mcauliffe_concerned_AP

“Frustrating Democrats who hoped to prove decisively that running on a gun-reform message could produce winning margins at the ballot box, the Virginia Senate remained in Republican control Tuesday night after an expensive campaign left the party breakdown right where it has been for the past four years.” So lament our Bloomberg-backed buddies at The Trace. Hear that? That’s the sound of millions of gun owners quivering in paroxysms of schadenfreude-fueled joy. If you’ll remember . . .

The bilious little billionaire threw a stack of cash at Virginia with the goal of buying at least one senate seat for a Dem. That was all he needed to wrest control of the upper house from pro-gun Republicans and advance what The Trace euphemistically calls “gun reform.” And after that strategy went down in a twisted pile of flaming wreckage, the Washington Post reports that Mikey isn’t the only anti-gunner disappointed by last night’s results:

It’s a huge blow to Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who went all-in to make it happen. Democrats could have won by capturing just one seat because of the tie-breaking authority of Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D). But Republicans held every single seat.

Bloomberg and McAuliffe pulled out all the stops to prove that running on an anti-gun message could be a winning electoral formula…and they got their asses hats handed to them. It’s a strategy enthusiastically embraced by the inevitable Democrat presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.

But after last night’s resounding defeat, we can now look forward to loads of think pieces in the MSM explaining that America is actually populated by an electorate that values their guns and individual freedoms…people who don’t take kindly to oligarchs and their statist Democrat minions infringing on Second Amendment rights…not. Seriously, who are we kidding here? Focusing instead on Houstonians’ obvious lack of compassion and Donald Trump’s alleged Nazi sympathies is much more congenial to the preferred narrative.

Still, The Trace tried to apply a generous coat of lipstick to yesterday’s electoral pig.

Resounding wins on Tuesday night would have been a simple data point heading into 2016, showing the clear upside to running on gun safety in swing states. Instead, reformers got a split decision.

A split decision? Actually no. It was an clear defeat for the so-called reformers arrayed against Virginians’ right to keep and bear arms. That’s a knockout in anyone’s book.

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60 COMMENTS

  1. Hopefully he keeps throwing bad money after worse with no results. It would be even better if he realized that influence is not easily bought at all times, but being a former NY mayor I really doubt that will happen. That’s like asking a Chicago politician to be honest.

  2. Yippee ki-yay, motherf_cker! My one vote helped. What truly amazes me is that Dr., Senator, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, who was my son’s doctor and I know pretty well, could side with these fascists. As an ex-military officer, I’d of thought he understood what freedom means. Apparently not.

    • I have found that anybody above field grade is generally a political animal. These days, that means liberal pushover. I’ve seen quite a few O4s just take their walking papers rather than do the knob polishing necessary to get to O5.

      • Yep, many top officers will do whatever they are told, and not just in the sense of following orders. No, in the sense of buying into the agenda.

        • That is what Obama’s purges of the upper ranks in various branches of the military was about. I believe he was cleaning house of those officers that would stand up for the constitution.

          So it makes one wonder what are the plans for the future that requires such a clearance. Was it just to push this bizarre idea that women can actually match men in the front line combat troops like the Seals or the Rangers?

          Or are there bigger plans in place? After all, “the ends justifies the means”.

          The “transformation” of American society is no where near complete.

    • He was a military DOCTOR. A pediatrician no less. Not a soldier.

      And a Demtard physician what do you think his politics would be if not antigun?

      • Screw that statement. I am an Army Pediatrician and can say with certainty and clarity that Pediatricians do more than their fair share of combat tours. We are highly adaptable and even take over roles as Vets for the working animals (dogs, not the Marines). I have been fortunate to have been deployed as an IA working governance/local medical capacity-building for CFSOCC-A during our OEF surge in the Hellmand, Farah, and Herat Provinces. So don’t piss on Military Docs (especially the Pediatricians) thinking we are somehow not military or soldier as fuck. A good percentage of us are prior service and often (as in my case) were 11Bs or other combat MOS.

    • Having served over 12 years, I find it unfathomable that ANYONE who served in the military could even remotely lean left. Totally mindboggling.

      • Don’t go on rallypoint.com then, it’s packed with left leaning military active, retired and reservists – a disproportionate number of which I found to be in the Air Force or in admin MOS’s. What a huge disappointment that was.

        • That’s funny, my experience on that site showed the Army to be the more liberal ones. Either way, AR or AF are the biggest branches, it’s common sense they would often come from one of those two.

      • Just from my anecdotal and limited experience, I found more left leaning Soldiers in Active duty and conservative ones in the Reserves. I figured having to hold a full time job while fulfilling your military duties has a way of knocking some sense in you, although I did switch MOS’ going from active to reserves.

  4. I hope this vote was less about gun rights and more about freedom loving Americans taking action to defend all of our rights. Maybe my perception of that is too “Disneyland”.

    • What’s the difference, really?

      Stance on 2A is pretty much the barometer for position on all other Constitutional issues. A vote for ‘gun rights’ *IS* a vote for Constitutional Rights in general, all and inclusive.

      • I’d like to think that’s a good hard-and-fast rule, but I’ve seen all too many fascist mentalities on this site who ONLY care about their gun rights, and screw everything else.

        Now I will say that I don’t believe one is serious about the Constitution (including the Bill of Rights) if he/she is not pro gun, but it’s not sufficient that he/she be so, merely necessary.

        • “Fascist”, meaning they favor a merger of government and corporations? You sure you didn’t mean “reactionary”?

      • “A vote for ‘gun rights’ *IS* a vote for Constitutionally protected rights in general…” FIFY

        Just a gentle reminder – our natural and civil rights are Constitutionally protected – the Constitution does not give or grant any rights.

        • Let’s not let the pedantic train take us too far from the station… 😉

          Nowhere did I claim the Constitution granted rights, and I agree with what you said. However, these rights are generally referred to as “Constitutional Rights” simply because they are the ones enumerated therein.

  5. Yeah, it’s a “split decision” when they lose, but it’s a “strong rebuke to NRA extremism” when they manage to squeak by with a single win.

  8. We are lucky that the anti-Second Amendment rights campaign is run by New York City Pols like Bloomberg and Cuomo. They not only have contempt for middle America, they have contempt for anyone living outside of NYC. As a result they are clueless. They just can’t get past the idea that nor everybody thinks like a New Yorker.

    Bloomberg’s loss and the collapsing Bush campaign should put an end to the meme that money buys political success.

    • He is nonetheless dangerous because of his money and can still buy success if the conditions are right.

      The Washington State initiative 594 is one example.

      • I’m in Washington. This big win for 594 wasn’t such a big win. It won in the population rich Seattle area were Bloombag spent the most money. In the large majority of counties, if failed, but they couldn’t overcome the Seattle area which suffered a couple of high profile shootings.
        Legislature is going to pick it apart and beyond that, the law is ignored.

        • Wasn’t Colorado’s hi-cap magazine law largely ignored, until it wasn’t. Given a government that ignores and invents laws at will, I’m not taking comfort that they’ll exercise proper discretion with unconstitutional laws already on the books.

        • I’m thinking that high-cap magazine arrest was just the usual bit of making every charge you can so you’ll have more chips to bargain with . He was actually arrested for something else, I think, and they just added the hi-cap charge opportunistically. Still not good.

  9. For once a political story on TTAG that doesn’t give me heartburn. There may be hope for DC’s largest suburb yet!

  11. pwrserge, I was in the Army in 69 to 72. Never saw combat due to Pres Nixon cancelling my orders, love that man. I worked as a civilian for the military til I retired in 08. I disagree with your comment about field grade officers. When officers make Lt Col, they do no work and are polishing their bosses apple, or other parts.

    I can guarantee (95%) that anytime you see an officer on TV above the rank of Col, if their lips are moving they are lying. Remember Pat Tillman, the guys in the filed were okay with telling the truth, more than one General in the Army lied.

  12. I went out and voted, hoping and praying that Glen Sturtevant would defeat the Bloomberg-backed Dan Gecker.

    Well fortunately he did, and he happened to be at my polling station when I voted. Seemed like he’s got his stuff together

  13. Well, his money DID buy some bad results in WA State last year, so I would not dismiss it quite so easily.

    He was down here this year spending money, too, and it was a bit of a freaky feeling. Not quite as dramatic as the WA State stuff, his $$ did stall some progress in reforming some bad laws here.

    We have to remember he (and his ilk in general) are in it for the long game. They probably don’t really care all that much if they ‘win’ this year. Baby steps and controlling the narrative is what they are after.

    (Edit: Was supposed to be a reply to Andrew Lias’ comment above…http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/11/daniel-zimmerman/bloomberg-and-mcauliffes-anti-gun-agenda-the-big-loser-in-last-nights-virginia-senate-results/#comment-2289152)

    • This site, lately, has taken to reloading the whole page (and losing the “Leave a Reply to Job Lowe” in favor of “Leave a Reply”) sometimes, while I am halfway through typing my first sentence. It seems to be getting very buggy, in addition to being infested with crapware in the ads. (But I am still glad the autoplay video ads are gone.)

  15. Hold on a second. Being on the ground here showed me a different result. There were hundreds of people from Jersey and elsewhere at polling centers as volunteers and bringing people in to vote locally. We could have picked up another Senate seat in the 29th District but failed to do so. To me it was a wake-up call. Typically in off cycle elections Republicans have a bigger turnout. The Dem’s ground game is still much better and Bloomy’s money does make a difference. It is going to be a tough election cycle next year. I’m not celebrating today.

    • Winning the Senate wold have been a symbolic victory for Bloomberg but would not be of practical value. The House of Delegates would have stymied any gun control initiative. The political demographics of the state virtually assure a long term Republican majority in the lower house. Cramming more Democrats into NOVA will have only a marginal impact on the political balance since they are moving into areas alreasy controlled by the Democrats. That will only shift a few seats.

      • True, true they are cramming them in aren’t they but they are also spilling out into surrounding counties. Loudoun and PWC used to be “the sticks”. I looked for a house at 66 past Manassas in 2002 (Gainsville and Haymarket) and there was barely anything out there. Now look at it. When I moved to Gainesville in 2009, it was still booming despite the slowdown. The contractor who put my deck on my house remarked, “Go buy land in Marshall, it’s next.” He was absolutely right. There were shuttle services as far out as Front Royal when I left in 2014. My point is NOVA is growing, for good or for bad. Thinking that NOVA will always play a minor overall role in an otherwise Red state is a way to lose the long game.

      • True, but rack up enough symbolic victories and you can begin building a momentum for a real victory. We can high-five today, but have to be back in the trenches tomorrow.

  16. Some, but not all of course. It depends on what branch of service you are talking about too. I would venture to guess it becomes more political at the O-6 level. O-5s can be very focused on doing what it takes to get command. Afterwards, well–some are okay with achieving a terminal rank and are not afraid to voice their honest opinions (about everything).

    • That was supposed to be in reply to PWRSERGE above commenting about all field grade officers. Must be a glitch in the TTAG Matrix.

  18. As a Virginian, I’m delighted by the waste of Bloomie’s cash. I’m sure it seemed so easy to snatch just one Senate seat, particularly in the NoVa and Richmond districts.

    In the election results coverage the Republican spin is that the anti-gun rhetoric energized voters. The Democrat spin is that without Bloomberg’s geld. The liberal turnout would’ve been much less.

  19. Huffington Post was huffing this morning, crying the blues about VA but also about KY, which in the national scheme of thing is a much greater loss (or win). Their “article” was, of course, blatant editorializing, by a person who simply could not conceive that the electorate did not like the “progressive” message. It was turnout. It was fear-mongering by Republicans. It was anything but a rejection of the D message.

  20. To put it in a language that Bloomy and his carpetbagging puppet Mayor can understand, “Up yours!”

  21. We here at TTAG have discussed at length the single issue vote. Last night, before voting, I was trying to impress the importance of understanding the difference between the Democrats and Republicans in this Virginia election to my 18 year old daughter. This was to be her first time voting. She chastised me for boiling it all down to guns. “It’s all about guns, Dad, there’s more to it than that” she exclaimed. But in retrospect is there really more to it than that? IMHO, no. I don’t care what party you affiliate yourself with. What I care about is do you support and defend the Constitution? Yes or no. Anyone who supports any form of gun control or gun safety legislation or whatever is the enemy domestic. Those who vote for them are the enemy domestic. These people have no clue what freedom means. So yes, to me it is a single issue thing. Because that one issue says everything about who and what you are.

    • For me, it boils down to this: If they won’t trust me with a gun, why should I trust them with a police force or an army?

  22. I’m hoping this means groups like NRA are getting that the fight is turning into State-to-State and even City-by-City trench warfare with the gun controllers. It’s a good win, but make no mistake, they will be back both in VA and eventually in your own town.

    We cannot neglect the long-term war, either. Remember that the same people pushing this laws now are also guiding the education of your children. It would be shameful for us to win the fight today only for our children to willingly surrender only because we failed to act regarding their schooling.

  23. “A split decision? Actually no. It was an unmitigated defeat…”

    Actually, no, an unmitigated defeat would have been if democrats had lost their seats to republicans.

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