Obama's ban of "semi-automatic" weapons would prevent citizens from owning firearms for their own protection or from carrying concealed weapons. It would prevent the sale of antique and collectible guns.
But I'm sure Obama's gun reference is just a metaphor. He knows that the far left hates guns of any sort and he wouldn't want to lose them. OTOH, he has to lie--er, modify his positions to win votes from independents and moderates who like guns.
UPDATE: Ed Morrissey says it's just a line lifted from The Untouchables to try and make the man who can't debate look tough.
They put one of yours in the hospital, you put one of theirs in the morgue, Sean Connery said when he completed that thought in the stylized (read: fictional) account of Eliot Ness’ efforts against Al Capone. The difference between Connery’s character in The Untouchables and Barack Obama is that Connery was prepared to confront his opponents anywhere at any time. Obama not only doesn’t like a good brawl, he can’t even take an open-forum debate unless it takes place on the Home & Garden Channel at 2 am on a holiday weekend.
How true.
|