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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

It Worked. NRA Not Endorsing Harry Reid.

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  August 27th, 2010 at 09:59 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

I’m actually getting beat up a bit in email tonight from three different emailers saying, “See, I told you they wouldn’t do this.”

The NRA is not endorsing Harry Reid.

Two NRA board members emailed me today sending their congratulations to RedState members. Said one, “This is all you guys.”

As the Wall Street Journal notes:

Erick Erickson, founder of the influential conservative blog Redstate.com, urged his readers in July to pressure the NRA not to formally back Mr. Reid. “Both people at the NRA and people in the Senate are telling me the NRA will be endorsing Harry Reid later this year and the only way to stop it is to be very vocal about it right now,” Mr. Erickson wrote

Mission accomplished. Thanks for being so vocal.

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COMMENTS

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  • timchgo9

    and listen as well….

    I am not an NRA member, nor a gun owner (as soon as I get back to work, that may change…at least the gun owner part) but, I have friends who are, and one of them was not aware of the Harry Reid endorsement issue, and went ballistic when he heard about it. The friends I have that are gun owners all raised their concerns with the NRA, and the fallacy of endorsing that individual..

    See, pressure works.

    Great work, Erick, on leading the charge.

  • mjdzfun

    But will they publicly announce they won’t endorse Reid?

  • mjdzfun

    That’s great. I didn’t think the NRA was listening. I’m happy to be wrong.

  • http://thecorruptworld.blogspot.com/ wayneinnh

    I am a member of NRA and have been since my father bought me my first .410 shotgun 35 years ago. They have been calling me all week looking for donations with the usual “united nations trying to take away our guns” line. I have told them every time that I will not give them another dime as long as they were even considering endorsing Harry Reid. They had a typical canned response about being a single issue advocacy group to which I had a canned response about not supporting any organization that would give my money to someone I wouldn’t urinate on if he was on fire.

    Apparently I wasn’t the only one.

  • http://www.erickerickson.org Erick Erickson

    n/t

  • BigGator5

    A victory for you Erick, and for us all.

  • http://www.downstateiladvocate.com anacreon

    when I was out in Western Nebraska last month and ran into a future family member who was wearing an NRA hat. I explained to him exactly what was happening and he immediately took off his hat and called his friend who was the head of the Kansas NRA chapter. Needless to say he was a very angry man. He emailed me the other day and said he’s read Redstate ever since. So “hats off” to you Erick!

  • paulnashtn

    They are not endorsing Sharron Angle either, which is a half -a** endorsement of Reid

  • zr2x4

    but quick question, what carries more weight with losing the endorsement; the money or the recognition?

  • snowshooze

    Great work!
    Keep it up!
    Sincerely,
    Mark

  • tngal

    Did they point out it was backlash of (former) members? Loss of membership? Outrage of the right? Of course not. Not sure where they got it, but Politico said NRA’s decision was based on the nomination of the 2 most recent SCOTUS appointments and how they were concerned over the future of the 2nd amendment. Good as excuse as any I guess, but if they acknowledged it was due to member discontent, they may have had some members returning.

    Groups/Orgs/Assoc should be forewarned: As with politicians, if you don’t vote the way you should, we have ways of ignoring you.

  • proof_positive

    It’s nice to see that after shooting themselves in the foot, this time they didn’t stop to reload!

  • fpete13527
  • Doc Holliday

    if Red State played a big part, well then that is a good thing. The NRA was planning to endorse Reid until they received the ultimate backlash.

  • Doc Holliday

    she has to earn it in her first term, I am sure she will.

  • Doc Holliday
  • acat
  • acat
  • Michael Dugas

    But, not to urinate in your Wheaties, but there is still a huge problem with NRA leadership.
    NRA leadership showed a complete lack of forethought and a sort of tunnel vision for the 2nd Amendment not realizing that the 2nd Amendment cannot stand alone as a protected right if we allow our other rights to be legislated away. They also showed a whole lot of ignorance in considering, even for a second, that Dingy Harry was their friend for the long term and that his support was not just political expediency until he won re-election. At which time the NRA would again most likely be persona non grata in Harry’s deluded world.

  • minncon

    They heard from me, and many of my friends who are NRA-ers… and the seed of it all was info from RedState.

    And, it didn’t hurt to know about “the competition” (Gun Owners of America), which I also thank Eric for.

    It was “interesting” to hear Wayne LaPierre try to defend himself on the Laura Ingraham show… his inability to do in plain language offset all the press releases they could generate.

    Again, thanks Eric and RS.

  • poorsinner

    I’ve only given money to Sarah, DeMint, and NewsBusters this year… and now RedState. Congratulations and keep up the great work!

  • earlgrey
  • Castor

    I and eleven of my family and friends who are NRA members made several phone calls plus E Mails threatening to resign our memberships if they would dare endorse Harry misdeed. I?m sure that our group was multiplied by thousands more. The truth of the matter is that ,Erick, when you warned us of the impending treasonous act, the hue and cry forced the organization to think twice. What would the NRA be if they lose 30-40% of their membership?
    They acted in their own self-interest. Hopefully they have learned the lesson.

  • izoneguy

    Time will tell…..hold their feet to the fire.

    I have my NRA card right by my mousepad……

  • flacracker

    I retired my NRA membership when they responded to my complaints about their endorsement of Dedee Scozzafava. Their message was they would support the devil himself if the devil supported gun rights. I informed that if I had to be a single issue American, my issue would be FREEDOM with gun ownership as a small portion of a larger picture.

    Marvelous that they caved in their endorsement of Dingy Harry, disappointing that they ever thought it was a good thing. I won’t be joining again until an NRA endorsement of a liberal icon is as out of character as a liberal icon being more concerned about offending Christians than Muslims.

  • honorable

    In the last few weeks I have received 2 calls from NRA asking me to donate money. I told them I will not give one cent to them as they are planning to endorse Harry Reid. Looks like thousands of their supporters also refused. As usual money talks.

  • KevinM

    When she ran for the state legislator in 2002 and 2004, the NRA did endorse he. This is according to the NRA-PVF website. She has always had an “A” rating with the NRA, something that Harry Reid can’t claim. About all he ever talks about with guns is when he bagged that Jack Rabbit while a child and having his grandmother cook it for him.

    Anyway, Sharron has a solid record in supporting gun rights, even has a CCW.

  • Doc Holliday

    yet the NRA says they heavily favor elected national leaders and they heavily favor incumbents. So in this case, a non endorsement for Reid is a de facto Angle endorsement. They wanted to endorse Reid but the members went medieval on them. Chris Cox is a lightweight.

  • positiveenerg

    You are one of the most credible and principled conservatives out there, Mr. Erickson. And it’s very refreshing to see such a direct connect between your efforts and a positive action (or inaction) occurring. Unlike a lot of other conservative groups that take on causes where they are very likely to win (which is really shameful … if Club for Growth is 9-0 or 12-0 in races in which they’ve gotten involved, then they are NOT doing their job. They have to pick some longer shots than they are) you take on causes based upon merit and principles.

    Congratulations and thank you. Good work!

  • mikeybike

    I too wrote to the NRA to tell them not to endorse Reid. But their comeback argument was intriguing. They said that if the Socialists (Democrats) maintain control of the Senate, but Reid is not the majority leader, next in line is the New York gun-grabber Charles Schumer, who would send every piece of anti-2nd amendment legislation, which Reid would have stopped, to the floor of the Senate.
    However, I replied that enough Republicans will be elected to the body this time to stop any of that. I’m glad the NRA saw the light, and I hope they do endorse Sharron Angle. She’s a great conservative candidate-the real deal! I live out here in Las Vegas, by the way.
    Great victory for the Democrats out there in the Arizona Republican primary. It’s possible Governor Jan Brewer will eventually be in a position to appoint a real conservative to fill out McCain’s term, considering his age and health.

  • renny

    She still needs all the help she can get.

  • davesinsanantonio

    Now, if we could teach the people on the dole that it is not really in their self-interest to let the government support them on other people’s tax money, we could easily have our country back. If the government gives it to you, they can take it away (or greatly reduce it, or delay it, or put onerous conditions on it.) I seriously doubt that we will ever convince the “true believers” on the left, but maybe some that just lean that way. Right now we have a lead among some Reps and even some Indys, but we have to keep trying to get them all. We also have to teach everyone to look for their true self-interest, not just some short term gain, nor some prettified bad thing. We have to continue to teach them that they cannot trust the former MSM,who are now merely the lick-spittle water carriers of the Left pols, and that they are willing to lie to help their lefty friends gain and retain office.

  • dambama

    But I will not support the NRA unless they endorse Sharron Angle in this race.

    There is NO DOUBT that Sharron is a strong Constitutional Conservative. She is a strong supporter of the second amendment. If the NRA can’t recognoze this, I will not recognize them.

    These are not the times to sit back and see what happens. This only helps Harry. So … NRA, it is time to make a difference and support avowed Constitutional Conservatives NOW!

    Support Sharron Angle Now, NRA. Now!

  • ihateliberals

    not support Harry Reid. They need to know that he is after their hunting rights and quite possibly their guns at some point. Obama’s EPA is starting an attack on hunters even as this is being written. While they have lost the first battle over hunters using lead bullets be assured that the fight will not stop unless we stop them. I don’t own a gun but i am a long time member of the NRA until i heard they were supporting Harry. Now I will renew my membership in September.

  • KevinM

    I too live in Las Vegas. While I understand somewhat their concern about having either Schumer or Durbin as party leader, I would much rather see them as “Minority Leader” as opposed to Harry Reid being the majority leader. Reid is leading this country to an economic train wreck of unprecedented proportions and has to go. One little tidbit of information, I have asked the NRA to publish a correction regarding their June article. If you believed it, they said the Clark County Shooting Park was directly due to the efforts of Senator Reid, that is a half-truth. The park came about as a result of efforts by most of Nevada’s congressional delegation over a period of several years. Reid, Ensign, and Gibbons all contributed to the effort. This is the “Inconvenient Truth” that the NRA omitted in their article.

  • tonywarren

    Nevada would like to thank Red State readers and leaders for their support in our campaign to defeat Harry Reid and get the NRA to not endorse someone who likes appointing anti-gun Supreme Court Justices. I know the NRA heard the message loud and clear from the thousands of letters and Emails they received. They got the message that what happened to the AARP was about to happen to them. That is loosing thousands of members.

    Nevada has another problem we need help with. We were successful in shutting down the Tea Party Nation’s faux convention that was to be held in Las Vegas last July. Judson Philips, the man who “will make a million off the Tea Party,” is still trying to make that million from another convention scheduled in Las Vegas this October. Please do not be fooled by the false notion that Philips is not still the head of the snake. TPN has a new spokesperson, but the For Profit Group is still run by Philips and his wife. Just look at the incorporation papers and follow the money.

    World Net Daily, the co-sponsor of this for profit will be receiving a letter stating that no Nevada Tea Party group will support the event along with all the reasons why. (If you do not yet know what a crook Judson Philips is, just Google his name) Joesph Farah claims to be a principled man, so principled that he uninvited Ann Coulter from his event in Florida because she dared to speak to a gay audience, remember? Lets see what he does when confronted with the fact that his co-sponsor of the Las Vegas event is in fact a failed accident injury lawyer, profiteer, and a fake patriot.

    Meantime, I would hope that all Red State readers will stand fast with the Nevada Tea Party groups and once again say “NO” to a faux for profit convention being hosted by profiteers who have made documented statements that they intend to make money off the Tea Party movement. Thanks!!!

  • chabsentia

    I am an NRA member and live in a right to carry State which in this case is Florida. I am retired military and also have a permit to carry a concealed weapon. I wrote the NRA at the time the possible endorsement was mentioned here. The NRA referred me to a lengthy article on their site which stated that they had not made a decision about endorsing Harry Reid,however, they stated that he had not been a friend in the past but in recent years had sponsored legislation favorable to the NRA.

    Apparenlty the mailings were a success and I congratulate Red State for bringing this to our attention

  • josephmn

    Midweek last week NRA announced that it will not endorse Reid because of the two Supreme Court judicial appointments made by the obuma administration. (An excuse, but it does allow them in the future to endorse and encourage its millions strong membership to vote for an enemy of the people.)

    The point is when organizations (Governments) stop reflecting the ideas, and ideals of the membership (electorate), the people still have methods of making their voices heard. The NRA refused to listen to members about the absurdity of endorsing someone so contrary to freedom in every way as Harry Reid because Harry had used taxpayer funding to build a shooting range in Nevada and other pork that benefits shooters. The NRA sent me ?We are a single issue organization and make recommendations based only on that issue? and never admitted that every decision that Reid makes as a Senator damages all freedoms Americans enjoy, and that the constitutionally guaranteed right of Americans Citizens to keep and bear arms cannot exist in a climate where all constitutionally guaranteed and mandated duties and freedoms are consistently abused and ignored.

    The NRA would like to keep the door open for membership to those who are against freedom in every way but would still like to be able to go into the field with a shotgun, or have a self defense gun. This shortsighted vision is ultimately self-defeating. The second amendment guaranteeing the right of Americans to keep and bear Arms is the means to insure all the other freedoms and duties of our nation and not an end in itself to exist in a small bubble permitted by tyrannical state power.

    NRA has been central to maintaining a viable second amendment for generations but if it continues to want both a husband and a backdoor statist who likes his rifle, The Gun Owners of America organization has no such failing and will represent the freedom loving and gun owning American without prostituting itself to mush-minded liberals who think they can destroy freedom hand and fist yet still enjoy their guns.

    A Visual to illustrate my points: 2004, a commercial showing John Kerry walking from the field with a shotgun in the crook of his arm with two hunters who carried a couple of pheasants and the voice over talking about regular Americans. I?ll not comment on this but trust your ability to see the obvious.

  • Tbone

    Good.

    Riddance.

  • kowalski

    I was proud to put my name on the petition and I had a few misgivings at the beginning about the tone but it worked out, I think, in a way that was very positive. I absolutely never would have supported them again if they had gone through with that endorsement. I meant it, and you meant it. Good work.

  • GenEarly

    I also am an NRA member who contacted them several times regarding Reid. Their statements on the selection process is BS. They selected a candidate in the Florida Primary that had not held previous office(FL House 10th)and ignored an equally pro 2nd Amendment Candidate based solely on “political connections” not their survey questions. You will know IF the NRA is honest if they support Sharon Angle. She is confirmed pro 2nd Amendment and has the voting record to PROVE it. So why the delay?

  • The_Gadfly

    The single-issue line is complete BS. If they were a single-issue advocacy group and the Dem and Rep nominees were F- – candidates, the most logical thing to do is endorse the Libertarian candidate. They won’t.

    Furthermore, with the NRA already having endorsed Angle for her A rating as a state senator, their non-endorsement of her in the current race is a slap in the face.

    Yes, I know what they are doing. They are keeping their powder dry because they don’t want to offend the most powerful sitting US Senator. But if they aren’t going to stand up to him, what’s the point of ANY of their political endorsements?

  • barbiiboi

    I would really like to see (but have no expectations) how many former NRA members have quit this band of crooks for their policy decisions on the DISCLOSE Act and on the Harry Reid/ Sharron Angle endorsement debacle! I know I have!!

  • GenEarly

    means CYA for NRA “in case” Angle slips up, or Reid loses but Dimicrats still retain majority in the Senate. That way NRA hopes they can say they were “neutral” to the new Gun Grabber Majority Leader.
    I’m not so DC nuanced to seek a possible, future appeasement position rather than vanquish the enemies of Freedom and the 2nd Amendment. (or the need for a bogeyman to keep the fund raising going)

  • GenEarly

    “If ye love wealth better than liberty,
    the tranquility of servitude
    better than the animating contest of freedom,
    go home from us in peace.
    We ask not your counsels or your arms.
    Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.
    May your chains set lightly upon you,
    and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.” Samuel Adams

  • GenEarly

    for putting Principle ahead of “membership”. I can tolerate differences of opinion among Patriots who support The Constitution.
    which seems a little more important than a “club”. Being a leader means you are out ahead of the troops of the line and you make an easy target. NRA is a Club, not the Country, and worthwhile but not essential to maintaining the Freedoms of The Bill of Rights. What is essential? Elected US Senators who support that document, not nuanced positions.