Manchester, New Hampshire, city Republican party chairman Jerry Thibodeau has made national news by planning a GOP fundraiser where donors will test their marksmanship with a machine gun. Perhaps not surprisingly, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann had a field day with it, but even local and state Republican reactions are mixed. From the Union Leader:
Fergus Cullen, chairman of the state Republican party, said he knew the event was in the works before it was publicized and hopes he will be able to attend.
"The question I have," Cullen said, addressing critics, "is, 'Have you fired an automatic weapon yourself before?' If the answer is no, maybe you ought to try it before you decry it."
Some local Republicans, including mayoral candidate Joe Levasseur and at-large aldermanic candidate Ray Hebert, took a different view.
"With rising crime rates, we shouldn't be the party that's out there shooting machine guns," Levasseur said.
What do you think? Is a machine-gun fundraiser a good idea?