Lesson: Never, ever say what you mean.
Apr 22 2009, 03:32 EDT [updated Apr 22 2009, 04:18 EDT]
One of the best reasons to hate politics is that those who lie have a higher chance of achieving their goals. It is best to have a clueless frontman who really does believe his own press because he is less liable to slip up. Witness these 1998 slips by the Violence Policy Center arguing for the Assault Weapons Ban (via Eugene Volokh):
Such a shift will not only damage America's gun lobby, but strengthen the handgun restriction lobby for the following reasons:Unfortunately this kind of slip is rare. It only happens when someone screws up or overplays their hand. "The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence" overplayed its hand with its original name "Handgun Control, Inc". It has changed its name and its press releases but not its purpose.
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The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons -- anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun -- can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons.
Winner-take-all Democratic politics encourages avoiding the slip by putting forth candidates who are sincere in their aspirational goals and ignorant of the results of their proposed policies. Handgun Control, Inc learned a lesson and hopefully you have too; every time you hear someone pledging to do good by passing a new law or spending your money think about what he might say if he instead slips.
No, I'm not thinking of any sitting President in particular.