Ohio Congressman Bob Latta joins Sportsmen for McCain Steering Committee; Obama scores another faux gunnie

Special thanks to Michelle Malkin and NewsBusters.org for passing this story on to their many readers.

By Chad D. Baus

U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign recently announced the National Steering Committee of the Sportsmen for McCain coalition. Included on that list are two prominent Ohioans - Michael Budzik, the former chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, and Congressman Bob Latta (R-5), a current Buckeye Firearms Association endorsee for Congress and multiple past-endorsee .

According to the press release, the two Ohioans are among those in the angling, hunting and shooting communities who are working across the country to emphasize John McCain's dedication to protecting American's right to gun ownership plus his commitment to preserving and promoting our hunting, angling and shooting traditions.

John McCain said, "I am proud to have the support of these national and state leaders within the sportsmen's community and know that their support is integral to my bid to become your next president. It would be an honor to serve as your president and carry on the guiding principles of Theodore Roosevelt, America's foremost conservation president."

For more information about Sportsmen for McCain please visit, http://Sportsmen.JohnMcCain.com

The entire Sportsmen for McCain National Steering Committee roster is available here.

Meanwhile, former Joyce Foundation board member Barack Obama has secured yet another faux Second Amendment supporter in "lifelong Republican" Tony Dean, a long-time host of hunting and fishing television shows in South Dakota. Dean told the Dallas News he's switching parties to head a Sportsmen for Obama group.

A "lifelong Republican" that is "switching parties to head a Sportsmen for Obama group"?

This is an interesting claim, given that Dean was mentioned by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader in 2003 as a possible Democratic candidate for Congress who endorsed Democrat Senator Tim Johnson for reelection just a year earlier. Dean's efforts to deceive gun owners about Johnson may have been the difference in his narrow victory over Republican challenger John Thune by just 524 votes (0.15%). According to public records, Dean donated money to another anti-gun South Dakota Democrat, Tom Daschle, also in 2003. Daschle lost his reelection bid to Thune in 2004. [This paragraph has been corrected to reflect the name of the newspaper, and Thune's election to the U.S. Senate in 2004. The original article mistakenly stated he was elected in 2002.]

For Tony Dean to have "switch[ed] parties to head a Sportsmen for Obama group" he would have to have done so at least two years before Obama was even elected to Senate, and five years prior to when he announced his presidential bid. Indeed, it appears the word "lifelong" is as difficult for Dean and the Obama campaign to define as the word "is" is to Bill Clinton.

Dean is quoted by the Dallas News as saying he's "99 percent sure a President Obama isn't going to infringe on gun rights." But seeing as Mr. Dean - who one blogger has dubbed 'South Dakota's Al Gore' because of his fervent belief in human-caused global warming - describes himself as a "moderate on the gun issue" who "opposes the NRA on most gun issues," his assurances about Obama aren't likely to be much consolation to pro-gun voters.

On his website, Dean has castigated the NRA for having "done little to protect gun ownership" and for having differing views on conservation issues, even while posting op-eds from the likes of Humane Society of the United States Executive Director Wayne Pacelle, who has been quoted as saying "we are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States...We will take it species by species until all hunting is stopped in California. Then we will take it state by state."

Dean also wrote sympathetic comments of the New Orleans - Hurricane Katrina gun confiscation, saying "how do authorities know which gun owners (or looting thieves) were sniping at rescue workers; which gun owners were threatening others?"

Also on his website, Dean posts the press releases of and writes favorably about the American Hunters and Shooters Association, yet another faux gun group whose President, Ray Schoenke, has a long history of giving political donations to some of the nation's most anti-gun politicians, including Al Gore, John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, Bill Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, and Ted Kennedy. In 2000, Schoenke donated $5,000 to Handgun Control, Inc. (now the Brady Campaign) and the Ray and Holly Schoenke Foundation also made donations to the Brady Campaign..

Barack Obama's list of "pro-gun" friends continues to underwhelm.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.