Like three card monty

Ray Schoenke is/was the head of a group called the American Hunters and Shooters Association. Some have called it shill group created to endorse politicians to give them the appearance to supporting individual’s 2nd amendment rights or to serve as a third way between the NRA and gun control groups.

(The AHSA’s founders included Schoenke who had donated thousands to gun control organizations and John Rosenthal who had previously founded a gun control group.)

Recently, a Washington Post article noted that :

The Obama campaign paid for Schoenke’s travel to 40 events in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Colorado to address pro-gun voters.

and then :

[Obama’s] campaign platform promised to pursue long-standing proposals to address urban violence: reinstating the assault weapons ban, outlawing “cop killer” bullets and closing the “gun-show loophole”

and then a few paragraphs later  :

“The opposition said Obama was going to take away everyone’s guns, tax ammunitions, tax guns, register guns and reinstate the assault weapons ban,” Schoenke said. “We said, ‘He is not going to do any of these things.’ And he didn’t.”

So, to recap : the Obama campaign paid Ray Schoenke to tell people that Obama won’t do things on the list of things Obama promises to do.

And people wonder why I’m cynical about politicians.