I Googled the word “unicorn” and got 19,100,000 responses. Then I tried “conservative Democrat” and got 220,000. Maybe that means you’re more likely to encounter a unicorn than a conservative Democrat, but I think the species are equally non-existent. Is there any Democrat who can be counted on to deliver a principled conservative vote when it actually counts? Not to my knowledge.
The latest case in point is Kirsten Gillibrand. Remember how, when she was appointed to Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat, she was widely described as a “conservative Democrat?” In particular, her 100% rating by the National Rifle Association was widely touted. But that was then, and this is now: Gillibrand is a convert to the cause of gun control. She has met with the parents of a 17-year-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet fired by a gang member and undergone a conversion:
It clearly touched her. “I care deeply. I am very upset about the horror and the tragedies that so many families experience,” Gillibrand said. …
On Monday she said Nyasia’s story convinced her to introduce gun trafficking legislation. “I will be a fighter to make sure we keep these illegal guns off the streets,” Gillibrand said.
Gillibrand is so intent on changing her image on gun violence that she’s even asking for a meeting with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the leading anti-gun advocates in the nation.
Gillibrand on Monday established two internships in her New York and Washington offices in honor of Nyasia.
Apparently Ms. Gillibrand had never realized, until now, that it is possible to use a firearm to commit a crime. Be that as it may, now that she will be running for re-election statewide she has no more need for an endorsement from the NRA; on the contrary, such an endorsement would be a liability–a liability that Ms. Gillibrand lost no time in jettisoning.
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