TheDC Morning: Guns don’t kill people — gangs do

Jamie Weinstein Senior Writer
Font Size:

Like to laugh? Like to be informed? Then sign up for TheDC Morning email here.

1.) Guns don’t kill people, gangs do — That’s what Chicagoans are saying, reports TheDC’s Alex Pappas:

“The main reason for the spate in crime, they say, are gangs. Asked by Illinois-based pollster Michael McKeon to finger the major cause of the increase of violent crimes in Chicago neighborhoods, 20 percent of Cook County, Ill., residents blamed gangs as the major reason for violence in a poll conducted of 629 residents Aug. 15-17. Thirteen percent blamed a lack of parental guidance, 12 percent blamed a lack of economic opportunities, eight percent blamed the need for more police officers and seven percent blamed young people having nothing to do. he option that polled the least is the notion that there are too many guns. Only six percent of those polled blamed the violence on access to guns.”

2.) If you can’t beat them, destroy them — One activist group wants to say bye-bye to the GOP, reports TheDC’s Matthew Boyle:

“A new liberal super PAC is openly calling for the destruction of the Republican Party because, as the group’s founder argues, the GOP is ‘no longer a viable political party interested in debate and exchange of positive ideas.’ Cesar Ruiz, the founder of new political action group Haphak America, said his organization’s ‘mission’ is to ‘expose that the sole national purpose of the Republican Party is not to act in the interests of American citizens, or even of its party members, but to defeat a sitting, duly elected president.'”

This raises the obvious question: who’s the idiot that named the PAC? Haphak? Really? What does that even mean? Ironically, the organization’s website prominently displays a quote by Edmund Burke. Burke, of course, was a conservative philosopher.

3.) Romney landslide? — An academic computer model suggests so, Geoffrey Malloy reports for TheDC:

“A presidential election prediction model developed by two University of Colorado professors points to a big win for GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney in November. The model, the only of its kind to use more than one state-level economic indicator, has correctly predicted the winner of every presidential election since 1980. It predicts Romney winning the Electoral College by a 320-218 margin and winning 52.9 percent of the popular vote when only the two major parties’ candidates are considered, the Associated Press reported Thursday.”

4.) Lance Armweak? — Lance Armstrong may be going from seven Tour de France titles to zero. The AP reports:

“U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart says the agency will ban Lance Armstrong from cycling for life and strip him of his seven Tour de France titles for doping. Armstrong on Thursday night dropped any further challenges to USADA’s allegations that he took performance-enhancing drugs to win cycling’s premier event from 1999-2005.”

Armstrong denies the agency has the power to take his titles away. But by not defending himself, people will believe the charges are true. In that case, whether he keeps the titles or not won’t matter. His reputation will have already been stripped.

5.) Poll of the Day: Mandel within striking distance in Ohio — RealClearPolitics polling average of Ohio Senate race: Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown 46.8%, Republican Josh Mandel 42.3%.

6.) Tweet of Yesterday Jonah Goldberg: It’s like Shakespeare is your speechwriter MT @nancypelosi: Rep. Todd Akin’s disrespect of women is the doggie doo on the GOP shoe…

VIDEO: DNC attacks former Democrat and current Romney supporter Artur Davis

Follow Jamie on Twitter

Jamie Weinstein