I have said this more than a few times on DU and I will keep pointing this out...

[WCGreen]

When I was running for state rep and state senator in the western suburbs of Cleveland, I would make my rounds of the Union Meetings.

In those meetings, for about 40% of the folks gathered for the meeting, didn't even want to shake my hand or take my lit because they were certain that if I was elected, as a Democrat, I would take their guns.

They rallied around the GOP even though the party of Lincoln was dead set against workers rights. They would vote against their economic interests to safe guard the right to bear arms as they were sure the imaginary talk about confiscating guns on talk radio was true. They wouldn't even listen to me. Didn't care that the president and business managers said I was a Union supporter, came from a family of Union members. None of that made any difference.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. And then came Sandy Hook

I truly think it will change/ has changed the conversation.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. They were trapped by their own misinformed ideology.

How much better off they would have been if they'd voted for you.

They were so short-sighted.

[WCGreen]

4. I don't know about that....

But anyway, labor was brought down from the inside as the third and fourth generations had no idea the value of the Unions had in their lives.

[libodem]

36. So true and sad

[dsc]

3. and not too long ago union crowds felt the same way about gays

doesn't make it right, nor does it make it pander worthy.

[alcibiades_mystery]

16. +1000

[derby378]

5. I would have voted for you if I could

I'm a Kalashnikov-wielding Democrat, but not a single-issue Democrat. Thank you for all your efforts. Maybe one day you'll gain public office.

[Cleita]

6. Goes to show how effective the NRA propaganda they have been brainwashed with is.

You guys need to show the NRA propaganda for what it is. I know they have more money than Croesus to get their message out, but somehow sensible people need to show those brainwashed minions how they have been played.

[gateley]

7. What must it be like to live in such fear?

[rightsideout]

8. You brought up an interesting observation

A lot of Unions endorse Democrats but alot of the folks that make up Unions are Blue Collar Workers who I imagine have Conservative values. I often wondered how that panned out at election day.

As far as the gun thing, it's an afterthought but a photo op of you at a local gun range may have helped improve the 2 Amendment image. Of course something like that could backfire like it did with Dukakis driving a tank.

[Speck Tater]

9. Half the country has an I.Q. less than 100.

The other half are Democrats.

[Freddie]

10. My building's union rep

At my previous job was a flaming Repug, still had the Bush 2004 bumper sticker on her car. And the head of the teachers union at my present school is one too. Someday I have to have a civil chat with him after hours. Why, how???!!

[nyquil_man]

11. And forty years ago, they wouldn't have wanted to shake your hand either.

Why? Because you, as a Democrat, would bus their kids to black schools and surrender to the Viet Cong.

It never changes, but I'll give you a hint: They aren't Democrats.

[stultusporcos]

12. I will keep supporting Unions even if they don't support themselves

[rrneck]

13. That's how human beings think

They will be more concerned about an unlikely threat close to them than a much more likely albeit more abstract threat.

[virginia mountainman]

14. yea, I have experienced the same thing you have WC

The "elites" in our party, and MSM have no clue as to the damage they have already done to the party.

I wonder, if the Repukes get a majority in the senate, and a few more seats in the house during the midterm, what it will mean to health care reform? of even gun control for that matter. They have no clue just how upset the average blue collar worker is about all this bullshit talk about gun bans.

And you know what, I don't blame them at all for being pissed off...

After all the talking heads are blaming THEM for the shootings..

[Cha]

15. The brainwashed Ignorance is a cancer on America.. I imagine

the limpbaughs, murdochs, becks, etc, etc, etc.. having plenty of shit eating grins when they count their millions gained by dumbing down America.

Too bad to those Americans.. you're not strong enough to see through a wall of shit.

[The Straight Story]

17. People on the left worry right to abortion, people on the right about guns

Maybe we should stop trying to take rights away and focus on health, feeding the poor, jobs etc.

The right sees abortion as something usually not needed (don't want one, don't have sex).

The left portrays all gun owners as crazy killers and does not see the utility of some owning guns.

We compromise by saying no abortions past a certain month (as some places have done) and registering certain weapons (like machine guns, etc).

We are a big tent in a diverse country and there is something called compromise that so many seem to miss.

An x of mine had two abortions, her choice, her body. I like to go to bars that allow smoking, my body my choice. Some like to own and shoot guns. Go hunting.

That we want to apply the same fix to all people all over the US is stupid at best.

Oh, look at me, I live in the city and don't need a gun so you shouldn't either....I can see why some shy away from parties that want to remove their ability to make personal choices that are no one else's fucking business.

[virginia mountainman]

19. Abortian to the Republicans, is the same thing gun control is to democrats.

No one wants to talk, all they want to to is demean ANYONE that disagrees in the slightest..And both the Repukes and gun control democrats are the same thing essentially..A huge drag on their party come election time, and like a bong at Woodstock, it simply cannot be put down..




These blithering dumbasses don't realize that over the past two weeks, they have PROVEN every word the NRA said about us, as CORRECT

[humbled_opinion]

28. Oh please

stop that nonsense, so your position is that people on the left should not fight for their principles and beliefs because somehow that will expose the party to what? The people are naturally on our side on this issue, why would anyone support weapons that kill school children.... I don't like it when some people try to get others to just shut up and get in line with whatever.... It is time to act stop the insanity, end gun violence before it hits you personally.

[loyalsister]

18. You raise a very good point about local solutions

I am intrigued by Barbara Boxer's proposal to provide funding for armed guard at schools- but no requirement for them. In exchange maybe we can get more support for national gun registration. Could it be a good idea to leave many of these solutions to state and local governments?

[virginia mountainman]

20. Barbara boxers proposal.... ``

She suggested a while back, and but now, because the "evil" NRA called for it is now "utter insanity"?! Some extremists hate the NRA so much they are set against ANYTHING the NRA would say, no matter who's idea it was first. And yes, it is a good idea.

It is so bad that if the NRA said the sky was blue, you would have Peirs Morgan calling them "utter morons for even thinking such a thing" in a matter of hours on his TV Show, and a significant number of people in here would agree with him.

These "ivory tower" elites better realize quick that the NRA has a majorty of the US population on it's side, judging by their favor ability numbers..Heck they even have a high favor ability rating the Obama...

Careful when you have a tiger by the tail..

[Cleita]

21. The high school in Taft California, the one where there was a shooting

yesterday, had an armed sheriff on duty. It was an unarmed teacher that convinced the student to lay down his gun and give himself up. So I don't think armed guards are the answer. Also, when Reagan was shot he was surrounded by armed SS. He and his press secretary James Brady still got shot.

[virginia mountainman]

22. Very true..

But in practically all cases when a 'active shooter" is confronted by an armed "person" they general kill themselves, or give up.

Point being, that the reason we call the Police, when their is an active shooter in a school, is so they can bring the guns to stop them, why not have an officer already their?

If the "guns" are causing all the problems in school, why do we call more people WITH guns to stop it?

The point I am trying to make is the reaction AGAINST the NRA in many Democratic circles, and on the nightly news, is way out of line, and over the top. If anything it is HELPING them raise money, well over 100,000 people has joined the NRA and PAID DUES in the past 2 weeks...

The Brady Campaign, by comparison, has only 50,000 members on its free mailing list. I am very upset over this because I have stumped for Democratic canadates here where I live, and over the past DECADE the locals was just beginning to really warm back up to us since the 1994 debacle.

Now, they accuse me of telling them lies to get them to vote for us.

[Zoeisright]

26. My god, what an incredibly stupid post.

Telling a bunch of gun humping insane assholes that their little precious is ruining this country is OUT OF LINE?

God, just shut up and go away. That's pathetic.

[virginia mountainman]

30. See what I mean...

So much raw dripping hatred, and it is aimed squarely at anyone who does not agree 100%....

The big tent, our party once had, has collapsed.. I bear no responsibility for what happens next.

[loyalsister]

23. I would hope that Boxer's way of thinking could move us beyond us vs. them thinking

I live in a city that almost universally does not like the CCW law or guns in movie theaters, restaurants, libraries, churches... There are surrounding towns that embrace the laws that enable them to carry guns. I would never move there. Most of us have arranged our lives so that we agree with local politics, laws, and policies. There are places in this country where the NRA is popular. Not so where I live. I am sure that the school board in my area would reject funds provided under Boxer's law. I hope that when heads cool, we can find some national and some regional solutions that will defuse these battles.

[Squinch]

32. Think again, Virginia. The world has changed.

[coldbeer]

24. I would run on "I'm going to take your guns!"

[humbled_opinion]

25. I have not doubt you would have been the

better choice for voters, but people just need to be educated on why a society with less guns will have less killing.
I can think of no better time to act on this than now.... This is Obama's comparative 911 time for him to shine.

[TreasonousBastard]

27. I've seen that. too...

I read a few things about the psychology of this sort of thing over the years, but I have no real idea what to so about it.

It's frustrating.

[RomneyLies]

29. Ignorance can be cured. Stupidity is terminal.

About 40% of the country remain stupid.

[Squinch]

31. Yet another way that guns cause gun owners to shoot themselves in the foot.

[Grantuspeace]

33. Why do they always equate regulation and backround check to taking away guns from law abiding..

Citizens. We really need to difine our position and not let the Republicans do that for us. We did that to Romney and we know how that turned out.

[Smilo]

34. Fear sells...........

and truth is a casualty.

[spanone]

35. that's the nra's job. to stoke the fires of fear and paranoia.

[jaysunb]

37. One of the many reasons I left Cleveland 44 years ago

After the urban unrest of the 60's, the election of Carl Stokes, and the decline in traditional manufactoring jobs, the city seemed to harden it's racial lines based on fear and stupidity.

I enjoy visiting, now that the area has reinvented itself and the assholes have retreated to their little cocoons.