A Fatally Wounded Snake Can Still Spew Its Venom
July 10, 2003
by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
Poisonous snakes can still be dangerous, even when mortally wounded. You’re never safe until the serpent is long, flat dead and unable to spread its venom.
Take the anti-gunners for example. Wounded as they have been by the departure of the term-limited Bill Clinton, the defeat of Al Gore in 2000, the ascendancy of pro-gun Republican leaders in the Senate and House, and the sea change in the American attitude toward guns since Sept. 11, 2001, they are still striking out viciously.
President Bush’s recent nomination of Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals provided just one example of the Brady gang trying to bite an old opponent of their anti-gun agenda. The Brady Campaign seldom gets involved so openly in the confirmation process for a judicial appointment, but Pryor—whose confirmation is opposed by many other liberal groups—is just too hated a target for them to pass up.
Democrat flirting with a change in their national approach to gun legislation is another great threat to the wounded anti-gun snake. Gun-grabber leaders have been trying to sell a revisionist election history which denies that an anti-gun agenda has cost the Democrats control of Congress and the White House.
And the race for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination has provided them with a special opportunity to move the gun debate back into the forefront of national politics.
Man from Vermont
One Democratic presidential hopeful, Howard Dean, sought to redefine and broaden his liberal, anti-war campaign in formally announcing his candidacy on June 23 in Burlington, VT, promising to “unite and empower people everywhere.”
With about 2,000 supporters crammed into a brick-lined town square, the steeple of a Unitarian church behind him, the former Vermont governor pledged to speak “for a new American century and a new generation of Americans,” according to Associated Press.
Dean pledged to fight conservative Republicans, docile Democrats and the rest of the Washington establishment—all of whom he holds responsible for turning Americans away from the political system.
He accused President Bush of dividing Americans, creating a “chain of insurmountable debt” and promoting tax cuts “designed to destroy Social Security, Medicare, our public schools and our public services through starvation and privatization.”
The president’s foreign policies, Dean argued, have alienated allies much like the ancient Roman Empire once did. “Every American president must and will take up arms in the defense of our nation. It is a solemn oath that cannot and will not be compromised,” said Dean, knowing he faces questions about his lack of foreign policy experience.
“But there is a fundamental difference between the defense of our nation and the doctrine of pre-emptive war espoused by this Administration,” Dean said. “The president’s group of narrow-minded ideological advisers are undermining our nation’s greatness in the world. They have embraced a form of unilateralism that is even more dangerous than isolationism.”
Dean, 54, a 20-year veteran of Vermont politics, actually began his campaign months ago. But he was staging a formal announcement ceremony to draw attention and money to his long-shot bid.
A former governor in a race dominated by congressional Democrats, Dean has gotten off to a surprisingly strong start despite a lack of money and meager support from party insiders.
In a call to disenchanted voters of all political stripes, Dean said, “You have the power to rid Washington of all the politics of money.”
Blue-Collar Appeal
“You have the power to take back the Democratic Party.”
“You have the power to take our country back,” he said. “And we have the power to take the White House back in 2004.”
The liberal tag defies his record in Vermont, where Dean was known as a centrist, pro-business governor for 12 years, who believes the federal government shouldn’t be legislating gun policy.
He nominated tough-on-crime judges, most of them former prosecutors, while avoiding the anti-gun rhetoric of neighboring governors in Massachusetts and New York. And he imposed work requirements on welfare recipients well before former President Bill Clinton did.
As governor, some of his strongest supporters were Republican leaders of the business community. Difficult to label, Dean once called himself “an odd kind of Democrat.”
“The Americans I have met love their country. They believe deeply in its promise, our values and our principles. But they know something is wrong and they want to take action,” he said.
The physician-turned-politician once intended to make health care and children’s issues the cornerstones of his campaign, but then came the US-led war against Iraq and his introduction to a disenchanted electorate. His cause changed, Dean said.
Dean hopes to galvanize Democrats who have not voted in recent elections or voted for pro-gun Republicans, as well as independents that rallied behind insurgent candidates such as Republican Sen. John McCain in 2000 and Democrat Gary Hart in 1984.
Polls place Dean among the top three candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire, where the first votes for the Democratic nomination will be cast. He lags in nationwide polls.
Dean may be a long shot in the Democratic presidential sweepstakes, but his come-from-Vermont position on national gun policy would also give the Democrats who are trying to mend fences with gunowners nationally some credibility on the right to keep and bear arms.
Snake Strikes
While that might be good politics for the Democrats, it has stirred an angry wounded serpent. On June 23, the Brady Campaign “united with the ‘Million’ Mom March” issued a press release saying, “Americans who care about responsible gun policies should reject the former Vermont governor.
“Howard Dean is running for President. He believes that that (sic) gun laws should be at the state level, not the federal level,” the Brady Bunch said.
“Perhaps Dean will have success in convincing criminals to promise not to carry their guns across state lines, and convincing gun traffickers not to buy or sell them across state lines. Governor, guns cross state borders. Maybe it’s you who should stay at the state level.
“Former Vermont Governor Dean says he’s from the ‘Democrat wing of the Democratic party.’ As far as gun safety advocates (sic) are concerned, give us a Democrat from some other wing of the Democratic Party, please.”
The press release quoted Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign, and Mary Leigh Blek, president emeritus of the Moms, as saying:
“Americans who care about getting guns off our streets need to know there is virtually no difference between Governor Dean and President Bush.”
Though the Brady Campaign/“Million” Mom March has not endorsed a candidate, the gun control group has decided to oppose Dean publicly, and plans to be aggressive in opposing Dean throughout the Democratic primaries. An email alert was to be sent to all Brady members nationwide on the same day as the news release, “educating them about Dean’s wrongheaded view of gun safety policy, and advocates of reasonable gun safety laws will be encouraged to attend Governor Dean’s campaign appearances and tell supporters about his extreme views on gun issues.”
“Electing Howard Dean President would not be a step forward towards making our children and our communities safer from gun violence,” Barnes said. “We intend to make sure Americans know that.”
It will be interesting to see if the Brady Bunch has a powerful enough poison to kill off the Dean candidacy, but Iowa and New Hampshire don’t appear to be the best places for them to assess the strength of their venom.
Return to Archive Index
