Deeds Attempts To Spin Not Getting NRA Endorsement As A Good Thing

Creigh “What’s In Your Wallet?” Deeds doesn’t want anyone to know just how disappointed he really is after his efforts to once again receive the endorsement from the NRA were spurned.  (Deeds received the NRA endorsement over Bob McDonnell four years ago for AG — a major factor in why that race was so close in 2005 — before Deeds decided that to get the Dem nod for governor this year he’d have to bank hard to the left.)

Not since little Johnny Thompson of Falls Church, Virginia didn’t receive a brand new bike for Christmas last year and bravely proclaimed through a stream of tears that he really didn’t want a new bike anyway has such an obviously false statement like what we’ve been hearing out of Team Deeds been uttered in the Commonwealth.

From CNN:

Losing the support of the NRA could be a blessing in disguise for Deeds, who has struggled to excite voters in liberal northern Virginia, the populous electoral battleground where voters are less in tune with the hunting and fishing traditions cherished in other parts of the commonwealth.
Still, his campaign promised that Deeds remains “a committed supporter of the Second Amendment” and pointed to his ‘A’ rating from the NRA.

“While it appears that his work on closing the gun show loophole following the Virginia Tech tragedy may have lost him this endorsement, Creigh looks forward to working with the NRA as governor to continue to protect our Second Amendment rights,” Deeds spokesman Jared Leopold said in a statement.

So, he wants to have it both ways — that evil Bob McDonnell was endorsed by the NRA…  Who I have an “A” rating from!!!

Sure, it is always a blessing in disguise when an organization with 120,000 people in your state comes out against you.  Right…  And lest anyone forget, the NRA is headquartered in Fairfax County and employees hundreds of people at its headquarters there.  Frankly, the only people who are going to be turned off by this endorsement were people who would already be voting for Deeds anyway.

And from NRO’s Campaign Spot:

The spin from some quarters preferring Deeds is that this development will motivate liberals in Northern Virginia to turn out for Deeds. Uh-huh. Last week we were being assurd that the brouhaha over the thesis and Creigh Deeds’ ads charging that McDonnell wants to take Virginia “back to the dark ages” were going to do that.

The fact of the matter is, the electoral calculations for Creigh Deeds just became infinitely more difficult as this will cost him dearly in many of the rural areas that he is counting on for support to counter McDonnell’s strong support in the suburbs.

And it seems that as the day wore on, Deeds further imploded over losing this endorsement that he had worked so hard to try and secure for a second straight statewide election.

Creigh Deeds, today: The NRA is “basically a Republican organization.”

The Republican Party of Virginia remembers back when the NRA endorsed him, and he was saying, “This was and is very, very important to me.”

But wait, there’s more Deedsy goodness quotes from 2005 to keep in mind!

“The NRA endorsement is by far more prominent than the endorsement of the FOP. I’m sure when voters head to the polls November 8 they’re going to put a lot greater weight on who’s endorsed by the NRA,” [Deeds spokesman Peter] Jackson said. “The FOP chose to endorse the entire Republican ticket.”  (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, September 39, 2005)

He said the NRA’s backing “could make a difference” in his race with Republican Bob McDonnell, a state delegate from Virginia Beach who also has made a strong push for support from gun owners. Polls indicate the race is very close.  (Roanoke Times, September 30, 2005)

Sure, Deeds tried to soften the blow of this major endorsement with an endorsement from the Virginia Professional Fire Fighters (6,500 members vs. the NRA’s 120,000 in Virginia and I’ll bet that more than a few of those 6,500 are also part of that 120,000), which we would call “basically a Democratic organization” except for the fact that it is only its leaders who are Democratic while the vast majority of their rank and file according to said leaders probably voted for John McCain in 2008.

So, a union endorses Creigh Deeds.  STOP THE PRESSES!  I can picture tomorrow’s Washington Salon, I mean, Post now…

WashPo Sept. 15, 2009 Pg. A-1
FIREFIGHTERS ENDORSE DEEDS

WashPo Sept. 15, 2009 Pg. B-4
GUN RIGHTS GROUP BACKS MCDONNELL

This race just went from “Leans Republican” to “Republican Blowout of the Dems”.