Attention gun owners in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, and Minnesota: You’re likely the next targets for Bloomberg’s cash.
In Oregon, they want to target Sen. Betsy Johnson & will be trying to find Senate Republicans to break from the pack. If you live there, you need to get involved with these targets now. Don’t wait. Give them the incentive to hang up the phone when Bloomberg calls by being visible and involved right now.
For Minnesota, it sounds like they plan to hire more lobbyists to try and drown out constituents.
Nevada gun owners should make sure to step up for any lawmakers who stood against gun control, but might have had some tight races in recent years. Bloomberg is apparently going to fund some challengers. They also said they will get involved to try and keep Sen. Justin Jones if he faces recall.
In Washington, it looks like he’s going to focus on dropping money to turn out the vote on the ballot initiatives.
Their plans in New Mexico are even more vague, but it looks like they want to take aim at anyone who got in the way of gun control this session.
The longer this goes on the more optimistic I become, because I am starting to see some significant parallels with asymmetrical warfare.
Centralized, oppressive power on one side with a collection of loosely organized individuals on the other? check.
Actions of the central power (e.g collateral damage) angering the uninvolved to the point of getting involved? Check.
Central power perpetually fighting the last war? Check.
Resistance tying up nearly an order of magnitude greater wealth/resources than they are spending? Check.
Someone with a better eye for military history (Tam, perhaps) might be able to either kill this analogy or really run with it.
I don’t claim to have a better eye for military history than anyone but, one thing I would add is that the populace resents and rejects the foreign influence on their culture and lifestyle.
Plutocratic nannies like Bloomberg represent a perspective every bit as foreign to most of us as the Western culture is to the Afghans and Iraqis we’ve inflected ourselves upon for the last decade and change. I’ve fought in both places (actually in A’Stan now) and gotten to know some of the people in each place. Even the ones that are not actively trying to kill us really would prefer that we take our foreign ways and our money somewhere else. I can’t help but feel exactly the same way about statists meddling in my culture.
It seems to me that Bloomberg’s strategy is to either drain NRA resources in many different directions with this type of move and then NRA would have less money to work with in the 2014 Elections?
Or to drain the support/wear out the grassroots efforts of pro-2A activists. Then again, it could invigorate donations to the NRA and energize pro-2A grassroots activists!
We shall see as time passes…
No, he does not have such a strategy. They are flailing. The key is to swamp out their rallies. Destroy the illusion of popular support.
It will be enjoyable to watch as he goes from one gun friendly state to the next destroying the democrats chances in those areas for the next 20 years.
If you get cocky, you lose. While we have people and passion, don’t underestimate the impact of money on a vote. Some of these elections will happen on higher turnout days. And even if you can win most of them, if they only come as a reaction to bad laws being passed, then you’ve still lost many more steps than you’ve gained.
It’s just my amateur prediction, I still watch all these races like an ocd gambler at the race track.
Two things…
One thing I appreciate after the recall election is that the media seems to have picked up on the Bloomberg money aspect here. There was an interview done on CNN with Angela Giron and it was apparent that the anchor (I use that term loosely) was interested in the Bloomberg money angle and challenged her on this multiple times. We should be able to count on SOMEONE in the media (besides Fox News *sigh*) to pick up on this after the election. The more Bloomberg spends (and outspends us) the more press it seems to get.
It also remains to be seen how much of a driving force Bloomberg can remain after he is no longer the mayor of America’s biggest city. As it stands now he is disliked outside of his own state (even in his own state), and if he now divorced from a position of civil authority I don’t think it would help him (or MAIG).
This is the CNN video I am referring to: http://www.guns.com/2013/09/13/ousted-former-senator-angela-giron-blames-overthrow-voter-suppression-cnn-host-calls-video/
Her lies are amazingly transparent. The look on her face when challenged was hilarious.
When I read the headline “Bloomberg Eyes the West”, I immediately began to think of Bloomberg as the Eye of Sauron.
You’re not the only one, Joe.
Not the only one by a long shot. But we’ll never be cowed by his fiery gaze.
Does this mean folks like Alan Gura and Dick Heller are the hobbits sneaking into the depths of Mordon on the Potomac to destroy the gun control in the fires from which it was forged, while the rest of us engage in cinematic but less consequential battles elsewhere?
:-P
Oh, 2014’s going to be fun in Washington…
Hopefully Gottlieb doesn’t try to screw us over again. Infighting is the last thing we need.
Just as a somewhat related FYI, California (yes, I know) is about to pass a significant number of anti gun laws. They’ve already passed through the legislature and have been sent to the governor. So, the anti gun folks are about to get some life back. Ban on all non fixed mag semi auto rifles (bullet button no longer counts), registration of semi auto rifles, a ban on ammo containing lead, a ban on transferring handguns that are not on our CA approved roster, and a half dozen others. Don’t see much talk about it on the blogs, so thought you should know before it pops up nationally. Here’s a link to calguns which has the list in the first post.
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?p=11562123#post11562123
100 years from now, if he’s remembered at all, Bloomberg will be remembered for spending millions of dollars to attain a “participation trophy” in several causes that pushed his proponents to become opponents.
On the other hand, he may ne assuaged to see that the picture accompanying the definition of “idiot” in the dictionary has changed. Ego works like that.
No doubt he, Obama, and Gore are BFF’s that can accept a joint award. Can I get a Kumbaya?
At this point I would have to say that Bloomberg is NOT losing. He got every one of the laws he wanted passed along with an election fraud guarantee and only lost 2 soldiers in the fight. Any military man would count that as a great victory.
Well, he didn’t get all the laws he wanted. What he really wanted was an Assault Weapon Ban in Colorado. But that’s a problem of scope.
His real problem is recruiting.
Bloomberg’s “soldiers” signed on for a cakewalk; they didn’t expect any casualties, they expected promotion. Bloomberg told them that they’d be thrown parades and treated like liberators when they marched into a city.
Instead there have been losses.
Such casualties, and the inability of the general to care or protect his “troops” will have an impact on the future of “Bloomberg’s Army”.
So yes, the “officers” might not care about such losses, but the “foot-soldiers” would sing a differnet tune. Especially the ones on the “front” and not in the “rear” (IE politcally safe seats).
There’s also the question of advancement. It’s not like Bloomberg is satisfied with where Colorado is now, though it looks like he’s turned away from there (for the moment).
This will be a long slog against a “general” with considerable resources and “air support”.
No sooner do I post here then I learn that the same folks who masterminded the successful recalls are mounting a campaign to get the mag cap and UBC laws repealed. This is a solid move, reenforcing a victory while the memory is still sharp. Framing the ’14 elections as an extension of the ’13 recalls won’t hurt a bit. My only worry at this point is that the republicans will view the effort as overly harsh and refuse to participate, handing the Dems several otherwise winnable seats.