Battleground Ohio

Updated: Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008, 9:20 AM -- WELCOME Examiner.com readers! Thank you David Codrea for thinking this post worthy of a mention on your Gun Examiner column and linking up.

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A lot of pundits are saying the fix is in regarding the "selection" of the next American president, and it appears so. Ohio continues to be in the news as well, much to my chagrin. But more on that in a moment. The legacy media, giddy about an Obama presidency in the United States, is looking the other way at so many gaffes, missteps and now a trail of bread crumbs that lead back to the Illinois senator's:

1) More than distant relationship with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers

2) Close relationship with ACORN, which is under investigation in more than a dozen states for voter fraud, and

3) Long, LONG history of support of draconian gun control schemes.

4) Bigotry against gun owners, evidenced by lip-service to firearms aficionados in Pennsylvania followed by verbal put-downs of the people he just hours before praised, delivered to Californians whose idea of safety is a mistaken belief that the police officer on the beat is personally assigned to them. The candidate promises he is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, though The Politico reports that he endorsed a complete ban on all handguns in a general candidate questionnaire he filled out on Sept. 9, 1995. And he's done a lot of the same since.

But pay no attention. He means well. He wants to give us hope. And change. Change that, frankly, I don't want any part of.

Without question, hypocrisy of the worst sort.

Even Sen. Obama's accidental revelation (he knows he stepped in it) about the re-distribution of wealth in this country started a "blame Joe the Plumber" firestorm among the left and the useful idiots in the MSM. It is all one of the many reasons why I got out of journalism years ago. I read recently at ABC News of one reporter who refers to himself as "a writer" because even the unbridled partisanship within the media embarresses him, and because the electorate has noted in poll after poll it has little faith in any kind of objectivity when it comes to daily journalism.

Now comes word that the Obama campaign, so confident they are already measuring curtains for the Oval Office, is examining the current approval system for firearms transactions. Such targeting of FFLs is yet another indicator of what a Barack Obama presidency would be like. His home town of Chicago is a virtual killing field, partly because of strict gun control there which leaves only the most violent of criminals allowed (well not legally, but that doesn't stop them) to have guns. And what is his team doing? Looking at how law abiding firearms owners purchase their guns. Anyone see anything bizarre with all this?

And sadly, once again, Ohio is a sort of "ground zero" in the presidential race. While several polls say the state is leaning left this time around, the anecdotal evidence (criminal investigations are ongoing) that all kind of shenanigans are at play in the Buckeye State is about neck high.

We've got:

1) ACORN running around in all of Ohio's big cities (Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, Canton, Dayton, etc.) registering people to vote. Then word coming back that multiple names at the same address, and multiple names in the same handwriting are the norm among this paperwork.

2) Voters, mostly advocates for Obama, admitting they registered to vote up to 70 times. Some may be charged with crimes.

3) Out-of-state voter registration advocates all living in the same house in Columbus, registering to vote in Ohio, voting early, then heading back to their home states where they also are registered to vote. The Franklin County prosecutor declined to charge them with crimes, opting instead to merely throw out their votes.

3) The debate over paper or electronic balloting. Federal court cases have bounced around and been decided, ultimately, by the U.S. Supreme Court. Each side accuses the other. On the right, there is clear evidence of registration fraud. From the left come accusations of voter supression. Trust me, more court cases are coming.

Frankly, I don't know how there could possibly be voter suppression when we have early voting in Ohio, and groups like ACORN and others who were happy to transport folks to register and vote early at the same time (there was a brief window for this from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6). Its comforting, don't you think, when the person who has just voted admits that they took the ballot, signed it and did with it whatever the folks who gave him a ride told him to do?

4) Leaders of AHSA visited the state. No, I am not referring to the American Hampshire Sheep Association (though the sheep analogy is fitting), but the so-called American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA). The president of this small but shrill group stopped by the Buckeye State to tell residents that Obama has no designs on their firearms, despite his relationships with the Joyce Foundation (a huge financial contributor to anti-gun causes), and his record on the issue.

4) A plumber named Joe from the Toledo area notices this same presidential candidate wandering into his neighborhood, shaking hands. Surrounded by a phalanx of reporters, neighbors are asking questions of Sen. Obama. "Joe the Plumber" asks his question and gets the "spread the wealth around" answer. Oops. But only now is Obama being grilled on this out-of-date, discredited approach to economic parity. But Joe has received an anal probing the likes we have not seen since Clarence Thomas was being grilled by the Senate during his U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

It is all so transparent it isn't funny, and yet people go along with it.

The Obamas, as individuals, I am sure are nice people. But we do not need them and their out-of-the-mainstream ideas in charge of this nation. They don't understand how 401(k) investments work (witness their silence on a controversial proposal trotted out by Congressional democrats), they have no clue about capital gains taxes (other than if you say you want to raise them that people jealous of folks with a little more will vote for you), and the mounting evidence that the senator truly believes that the redistribution of wealth is a good thing should be of monumental concern to anyone to has dreams of owning her own business.

Further, Michelle Obama some months ago remarked that she understood why people in rural areas kept guns. She was scared there thinking how long it would take police to respond to an emergency.

Yet in Chicago, America's killing field, a place where guns are banned, its okay to leave grandmothers, moms and dads defenseless? Even if it takes 911 emergency responders a long time to bring help? They may be nice people. But politically, these are not rational people. Utopian idealism is one thing. But forcing Utopia through dangerous programs and proposals isn't smart. It ain't real, folks.

I worked a gun show in Columbus over the weekend, signing up attendees who wanted to join the National Rifle Association. Turnout to the family event was heavy. Not unexpected in a presidential election year, but heavier than I had seen in a while. Many, many many joined. With each, I reminded them to be sure to vote on November 4. With few exceptions, every individual I talked to assured me they would not be missing this election. It is far too important for firearms owners to miss.

Judging by the firearms and ammunition leaving the show here in Battleground Ohio, however, one thing was clear. Barack Obama is single-handedly arming America, or at least Ohio. There were people of all colors and walks of life there, but the "make-up" of the crowd was different this time. Though these are always family events, there were a lot of people from the central city and suburbs -- clad not in camo or jeans, but in polo shirts and dockers -- both buying a lot of ammunition and their first firearms. These are thinking people in the Buckeye State who have looked at the evidence, the duplicity, and fear an Obama presidency will result in cost prohibitive taxes on ammunition, severe licensing or worse.

Get that? His words and past actions are single-handedly arming the central cities and suburbs because a lot of people, even on the left, believe more severe restrictions on lawful firearms ownership is coming.

For all his talk of wanting to get guns out of "criminals' " hands, he has done more to make people come to some conclusions, perhaps, they have wanted to avoid. That they are responsible for their own safety. And that for all the talk of no plans to go after the guns of law abiding citizens -- be they competition rifles or self defense sidearms, the message from the Obama campaign and its candidate is probably just that -- talk.

In business, when you have momentum steamrolling along, we call it "The Big Mo." People say the Obama machine (reminiscent of the Chicago political machine from which he emerged) is rolling so hard it cannot be stopped. Which is why, some suggest, McCain supporters should just stay home and not bother voting. Because the Arizona senator doesn't have a chance, they say.

Perhaps such recommendations from the political left are being made before additional revelations about Obama and his cronies come forth. Such as the news this week that ACORN, which since 1998 has received an estimated $31 million in government fundint, has now intervened in a New Jersey gun rights case in defense of a one-gun-a-month ordinance that violates that state's pre-emption statute. The statute has already been deemed illegal by a court there. Make sure you understand this -- ACORN is working in New Jersey against the ability of law-abiding residents there to exercise a constitutionally protected individual civil right to own a handgun.

So how long will it be long before ACORN is bringing this same nonsense to a city in Ohio? If they can turn the voter registration process on its ear and no one is prosecuted, what will happen in Ohio's urban centers with this group if a very supportive President Obama is in the White house, and anti-gun politicians here work every angle to get back into the gun control business?

Battleground Ohio. Where a great idea in early voting has been abused. Where well-meaning efforts to register new voters is resulting in fraud (this very afternoon a federal judge here ruled that park benches may be called a legal residence by homeless voters). Where anti-gun groups that call themselves pro-gun are trying desperately to convince firearms owners they have nothing to fear from a candidate whose political record is littered with anti-gun initiatives, support and relationships. Where a wink and a smile has people fainting at mere words that cover no legislative accomplishments, all in the name of "change."

So here it is. I am throwing in my lot with John McCain. I have never been impressed by this man. He has been anti-gun, and his campaign finance reform efforts were thoroughly misguided and destructive to this nation's political processes. With a McCain presidency, however, there would at least be some balance. I am a believer that gridlock is good. Those who worry about McCain on Supreme Court justices would find that his choices likely are rejected by the Pelosi/Reid Congress. When the Congress and president are sniping, they are not making mischief that impacts you and me. When they are in lockstep, however, particularly with this Congress and an Obama presidency, I shudder at what kind of Supreme Court justices might be nominated and confirmed. Remember, the Heller opinion squeaked by by a one-vote margin from the Justices.

Worse, I shudder to think that so many firearms owners here might be buying into this. Think The Time Machine, and the Eloi, who have lost all motivation and ambition for the future, and retain no memory of the past. They are obligingly drawn forward, seemingly with no will power, when summoned.

Toward a fate they don't know, or really seem to care about.

If you don't take advantage of early voting, be sure to vote November 4.