WHEN GUN CONTROL ADVOCACY CONFLICTS WITH FAT CAT CODDLING, GUESS WHICH ONE BLOOMBERG PICKS?

In a New York Times interview, New York mayor Mike Bloomberg went old-school McCarthyite on Elizabeth Warren, strongly suggesting that she's a big commie:

"What I've tried to do is find liberal middle-of-the-road Republicans and Democrats. In the Senate, Scott Brown, who single-handedly stopped the right-to-carry bill. You can question whether he's too conservative. You can question, in my mind, whether she's God's gift to regulation, close the banks and get rid of corporate profits, and we'd all bring socialism back, or the U.S.S.R."

But beyond the vile smear, what is Bloomberg saying? That what tips the balance for him is that Scott Brown is a courageous voice within his party for gun control?

Scott Brown is not a courageous voice within his party for gun control. Not most of the time. Whereas Elizabeth Warren is solidly pro-gun control:

... Warren's positions are largely in line with those of gun-control advocates, while Brown had long been endorsed by gun rights groups until he recently broke rank on a high-profile issue.

...In January 2011, following an Arizona shooting that killed six people and injured US Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Brown offered more pointed opposition to federal gun restric­tions, saying he was "not in favor of doing any additional federal regulations with regard to any type of weapons or federal gun changes."

In the [Massachusetts] Legislature, Brown was a reliable vote for gun rights, with one major exception. He supported the state version of an assault weapons ban. But several of his votes earned top marks from gun rights groups, including an A-plus in 2008 from the Gun Owners’ Action League. Among them was a vote against a 2004 measure that sought to ban ­assault weapons manufactured prior to 1994. While serving as a state representative in 2002, he sided with a number of Democrats in allowing residents who had certain felony convictions to get gun licenses after seven years.

On one or two gun issues, Bloomberg and Brown agree. On just about every gun issue, Bloomberg and Warren agree. For Bloomberg, that means: advantage Brown!

So what actually does tip the balance for Bloomberg? Do you suppose it just might be the fact that, despite his vote for Dodd-Frank (which he also watered down), Scott Brown is owned by Wall Street?

US Senator Scott Brown, who played a critical role in the battle over the 2010 financial regulatory overhaul, has used a joint fund-raising committee to collect $2.9 million in political donations over the last year, nearly half of which came from the nation's financial sector.

Look, I expect Mike Bloomberg to be pro-Wall Street -- but he postures as pro-gun control in a way that would lead you to believe that that issue trumps a lot of other issues for him.

But it certainly doesn't trump fat cat coddling for him. Brown stands with Bloomberg on that, so it doesn't matter to Bloomberg that Brown rarely stands with him on guns.