Gun Business Through the Roof

People are buying up guns and ammo like mad because Obama is president. They think Obama is going to take away their guns (even though he said he wasn't), leaving them without protection.
I don't understand that line of thinking. I understand owning a gun for protection or hunting but buying a lifetime supply of ammo because your afraid?
What are they afraid of? Anarchy? Do they just feel safer with a gun? Who is going to get them? Do they feel left out?
It seems something more is going on, like the guns are a symbol of some sort of mass delusion, maybe some religious aspect?
The irony to me is that society is going to need to protect itself from them, cause they're going off the deep end.
They may start using their guns because their mental health appears to be in question.
As Obama continues to make strides in turning around the Titanic, rhetoric from the hard right extremists escalates (watch the video here and you'll see what I mean). It's gotten so far out of hand that even conservatives are trying to walk their extremists back a little.

NPR: An ammunition shortage in the U.S. is affecting police and sheriffs' departments all over the country, as well as gun dealers, from big retailers like Wal-Mart to smaller family-run businesses and online operations.

Ammunition suppliers say the shortage is due to several factors, including the sheer volume of ammunition heading overseas to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they also say the shortage — as well as a sharp rise in gun sales — coincided with the election of President Obama, fueled by fears his administration would usher in more restrictive gun laws.

"It started the day that Obama got elected," Johnny Dury, who owns Dury's Gun Shop in San Antonio, tells NPR's Michele Norris. "It is when everything just went crazy in the gun business."

Dury says people are buying guns as well as ammunition, creating a shortage of both. He says people are buying the guns to protect themselves because they perceive Obama's policies as socialist and rewarding those "people who are not working hard." They are also afraid, he says, of more restrictive gun laws.

"Everybody was scared he was going to take the ammo away or he was going to tax it out of sight on the prices," Dury says. "So people started stocking up, buying half a lifetime to a lifetime supply of ammo all at one time."

NYT writer Charles Blow explores the right wing extremists, whose views are perhaps more dangerous than terrorists. This guy Alan Gottlieb definitely needs help. I guess Rush, Beck, Hannity and the rest of the lot are brainwashing and mobilizing these folks to act irrationally. Don't they realize Rush is just making money?

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Obama is in a Good Spot

The opening of a Georgia office

Obama is on vacation, working and bodysurfing, and pundits can't write about Obama, so instead, they offer tips, as if they knew. 

The WaPo says Obama needs to return to his post-partisan roots.

Newsweek says Obama needs a shot of Bill Clinton.

They're all dredging the same question: Why isn't Obama ahead in the polls?

Charles Blow at NYT says it's racism. Yes, that has a bit to do with it. Peggy Noonan says it's Obama's newness. Yes, that too. 

But overall, it's probably too early in the race. Some people just aren't paying attention. They don't know enough about Obama to make an informed choice. All they know is what they've caught in a TV ad. 

These are people who are busy working and people who don't really pay much attention to politics until it's time to vote. For everyone stalking this election, that doesn't seem possible. 

But how about this. Look how far Obama has come in such a short amount of time. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine talked about this on Face the Nation this morning. Taken from that point of view, Obama could begin sweeping the polls in a few more weeks: 

Chicago Times: Axelrod & Co. can now include in its victory list the skinny unknown from Chicago who in one short year went from a mere 26 percent in the polls to toppling front-runner Hillary Clinton who was a full 22 points ahead of him last August.

"The national numbers mean nothing," said John Kupper, the "K" in AKP&D, last week by phone. "These are not national elections but state by state elections. We have vote goals. We know prior performance models."

In other words, this is now and always has been the sum of political component parts for the Obama operation, not a national popular election but a sophisticated, incremental accumulation of delegates in the primary, and electoral votes come November.

I'd also like to point out that the polls actually look good in states where Obama isn't supposed to be ahead. Like Colorado, Virginia, Michigan. It's even tight in Florida and Ohio.
The only places where McCain is running away, are states like Alabama. But even there, Obama has halved McCain's lead.