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Loose Canons
Bridge to a Higher Cliff
The coming fight on the debt ceiling and gun control is an ideological one, one Republicans need to fight or else face oblivion.
(Page 2 of 2)
It’s become fashionable to quote Margaret Thatcher’s words that first you win the argument, then you win the election. To do that, Republicans have to make this an ideological fight. That’s doubly hard for them because their ideology has been muddled and diffused for almost a decade.
That’s not to say that it isn’t recoverable. The recovery may have begun yesterday with Sen. McConnell’s insistence that more tax hikes are ruled out. But he, and the rest of the congressional Republicans, not only have to stick with that, they have to do a lot more.
McConnell — despite the lousy New Year’s Eve deal — is still the strongest conservative among the congressional Republicans. Others — potential leaders — have to join with him and with Republican governors to campaign for the next several months on the real fiscal crisis which is government overspending. They need to campaign relentlessly, getting Republican governors such as Indiana’s Mike Pence, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal and Virginia’s Bob McDonnell to join them in a media onslaught painting Obama as dangerous for our economy and our future.
And, if they can walk and chew gum at the same time, Republicans have to get ahead of Obama and Feinstein on gun control with their own ideas. There’s a lot to be done to improve school safety — principally to get the dangerous mentally ill off the streets — that will be vastly more effective than gun control.
It will be a tough campaign. And a campaign it is, just like the ones Republicans lost in 2008, won in 2010, and lost in 2012. They need to take it to the brink on the debt ceiling, absorb a government shutdown, and defeat gun control if they are to regain any advantage in Obama’s second term. If they don’t win this one, it will be their last stand. They will deserve to remain in the political wilderness for a very long time.
About the Author
Jed Babbin served as a Deputy Undersecretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush. He is the author of several bestselling books including Inside the Asylum and In the Words of Our Enemies. You can follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (98) | Leave a comment
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Aristocat| 1.7.13 @ 6:32AM
The Republicans are not the ones threatening to shut down the government. They pass a budget in the House & send it to the Senate. The Senate can take it or leave it....They threaten to shut down the government rather than pass the House budget, so let them go ahead & shut it down. They haven't passed a budget in years, and Boehner has allowed the House to continue the Nancy Pelosi 2009 budget for three years in a row, rather than stand up and fight for the House budgets.
Jack in Wi| 1.7.13 @ 8:05AM
How can the Republicans win with leaders like this? They are all a bunch of wimps who stand for nothing, just like the guy they ran in the last election, Romney. If they had any brains they would shut down the Afganistan war and bring home the troops. Don't cut granny's social security and kick grandpa off dyalisis. Get rid of foreign aid, foreign bases, and foreign wars. Most Americans would jump for joy, most of all the ones in the military. Cut slash and burn bureaucratic waste and wars and let the chips fall where they may.
C. Vernon Crisler | 1.7.13 @ 9:38AM
Aside from your McGovernite foreign policy Jack, you are right about the Republicans.
Gary B| 1.7.13 @ 10:41AM
Boehner will cave. Can't wait to see how he explains it to us as a victory in disguise. 2014...
vtwin| 1.7.13 @ 2:40PM
No, it is not just the “leaders” in the Republican Party the problem is conservatism. The results are in; for over thirty years conservatism has been allowed to rule supreme and today our nation is massively in debt and our economic system is in shambles, conservatism like communism has proved to be a failed ideology. The good news is the American voter now understands this but does the Republican Party?
Anthony| 1.7.13 @ 2:51PM
The results are in, for over 30 years, the Democrats who have controlled California's legislature have finally busted the bank. In addition to the entire state, four major California cities are BANKRUPT.
San Bernadino: BROKE
Oakland: BROKE
L.A.: BROKE
Compton: BROKE
More to come.
The good news, Gov. Moombeams just sold San Fransisco to the Mexicans. Adios vtwin!!!
vtwin| 1.7.13 @ 3:13PM
Sold San Francisco to the Mexicans? San Francisco is experiencing an economic and housing boom.
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/.....162844.php
Anthony| 1.7.13 @ 4:16PM
Yeah, you guys in S.F. are always experiencing an economic and housing boom. Uber rich leftists, and uber leftist gays.
Now, where are those Oakland gangbangers gonna end up? Oops, never you mind, best not to dwell on your future.
But you guys deserve credit, great marketing tool, free condoms when you purchase your S.F. digs and one year free at the local bath house.
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 4:02PM
You're wasting your time.
Better to just ignore vi idiot.
He's really not worth the effort.
Stephie| 1.7.13 @ 7:40PM
Actually, the pedophilia group is now trying to make their mental/sexual illness "normal" and accepted like gay marriage. We must fight this people. As many have said before, what's next?
Petronius| 1.7.13 @ 7:53PM
This country has not been governed by any Real Conservatives in living memory. Office holders claimed they were conservative and governed as Liberals. Otherwise you and yours would have fled long ago.
Martin kzovich| 1.7.13 @ 6:59AM
i agree overall with your article. Republicans for reasons only the fly on the wall know have refused to fight on the ideological level. Now they have no choice. At this point Republicans if they are to survive as a cohesive party must not give in to Obama's demand and be prepared to do whatever it takes to fight the Communists. The goal right now is to have a very strong cohesive message that Obama's policies are destructive to our national security and they are more than insane.
Iwould also attack Obama personally on his extravagant vacations, his support from very wealthy people who are getting favors from him and that his tax the rich slogan is pure BS because even the poor will pay. Then let the chips fall where they may in the 2014 elections. I recently heard one commentator state that the American people must first face a calamity before they might come to their senses. He may just be right about that.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.7.13 @ 7:01AM
On another note I wonder what the Blue States will think and perhaps many Republicans when they discover that now that the Fiscal Cliff bill was passed, we can find out what was in it?
Blue State citizens will be hit with about 150 billion in tax increases which is 25% of all taxes collected under the bill. Here's how it works and I'm sure you won't see it in the main stream media:
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....03934.html
Mr. Obama then insisted on reviving PEP and Pease, thereby recapturing much of the income he claimed to be "compromising" away by agreeing to a higher income threshold for the top bracket. But instead of using phaseouts to offset higher rates as Mitt Romney proposed, Mr. Obama insisted on raising tax rates too.
Democrats are advertising the higher $400,000-$450,000 threshold as a victory for affluent taxpayers in blue states. But with PEP and Pease these Democrats are hammering their own constituents via the backdoor.
Taxpayers in blue states claim roughly twice as much in itemized deductions as those in red states. Income tax rates are steeper in California and New York than Texas and Utah. Chuck Schumer just put a tax bull's-eye on upper-income Manhattanites, and Barbara Boxer whacked Silicon Valley. Some $150 billion, about one-quarter of all the money raised by this tax bill, will come from this stealth tax hike.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.7.13 @ 7:17AM
NOTE: That should have stated that 25% of all taxes collected under the tax bill would come from the PEP and Pease portion for the Blue States alone. Much more will come from the Blue States overall.
Jack in Wi| 1.7.13 @ 7:56AM
The Blue states are getting soaked. Well they voted for it. Be careful for what you wish for.
chuck| 1.7.13 @ 8:06AM
Just hope the blue-staters stay where the hell they are, and don't move here and bring there stupid politics with them, like they're doing in FL.
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 4:04PM
Remamber The Lord of the Rings.
"They are Coming."
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 8:05AM
Dianne Feinstein pulled her Gun Control Legislation, for now. Look forward to having your Guns Confiscated on Page 2,317 of the next Omnibus Orange Juice Squeezing, Pit Removal, Safe Storage, and Recommended Daily Intake Regulation Pamphlet. It's right next to Mandating all Religious Institutions (Except the Muslim ones) have at least One Gay, One Lesbian, or One Transgender Preaching from the Pulpit on any given Sunday, as well as a Glory Hole inside every Confessional.
Wanna Bet?
chuck| 1.7.13 @ 8:07AM
The bitch can try to come and get them herself.
Can I say "bitch", and not get banned?
Glad you're back, Tim.
c. j. acworth| 1.7.13 @ 8:17AM
Saying not just "no" but "HELL NO" to gun control should be easier for the Stupid Party this time, since the polls that I have seen show weak support for the idea even in the wake of the recent atrocity in CT.
Alan| 1.7.13 @ 8:22AM
If the State decides I am an overnight criminal for possessing my firearms, then by all means, I will embrace the title proudly. My own policy is simple, for every hollow point bullet the TSA or the rest the government and its "agencies" purchase, I purchase 1/1000th of the same amount. They buy 200K, I buy 200.
Maxwell| 1.7.13 @ 8:24AM
Tim, glad to see you back here. Merry Christmas & a good New Year.
Second, read my gun boards this morning & did not see any mention of Di Fi pulling anything except.....well, you know. Last I saw her was on a You Tube where she said she wanted to have ALL GUNS REMOVED from their owners. I think that was back in 90 something.
As it is now, the gun rights people only have the Republicans, just barely, in their corner. Will 'The Weeper ' grow a pair and say we will look at gun bills and bury it deeper than whale droppings? If I hear one more time high capacity mags I think I will scream! they ain't high capacity, they are NORMAL capacity!
Stephie| 1.7.13 @ 8:31AM
"Assault rifles" are what make me scream. How about those "assault rifles" that the 11 heavily armed guards at Sidwell Friends school carry to protect obama's little darlings? Are his kids worth more than ours?
Maxwell| 1.7.13 @ 8:37AM
Stephie, you are right, I should have included assault rifles. Very few people, except on my gun boards, know the difference between Class III firearms and semi auto. They all look the same.....and looks make the liberals scared.
Von Mises Jr| 1.7.13 @ 10:43AM
Most of us have semi-automatic weapons such as shotguns and pistols, unlike the Mexican Drug gangs who were armed by Holder and Obama with AK-47's, or the Islamist that have set up training camps inside the United States.
Last time I went to DC the Iranian-Basij look alike also had black fully automatic weapons to match their black fatigues. But in their minds, they probably figured it was well justified with that scary TEA Party storming the Capitol with signs.
markenoff| 1.7.13 @ 3:39PM
I don't own any assault rifles. Just defense rifles. They look the same but the intent is different.
Bill8472| 1.7.13 @ 7:06PM
I bet they have "assault pistols," too.
Alan| 1.7.13 @ 8:37AM
They will do it incrementally. Legal firearms owners are and increasingly will be ripped and ridiculed by the government whores in the media and the rest of the state dependants as the REAL problem in society. The socialists have to disarm this country whether it takes 1 year or 10 yearsor 100 years. It will never end. As for the Repubs safe guarding our rights? Seriously? I mean Seriously?
Louis Jenkins| 1.7.13 @ 8:46AM
There is very little hope of the Republicans guaranteeing your or my right to own a weapon. The right to own falls firmly with each person. If you waiting on those guys to confirm your right you're backing up. I noted one of my weapons is at the top of the list. We can only hope that the Republicans have grit, but it boils down to the American people. Do we or don't we?
Maxwell| 1.7.13 @ 8:54AM
Louis, I just checked with my law firm of Baer, Brown, Wilson, & Springfield & they said that AR's are like candy, you cannot just have only one. The same goes for 1911's.
Al Adab| 1.7.13 @ 12:03PM
Alan actually makes the point. To The Left there is never defeat. They will continue to pursue this agenda, incrementally if need be, until at long last they get their way. It could be voted down a hundred times but, just like a union election, eventually they win and there is never another vote.
JmsA| 1.7.13 @ 7:56PM
You're right: It will done incrementally, just as soon as there is another crisis. Feinstein's bill includes universal registration from all the law-abiding citizens, though not the criminals--which will come in handy once the socialists have consolidated their power and come for your guns.
C'mon Man!| 1.7.13 @ 8:58AM
Is this the real TLP? Glad to have you back, you were sorely missed!
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 9:18AM
Thanks, Man!
Nancy in NC| 1.7.13 @ 9:52AM
Exactly what did you get banned for, if you don't mind me asking?
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 10:14AM
Thought Crimes. Honesty. Straight Talk. Articulating and Defending my Principles. Standing up on my hind legs.
You'd be surprised how many people frown on those kindsa things, these days.
I can think of at least 500 of'em in D.C. right off the top a my head.
The Walls have ears.
They just don't have any Nuts.
Al Adab| 1.7.13 @ 12:04PM
Nuts = Huevos?
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 2:13PM
I was trying to write: Culuones, but I couldn't get the Spelling right.
But, yeah.
Huevos.
Al Adab| 1.7.13 @ 3:11PM
Cojones.
Pecos Pete| 1.7.13 @ 3:55PM
When taken from a bull and cooked correctly, they taste good. Some people don't like them ... see scene in the movie Giant.
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 4:07PM
That's what I tell my wife about my Mountain Oysters.
BL in AK| 1.8.13 @ 1:22AM
R Mtn Oysterswise-
you guys need to check out the Salinas garlic festival. Hoo Yah, some good RockyMtn oysters done with garlic. Very tasty morsels. Even Tim would enjoy them.
BL "on the late west coast time zone" in AK
cheerz
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 4:08PM
Who was eating them?
Rock Hudsen?
Pecos Pete| 1.7.13 @ 4:47PM
Hudson. Don't get Tina B on your case. Otherwise, he could of used them.
Job| 1.7.13 @ 6:50PM
all in.. welcome back TLP. you're an information mine and funny as hell too.
Frank Drackman| 1.7.13 @ 8:28AM
Time to take the Asylum away from the Guards...
How bout a "Million Magazine March" on Washington?, Hundreds of Thousands of Men, Women, Children each carrying the High Capacity Magazine of Choice in their outstretched hands, marching up the Mall, and dumping the Magazines on the steps of the Capitol..
OK, no sense in throwing away a perfectly good Magazine, but hey, that horrible time of the year, you know from Superbowl to Opening Day of Baseball, I mean the Daytona 500, so thats like a 3 week window to get this set up, I'll leave the details to you Poindexters who'll have to go out and actually buy a "High" Capacity Magazine(Ask the "Central Park Jogger" how many Bull-Wets she would have liked to have) I'm a Right Brained Idea Man.
And once again, no Left Handed QB will play in the Superbowl, not even one in the Playoffs, and a lefty hasn't won a Superbowl since the last Millenium, talk about your discrimination....
Frank "At least Michael Vick tortured dogs with his left hand" Drackman
Bill8472| 1.7.13 @ 7:07PM
They could call it the "High Capacity Washington March."
BL in AK| 1.8.13 @ 1:17AM
uh Frank-
Steve Young had a big monkey on his back from Joe Montana and he conquered it with his left hand. Check your stats more carefully my friend.
cheerz
BL
Stephie| 1.7.13 @ 8:28AM
I am hoping out of the death of the Republican party will rise a new party. Michael Savage has a good idea for one over at WND. If they would stay away from social issues and concentrate on the economy to start, we may stand a chance. But that 's just my humble Monday morning opinion.
You have to hand it to them, the democrats seem to know how to work the system and beat the sad GOP on just about everything. But maybe they will stand up to the bill that contains the gun confiscation like the house did that had the monies for Sandy victims.
Jacob McCandles| 1.7.13 @ 8:49AM
Working the system is ALL the democrats do. They have no love of this nation and what it stands for. It's just a matter of slowly dismantling what made this country great.
Riff Raff| 1.7.13 @ 1:41PM
Dismantling this country AND profiting from the dismantling, personally. Democrats, rather than actually WORKING and PRODUCING to make a living, make THEIR living from destroying what OTHERS have built. Democrats are dirt.
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 9:35AM
It's not so much that they "Work the System", as much as it's them Reaping what they have Sown after 50 Years of the Immigration Act of 1965, which Shut Down Immigration from Europe, in Favour of the Countries that Kaminsky likes to Vacation at.
The ones where the National Bird is The Vulture, the most Popular Periodical is: Flies on Your Face Magazine, and the National Pastimes are Starving to Death and Dying from Malaria.
Now, add to that: 50 Years of teaching 2 Generations that 2+2 = Tuna Salad. The United States and Israel are responsible for WWI, WWII, and The War of the Worlds. (Not the Original One. The one with Tom Cruise in it.)
And, JESUS was a Gay, Fat, Black Woman, who's Father belonged to the Carpenter's Union in Palestine, Texas.
Frankly, I'm stunned that there's any Republicans in Washington.
Bill8472| 1.7.13 @ 7:09PM
Currently, we're in the process of finding out if there are any Republicans in Washington.
At least conservative ones.
JD| 1.7.13 @ 6:37PM
The myth that social issues and the economy are independent concepts are one of many great lies of the party that tells us that money and the economy are abstract things that are unrelated to daily necessities and basic life.
The economy is everything, including "social issues". You can't separate them.
GobBluthe| 1.9.13 @ 5:26AM
The death of the GOP might give rise to a new party, but that new party wouldn't win power for a decade or longer. It would have to earn the public's trust before voters allowed it to govern. In the meantime, a hemogenic Dem party would be able to alter the USA in a way the new Conservative party would be unable to oppose or repeal.
The Big E| 1.7.13 @ 8:31AM
If ANY of you are especting the Republican Wing of the Democratic Party to stand for anything, or a stand against the Dems on anything, whether if be fiscal matters, gun control, abortion, or how many Americans can be rounded up and sent to a Gulag on a daily basis, then you are delusional.
The Republican party has ceased to exist. It has gone the way of the dodo. It is DEAD. It's time we had the funeral so we can all move on and prepare for the coming darkness.
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 9:51AM
Oh, Mr. E.
You're more righter than you can ever imagine.
We are thisclose to a Sign over the Gate that reads: ARBEIT MACHT FREI. Of this I have no doubt.
Perhaps, and it's just a fantasy, before that day comes - and it will come under this man - The Secret Service will remember that they took an OATH to Protect and Defend the Constitution from all Enemies, both Foreign and DOMESTIC. That is their OATH. Their Job is to Protect the President.
Like, the Roman Empire Praetorian Guard, who's Job was also that of Protection. They were tasked with Protecting the Emperor. But they took an OATH to the Empire, and on more than one occassion, they found it necessary to Remove Him, to save the Empire. Caligula and Nero come to mind.
We can dream, can't we.
Here Anna Anna Anna. Here girl. Come! Sit! Lay down! Roll over! Stay!
She's all yours, Drackman.
chuck| 1.7.13 @ 2:22PM
Of course if these officers did take their oath to protect the Constitution seriously, there would be a lot of openings for "public servants" in DC.
Nancy in NC| 1.7.13 @ 4:46PM
Unfortunately many of them have never read the Constitution; oh, they have glanced at it, but there are quite a few words with over two syllables, so they put it aside.
How many people think the separation of church and state thingy is part of the Constitution? You have a heck of a time convincing a number that it's not.
Stephie| 1.7.13 @ 7:47PM
I'm sorry, but you don't come across like TLP. He never misspelled words and the toned down nature of your comments.....well.... it just doesn't sound like you Tim. Did they give you a lobotomy?
Pecos Pete| 1.7.13 @ 9:18PM
Stephie, I have it from a reliable rumor source that TLP had multiple lobotomies. He is now operating with no brain. On the other hand, Tim is Beautiful.
Al Adab| 1.7.13 @ 8:32AM
Maybe the House should adopt a balanced budget and send that over to the Senate. Since Reid has not allowed a Senate budget vote in almost four years it would be interesting to see his response. If there are obstructionists in Congress, potential dictators and irresponsible members, look to the Senate leadership and ask when they intend to adopt a budget.
Bob Grant| 1.7.13 @ 10:11AM
Al,
I like your idea. A bill a day until until it finally sinks in with the American PUBIC that it's Reeeeed and obama who are the real obstructionists.
Louis Jenkins| 1.7.13 @ 8:49AM
Write your congressman and senators. I have. Will it do any good? Doubtful but I did it anyway.
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 9:52AM
You've got a better chance getting a Contest Prize in the Mail.
Maxwell| 1.7.13 @ 10:16AM
Is that the same as the check is in the mail & I love you?
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 11:16AM
It's closer to the one about the Promise concerning a Face, made to one's Best Girl, in the back seat of the Car, at The Prom.
Back me up, Tina.
I know you know what I'm talking about.
Bob Grant| 1.7.13 @ 9:24AM
"Obama keeps winning because he’s willing to take political risks that Republicans won’t. "
----
Yea right!!!
Obama takes "political risks" like Alexei Kosygin or other Soviet Premiers took "political risks".
Aren't "political risks" associated with an honest, unbiased press and and a minimally-educated electorate?
Jed, quite playing the "if" game. Obama will win the next fight, and the next, and the next....and the next....
Bob Grant| 1.7.13 @ 9:27AM
"quit" playing...
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 9:55AM
Quite.
Good show, Olde Man.
I'm afraid I've left me Smokes back at me loft.
Have you got a Fag? (Don't Answer)
Bob Grant| 1.7.13 @ 9:57AM
TLP,
Quite playing mind games with me!
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 11:17AM
Is that a Yes?
Dave Williams| 1.7.13 @ 9:30AM
Two Greek words for the esteemed Sen. Feinstein, who wants to take away our weapons: "Molon labe." This was the reply of the Spartans to a foreign power's request to hand over THEIR weapons: "Come and take them."
TLP| 1.7.13 @ 9:56AM
I've got two better Greek Words for her: BEND OVER.
Hardcard| 1.7.13 @ 10:03AM
mitch the bytch and weeping johnny will do nothing ( as usual). If you own a gun legally you're a nut and a danger to the yourself and your community,but if you wear a studded dog collar around your neck, and are on a leash held by your gay man partner and bride/ groom, you are a great amerikan leader and completly not a nut. Taxation without representation is tyranny, the 2nd ammendment we don't need no stinkin ammendments. Bengazhi, fast and furious now that's gun control. Drone anyone?
Hardcard| 1.7.13 @ 10:05AM
malakas is also Greek.
rjh| 1.7.13 @ 10:19AM
"Obama keeps winning because he’s willing to take political risks that Republicans won’t."
I respectfully disagree. obama takes "political risks" because he does not care about the welfare of this country or its citizens. In addition, he has the blind, slavish support of the ignorant, the stupid, the parasites, the useful idiots, the America haters, and the news (propaganda) media...considering the numbers of the aforementioned in this country, there is no political risk for obama.
Big Bob| 1.7.13 @ 10:35AM
This is not complicated. It is the essence of our 2nd Amendment. Why is this "ideological" as though it can be outmaneuvered through rhetoric or logic? Why isn't the 2nd Amendment continually quoted? Have we thrown in with the living and bleeding interpreters, and accepted their perverted premise?; namely that they can make our Bill of Rights say whatever they want them to say?? Really?? We have a constitutional right to own guns, no matter what they look like. Yet, few if any, talk of the inalienable right enumerated in the 2nd amendment. At least not on the national stage. What a shame.
Pecos Pete| 1.7.13 @ 4:03PM
Classified advertisements: http://www.milweb.net/classifieds.php?type=1
e.g., Swimming Scorpion. Fully operational, with 76mm deact main gun and smoke dischargers, all periscopes, sights and night vision, original flotation screen. Drives very nicely. Original and unmolested, road registered, taxed, and now fitted with brand new track. Export a pleasure, transport arranged.
I'd like two, please.
Drunken Sailor| 1.7.13 @ 11:04AM
A political risk is not a risk when the media has your back.
Anthony| 1.7.13 @ 11:32AM
Exactly DS. Obozo is emboldened because he has the media, the timid and corrupt Judiciary/ Congress, Hollywood and academia in his back pocket.
The Four Pillars of Corruption. He is for all intent and purpose a dictator now.
It's up to the people to stand up to Pharaoh Obozo. The rest of our culture and government is lost.
Job| 1.7.13 @ 7:39PM
yeah and you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him read the constitution, or a logical news media sources so how do you educate the ones the MSM are misdirecting without the pulpit? if anyone is yelling fire in a crowded theatre right now its the MSM. do the math we're toast..
Petronius| 1.7.13 @ 11:07AM
The new Attempt to Prohibit the ownership of firearms is two pronged, as it is also another canard for the purpose of forcing us to waste our time and resources. In the past, Shumer considered that tactic victory enough because the money that goes into the effort to maintain Our Rights isn't spent on guns and shooting. Look at what the government did last year. They bought ammunition in unprecedented quantities to keep it off the shelves and away from US. Keep your eyes on other things they will do on the executive side, like the EPA closing ranges, or changing the rules concerning lead alloys to ban the manufacture of bullets; Again! All they have to do is pick up their phones to tell Olin, Federal Cartridge, and anybody else that they can't sell to the public and that's all there was. The problem there is, they can't refuse to sell to the government. Can you say "Commandeer?"
The one thing they want more than a 100% income tax is prohibition of any and all private exchange of any firearms between individuals, including bequests. Once anybody buys a firearm legally, it is personal Property. And unless the next person who gets it is Precluded from possessing it by law, it's none of government's business at any level. Considering the abasement and total weakness of the Republicans, the worst provisions of this one will probably pass and that registration tax alone will kill the entire industry. USA, Rest In Perfidy.
Anthony| 1.7.13 @ 11:25AM
You are correct Petronius, if these bastards are successful in seizing our guns, America is lost and we The People will have become slaves to our own government.
Your explaination as to why the Feds purchased millions of rounds of hollow points is the first I've seen. It makes perfect sense, but I don't believe they've been successful in reducing the ammo supply.
Our government is at war with WE the People, but unlike the feckless and timid Rs in congress, if it's war Obozo wants, it's war he'll get.
Louis Jenkins| 1.7.13 @ 1:45PM
From what I've heard the national supply of ammo is down quiet a bit. This am I was in a gunstore and a man ask about 9mm, only one option available. Don't even bother to ask for 5.56mm ammo. 7.62 is available, although in what quantities I am unsure of. Last week at a gun show one dealer's entire supply of 22 ammo was scarfed up in two hours. Hundreds of rounds gone within a couple of hours. Amazing!
Russel| 1.7.13 @ 9:12PM
It will be easy to stop any weapon from working . Choke off the ammo.. Reload your own . Start stocking up on lead such as tire weights . They're a bit alloyed , but harder too .
Stephie| 1.7.13 @ 7:51PM
America as we knew her 50 years ago is lost.
Petronius| 1.7.13 @ 8:09PM
We have never been Free in living memory. We're simply down to the very last Right that remains for the short time we have. JFK was assassinated by his own party for the Capital sin of believing in Real economic and social Freedom for the average American. President Reagan gave us a little respite from these despots. And now the Republican Party along with Obama spits on his legacy of prosperity through low taxation and less government. The putrid political bosses want the adoration of the clueless mob which acclaim their triumph at Our expense. We will all soon pay in the dearest coin with the last of Our treasury, property, and OUR Blood. They will have Our approval; never!
Riff Raff| 1.7.13 @ 12:05PM
Gun Control is politics and nothing else. It is about using innocent deaths as a means to advance personal power acquisition. Armed citizens pose a threat to the acquisition of power and wealth by politicians, so citizens must be disarmed. Truth be know, Democrats are pleased and secure when innocents are murdered. Democrats NEED and WANT innocent people to be murdered because it is good for politics. The history of gun control is known and it is a bloody history. 170 million people murdered by their own governments over the past 120 years, after gun control was enacted. Democrats want serfs and slaves, not free citizens. And Democrats are eager to see innocent people murdered to advance that agenda. Remember, it is Democrats who put judges on the bench who RELEASE criminals in to our neighborhoods. It is Democrats who refuse to convict, refuse to commit the obviously insane, and it is Democrats who disarm the innocent. The blood of Sandy Hook is on Dianne Feinstein's hands.
Anthony| 1.7.13 @ 11:14AM
So Boner and McQuisling think they have managed a coup and that now, with billions of more spending, spending is off the table.
Sorry meatheads, you've been played for the sorry pathetic fools that you are. The Ds are looking for a $Trillion in new spending.
Obozo will get his debt ceiling limit increased, cuz you fools are gutless and inept.
It's time to storm Washington and ride these bastards out of town, tarred and feathered.
cicero| 1.7.13 @ 3:08PM
I hate to give the Repubs credit for stumbling into a position that can be one of strength, but they appear to be there. All they need do is pass another budget bill in the House that is balanced. This should not be all that hard, as they only needd to resubmit the 2007 budget. Then they can sit back and refuse to do anything until that budget, or something reasonably like it is accepted by the Senate. This boxes our boy, O in tightly. If he vetoes it, the debt ceiling stayes closed. That will force the issue. With no future borrowing, only the non-discretianary bills will be paid. There is enough in tax revenues to cover that. Bye the way, Social Security and Medicare are not discretianary.
Of course, his consstituency, who reelected him, will feel a pinch. All of his favorite entrepenuers, like those guys at Solyndra, etc., will have to find real jobs. All of the pork that is going to save New York and New Jersey from Michigan Int. Speedway to Alaska will not get their gifts. It is worth a try, but will take a little courage. After all, the Repubs may not get invited to the next press banquet. But such are the scourges of bravery.
Pecos Pete| 1.7.13 @ 4:07PM
cicero: But, the House won't do it. Wish they would. Good comment.
Joe D.| 1.7.13 @ 4:22PM
I think you are wrong. Republ can shiff the blame now that taxes are raised. They just need to continue to communicated it more and in different venues.
Joe D.| 1.7.13 @ 4:23PM
P.S. the public is on our side of gun control. Not his so we can easily win this fight.
Riff Raff| 1.7.13 @ 5:15PM
Don't bet on this. The public may be on our side of gun control, but it is on Obama's side of politics. And politics trumps everything. I have personally spoken with people who actually believe that Obama will never take guns and will never support gun control. And they will continue to believe it even after legislation is passed and signed.
Bill8472| 1.7.13 @ 7:11PM
Those people are a bit werid, all right, but not a lot weirder than President Bush, who signed a bill into law believing that the Supreme Court would invalidate it on Constitutional grounds.
Surprise, George!
Dilbert| 1.8.13 @ 6:08PM
I wonder if the Republican's cave, yet again, if there will be a Republican Party left. We don't need a me-too party, we need an opposition party. We no longer seem to have healthy debate but a party that agrees after a wait.
I wonder what the name of the next party will be now that the Repubdims are in control.
Stan Redmond| 1.9.13 @ 4:12PM
There is one liberal poster here that claims there is NOTHING we can cut from the government. All government spending is vital to expanding the economy. Would Republican pork be at least ONE THING we can cut?