NPR report: hunters and fishermen join oppositon to bush war on earth

[ochazuke]

These are people who are not typically alligned with Democrats, but shrubco is out to let extraction industries destroy our whole planet for a little short-term profit.

Sportsmen are figuring that out, and if Democrats are clever, I think we can swing these good old boys to our side this time.

It's just another voting block that used to be Democrat, and got wedged off during the culture wars.

(report on NPR's All Things Considered 3/1/2004. Listen for rebroadcast today or on NPR.org)

[blindpig]

1. just heard it

very encouraging. Many of those people are longtime wingers yet even they can't stand it anymore. Like one 2nd admendment supporter said, "what good are my guns if there's no place left to hunt anymore?"

[el_gato]

2. I'm sure the gun demonizers will make sure we don't get them

doh!

[tom_paine]

4. Not sure about that...propaganda is like codeine

The more you dose with it the more is required to make the same effect.

If te Busheviks are pathetic, Orwellian Liar NOW, what will they be like in a few years when they have to "turn up the dose" because the Imperial Subjects of Amerika are finally waking to the fact that they (we) are living in the New Soviet Union.

[Kali]

7. if the left would back off on the gun thing...

I never could understand this one. Its in the constitution, don't get me wrong I'm no NRA member, but I have a hard time understanding what the left's problem with guns really is. I saw Michael Moore's movie but it didn't really convince me. It all goes to root causes not the guns themselves. Limiting access to guns is a bandaid approach to solving serious deeper issues. Think about if we didn't have this division with the good old boys....

[fishnfla]

8. Knee-jerk NRAism

They will claim that the left is out to take away all guns, even those for hunting. This is silly, of course.

[Columbia]

9. Not quite as silly

As the belief that gun control laws reduce crime and don't infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

[fishnfla]

3. long time coming

phillip caputo addresses this issue (Re ANWR drilling) in this months Field and Stream; can we all get along? most outdoorsman, even those who carry guns, are conservationists at heart. regardless of your postion on guns and hunting, these folks vote, and they vote GOp. If we can carve them off it would be a big change of that constituency.

the description caputo used was "The GOP wants your land, and the Dems want your guns" describing these folks and their political views.Simplistic for sure.

[Cleita]

5. Hunters and fishermen are strange bedfellows of environmentalists.

I personally was involved with fishermen and environmentalists in Idaho once when we had to help get salmon upstream one fall so they could spawn. A low water level that year because of lack of rain had lowered the level of the lake so the salmon couldn't leap the first ladder of the creek they spawn in. We had to scoop them up in buckets, carry them upstream and release them at a spot where they could finish the journey themselves.

Hunters and fisherman realize that if you destroy the habitat of their prey, they won't have anything to kill. We environmentalists have un uneasy relationship with them but it's necessary right now to preserve the wilderness.

[ochazuke]

6. Why strange?

I know that hunters/fishermen and enviros may be on opposite sides of other issues, but there has to be a fundamental love of the earth that binds us together.

And when wilderness is being threatened with destruction, those other issues (IMO) just don't seem to matter.

It's like our planet is being threatened by alien invaders. That's how serious a threat bush is to our planet.

[RebelOne]

10. I don't think so.

I work for a hunting and fishing publication. And all of our editors are hunters and anglers. And out of 30 employees, only about 5 are going to vote Democratic. The others are afraid that a Democratic president will try to take away their guns. Go figure, cause I can't.

[Columbia]

11. It's people like Dianne Feinstein

Who give Democrats a bad name. The sooner we get rid of people like her (who really do want to confiscate guns), the better off the party will be.

[ochazuke]

12. If you can't figure it out, who can?

It's suicide for Dems to push gun control. The power of the gun lobby will kill most legislation, and Dems will just be demonized in the process.

Anyway, our nominee must make it clear that Dems are not trying to take away any hunter's gun.

Where does that paranoia come from anyway?

[RebelOne]

13. Well, I'm in Georgia, so that could explain some of their reasoning.