Have a good laugh with this one....
From the Washington Times
11/10/1999
NRA poster boy
If Vice President Al Gore invented the Internet, then President Clinton was a member of the National Rifle Association. Or so both have claimed.
Inside the Beltway has confirmed that at a recent private fund-raising dinner, Mr. Clinton revealed to guests that he used to be a card-carrying member of the NRA he now decries. We've gotten hold of a transcript from the Democratic National Committee fund-raiser, held at a private residence in Atlanta on Oct. 29, in which Mr. Clinton stated: "The second thing I want to say is, it may be popular in the South, but I think it's wrong -- I donït think it's so popular anymore --even the new Republican Party is for whatever the NRA says they ought to do on these gun fights.
"Now, you know, I once had a lifetime membership in the NRA. I've even got my jacket there. I'm sure they revoked it somewhere now. "But you listen -- hadn't anybody missed a day of deer season on what I've done -- nobody. And nobody's been knocked out of one sporting contest for what I've advocated.
But there are people alive today because of these background checks. We did the right thing."
Wayne R. LaPierre Jr., executive vice president of the NRA, was shaking his head yesterday. "I can't believe it," the NRA chief said. "You know, if he's that delusional maybe he did inhale." Do you mean to say Mr. Clinton was telling another tall tale? "He never had a lifetime membership, he never had a jacket. He made it up," Mr. LaPierre said.
The NRA, he stressed, keeps excellent records of its membership roster, present and past. Which isn't to say Mr. Clinton didn't do his share of hunting in his lifetime. In fact, Bill Powers, director of public affairs for the NRA, is kind enough to supply today's column art -- a popular NRA poster from 1996, showing our president clutching a Beretta semiautomatic shotgun during a duck hunt.
That same weapon, by the way, while not specifically banned under Mr. Clinton's signature, is identical in function to semiautomatic firearms that the president has said are bad.
White House spokesman Barry Toiv, at the request of this column, was busy searching Mr. Clinton's wallet yesterday for an old NRA membership card. "Perhaps he is an honorary member," Mr. Toiv suggested.
Finally, as for Mr. Clinton taking credit for instant background checks when purchasing guns, Mr. LaPierre says "he's even delusional" about that. He recalls that the president initially supported a "waiting period" for gun purchases, while "we were in favor of the instant background checks. What's on the books now is closer to what the NRA advocated." |
