As I suspected it would, the National Rifle Association has endorsed John McCain for President:
The National Rifle Association is endorsing Republican presidential nominee John McCain despite differences with the Arizona senator on gun-show rules and campaign finance restrictions.
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and the chairman of the NRA’s political action committee planned stops Thursday in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Colorado and Nevada to talk about the move.
LaPierre said the two agree on many issues important to the group.
“He’s cast more than 60 votes in the Senate in support of the Second Amendment,” LaPierre said.
The NRA’s Political Victory Fund has spent more than $2.3 million opposing Democratic nominee Barack Obama. The chairman of the political action committee, Chris W. Cox, says its spending in the presidential race will grow to “eight figures” by Election Day. Besides ads, encouraging battleground-state gun owners to vote will be a key focus, he said.
The PAC was running an ad Thursday in USA Today accusing Obama of waffling on gun-rights issues and challenging his statements that he supports the right to bear arms. Obama has said he respects the Second Amendment but doesn’t think it precludes “some commonsense gun laws so that we don’t have kids being shot on the streets of cities like Chicago.”
As Robert Stacey McCain notes, the Arizona Senator hasn’t been a fan of the NRA in the past:
“The NRA is entitled to their advocacy. I don’t think they help the Republican Party at all, but I don’t think they should in any way play a major role in the Republican Party’s policy making.”
— John McCain, May 12, 2000
Oh well, I can’t say I’m surprised.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Disappointing.