Fred vs Rudy On Gun Control; Romney vs Rudy On Sanctuary Cities

Teh Fred's blog post:

Anybody who knows me knows I’ve always cared deeply about the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. So I’ve always felt sort of relieved when I flew back home to where that particular civil liberty gets as much respect as the rest of the Bill of Rights.

Unfortunately, New York is trying, again, to force its ways on the rest of us, this time through the courts. First, they went after U.S. gun manufacturers, seeking through a lawsuit not only money but injunctive control over the entire industry. An act of congress in 2005 blocked, but did not end, that effort.

Now, the same activist federal judge from Brooklyn who provided Mayor Giuliani’s administration with the legal ruling it sought to sue gun makers, has done it again. Last week, he created a bizarre justification to allow New York City to sue out-of-state gun stores that sold guns that somehow ended up in criminal hands in the Big Apple.

The lawsuit has been a lesson in out-of-control government from the get-go. Mayor Bloomberg sent private investigators to make “straw” purchases – illegally buying guns for somebody else. According to the ATF, NY’s illegal “stings” interfered with ongoing investigations of real gun traffickers.

...

While this attack by New York City on the Second Amendment reinforces the importance of appointing judges who apply the law as written, there is another important legal point. Federalism, though usually seen as a protection of the states from the federal government, actually grew out of the need to protect states from other states that interfered in free commerce beyond their borders – as New York is doing today. In this case, we need Federalism to protect states from a big bully in New York City.

Not really sure it's fair to knock Giuliani for Nurse Bloomberg's stupidities, but certainly Giuliani hasn't insulated himself by embracing the Second Amendment.

The NYP blares GIULIANI RIPS UNDECLARED FRED THOMPSON, but if the NYP thinks this is a "rip," they really need to get out more:

A top ally to Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani yesterday blasted Fred Thompson for attacking the former mayor -- and New York City -- before even declaring his candidacy for president.

"Run or keep your mouth shut!" snarled Guy Molinari, New York co-chairman for the Giuliani presidential campaign.

"If you want to bash people, jump into the pool. We're waiting for you," Molinari added.

..

"He's not just attacking Rudy. He's attacking every resident of New York City," Molinari charged.

So, so lame. I hope Molinari doesn't actually believe that "attacking every resident of New York City" is going to count against Thompson in the Republican Primary.

Reminds me of the Woody Allen line in Annie Hall: "Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here. "

Yeah, me too.

More lame "rips:"

...

"I have a serious problem with this guy. Is he running? Is he not running? Now he's going into attack mode even though he's not an announced candidate," said Molinari, a former congressman and Staten Island borough president.

Thompson - who had criticized Giuliani, Bloomberg and Brooklyn federal Judge Jack Weinstein for going after out-of-state gun dealers - laughed off Molinari's tirade.

"I am tempted to say that was a good 'shot across our bow,' " a Thompson spokesman said yesterday, "but I'm afraid that same federal judge might go after those of us who manufacture out-of-state gun metaphors."

On to Romney:

Giuliani rival Mitt Romney also has ratcheted up his bashing of New York as a "sanctuary city" in recent weeks for providing services to illegal immigrants.

Bryan and people at The Corner say Giuliani's defense against this charge is somewhat convincing, but, even without listening to it, I rather doubt that. I've heard his schtick before and I imagine this is more of the same: when asked about illegal immigration, he responds, not entirely on-point, about NYC's well-known track record in reducing crime. That's not really an answer. The problem, as I grow weary of writing, is that Giuliani is trying to claim he hasn't changed his policies while assuring us all his policies (which haven't changed) are nevertheless now different.

Which part of that goofy formulation, if any of it, is true is hard to know. Is he telling the truth when he says his policies haven't changed? If so, he's not electable. Is he telling the truth when he says his policies (while having not changed) are now (though they haven't changed) exactly what the GOP base wants? I find it hard to believe that when he keeps talking up a "serious border enforcement program" that differs from the Bush/Reid/McCain shamnesty only on a few smallball points, and only arguably so, like a "highly technological fence" (exactly what the Shamnesties were selling) and "biometric ID cards" (also what the Shamsters were selling.

We need more than nuanced repositionings and emphases; we need a full repudiation of former policies, which were, indeed, fully supportive of sanctuary cities and encouraging illegal immigrants by a stealth repeal of the law through simple nonenforcement.

I'll give Giuliani's defense a listen, but I really doubt I'm going to hear anything different than I've heard before. He may be superficially persuasive in selling this twaddle, but well-sold or not, it's still twaddle.

Bandwidth Exceeded: With everyone linking it, the audio file is down at the moment. Guess I'll have to try listening later.

posted by Ace at 03:00 PM

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