There were some real shocking yes votes on the Coburn National Park carry amendment, highlighted in this CQ Politics article:
At least 11 House Democrats (not including freshmen) who have typically sided with gun-control advocates on past votes this time around favored allowing state and local gun laws to take precedence over federal law in national parks.
Those 11 were Reps. Adam Smith of Washington, Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, Ed Perlmutter of Colorado, Joe Courtney of Connecticut, Gregory W. Meeks of New York, Shelley Berkley of Nevada, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, Hank Johnson of Georgia, Melissa Bean of Illinois, Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island and Diana DeGette of Colorado.
“It was a mistake,†said DeGette’s deputy chief of staff, Kristofer Eisenla.
Meeks said he sided with the NRA “by accident.â€
Several of them are expressing remorse over the vote, but I have to wonder, are things at Brady HQ so dour these days they don’t even have the energy to get someone up to The Hill and get their ducks lined up?  Granted, the votes here wouldn’t have made a difference, but having traditional allies fall out of line doesn’t exactly make your organization look good. Just look at how quickly NRA responded to Bredesen. If you’re an advocacy group, you can’t have your folks wandering off the reservation, even accidentally, especially accidentally. I would have imagined this is something even a phone call to their office should have been able to fix.
Cheer up Brady Campaign. Are things really that bad?  Someday you might have an overwhelmingly Democratic congress, and President in the Oval Office from a gun unfriendly urban stronghold.  Oh wait…
I’m sorry, I meant to push the other button. but I couldn’t find the energy to correct my vote after I screwed up.
Chuck Schumer was more on the ball than the Brady Bunch on this vote. When it was up in the Senate, Claire McCaskill voted in favor of the amendment. He went and found her on the Senate floor and had a conversation in which his body language indicated he was most unhappy, and she jumped up to the front to change her vote.
Missouri voters, remember that when she’s up again. She’s only for you until someone from New York asks her to trade her vote for something else.
Ahhh, schadenfreude.
Sebastian, Is it fair to compare the Brady influence on The Hill with that of the NRA? Isn’t that like comparing a professional athlete with a grammar school kid?
And if that’s true, is it fair to use the results of their respective efforts to judge the merits of their positions?
I think this is an example of failing to read the bills but taking voting instruction from leadership. Leadership said yes to credit bill so the members voted yes without knowledge of amendment to the bill.
RAH, the amendment was separated from the bill in the House specifically to allow the anti-gunners to avoid voting for the pro-gun measure. Leadership actually made it easier on them, but they still couldn’t figure it out. As for not reading what they were voting for, clearly. Of course, it’s also the job of the Brady Campaign to at least shoot out an email to their friendly offices to let them know about the vote.
Of course, what we find funny in all of this is that these lawmakers will most likely face zero punishment for their actions. Their constituents won’t notice or care and the Brady Bunch can’t exactly attack them for it since they have so few friends in the first place. Next time the Brady Campaign tries to twist an arm, moderate Dems now have ammo to fight back and say, “Look, you didn’t go after those people and they didn’t suffer.” If they have any politically aware donors, that’s where the real damage will be done. I’d hate to be Paul having to justify to a big donor why they were asleep at the wheel on this vote.
Sebastian, Is it fair to compare the Brady influence on The Hill with that of the NRA?
I’m not really comparing the two. What I’m saying is a lot of these folks are in the Brady camp, and it shouldn’t have taken much of a lobbying effort to get them to vote no. It still wouldn’t have affected the eventual outcome, but it’s not good to have your supporters wandering away from you, even if it’s by mistake. If the situation were reversed, I’d be more than a little unhappy with NRA if, say, Tom Coburn voted for some anti-gun measure because he didn’t have the right information.
As I’ve said before I’m going to disagree with the charecterization of Bennie Thompson as anti gun.
He’s a politician, sure. And a slipper one at that. But I’ve spent plenty enough of time with him, drinking, shooting, fishing, hanging out to know he gets guns, understands guns, and isn’t unafraid to stand up for guns.
Heck, the last time I spent time with him was at a dinner with one other Dem Congressman and he and I spent the night defending the importance of getting kids introduced to guns and shooting at an early age. The other congressman was shocked, but was from an urban area and had never thought about gund before and came away from it with a newfound respect and appreciation.
Did we win that member fully over? No. Again, he’s a politician and will do what he thinks is the most politically feasible course for his district (remember, not best or worse, but political). But without a doubt – and thanks to Benny – some serious seeds of doubt about the knee jerk Brady kids and Guns crap were planted
DeGette is what we call a “free-range moonbat” who wanders about aimlessly, and occasionally finds herself staring at oncoming headlights, wondering what they are.
Bill,
DeGette represent Boulder. ‘nough said. Its like Berkley in the Rockies.