I had sort of resolved to stop blogging about the election, but couldn't let this one slip. Liz Bumiller, a fine reporter, has been hoodwinked by John McCain's willful misreading of Barack Obama's dings at Hillary Clinton's past gun use. The relevant graf, from her Week in Review piece:
Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain have both derided Mr. Obama as “elitist” for his remarks about bitter rural voters who “cling” to guns and religion, even as Mr. Obama, in a counterpunch, mocked her courtship of gun owners, depicting her as a kind of ersatz Annie Oakley “packing a six-shooter” in a duck blind. And Mr. McCain, throwing a haymaker of his own, pointed out in a recent speech to members of the National Rifle Association that “someone should tell Senator Obama that ducks are usually hunted with shotguns.”
Noooo! The exteemed Jonathan Chait gets into why this is trifling and false in an earlier post. Man, politics--like guns!--seem all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
(And thanks, Brendan Nyhan, for also spotting the ruse.)
--Dayo Olopade