The National Rifle Association endorsed incumbent Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer last week, which forced him, for a day anyway, to wobble on his previous stated position that the organization is nothing more than a “fully-owned division of the Republican Party.” That’s what happens when the swirling political winds change direction.
Not long ago, on April 20, 2007, the governor used a television appearance on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” to relentlessly tear into the organization he now embraces. “The NRA is just the ‘National Republican Agency,’” Schweitzer said on the show, later adding: “If you’re a Democrat, like myself, that believes passionately not only in the Second Amendment rights, but the First and the Third and the Fourth and the Fifth, the NRA, they’re not with us …”
At the time, Schweitzer’s NRA criticism, occurring on the tail end of a nasty legislative session, caused few political waves; there must not be many HBO subscribers in Helena. By then the governor was still nursing a heavy grudge against the group that had opted to endorse his opponent, Republican Bob Brown, in the 2004 election. Schweitzer had received high marks from the NRA that year, but the association said he didn’t have a long enough track record to earn its support. And that didn’t sit well with the man who pulls shotgun shells out of his pocket when national reporters are present, and who loves repeating ad nauseam his view on gun laws: “I’ll control my gun. You control your gun. That’s the gun control I’ve got.”
Thus, our gun-crazy governor had every right to be irked that America’s largest and most powerful gun-rights lobby had determined that he wasn’t gun-crazy enough. But he is now singing a completely different tune.
“I’m proud to have the support and endorsement of the NRA,” Schweitzer said in a press release sent from his office last week announcing the endorsement. “Gun ownership and responsibility are values that get passed down from one generation to another in Montana.”
What’s missing from the release, and by now long forgotten, is Schweitzer’s once held position that the NRA had backed the Republican Party more than it had backed gun rights. It’s actually laudable that an organization chastised by the governor so thoroughly swallowed its pride and gave him a glowing endorsement anyway.
“I urge all NRA members and Montana gun owners to vote for Governor Brian Schweitzer,” NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said. “People in Montana value their freedom, and Brian Schweitzer is the best candidate to serve them.”
And somewhere Schweitzer’s gubernatorial opponent, Republican Roy Brown, is incensed, although he hasn’t shown it. Instead, his spokesman told Lee Newspapers that, “We’re glad that Governor Schweitzer is on the side of the Second Amendment. Now if we could get him to come around on the rest of the issues facing our state, we’d be making real progress.”
It was a tepid response from a man who must have thought he was a shoo-in for the powerful backing. To Brown’s gun-loving credit, the NRA explained that in a race between two gun friendly candidates the agency sides with the incumbent. But, in this case, shouldn’t a tie go to the GOP nominee since Schweitzer had accused the NRA of being in bed with Republicans before the organization opted to cheat on them with him?
The answer is that this is the nature of politics in an election year: Memory is short, friendships are rekindled and shed, and everyone gets cheated on. In this case, however, Brown is the loyal spouse. And Schweitzer is the new partner who can lovingly embrace the political tail wind heading into the general election.