Democrats
Candidate # of votes % of total
Hillary Clinton 458,645 67.20%
Barack Obama 209,731 30.73%
John Edwards 14,175 2.08%

Republicans
Candidate # of votes % of total
John McCain 142,854 72.30%
Mike Huckabee 16,238 8.22%
Ron Paul 13,439 6.80%
Uncommitted 10,629 5.38%
Mitt Romney 9,151 4.63%
Rudy Giuliani 3,126 1.58%

Observations:
1) McCain only got 5% more of the Republican Primary vote (72%) than Hillary got of Democrat Primary vote (67%).

2) Huckabee’s impromptu joke at the NRA may have cost him getting into double digits, but once again, Mike Huckabee beat the rest of the pack (Ron Paul, Uncommitted, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani)

AprilOrit on May 16, 2008 at 10:54 PM

I know i am way late on this and probably noone will ever see this, BUT what the hell do you think a musket was to the FF?
in that day the Musket was the most powerful “Assult-Weapon” in the world. and every citizen was allowed to have one according to the 2nd ammendment.

Jeez.

-Wasteland Man.

austinnelly on May 16, 2008 at 11:46 PM

Win.

So my question again is:

We need the assault weapons because the government is armed with them already and without them we could not arm oursdelves properly??

AprilOrit on May 16, 2008 at 10:54 PM

Essentially? Yes.

soundingboard on May 19, 2008 at 4:54 AM

I agree with soundingboard. A fundamental purpose of the second amendment is to allow “We the people” to protect ourselves from a tyrannical government.

If the government is allowed to ban more powerful weapons but then use those same weapons themselves in attacks on civilian citizens (a la Waco, TX), then “We the people” have no way to defend ourselves from a tyrannical government.

Now, don’t assume that I’m a “gun freak”. If anything, I’m a “freedom freak”. I don’t even own a gun (although my wife does…she had to drive through the LA Rodney King riots, and subsequently bought a Ruger and was trained how to shoot by an off-duty FBI officer…she is an excellent shot and has hollow-point ammo).

A semi automatic or automatic weapon or a machine gun like the drug gangs/gangs used here in NYC for years.

AprilOrit on May 17, 2008 at 2:30 PM

It’s not my intention to sound rude, but may I suggest you educate yourself in the basic technical characteristics of firearms.

You seem to be laboring under the propaganda of the disarmament lobby meme that anything that looks like a machine gun is a machine gun.

So my question again is:

We need the assault weapons because the government is armed with them already and without them we could not arm oursdelves properly??

AprilOrit on May 16, 2008 at 10:54 PM

Essentially? Yes.

I did, where does it mention assault weapons??

AprilOrit on May 16, 2008 at 10:46 PM

That part that speaks of …arms.

Now, can you answer a question for me?

Where does the First Amendment mention television cameras?

http://frontpagemag.com/articles/Read.aspx?GUID=0D4C4050-3297-4435-8472-2D7BCB47B619

Basically every time he went against Romney he played the class envy card.

And as far as religious card, I don’t have a problem with a politician saying he is a God fearing man…that is fine and good. He played the religious card as a means to pit one’s faith against another. He did it with Brownback and he did it with Romney. Sure he apologized, only after the score was made, his apologies seem rather vacant of sincerity. And he certainly didn’t stop any of his Huck-bots from their attempts at smearing Romney because he is a gasp…a Mormon.
He understands Guns and Abortions, but when it comes to Freedom of Religion and Property Rights ( aka capitalism ) he doesn’t get it.

Religious plays? Nothing close to this.

He says great things, but his record says otherwise. There are many things I do like about Huck, but I can not overlook his class envy or religious plays.

I do love to fish, that’s a great sport. We fish Upstate NY.

AprilOrit on May 18, 2008 at 1:05 AM

Fish have feelings too!!!!
PETA tried to get Tim Pawlenty to ban walleye fishing in MN!

http://wcco.com/topstories/PETA.Gov.Tim.2.349166.html

Watch the video. LOL

I believe in the sanctity of life. I believe in lower taxes, more local government. There are some basic things that cause me to say, “Look, I need to be a Republican.” When the Republican Party abandons those principles, they abandon me.

Question: Where did the train go off the tracks?

First of all, the spending issue. Second of all, incompetence. They haven`t managed things well. Third, there`s been a complete indifference to corruption.

…

The Republicans — and look, with all due respect, under this administration we`ve become more Hamiltonian. I almost see the ghost of Alexander Hamilton coming up out of the grave, taking the federal government over.

And I want to say, excuse me, we had this debate 230 years ago. Jefferson won. We have a weak federal system, strong states, not the other way around. What we don`t want in this country is to have an overly centralized federal government where everything has to go and then you have really weak states that have to raise their hand and ask permission.

I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all, and I regret this escalation, and I apologize.

That kind of non-apology puts the blame on others:
1) You misunderstood me.
2) You escalated it.
3) I’m sorry that you did those things.

Who gave that “apology”? Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney.

A runner-up for worst “apology” is the one Obama gave here.

Now here is the apology that Huckabee gave:

During my speech at the NRA a loud noise backstage, that sounded like a chair falling, distracted the crowd and interrupted my speech. I made an off hand remark that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Sen. Obama. I apologize that my comments were offensive, that was never my intention.

Huckabee makes the point that the remark was “off hand” and was a response to the loud noise backstage (which is evident if you watch the video). On a positive note, Huckabee takes accountability for his comments being offensive. I believe that it is true that it was “never his intention” to “offend or disparage Sen. Obama” in his prepared speech. However, I believe that the “off hand remark” was intended to poke fun at (”disparage”, if you will) the man who implied that NRA members “cling to guns”. But since the off hand remark itself was “never his intention”, I don’t think Huckabee is being dishonest in his apology. But he could have (and in my opinion should have) done better with the apology.

You who did so should be ashamed of yourselves.

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12

“Trying to shoot” someone takes three things:
1) Aiming the gun at them.
2) The gun was previously loaded with ammo.
3) Pulling the trigger.

Huckabee (poorly) joked about only #1.

By saying “Trying to shoot”, you imply #2 and #3.
That’s not fair, and distorts a joke about Obama’s reaction to seeing a gun pointed at him (admittedly a bad joke), and turns that into a joke about an assassination attempt (a horrific statement).

That distortion is worse than the joke!

Imagine, if you can, that whatever noise it was that distracted Mike Huckabee had not happened.

Huckabee would not have made a joke in response to it.

Would Allahpundit have posted a story about Huckabee’s speech?

No.

(Even the video here is just a small portion of Huck’s speech.)

So what’s the real story behind this post?

Was it for Allahpundit to promote some significant statement that Huckabee made to the NRA about national security and self-defense (just as Allahpundit promoted what McCain said)?

No.

The real story behind this post is Allahpundit sharing the anti-Huck bias of the MSM, waiting to pounce on anything Politically Incorrect that comes out of Huck’s mouth, and breathlessly hoping that it spells the end of Huck’s political career.

Imagine, if you can, that whatever noise it was that distracted Mike Huckabee had not happened.

Huckabee would not have made a joke in response to it.

Would Allahpundit have posted a story about Huckabee’s speech?

No.

(Even the video here is just a small portion of Huck’s speech.)

So what’s the real story behind this post?

Was it for Allahpundit to promote some significant statement that Huckabee made to the NRA about national security and self-defense (just as Allahpundit promoted what McCain said)?

No.

The real story behind this post is Allahpundit sharing the anti-Huck bias of the MSM, waiting to pounce on anything Politically Incorrect that comes out of Huck’s mouth, and breathlessly hoping that it spells the end of Huck’s political career.

The headline itself is biased: “Huckabee jokes at NRA conference about someone trying to shoot Obama”.

“Trying to shoot” someone takes three things:
1) Aiming the gun at them
2) The gun was previously loaded with ammo
3) Pulling the trigger

Huckabee (poorly) joked about only #1.

By saying “Trying to shoot”, you imply #2 and #3. That’s not fair, and distorts a joke about Obama’s reaction to seeing a gun pointed at him (admittedly a bad joke), and turns that into a joke about an assassination attempt (a horrific statement).

That distortion is worse than the joke!

—

All of us have said stupid things in our lives. How would you like for someone to take a 12 second snippet of something stupid you said, and try to use that to end your career? That would be like saying that Ed Morrissey’s blogging career should be ended because of the gaffe he made here. That would be stupid. And it’s equally stupid to hope that Huck’s gaffe here is the end of his political career. Take a look at how many people here have said in their comments that they hope this is the end of Huck.

You who did so should be ashamed of yourselves.

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12

—

Now, in an attempt to be “fair and balanced”, here’s what I think about Huckabee’s apology. It wasn’t the best or worst I’ve ever heard, but it should have been better.

Here’s the worst I’ve ever heard:

I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all, and I regret this escalation, and I apologize.

That kind of non-apology puts the blame on others:
1) You misunderstood me.
2) You escalated it.
3) I’m sorry that you did those things.

Who gave that “apology”? Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney.

A runner-up for worst “apology” is the one Obama gave here.

Now here is the apology that Huckabee gave:

During my speech at the NRA a loud noise backstage, that sounded like a chair falling, distracted the crowd and interrupted my speech. I made an off hand remark that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Sen. Obama. I apologize that my comments were offensive, that was never my intention.

Huckabee makes the point that the remark was “off hand” and was a response to the loud noise backstage (which is evident if you watch the video). On a positive note, Huckabee puts the blame on himself (not others) and takes accountability for his comments being offensive. I believe that it is true that it was “never his intention” to “offend or disparage Sen. Obama” in his prepared speech. However, I believe that the “off hand remark” was intended to poke fun at (”disparage”, if you will) the man who implied that NRA members “cling to guns”. But since the off hand remark itself was “never his intention”, I don’t think Huckabee is being dishonest in his apology. But he could have (and in my opinion should have) done better with the apology.

If you want to see how this incident affects Mike Huckabee’s political future, watch the voting results from Kentucky on Tuesday. I think Huckabee will get in the double digits yet again.