Hillary Won't Say When She Packed Heat Last

As I reported here yesterday, Hillary Clinton is trying to out-Romney Romney, saying in a press conference Saturday that she had received firearms training as a youngster. I questioned the wisdom of the move, as the role of Varmint Hunter didn't do Romney's candidacy any favors, and Hillary Clinton is unlikely to out-gun John McCain. In a press conference yesterday, this seems to have been borne out. From CNN:

Hillary Clinton said Sunday a query about the last time she fired a gun or attended church services "is not a relevant question in this debate" over Barack Obama's recent comments on small town Americans.

"We can answer that some other time," Clinton said at a press conference held in a working class neighborhood here. "This is about what people feel is being said about them. I went to church on Easter. I mean, so?"

Hillary is not the first Democrat to try on the holster and spurs, and surely she won't be the last. It remains to be seen if she will be the first to succeed by strapping on the firepower. Senator Clinton, though, has the distinct disadvantages of an already unfriendly press, and of already having weathered one Dukakis Moment just a few weeks ago. To think that the press won't pick at this, and be satisfied with an answer like, "So?"

There's no way her campaign was not prepared for this line of inquiry, which begs the question of why they would not have her ready with chapter and verse on this.


The Clinton campaign has employed two basic strategies in dealing with these sorts of things. They either deflect or ignore. In this case, they're combining the two approaches into a kind of Bad Idea Fudge Ripple. This follows a series of missteps by her advisers that I detailed yesterday:

When Saturday Night Live pointed out, accurately, that the media was going at her like ants on a damp lollipop while giving Obama a free pass, her strategists scripted an awkward joke for her to drop into the debate at the worst time.

When questions about the inspirations behind Barack Obama's speeches were getting some play, again, the little Mark Penn on her shoulder was like, "Do a Xerox joke!"

After her 3am ad seemed to resonate with Big State voters, she pronounced John McCain "King of All Commanders-in-Chief."

Perhaps the problem here isn't her advisers, but rather that there's less to Hillary's gun experience than even her very meager claim. Either way, this is a losing proposition for her. The best she can hope for is to produce a grainy old picture of her pre-teen self, straining against the weight of a Winchester or something. Actually, that would be kind of adorable.

On the other hand, the press and the Youtube crowd are having, and will continue to have, a field day with this faint boast, doubtless generating conflations with Tuzla, comparisons to Cheney, perhaps a parody of "Full Metal Jacket."

"This is my rifle, this is my gun..."

What the Democrats fail to realize is that they are never going to be gun-nutty enough for the NRA crowd, so even a war hero like Hohn Kerry looks silly in a duck hunting getup. What they should be doing is some effective messaging on 2nd Amendment issues. Most Americans are right there with the Dems' modest goals on gun control.

Of course, this situation also differs significantly from other "Dems-withGuns" moments in that usually, the Democrat in question is locked and loaded to fend off a GOP opponent's attack of weakness, rather than as an offensive maneuver against a fellow Dem. Kinda makes it hard to feel sorry for her.