Media Bias of the Day

On the radio this morning, it was reported “John McCain’s campaign just doesn’t seem to want to accept the polls that show Pennsylvania has turned solidly blue.”  They went on to report all the states where McCain is losing, and reporting on Cindy McCain’s visit to Yardley with a hint that it’s a total waste of time.  The message seemed to by “Why is the McCain campaign even trying?  Don’t they know that The Chosen One is Chosen?  He’s got this baby wrapped up.  They just need to get over it.”  I would accept the media reporting polling data.  But reporting Polling data in a way that makes it seem like the election is over already, and McCain should just accept it is well beyond the realm of acceptable journalistic integrity.

Well, if Obama has such a commanding lead here, why is Obama also devoting so much to Pennsylvania too?  Last weekend he was in the state for four stops in Philadelphia.  If the state is sown up, he’d have more effect elsewhere.  Sorry, but I’m just paying attention to polling data driven by media organizations that are in the tank for Obama.  I know what the internal polling is saying, and I know there’s a lot more enthusiasm for McCain in this state than there ever was for George W. Bush.  That’s not to say Pennsylvania won’t go blue, but I don’t think it’s going to be as close as the media is portraying it to be.

Mark Warner and AQ?

Some probably notice that some candidates have an NRA grade “AQ” which basically means that their grade is based on solely on their answers to a questionnaire.  This might be really surprising to a lot of you, but politicians have been known to lie to curry favor with voters.  I know, hard to believe.  More than a few see their grades drop once they get in office and actually start voting on our issues.  Bitter thinks Mark Warner’s A grade is undeserved because he’s never really been callenged on the gun issue in Virginia.  If Mark Warner really believes that NRA is a threat to America, I think even an AQ is too good for him.

Signs Of the Times

Our work at the Forks of the Delaware Gun Show in Allentown was very worthwhile.  On Thursday, Bitter drove out to just shy of Harrisburg to rendezvous at an undesclosed secret location with one of the McCain campaign staffers.  We were given 500 McCain-Palin lawn signs, and managed to hand every single one of them out.  I was doing almost nothing but slipping the vinyl signs onto the metal bracket all day long.  There were times when people were grabbing them so fast I had a line waiting for me to put more together.  It was madness.  We signed up several dozen new volunteers, some came from as far as Ohio, who need help just as much as Pennsylvania does.  We were happy to sign them up, and pass their name on to the folks in Ohio.

About noon Saturday I started to hear people getting signs saying, “We can’t get these in New Jersey.” and “We looked all over but nobody in New York has them.”  I didn’t mind handing over a sign here and a sign there to someone from New Jersey or New York, but we can’t really have Long Island and North Jersey being peppered with McCain-Palin signs that said “Paid for by the Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania” on the bottom.  We started rationing signs to the out-of-staters.  Had a few people argue, “What does it matter what state it goes to?” who I’m guessing don’t understand how the Electoral College works. The next day we had to restrict them to Pennsylvania residents only.  By the middle of Sunday, we were out of signs.  I hated having to tell out of staters no.  If they are enthusiastic about the ticket you don’t want to throw a wet blanket on them, but the fact is a sign going to New York or New Jersey is a waste of a limited resource.  Those states are solid Blue, and we have a chance to turn Pennsylvania red this election.  I was happy most people were understanding about the need to keep the signs in-state.

A few people and their stories are surely a sign of the times, with electoral politics just getting outright nasty.  I had dozens folks come up to us looking for a sign because the one they had put out was either stolen, destroyed or defaced.  I guess Obama supporters motto is “If you can’t win fair, win through theft, vandalism and tresspassing.  It’s the Chicago Way!”  Our suggestion was to put vaseline on the parts of the sign that people would have to grab to pull it out of the ground.  One woman came in with a thick New York accent, asking if she had wandered into a McCain party, screeching loudly, “McCain is a drain on the brain.”  Once this woman realized she was at an antique gun show, rather than just an antique show, she decided to make a rather loud and obnoxious exit, yelling at me that “Sarah Palin owght to go back to Alaska on a dawg sled, pulling the sled becawse she’s a dawg,” followed by various other epitaphs. The woman looked like Amy Winehouse hit by a truck, so has obviously not heard about glass houses and stones. As much as gun owners can be frustrating at times, on the whole our people have better manners.

But before we get two congratulatory, there are at least three people in the tri-state area (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York) who do not yet realize that it’s not socially acceptable to say “There’s no way I’m voting for that n****r!” in a public place, to people who you don’t know, especially referring to a United States Senator.  Not that it’s really acceptable in private either, but you’d expect even the ignorant would realize by now we don’t live in that world anymore, and it’s shameful we ever did.  Once someone starts down that road, you stop talking to them, and move them along.  This isn’t someone who’s help you want.  There are plenty of reasons not to vote for Obama, but race isn’t one of them.

Quote of the Day

From Rightwingprof in the comments:

I wrote to ACORN and asked if they could register me in the 12th so I could vote for Bill, but I haven’t heard anything from them.

Bill Russel is the candidate running against John Murtha.  Rightwingprof votes in Pennsylvania’s 5th district.  I heard from a local activist that ACORN is registering people in Philadelphia and instructing them to leave the party affiliation blank, stating “Don’t worry about that.  We’ll take care of that.”  I don’t think I even have to give you two guesses to figure out which party they are filling in.

Felons for Obama

What better place to look for political support than our nation’s prisons.  First with ACORN, and now this, we’re seeing the worst that big-city machine politics has to offer us.  I’m glad to see the campaign distancing themselves from this particular outrage, but this is how city politics is played.

Guess Who Doesn’t Win Brady Endorsement?

Congressman Patrick Murphy is not among the Brady list of endorsed candidates.  Joe Sestak got one.  So did Allyson Schwartz.  Of course, the NRA rated him a D-.  He’ll win no friends on the gun issue this election.  This is what we call a poor political calculation.

There’s a lot to be gained by being pro-gun.  A lot of the Tom Manion signs and bumper stickers around Bucks County were put up by my volunteers, or were given out by my volunteers.  I have people phone banking for NRA endorsed candidates.  We’ve been stuffing envelopes for Tom Manion and John McCain.  This could all be working for you Pat, but now it’s working against you.  Where are your throngs of volunteers, coordinators, and bloggers from CeaseFire PA or the Brady Campaign?  Even if you hadn’t pissed them off too, there’s none to be had, because they aren’t a real grass roots movement.

We don’t ask for much Congressman Murphy, just that you vote consistently with the Second Amendment.  But you don’t, so our support goes to your opponent.  I am an independent, and a single issue activist.  I have no special love for the Republican Party.  But I definitely don’t have any love for you when you sign on to ban the guns I shoot with competitively.

Forks of the Delaware

We’ll be working one last gun show this weekend up in Allentown.  I had thought that the show two weeks ago would be our last before the election, but this looked like a big show, and our NRA endorsed candidates need the most help in the Northeastern part of Pennsylvania, which this show should draw from.  We have a whopping 500 McCain/Palin signs to distribute.  That’s a lot of lawns that will be helping drive the perception that McCain support is growing in Pennsylvania.

The show is run by the Forks of the Delaware Historical Arms Society.  If anyone wants to come out to this one, it’ll be at the Allentown Fairgrounds.  Directions are here.  Our table should be right at the entrance.