Freepers Ecstatic about our new NY Senator Gillibrand...

[SuperTrouper]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2169988/posts


They are very happy that Gillibrand has been picked NY Senator to replace Hillary Clinton. They see her as a possible ally in the Senate and her selection gives them a chance to re-capture her seat in the House of Representatives. So there, it looks like that FR is on board with our newest Senator.

EXCERPTS:

To: Stars&StripesNE
Congresswoman Gillibrand grew up in a family of hunters and strongly supports the rights of all hunters and gun owners. She has been an ardent opponent of legislation that will curb the Second Amendment for responsible gun owners and currently has a 100% voting record with the National Rifle Association (NRA). As a Member of the Agriculture Committee, she sponsored an amendment to the Farm Bill that will expand public lands dedicated for conservation and hunting.



12 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:49:58 PM by Pistolshot ("Democrats don't show respect, they just demand respect " - ClearCase_guy)
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To: Theodore R.
I don’t know. I would imagine Pattrson will pick her replacement. I only know her from ads on TV. We have a summer place in the Adirondacks... visit a few times each year. Her political ads were on constantly... she had some serious cash behind her.



13 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:51:28 PM by Stars&StripesNE (Liberals are the enemy within)
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To: Stars&StripesNE
Upstater, Pro-Gun, Republican District, somewhat moderate Dem as NYS Dems go.



14 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:51:37 PM by headstamp 2 (Been here before)
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To: Stars&StripesNE; All
What happened to Mario Cuomo’s baby boy Andrew? I thought he was a shoo-in for this seat? Anybody know what happened?



15 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:53:20 PM by no dems (GOP Ticket for 2012: Sarah Palin and a Conservative Male with a Hispanic surname.)
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To: relee
Seems like an odd pick for New York State. A Democrat who acts more like a Republican than Republicans do.



16 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:53:40 PM by popdonnelly (Don't lose sight of your conservative principles.)
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To: Stars&StripesNE
Huh?



17 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:54:04 PM by Mad_Tom_Rackham (The committed will surely dominate the complacent.)
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To: Stars&StripesNE; All
So, will there be a special election to fill her Congressional seat?



18 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:54:25 PM by no dems (GOP Ticket for 2012: Sarah Palin and a Conservative Male with a Hispanic surname.)
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To: headstamp 2
She’s about the best we could have hoped for.
Better than a Kennedy or a Cuomo.



19 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:56:40 PM by CaptainK (...please make it stop. Shake a can of pennies at it.)
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To: Stars&StripesNE
**20th congressional district **

Can a Republican take her place in the House of Representatives Election?



20 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:57:56 PM by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: no dems
Andy wants to be governor like his daddy.



21 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:58:29 PM by Miss Didi ( "After all...tomorrow is another day." Scarlett O'Hara, Gone with the Wind)
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To: no dems
If this article is not a red herring, my instinct tells me that Obammie the Commie has him slotted for a position.

22 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:58:43 PM by Ghost of Philip Marlowe (The people who cheered when OJ was acquitted are the same ones cheering now.)
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To: Salvation
Her seat had been Republican from 1978 till 2006. It’s a very conservative district.



23 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:00:12 PM by Stars&StripesNE (Liberals are the enemy within)
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To: Stars&StripesNE
She got in in 2006. Upstater who benefited from the GOP slaughter that year.
True, but she benefited more from Sweeney's idiocy. Frankly, Sweeney committed political suicide, largely due to alcohol. In April 2006, went drinking at a frat party at union college. In October, his wife filled a domestic violence report, parts of which were published the Albany Times Union the day before the election.
In November 2007, Sweeney was arrested for DWI. Currently, he and his wife are being investigated for her possible sham job at the lobbying firm of William Powers.(Since Powers was the former head of the state GOP, I don't think he need to buy Sweeney)

25 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:02:18 PM by rmlew (The loyal opposition to a regime dedicated to overthrowing the Constitution are accomplices.)
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To: CaptainK
“She’s about the best we could have hoped for. Better than a Kennedy or a Cuomo.”

An NRA endorsed Democratic Senator from New York. Amazing.



26 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:03:34 PM by devere
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To: All
GOP Optimistic About Possible Gillibrand Special Election

27 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:06:04 PM by Miss Didi ( "After all...tomorrow is another day." Scarlett O'Hara, Gone with the Wind)
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To: Fitzy_888
Gillibrand is a ‘reformed’ Big Tobacco Lawyer.



30 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:07:26 PM by Fitzy_888 ("ownership society")
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To: popdonnelly
Seems like an odd pick for New York State. A Democrat who acts more like a Republican than Republicans do.
I hope this is a trend for the future of the Democratic Party.


31 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:07:32 PM by relee ('Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away)
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To: rmlew
The GOP should have gotten a ‘scandal free’ candidate to oppose Sweeney. We could have held on to that seat.



32 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:07:43 PM by Stars&StripesNE (Liberals are the enemy within)
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To: relee
“She voted against the bailout last fall and she is a second amendment supporter too”

Already she’s better than more than half the GOPers in the Senate already.

We’ll see how well she stands up to liberal pressure to reverse her positions, though.



33 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:07:50 PM by ScottinVA (Make my world PURRRFECT, Lord Obama!)
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To: ScottinVA
“She voted against the bailout last fall and she is a second amendment supporter too”
Already she’s better than more than half the GOPers in the Senate already.

We’ll see how well she stands up to liberal pressure to reverse her positions, though.

I'm thinking that they're making a concerted effort to short-circuit a destructive element (rabid anti-gunners) in the Dem Party so they won't have a 1994-style repeat in 2010.


35 posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:11:34 PM by neutronsgalore (ROPERS DELENDA EST!!!)
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[WI_DEM]

1. besides guns I think there are lots of areas they can't be happy about.

[Muttocracy]

6. I'm hoping upstate hunters vote for her because of that and don't care about other votes. nt

[benEzra]

40. That's actually a pretty good possibility...

not just hunters, but the 80% of gun owners who don't hunt.

[John Q. Citizen]

9. For the Repos left, guns are king.

[Cha]

2. Well, it's going to get

even more interesting if there's a showdown over guns in 2010, in New York.

[tekisui]

3. RWers are nothing but background static, now.

I could care less what any of them think of anything.

[Howardx]

11. no kidding

DU needs to stop hanging on their every word. start acting like winners, not stockholm syndrome victims.

[TheBigotBasher]

61. I agree - but that does not mean ignore them.

Slap them down. Keep them down Laugh at them when they fail and rub their noses in it.

69 million votes says so.

[Thrill]

4. They won't after she starts voting

Because if she wants to stay in the Senate, she can't be a Max Baucus type coming from NY

[KittyWampus]

38. Her actual voting history in NY indicates she is fairly liberal. DU'ers are such kneejerk

reactionaries sometimes. It seems few posting about Gillibrand actually have a clue about her, sort of like the idiot freepers.

[Muttocracy]

47. Blue Dog!!!! Gun Nut!!!! Too girly!!!!

The biggest outcry coming from people who aren't NYS residents and don't have an alternative to suggest, or only suggest Caroline.

[ShortnFiery]

59. Not "too girly" but brown noser who is promoted to committees in front of more senior and experience

Congress members. No "peer" respects those colleagues who can always be found smoozing with the boss and other high powered people in order to back-stab colleagues. HRC openly adores her and has made her "a prodigy," that's NOT "feminism" but IMNSHO "cronyism" ... and it's vile. :(

[Danger Mouse]

62. Broken record!

[TheWraith]

5. They're in for a rude surprise.

I don't imagine they'll continue supporting a pro-gay-marriage liberal Democrat.

[FLAprogressive]

7. She wasn't pro-gay marriage 24 hours ago

[SuperTrouper]

8. No, she will not move to the left. If she does so she will lose

Upstate and she is not the darling Downstate either. Gillibrand will be only a place holder, that's all.

[Occam Bandage]

13. You're a day late.

Yesterday's poutrage was that she would be an awful blue dog DLC conservative Dem. Today's poutrage is that she's a flip-flopping Mitt Romney who's going to adopt liberal positions all over the place for political gain.

[Thrill]

26. She will move to the left. If she wants to stay in the Senate

if she doesn't she won't win a primary. Its that simple.

[TheWraith]

32. She doesn't need to move to the left. She's already to the left of Clinton and Schumer.

She supports Medicare for all, strong civil unions with a state-by-state decision on the word "marriage," and greatly increased education and healthcare.

[KittyWampus]

39. She ALREADY votes left.

[Occam Bandage]

10. This is why I like Dems who are in favor of gun rights.

Conservative idiots think those Dems are on their side, and are willing to forgive a lot of liberalism.

[FLAprogressive]

12. Correction. She WAS in favor of gun rights. Not anymore.

Now she agrees with gun grabber McCarthy. A

[Occam Bandage]

14. I know she's flipped on that. I'm speaking in general principle.

Freepers are reacting to her as she was, not her as she is. And I do disagree with that flip, but it was probably the smart thing to do, politically speaking. Her gay marriage flip, on the other hand, is well-received.

[FLAprogressive]

18. Will she flip on the Bush tax cuts (which she supports) and telecom immunity too (which she supports

[Occam Bandage]

21. What do you mean by "telecom immunity?" That's kind of a dead issue now.

It happened. It's done. Move on. That's like asking if she'll flip on impeaching Bush.

[ShortnFiery]

34. No, she's all for "fighting terrorism" just like Blue Dogs and TAX CUTs follow a close second on

her list. She's far far FAR from progressive. Back in the 1970s she'd likely be pegged as a "liberal republican." :(

[benEzra]

51. Is that how she got a 90%+ rating from the ACLU, and 0-10% ratings from anti-tax orgs...

by being a Bush clone neocon?

I think you are responding to MSM distortions/smears of her record rather than her actual record.

[TheWraith]

33. She hasn't really flipped, she's simply restating her support for strong background checks...

...And offering to work with McCarthy on any bills to reduce gun crime, but she's still strongly protective of hunters and gun owners.

[ShortnFiery]

35. WTF that is beyond smarmy. She rates 100% with NRA, a veritable POSTER CHILD to not track gun

purchases and all the other "non-hunter related" crazy ass legislation, yet she's gonna work with McCarthy.

I'd respect her more if she said "pound sand SnF because I love the NRA" than to do a COMPLETE 180 and suck-up to the politics of the moment.

That behavior is just VILE. :(

[benEzra]

41. Even the NRA has worked with McCarthy on background checks...

the NICS reform bill after VT is an example. Background checks are noncontroversial.

Where she would presumably differ from McCarthy would be with regard to McCarthy's obsession with outlawing rifles with handgrips and magazines that stick out, i.e. the most popular civilian rifles in America.

You do realize that 4 out of 5 U.S. gun owners are nonhunters, yes?



This might help you understand the landscape of the gun issue a little better, if you're interested:

Dems and the Gun Issue - Now What? (written in '04, largely vindicated in '06, IMO)

[bottomtheweaver]

15. Apparently she's big on tax cuts,

which is basically the single puke issue: “Tax cuts for middle class families will continue to be one of my highest priorities in Congress.”

http://www.gillibrand.house.gov/

[Occam Bandage]

16. All rhetoric. She has single-digit ratings from each of the pro-tax-cut interest groups.

http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=65147

[FLAprogressive]

17. She wants to extend the Bush tax cuts. "BUT SHE'S A LIBEERRAL"

Liberal doesn't necessarily = progressive.

[ShortnFiery]

19. Yeah, and they want to arrange a hunting trip for dear Kirsten to go to Alaska.

Picture this: Two HOT BABES who kill game animals. Ohhh! ... that must make them orgasm as they sit in their jammies in mom's basement. :eyes:

[Occam Bandage]

22. And now you're complaining that she's pretty. Seriously,

between that, her father, her being a "princess," her short and ambiguous record, and her being like Sarah Palin, do you have a single criticism of Gillibrand that is not just an I-am-rubber-you-are-glue version of a common complaint about Caroline Kennedy?

[ShortnFiery]

24. Oh don't "use that" too? I do KNOW the mindset of many gun-nut freepers.

They are presently typing their little fingers raw over all the soft-porn images of her and Palin bopping around in the snow. :puke:

No, I have nothing against her - but know how Right Winger's think since I was raised in a FAR right wing secular family. :shrug:

[benEzra]

42. and apparently...

No, I have nothing against her - but know how Right Winger's think since I was raised in a FAR right wing secular family.

You seem to assume that anyone who supports the right of mentally competent adults with clean record to own nonhunting guns is a "right winger," regardless of how progressive they may be.

Neocons and the religious right won't like Gillibrand, as she is to the left of most of the DLC, has a 90% lifetime rating from the ACLU, 5% or 10% ratings from anti-tax groups, and an 8% rating from the Conservative Union or whatever it's called.

What she WILL do is help defuse the "Dems'll-take-yer-guns" meme that people like McCarthy and Feinstein give rise to. That will help the party in swing states, including mine (which turned blue this year, in part because of the perception that he will not make new gun bans a priority).

[ShortnFiery]

54. She's Pro - "fighting terrorism" and secondly pro Tax cuts for the wealthy.

I rest my case.

[benEzra]

63. Considering her very high ACLU rating, she's in favor of "fighting terrorism"

in accordance with the protections of the Bill of Rights, which is the way it should be done.

Regarding Gillibrand and tax cuts, the conservative National Taxpayers Union gives her a 7% score out of 100 (0 being perfect progressive and 100 being perfect conservative).

Looks like the MSMis trying to undercut Gillibrand within her own party with the "Gillibrand's a conservative" BS, to me.

[bottomtheweaver]

23. Is there room for a friend?

[ShortnFiery]

25. ...

One thing's certain, the Comedy almost writes itself. :evilgrin:

[Fearless]

20. A few people I know personally are too.

:rofl:

[truebrit71]

27. When Larry Cudlow on CNBC says he approves, you KNOW something is very, VERY wrong...

..

[SuperTrouper]

28. Holy cow! What about George Will?

[AllentownJake]

29. She'll fall in line or she'll lose the primary

Its really that simple.

[kwenu]

30. Well, this is what all the bitching about Caroline Kennedy led to. So who's to blame?

It is possible to whine yourself out of your best interests so now NY progressives are stuck with this for two years. I think Caroline should have been a slam dunk for a two year appointment until the people could confirm through an election but she was slammed at every turn. So I say congratulations to those progressives who worked so hard to make this appointment possible.

[ShortnFiery]

36. Oh it wasn't JUST us misguided progressives, it was "HRC fans" that help trash CK.

I kept thinking to myself, "Why are my views in concert with those die hard HRC fans."

Sadly, I was PLAYED like a Stradivarius Violin. :(

[paulk]

56. hardly a Strativarius

http://cheapviolinstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1&zenid=dfe56415516282af40da5a3a6d7acf2e

[Johnyawl]

31. One of them got it right.

I'm thinking that they're making a concerted effort to short-circuit a destructive element (rabid anti-gunners) in the Dem Party so they won't have a 1994-style repeat in 2010.

[ShortnFiery]

37. So you think it's RABID to help the police TRACE guns that have been involved in crimes?

Because she's 100% against such tracking.

I'm all for hunting. My family comes from South Dakota, but much of the NRA are just bat shit crazy about *any* tracking of firearms.

[benEzra]

43. The Federal BATFE conducts gun traces, not local police.

The law she supported allowed sharing trace data to law enforcement conducting criminal investigations, but NOT to NGO's and groups NOT conducting criminal investigations, i.e. lobbyists trying to drum up support for new gun bans. No one is preventing the BATFE from tracing crime guns or sharing that data with local and state authorities.

And I would again point out that the vast majority of U.S. gun owners, of all political stripes, are nonhunters. The gun issue is primarily about target and defensive style firearms, not hunting rights.

[tledford]

44. Yup. Nobody hunts with a handgun, unless they're hunting people. eom

[benEzra]

49. Why is hunting relevant?

Only 1 in 5 U.S. gun owners hunts, and few are trying to ban hunting guns yet, at least those with 19th century styling.

The primary reasons Americans own guns are (1) defensive purposes, (2) target shooting, and (3) hunting, in that order. Handguns are well suited to (1) and (2). About three times as many Americans lawfully own handguns as hunt. Handguns and small-caliber rifles (aka "assault weapons) are where the gun issue is at.

FWIW, there are indeed hunting handguns made (and sufficiently large-caliber handguns are legal to hunt with), but they are big, powerful, and too bulky for most criminal purposes. The Smith & Wesson X-frame revolvers come to mind, as well as the single-shot pistols in rifle calibers like the Thompson-Center models.

[ShortnFiery]

45. Well, I'm all for rifles and shotguns BUT handguns should be only for target shooting and law ...

enforcement. It's just too damn easy to whip out the handgun and KILL without much thought.

Nope, hunting (rifles) and home protection (shotgun) should cover the field. If you "get off" on firing handguns, use them at an authorized range and then check them in.


I fully concur with the great social scientists, Lynyrd Skynyrd (original members) croon, Handguns are made for killing ... they ain't good for nothing else ... and if you like to drink your whiskey, you might even shoot yourself.

[benEzra]

50. About three times as many of us own handguns as hunt...

and we'll keep them, thanks. You are certainly free not to own them, but our homes, our choice ("we" being mentally competent, law-abiding adults with clean records).

I realize individual choice is sort of a quaint concept these days, but we'll hang on to this one.

[ShortnFiery]

53. That's a problem and also the "preferred method of suicide" (hand guns) of former law enforcement

officers. :(

[benEzra]

65. And yet, the USA has a *LOWER* suicide rate than the UK, Canada, and Japan...

despite the fact that a very large percentage of Americans own handguns, whereas almost no one in the UK does. And that also despite the fact that Americans work the longest hours with the least vacation time of any First World nation, and have some of the poorest access to mental health care.

Suicide among former LEO's is a tragedy of untreated PTSD and a system that doesn't take care of them, not gun access. Former LEO's don't have more handgun access than anyone else, in this country.

[ShortnFiery]

46. That's not my understanding ... But, if true, why does the NRA wish to suppress

records of "gun ownership?" Why should it not only be available to law enforcement, NGOs but also "public record" with minimal restraints?

[benEzra]

48. Because prior to the enactment of the law, the repubs at the Brady Campaign...

were trying to sue a number of legitimate gun manufacturers out of business, and were apparently generating a lot of trace requests via proxy to prop up those suits. Pro-ban think tanks also wanted data to lobby with.

From a quick Google search:

"The Tiahrt Amendment prohibits the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) from releasing information from its firearms trace database to anyone other than a law enforcement agency or prosecutor in connection with a criminal investigation. Additionally, any data so released is inadmissible in a civil lawsuit."

As far as gun ownership being private---as long as the corporatist MSM and a powerful and well-funded lobby are fighting to outlaw various classes of lawfully owned guns, it is in legitimate gun owners' interest NOT to give them a "Who Owns What and Should We Let Them Keep It" list. The lack of a central registry is the single greatest obstacle to selective banning/confiscation of Brady-disapproved firearms, and the misuse of registries in the UK, Australia, and some U.S. jurisdictions to support such bans suggests that caution is in fact justified.

For me as a gun owner, access to trace data is not a huge issue, although the frivolous lawsuits could well have been. I have absolutely no problem with background checks, properly conducted. I do have a big problem with new bans on the lawful manufacture, sale, and/or possession of currently legal Title 1 civilian guns and with petty harassment of responsible owners, which seem to be the gun-control lobby's top two priorities.

[ShortnFiery]

52. The terms " frivolous lawsuits" and "petty harassment of responsible owners" I find hard to believe

Really? I just don't get it - Like AUTOMOBILES (another potential lethal weapon) WHY NOT make these records public?

My brother is holding some shotguns and rifles that my belated father has left me. Hell, I wouldn't mind people knowing that I keep them in a body-size safe in my garage.

Why is it *truly* a BIG DEAL that Gun Ownership is not PUBLIC and TRANSPARENT?

I just don't see all this "harassment." :(

[benEzra]

64. It will cease to be a big deal when the gun-ban zealots...

finally go the way of Carrie Nation and the American Temperance Union.

One other problem with a "Who Owns What" list that was publicly accessible, would be that it would be a shopping list for theft.

Would you like to post a list of all your valuables and where/how they are stored, along with your real name and full address, on the Internet?

[quakerboy]

55. I wonder

given her record, I am not too worried about her in the senate. What I do wonder about is given the statements I keep hearing regarding her house district, will we be able to hold that for the dems? Perhaps the chance to get that seat back is what leads the right to being ambivilent about this appointment?

[Muttocracy]

57. NY is losing a House seat in redistricting in 2010 so

it may temporarily go GOP, but the Democratic NYS Assembly and Senate (which just turned Dem for the first time in decades) control redistricting now. The Albany Times-Union predicts that her district will be carved up and added to other districts. NY-20 is a ridiculously gerrymandered district anyway, plus most of its counties have been losing population.

[Yukari Yakumo]

58. Why am I not surprised Roberto posted something like this?

(Just look at the other threads the OP started today to see what I'm getting at.)

[EstimatedProphet]

60. That proves she's a great choice for our side

They're always laughably wrong, after all.

[jmowreader]

66. If you're a single issue voter and guns are that issue, Gilliland is fine

Just wait until they find out she is pro-choice. :evilgrin:

Or that she has a zero-percent rating from the National Taxpayers Union and GOPUSA.

[AtomicKitten]

67. Hope you got your Silkwood decontamination shower after visiting FR.