Rendell: ‘NRA is a Paper Tiger’

So are Democratic leaders afraid of the National Rifle Association or not? According to Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), they aren’t. They act like they are. But they really aren’t.

From Rendell’s interview with Time’s Mark Halperin today on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”:

They’re not afraid of the NRA. The NRA didn’t beat Barack Obama … Barack Obama carried Pennsylvania by 11 points, and we have the second highest amount of hunting licenses of any state in the union. I won by 20 percentage points when I ran for reelection.

So the NRA is a paper tiger. People should not be afraid of the NRA.

Yet when he’s asked if Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have been reluctant to push gun reforms due to the “political repercussions,” Rendell says that’s exactly the case.

Well, sure. They don’t want to upset the issues that are important on the nation’s agenda. And I agree with that. This gun control debate has been going on for awhile. It can wait while we straighten out the economy and get some health care coverage for all Americans. I understand that.

If there was a secret ballot in Congress on some of these issues, I believe you’d get 300, 350 votes for sensible gun control issues.

So the NRA instills no fear in Democrats but can sway hundreds of votes in Congress? Sounds like a paper tiger with a pretty fierce bite.