How to shoot yourself in the foot with a gun

[Long Run]

A Greek Orthodox church in Portland on Friday yanked permission for the Multnomah County Republican Party to hold a Lincoln Day fundraising dinner tied to a controversial gun raffle.

The Multnomah County GOP received national attention earlier this week when it announced it would raffle off an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in honor of "two great Republicans" -- Abraham Lincoln and civil rights leader Martin Luther King -- both of whom had been killed by gun-wielding assassins.

The party originally said the raffle winner would be announced at a Lincoln Day dinner on Feb. 15 at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Northeast Portland.

Chuck Currie, a United Church of Christ minister and longtime political activist, said he was among those urging Holy Trinity not to allow its facilities to be used for the Republican event.

"You don't honor a minister who preached non-violence by auctioning off the same kind of weapon used in the mass killings of children" at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., said Currie, who wrote a column on the subject for the Huffington Post.

Multnomah Republican Chairman Jeff Reynolds on Thursday issued a "clarification" saying that the raffle would be held separately from the fundraising dinner. On Friday, he said he received notice from the church that it would no longer rent space to the party for the event.

Reynolds said the party is moving to obtain another venue and plans to go ahead with the dinner, which will feature a speech from Rafael Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

"We're going to be fine," he said, refusing to discuss what reason the church gave for cancelling on the GOP. He did add, however, that "candidly, this is what Republicans face in Multnomah County" where voters lean heavily to Democratic candidates.

A Holy Trinity worker who answered the phone confirmed that the fundraiser would not be held at the church, but she referred comment to the the church's parish council president, who could not be immediately reached.

Reynolds said that the GOP has only a few more $10 tickets to sell for the gun raffle before reaching its cap of 500. When asked if it was a mistake to tie the raffle to Lincoln and King -- who historians say did not identify himself as a Republican -- Reynolds replied: "I'm not going to go there today."

With only about 53 registered R's in the County, there apparently is a limited amount of talent to run the party operations.

[Sue U]

A gun raffle to honor Lincoln and King?!?!?

MLK was a Republican?!?!?

Oh, Multnomah County Republicans, you just can't help yourselves, can you? Keep on keeping it real, you crazy bastards!

[Lord Jim]

Yes, it does seem to be just a tad unseemly and somewhat lacking in historical accuracy...

[Big RR]

Indeed, MLK was hardly embraced by either party during his life; even RFK permitted FBI snooping on him.

edited to add: wasn't there some movement a while back that clamed King was a registered republican? I don't recall much about it, but remember that.

[rubato]

Oregon is split between a somewhat liberal urban population in Portland, Eugene and environs and Redneckistan in the more rural areas. Redneckistan is where Tonya Harding grew up.

Reynolds said the party is moving to obtain another venue and plans to go ahead with the dinner, which will feature a speech from Rafael Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

... " .

Isn't Ted Cruz still a Canadian citizen?


yrs,
rubato