Pajama Pundits

It's no secret that Kerry is nervous about his chances. Things in Iraq aren't going nearly badly enough that his 'plan' (to summarily yank US presence from the region?) will resonate with the people who are concerned about security within the US; his... umm... performance, after getting his 'third band-aid out' from Viet Nam doesn't sit too well with a lot of the people he publically called criminals; his discharge from the service has come under recent scrutiny; his refusal to release a whole lot of documentation is causing some people to think he's hiding something pretty significant; casting things in the best light possible, one would consider his Congressional career 'lacklustre'; and his support for US military and intelligence capabilities can best be described in negative numbers.
There are a whole lot of 'ordinary Americans' he just can't reach.

Enter the fall hunting season.
Kerry, in a desperate effort to pretend to be 'one of the guys', has a lackey go purchase 'appropriate attire' and gets his picture taken with a dead goose.

I figure, he decided to try to appeal to the hunters, because he tried an appeal to the racing crowd and NASCAR fans just weren't buyin' it.

The Senator has a problem: hunters aren't buyin' it either.
From the AP

SHARONVILLE, United States (AFP) - Gun owners in the crucial midwestern swing state of Ohio expressed scepticism at attempts by Democratic presidential contender John Kerry to win their votes.
Kerry has gone hunting and made numerous reassuring comments in recent weeks aimed at the traditionally Republican gun-owning constituency.

Support of the gun lobby could be crucial for Kerry or his Republican rival, President George W. Bush, in Tuesday's vote. But many of Kerry's target are not impressed at his insistence that he supports the constitutional right to bear arms.

Despite the best attempts of 'neutral' (cough, gag) information sources like 'fact'check dot org; who spin and distort and lie and mislead in *ahem* completely non-partisan efforts to tell the truth; (those clowns wouldn't know the truth if it bit them on their dot org) the NRA and other firearms groups have managed to remind voters that, regardless what Kerry says, he has a long, long record of being very anti-gunowner. It's working, too.

"One dead duck and a new hunting jacket doesn't make you a hunter," Doug Rigsby said derisively as he killed time outside a gun show in this southern Ohio town Saturday.

"His voting record is near 100 percent anti-gun. He's voted for just about every piece of gun control program that has come up."

A photo-op might be worth a thousand words, but a hunting jacket that's only ever going to be used once is apparently not fooling anybody. The AP does try to put things in the best light possible for Kerry, but; just like the 'lacklustre' Senate record, 'the best light' is none too good.

More than just a knee-jerk reaction to a candidate from a party traditionally seen as hostile to gun ownership, the hunters and gun sports enthusiasts say it is Kerry's voting record that has turned them off.

Kerry's votes has been widely exploited by the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) including in fliers and mailers pressed by NRA activists into the hands of the mostly male show-goers in Sharonville.

I guess when you tell people how a Senator has actually voted, that's 'exploitation'. Interestingly enough, murdering a goose for a photo-op, isn't. (go figure)

"If John Kerry wins, you lose," was the message of one leaflet being handed out by activists, accompanied by a selective highlight of Kerry's anti-gun votes and positions. It said he was in favor of banning semi-automatic firearms, including many firearms favored by sportsmen, and supported a law amendment to "outlaw most ammunition used by deer hunters."

It gets worse... the leaflet isn't wrong. (we've been over this before: look here and here)
This does, however, answer a question I had.
Are people really silly enough to believe that a 20-minute photo shoot with a 12 gauge double will undo 20 years of one of the most anti-gun records in the Senate?

Unfortunately for you, Senator, it seems... not.
Read it for yourself. Not a hunter