Goofus and Gallant -
A friend asked me to share my experiences meeting the two men running for US Senate from Texas this year, Mayor Ron Kirk of Dallas and Attorney General John Cornyn. I met John Cornyn in the summer of 1999 at Red’s Gun Shop and Rifle Range in Austin, Texas, where a lawyer friend and I had gone to rent and shoot some guns we were thinking about buying.
We had finished up on the range and were in the retail section of Reds looking at some gun cases and the like when my lawyer friend pointed out a white haired gentleman at the counter picking up what we believed was some sort of custom holster. “Do you know who that is?” he asked, and I had no idea. “That’s John Cornyn, the attorney general of Texas.
He looked like everyone else in the store. He was wearing a golf shirt like half the people in the store. We debated for a moment and then went over and introduced ourselves. He seemed pleased that two guys in their early 30s recognized him. He made some joke about being in civilian attire. Without going into any kind of specifics about his purchase (we didn’t want him to think we’d been spying on him) we complimented him on being in Red’s. I don’t remember exactly what we told him or what he told us, but he seemed like a nice guy. I do remember telling him it was gratifying to see the top law enforcement official in the state exercising his rights instead of taking them away from people. He got a kick out of that. We didn’t talk to him too long, after all it was his day off.
So fast forward a couple of years. It’s February 2002 and times are a little harder. The company I was working for laid me off in early 2001, and I had a devil of time finding work in Austin. I ended up working at a big box retailer for most of the year, and then got a nice opportunity tutoring students at the University of Texas. The pay wasn’t great but it was more fun that selling televisions, and I felt I was doing some good in the world anyway.
I was walking to meet a friend for lunch and cutting across campus after several hours of tutoring. It was a nice day, and as I reached the commons area near the UT student union and undergraduate library, I encountered a big rally of Democrats. There were quite a number of Travis county Democrat hopefuls there, I’m pretty sure Gus Garcia the mayor of Austin spoke, and there were some other guys running for the legislature and some other city posts. To be honest I guess I don’t pay that much attention to that stuff. But Ron Kirk, who had not defeated Morales yet in the primary, was there to drum up support.
I hadn’t made up my mind, but I had always kept my meeting with John Cornyn several years before in mind when I heard that he was running for senate. But I didn’t know anything about Ron Kirk. A friend in Dallas had been a big supporter of his when he was mayor, always saying that he was a “new breed” of Democrat. I’ve read this a couple of other times as well, and although to this day I don’t know a whole lot about his record I figure some of that must be true. You don’t get elected mayor of Dallas being some bomb throwing lefto commie.
So I was eager to talk to Kirk if possible, and from the look of it that day I thought there was little to stop me. There were some students there, but there really wasn’t that large of a turnout. Kirk was talking to a reporter, which is understandable, so I got with this group of students (most of them hippie types) who were obviously waiting to talk to him.
He spoke to the reporter for a few minutes, looked at his watch, spoke to a handler and then came over and said hello to us. Most of the people in the group said something to him, either some sort of fawning compliment or the type of goofball question only college students ask about. Someone asked him if he thought the war on terror had gone too far, someone else asked him if he thought the drug war was working. I thought he handled those questions well, he gave quick answers that would have pleased just about anyone just to the right or left or center of the road.
But I was really disappointed by his answer to my question, which was “If you are elected will you defend my second amendment rights?” Now I know he heard me. I wasn’t nervous and I was careful to enunciate my words. I had even turned the question over a few times in my mind as I stood there, phrasing it in the best way. But Kirk, who was shaking my hand and looking me in the eye when I asked it, just acted like he hadn’t heard me. He got this blank look on his face, and the orientation of his whole body sort of turned from me and he spoke to someone else. Incidentally, one of the college students made a “Tsk” sound when I asked it, and another looked at me like I was nuts.
Now I’m not going to vote for Kirk, I think my choice is clear. I’m not a gun nut or anything but I do own a rifle and I believe all our rights are sacred. It bothers me that some politicians think the 2nd Amendement isn’t an individual right, it makes me think if they would toss that one on the trash pile they’d probably toss the 1st or the 5th as well.
And I don’t think that Ron Kirk is even necessarily a gun grabber either. My friend in Dallas says he respects the rights of law abiding gun owners. He probably does.
But when it came to the quick, when a possible constituent asked him if he supported on of our basic civil rights, he acted like I wasn’t there. He was too gutless to answer the question one way or another. I feel this speaks volumes about his character.
I didn’t feel I had to ask Cornyn if he supported my rights. He was in a gun store when I saw him. I didn’t have to. But when I asked Kirk, he crapped out. I honestly feel that no one who feels strongly about this issue either way should vote for Kirk. If he believes in gun control he was too gutless to say that either. If I was a gun control man, I would vote for the Green party nut that’s running. Those guys want to ban everything, except of course illegal narcotics.
But as a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, I feel pretty good about Cornyn. He was either in there buying that holster for himself or for a friend as a gift. Either way, he wasn’t worried about his political future, wasn’t worried that someone might see the attorney general in a gun store and draw the wrong conclusion. His record supports this, he is a firm supporter of 2nd amendment and Texas Conceal and Carry.
My advice as someone who met both men running for Texas Senate this year is as follows – if you support the second amendment, vote for Cornyn. If you want a man who believes in something, who isn’t afraid to defend those beliefs and live those beliefs, vote for Cornyn. If you support gun control, vote for the Green, who I am sure at least has the guts (if not the brains) to say where he stands on this issue.
If you want as senator a gutless former mayor who shakes your hand while at the same time pretending he didn’t hear your question – hey, do Texas a favor and don’t bother voting at all.
Reed Stossal 4:14 PM
http://restlesstoad.blogspot.com/
A friend asked me to share my experiences meeting the two men running for US Senate from Texas this year, Mayor Ron Kirk of Dallas and Attorney General John Cornyn. I met John Cornyn in the summer of 1999 at Red’s Gun Shop and Rifle Range in Austin, Texas, where a lawyer friend and I had gone to rent and shoot some guns we were thinking about buying.
We had finished up on the range and were in the retail section of Reds looking at some gun cases and the like when my lawyer friend pointed out a white haired gentleman at the counter picking up what we believed was some sort of custom holster. “Do you know who that is?” he asked, and I had no idea. “That’s John Cornyn, the attorney general of Texas.
He looked like everyone else in the store. He was wearing a golf shirt like half the people in the store. We debated for a moment and then went over and introduced ourselves. He seemed pleased that two guys in their early 30s recognized him. He made some joke about being in civilian attire. Without going into any kind of specifics about his purchase (we didn’t want him to think we’d been spying on him) we complimented him on being in Red’s. I don’t remember exactly what we told him or what he told us, but he seemed like a nice guy. I do remember telling him it was gratifying to see the top law enforcement official in the state exercising his rights instead of taking them away from people. He got a kick out of that. We didn’t talk to him too long, after all it was his day off.
So fast forward a couple of years. It’s February 2002 and times are a little harder. The company I was working for laid me off in early 2001, and I had a devil of time finding work in Austin. I ended up working at a big box retailer for most of the year, and then got a nice opportunity tutoring students at the University of Texas. The pay wasn’t great but it was more fun that selling televisions, and I felt I was doing some good in the world anyway.
I was walking to meet a friend for lunch and cutting across campus after several hours of tutoring. It was a nice day, and as I reached the commons area near the UT student union and undergraduate library, I encountered a big rally of Democrats. There were quite a number of Travis county Democrat hopefuls there, I’m pretty sure Gus Garcia the mayor of Austin spoke, and there were some other guys running for the legislature and some other city posts. To be honest I guess I don’t pay that much attention to that stuff. But Ron Kirk, who had not defeated Morales yet in the primary, was there to drum up support.
I hadn’t made up my mind, but I had always kept my meeting with John Cornyn several years before in mind when I heard that he was running for senate. But I didn’t know anything about Ron Kirk. A friend in Dallas had been a big supporter of his when he was mayor, always saying that he was a “new breed” of Democrat. I’ve read this a couple of other times as well, and although to this day I don’t know a whole lot about his record I figure some of that must be true. You don’t get elected mayor of Dallas being some bomb throwing lefto commie.
So I was eager to talk to Kirk if possible, and from the look of it that day I thought there was little to stop me. There were some students there, but there really wasn’t that large of a turnout. Kirk was talking to a reporter, which is understandable, so I got with this group of students (most of them hippie types) who were obviously waiting to talk to him.
He spoke to the reporter for a few minutes, looked at his watch, spoke to a handler and then came over and said hello to us. Most of the people in the group said something to him, either some sort of fawning compliment or the type of goofball question only college students ask about. Someone asked him if he thought the war on terror had gone too far, someone else asked him if he thought the drug war was working. I thought he handled those questions well, he gave quick answers that would have pleased just about anyone just to the right or left or center of the road.
But I was really disappointed by his answer to my question, which was “If you are elected will you defend my second amendment rights?” Now I know he heard me. I wasn’t nervous and I was careful to enunciate my words. I had even turned the question over a few times in my mind as I stood there, phrasing it in the best way. But Kirk, who was shaking my hand and looking me in the eye when I asked it, just acted like he hadn’t heard me. He got this blank look on his face, and the orientation of his whole body sort of turned from me and he spoke to someone else. Incidentally, one of the college students made a “Tsk” sound when I asked it, and another looked at me like I was nuts.
Now I’m not going to vote for Kirk, I think my choice is clear. I’m not a gun nut or anything but I do own a rifle and I believe all our rights are sacred. It bothers me that some politicians think the 2nd Amendement isn’t an individual right, it makes me think if they would toss that one on the trash pile they’d probably toss the 1st or the 5th as well.
And I don’t think that Ron Kirk is even necessarily a gun grabber either. My friend in Dallas says he respects the rights of law abiding gun owners. He probably does.
But when it came to the quick, when a possible constituent asked him if he supported on of our basic civil rights, he acted like I wasn’t there. He was too gutless to answer the question one way or another. I feel this speaks volumes about his character.
I didn’t feel I had to ask Cornyn if he supported my rights. He was in a gun store when I saw him. I didn’t have to. But when I asked Kirk, he crapped out. I honestly feel that no one who feels strongly about this issue either way should vote for Kirk. If he believes in gun control he was too gutless to say that either. If I was a gun control man, I would vote for the Green party nut that’s running. Those guys want to ban everything, except of course illegal narcotics.
But as a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, I feel pretty good about Cornyn. He was either in there buying that holster for himself or for a friend as a gift. Either way, he wasn’t worried about his political future, wasn’t worried that someone might see the attorney general in a gun store and draw the wrong conclusion. His record supports this, he is a firm supporter of 2nd amendment and Texas Conceal and Carry.
My advice as someone who met both men running for Texas Senate this year is as follows – if you support the second amendment, vote for Cornyn. If you want a man who believes in something, who isn’t afraid to defend those beliefs and live those beliefs, vote for Cornyn. If you support gun control, vote for the Green, who I am sure at least has the guts (if not the brains) to say where he stands on this issue.
If you want as senator a gutless former mayor who shakes your hand while at the same time pretending he didn’t hear your question – hey, do Texas a favor and don’t bother voting at all.
Reed Stossal 4:14 PM
http://restlesstoad.blogspot.com/