New Rep. Robin Kelly: Sucking and blowing on guns

By Richard K. Barry

One thing that you have to do in politics is win the races you're supposed to win. I'm sure there's a Vince Lombardi quote to this effect, I just can't think of it at the moment.

It may not get a lot of attention when things go as everyone expects they will, but it sure provides a lot of unwanted attention in politics when, as they say, man bites dog. 

So, with nary a headline outside of Chicago, Robin Kelly kept ex-Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s House seat for the Democrats in the IL-02 on the South Side of Chicago and its southern suburbs. She defeated Paul McKinley on April 11 by a margin of 71 to 22 percent in a race that was expected to be won by precisely this sort of big margin. 

As Daily Kos reports:

Her bigger victory came in February's primary, where, despite starting off the race in third place, she made gun violence a central issue and rode a wave of anti-NRA sentiment to the Democratic nomination. Kelly has remained an outspoken advocate of gun safety regulations, a message she's pledged to carry with her to Washington.

She was sworn in yesterday and immediately got to work:

Saying children should be protected from gun-wielding criminals but 2nd Amendment rights should be preserved, newly installed U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly made her first remarks today on the floor of her new workplace, the House of Representatives.

"We can do both," she said of the twin aims in the gun debate.

Yes, well, I don't actually think Americans can do both, but that's the power of the mythology of gun ownership in the USA. Even Democrats have to say stupid shit like that.